Oct. 21, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
387 
A Little Cruise in a Little Boat. 
BY N. N. WEST, 
Next to sailing a boat in summer the writer’s greatest 
pleasure is not to own o-ne in winter. Along in the latter 
part of February, when winter seems to be too long, there 
comes to right-minded people a longing to be once more 
holding the tiller and hauling the sheet, and while at this 
time of year in our latitude this is not possible to those 
I who follow the sea in small yachts, the longing is much 
H gratified by taking trips along the shore and frequenting 
^ the boat builders’ shops. And if, perchance, one is look- 
I ing for a boat to buy there is an added charm to the trips, 
j' Hence the writer’s liking to be without a boat at this 
t time of year. Under these conditions he starts as far 
ij eastward as practical and gradually works west, so that 
b before the season opens every boat on the market near 
}) the home port has been seen. 
[ From the foregoing it will be seen that his friends have 
n grounds to think he is never satisfied with what he has 
); acquired and is of a changeable disposition. Once, while 
; at a married friend’s house, the host remarked it would 
c not be advisable for the writer to marry. “For,” said he, 
ifi “when you buy a boat you look her all over and even 
a then you afterward find out she is not just the shape you 
S' want, so think what a poor chance you would have in get- 
^ ting a girl to suit. You’ll be wanting to sell this boat 
ic soon and get one of the modern overhanging sterns, 
r You’d be just as changeable about a girl. You’ll be get- 
T ting a new boat soon, saying her stern don’t quite suit 
n me.”' His wife, who was reading, looked up and said: 
li “What, the girl’s?” And the host brought out the Scotch. 
. i There Seemed to be a Scarcity of desirable second-hand 
^ boats during the winter and spring of iqoi, and when 
j May came the writer had found nothing he liked. On 
‘ his "last trip, which landed him at the jumping off place 
between Brooklyn and Coney Island, he found a boat 
builder who had a big two-story sort of a houseboat for 
a shop. Poking around upstairs he found the prettiest 
little Craft he had ever seen._ She -was a canoe yawl, built 
of mahogany and polished like a piano.^ Her sails were 
brand new and white as a bride’s lingerie. It was a case 
: of love at first sight. She was a little sniall for cruising 
on the Sound, but many a man has fallen in love with a 
girl for her beauty father than for her qualities as a help 
mate; and while the wuiter realizes that the happiness of 
such marriages seldom lasts, and though he found she 
had a record and was mighty fast, she Was so pretty that 
he felt he could not do without her. She had been twice 
' divorced, or had had two owners, but the writer is in- 
clined to think it had been the man’s fault, for she has 
proved herself to be to him most faithfufi and after three 
seasons he is more than ever in love with her. During 
one of the autumn gales in 1902 she was the only boat in 
the harbor that did not go ashore, and she rode out the 
great storm in September, 1903, when so many boats were 
wrecked that could have carried her on davits. We have 
sailed together in December and few things have ever 
impressed the writer so much as coming into the harbor 
those winter evenings with the nearby shores dark and 
purple and the red afterglow in the west. 
She is called W anderer, a name that suits her, for what 
we like best is to slip off by ourselves and roam alone, to 
glide quietly into harbor at dusk and drift out silently 
with the light early air, to disappear in the morning 
mists. 
She was built by Turk, on the Thames, England, is all 
mahogany, except timbers of oak, copper fastened, bronze 
fittings — including little shackles, some of them not an 
inch long, that are a delight. The cockpit floor is grat- 
ings of mahogany and pine, and there is a lancewood 
strip set in the cockpit rail. She has the reputation in 
the home port of having come across the ocean under her 
own sail, a delusion the writer ‘is sorry to here dispel. 
A more specific description of her would give her 
length as i8ft., plumb-stemmed, breadth 4ft. 6in., and 
draft, with board up, about ift. She carries a 150-pound 
centerboard and 300 pounds cast lead inside ballast. She 
is rigged cat-yawl and the gaffs hoist parallel to the 
masts. She is all decked over except for a cockpit 4 .T- 
6in. on deck, extending under decks to bulkheads 6ft. 4m. 
apart, which gives plenty of length to sleep on the floor. 
