Feb. 24, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
245 
Ticks from the Ship’s Clock. 
Practically every one of the fast power boats 
of last year and the 1912 models will be repre¬ 
sented in the Southern championship races to 
be held April 3, 4 and 5 under the auspices of 
the St. Augustine Power Boat Club. A par¬ 
tial list follows: Vita, 19 feet 10 inches, 38 
horsepower. Daimler Knight, 24 miles; Paula H. 
Blackton, owner. Vita, Jr., 17 feet ii inches, 40 
horsepower, Humber, 33 miles; J. Stuart Black- 
ton, owner. Ruth K., 32 feet, 45 horsepower. 
Sterling, 21 miles; Chas. S. Smiley, owner. 
Jane S., 32 feet, 65 horsepower. Sterling, 27 
miles; Chas. S. Smiley, owner. Victor, 31 feet, 
40 horsepower, Loew Victor, 22 miles; G. F. 
Paddison, owner. Manker III., 19 feet ii inches, 
40 horsepower, Hershall & Spillman, new boat; 
C. B. Phelps, owner. Slipper, 38 feet, 40 horse¬ 
power, Murray & Tregurtha, 20 miles; Geo. W. 
Spaulding, owner. Baby Dixie, 19 feet ii 
inches, 65 horsepower. Sterling, 35 miles; F. B. 
Sicars, owner. Minnow, 26 feet, two 90 horse¬ 
power, Simplex, 40 miles; W. Earl Dodge, 
owner. Golden Rod, 28 feet, 60 horsepower. 
Fox, 27 miles; P. B. Alsobrook, owner. 
The Colonial Y. C. has arranged for a long- 
motor boat race on June 22. It will be from 
the club house, down the Hudson River, up the 
East River and through the Sound to Cornfield 
Point Light and return, distance 183 nautical 
miles. The prizes, five in number, have been 
presented by C. C. Hunt, a club member. 
Preparing for the Yachting Season. 
San Erancisco, Cal., Eeb. 12 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The various yachting clubs on 
San Erancisco Bay are preparing for the 1912 
yachting season and within a few weeks the 
schedules of the various organizations will be 
made ready. Several new club houses are be¬ 
ing erected this season, new boats are being 
built and the outlook is for much activity in 
yachting circles. 
The South Bay Y. C., which makes its head¬ 
quarters at San Jose, recently held its annual 
meeting and election of officers, the officials 
chosen being as follows: Commodore, 
Thomas E. Gibson; Vice-Commodore, E. 
Knickerbocker; Port Captain, Martin Jensen; 
Secretary, N. E. Wretman, and Treasurer, J. 
B. Harmon. This club is now planning its 
annual jinks, which it terms, “A Night in 
Venice,” and members of the Corinthian Y. C. 
of San Francisco have been invited to attend 
this. 
The Vallejo Yachting and Rowing Club, of 
Vallejo, Cal., held its annual meeting on Jan. 
26 and officers were chosen as follows: Com¬ 
modore, Grant L. Allen; Vice-Commodore, 
J. L. Beard; Fleet Captain, Teddy Swenson; 
Port Captain, David Barry, Jr.; Financial Sec¬ 
retary, J. P. Scully; Recording Secretary, J. A. 
Browne; Treasurer, S. J. McKnight; Meas¬ 
urer, W. A. Kirkland: Directors—H. F. Stahl, 
G. F. Hilton, N. W. Farmer, David Barry, Sr., 
and J W. Oliver; Regatta Committee—Horace 
Etzell, L. C. Kaarsburg and H. Bergwall. 
The annual meeting of the Corinthian Y. 
C. of San Francisco was held on the evening 
of Jan. 31, and was attended by about seventy- 
five members. The officers elected for the 
season of 1912 were: Commodore, E. J. Con¬ 
vey; Vice-Commodore, H. E. Picker; Port 
Captain, J. H. Keefe; Treasurer, C. F. Morel; 
Secretary, H. W. Westerfeld; Directors—the 
above with William J. Hogg and J. F. Camp¬ 
bell. The Regatta Committee consists of Wil¬ 
liam A. Barlage, Geo. Lux and W. W. Coates. 
