Jan. 7, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
9 
hurried and were glad to see as much as pos¬ 
sible of the coast. Our harbors were Magothy 
River, Oxford on the eastern shore, Solomon’s 
Island, Wicomico River on the western side, 
Severn in Mobjack Bay and Old Point Comfort. 
Each has its peculiar interest in our memory. 
We shall never forget the sweeping shores of 
the Wicomico, with the stately pine grove run¬ 
ning out to a low sand spit where a solitary 
heron was standing, nor the friendly interest of 
Oxford in the visitors from the North, nor the 
beautiful silence of Severn. But of them all 
Solomon’s Island was the most delightful. No 
cruiser in the Chesapeake should pass the har¬ 
bor. It is in the'deep and beautiful mouth of 
the Pawtuxent River, where the little island on 
the northern side incloses a small harbor, which 
in turn has still smaller islands within it and 
runs up into half a dozen tiny coves. Nothing 
could give a deeper sense of security; it ;s 
doubly landlocked and peacefully remote. Yet 
it is by no means an inactive place. It is one 
To return to the practical side, Solomon’s 
Island affords the only clear illustration I know 
of an error in a Government chart. There is, 
it is true, a channel where the chart gives one 
close along the northern shore, but the usual 
and deeper channel, taken by the steamer, is 
directly out from the point of the island where 
the chart gives only four feet. I had been told 
of this in Baltimore, but might have hesitated 
to take it if I had not been piloted by a local 
boat. 
In general, in the Chesapeake cruise, the steady 
beating with light southerly winds became a little 
wearisome, and we missed some of the panorama 
of the shore by being obliged to keep out so far. 
The heat was once or twice excessive, but this 
was chiefly in harbor, where we could protect 
ourselves with awnings and could find a beach 
for bathing. It was a pleasant surprise to find 
so few mosquitoes. We had made abundant pro¬ 
vision against them with netting to cover all 
openings, but it was not until we were on the 
and the tributaries of Mobjack Bay, and since 
the object would be sightseeing, and the chief 
interest would be in the harbors and rivers, it 
may not be heresy to suggest a motor boat. 1 
had expected to find many yachts here, but be¬ 
tween Baltimore and Old Point Comfort we saw 
only two. 
As we had a long run before us up the coast, 
I did not go over to Norfolk, but contented 
myself with the poor anchorage at Old Point 
Comfort, just beyond the pier, behind the bar. 
Here we spent two nights of uneasy rolling, 
swung across the sea by the strong tide. This 
is probably a fairly safe anchorage and I noticed 
that it was used by two pilot boats, but it was 
in most uncomfortable contrast to the name of 
the place and to 'the quiet harbors where we 
had been lying. We got our mail, however, laid 
in supplies, saw Fortress Monroe and waited for 
the weather to settle. 
The sail up the coast was a chapter by itself 
and of course a very different matter from easy 
BUGEYES AT SOLOMON’S ISLAND. 
WATERFRONT AT BUCKSPORT. 
of the homes of the bugeye, and these pictur¬ 
esque little vessels lay at moorings around the 
harbor or were hauled up along the beach under 
the trees. There is a good store here for pro¬ 
visions and to my surprise we found water run¬ 
ning from a pipe on the wharf, drawn, I learned, 
from artesian wells that supply the island. We 
filled our tanks, and the supplies that we laid in 
included soft shell crabs at forty cents a dozen. 
The engine in the tender called for tinkering 
here, and while the spark plugs were being ad¬ 
justed in an out-of-doors shop, we were invited 
to refresh ourselves among the branches of a 
cherry tree that overhung the beach. 
Here, as everywhere in the Chesapeake, we 
found the human element quite as interesting 
and novel as the scenery. There was a dignified 
and friendly courtesy of speech and bearing 
that charmed us, and the soft voices, the soft 
air, the low shores and the brimming levels of 
the waters seem, as we recall them, to make a 
harmonious picture of leisure and of peace; that 
is, I think, the permanent impression which we 
retain from this part of our cruise. 
Maine coast that we were seriously troubled by 
them. To make up for this exemption we suf¬ 
fered, and suffered very seriously, from a plague 
of flies, which increased as we got down toward 
the tower end of the bay and reached their 
maximum as we were running up the coast out¬ 
side. They seemed to be different from the 
common house fly, and they bit ferociously, even 
through thin clothing, not infrequently drawing 
blood. We did all we could think of to get rid 
of them, but without any effect, and when we 
were sailing at night and had expected to make 
up sleep in the day time, the inconvenience was 
great. But this was only in part chargeable to 
the Chesapeake, and it was the only considerable 
drawback to our pleasure. 
So far as one may venture to speak from the 
experience of a single cruise, I can most ear¬ 
nestly commend the Chesapeake to Northerners. 
Probably May would be a better month than 
June for those who can get away at that time. 
Possibly April would not be too early. A shoal 
draft boat would enable one to explore the rivers 
that we had to pass by like the Choptank River 
cruising in the bay. The first stretch was of 
about 140 miles to Delaware Breakwater, with 
Assateague half way up as a possible harbor of 
refuge if the wind came in too strong from the 
northerly. On the morning of the 28th the 
weather was still so unsettled that we waited 
till 9 o’clock before starting and spent the time 
in getting weather predictions from shore and 
from, a pilot boat. But finally, as the barometer 
was steady and the weather showed signs of 
improvement, we got under way and stood out 
across the bay for the bell buoy off Cape Charles. 
The day did not continue to improve and thunder 
showers worked about both to the east and in 
the southwest, killing the wind. By night, how¬ 
ever, we were fairly on our way up the coast 
with a light southerly wind. 
In the early evening we caught some sharp 
puffs and had to lower mainsail and run for a 
while under foresail. Toward morning the light 
southerly wind came in again and—not to make 
too long a story of what was at the best a dull 
business—it lasted for the next thirty-six hours, 
long enough to carry us to the breakwater by 
