FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 18, 1911- 
Color of the Sea. 
Poets arc fond of talking of the “deep, blue 
sea.” says an observant traveler in Master. 
Mate and Pilot. Yet the sea which beats upon 
the British coasts is certainly not blue. On the 
east coast it is brown, with sand and mud 
churned up by the waves from the vast mud 
flats; on our southern shores, where there is 
no mud to stain it, it is a rich green. 
But visit the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, 
and here you find the true birds. The Cult 
Stream, which pours like a gigantic river out 
of the boiling pot of the Caribbean and drives 
its way northwestward in a volume a hundred 
times greater than the mighty Amazon, is blue 
as the sky and affords a most startling contrast 
to the green Atlantic, through which it flows. 
Its temperature is 74 deg., that of the ocean 
on either side not above 5 ° deg., an d its edges 
are marked by long lines of flotsam and jetsam 
_driftwood, canes, palm leaves, all sorts ot 
tropical debris. 
As the Gulf stream runs on its way past 
Cape Hatteras, it widens from 37 to 78 mi es, 
and grows much shallower. Before it reaches 
our latitudes it has become a mere shallow 
sheet, overlying the colder strata below, till, 
gaining the banks of Newfoundland, you can 
notice in calm weather stripes of green water 
invading the blue of the great tropical current. 
Why is the Gulf Stream blue and the more 
northern ocean green? The answer is that it 
has been proved that the blueness of sea water 
is in constant ratio to its saltness In the 
tropics the tremendous evaporation induced by 
the blazing sun causes the water to be much 
more salt than it is in higher latitudes For 
about 30 deg. both north and south of the 
equator the waters of the world s oceans are 
of an exquisite azure. Beyond these latitudes 
the blue fades, and changes to green, and in 
the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans the greens 
are almost as vivid as the tropical blues. 
The extraordinary blueness of the Mediter¬ 
ranean has two causes. One is that very few 
large rivers of fresh water run into this sea; 
the second that the Mediterranean is prac¬ 
tically landlocked, and, being exposed to a pow- 
erful sun. evaporation is great. By actual test 
the waters of the Mediterranean are heavier 
and more salt than those of the Atlantic. 
But blue and green are not the only colors 
observed in the worlds seas and oceans. In 
January, 1909. a river of yellow water, three 
miles wide, and of enormous length, was ob¬ 
served running parallel with the Gulf Stream. 
It stretched from Cape Florida to Cape Hat¬ 
teras, and was undoubtedly caused by some 
tremendous upheaval, probably of a volcanic 
nature. It remained for several weeks. 
Again about nine years ago, the sea turned 
almost black off a large portion of the Cali¬ 
fornia coast. The whole of Santa Cruz Bay 
assumed this extraordinary inky hue, and fish¬ 
ing came abruptly to an end. In this case the 
darkness seems to have been caused by millions 
of tiny animalculae known as whale food. 
The dull-reddish tint which is occasionally 
seen in the Red Sea, and which has given that 
sea its name, has a similar cause. The water 
becomes full of miscroscopic algae tiny seed. 
China's Yellow Sea is usually supposed to 
owe its origin to the flood of muddy water 
which its great river pours into it. But here, 
again, modern science has proved that living 
organisms are responsible. 
Occasionally, and for some cause as yet un¬ 
discovered. great areas of tlie ocean turn milk 
white. In March, 1904, the passengers and 
crew of a Japanese merchant vessel, steaming 
at night between Hongkong and Yokohama, 
ran into a snow-white sea. Not an opaque, 
phosphorescent surface, but an expanse of pure 
snow white, having a dazzling effect upon the 
eyes. The phenomenon lasted for six hours, 
and alarmed the passengers so greatly that not 
one slept at all that night. 
Motor Boating . 
Motor Trophy Race Rules. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from any 
newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to supply you 
regularly. 
The representatives of the Royaf Motor Y. 
C as trustees, and the Motor Boat Club ot 
America as holder of the British International 
trophy for motor boats have agreed on the con¬ 
ditions to govern all races for that trophy, i he 
deed of trust was published last week in the 
Forest and Stream, and now the new rules 
are given in full. These are changed very ma¬ 
terially from the old ones and give the chal¬ 
lengers a much better chance of success, in 
future the series of races will be continued until 
one country by its representatives have won 
two races. Challenges can be made up to 
March I, and the races must be held between 
Tune 1 and Oct. 1. The rules are as follows: 
1. The races shall be run between June 1 and 
Oct 1 in each year, There shall be at least 
two’races, and as many more as may be neces¬ 
sary until one country has won two races. 1 he 
races shall be held from day to day except bun- 
days, unless a postponement is ordered by the 
international commission under rule 15. lhe 
country which first wins two races shall be ad- 
judged the winner of the trophy. Not more 
than one race shall be held on one day unless 
with the consent of all the contestants given 
after the finish of the first race. It such CC V 1 
sent be given a second race may be held on the 
same day. , , , . 
2. Any properly constituted motor yacht 
club motor boat club, yacht club or automobile 
club shall be entitled to challenge for the trophy 
or enter a boat for its defense. All challengers 
and entries shall be forwarded to the recognized 
club of the country holding the trophy, and in 
the case of a challenge the challenging cluD 
shall at the same time give notice to the recog¬ 
nized club of its own country. If the lecogmzed 
club of a country shall receive notice of more 
than three challengers or three entries it shall 
hold such races or trials as it may consider 
necessary in order to select a team of three 
boats to represent its own country in the race. 
