816 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 2, 1911. 
dirty black, except where the paint is worn 
away, their sides show the rough usage of the 
weather, a plebeian shirt dangles drying on a 
line above the deck. To the eye of one inex¬ 
perienced they are not particularly pretty to 
look upon, but in spite of their present lowly 
estate it is not very long since they were 
among the finest and swiftest private yachts in 
eastern waters. 
A landsman who stood at the pier the other 
day ventured the remark that he didn't think 
much of the boats. He had hardly got the 
words out of his mouth when the oracle—every 
little dock seems to have its oracle—set him to 
rights promptly with a flow of nautical language 
on beauty of lines, sailing qualities, staunchness, 
and much more. The ill-advised critic knew his 
ignorance. 
ARISTOCRATS OF OCEAN. 
The two humble steamers are the Bethulia 
and Geisha, late of the fleet of the Boston 
Fisheries Company, and before that true aristo¬ 
crats of the ocean. Until recently they were 
companioned by a third of equally patrician 
origin. Philomena, which has left them to begin 
a renewed activity among the fleet “out of 
Gloucester.” 
All three have been stripped of their former 
finer}'. There is nothing left except the beauty 
of line and finish to indicate that they ever were 
other than what they seem to-day. That they 
have been allowed to loaf away their time is 
due simply to the fact that the company to 
which they belonged has gone out of business 
and they have been awaiting a purchaser. 
Philomena was taken over by a Gloucester 
buyer, and Geisha and Bethulia are now the 
property of Robert P. Nichols, treasurer of the 
Maine Coast Company, who is still in doubt as 
to what he will do with them, although he thinks 
they will probably re-enter the fishing industry. 
MAKE POOR FISHERMEN. 
One yachting expert says that yachts, as a 
rule, make poor fishermen, and that has been 
a view very generally held. The converting of 
Philomena, Geisha and Bethulia was considered 
something of an experiment for that reason, 
and has been watched with no little interest. 
Their former owners say they have proved suc¬ 
cessful and have done good service in pollock 
fishing and seining along the coast. 
Built in the early ’90s, the trio were examples 
of the best in design and construction. That 
was before gasolene became so largely popular 
and the changing nautical fashions reduced their 
value. Costing originally between $50,000 and 
$30,000, they were sold, comparatively speaking, 
for a song. 
The demands of business, recognizinz only 
utility, made rapid changes in their appearances. 
No shining brass and polished woodwork were 
left. In the saloons and staterooms, once re¬ 
splendent with mahogany and rosewood, with 
carved panelling and white and gold decoration, 
no vestige of the former beauty remains. 
Everything has been dismantled, and where 
parties of guests found enjoyment on many a 
summer cruise is only a watertight hold for fish. 
1 he quarters for the crew alone are unchanged. 
Although they have little to show what they 
were originally, Bethulia, Geisha and Philo¬ 
mena are still stout and seaworthy and have a 
good many years of usefulness before them. 
I hey were built for swiftness, and have other 
qualities for which the average builder of fish¬ 
ing vessels could not afford to pay at the outset. 
ONCE A CRACK STEAMER. 
Yachtsmen remember Bethulia in her pris¬ 
tine glories as one of the crack steamer yachts 
o f the harbor. As Varuna, she was built for 
R. H. White, and no expense was spared. Her 
estimated value at the time of her launching 
was in excess of $50,000. Her cabin fittings 
\\ ere most elaborate, and no care was spared in 
her designing and construction. 
She was 76 feet on the waterline and 95 feet 
O', vi all, was designed by G. F. Lawley and 
built at the yards of Lawley & Son in South 
boston, and was for some years the pride of 
4- ei Iu 0wn A I i\ . Later s h e became the property of 
talbot Aldrich, and still later come into the 
possession of the Boston Fisheries Company to 
be turned into a fisherman. 
Scarcely less imposing was the Philomena, 
another locally built yacht. She was turned out 
from the yards of A. A. Martin in East Boston 
the same year as that in which Varuna was 
built. She was somewhat smaller than her 
sister, being 65 feet on the waterline and 84 feet 
over all, but was no less finished in every detail. 
Her first owner was George F. West, of Port¬ 
land, Me., but she was twice sold to Boston 
men before she came into the fishing fleet. Like 
Bethulia, she was familiar to scores of yachts¬ 
men about Boston and was considered a speedy 
and clever sailer. 
CAME FROM NEW YORK. 
Better known as the Rose or as the Rayn- 
ham, Geisha was somewhat similar to Philo¬ 
mena. She was not a local boat, having been 
built and owned in New York. She was de¬ 
signed by C. L. Seabury and put together by 
the Seabury Company of Morris Heights, N. 
