-^\ 
 
 Class "!" / <f 
 
 Book 
 
 .Km 
 
 CoByright}^^ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
/ 
 
 wu 
 
 y 
 
VACATION CRUISING 
 
 IN 
 
 CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE 
 
 BAYS. 
 
 ^y 
 
 BY 
 
 J.-^t>''ROTHROCK, M.D, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 " In brief, I may say that we have had somewhat too much of ' the 
 gospel of work.' It is time to preach the gospel of relaxation." 
 
 Herbert Spencer, New York Address. 
 
 ILL US TR A TE 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1884. 
 
l^ 
 
 Copyright, 1884, by J. B. LiPPINCOTT & Co. 
 
TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, 
 
 IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF HER DEVOTION 
 
 TO THE WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS 
 
 OF HER CHILDREN. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Description of the Yacht, and Reasons for 
 
 THE Cruise 7 
 
 II. Down the Chesapeake and Up the James . • iS 
 
 III. Down the James and Up the Chesapeake . . 50 
 
 IV. Cruising on the Delaware River and Bay . 166 
 V. Who Should Go Cruising 238 
 
 VI. T9 Winter-Quarters in the Choptank . . 245 
 
VACATION CRUISING 
 
 IN 
 
 CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 / 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE YACHT, AND REASONS FOR 
 THE CRUISE. . 
 
 The plan of spending this vacation on the 
 water grew gradually, and at last commended 
 itself to my judgment, because it was cheap, full 
 of health, and promised as complete a change in 
 mode of life as one could hope to obtain. 
 
 Furthermore, as I proposed partly utilizing 
 the time by such natural history studies and 
 observations as would not consume brain-power 
 faster than it was created, some few books, a 
 microscope, plant-press, and paper were required. 
 
 7. 
 
8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 These conditions were most fully met by making 
 a small yacht my means of conveyance, my 
 home, and my laboratory. It is to be remem- 
 bered that study was far from being the primary 
 object of the cruise. 
 
 To carry out my plan a strong, nearly new 
 boat was purchased, — not a racing yacht, in which 
 everything was sacrificed to speed, but a solid, 
 " well-fastened" little sloop, whose qualities were 
 safety "first, comfort second, and some speed at the 
 tail-end of a long list of good points. 
 
 This boat, originally the " Varuna," of Bridge- 
 ton (New Jersey), was renamed '* Martha," for 
 reasons which were entirely satisfactory to my 
 little boys (who were my sailing companions part 
 of the time) and to myself. The custom-house 
 papers gave thirty feet long, eleven feet beam, 
 and three and a half feet deep as the dimensions 
 of the little craft.* 
 
 * Much greater depth and less beam in proportion to length 
 are now regarded as important elements of safety, and doubtless 
 truly so ; but I was obliged to have a boat whose depth would 
 not prevent my entering harbors where I particularly desired to 
 go. An old waterman expressed his opinion of my boat by 
 saying, " You can't drown her." 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. g 
 
 No more sail was carried than was absolutely- 
 required. The spars were shorter and stronger 
 than were usual in sloops of her size ; and, as 
 further security against a capsize, more than a 
 ton of pig iron was placed and fastened as low 
 down inside as we could get it. Six hundred 
 to a thousand pounds more outside on her keel 
 would have added to her sailing qualities, though 
 without this the boat gave no indication of un- 
 steadiness. 
 
 Before the vacation began every seam had been 
 most carefully gone over and made tight ; the 
 standing rigging was newly set up, and every 
 cord of the running rigging was either new, or as 
 good as new. Our ground tackle was two power- 
 ful holding anchors and plenty of manila rope to 
 swing to. Cleats and reefing gear were all in per- 
 fect order. Not once during the entire summer 
 were we endangered or incommoded from want 
 of preparation of anything we should have had 
 ready, but which was not ready. 
 
 A good aneroid barometer held a place so 
 conspicuous that it must be noticed, and thus we 
 were left without excuse if not forewarned of 
 coming danger by storm. Compass, charts, lead 
 
lO VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 and line, side-lights, anchor-light, and cabin-light 
 completed the details that contemplated safety. 
 
 Next came comfort. First of all, every avenue 
 to the cabin was guarded by wire mosquito-net- 
 ting, — so well guarded that we absolutely escaped 
 all torment from these minute flying fiends. We al- 
 ways kept the sliding cabin windows open. Hence 
 we had the full benefit by day and by night of 
 whatever " air was going." The " bunks" were 
 large enough for men of moderate dimensions to 
 sleep comfortably in, with tossing room besides. 
 The rule that all bedding must be frequently aired 
 was religiously adhered to. 
 
 Food. — Canned corn, tomatoes, and baked 
 beans, with rice, oatmeal, prunes, good pilot-bread, 
 ham and the best breakfast bacon, tea, coffee, 
 and sugar, I purchased for the season at wholesale 
 price. Fresh fruits and meats were obtained as 
 required. If there was lack of luxurious living, 
 there was no want of nutritious plain food. The 
 medicine-case was well supplied, — not that it was 
 needed much for the inmates of the boat, but 
 because, in the out-of-the-way places where we 
 went, it often enabled me to relieve some suffering 
 fellow. There is a comfort in giving help without 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. n 
 
 hope of reward, or without possibility of it, save 
 such mental approval as a pure charity brings to 
 the giver. A little of this does go a long, long 
 way into after-life, softening one's own sorrows, 
 and brightening his own joys. Hence, then, by 
 all means, a medicine-chest. 
 
 Another most important article was added — 
 a small, cheap camera for dry-plate photogra- 
 phy. One may now be had at a price which 
 is within reach of every tourist, and nothing is 
 easier than to become an adept in the use of the 
 instrument. Let me suggest, however, that each 
 tourist contemplating a prolonged trip purchase 
 enough plates at once for his use, and that he 
 fairly test their sensitiveness before leaving his 
 base of supplies. I have no complaints to make 
 because a large proportion of the plates of a well- 
 known dealer failed to give the results I had 
 anticipated, and which I had always obtained 
 before from his supplies. The fault was my own, 
 that I had not tried the lot before starting out. 
 We can hardly as yet guess how important a 
 factor this amateur photography is to be in the 
 book-making of the future. Neither can we meas- 
 ure its possible influence in opening minds to the 
 
12 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 quiet beauty or the sublime grandeur which our 
 land everywhere possesses. To judge what its 
 possible effect may be a century hence, study 
 what it has already done for men — and women 
 too — who, before they became amateurs, had no 
 appreciation of the fact that a tree or a rock could 
 have either individuality or attractiveness. With- 
 out wishing to be over-enthusiastic, or be re- 
 garded as filled with the zeal of a neophyte, I 
 can hardly avoid counting this art in as one of the 
 humanizing forces of the times. 
 
 Reading Matter. — What so good as some of 
 iCingsley's writings ? Real enough to charm and 
 invigorate the mind, suggestive enough to open 
 whole realms to any student who has the capacity 
 for observation or for generalization, yet without 
 the details with which some authors drag their 
 readers down to the level of those everlasting 
 figures. There is a mental condition which grows 
 out of constantly contemplating ratio and per- 
 centage, which is dangerous, because the victim 
 always fails to note that the sunshine is leaving 
 his soul, and that, as his facts and his averages pile 
 themselves higher and higher, his own inner self 
 is being dwarfed. Who of all writers could so fitly 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 13 
 
 fill the little space left for reading matter as 
 Charles Kingsley ? Of course there were, besides, 
 the ordinary scientific and yachting manuals. 
 
 One more element remained to be considered, 
 which, if not under the head of comfort, comes 
 under the more important one of health, — I mean 
 cleanliness. Nothing so disturbs rest as the 
 thought that as one sleeps visitors, demons of 
 the night, children of filth, are feasting upon his 
 blood ; or that some disease-germ, vigorous in 
 the absence of fumigation, is nursing in his veins 
 a progeny that shall work him unknown harm. 
 This bar to bliss when cruising is often intimately 
 associated with a hired vessel. But then there 
 could be no excuse for it on board one's own 
 yacht, so I determined that, inside and out, the 
 vessel should be cleaned every day. This rule 
 was observed during the entire cruise, save for 
 two weeks very early in the season. The yacht 
 was also pumped out, washed out, and fumigated 
 on the least suspicion that anything might be 
 wrong, or on the bare idea that peace of mind or 
 health of body could be in the least degree sub- 
 served by any additional precaution. 
 
 And now, — 
 
 2 
 
14 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 " Over the rail 
 
 My hand I trail, 
 Within the shadow of the sail ; 
 
 A joy intense, 
 
 The cooling sense 
 Glides down my drowsy indolence." — Drifting. 
 
 Note. — During the summer I had the pleasure of having 
 with me, each for a short time, the following gentlemen : Messrs. 
 George Johnson, William Butler, Jr., James Sellers, Professor 
 G. M. Philips, and Mr. James Bull. My two little boys were 
 with me several weeks. So that not the least among the ''de- 
 lights of yachting is the privilege of having friends share what- 
 ever of pleasure there may be in it. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DOWN THE CHESAPEAKE AND UP THE JAMES. 
 