3. In the event of no challenge having been 
received by the recognized club of the country 
holding the trophy on or before March 1, no 
race shall take place during that year In no 
case shall the races take place within five 
months of the receipt of the first challenge and 
no further challenges shall be accepted after 
May 1 in any year. 
4 Not later than one month after the re¬ 
ceipt of the first challenge the recognized club 
of the country holding the trophy shall give 
notice to all recognized clubs of the date and 
place of the races and not less than two months 
before the date of the races shall forward full 
particulars of the course to the recognized clubs 
of every country which has challenged for the 
trophy. . , 
3. The races shall be over a suitable course 
in sheltered waters of the country holding the 
trophy, selected by the recognized club of that 
country, or failing that in similar waters in 
Great Britain or Ireland. 
6. The length of the course shall not be less 
than twenty-five nor more than thirty-five 
nautical miles, and shall be arranged so as to 
avoid any angle in the course of less than 120 
degrees, and there shall be a distance of at least 
100 yards between any two marks. The length 
of each round shall not be less than five nor 
more than eight nautical miles. 
7. The measurement and starting of the com¬ 
peting boats and the judging of the race shall 
be carried out by the international commission 
defined by condition 11 hereof, which shall also 
be the racing committee referred to in the rac¬ 
ing rules of the A. I. Y. A. for the purpose of 
considering protests. 
8. The trophy shall be handed to the club 
of the winning boat, except that where two 
boats belonging to different clubs of one coun¬ 
try have each won one race the trophy shall be 
handed to the recognized club of that country, 
and the recognized club shall hold a further 
race to decide which club is entitled to the 
custody of the trophy. The trophy shall be 
held by such club for one year, or until the 
date of the next race, which ever shall be the 
shorter period, when it shall be returned to the 
recognized club of its country. 
9. The club having possession of the trophy 
shall undertake the safe custody of it, and shall 
insure it for £250, and shall pay the necessary 
premium. Such insurance shall cover not only 
loss by fire or theft, but any other loss or dam¬ 
age whatsoever. 
10. The only limitation of the size of the com¬ 
peting boats shall be the over-all length of the 
hull, which shall not exceed 40 feet. 
11. There shall be no restriction on the num¬ 
ber, size or horsepower of the engines or motors, 
except that each boat taking part in any race 
shall contain and be fitted with such mechanical 
power as will drive her astern at a rate of speed 
not less than four knots in still water. 
12. Each boat shall carry a distinguishing 
flag, which may be of any material, and shall 
not be less than 12 inches hoist nor 15 inches 
fly, and shall be carried at a height of not less 
than two feet clear of the deck. 
12a. Each boat entered as one of a team rep¬ 
resenting any country must start in every race 
before the winning boat completes the course 
and must finish the course within three hours 
of the finish of the winning boat. Any boat 
failing to do so in any race will be ineligible to 
start in any succeeding race. 
13. In the event of any temporary accident 
to or derangement of any one of the competing 
boats during the race, no assistance shall be ren¬ 
dered to the boat other than by the hands car¬ 
ried by the said boat. If the accident or de¬ 
rangement is of such a nature that outside as¬ 
sistance shall be necessary, the distinguishing 
flag shall be hauled down and the boat shall take 
no further part in the races. Outside assistance 
may not be given or rendered or procured until 
the distinguishing flag has been hauled down, 
but after the same has been hauled down, assist¬ 
ance mav be given, but the boat shall be imme¬ 
diately removed front the course and shall not 
interfere in any way with the other competitors. 
14. In case of an accident to one of the com¬ 
petitors. the other competitors shall continue the 
race and finish the course. In the event of one 
competitor going to the assistance of another, 
the committee shall decide whether the race shall 
be run again. 
15. If in the opinion of the international 
commission, constituted as provided in condition 
10 of the deed of gift, a postponement of the 
race or an alteration of the course shall be de¬ 
sirable owing to unfavorable weather or any 
unforeseen cause, this commission shall have 
power to take such action as may be necessary, 
but in any case the course must conform to 
Nos. 5 and 6 of these rules. 
16. Each boat competing for the trophy must 
carry at least two life buoys in a position ready 
for use. 
Motor Boats at Copenhagen. 
A letter from Count Moltke, Danish Minister 
at Washington to the Department of State, pub¬ 
lished in Daily Consular and Trade Reports, 
says: “An International Exhibition of Power 
Motors for the use of fishing boats will be 
open in Copenhagen for about fifty days of the 
months of July and August, 1912. The exhibi¬ 
tion is organized by the executive committee 
of ‘The Scandinavian Fishery Exhibition, the 
International Exhibition of Motors, and the 
Northern Fishery Congress in Copenhagen, 
1912.’ 
“His Majesty the King is the patron of 
the exhibition, the Minister of Agriculture its 
president, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen its 
vice-president. A government subsidy and 
guaranty aggregating 100.000 kroner ($26,800) 
has been granted the exhibitions. 
“The object of this note is officially to notify 
the United States Government of the Interna¬ 
tional Exhibition of Power Motors and other 
machinery for the use of fishing boats.” 
