Dec. 23, 1905,] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
8l9 
■abiti launch to be used on Lake Michigan by a Chicago 
yachtsman, 60ft. cruiser for use on the St. Lawrence 
Fliyer, and a 65ft. launch for a Boston yachtsman for use 
)ii the south side of Cape Cod. 
Launch for Dr. Eames. — The Murray & Tregurtha 
Company is building a cruising launch for Dr. George F. 
Eames, of the Boston Y. C. This boat will be 45ft. long 
ind loft. breadth. She will have a 25 horsepower four- 
:ylinder engine. The 58ft. cruiser building at the same 
y^ard for Mr. C. A. Welch, Jr., of the Boston Y. C., is 
all planked and her engine has been installed. 
Bmnk Sold. — The 40ft. hunting cabin launch Blink, 
owned by Mr. C. W. Estabrook, a competitor in the long 
distance race for the Rudder Cup last season, has been 
sold to Buenos .\yres parties. She has been shipped to 
New York by rail, whence she will be taken on the deck 
of a steamer to her destination. 
Tuna in Southern Waters. — The 86ft. cruising gaso- 
lene yacht Tuna, owned by Mr. John I. Inglis, sailed for 
Florida on Nov. 26. She is in charge of Captain Law- 
son. John B. Killeen. 
Facts About Cffcular Lighthouses, 
The Minot Ledge Light is famed for the number of 
men who have gone crazy in it, and for that reason it is 
an object of interest to students of mental diseases. It 
is, as everybody knows, a piece of engineering of the 
highest order, being in that respect only second to the 
famous Eddystone Light. More than a year was con- 
sumed in getting a foundation for it, and so high are the 
tides and so terrific the storms that the entrance to- the 
light is more than forty feet above the water. 
Then, one above he other, come the five rooms occu- 
pied by the keepers and used for storage purposes, and 
then the watch room, and finally the lantern. The tower 
being circular and space greatly in demand, naturally 
everything is made to conform, so that no room shall be 
lost. Even the beds on which the men sleep are curved, 
the tables against the walls are circular and the benches 
are half moons. Everything is round. 
In this lighthouse there have been at least five well 
marked cases of insanity, and others in which madness 
has been suspected and the men relieved from duty. E» 
perts in mental diseases who have made a study of con- 
ditions at the Minot Ledge Light attribute the unusual 
prevalence of insanity there to its peculiar form of struc- 
ture. There is no point, they say, on which the eye rnay 
rest, so it travels round and round in a maddening whirl. 
They therefore suggest that some means be devised for 
filling the curves and producing corners and angles. In 
support of this theory they cite instances of men who 
have lost their mental balance during long confinement in 
circular prisons, but have quickly regained it on being 
transferred to an ordinary room of corners and angles. 
Baron Trenck spent much of his time in prison making 
marks and corners to break the circularity of his sur- 
roundings and keep his reason from slipping away on the 
mad whirl of encircling walls. Casanova, an Italian engi- 
neer, who was imprisoned in a round tower, gives much 
the same testimony. He says he felt great mental relief 
on being moved to an ordinary square room. 
As it is well-nigh impossible to make much change in 
the form of the structure of the Minot Ledge lighthouse, 
the number of men in charge of it has been increased to 
five, in order that they may have frequent leaves from 
duty and take turns in going ashore for a visit to family 
and friends. This system has resulted in a decrease in 
the number of cases of melancholia and more serious 
mental disorders. 
In fact, but for the frequent changes made in the ser- 
vice by shifting men from one station tO' another, the 
number of cases of this sort everywhere would be much 
greater than it is. In some cases a man is kept in a place 
for only a few months, and then sent to some less isolated 
station for a while. 
To give the men something to think of other than their 
loneliness, and to occupy the long hours during which 
they have nothing tO' do, circulating libraries of fifty 
books each are provided. The books are carefully ■ se- 
lected and changed every three months, when the inspec- 
tor makes his visit. In the collection are biography, his- 
tory, travel, fiction, poetry, illustrated magazines, and, in 
some cases, newspapers. Also medicine chests are pro- 
vided for relief in cases of sickness and careful directions 
given for the use of their contents. 
Despite the dangers and hardships of lighthouse life, 
there are many applicants for positions in them. When- 
ever a vacancy occurs in the service there is always a 
number of men to select from. And yet the pay is small. 
In fact, the law provides that the average compensation 
given keepers shall not exceed $600 a year. Probably the 
best paid keeper in the service is the man at Hell Gate, 
who gels $1,200 a year. — Chicago Chronicle. 
Hildegarde and Margaret Sold. — Manning’s Yacht 
Agency have sold the auxiliary schooner Hildegarde to 
Messrs. Frank R. Long and Jacob L. Swayze, of Hack- 
ensack, N. J., and the steam yacht Margaret for Messrs. 
William Gokey & Son to Mr. Charles F. Carbonell, of 
Havana, Cuba. Margaret will make Havana her hailing 
port in the future and she will be used by her new owner 
in Cuban waters. Hildegarde is now at Morris Heights. 
She was built by Messrs. Camper & Nicholson, Gosport, 
England, in 1874 fof Lie Prince of Wales, now King Ed- 
ward. Mr. George Gould purchased her in 1887, and 
after a fev/ years disposed of her to Gen. B. M. Whit- 
lock, v/ho sent her to the Flerreshoffs in 1897, where she 
was overhauled and fitted with compound engines. Gen- 
eral Whitlock afterward sold her to Mr. Blakely Hall. 
r. Kt 
Ni.UjAra Leaves for Southern Cruise. — Mr. and Mrs. 
Howard Gould and a number of friends sailed from 
New York on the steam yacht Niagara on Dec. 16 for 
an extended cruise in the Caribbean Sea. Niagara has 
recently been overhauled by Messrs. Tietjen & Lang, and 
was in that firm’s dry dock in Hoboken. Nassau is to 
be the yacht’s first stop, and then she will proceed to 
Jamaica. On the return voyage she will put in at 
Plavana. 
•I « *1 
Diana Chartered. — Mr. Percy Chubb has chartered 
his steam yacht Diana, ex Delaware, to Mr. H. H. 
Rogdrs, through Messrs. Tams, Lemoine & Crane. Mr. 
Rogers and his friends will join the yacht at Savannah, 
and she will make an extended cruise in the Caribbean 
A volume devoted to a new outdoor field, which has for its purpose three objects: 
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HOUSEBOATS AND HOUSEBOATING 
BY ALBERT BRADLEE HUNT, 
Yachting Editor of Forest and Stream. 
The book will make a unique and most attractive holiday gift. 
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