There are large lockers forward on each side of the 
centerboard trunk, extending to the stem, reached by 
hatches through the deck and small doors in the cockpit 
bulkhead. There is another locker aft with water-tight 
hatch. There is a tent that goes over the main boom, 
making a snUg little cabin with 4ft- head room. Thcie 
are flexible oak battens about I4in. long, spaced 12m. 
apart, sewed across the tent at right angles to the boom. 
When the tent is set up these form a crown at the center 
and give much more room than an ordinary “A” tent of 
the same size. 
Her cruising outfit consists of one light folding anchor, 
one 25-pound anchor, cables for each, pair of_ folding 
■Spoon oars Avith row-locks, riding light and cabin lamp, 
one quart can of kerosene, one pint can of alcohol, coffee- 
pot, frying pan, small tin pail, large pail, knives, forks' 
and spoons, two cups, wooden plates, one gallon and one 
half gallon water bottles, wicker covered ; two small cans 
with screw tops for coffee and sugar, dish towels and 
mop, compass, fog horn, charts, cusnions (one of cork 
for a life preserver), ice-box and alcohol lamp. There . 
is a mahogany box in Avhich are stowed all the cooking, 
utensils and the supplies not needed to be kept on ice. ' 
The lid- of the box when opened serves as a table. AH' 
th'es<= things are kept ip charge of the boat builder at the 
home pert, who looks after Wanderer, and by notifying 
him a short time in advance he has them all on board, so 
that the writer has only to get the provisions and wear- 
ing apparel. 
It might seem that there was not rooin enough in so 
small a boat for such a large outfit in addition to a suit- 
case of personal effects, but the two forward compart- 
ments har^e great stowage capacity. In the port one are 
kept the anchors, cables, spare rope and stuff that would 
not be injured by hard knocks. The starboard locker con- 
tains the cushions, tent when stowed, suit-case and water 
bottles. The provision box is on the forward end of the 
cockpit on the port side, and to keep the trim while sail- 
ing the ice-box is at the after end on the starboard side. 
The large pail is stowed in the aft compartment and holds 
the riding light, oil and alcohol cans and keeps them from 
slopping over the boat. 
The writer has tried all kinds of oil stoves, including 
the ordinary type and the blue-flame varieties, and vari- 
ous patent fuels besides, but for a small boat prefers an 
alcohol lamp. It gives an exceedingly hot flame and does 
not blacken everything put over it to- heat. This keeps 
the cooking utensils free from soot and does away with 
the dirtiest and most objectionable part of the dishwash- 
ing. It combines the good qualities of simplicity and 
heating power of the ordinary and blue-flame kerosene 
stoves, and has none of their objections, and by using 
wood alcohol the cost of the fuel is very small. There is 
a French lamp on the market which is excellent, but what 
the writer has found most satisfactory is to get two of 
the little lamps, or .stoves, that may be bought at any 
drug store or hardware store and fasten the lamps about 
Sin. apart on a piece of wood I2in. long, sin. wide and 
•; 4 -in. thick. This gives a good two-burner stove with 
.greater stability than the separate ones would have, but, 
of course, does not stow quite so compactly. When only 
a couple of things are to be cooked each meal one lamp 
is sufficient, and, of course, the number may be increased 
if desired. 
It is the regret of the writer that during the season of 
1903 business prevented him from being far from the 
office, and consequently the following cruise was limited 
to- nearby waters so w^ell known as to make the trip per- 
haps too commonplace to be interesting, and it is written 
more to show'' the pleasure that may be had from just 
being afloat and the possibilities of cruising comfortably 
in the smallest kind of a sailing craft rather than for un- 
usual events that happen on unknown waters ; and if this 
should be the means of even one person’s finding half the 
pleasure the wwjter has experienced it has not been writ- 
ten in vain. 
On Saturday, Sept. 12, 1903, with the season fast draw- 
ing to a close, the writer swore that even if business 
should go on the rocks and be wrecked he 'would have a 
cruise even if he had to take along a wireless telegraphic 
outfit to keep in touch , with the office ; and with this 
praiseworthy oath and a suit-case containing a change of 
clothes, bathing suit, toilet articles and a supply of 
tobacco and cigars he boarded the 10 A. M. train at the 
Grand Central Station, _ New York, for Mamaroneck, 
where Wanderer Avas lying. 