 Friday afternoon, June 9, I met the " Martha" 
 at Delaware City, whence we were to go through 
 the canal to the Chesapeake Bay. Of course it 
 was an unlucky day on which to begin a long 
 trip, though I am bound to declare that, looking 
 back on the events of the cruise, I do not see 
 just where the misfortunes came in. The day was 
 exceedingly warm, and a dead calm rested upon 
 the waters. The glare of the sun was almost 
 intolerable to the eyes ; though I must say here 
 that this intolerance of the bright reflection 
 ceased in a few days. 
 
 The hours from ten, when I reached the place, 
 until three, when the yacht came into the lock, 
 passed away very slowly. The local industry 
 which appeared to be most thriving at that time 
 was sturgeon-catching. Two or three antiquated 
 river sloops and schooners lay alongside the wharf. 
 
1 5 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 The odor arising from them told plainly enough 
 what their vocation was. But the crews of these 
 sturgeon-boats revealed most unexpectedly a 
 fondness for the beautiful. The air of the town 
 was filled with the perfume of roses, which 
 were then blooming in profusion. Sturdy, oil- 
 odored sturgeon-fishermen wandered through the 
 town with huge clusters of roses, giving you as 
 they passed the mingled perfume of the rose and 
 the fish in the same inhalation. This unlooked- 
 for susceptibility, however, was not so strange 
 as it was to discover that the place where the 
 roses came from was a bar-room filled with a 
 noisy crowd. The roses and the rye were dis- 
 pensed over the same bar. 
 
 The " Martha" entered the lock at Delaware 
 City, as has been said, at three in the afternoon. 
 By four we were hitched on to the steam-tug 
 "Swallow," and long before dark were through 
 the canal. When constructed, this canal must 
 have been one of the great internal improve- 
 ments of that age. The wonder is, however, 
 that in spite of it Baltimore did not filch away 
 from Philadelphia more of the grain crop which 
 was grown on the Pennsylvania hill-sides. It is 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, 
 
 17 
 
 doubtless well known who the moving spirits of 
 the enterprise were, and also what their object 
 was in cutting the State of Delaware through. 
 One can readily understand how, in the interest 
 of its great city, Pennsylvania could well afford 
 to have made the canal, if necessary, in order 
 that her own grain crop at least might be handled 
 in and exported from her own chief port, rather 
 than to have gone abroad from another State. 
 
 As a rule, there is no inspiration in canal navi- 
 gation, or certainly few people find it. For all this 
 it was a really enjoyable trip across from bay 
 to bay. Our transit was made in the delicious 
 cool of the evening, after a frightfully hot day. 
 The adjectives used are strictly intentional and 
 premeditated, for the sufficient reason that they 
 express more truly than figures can how the 
 noonday and the evening temperature affected us. 
 I do not know where the mercury would have 
 stood, because I never carry a thermometer when 
 on a Southern cruise in summer, for it is simply 
 exasperating to know just how much heat we are 
 enduring. It is far more comfortable not to have 
 the exact figures ; they always intensify the sun's 
 
 rays. In the canal we enjoyed the scenery and 
 6 2* 
 
1 8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the rich perfume from the magnolia and the fox- 
 grape. I would really quite like to spend a week 
 in working (botanizing) along the banks of the 
 canal. There is a luxuriant, and apparently a 
 very varied, flora in the region. 
 
 On Saturday morning our patience was almost 
 exhausted before we were taken in tow by the tug 
 for the Elk River. The master of the tug did not 
 care to venture out so long as the fog remained 
 dense. Probably he was entirely right, because 
 until eight o'clock objects distant more than a 
 hundred yards were shut out from view ; though 
 the captain of a large Crisfield schooner did not 
 think so, and, hoisting his sails, he started to 
 work his way down to the Elk. However, — 
 " luck in leisure," — we passed him very soon 
 when the tug did start. 
 
 As we entered the Elk the fog cleared away 
 entirely, and the glorious water view opened 
 before us to the southward. I never look from 
 above the Bohemian River down toward the bay 
 that this panorama does not impress me. It 
 does so more and more the oftener I look at and 
 enjoy it. To the south there is no visible limit. 
 The bold, timber-covered bluffs east or west, with 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. iq 
 
 navigable rivers coming in between, run so that 
 the horizon widens as one looks south. It is a 
 scene characterized neither by grandeur nor yet 
 by quiet beauty alone^ The combination of 
 water, of plains, and of hills in just the proper 
 proportion is what completes this perfect picture, 
 —-so perfect, too, that each season brings its own 
 special beauty to the view. Back from the water 
 a little distance, on higher ground, may be seen 
 the comfortable houses of the farmers. Without 
 indicating the presence of great wealth, the whole 
 appearance of the region is one of thrift and 
 abundance.. There is no sign of the ** take-it-as- 
 it-come^* spirit which is so common south of An- 
 napolis ; the air of the place rather speaks, " Make 
 the most of it.[' Turkey Point, high and tfmber- 
 clad^ the location of an important light4iouse. 
 stands like a sentmel between the Elk and the 
 wide^ shoal mouth of the Susquehanna River» 
 
 Probably one should say as little harsh in char- 
 acter about wind or weather as possible when 
 cruising for he can alter neither one nor the 
 other- neither does it indicate a well-ordered 
 mind to find fault with that which cannot be 
 helped^ and which^ even if we could alter, would 
 
20 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 probably be the worse for the interference. Still, 
 as a simple inquiry, it may be allowed us to ask, 
 — how many days of the summer season does the 
 southern-bound navigator find head-winds to con- 
 tend with on the upper, or indeed the whole, 
 Chesapeake Bay? 
 
 By four in the afternoon we entered what is 
 known to fishermen, oystermen, and others of 
 aquatic tastes as Still Pond Harbor. It lies just 
 south of where the Sassafras River empties, or 
 rather opens, into the Chesapeake. That which 
 is taken for the harbor generally is but a deep 
 indentation or bay opening to the west, and 
 hence, with a wind from the same direction, is 
 merely a trap from which there can be hardly an 
 escape, and in which one must ride out a sea 
 backed by the width of the bay. In the October 
 gale, some years ago, there were several " oyster- 
 pungies" lost in this very harbor; so, at least, I 
 was informed. I had good reason for knowing 
 that there was one such unfortunate there as late 
 as 1879, for, entering the harbor about dark in 
 the evening with the schooner " Alice M.," we 
 struck fairly upon the wreck, — fortunately for us, 
 however, with no evil results. Not a sign marked 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 2 1 
 
 the presence of this dangerous obstacle save the 
 " wake" or ripple made by the wreck itself. 
 , The Still Pond is an offshoot or an inland pro- 
 longation of the harbor, and with which it is con- 
 nected by an inlet say seventy feet wide and twice 
 or thrice as long. That we found it and came 
 to anchor in it, as but few yachtsmen do, I am 
 indebted entirely to the sagacity and the pluck 
 of " Lew," to whom, by the way, I have not yet 
 introduced the reader. 
 
 " Lew" is a comely, open-hearted yachtsman, 
 of say twenty-one, whom I was fortunate enough 
 to secure as assistant before I left the Delaware. 
 He is experienced, companionable, and trust- 
 worthy; and I can only hope that in future I 
 may never meet with a worse man or a less re- 
 liable man than Lewis Seaman. It was through 
 him, as I have said, that we found the way into 
 Still Pond. I had been in the harbor before, and 
 had not found the pond. He had not been there 
 before, but did find it. That is just the difference. 
 He noticed the inlet and saw how rapidly the tide 
 ran out, and at once reasoned there must be a 
 large body of water behind the inlet to force a 
 current through with such velocity. 
 
22 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 So we headed for the inlet, and gradually saw 
 how it increased in size as we approached, until, 
 when in its mouth, the pond opened to our view; 
 but the current, which suggested the pond, well- 
 nigh prevented our reaching it. The wind died 
 away as we approached the inlet, and when we 
 were in it, ceased entirely. So the anchor was 
 dropped, and then " Lew," taking a rope over his 
 shoulder, went ashore. I hoisted the anchor on 
 board, and *' Lew" towed the yacht through into 
 the mouth of the pond. East and west the land- 
 locked, beautiful pond spread out before us. 
 Every one who is fond of the water has some 
 ideal harbor which suggests perfect safety, easy 
 landing on attractive shores, and what more 
 each must add for himself to complete the pic- 
 ture. To me, when longing for a week on the 
 water, this one. Still Pond, is ever uppermost in 
 my mind. I often plan a whole vacation spent 
 there. There is room enough for a large fleet in 
 the pond, but, unfortunately, the bar across the 
 mouth prevents vessels drawing more than three 
 feet of water from entering. My chart shows on 
 the southern shore of the harbor another arm, 
 much like this on the north, but I have never 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 23 
 
 explored it In the interest of humanity, it is to 
 be hoped that means may be taken to deepen the 
 channel into this Still Pond ; for it is doubly hard 
 that men should perish, as in that October gale, 
 when there is an absolutely secure anchorage in 
 full sight. 
 
