60 
FOREST - AND STREAM; 
I'Dec. 31, 1904. 
Riverton Y. C 
BY T. HARRY WALNUT, SECRETARY RIVERTON Y. C. 
The Riverton Y. C. is situated just nine and a half 
miles above Walnut Street Wharf, Philadelphia, upon 
the Jersey shore of the Delaware, at a point where the 
river has eaten a deep cove into the land and widens 
to a breadth of nearly a mile, thereby affording the best 
expanse of water for sailing to be found anywhere on 
the upper Delaware. It is in the middle of this cove, 
about a mile and a half from either point, that the club 
house has been built. It stands upon the end of a 
pier which projects out to the edge of the channel. 
Although the club has never been a large one — not 
having numbered at any time over a hundred mem- 
bers — it will always be of interest as marking the 
spread of the yachting spirit in America, as it stands 
among the first nine veterans and is patriarch of the 
organizations of the Delaware valley. It was founded in 
the summer of 1865, shortly after the close of the Civil 
War and the assassination of President Lincoln, at a 
time when patriotism and loyalty to the stars _ and 
stripes were at white heat. The committee appointed 
to select a club emblem chose as most appropriate a 
design, marked with thirteen stripes and with a blue 
center set with thirteen stars. The first meeting was 
held at the home of Edward H. Ogden. Caspar W. 
Morris was elected Commodore; Jacob G. Morris, 
Vice-Commodore, and Edward H. Ogden, Secretary 
and Treasurer. Mr. Ogden was elected Commodore 
in 1875, which office he held for twenty years, until his 
resignation in 1895, when Wm. R. Ellison, the present 
Commodore, was chosen to succeed him. 
In 1880 the club house was erected, and a charter 
from the State Legislature was obtained before the 
opening of the following season. The second floor 
of the house is taken up by the assembly room, while 
the lower floor is given over to members for lockers 
and as a dressing room. Owing to lack of accommoda- 
tions, the club has been compelled to depend almost 
wholly upon local support, and at various times plans 
have been advanced for the construction of a large 
building, which should have suitable sleeping apart- 
ments for visiting members, but thus far they have all 
failed of execution. 
The club has been exceptionally fortunate in main- 
taining its activity, and there has never been a season 
when interest has not been keen in racing. New men 
and new fleets have always been ready to take the 
places of the old, and at present the _ club is more 
vigorous and the yachting enthusiasm sharper 
than it has been since the time of organization. 
From the point of view of many yachtsmen ac- 
customed to open water sailing, the Delaware, off 
Riverton, would seem to offer tame sport. At its widest 
it is a scant mile across, and on the Jersey shore the 
bank climbs high from the. water and is topped with 
tall trees, which play strange antics with the frag- 
ments of southerly and easterly breezes that succeed in 
working their way through them. For a broad space 
out from the shore the wind comes in fitful puffs and 
eddies that keep the sailors on the edge of vigilance., 
and they appreciate a stiff southwester blowing freely 
up the river, or a northeaster blowing down. . It is 
not a good place for large craft, although the club has 
numbered among its fleet several schooners of 60ft. 
in length and over, but for anything under 26ft., and 
particularly for little two-men boats 15ft. or 16ft. oyer 
all, there is treachery enough in the breezes to give 
the sharpest sailor excitement and effectually to pre- 
vent the limited sea-room from growing monotonous. 
Sailing is a simpler task on many of the bays and 
harbors along the coast than it is on this river; and 
more than one craft that has been looked upon else- 
where as safe and stiff as a church, has been be- 
wildered by the antics of the wind and lost reputation 
along with its skipper by capsizing.. With the breeze 
likely to shift a quarter of the compass between puffs, 
it is risky business cleating a sheet rope, for no amount 
of luffing can save the luckless mariner whose ropes 
have not full play and are not ready to run. 