Y., in 1897. Her first owner was A. Bleeker 
Banks, who used her for some years before she 
passed through other hands into the company 
of Geisha and Bethulia. She was 72 feet water- 
SCHOONER ELENA—OWNED BY MORTON F. PLANT. 
line and 85 feet over all. As a rule steam yachts 
have not found their way into the hands of the 
fishermen owing to the fact that even when 
they have become somewhat antiquated in the 
eyes of up-to-date owners their value is greater 
than the average fishing concern is willing to 
meet. Other vessels of less elaborate type serve 
the purpose as well, and the old prejudice 
against yachts still keeps the conservative busi¬ 
ness bidder away from them. 
The same prejudice has operated against the 
sailing yachts, although now and then one of 
these finds its way into the fishing fleet. Of 
course, numerous smaller yachts have been 
fitted with auxiliary power and used by indi¬ 
viduals in supplying the market in a small way. 
NO USE FOR YACHTS. 
Of the swift sailing yachts one man long iden¬ 
tified with the fishing industry, said: “A yacht 
may be all right, but all I have to say is that 
it’s an all-fired bad sort of boat for my pur¬ 
pose.” 
Although that view is held by many, several 
of the larger craft have been admitted into the 
fishing fleet. Perhaps the most familiar of these 
is the schooner Alert, formerly the property 
of John O. Shaw, Jr., of this city, and at one 
time the flagship of the Corinthian Y. C. at 
Marblehead. She was built and designed by 
Henry Bryant and W. B. Smith at South Bos¬ 
ton in 1888. 
Alert was better fitted than the average yacht 
for her new field, for she had been modelled on 
pilot boat lines and could hold her own in any 
weather. About four years ago she was made 
over with auxiliary power and then became a 
Gloucester fisherman. 
Another Boston boat which took up a new 
career of usefulness after her days of gaiety 
came to an end is the schooner Avalon, which 
was built at Islip, L. I., in 1886. She has been 
owned by various yachtsmen, among them H. 
Foster Otis of this city ,and Col. Francis L. 
Leland, of New York. She is now one of the 
numerous fleet catching the red snapper in the 
Gulf of Mexico. 
She was not the first Boston boat to be 
drafted to the gulf, for she was preceded by 
some few years by the old-time schooner For- 
tuna, formerly the property of Commodore 
Hovey,.of the Boston Y. C. Both boats belong 
to the Gulf Fisheries Company of Galveston, 
Texas. 
WAS GLOUCESTER BUILT. 
A smaller schooner, Magnolia, once the prop¬ 
erty of E. P. Boynton, is often seen along the 
coast in her new role as a fisherman. She was 
Gloucester-built and returned to that port after 
Mr. Boyton disposed of her. Stil another 
schooner, the old 8o-footer, Carlotta, of New 
York, which was one of the best of her type 
when she was built for John W. Bowman, has 
been recently converted into a fisherman. 
Fallen from her once lofty estate, Pilgrim, which 
stirred the envy of many enthusiasts when she 
first took the water, has fallen to the lowly 
position of a gasolene supply boat after serving 
a period as a steam fisherman. Built in 1893 
for the express purpose of defending the 
America’s Cup, she was all that the skill of the 
naval architect could make her. No money was 
spared on this fleet 90-footer, but she found her 
match in Defender in the trial races and never 
had an opportunity to meet Valkyrie II., which 
she was designed to beat. After a period as a 
fishing boat along -the Maine coast she was 
brought to East Boston and there fitted with a 
huge gasolene tank and has just begun her 
career as a supply boat in Marblehead Harbor. 
Elena—Westward, 
In seven contests, aggregating 251 miles, there 
was a difference in time of only ih. 53m. 29s. 
between the two big New York Y. C. schooners 
Elena and Westward, the shorter time being in 
favor of Elena. These and other interesting 
figures appear in the report of the regatta com¬ 
mittee of New York Y. C., just issued. The 
committee is made up of H. de B Parsons, C. 
Sherman Hoyt and J. M. Macdonough. 
One race, other than the club contests, was 
sailed by these schooners, that of the Newport 
Y. R. A., on Saturday, Aug. 12, the course be- 
ing 35U> miles. Elena required 5h. 36m. 26s. and 
Westward 5I1. 42111. 19s. to complete it. Thus 
in the season eight meetings were had by these 
yachts, the number of miles sailed being 2863/2, 
the total time required in doing so showing 
these figures: Elena, 46I1. 47m. 27s., and West¬ 
ward, 48I1. 46m. 49s., making a difference of ih. 
59m. 22s. in favor of Elena. 
With the exception of the run from New Bed¬ 
ford to Newport, in which Elena beat West¬ 
ward 2m. 29s. in a 13-knot breeze, and the run 
for the King’s cup in a 20-knot breeze, when 
Westward had the better of the argument by 
17s., the winds were light and variable. During 
the season Elena won the Navy challenge cup 
and seven other New York Y. C. prizes, includ¬ 
ing the vice- and rear-commodore’s cups for 
first division schooners during the cruise. 
The three cups won by Westward included 
the U. S. N. challenge cup for schooners and 
the Astor cup. 
The schooner Irolita during the season won 
six New York Y. C. cups, that of the commo¬ 
dore’s being the more important. The best 
{Continued on page 819.) 