 Considered from another stand-point, this place 
 is one of those glorious surprises which so often 
 strike a person cruising in the Chesapeake. Not 
 only did the beauty of the spot take possession 
 of me as soon as it was disclosed, but within 
 half an hour after we had dropped anchor, Lew's 
 net had caught all the fish we needed for supper. 
 Had the Pilgrim Fathers landed here instead of 
 where they did, it is doubtful whether their piety 
 and importance would have allowed them to stop 
 short of the belief that a spot so delightful and 
 so prolific was created specially for them, and 
 the work of Indian extermination might have 
 been prosecuted with intense zeal. Pike, yellow 
 neds, perch, catfish! Surely such a bill of fare 
 might well awaken the enthusiasm of any- man 
 with a yachtsman's appetite, even if he were ab- 
 solutely devoid of his sporting proclivities. 
 
 Every hour of day or night appeared to me to 
 
24 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 have brought some peculiar sound. In the morn- 
 ing we had catbirds, blackbirds, kingfishers, and 
 fish-hawks ; at noon, a family of ,crows, young 
 and old, kept up a most persistent and vigorous 
 cawing. Whether the last was a; lesson in elocu- 
 tion for the junior members of the family I can- 
 not say, though there appeared to be some object 
 and some method in it. At night a legion of 
 frogs gave us a prolonged high-toned serenade. 
 
 Close along the northern shore there is a clean, 
 gravelly bottom, and a somewhat greater depth 
 of water than a little farther out, where, on top 
 of the gravel, a slimy, dark, oozy mud is depos- 
 ited. The tide at that point appeared to flow 
 more rapidly along-shore. Examining the mud 
 microscopically, we found much decaying, loamy 
 matter, some very fine sand, and a number of the 
 silicious skeletons of diatoms. I never saw so 
 many, or such industrious fish-hawks. All day 
 long we could hear them coming down with a 
 splash into the water. Of course an occasional 
 bald eagle appeared, to exact his contribution 
 from the hawks. Even the crows seem to be 
 unusually aquatic in their habits here. I saw one 
 go down into the water almost as recklessly as 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 2$ 
 
 the fish-hawks did. High grounds and low 
 grounds were close by our anchorage, and we 
 found the yellow clover, the small verbena, the 
 blue-flag, and the mountain-laurel all within a 
 stone's throw of where we lay. 
 
 This was not the first time that I have won- 
 dered why men will sail without a barometer on 
 board. We had a fine thunder-storm, and from 
 our point of safety could enjoy it. The heavy 
 thunder and vivid lightning and puffy squalls 
 would have combined with the rain, which came 
 down in force, to make sailing in the bay unpleas- 
 ant enough. When we anchored, there was not 
 a cloud in sight; but for all this the barometer 
 warned us to prepare. We did so. There is 
 always more or less danger in sailing in the 
 bays in small craft, and it is simply common 
 sense to take the lesser risk which the barometer 
 affords. 
 
 Monday, the i ith, we were off by six in the 
 
 morning. It was natural that we should leave 
 
 Still Pond with regret. We had no reason to 
 
 anticipate finding other harbors both as safe and 
 
 as pleasant. Let me say to other yachtsmen that, 
 
 in going out the inlet, back-flaws and baffling 
 B 3 
 
26 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 winds may very often, if not usually, be expected 
 as the bluff, where the pond narrows into the inlet, 
 is passed. Sometimes these uncertain elements 
 cause no little trouble in " working ship" where 
 the channel is so narrow. 
 
 Once out in the bay the little " Martha" en- 
 countered the full force of a strong head-wind, and 
 fairly danced on the waves like a cork. White- 
 caps were forming on all sides. The wind was 
 puffy and uncertain, — now almost a calm, when the 
 boat would lose her headway and lie like a log ; 
 then in an instant a violent puff would strike the 
 sail, knocking the yacht down, rail to the water, 
 before she could gather speed enough to make 
 her mind the helm. We now appreciated the full 
 value of the fixed iron ballast. More would have 
 been better, as the excessive buoyancy was a dis- 
 advantage in these short, chopping seas. Ballasted, 
 as the boat had been the previous year, with sand, 
 most of which was hardly below the water-line, 
 such sailing must have been dangerous in the 
 extreme. The amazing stupidity of many yacht- 
 owners is absolutely a marvel. Most of those 
 with whom I spoke before placing the iron in my 
 vessel were rather inclined to tender their sym- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 27 
 
 pathy that I could be stupid enough to buy iron 
 when I could pick up sand or stones. The reason 
 why I did not buy more and place it where it 
 belonged, outside in the form of an iron keel, was 
 because it involved an expense greater than I felt 
 at liberty to incur. The worst fault was not 
 lack of stiffness, but great buoyancy. Lew re- 
 marked, in a quiet way, "This boat takes the 
 trouble to go right over the tops of all these 
 waves." So it was ; for sometimes she actually 
 appeared to jump half her length out of the water. 
 Three miles ahead we sighted another point, 
 one which marked a tempting harbor. The tide 
 had turned and was against us ; this, with adverse 
 winds and waves, decided us to put into the har- 
 bor, — Worton's Creek. The attempt to beat down 
 to Annapolis involved a long, hard day's work, 
 with no pleasure whatever in the sail. Giving the 
 yacht more sheet, we headed for the creek, en- 
 tering it in good style, flying past a party of 
 fishermen who were running out an immensely 
 long seine. Once fairly in, we sighted two arms, 
 one of which ran northward, opening into a con- 
 siderable expanse of water, the other and more in- 
 viting one extending toward the south. We beat 
 
28 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 into the -latter about a mile, and dropped oui 
 anchor opposite to Buck Neck Landing. Shortly 
 afterward the steamer "Van Corlear," from Balti- 
 more, came in and afforded us a chance to send 
 off our mail. 
 
 For a while the place appeared to be alive, 
 carriages thronging the wharves to receive those 
 coming, and to help away those who were leaving. 
 But they departed with the steamer, and in half 
 an hour the place resumed its wonted quietness. 
 Dreaminess appeared to rule the hours. For the 
 rest of the day hardly a sign of life was visible. 
 I made several attempts to purchase some rope 
 which I needed on the yacht, but found the mer- 
 chant was taking a nap, or had gone visiting, or 
 was somewhere else than in his store. Late in 
 the evening the desired purchase was made. The 
 law of compensation, it is evident, runs through 
 the whole universe outside of ourselves. I am con- 
 vinced now that it at last decides the individual 
 destiny. Were it not for some such law, men at 
 Buck Neck Landing might live forever, or cer- 
 tainly as long as the patriarchs. The world's 
 troubles do not appear to concern them, the 
 world's thoughts never agitate them ; come peace, 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 29 
 
 come war, nerve-tissues and myosin are renewed 
 as fast as expended, and but for some beneficent 
 disease or accident men never would leave there 
 to stay even in Paradise. The place would be 
 overcrowded. With fish in the waters and fruit 
 on the land, these kind-hearted, generous, and 
 honest inhabitants would remain, in quiet and in 
 sunshine, until they multiplied enough to wear 
 their clothing out by jostling against each other. 
 
 There was a solitary living exception to what 
 I have said, visible from meridian until four p.m. 
 A good-natured colored boy amused himself by 
 the hour sculling a heavy " yawl-boat" over to the 
 western side of the creek ; then, hoisting a broad 
 board in the bow for a sail, he threw himself 
 down in the stern of the boat and scudded be- 
 fore the wind back to the eastern shore. He was 
 full of the languid poetry of drifting; his whole 
 soul was saturated with it, though it never found 
 expression. The solitary reader of his Muse was 
 myself Happiness is a purely relative term. 
 This, of course, is a platitude. But who of all 
 mankind ever come to fully appreciate the 
 breadth of even so plain a thing, and to rest con- 
 tent with the present ? I have in mind now two 
 
30 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 who illustrate the extremes. One of them is that 
 young negro. He came alongside, and I gave 
 him a bucket of preserved prunes, which neither 
 Lew nor myself could tolerate. He received 
 them with open eyes and mouth. If he only 
 knew how little generosity there was in that gift, 
 we would suffer in his estimate. He soon be- 
 came too full of happiness on preserved prunes 
 even to enjoy the pleasure of crossing the creek 
 behind his board-sail. We saw him on the other 
 side, with his feet hanging over the boat and re- 
 ceiving the caress of the water, just as his face, 
 upturned to the sun, was comforted by the su- 
 perheated rays. An hour later Pompey came 
 alongside again. For the gift of a cigar he con- 
 sented to have his " picture tuk." 
 