On reaching there he took a carriage and started after 
supplies. As the comfort of cruising depends to a con- 
siderable extent on the success of the galley, a list of the 
provisions is given, Avhich is typical of those he provides 
for a three days’ trip: Six eggs, small package Quaker 
oats, tw'o small loaves of bread, one-half pound butter, 
four chops, small piece of bacon, six potatoes, one can 
soup, one jar preserved peaches, tAVO one pint jars of 
milk, one pound plain cake, three muskmelons, twenty 
pounds ice, one pound ground coffee, small quantities of 
sugar, pepper and salt. This provides for three break- 
fasts of fruit, oatmeal, eggs and coffee ; tAVO dinners of 
soup, chons with bacon, potatoes and cake. Fish ^ is 
counted on being caught for one dinner, or if this fails, 
as wdth the monks in the song, one meal is had at one 
of the many club houses along the Sound. For lunch, if 
eaten when laid to or under way, no attempt is made at 
cooking and consists of bread and milk, preserved peaches 
and caice ; or if at anchor some of the soup left over from 
the previous dinner is reheated. It should never be left 
in the tin after the can is opened but should be kept in 
china or glass, and for this purpose the writer takes along 
a small preserve jar. In addition to the above supplies 
there is taken a pint of whisky and a small jar of extract 
of beef. The whisky with Avater' adds a cheer and com- 
pleteness to the dinner and reduces the danger of sick- 
ness from drinking the different waters obtained with 
each new supply. And on cool days a whisky ^ toddy 
before lunch is most comfortable. On one cruise the 
writer was taken seriously ill and has never ceased to be 
thankful for hardug some of the beef extract, and now 
never attempts a cruise without it. His sickness was 
caused by taking a friend along to whom AA’hisky. Avas so 
abhorrent that it was left behind, and the continual 
change of drinking water caused most serious results. 
Supplies, such as kerosene, alcohol, etc., are generally 
kept Avith the cruising outfit in charge of the boat builder. 
For those cruising in small craft it AA'ill generally be 
found most satisfactory to take at least one meal a day 
on , shore, but the writer likes to provide enough so as to 
feel Avhen he gets aboard that he is independent of the 
land for some days to come, and enjoys cooking his own 
meals, Avhich is a labor to so many, and it is surprising_ 
to see how easy it becomes with a little practice. 
The boat builder’s dock was reached at 12 .o’clock and 
Wanderer Avas lying alongside -with the cruising outfit 
aboard. The sun shone brightly on her varnished decks 
and sides, and she gave a glad nod of Avelcome as her 
master appeared, and 'as he stood looking down on her 
she never seemed prettier or more inviting. He was 
proud and pleased with her and was glad that there were 
others to admire her. There was a small party of rnen 
and girls 'who had been taking advantage of the high tide 
to- swim off the dock, and were lounging round before 
g/iitig h’om'e to lunch. , 
There was- with the party a little boy about five years 
old, dressed in a kilt and socks. ITe was a bright little 
chap, and the girl found him good company. 
“Raise your kilt,” she said to him, “and let me see your 
cunning little limbs.” 
The child obediently did so, and then, still holding up 
his kilt and looking full at her said: “Now let’s see 
yours.” 
This Avas too good to go unheard and has since found 
its AA'ay in various forms into the newspapers, but it so 
amused the writer that he cannot help mentioning it here. 
The reader will not be surprised under the circum- 
stances that it took more than the usual time to get the 
provisions stowed, and it was 1 :30 before Wanderer was 
under way. 
Hempstead Harbor Avas chosen for the first port. The 
Avind was bloAving S.S.W. and the course is S.S.E., mag- 
netic, as are all the courses given. Made two tacks till 
off -Larchmo-nt and then, headed for Hempstead, close 
hauled on the starboard tack. Had a light lunch while 
beating doAvn to Larchmont. When perhaps a mile off 
the '.NeAv York shore sighted the yawl Pawtuxent coming 
out from Echo Bay, also bound for Hempstead. Paw- 
tuxent is a semi-centerboard boat about 20ft. on the water 
and has considerable speed for a cruising boat. But 
Wanderer, feeling the excitement of race, laid doAvn to 
her work nobly and rounded up to anchor off the Sea Cliff 
Y. C. just ahead of the larger and much more powerful 
yaAvl. The owner of Pawtuxent is a friend of the writer’s 
and an invitation Avas received to dine at the club house, 
but did not want to give up the pleasure of having the 
first dinner out on board. Afterward_ went on board the 
larger boat and had a game of cards in her roomy cabin. 
