July 20, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
73 
Some Famous British Yacht Clubs 
By HORACE WYNDHAM 
While it may seem trivial to you, take the 
same heed about the fit of your hose. If they 
are too tight, the great toe will prod a hole 
through, and if too loose they will wrinkle and 
one wrinkle in a sock can scrub a blister on 
your foot just a few shades quicker than any¬ 
thing I know about. Leave your hose supporters 
at home when you go on a hunt. 
And now to conclude, a few words about the 
care of your shoes when in camp. In the first 
place no leather was ever made perfectly water¬ 
proof. If it were, it would be about as com¬ 
fortable as a rubber boot, and if you want to 
know how comfortable that is, put on a pair 
some day in July and walk half a mile. The 
best that can be done is to render the leather 
approximately impervious to moisture, and that 
can be done only by constant care. There are 
several leather dressings on the market, all of 
them good. If you want a recipe for a good 
one, here it is: Take a pound of mutton tallow, 
half pound lanolin, quart of shark oil, one ounce 
resin, four ounces beeswax and melt them all 
together. This forms a thick yellow composition 
having a tendency to congeal in cold weather 
which is about as near waterproof as anything 
I have ever seen. When you come into camp 
after a tramp in the snow or rain, do not remove 
the shoes at once, and do not stick them up 
against the camp-fire to dry. The leather must 
be dried slowly, and when half dry you can re¬ 
move them and finish the process. Before going 
to bed warm your composition and rub into the 
leather thoroughly, add a top coat and set them 
away. This must be done every day in wet 
weather and twice a week in dry weather if you 
expect your feet to remain dry. 
The river drivers of the West, whose feet 
are wet for months at a time, have a practice 
which is worth following. They melt tallow and 
pour into their driving boots in the morning 
before going on the drive. While the tallow is 
yet warm, they draw the boots on, and their 
feet remain dry all day. Not only that, but the 
oil keeps them from chafing and becoming sore 
from the action of the water. I have tried this 
plan several times when on trout fishing excur¬ 
sions and can vouch for its value. 
Wasps’ Nest in a Rifle Barrel. 
Jaffrey, N. H., June 29. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: As a subscriber of several years’ stand¬ 
ing, I thought the following incident might in¬ 
terest your readers: 
Before going away for a week I carefully 
greased my Marlin .25-20, and put it in the barn, 
as the dryest place I could find. On my return, 
when I was about to use it, I happened to glance 
at the muzzle, which I found plugged with dry 
mud. Supposing some unauthorized person had 
been making free with it, I carefully pushed the 
mud out with my cleaning rod. I was surprised 
to find that the plug was a mud wasps’ nest con¬ 
taining several grubs and a partially decayed 
insect. The whole nest was about two and a 
half inches long. Naturally the mud had pretty 
well rusted out the bore of the rifle. 
Bryant Strong. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
A CONVINCING proof of the popularity of 
yachting in Great Britain is afforded by the 
fact that no fewer than sixty clubs exist for 
the sole purpose of encouraging this pastime. The 
majority of these are established at different ports 
on the English coast, but there are also several 
important ones in Scotland and Ireland. Indeed 
the oldest of all such clubs—the Royal Cork— 
has its headquarters at Queenstown. It was 
founded there so long ago as the year 1720. and 
received its admiralty warrant in 1831. Another 
distinction belonging to the Royal Cork Y. C. 
is that it alone out of all the other institutions 
of a similar nature in the United Kingdom is 
presided over by an admiral instead of by a 
commodore. 
The chief of all the British yacht clubs is 
the Royal Yacht Squadron, founded at Cowes, 
in 1812, and granted an admiralty warrant in 
1839. The squadron was established by a group 
of fifty yacht owners, but no regular regatta 
was held until many years later. At first the 
yachts resembled revenue cutters, and were made 
too heavy for speed. Several of them also ran 
to considerable dimensions, as there was no 
time allowance for difference of size. In 1827 
the committee of the Royal Yacht Squadron 
passed a resolution, by which any member who 
should use steam was to be disqualified. The 
first Royal cup given to the squadron as a racing 
trophy was presented by William IV. 
The Royal Yacht Squadron is perhaps the 
most exclusive body in the club world, and no 
candidate can hope to secure election unless pos¬ 
sessed of considerable social influence. The bal¬ 
lot indeed is so severe that the “pilling” of ex¬ 
tremely well known sportsmen frequently takes 
place, much to the chagrin of their proposers. 
On one occasion for example a certain Royal 
personage is said to have been so annoyed at 
finding one of his nominees blackballed that he 
promptly tendered his own resignation. On elec¬ 
tion all members pay an entrance fee of 100 
guineas, while the annual subscription is £16. 
The list of yachts registered to fly the squadron 
burgee includes such universally famous craft 
as Meteor (of the German Emperor), Sunbeam 
(of Lord Brassey), and Valkyrie (of Lord Dun- 
raven ). 
The yacht club next in importance is the 
Royal Thames. It was established in 1823 for 
the purpose of “encouraging yacht building and 
sailing on the river Thames.” The members 
have recently acquired new premises in Picca¬ 
dilly, and are housed in a mansion that formerly 
belonged to Sir Francis Burdett-Coutts, M.P. 
They are entitled to wear a uniform, consisting 
of a plain blue cloth dress coat and white waist¬ 
coat, each with special buttons, and either blue 
cloth or white duck trousers according to the 
season. In undress a short blue jacket is worn 
in place of the tail coat. 
The club flag is the blue ensign of His 
Majesty’s fleet (in terms of a warrant granted 
in 1848), while the burgee is blue, with a white 
cross and a red crown in the center. Among the 
peculiar privileges enjoyed by members of this 
club are those of making their yachts fast to 
Government buoys, and of entering foreign ports 
without being first required to pay harbor dues. 
As in the case of the Royal Yacht Squadron the 
membership is very exclusive. At one time the 
“black ball” was used right and left, and the 
ordeal of the ballot was extremely severe. A 
story is told of a certain former member of the 
committee who was bent on “pilling” a prospec¬ 
tive member. Accordingly he attended a meet¬ 
ing and put in a black ball. To his dismay, how¬ 
ever, he discovered that by doing so be had 
made up a quorum, and the candidate was de¬ 
clared to be elected since nobody else registered 
an adverse vote. The annual subscription of 
the R. T. Y. C. is eight guineas, except in the 
case of members owning yachts of not less than 
nine tons Thames measurement (who pay six 
guineas), and an entrance fee of ten guineas. 
A 
HEADQUARTERS OF ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON, COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT. 