 Marked on the lower part of the store building 
 I found the statement, " High-water mark. Sep- 
 tember 17, 1876." It was gratifying to obtain 
 the fact, not only because it was a fact and indi- 
 cated a storm-tide several feet higher than com- 
 mon, but because it evinced interest in an unusual 
 event. However, two months later I should have 
 seen busy times on that very quiet wharf, when 
 the peach crop, one great interest of the region. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 31 
 
 was being shipped. We went ashore during the 
 evening, and enjoyed the hospitality and conver- 
 sation of one of the near residents. 
 
 Annapolis. — Tuesday, the 12th, we left our 
 anchorage on the last of the ebb tide, and headed 
 south for Annapolis. We hoped by making an 
 early start to reach our destination in spite of 
 the adverse and heavy weather. So we did, but it 
 was at the cost of vast patience and severe buffet- 
 ing. As the crow flies, the distance would have 
 been considerably less than thirty miles. In a 
 fair wind the run would have been a very short 
 one ; but in a small boat, with wind and tide both 
 against us, it consumed a great part of the day. 
 Yet it appeared that we were not much worse 
 off than others who were in sight and bound the 
 same way. Harbor after harbor was passed, until 
 by two o'clock p.m. it was clear that, even with 
 the odds against us, reaching our destination 
 was merely a question of time and perseverance. 
 Hoping to avoid the force of the waves, we left 
 the eastern shore and started for the other side. 
 To my surprise, where I expected to find a shel- 
 tered shore, the water was almost or quite as 
 rough as the one we had left. The difference in 
 
32 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 color between the deep-green water and the yel- 
 lowish hue in shoaler places was strikingly ap- 
 parent. From Bodkin Point, down along the 
 western shore, the beat appeared almost intermi- 
 nable. We had fully decided at one time on an- 
 choring in Magotha Harbor. On maturer reflec- 
 tion we both concluded it would be just a little 
 unmanly to remain there over-night, when a 
 friend and prospective shipmate was waiting for 
 us in Annapolis. It did appear, though, as if we 
 never could get by Sandy Point. " It shoals" a 
 long, long way out. Then, too, fellow-yachtsmen, 
 be advised : do not attempt, as we did, to go in- 
 side of the buoys off Greenbury Light when it is 
 blowing a gale, unless you know the ground too 
 well to make a mistake. The " Martha" tried 
 the experiment, and, though she did drag over, 
 there was nothing at all to spare. It is very try- 
 ing to keep outside, especially when the wind is 
 against you, but probably you will find it best to 
 do so. 
 
 We received a lesson in naval architecture when 
 crossing from the eastern to the western shore. 
 My boat, being the usual model of the Dela- 
 ware Bay, — broad and short, — was at her very 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 33 
 
 worst in the head-wind and " choppy sea" of the 
 Chesapeake. She labored severely, with lee rail 
 under (for we were carrying whole sail, though the 
 wind whistled through the rigging), or rose over 
 the waves until it appeared as if more than half the 
 hull was out of water. Alongside of us came a 
 Chesapeake " bug-eye," * of light draught, but long 
 and narrow. We saw her start from Tolchester 
 Beach, and creep up on us swiftly and surely. We 
 were laboring ; she was moving along without ef- 
 fort, going not only faster, but working more to 
 the windward. At the very time this forty-feet 
 bug-eye was leaving us, we ourselves were distanc- 
 ing a large coasting schooner. The bug-eye ca- 
 reened over very little, went easily through the 
 water, made no pounding or splashing, and looked 
 almost into the wind. Thus she proved herself 
 as possessing every requisite of a first-class sea- 
 goer. It is doubtful if she drew more than two 
 feet and a half of water; it is much more prob- 
 able that she drew less. She certainly did not 
 
 * The term "bug-eye" appears to be a corruption of " buck- 
 eye," which name was at first given from the auger-holes on either 
 side of the bow, and through which the cable ran. 
 
34 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 have ballast enough to sink her if she had filled 
 with water. These were all most desirable features 
 in a small boat. But here was a direct violation of 
 what we have been taught were cardinal features 
 in small-boat construction, — shallowness and small 
 beam on the one hand, and great length, with no 
 ballast, and shallowness on the other. The present 
 ruling fashion is that a small boat shall be at least 
 four times as long as broad, and that she shall 
 carry, say, half her tonnage, or more, deep down in 
 the water, in the shape of a lead or iron keel. It 
 is certain that a boat built after this, the English 
 cutter model, may " knock down ;" but it is cer- 
 tain she will not stay down. Unless she fills, she 
 must right again. I believe that, so far as our 
 American sloop and the English cutter have come 
 into fair trial, the cutter has proven the better 
 boat, — safer and faster. I am not sure what the 
 result of a contest between the cutter and the 
 bug-eye would be. From what I have seen of 
 the latter class of boats in the Chesapeake, I am 
 most strongly prepossessed in their favor. The 
 model of this nondescript is peculiar. Probably 
 the light cedar gunning-skiff which does duty as 
 a yawl-boat for us is as nearly an exact imitation 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 35 
 
 of the bug-eye model as one can imagine. Now, 
 that same skiff, with sharp bow and stern, such as 
 the bug-eye was, gave us, when we towed it down 
 to Annapolis through heavy seas, a most astonish- 
 ing illustration of sea-worthiness. Every vessel we 
 met had her yawl swung up, or on deck. Yet our 
 yawl rode so easily that the line by which we 
 towed her was seldom stretched, and not a tin- 
 cupful of water worked into her during the whole 
 day. The best statement I can give of the bug- 
 eye model is one furnished to Forest and Stream 
 by " Talbot." Here it is. The accompanying 
 illustration will give a general idea of the appear- 
 ance of the craft. It should be added, however, 
 that the smaller vessels of this class have all their 
 sails triangular in shape. 
 
 CHESAPEAKE BUG-EYES. 
 
 Editor Forest and Stream : 
 
 The inquiry contained in your paper concerning the bug-eye, 
 as it is called by our oystermen, is a step in the right direction, 
 and Mr. Roosevelt can obtajn any information he may desire from 
 Captain James L. Harrison, Tilghman's Island P. O., Talbot 
 County, Maryland. Captain Harrison is the builder of the fastest 
 boat of this type on the Chesapeake, If this model is peculiar to 
 this section, there remains in store a treat for all who adopt it in 
 
36 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 other waters, where speed and safety are desired. The boat is 
 not perfectly flat-bottomed, as Mr. Roosevelt supposes, but built so 
 as to combine light draught and carrying capacity. The centre- 
 board is constant, also single head-gear. The jigger is always 
 
 CHESAPEAKE BUG EYE. 
 
 Stepped so as to trim sheets to traveller on deck. Many of them 
 are built with round sterns with overhang, as in the cutter. 
 Schooner rig prevails to great extent, but adds nothing to speed. 
 These boats are extremely fast, and brave the heaviest gales of 
 our winter. Larger vessels often capsize, but the bug-eye never. 
 I enclose you the dimensions of the boat thought to be the fast- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 37 
 
 est in the whole fleet, with a sketch showing rig: length, fifty 
 feet; beam, twelve and one-half feet; dead rise, one and one- 
 half inches to the foot; draught, light, three feet; centreboard, 
 twelve feet. 
 
 Talbot. 
 
 It appears from the above, especially when one 
 remembers the sharp-sterned "pinkies" of half 
 a century ago on the New England coast, and 
 which were so remarkable for sea-going qualities, 
 that in estimating all the good lines in a boat- 
 model we must probably give considerable im- 
 portance to the shape of the stern. Indeed, some 
 assert that the shape of the latter is of as much 
 importance as that of the bow. I have a half-con- 
 viction that, taken all in all, these same bug-eyes 
 are as fast and as safe as many of our renowned 
 yachts of the same size. 
 
 The evolution or mode of development of the 
 bug-eye is interesting. So far as now appears, 
 the whole fleet of them grew out of the equally 
 famous Chesapeake log canoe, — " kunners," as the 
 negroes and some of the illiterate whites called 
 them. These originally were made from three 
 large pine logs, which were neatly and strongly 
 jointed together by three dressed faces, so that 
 
38 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 one made the bottom and the other two the sides. 
 These were hollowed out and finely shaped out- 
 side. Being nothing but wood, they were of course 
 unsinkable, besides being extremely strong, tight, 
 and durable. Then two long masts, which had 
 a most wonderful rake, were added. A jib was, 
 or was not reckoned part of the outfit. These 
 Chesapeake canoes did their work so well that 
 they became the popular small boat of the region, 
 and to increase their size and carrying capacity 
 the largest available logs were used. Still, the 
 limit in size did not appear to have been reached, 
 and the model is essentially preserved in boats 
 now framed and planked up in the ordinary ship 
 style. These are the latest product of Chesapeake 
 naval genius, and are the popular bug-eyes. The 
 small modifications of the canoe type which they 
 have introduced are somewhat more " dead rise" 
 and more swell amidships. It may be well for our 
 yacht constructors, before absolutely and finally 
 adopting the deep English type as the highest 
 product and most suitable vessel for our waters, 
 to examine very carefully into the claims of these 
 nondescripts. We offer no opinion ; that must be 
 formed after full, fair trial. Chesapeake naval- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 3^ 
 
 constructive genius cannot well be despised. It 
 has too famous a place in the history of the Balti- 
 more clipper, which a generation ago so aston- 
 ished the world. To my mind the secret of their 
 wonderful stiffness remains unsolved. Oystermen 
 say they will live out a storm longer than any 
 other model on the bay. There is no other style 
 growing more in favor with these men than the 
 bug-eye. Hence, then, a fair trial, if for no other 
 reason than to test the value of an American type. 
 