Following the business session a banquet was 
served and at this W. J. Hogg, retiring Com¬ 
modore, was presented with a fine clock. T. 
F. Tracy is acting as secretary during the 
absence of H. W. Westerfield, who is on his 
way to Europe. Work is progressing rapidly 
on the new club house at Tiburon, and this 
will be ready for occupancy by the first of 
May. Golden Gate. 
Late Cruisers Southward. 
New Orleans, La., Feb. 14 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: During our trip down the Missis¬ 
sippi I saw a great many cruisers, I mean people, 
not boats, headed for the South. They were for 
the most part in boats that were unsuitable for 
the work of knocking along the rivers. One 
poor man who has never reached here was in 
a little platform rigging set upon two small 
skiffs, a tent within a tent covering the out¬ 
fit. The last we saw of him was above Cape 
Girardeau, Mo., where the very pleasant 
natives on the Illinois side annexed my setter 
dog, through a process of benevolent assimila¬ 
tion—collar, chain and kennel. 
The average person thinks that anything 
will do to run down the Mississippi. It will 
not. Neither can a fool make the trip in any 
sort of water. It takes a modicum of com¬ 
mon sense. One must be careful about land¬ 
ings and making fast for the night, carry 
plenty of anchorage, have extra engine parts 
and double tiller lines and wheels, a big fresh 
water capacity. These things do not worry 
much above Cairo or St. Louis or down the 
Illinois or Ohio, for there are towns of im¬ 
portance where one can always get fixed out 
if something gives way with the engine. Be¬ 
low Cairo machine shops are so few and far 
between that if you look long at the map it 
will prevent your taking the trip. On a 
river trip I would advise a solid built, light draft 
boat, not drawing more than three feet, and 
two would be better, though if you expect to 
make the Florida coast trip, better have three- 
foot draft and ballast heavily when you get 
to New Orleans. There are lots of good 
places to draw out in New Orleans and repair, 
and shafts will generally have to be rebuilt, 
owing to the sand in the water, its cutting into 
the stern bearing and shaft. 
Repair men tell me that every boat making 
the trip has to begin at the shaft and stern 
bearing. Be prepared for the merciless bang¬ 
ing out of a boat on the river before starting. 
Amos Burhans. 
Foreign Built Yachts. 
The Commissioner of Navigation has just 
issued a report which once more brings atten¬ 
tion to Representative Francis Burton Harri¬ 
son’s bill relative to yacht taxation, recently 
introduced at Washington. Mr. Harrison says 
that because of the Payne-Aldrich law com¬ 
pelling the payment of $7 a ton per annum on 
foreign-built vessels purchased by citizens of 
the United States, owners are selling their boats 
abroad and chartering them for the short time 
they need them on this side. In addition to 
this, many American owners have broken their 
yachts up and sold them for junk rather than 
pay the $7 tonnage tax. Thus far tax payments 
amount to $33,864 (since September, 1^9, when 
the law became effective), $26,118 of this amount 
coming from the late Joseph Pulitzer for three 
years’ taxes on his yacht Liberty. 
The following list shows foreign-built vessels 
and reasons why they are exempt from duty: 
Anemone, 118.00, C. L. Tutt estate, sold 
foreign. May, 1910. 
Apache, Edmund Randolph, sold foreign. 
Arethusa, 18.00, Frank E. Wood, sold foreign. 
Asteria, 421.00, Alexander Gordon, sold 
foreign. 
Calanthe, J. Arthur Hinckley, sold foreign. 
Candida, 151.00, Leon S. Kahn, sold foreign. 
Caress, Charles M. Hall, dismantled. 
