342 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March i6, 1912 
The American Seamen’s Friend Society has 
a building at No. 507 West street, known as the 
Seamen’s Institute. It is a home for seamen 
when in the port of New York. The men have 
comforts provided for them at less than cost. 
During the last four months the number of sea¬ 
men who were given free food, lodging and 
clothing at this institute averaged more than 200 
each month. 
When forlorn and destitute men open the door 
of the institute, they are welcomed; in fact, 
even the sailor who spent his money in the 
saloons on the waterfront and has not a cent in 
his pocket is given a bed. The bed is comfort¬ 
able and the room is warm. Many seamen have 
taken a fresh grasp on self-respect as a result 
of this human interest. Letters to the society’s 
officers is the evidence to prove it. The ships’ 
apprentices also make the institute their home. 
Letters are on file from the boys’ mothers in 
appreciation of the society’s watchful care over 
their boys when in port. 
Amateur Motor Boat Men. 
Commodore William B. Selden, of the New 
York Motor Boat Club, has been obtaining the 
views of prominent amateurs on his questions, 
“What is an amateur motor boat man?’’ The 
questions he subniitted were as follows: 
First—Should professional sailing masters, 
pilots, mates, engineers and helpers be barred 
from amateur motor boat races? 
Second—Should the professional mechanic and 
engineer, working for daily hire at his trade, be 
barred from such races? 
Third—Should the owner of a boat, when the 
boat is racing, be on his boat even if he is not 
competent to sail it? 
Fourth — Taking into consideration the fact 
that constant handling of a gasolene engine and 
ignition systems will in time make any one 
familiar with their uses and always more expert 
than the green boat owner; and that the mere 
selling of boats, engines and accessories, does 
not necessarily imply professionalism in .its true 
sense; cannot a rule for the racing of motor 
boats in amateur events be laid down, which, 
while it would bar the strictly professional, work¬ 
ing at his business for hire, would be sufficiently 
broad and comprehensive in its scope to allow 
all others to race motor boats as amateur sports¬ 
men ? 
Thus far Commodore Selden has obtained 
opinions from those higher up in amateur ath¬ 
letics, who are not qualified to judge as experts 
because they represent only that branch of sport, 
the participants in which have their expenses 
for training, uniforms, transportation and ‘ liv¬ 
ing,’’ while in training, paid by the clubs they 
represent, while the yachtsman or motor boat 
owners pay their own expenses from beginning 
to end. Our answers would be— 
No. i^—“No,” so long as the professional did 
not steer the boat nor have charge of the actual 
running of the engine. Professionals should be 
allowed to oil or make repairs. 
No. 2—“No,” under same conditions as in an¬ 
swer to question above. 
No. 3—"No.” Suppose an owner goes to the 
expense of sending his boat to Monaco to the 
races this summer and is taken sick before the 
race. It would be obviously unfair to him to 
compel the withdrawal of his boat, and thereby 
lose his investment, presuming she were built 
for this particular race, simply because he could 
not be on his craft. 
No. 4—An engine designer or an expert oper¬ 
ator who does not earn his living running en¬ 
gines after they have been installed in hulls 
should certainly not be barred from handling 
motor boat engines in a race any more than 
Slazenger, who makes tennis rackets, should be 
barred from playing amateur tennis did he so 
desire. 
Why not get opinions from motor boat own¬ 
ers who are both amateur and expert and frame 
up rules based upon a consensus of opinion of 
these men, exclusive of any advice from the 
Amateur Athletic Union or the National Asso¬ 
ciation of Amateur Oarsmen. 
Tricked by the Compass. 
Compass troubles are frequent on board a 
power boat, and in many instances have come 
very near having serious consequences, says Out¬ 
ing. Mr. Giles, owner of Elmo II., had an ex¬ 
perience that under different circumstances might 
have wrecked his craft. 
In the last Cornfield race he had sighted the 
lightship and was heading straight for it when 
he began to notice that the compass was swing¬ 
ing gradually around. From east by north it 
went slowly to east and then to southeast. 
He thought at first it was due to the tide 
carrying him down and did not bother about it, 
but after a while he realized the deviation was 
too great, and he called to one of the crew to 
look around for the cause. The man soon found 
it. A lantern hoisted at the masthead had broken 
from its lashings and gradually worked down 
the stay until near enough to the compass to 
affect it. Had not the lightship been in sight 
the change of course would hardly have been 
observed and there is no telling where the boat 
might have landed. 