 A day could not be spared, on our way down, 
 to see the points of interest in and about Annapolis 
 without a serious break in our plans. However, as 
 we found a friend (Lieutenant Bull, of the navy), 
 the break was made, and the time spent in the 
 grounds of the Naval Academy, under his guid- 
 ance, was a more than sufficient compensation for 
 waiting. 
 
 When we left, on the morning of the 14th, we 
 were comforted by the assurance, received the 
 day before, that we might expect head-winds going 
 down the bay about nine days out of ten at that 
 season. However, thanks to the squall of the 
 previous evening, the wind had hauled around to 
 the north, and we had a fresh breeze following us 
 
40 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 all day. So that, after a run of ninety miles, we 
 dropped our anchor for the night in Smith's Creek, 
 a little offshoot from the Potomac. The small 
 number of sails we saw in making the run was 
 a surprise, bearing no comparison to what we ex- 
 pected, or to what we should certainly have seen 
 had we been on the Delaware. Still, it is hard 
 to think that Baltimore, with its superb water- 
 approaches, will long lag in the race. 
 
 The little bay, for such it was, in which we 
 had anchored was completely landlocked, and not 
 more than two hundred yards wide; yet it con- 
 tained water enough for a good-sized vessel. This 
 abundance of superior harbors may be considered 
 as a peculiarity in which the Chesapeake is pre- 
 eminent. This, along with the navigable waters, 
 estuaries, and rivers intersecting the land in all 
 directions, has in one sense retarded the develop- 
 ment of the country, — i.e., by making water com- 
 munication so easy and so extensive, it has in so 
 far superseded the necessity for roads. The sail- 
 ing canoe is the ordinary means of travel from 
 place to place along the shores. This retarding 
 effect was observed even by the early colonial 
 writers. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 41 
 
 June the 15th still gave us, in the morning, 
 a promising northerly wind, and we started out 
 early, hoping to make a big run to the south- 
 ward that day. It was, however, four p.m. when we 
 reached Milford Haven, on the Piankatank River. 
 Our intention had been to push on down to Mob- 
 jack Bay, but the weakening wind warned us to 
 seek a harbor while we could have daylight to do 
 it in. No rule can be regarded as invariable when 
 one's doings depend upon the uncertainties of 
 wind and weather. It was my desire, however, 
 always to be at anchor by three in the afternoon. 
 This allowed a turn on shore to see what could 
 be found, and gave us a chance to take in all 
 the surroundings, and decide what we would do 
 in any emergency which might arise during the 
 night. 
 
 Milford Haven is still another of those surprises 
 which constantly greet one yachting along the 
 western shore of the Chesapeake. Now, as else- 
 where, we were landlocked for the night. The 
 entrance, which at first appeared too small to 
 admit a vessel, widens out into a broad, deep 
 mouth, and inside the harbor which it leads to 
 a whole fleet of canoes and some good-sized 
 
42 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 schooners lay. During the evening spent there 
 Mr. J. and Lew occupied themselves catching 
 crabs. Half an hour of the sport was sufficient 
 to cover the deck with vigorous pugnacious 
 specimens, who the night through manifested 
 their excessive vitality by threatening any one 
 audacious enough to leave the cabin in the dark 
 hours. However, this was more than compensated 
 for when we came to enjoy them cooked. There 
 is a difference in flavor of crabs, just as there is 
 in that of oysters ; and for both Milford Haven is 
 justly famous. Cape May "goodies," served up 
 with the oysters and crabs, make one even now, 
 after the lapse of several months, remember our 
 anchorage in the Piankatank with feelings of com- 
 plete satisfaction. 
 
 There was a source of annoyance in our charts. 
 These were all that we could desire out in the 
 deep water, but along-shore, in water where we 
 thought we could go, they gave us no informa- 
 tion. The score of little bays and harbors that one 
 " might make," if only his chart would indicate the 
 depth of water or show him the way in, were a 
 constant aggravation, because we knew there were 
 such, and such quiet places, too, as we most de- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 43 
 
 sired to enter with camera in hand. Chart-makers, 
 we shoal-water yachtsmen, we owners of very 
 small craft, do beseech you to give the channel 
 and the depth of water into every small harbor in 
 the Chesapeake. Our experience at the mouth of 
 the Potomac was provoking. The chart led us to 
 put in there because of a small safe harbor which 
 was indicated ; but we searched in vain for it, and 
 were obliged to make a considerable run out of 
 our way to find a secure anchorage. 
 
 June i6th found us astir by sunrise, which this 
 season of the year means by about half-past four. 
 We thought ourselves early risers, but the par- 
 tridges were up before us, and we could hear their 
 musical whistle from all sides. Is it so that there 
 are early and late risers among our day-birds ? It 
 was not until long after the " Bob White" whistle 
 was heard that the crows began to make them- 
 selves conspicuously noisy. However, this was 
 Virginia we were in, and it is only within a few 
 years that black folks have dared to speak at all. 
 
 Our anchorage in Milford Haven was on the 
 southern side. The anchor was let go in two 
 fathoms of water, but during the night, swinging 
 with the tide, the yacht had been left stern 
 
44 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 aground. This accident caused but little delay. 
 We were soon floating, and in less than the 
 length of the yacht were again in the channel, 
 with water enough for a large schooner. Most 
 of these harbors have certain features in common. 
 Thus there is ordinarily a bar at the outlet, where 
 the current of the main body of the water, meet- 
 ing with that coming from the harbor, causes 
 enough retardation of the water to allow the 
 suspended mineral matters to fall to the bot- 
 tom. Such, at least, is the explanation which 
 forces itself on my mind. There may be a much 
 better one, however, for aught that I know. 
 Then, again, leading to and from all these har- 
 bors, there is a strong current where the inlet or 
 outlet is narrow and the harbor is wide. Hence 
 through this narrow part there must be a rapid 
 current, with great capacity for deepening and 
 eroding the channel. This, in fact, is just what 
 we find, and when by storm or otherwise the 
 channel is closed, this swift current very speedily 
 opens another. 
 
 We asked a negro who came along-side to sell 
 oysters, just after we had anchored, who the fe- 
 males were that, in the absence of the men of the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 45 
 
 crew, saved their sloop from the vengeance of the 
 governor when he was hunting oyster pirates, a 
 few months before. There was a nice httle story- 
 going the rounds of the newspapers that these 
 Piankatank women, recognizing the emergency, 
 escaped by themselves getting the anchor and 
 sails up and navigating the vessel to a place of 
 safety. One of our popular illustrated journals 
 gave a page or two of rhyming history of the 
 affair. The negro knew nothing of it ; but, if it 
 " was so, he guessed they must have come from 
 the other side." Whether true or not, it illustrates 
 that home praises are often very faint, and that it 
 is only when echoed back from a distance that 
 they are heard at all. Alas for fame ! 
 
 There is a tortuous, very narrow channel from 
 Milford Haven out to the bay, in which, by sail- 
 ing east, we hoped to save important time that 
 would have been lost to have gone out from the 
 north as we came in. A very intelligent colored 
 man, one Richard McKnight, undertook to pilot 
 us through this lower passage. We found him a 
 character, who, between serving during war times 
 as a cook for a Northern general and as a sailor, 
 had gathered quite a fund of information. The 
 
46 • VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 use he made of his knowledge as we drifted 
 slowly out was very entertaining. His observa- 
 tions upon the animal life around us were quite 
 acute. As for the fish-hawks and the eagles, he 
 seemed to have been taken into their secrets. 
 Their sounds and movements were familiar to him 
 as those of the little boy who accompanied him. 
 Among other things, he told the local tale as to 
 why the eagle exacted a tribute from the hawk. 
 The former was the earlier inhabitant of the 
 region. When the fish-hawk came, he did not 
 know how to make his nest. This the eagle 
 taught him to do, under promise that the hawk 
 should pay in fish for the instruction. This obli- 
 gation was disregarded, and the eagle was obliged 
 to take his due by force. 
 
 So simple a tale as this, not elaborate enough 
 or far enough reaching in its relations to be 
 classed as a myth, was, nevertheless, extremely 
 suggestive. It brought to my mind the fact that 
 these tales are always found, when found at all, 
 among those who, without being ignorant, are 
 nevertheless always illiterate. How the folk-lore 
 originally came, it is, after all, hard to explain. 
 It would be hard to prove that it had always a 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. ^y 
 
 more substantial basis than this tale of the col- 
 ored pilot. Our American Indians have such 
 explanations as this for the habits of almost every 
 animal. 
 
