864 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 28, 1910. 
head for Hammondhasset Point, round it into 
Clinton Harbor and put up for the night. Right 
here I learned a valuable lesson in dead reckon¬ 
ing, failing to allow for the devilish flood tide 
that was rushing in. After what seemed an age 
I discovered land that to all appearances was 
the very country I was looking for. The chart 
showed a “Stone Island’’ off Clinton Harbor, 
and here was a stone island, it being a solid, 
naked rock like a large barn. Other things ap¬ 
parently tallied with the chart, so in we went. 
We found some high sandy beaches that spoke 
volumes for the surf that must gently roll in 
here at times, a jagged moss-green breakwater, 
and also a girl and a man in a canoe. These 
latter looking highly intelligent and seeming to 
take a lively interest in us, my father asked 
them if this was Clinton Harbor. 
“Oh, no,” the man said, “it is Madison; Clin¬ 
ton is five miles down the beach around the 
point.” 
I grew nervous; it was nearly 5 o’clock and 
we had five miles to go, an ugly point to round 
and a strange harbor to make. Night I felt 
would come early. The chart showing Ham¬ 
mondhasset Beach free from rocks with good 
water continuously, I kept close in, only a few 
hundred feet from shore, quite a change from 
the mile-off-shore run of the day. 
It grew black in the east; that is, that part of 
the smoky sky got blacker than the gray of other 
points. What if the engine should break down 
now, I thought. 
“What makes it so black in the east?” I 
asked my father. 
“Oh, that’s only looking toward the sea at 
night,” he replied, busy with getting supper. The 
children were busy with their dolls, playing 
happily. 
Suddenly, without other warning than the 
blackness aforesaid, the wind came with a sav¬ 
age roar. The very force of it reeled the Wawee 
over until everything began to slide. There was 
a snapping of awning6, a hiss of wind about the 
awning ropes, a towel spun away to leeward, 
the flag jumped out rigid as a knife blade. It 
seemed to grow dark in a moment. Since the 
wind was due east the water was smooth and 
would be until we reached the point when I 
saw we would get the full sweep of the sound. 
It would then “open up on us” and we would 
know our fate. Soon I saw the point, a low, 
rocky, lonely. God-forsaken looking place with 
two rocks like haystacks standing guard well 
out from the point, the seas breaking over them, 
hurling the spray high in air. Further out, near¬ 
ly half a mile, a red spar buoy serenely pointed 
heavenward. Whether its attitude was meant to 
indicate that was where we would go unless we 
passed it to port, I never stopped to consider, for 
I slashed straight ahead. I knew the breaking 
seas would point out any rock near the surface. 
The water was glowing white, a continuous mul¬ 
titude of breakers, rolling furiously against us. 
Spray drove in blinding sheets over the cabin, 
the crisp hiss of the salt water on the roof and 
awning blended well with the roar of the wind, 
the squeals of the children, the bang and thump 
of everything movable on board. The carefully 
prepared supper went in every direction at once, 
the port windows were snapped shut and hastily 
screened tight; furniture was stowed as rapidly 
as possible. The engine hummed steadily on, 
purring like a happy cat, pushing us up to wind¬ 
ward with determined strides, tearing the waves 
apart joyously. The tender jumped and yanked 
on its rope like a frisky calf. At such times 
my father and I can never agree. 
“Head in, head in!” he yelled over the noise 
of the storm. I gave one hasty glance at the 
surf eagerly climbing the rocks close in on our 
lee, and continued on my course, straight to 
windward, refusing to give up the wheel or 
swing in. The harbor opened out like two arms, 
the one we were passing, Hammondhasset Point, 
reaching much further out into the sound than 
the further one which I could see not far ahead. 
Had it been the other way around it would have 
been easy, but no one could reasonably expect 
any such luck. There was a red spar buoy 
exactly in the middle of the opening and no 
scrutiny of the buoy revealed any black ring on 
it or of the chart showed any reason for its 
being there. I did not know what to do or 
which side to pass the buoy, not understanding 
whether it was a harbor or a sound buoy or 
whether to pass it to port or starboard. So I 
just steered straight up under the lee of the 
other point, trusting to luck. In a few minutes 
we were in smooth water and sailing up a creek 
around a curious cedar-grown point into a quiet 
little harbor where some small motor and sail 
boats were anchored. Following the directions 
of a kindly native, we tied up to a weather¬ 
beaten dock behind an equally gray and storm- 
toned coal shed. Even in there the force of 
the wind was such that one had to lean far 
over to walk against it. After stopping the 
engine I settled down for two things, supper and 
to argue out to the last point my action in the 
course I had taken in rounding Hammondhasset 
Point coming in. 
The next day dawned as clear as a bell, as 
bright and fresh as only an October morning can 
be. At last the smoke was gone and we could 
see where we were going. After a pleasant 
morning, scraping acquaintance with fishermen, 
we sallied out as soon as the tide began to ebb. 
The wind still blew, but not hard enough to 
prevent our crossing the sound to. Plum Gut, and 
getting in to Three Mile Harbor, our destina¬ 
tion, early in the afternoon. The familiar faces 
there and the low, encircling hills densely cov¬ 
ered with scrub oak, just beginning to take on 
autumn colors, looked good to us. 
Julian Burroughs. 
Motor Boats in China. 
Several months ago Consul Julian H. 