I remember seeing one of the smaller boats, on a day 
when the wind was blowing hard out of the south, 
coming close-hauled from the middle of the river when 
the breeze was steadier, for the finish, which brought 
her within the influence of the trees. She was a few 
yards from the line when a sharp puff struck here full 
and square, and with three heavy men hanging out to 
windward, she knocked down till her leeward deck was 
buried. In a moment the flaw was gone, and with a 
backward lurch she was over to windward, and her 
crew were floundering in the water. 
The dominant type of craft in the club has always 
been the catboat, ranging in size from 18ft. to 28ft. 
over all. The original fleet was of this rig, and the 
older members tell how they used to rave when there 
were no restrictions as to canvas or crew, and ten or 
fifteen men were wedged elbow to elbow, like crackers 
in a box, along the gunwales of a knife-like craft that 
could not stand alone under the weight of its heavy 
spars, and, how, when the wind flattened, the crew 
slipped one by one into the water, until there was left 
only enough to bring the racer home. But broader 
boats with their greater power and stability gradually 
pushed the first models out of existence, and for ten or 
fifteen years these round-bodied plum-stemmed craft 
heiu swfif, 'fhd successfully defeated all comers. In fact, 
they have proved to be a hard proposition for the 
modern boats to dispose of. Some years ago an up- 
to-date craft of the skimming-dish variety was brought 
from Boston to win the championship. She won, but 
not without a very close contest. Sea Gull, the former 
champion, hung on with bull-dog persistency, and in 
the last race of the year, scored an easy victory. Since 
then the older models have practically disappeared; 
but Sea Gull, last of the old-timers, is still in com- 
mission and can win her share of races. In 1902 she 
recovered the championship pennant, but during 1903 a 
boat, built on the dead rise plan, at Atlantic City, 
carried off the championship by winning nearly every 
race in which she was entered, and her consistent per- 
formances in all weather has made her popular. 
For a number of years much interest has centered in 
% one-design class of mosquito boats, sixteen of which 
were imported from Atlantic City in 1893. The boats 
are 15ft. over all, 5ft. breadth and are rigged with a 23ft. 
mast, carrying a leg-a-mutton sail with a club at the 
base. The height of the sail makes them tender on the 
wind, but, handled well, they will go through a hlow 
that drives the other classes to double; reefs, and they 
will point and foot in a way to bring them home on the 
heejs of the larger boats. Although these craft are strictly 
one-design, the fleet championship has been held con- 
tinuously for eleven years by one man! He has won nine 
of every ten races sailed, and the ambition to beat him 
has held the fleet almost intact for eleven seasons. 
This admirable record of consistent interest has led to 
the building of another one-design class of the dead rise 
type — modeled after the present champion of the catboat 
fleet — at Atlantic Ctiy. They are 25ft. over all, 
18ft. on the waterline, and are rigged with a jib and 
. mainsail. If anticipations are realized, the newcomers 
will make 1905 the most exciting year in the club's 
history. 
' The club members are almost without exception eager 
for one-design racing. Many of them have at one 
tinie _ sailed in the mosquito fleet and are thoroughly 
/ convinced that for maintained interest, mixed class rac- 
ing is not to be compared with the one-design. 
It takes a long while to convince a man that he is 
' not a good enough sailor to lead the procession. He 
will come to the line for race after race, primed with 
schemes for outsailing and outwitting the others, and 
full;' of the idea that he cannot make the mistake again 
which lost him the previous race. And nothing can be 
much better sport than to be in the midst of a fleet of 
a dozen one-design boats all working every nook and 
cranny of the shore as they beat against the tide. It 
is man for man, and he who is most alert to what 
is going on about him, watches closest the effect of 
every tack and is quickest to take advantage of each 
puff of wind and eddy in the water, is the one who 
works into the lead. The difference which handling 
makes in the speed is remarkably apparent, for at 
times with a steady wind blowing and no possibility of 
HOME OF THE RIVERTON Y. C. 