 Those wild winter nights when, in 1865, I was 
 in the most unknown and uncivilized parts of 
 British Columbia were in one way a perpetual 
 delight to me. My Indians, crouching around 
 the camp-fire, amused themselves by telling, night 
 after night, the same tales, with as much eager- 
 ness and interest as if they had been wholly fresh 
 and new. Thus the beaver and the porcupine 
 decided to travel together. The beaver was to 
 take the porcupine across the rivers, and the 
 porcupine was to help the beaver down the hills. 
 The beaver, however, ducked the porcupine in 
 crossing a stream ; and then, as his hair dried 
 in the warm sun, it became hard and rigid like 
 quills. The porcupine retaliated by dragging the 
 beaver down the next mountain, and so wore all 
 the fat off of the under-side of his body ; and none 
 has ever come there since. 
 
 The run of the i6th was a very short one. We 
 anchored for the night behind New Point Com- 
 fort. So far as the weather was concerned, we 
 
^8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 rested well enough, but there was a fish-mill on 
 shore which was most exasperatingly fragrant. 
 It called to mind some passages from "The 
 Tempest," — 
 
 Adrian. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly. 
 Sebastian. As if it had lungs, and rotten ones. 
 Antonio. Or, as 'twere perfumed by a fen. 
 
 The United States boat " Fish-Hawk" lay in the 
 same place. We could not see just what she was 
 doing, though, of course, she had some mission 
 there, and was accomplishing it in the usual com- 
 fortable, leisurely government way. 
 
 Sunday mofning, the 17th, the wind was so fair 
 that we concluded to start for Fortress Monroe. 
 An hour before sunrise everything looked un- 
 promising. The wind was not only dead ahead, 
 but there was too much of it. Any other place 
 was better than where we were. It was certain 
 that we must make a harbor somewhere else. 
 Then, too, the Sabbath in full reach of the odors 
 from a fish-mill ! It would have been enough to 
 banish all proper feeling, and to concentrate all 
 one's attention on his nose. So the start was 
 made, and soon, as the old adverse breeze died 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 40 
 
 away, a new and favoring one sprang up. This 
 carried us to the fort by half-past two in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 The following day we started up the James, 
 anchoring for the night at the lower end of 
 Jamestown Island. The next evening found us 
 anchored off City Point, where my vacation work 
 was to begin. 
 
 The only unpleasant association connected with 
 the place was that my friend, Mr. J., who had 
 been with us for a week, took his departure for 
 the North and the treadmill of life again. 
 
50 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DOWN THE JAMES AND UP THE CHESAPEAKE. 
 
 To the next generation City Point will have 
 lost the meaning which it has for thousands of 
 men now living. Its very situation, at the junc- 
 tion of the James and the Appomattox, is full of 
 stirring suggestions. It is strange that the waters 
 which flow past the birthplace of the nation 
 should also have their source so close to the spot 
 where the final struggle for its life and perpetuity 
 was made. 
 
 Bermuda Hundred, City Point, and Petersburg 
 are all associated, geographically and histori- 
 cally, and all were during the recent war a very 
 focus of military operations. Plots and counter- 
 plots were worked out there. Troops were em- 
 barked and disembarked on the very wharves 
 whose ruins yet remain along-shore. Over those 
 very decaying piles, hundreds, mayhap thousands, 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 51 
 
 of wounded or sick heroes marched, or were car- 
 ried, on their way to Northern hospitals. 
 
 The town itself has but little to speak of. 
 Whatever energy the place indicates is centred 
 along the wharves, where the railroad and the 
 steamboats meet. Rumor says some interest 
 hostile to the growth of the place is at work. 
 It is hard now to picture the sight of troops and 
 engines of war on the very spot which, at the 
 time of our visit, was covered with matured 
 wheat. The only reminder of war that one sees 
 are the six monitors which lie at anchor on the 
 southern side of the channel. One officer, re- 
 siding in Petersburg, commanded the whole fleet, 
 while a squad of men does duty in allowing the 
 old war-battered vessels to rust and rot in be- 
 coming dignity. Their decks are white ; the iron, 
 and other things which the unwritten law of the 
 sea demands shall be black, receive their proper 
 care and color. All of these monitors have seen 
 service. They are part of the original fleet which 
 first in a practical way settled the value of ar- 
 mored ships. Weak as they now are from age 
 and in comparison with the ironclads of other 
 governments which have decent self-respect, they 
 
52 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 were once the very bulwarks of the nation. One 
 hardly knows whether most to pity or to de- 
 spise a power which in time of peace allows its 
 strength to rot into weakness, and then to disap- 
 pear, — all this, too, as the sop thrown to party 
 selfishness on the one hand, and to party fear on 
 the other. On the mere basis of probabilities, one 
 might venture to assert that there are a score of 
 land and water leaders, men yet unknown, who 
 in the proper time and emergency would come 
 forward to command our forces and to organize 
 victory, provided that they had the mere material 
 of war. We can probably produce Grants and 
 Porters more speedily than ironclads and cruisers. 
 Heroes are very much creatures of accident, as 
 monitors are of time and money. 
 
 Taking the James as a whole, the banks are still 
 very much as nature and war left them. Consid- 
 ering that nearly three centuries have passed since 
 the early colonists landed, it is remarkable how 
 many of the beautiful building-sites along the 
 banks remain timber-clad to this day. Here and 
 there a stately mansion rises on the bluffs or 
 towers up from behind the belt of woods. This 
 is to be said, — that when costly homes were 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 S3 
 
 erected, the choice of the site was ahnost invari- 
 ably in favor of a commanding position. Nowhere 
 in the country is this more clearly manifest than 
 along the James. More than this, I fancy one 
 can see, only half concealed, the wish that in 
 future these same halls might have clustered 
 about them not only the associations of the old 
 English homes after whose patterns they were 
 built, but also something like baronial pomp as 
 well. Virginia thresholds suggest not only a 
 color line, but a caste line. This is not so much 
 an individual peculiarity as it is due to times 
 first and circumstances afterward; and it reflects 
 the aggregate sentiment of a ruling circle. It 
 may, like the odor of roses, persist even after 
 the process of disintegration has set in. If one 
 is struck unpleasantly by these appearances of 
 strength, he must not forget the real strength, 
 the genuine heroism and the broad statesmanship, 
 which this old commonwealth nurtured. It is fair 
 to judge a generation rather by what the best 
 men desire to do than by what the average char- 
 acters succeed in doing. When actions have 
 passed into history and we sum up the doings of 
 a past generation, we are most likely to estimate 
 
54 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 their rank by what the pioneers in thought and 
 deed have accomplished for those who followed 
 them. This is surely the most ennobling in- 
 fluence to be drawn from history ; and in medi- 
 tating over the doings of two centuries with 
 Virginia, it is well that we give ourselves the 
 benefit of that lesson. 
 
 The same old tale of timber destruction which 
 is written on the bare hillsides of the North is 
 being rewritten on the banks of the James. Tim- 
 ber exportation is one of the industries of the 
 region, — good enough for the present, but, in the 
 interest of the future, not nearly so productive of 
 benefit as a policy would be which made men 
 save that timber where it is and gain the year's 
 living from old acres better tilled. Three-fourths 
 of all the vessels that went out of the James 
 during our stay there were freighting away tim- 
 ber. Granting what must be granted, — the un- 
 healthiness of the low grounds, — would it not be 
 better to leave them for the present in standing 
 timber, where it exists, or even to replant where 
 it has been removed in anticipation of the time, 
 which is surely coming, in which forest value will 
 be as certain as the value of a silver-mine ? The 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 55 
 
 question is, or soon will be, a national one — can 
 we longer afiford to be without some such system 
 of forestry as has produced beneficent results in 
 France and in Germany ? True, it may be many 
 years before Virginia will suffer from lack of 
 timber. But then that simply means she yet 
 has time to study a lesson which many other 
 States have already learned to their cost, — that it 
 is bad to be short of timber, and that, once gone, 
 it takes many years and costs much money to 
 restore a forest. 
 
 The difference between the season here and 
 near Philadelphia is quite marked. As I looked 
 from my cabin window on June 20th I could 
 see much of the wheat crop already cut and " in 
 shock." A day earlier I found blackberries 
 (Riibus villosiis) fully ripened; even the wild 
 plums {Pntmis Americana) were commencing to 
 be edible. 
 
 With a fair wind, on June 20th we left City 
 Point to descend the river. The first stopping- 
 place was at Berkeley, a few miles below. I 
 wanted a view of the old mansion-house, which, 
 erected in 1723, has been the scene of many im- 
 portant historical events. Tradition tells us that 
 
56 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 on the lawn in front of this building Patrick 
 Henry rehearsed his great speech to the Virginia 
 representatives, before whom it was in form de- 
 livered at the Virginia Convention. I can neither 
 confirm nor deny the historical accuracy of this 
 statement, which was given to me by the courteous 
 and obliging proprietor, Mr. Stevens. In the same 
 house President Harrison was born. It was used 
 also by General McClellan during his Peninsular 
 campaign ; and then were removed the beautiful 
 trees which once ornamented the lawn, facing and 
 gradually sloping to the river, three hundred yards 
 away. The original grant of this estate dates back 
 to 1636, when it was given by the Crown to 
 the Merchants' Trading Company, and by them 
 sold to Benjamin Harrison, in 1645, ^o^ the sum 
 of sixteen pounds sterling, containing then about 
 eight thousand acres, and extending back to the 
 Chickahominy. 
 