Aboard the Kittrois, in the Marblehead race 
of 1909, something very similar happened. While 
passing Block Island a screwdriver had to be 
used, and it was inadvertently dropped beside 
the helmsman. To the surprise of every one, 
when Vineyard Sound lightship was raised, it 
was off the starboard bow instead of being well 
to port. The true course had been accurately 
held and every one knew something must be 
wrong. A search was instituted and the offend¬ 
ing screwdriver discovered, hidden under a 
sweater. 
“The most curious episode of the lot I wit¬ 
nessed on another trip. In some unaccountable 
way the jewel upon which the compass rested 
was broken during a storm, and although the 
dial seemed to rotate as usual, it really caught 
at times and failed to round against the boat. 
“We had been skirting the outward coast of 
Long Island for about four hours in a dense fog 
and should have been about three miles off shore 
when one of those unexplainable impulses which 
prompt us how and then without apparent reason 
urged me to climb out on the turtle deck and 
act as lookout. I had been on watch before the 
fog closed in and knew positively that our bear¬ 
ing at the time and our course since had been 
right. 
“Nevertheless, almost unwittingly, I yielded to 
the impulse. I had not been forward more than 
thirty seconds when my heart jumped into my 
mouth. Dead ahead, not twenty yards away, 
four or five blackcaps, the vanguard of a rocky 
shore near Montauk, had suddenly loomed into 
view. The reverse lever stooped us in time and 
we backed carefully into deep water, but had 
I hesitated at all or had it been dark nothing on 
earth could have saved us from running aground 
among the breakers at full speed. 
“So well have skippers learned to appreciate 
the dangers from compass vagaries that two 
and even three instruments are generally carried 
on various parts of the boat. In the quoted in¬ 
stance we had a standard on the after deck and 
thereafter stationed a man beside it with instruc¬ 
tions to warn the steersman every time he 
swerved from the course.” 
Eastern Division Dinner. 
The annual dinner of the Eastern Division of 
the A. C. A. was held at the American House, 
Boston, Saturday evening, March 9, and fifty 
members and guests were' present. Wm. W. 
Crosby, of the luitou Canoe Club, officiated as 
toastmaster and called on the following speak¬ 
ers ; Samuel Burnham, treasurer of the A. C. 
A. , gave a very entertaining talk on Sugar Island 
and the general camp, urging, all to go there 
and have a good time. Rear-Commodore John 
B. Howard spoke about canoe racing and handed 
out some good ideas on the racing game. Chair¬ 
man B. L. Goodwin, of the camp-site committee 
for the Eastern Division, told what had been 
done so far in regard to the Eastern Division 
meet, which will be held at Lakeville, Mass., 
June 15, 16 and 17. He said that about thirty 
acres of woodland had been procured on the 
shore of Long Pond where camping facilities 
were of the very best and that his committee 
were going to do everything in their power to 
make the meet the best camping meet in the 
history of the Eastern Division. 
Capt. E. V. Cormerais, of the Dedham Boat 
Club, who is also chairman of the transportation 
committee for the Eastern Division, in addition 
to some very witty remarks, said that arrange¬ 
ments would probably be made to get canvas and 
duffle to the Eastern Division meet by trolley ex¬ 
express. Fred Davis, Fred W. Cramphorne, 
Louis Stringer and John Robertson spoke enter¬ 
tainingly on canoeing matters. 
The gathering broke up with everybody ex¬ 
pressing their intention to be present at the 
division meet in June. 
Fred Brodbeck, 
Vice->Commodore E. D. A. C. A. 
A. C. A., Western Division. 
Chicago, Ill., iMarch i. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following events are scheduled 
for the season: Mid-winter meeting and dinner, 
Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, March 16, 3 p. m. 
and 6 p. m. ; Fox River-Illinois River cruise, 
Aurora, May 30-31, June 1-2; Division Meet, 
Jiily 4 . 5. 6, 7 and 8. General Meet, Sugar 
Island, Aug. 9 to Aug. 23; Labor Day cruise, 
Aug. 31, Sept. I and 2. 
Detailed information concerning each will be 
given later. F. B. Huntington, Vice-Corn. 
Chicago. Ilk, iMarch 8.-— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The annual mid-winter reunion of the 
Western Division will be held at the Grand 
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YACHT and BOAT SAILING 
By the lata Dijeon K.emp 
Tenth edition. Published 1904. We have a copy in 
fairly good condition, published at tl2, which we will 
sell for $9.00. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