Conqueror, 386.00, F. W. Vanderbilt, sold 
foreign. 
Cysne, E. B. Morton, broken up. 
Eelin, 43.81, Lindsley Loring, burned. 
Enchantress, Nathaniel L. McCready, sold 
foreign. 
Erl King, 440.74, A. Edward Tower, sold 
foreign. 
Gulnare, 204.00, sold foreign and lost. 
Gunilda, 390.85, W. L. Harkness, sunk in sixty 
fathoms Aug. 31, 1911. 
Hathor, Herbert Morris, sold foreign. 
Hermione, 270.09, Henry L. Pierce, sold to 
United States Government. 
Hildegarde, 111.61, Frank R. Long and J. L. 
Swarze, broken up. 
Jessica, M. Roosevelt Schuyler, used as a 
house ashore at Nyack, N. Y. 
Khama, George L. Batchelder, broken up. 
Lady Evelyn, 81.07, C. Williamson, wrecked. 
Miranda, 84.69, Charles N. Nelson, broken 
up March, 1910. 
Queen Mab, 40.50, Lucius H. Smith, broken 
up. 
Sapphire, 541.00, Flenry E. Converse, sold to 
United States Government. 
Satanella, 169.00, M. J. Lawrence, dismantled. 
Senta, John Fish, dismantled. 
Sybarita, W. Gould Brokaw, dismantled. 
Tuscarora, 533.00, Walter Jennings, sold 
foreign. 
Valiant, 1,823.23, William K. Vanderbilt, sold 
foreign. 
Varuna, 1,434.48, Eugene Higgins, wrecked. 
Vivid, unknown. 
Total, thirty yachts, 7,232.07 tons. 
Forty-nine yachts built abroad and understood 
to have been owned on Sept, i, 1909, and to 
be now owned by citizens of the United States 
have not paid the tax, as their owners generally 
have combined to test the validity of the law. 
The case is now before the Supreme Court of 
the United States. 
Another point in the connection that gener¬ 
ally is not known is the fact that whether or 
not owners pay the tax, they may not fly the 
American flag over a foreign-built vessel. This 
law, originally made in England, was confirmed 
in this country after the Revolution, along with 
other iniquitous barbarisms long passed out of 
existence in England, but which continue to 
flourish here. Shipping Illustrated writes edi¬ 
torially as follows: 
“To this law may be traced the decadence of 
shipbuilding in our country, for it is evident 
that were it possible for American owners to 
acquire ships wherever available at a low price, 
the amount of repair work, necessary for the 
maintenance of these foreign-built vessels alone 
would keep American shipyards busy. The 
yards competent to do the repair work speedily 
become, as has been found in Germany, com¬ 
petent to build ships themselves, and so the 
shipbuilding industry develops. Give the mer¬ 
chant half a chance to naturalize his ships, just 
as the owner himself may be naturalized, if he 
happens to have been born abroad, and see how 
quickly he will grasp it. The policy is earnestly 
recommended by practical men to all those who 
have the welfare of American waterborne com¬ 
merce sincerely at heart. It is a policy the 
precedent of which has been so well-established 
and the working of which has been so fully 
demonstrated as successful that there should 
be no serious opposition to its acceptance for 
general application.” 
Whether the decadence in ship building in 
.A.merica may justly be attributed to taxation 
or to the prohibition to the use of the Stars and 
Stripes, as our contemporary feels it should, 
the figures from Maine alone emphasize the de¬ 
cline in that once great industry. In 1911 the 
entire output of the State, including all sorts 
of craft, even to four vessels for United States 
Government was less than ten thousand tons, 
while in years past, previous to the passage 
of the Payne-Aldrich law, tonnage seldom fell 
below .30,000, and often ran as high as 70,000. 
In Maine only one yacht was built last year, 
Hesperia, owned by Chester A. Cogdon, of 
Duluth, Minn., a wooden vessel of twenty-three 
tons. 
