
Oct. 19, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 






VACHTING | 




The Last of the Madge. 
THE two very interesting views of the old 
Scotch cutter Madge have been sent us by Mr. 
E. T. Birdsall, a Long Island Sound yachtsman, 
who has recently moved to Rochester, and are 
| excellent examples of photography. 
Madge was built in Glasgow, Scotland, from 
designs of G. L. Watson in 1879 for Mr. Coates, 
one of the celebrated cotton thread manufac- 
turers, who sent her to America on the deck of 
the S. S. Devonia. She arrived in America on 
Aug. 16, 1881, in charge of Captain John Barr, 
whose reputation as a cutter skipper was second 

BOW 
OF MADGE, 
to none, and under his skillful handling proved 
/to the doubting members of the Seawanhaka Y. 

C. that she could thrash the America sloops. 
Madge never returned to England, but was 
sold in this country, and after several years in 
eastern waters was sold to Geo. P. Goulding, of 
Rochester. He used her on Lake Ontario. 
She found her final resting place in the yard 
of Captain Doyle near the mouth of the Genesee 
River and almost directly opposite the club house 
of the Rochester Y. C., at Charlotte, the lake 
port for Rochester, which is several miles inland. 
Hew owner started to demolish her. Her metal 
work was all taken off, the copper sheathing all 
removed, and also her lead keel. 
When Mr. Atmelius Jarvis came over to race 
Minota against Genesee in 1900 for the Fisher 
cup he purchased all the outfit, spars, gear, com- 
pass, winch, etc., belonging to Madge and took 
them back to Canada, making a flagpole out of 
her spars. 
Year by year she has been falling to pieces 
until, as the photo shows, the after deck is about 
ready to fall. 
Corinthian Yacht Racing Union. 
WHILE many of the racing yachts have gone 
out of commission, and some clubs even have 
closed for the season, the enthusiastic members 
of the various clubs composing the Corinthian 
Yacht Racing Union are still at it. This union 
is composed of the Morrisania Y. C., the Stuy- 
vesant, Morris, Manhattan Island, Williamsburg 
and Metropolitan. 
On Sunday, Oct. 6, they sailed a regatta. where 
twenty-one yachts raced from Belden Point, where 
the starting line was laid out, to and around 
Mattinicock Point buoy, then back around a 
mark boat off Weir Creek and finishing off Bel- 
den Point. 
Bedouin and Whileaway were the winners in 
the two sloop classes. The start was scheduled 
to: be off Belden Point at 12 o’clock, and long 
before that time a large fleet had congregated, 
but no judges appeared nor did one show up 
until 1:15 when the start was made in a light 
westerly breeze. Each one of the judges it seems 
left it to the other fellow to look after the race, 
with the result no one showed up, until as we 
said, over an hour late. Considerable amuse- 
ment was caused, however, during that hour. 
Some few had programmes, but many did not, 
so when a man on one craft hailed another and 
asked, “Where is Wire Creek?” no one could 
tell him. Some said it was near Mattinicock 
Point. Then another, looking at his programme, 
hailed, “Where is Wire Creek; do you know?” 
No one could enlighten him. This querie set 
those aboard the boats without programmes 
guessing with the result they all sailed up and 
got them, and all in turn asked the one mys- 
terious question, “Where is Wire Creek?” There 
was no chart on the programme to indicate 
whether it was in Cow Bay, Hempstead, on the 
New York shore, or in Westchester Bay, and 
not one of all the men seemed to know where 
this heretofore unknown creek was. 
Finally a man on a Morris Y. C. boat ex- 
plained the mystery. It was a little stream way 
up near East Chester. So now Weir or Wire 
Creek, as they call it, is kell known. 
The race was a run out to Mattinicock Point 
and a long hard beat back against an ebb tide 
and falling breeze that made the winners earn 
their laurels. Tanya was overloaded with talent 
and so low in the water Bedouin beat her out. 

Chicago to St. Louis by Motor Boats. 
CONSIDERABLE interest has been taken, particu- 
larly in the Middle States, in the message sent 
to President Roosevelt at St. Louis, Mo., from 
Mavor Busse, of Chicago, Ill., by motor boats. 
The new drainage canal from Chicago to the 
Illinois River was the route taken, and to in- 
crease interest and insure quick delivery a relay 
of boats was arranged along the route. Each 
boat carrying the message had another boat as 


ia eS 

a “trailer” following her in case she should meet 
with a mishap and be unable to proceed. 
The motor launch Lizzie S., owned by John 
T. Tammin, left Chicago at 11:37 A. M. on Mon- 
day, Sept. 30, arriving at Ottawa, eighty miles 
away, after passing through the new channel at 
8:30 P. M. Here Irondequoit, Mr. C. H. Heil- 
born, owner, took the leather pouch containing 
the message, but became disabled a few miles 
below Ottawa and her trailer, Isabelle, took it 
on to La Salle, eighteen miles further, arriving 
at 7:40 A. M. Tuesday, Oct. 1. Adieu, owned 
by Mr. C, H. Truitt, then took it seventy-three 
miles further down the Illinois River to Peoria, 
arriving at 11:30 A. M. Here Meteor, Mr. W. 
W. Hilde, continued 1or miles on down to La 
Grange, where Kitty Sparks IJ. met her and took 
the message the final dash of 109 miles to Alton, 
where she arrived at 9:19 P. M. and waited until 
next morning for the arrival of the presidential 
party that was coming down the Mississippi 
River on the Government boat Lily. The mes 
sage was delivered at 11 A. M. Wednesday, Oct. 
2, demonstrating the feasability of motor boat 
navigation down the Illinois River. The message 
is in the nature of a petition asking Govern- 
ment aid to dredge a 14ft. water way from Lake 
Michigan to the Mississippi. 

Ir the New York Y. C. members refuse to 
take any chance with the America’s cup it may 
produce a turning point in yachting affairs. The 
time is ripe and there is a generation of yachts- 
men, now members of other clubs, that may put 
up a trophy that will cause the much coveted 
“cup” to be shelved and covered with cobwebs. 
We want yachting for the sake of yachting and 
the good fellowship it breeds. If we cannot race 
for the America’s cup, we can race for another. 
This is the way the Brooklyn Y. C. members 
view the situation. 
Ree 
Mr. Appison G. HANAN, who sailed Seneca 
when she defeated Adele this summer in the 
Canada cup races, has purchased her at private 
auction sale from the Rochester Y. C.’s syndicate 
for $2,200. Yachtsmen will watch with interest 
her debut in Sound yachting, and a better idea of 
her relative speed with eastern boats can then be 
formed. It is quite likely, too, that others may 
be built to race against her. If there are that 
class will be the center of attraction in t908 on 
Long Island Sound. 

THE REMAINS OF 
MADGE IN 
1907. 