Arnold, of Amboy, reported an experiment of 
placing a gasolene engine in a native Chinese 
sampan there, the results of which he describes 
in the Monthly Consular and Trade Reports: 
The sampan is a flat-bottomed dory boat used 
extensively at ports of China. There are about 
2,000 sampans in use in this district alone. The 
one equipped with a gasolene engine, is of the 
ordinary native type, being 18 feet 9 inches in 
length over all, 5 feet 3 inches in width over all, 
and draws about 15 inches of water. On the 
water it is but 16 feet 3 inches in length and 
4 feet wide. It is equipped with a 3J/2-horse- 
power single-cylinder Hildreth gasolene engine 
with reversing gear. The boat has seating 
capacity for seven persons, and is the type well 
adapted to this harbor, where there is at times 
considerable rough weather, and where a tide 
runs out at about four miles an hour. At slack 
tide it makes a speed of about seven miles an 
hour. Often the tide is so strong in this harbor 
as to make it impossible for a sampan rowed 
by ordinary Chinese coolie to make any pro¬ 
gress. 
A great advantage in a motor boat of this 
character is that, in the event of any accident to 
the motor,.the boat can be rowed by one man. 
It is difficult to secure native labor sufficiently 
experienced to fully understand either a gaso¬ 
lene or kerosene motor. It thus often happens 
that when something goes wrong with it the 
engineer (if a Chinese) is unable to promptly 
locate the difficulty, and if the boat is in the 
harbor it is liable to be carried by the tide and 
thrown onto rocks or collide with some other 
vessel, but with the sampan type a native boat¬ 
man as engineer can at a moment’s notice pro¬ 
pel it with oars. 
The American physician who is making the 
experiment with the boat in question states that 
if he were to equip a second sampan he would 
set the motor a little further forward, make the 
boat 3 feet longer, and arrange the seating 
capacity for more comfort to the occupants. 
He states that the 3 ) 4 -horsepower single 
cylinder motor is capable of operating the 
larger boat seven miles an hour. He recom¬ 
mends the engine for its simplicity and solidity, 
two necessary qualities in China, where native 
labor must be utilized. He says dry cells de¬ 
teriorate rapidly in this climate, making ignition 
difficult, and recommends a magneto, or, better 
yet, a storage battery and small dynamo. He 
finds a reversing gear quite necessary in this 
harbor, but would recomitiend a kerosene en¬ 
gine in preference to this gasolene engine, if it 
were possible to secure one equally efficient, be¬ 
cause the price of gasolene in China i_s about 
twice that of kerosene. 
If a kerosene engine has been invented the 
compactness, simplicity, and efficiency of the 
better class gasolene engine, it would fit the 
condition here and find a better market than 
would the ordinary gasolene engine, which is 
somewhat expensive on account of the high 
price of gasolene. 
Motor Bills Passed. 
The United States Senate and the House of 
Representatives have passed the bills which de¬ 
fine the equipment for motor boats of different 
sizes. This bill has been published in Forest 
and Stream, and owners of motor boats should 
see that their vessels are properly equipped. It 
will save them lots of trouble. The President 
will doubtless sign the law and it goes into 
force at once. 
Intruder Doing Well. 
F. K. Burnham’s fast motor boat Intruder 
has been tried and shown up well. Several re¬ 
ports have been in circulation that this launch 
was to make 36 miles an hour. It was expected 
that she would make about 32 miles, and that is 
what she has been doing. She will do better 
than that later on. 
Sparks. 
A 76 -foot cruising yacht was launched at De¬ 
troit last Saturday. It was named E. E. E. E., 
and is owned by B. F. Everett, who will use 
the yacht off Bois Blanc Island just across from 
Mackinaw Island. This yacht is 13 feet 6 inches 
beam. She has sleeping accommodations for 
fourteen guests and is driven by a 150 horse¬ 
power motor. 
The Fall River Y. C. has arranged motor boat 
races for June 4, July 14, 21 and 28 and Aug. 
4, 11, 18 and 25. 
E. V. Reed has a new 30-foot launch on the 
Taunton River which is built on racing lines and 
equipped with a high speed automobile engine. 
Mr. Reed is an old sailing craft man who has 
the speed fever just now. 
The 27-footers Carmar, Vaiti II. and Sea 
Rover, built at East Braintree by Loring from 
designs by Homer & Winslow, made successful 
trips around Cape Cod. They proved to be 
staunch, seaworthy and comfortable craft. 
Rough weather was experienced in Nantucket 
and Vineyard sounds. They are equipped with 
two cylinder Sterling or Eagle motors from 8 
to 12 horsepower. These boats and one other 
shipped by rail to Providence will take part in 
the long distance race of the Narragansett Bay 
Association to Oak Bluffs on July 23-24. 
Charles F. Ackerson’s 48-foot cruising motor 
boat Brat was tried on Great South Bay last 
week. She was built by George E. Buckhout at 
Poughkeepsie from designs by Edson B. Shock. 
Madegare II., a cruising motor boat built at 
East Greenwich for E. P. Lawson, has been 
launched. She is 60 feet on deck 11 feet beam 
and has a 40 horsepower motor. She can ac¬ 
commodate six guests in the quarters aft. 
New York builders of motor boat and motors 
report that more than 50 per cent, of their out¬ 
put at present is for export. One large plant 
at Geneva has shipped a motor aggregating 2,000 
horsepower to Finland. One motor of 75 horse¬ 
power has been shipped to Russia. Four more 
engines of the same design, in which kerosene 
is to be used, will follow soon. One engine of 
20 horsepower and one of 60 horsepower were 
sent to Cuba recently to serve in tow boats for 
harbor work. 
The countries to which the Geneva manufac¬ 
turers are now shipping are England, Canada, 
Cuba, Russia, Finland, Australia, Italy, Sweden, 
China, the Philippine Islands, Argentina, Brazil, 
San Salvador, British Colombia and Nicaragua. 