"flukes," a gap of a mile and more will be opened up 
between the first and last boats in a 9-mile race. - 
The selection of the jib and mainsail rig for the 
new class is largely due to the interest aroused in the 
last few years by a fleet of that description, which 
has grown to be very popular. For several years a 
freak craft, Isit by name, built almost on the lines 
of a perfect scow, carried off everything in sight with 
ridiculous ease; but the passage of a new rule, further 
limiting the number of men to be carried, handicapped 
her badly, and a little half-rater, named Tadpole, 
captured first prize in 1903. 
The club's racing season opens on May 30 with a 
Decoration Day regatta, which is followed by races on 
alternate Saturday afternoons. But the greatest day 
in the yachting season is Fourth of July, and it has 
been so for the thirty-eight years of the club's history. 
The town depends upon the yacht club to provide the 
patriotism for the occasion. 
The racing programmes are made up in four-page 
booklets, and are cut in triangular shape with a cover 
designed after the club pennant. They are distributed 
widely through the town, and a number are kept for 
distribution in the club house on the morning of the 
Fourth. It is a misfortune that winds and weather 
to suit the day cannot always be provided. It is a sad 
reality that Fourth of July mornings are proverbially 
with us as hot as the Sahara and as still as death. 
The picture shows the condition of affairs in 1902. 
There was just enough wind at times to tempt the 
committee to start the races, but far from enough 
to allow the boats finishing them. The course was a 
triangular one, a mile to a leg, and called for three 
times around. The faint catspaws carried the fleet 
round the first buoy and the tide took them up to the 
second mark, but here the puffs wholly disappeared 
and the boats started drifting further up stream. Tli2 
gun from the flagship finally signaled the race off and 
brought the crews home for dinner, But for launches 
it was a famous day, and _ their event quite over- 
shadowed, in interest, the sailing races. 
Last year we were more fortunate. A fluky northerly 
wind, stiff in spots, which shaded off into nothingness 
as the day wore on, gave the fleet an excellent chance 
to finish well within the time limit, and left the river 
in the afternoon as smooth as a mirror to accommodate 
the canoeists and the swimmers. It fitted the schedule 
as though cut to order. The crowd that gathers on 
these occasions throngs the bank and crowds the wharf 
from rail to rail, and the committee is possessed with 
the laudable ambition to provide something novel in 
the way of aquatic sports^ each year. For two years 
canoe tournaments or tilting _ matches were the great 
feature, and then obstacle swimming races, walking a 
slippery pole, barrel races and mixed canoe races were 
the most interesting events. Water carnivals were at 
one time the rage, but they have not been seen on the 
programme for several years. The last great per- 
formance was when the shad fishermen's long boat was 
metamorphosed into .the floating image of Cleopatra's 
barge. From the mast amidships were strung num- 
bers of colored lanterns, and beside each of the twenty 
rowers was a blazing red-light. On a high throne in 
the stern sat Cleopatra with Mark Antony at her side. 
The effect was striking, and in conjunction with the 
smaller boats fancifully decorated with lanterns, made 
an interesting spectacle. But after this effort the car- 
nival spirit died out and the fireworks on the pier have 
since had no rival. 
The season closes with Labor Day, when the whole 
fleet goes up the river to race as the guests of the 
Beverly Y. C. — a new organization dating from 1900. 
The feeling between the two clubs is very cordial, and 
a large proportion of the owners of racing boats at 
the two places are members of each club, which assures 
them weekly races, as the schedules are so arranged 
that the events fall upon alternate Saturdays. 
Early in the morning of Labor Day the first detach- 
men of the fleet can be seen working up stream, the 
boats racing fiercely among themselves, until they dis- 
appear from sight behind a heavily wooded point that 
cuts off the view of the upper river. Toward noon the 
second detachment, strung out in lines like an uneven 
picket fence, goes up in two of the various launches— 
a more expeditious but less interesting method of con- 
veyance. And last of all the commodious steam yacht, 
loaded with the friends and relatives of the members, 
leaves the wharf, to arrive in time for the races. The 
fleet is welcomed by the commodore of the Beverly 
Y. C. and a lunch served on his lawn is heartily enjoyed. 
The river bank at Beverly rises almost perpendicularly 
from the water's edge, which makes the winds even 
more uncertain and treacherous than at Riverton, but 
sight-seers can look down on the fleet and follow its 
movements readily over the whole course. From their 
point of view the arrangement is ideal. The two fleets 
make a great showing in the cove, and there is keen 
rivalry for the honor of carrying off first place. And 
after the faces are over, not the least enjoyable part of 
the day is the trip down the placid river, in the growing 
darkness, behind the launches. 