It was a beautiful evening, the wind had gone down, 
and it Avas warm for that time of year. After the cards 
the party came up on deck and sat for some time enjoy- 
ing the night, loath to turn in or leave it, realizing that 
there would not be many more such evenings this season. 
Nor could there have been a finer place to enjoy it, as 
Flernpstead Harbor, with its hills coming doAvn close to 
the shore, is one of the attractive places along the Sound. 
Wanderer has no tender, as she may be rowed herself, 
but when the tent is set it is not possible, and to avoid 
taking it doAvn her captain came over and went back in 
Pawtuxent’ s dinghy. 
Sunday morning Avas misty with a very light hreeze 
from the S., and was mild and pleasant. Had a swim, 
then breakfast, and about 10 o’clock, after washing the 
few dishes and putting things to ri.ghts, sailed slowly out 
of the harbor in company with Pawtuxent bound for 
Manhasset Harbor. In the light breeze and smooth sea 
Wanderer Avas more than a match for Pawtuxent. 
The tide was running flood, so that when out of the 
harbor the two boats made fair progress in spite of the 
little Avind. The course laid Avas N.W. by N. till off 
Prospect Point, giving the yawl’s best point of sailing 
with the wind on the quarter. There was a bit of a chop 
caused by the tide running round the point, and Paw- 
tuxent took the lead. The yachts were then close hauled 
on the port tack and off Flart Island went about to star- 
board. The wind freshened somewhat along about 12 
o’clock, so that good' speed was made coming into the, 
harbor. Could not quite clear Plum Point, so had to take 
a short hitch and then had a beam Avind till anchors were 
dropped off the Manhasset Bay Y. C. house. We had 
thought we might go ashore there for lunch, but the 
place presented so neat and attractive an appearance with 
Avell dressed men and women on the piazza that we de- 
cided we were too tough a locking crowd to land there. 
The writer had been praising his aluminum frying pan 
and alcohol lamp the evening before, and the benefits of a 
Avhisky toddy, and as this was a good chance to show 
them to an appreciative crowd he went aboard the larger 
boat and made toddy and cooked chops and bacon for all 
hands. It was voted that the cooking outfit was only 
excelled by the chops and that the chops were only ex- 
(jelled by the toddro - 
After lunch lounged around and smoked, washed dishes 
and got under way. The Avind had freshened consider- 
ably and Avas bloAving a Avhole sail brepe. 
Parted company with Pawtuxent, which was bound for 
Ncav Rochelle, Avhile Wanderer Avas headed west for East 
Chester Bay. With the wind abeam there was a little too 
much for full sail, but instead of going to the trouble 
of reefing the mizzen was eased broad off to starboard, 
just so it would not flap, practically making only the 
mainsail effective. While this is, of course, a most un- 
seamanlike dodge, it is such a handy way to shorten sail 
that the writer often does it under the given conditions. 
Anchored near the higliAvay bridge across the upper 
end of the harbor about 4:30. The reaction from office 
work and the dav on the water in sun and wind had a 
la.zy effect, so put up the tent, got out the^ cushions and 
took life easy reading and smoking. While the , harbor 
itself is not specially attractive it commands a fine view 
across the Sound and the writer never tires of watching 
the passing boats in the distance. 
A returning fisherman supplied a fish for dinner, and m 
addition had soup, potatoes, cake and whisky and water. 
Turned in early after washing dishes and making snug 
for -the night. , , . , r , 
Next morning, after a SAVim and a breakfast of musk- 
melon, oatmeal, eggs and coffee, went ashore and re- 
neAved the ice and Avater supply. Called up the office on 
the telephone at a road house and found everything satis- 
factory, so went aboard and set sail about 10, having first 
bought some clams for bait from a man who keeps boats 
to let near the bridge. 
Sailed up to Larchmont, eating a light lunch while 
under way, and anchored on the Hen and Chickens reef 
to fish. Caught a few rockfish_ and a good black one, 
'Xhese were cleaned and prit on ice, 