 Malvern Hill, where our great but unutilized 
 victory was gained during the recent war, is but 
 eight miles distant. 
 
 The steep banks of the bluff, where they face the 
 river, show a mixture of sand and gravel which is 
 very like that revealed by the cuts of the Chesapeake 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 57 
 
 and Delaware Canal. The bald cypress {Taxodiiim 
 distichuni) was at its very best when I saw it in 
 June. Its light-green feathery foliage contrasted 
 richly with the dark-hued pines back of it. To 
 those who have never seen these trees before, they 
 always present a strange appearance, which is due, 
 first, to the fact that they grow down to and in 
 the water ; and, second, to their large, conical, 
 buttress-like hollow roots. They can hardly help 
 enlarging one's views of the possibilities of plant- 
 life and form for variation. Along-side of or but 
 little higher than the cypress, the buttonwood 
 (Platamis occidentalis)^ with its large leaves, was 
 thriving luxuriantly; and, still farther from the 
 river, the leaves of the Liquidambar, or the sweet- 
 gum tree, stood out boldly with their five to seven 
 projecting ray-like lobes. 
 
 In one respect the condition of the negroes and 
 poorer whites along the shores of the bay and the 
 banks of the river has not much improved since the 
 days of slavery. They were then, as now, — prob- 
 ably hardly more than now, — largely depending on 
 the water for much of their food. Sailing up and 
 down the James, we saw them, after the work of 
 the day, actively engaged in fishing. In one house 
 
58 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 which we entered we found an old gray-headed col- 
 ored woman preparing the same kind of corn-bread 
 that was the staple food years ago. By day and 
 by night we could see and hear the sturgeon 
 jumping out of the water, and coming down again 
 with their characteristic heavy splash. 
 
 When it is remembered that most of the really 
 desirable land in our Western Territories is already 
 taken up, the idea forces itself upon one that 
 capital seeking land investment would do well to 
 turn its attention toward Virginia. It should be 
 remembered that portions of Ohio, Indiana, and 
 Illinois were once (indeed, still are) as much 
 under the curse of malaria as the banks of the 
 dreaded James River. Yet those same regions 
 have become centres of active industry and of busi- 
 ness prosperity. Cinchona has as nearly eliminated 
 malaria as an element in retarding civilized oc- 
 cupancy of a new land as the telegraph has an- 
 nihilated space. This woof and warp of human 
 events is a strangely tangled thing. Who could 
 have supposed that the discovery of remedial 
 properties in a tree on the slopes of the Andes 
 would open an avenue which made African ex- 
 ploration and settlement by white races possible ? 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 59 
 
 Yet who can deny that it has done so ? Those 
 who will drink the waters of Marah have a right 
 to the palm-trees of Elim. It is certain that the 
 bad reputation of the region along the James was 
 intensified by the long list of sick men sent home 
 from there during the Peninsular campaign; but 
 then it must also be remembered that the circum- 
 stances under which those victims had lived were 
 altogether exceptional and trying. 
 
 At ten o'clock at night we would hear the 
 negro fishermen singing as loudly and happily as 
 though they had not already done a day's work. 
 Light-hearted race ! How well they illustrate 
 that life and contentment are, after all, pretty 
 much as we make them ! 
 
 Our short stay on the James would, of course, 
 furnish very incomplete data on which to base 
 an estimate as to the number of vessels of con- 
 siderable size which pass up and down the river 
 each day. While we were there, probably it would 
 be safe to say, there were three or four daily each 
 way that went or had been above City Point. 
 
 On the evening of June 20th we anchored near 
 what was left of the old Fort Powhatan. A still 
 strong river-wall is all that marks the site of this 
 
6o VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 once-important post from the river side. A coun- 
 try store stands on the hill above, and a wharf 
 furnishes a landing-place for good-sized vessels. 
 Shipment of timber appears to be at present the 
 chief industry. Earthworks, occupied for a time 
 during the recent war, are on the hill back. 
 
 Continuing our voyage down the river, the next 
 landing was made at Lower Brandon. During 
 the war I had occasion to know the bravery and 
 the persistency of purpose with which the Vir- 
 ginians adhered to their doctrine of State Rights. 
 Here, at Lower Brandon, for the first time in my 
 life, I was made acquainted with the hospitality 
 for which the old families of the State are so 
 proverbial. I presented myself at the door of 
 the noble old mansion, a sun-browned yachtsman, 
 certainly with dust on my shoes, and I fear with 
 the odor of tar on my raiment. The gentleman of 
 the house being away, permission to photograph 
 the house and its surroundings was very kindly 
 given by the ladies. By them, also, I was taken 
 to the parlor and shown the old family portraits, 
 each of which had a history. Indeed, it is very 
 doubtful if a single private room on the continent 
 contains a larger number of portraits of distin- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 6 1 
 
 guished persons, most of whom, too, were related 
 to the occupants of the house. Some of these 
 paintings were more than a century and a half old. 
 
 Colonel Byrd, who figured so conspicuously in 
 all the early doings of the colony and in its re- 
 lation to the mother-country, had, of course, 
 a conspicuous place among the family portraits. 
 Mrs. H. most kindly allowed me to examine the 
 original manuscript account by Colonel Byrd of 
 running the line between Virginia and North 
 Carolina. He was himself one of the leading 
 characters in the work. Colonel Byrd's writings 
 furnish a mine of wealth which no historical stu- 
 dent of the times and the colony can afford to be 
 without. They have been published under title 
 of " The Westover Papers," and throughout are 
 characterized by elegance, force, and reliability. 
 Of course, on a flying visit it was impossible to 
 do more than simply to glance at the precious 
 document. I make one extract from it, which 
 shows that the author was a keen observer of the 
 lower animals as well as of man : 
 
 " When the water is shallow 'tis no uncommon 
 thing to see a bear sitting, in the summer-time, on 
 a heap of gravel in the middle of the river, not 
 
62 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 only to cool himself, but likewise for the advan- 
 tage of fishing, particularly for a small shell-fish 
 that is brought down with the stream. In the 
 upper part of James River I have observed this 
 several times, and wondered very much at first 
 how so many heaps of small stones came to be 
 piled up in the water, till at last we spied a bear 
 sitting upon one of them, looking with great at- 
 tention on the stream, and raking up something 
 with his paw, which I take to be the shell-fish 
 above mentioned." (October, 1729.) 
 
 Of Colonel Byrd, Doyle (" English Colonies in 
 America : Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas," 
 p. 348) writes: "In 1720 the first event oc- 
 curred which throws any clear light from without 
 on the internal life of the colony. In that year 
 boundary disputes arose between Virginia and her 
 southern neighbor, and it was found necessary to 
 appoint representatives on each side to settle the 
 boundary line. The chief interest of the matter 
 lies in the notes left us by one of the Virginian 
 commissioners. Colonel William Byrd was a rich 
 planter, whose multifold activities and varied ac- 
 complishments recall that generation of English- 
 men to which Virginia owed her origin. Educated 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 63 
 
 in England, then called to the bar and elected a 
 fellow of the Royal Society, afterward for thirty- 
 seven years a councillor in Virginia, three times 
 agent at the English court, and the leading spirit 
 in every industrial enterprise, Byrd shows us how 
 active and brilliant a career lay open to a great 
 Virginian landholder." 
 
 It is, then, to Byrd's industry in recording the 
 events of his daily life that his own well-established 
 claim to historical remembrance is due. Besides 
 this, however, these same labors made him the first 
 American historical authority of his times, and also 
 the preserver of a knowledge of social life which 
 but for him must have been in great part lost. 
 Along with his high sense of honor and a most 
 keen penetration, he appears to have been, withal, 
 somewhat caustic in his writings. Thus he char- 
 acterizes Edenton as being the one capital in the 
 world without any place of worship. This mode of 
 expressing an opinion reminds one very strongly 
 of— 
 
 " 'Tis in Annapolis alone 
 God has the meanest house in town." * 
 
 ^ See " Colonial Life in Maryland," E. W. Latimer. 
 
54 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 The portrait of Colonel Byrd, and also that of 
 Miss Eveline Byrd, hang on the parlor wall at 
 Lower Brandon. The latter must have been 
 strikingly beautiful. The impression she pro- 
 duced has almost become historical. 
 
 Nothing struck me so forcibly as the dignified 
 and frank manner in which the war and its im- 
 mediate issues have been accepted by the property- 
 holders along the James. There is a nobility 
 which is above even the reverses of war, and if 
 ever in my life I felt that I was in the presence 
 of such it was at Lower Brandon. I would like 
 to say more, but deprive myself of the pleasure, 
 lest the sincerity of what I have written should be 
 doubted. 
 