This custom originated six years ago, and in that time 
we had never had a rainy day, and, until 1903, had 
never been forced to postpone a race for lack of wind. 
A return race for the Beverly yachtsmen was in- 
augurated two years ago, which is held some time in 
July. The weather helped us the first year, by furnish- 
ing a stiff breeze and a clear sky, which induced almost 
the whole up-river fleet to venture down. In 1903, how- 
ever, all hopes of good sport were discounted, when 
the morning opened with a gray sky and a glassy river. 
The prospect discouraged the invited guests and only 
a few of their boats appeared. In the afternoon the 
wind arrived bringing with it plenty of rain, and the 
faces were run off in double quick time among the 
home fleet. 
Before the founding of the Beverly Y. C, Riverton 
occasionally joined forces with the Corinthian Y. C, 
which is located at Essington, nearly as far below 
Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania shore as Riverton is 
above on the Jersey shore. It was a difficult trip past 
the city and across the lines of the ferries plying be- 
tween Philadelphia and Camden, but it gave variety to 
the season's racing, and there is some talk of renew- 
ing the custom this coming season, which, without this 
feature, however, promises to be one of unequalled 
activity. The new fleet will insure keen rivalry, and 
from the 30th of May to the 15th of September there 
will be, in conjunction with the Beverly Y. C, regular 
weekly races. Our members are always eager for an 
opportunity to try out their skill and the speed of their 
boats, and a visiting yachtsman with a craft that can, 
by any possibility, fit into a class will be welcomed and 
given a chance to show what his boat can do in nar- 
row river waters and fluky river winds. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
For advertising relating to this department see pages ii and iii. 
Ketch Sitarah Sold.— The ketch Sitarah, built by the 
Geo. Lawley Corp., 1963, for Mr. John H. Cromwell, At- 
lantic Y. C, has been sold to Mr. Russell A. Alger, Jr., 
of Detroit, Mich., through the agency of Stanley M. 
Seaman, New York. She is 76ft. over all, 50ft. 6in. 
waterline, 17ft. beam, 5ft. 7in. draft. 
H « «E 
A New Racing Launch. — Mr. Alexander Stein, of the 
Indian _ Harbor Y. C, expects to have ready for the 
Memorial Day races and the season of 1905 following, a 
high speed motor-driven launch, designed with a hope of 
securing 30 miles per hour. Mr. Henry J. Gielow, who 
designed the Onontio, has completed the plans, and the 
Greenwich Yacht Yard, of Greenwich, Conn., has been 
awarded the contract. She will be modeled something 
after the Onontio, Com. Harrison B. Moore's 28.36-mile 
launch, but will have improvements following some 
original ideas evolved by Mr. Gielow from his previous 
designs. We are very glad to learn that at least two 
boats are to be ready for next season's racing which will 
be in a class by themselves, as it is hardly to be supposed 
that the A. P. B. Association rules could be so construed 
as to give Onontio, Challenger, XPDNC, and similar 
boats time allowances equitable and fair to all. The new 
boat is to be 56ft. 8in. over all, 7ft. beam, and 3ft. draft, 
and, like Onontio, will have an 8-ey.linder Craig gasolene 
engine. r 
n n n 
Autoboat Racing at'Daytona and Havana. — Inquiry 
from autoboat owners elicits the information that it is 
hardly likely that there will be much, if any, autoboat 
racing following or in connection with the automobile 
meets at Daytona and Cuba. Owners do not take kindly 
to transportation and risk of injury in transit, but seem" 
perfectly willing to confine their racing and speed trials 
to northern waters during the summer time. 
All communications for Fowest and Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention, Wt have no other oMce t 