 When night came I could look from my cabin 
 window and see, two miles away, the lights where 
 the negroes were fishing. I fancied that I could 
 hear them singing. But along the line where the 
 woods and the water met I could see no other 
 light made by human hands. The fire-flies flick- 
 ered among the foliage on shore, and the full 
 moon rose out of the water to the eastward with 
 an unusually cold red light. Scudding clouds and 
 puffs of wind lent just enough of weirdness to the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 65 
 
 scene to make me fully realize how these same 
 shores appeared when the first voyage of explora- 
 tion was undertaken from Jamestown Island to 
 the present site of Richmond. I cannot help 
 hoping — nay, thinking — that a new prosperity 
 awaits the Old Dominion ; that her soil, restored 
 to its original fertility, may again produce bounte- 
 ous crops ; and that her scars of war will be covered 
 by a mantle of peace which shall nevermore be 
 turned aside. 
 
 I was particularly anxious to secure a good 
 photograph of the Lower Brandon mansion-house. 
 But here, as on Jamestown Island, the two places 
 where, of all others, I most desired success, I 
 absolutely failed to obtain the views. Uniform 
 success during the previous season made me so 
 careless that I did not attempt developing the pic- 
 tures until I returned home. Then, when too 
 late, I discovered my failure. The mansion is 
 composed of two wings and a main central build- 
 ing. The wings were erected first, and of bricks 
 brought over from England. One finds there the 
 same alternating order of red and black bricks 
 that he can still see in so many of the older parts 
 
 of Philadelphia. Subsequently the main central 
 e 6* 
 
(i(i VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 building, as it stands to-day, joined the wings. 
 In spite of the injury wrought by war, it is a riiost 
 imposing building. Inside all was once in keeping 
 with the exterior ; that it is not so now is largely 
 due to some unjustifiable acts of vandalism, I am 
 ashamed to say, on the part of our own Northern 
 troops. 
 
 I had the pleasure of accompanying the ladies 
 to the harvest-field, where Major Page was super- 
 intending the cutting of the wheat crop. I found 
 him a courteous gentleman, who shook hands 
 very cordially with me knowing that we were on 
 different sides of the recent conflict. I cannot 
 help asking just here how much of the Southern 
 intolerance of Northern men may come from an 
 ill-advised and indelicate aggressiveness on the 
 part of the latter. I make no assertion, but simply 
 ask the question. 
 
 There were on the estate about two hundred 
 and fifty acres in wheat, and some eighty laborers 
 engaged in harvesting it. The major suggested 
 about eighteen bushels per acre as the probable 
 yield of the one-hundrcd-acre field he was then 
 engaged upon. In the thriving crop of clover I 
 could sec the sign of a restored fertility. The 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 6/ 
 
 absence of this on much of the land that I visited 
 along the James was leading me to underestimate 
 the recuperative process which is taking place. 
 
 Lower Brandon mansion, along with its large- 
 hearted hospitality, is a house of "many indus- 
 tries," as one of the ladies remarked. It is the 
 post-office for the region, and the money received 
 for their service to the country is set apart for the 
 church there, which, like many others, needs all 
 it can obtain to enable it vigorously to prosecute 
 its Christian work. 
 
 If to the occupants Lower Brandon appears 
 like a " Paradise Lost" since the war, there are 
 very many who hope that ere long it may be a 
 " Paradise Regained." I visited the grounds early 
 in the morning of June 22d. The cooing of the 
 pigeons and the whistle of the partridges were 
 everywhere heard. Squirrels played among the 
 branches, or deliberately sat and chattered at me 
 as I passed. Their only fear seemed to be when 
 on the ground ; but, once on the tree, they imme- 
 diately stopped to inspect the intruder. The 
 Magnolia grandiflora was in full bloom, and its 
 fragrance appeared to temper the morning air. 
 Mimosas, with their delicate foliage and still 
 
68 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 more delicate flowers, peeped out from under 
 the taller trees. Honeysuckles twined everywhere 
 about the mansion, taking possession of whatever 
 they could embrace. The strange association of 
 plants which originally came from homes which 
 were widely distant from each other struck me 
 very forcibly. Thus side by side were Scotch firs' 
 and mimosas, and over a vigorous Chinese alian- 
 thus twined in close contact the English ivy 
 (Hederd) and the American poison-vine {Rhus), 
 each appearing to thrive as though the land and 
 climate had been made for it alone. 
 
 On the Japan quince {Cydoiiia), where the fruit 
 was already half matured, I found a luxuriant 
 growth of the fungus known to botanists as the 
 Rcestelia. What is the subtle discernment among 
 plants which enables even these low forms of life 
 to recognize, and to appropriate for their own 
 nourishment, the suitable life-blood of a higher 
 form ? Rcestelia is commonly found parasitic on 
 plants of the rose family. To this the Japan 
 quince belongs, and the fungus, even though 
 American-born, recognized at once in a plant 
 imported here from halfway around the globe 
 a friend, or a servant, that would nourish it. It is 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 6g 
 
 simply another expression of natural law, which 
 operates regardless of the limitations of time or 
 longitude. Whether the fitness here of each for 
 each is to be expressed in terms of evolution or 
 of direct design, it is none the less wonderful. I 
 can see a broad system of philosophy in the 
 teaching of Mr. Darwin and some of his leading 
 conservative followers. The wildest guesses, too, 
 of some of his enthusiastic disciples may prove 
 true; but so long as guesses are promulgated as 
 verified scientific facts, they only by so much 
 retard the very cause they are intended to aid. 
 Take, for example, the soberly-stated proposi- 
 tion of a leading writer of the evolutionist school, 
 that among our horned animals those frontal ap- 
 pendages (horns) came because of the irritation 
 produced by the butting warfare waged among 
 the progenitors of our present horned animals. 
 The form of logic expressed by such reasoning is 
 ** that it is easier to believe the proposition than 
 to prove to the contrary," a mode which, in spite 
 of its convenience, is not safe. Even the argu- 
 ment in favor of the statement, derived from the 
 order of appearance of these animals in past time, 
 does not justify the mode of reasoning employed, 
 
70 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 or the positive, dogmatic teaching growing out of 
 it, since there is an utter want of direct proof of 
 the cause producing the appendages. How many- 
 unknown causes may have led to the same result? 
 It is this toleration of probabilities in scientific 
 reasoning which has done so much toward 
 burdening our modern writings with such a 
 load of false conclusions. 
 
 Not long ago I was under the shade of some 
 maple-trees whose more than half-matured fruit 
 covered the ground. Among these specimens 
 there were some where one-half of the fruit (that 
 is, one of the pair of winged seeds) had aborted, 
 or failed to grow. Surely, in accordance with the 
 old, well-established law, it must be, I thought, 
 that those half fruits will each be larger than in a 
 fruit where both halves have grown to normal 
 size. I was ready to prepare a note of it for a 
 scientific journal. However, I restrained myself 
 until I had examined the facts fully ; when, lo ! 
 the half-fruits were found to be no larger alone 
 than when grown, as they should have done, in 
 pairs. This is not a fable, even if it has a moral. 
 I am quite willing to point it against myself, pro- 
 viding some of my contemporaries will seriously 
 

 tt^'Af^M^A'^X ~~ 
 
 i -«^^^^■j^^f.M^. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 71 
 
 ask themselves whether they have not been as 
 unfortunate in some of their scientific reasoning. 
 
 Before leaving Lower Brandon and its associa- 
 tions, I must call attention to the bullet-marks 
 shown by the illustration on the eastern front of 
 the mansion. These are but a partial expression 
 of the lawlessness of our own troops. The shots 
 were not fired in battle, but represent the ungov- 
 erned lawlessness of warfare. I do not mean to 
 assert that our own soldiers were worse than 
 others, but simply to say that all such acts as 
 mutilate property, destroy life, or in any way in- 
 jure an individual, unless done (as these were not) 
 in execution of military duty, are wholly inex- 
 cusable and unjustifiable upon any pretext what- 
 ever. There is a still worse tale of vandalism to 
 be told in connection with the same building. On 
 one of the windows there was, written by him- 
 self, the name of each President, down to that of 
 our martyred Lincoln. Associated with these 
 were the autographs of many statesmen and 
 scholars. One might suppose that such honored 
 autographs would be secure, engraved with the 
 diamond on the glass, against even the great de- 
 stroyer Time, and that they would be both sacred 
 
>j2 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 and safe among the soldiers of Freedom. But 
 they were neither, for an unpalsied Northern arm 
 shattered the pane and destroyed the roll. 
 
 It is sad to see how many of these old estates 
 are changing owners, going, though, it may be, to 
 those who will care for them and . respect their 
 traditions. After all, is there not in the pride of 
 ancestry, in the attachment to the State, a prin- 
 ciple which, if not in itself pure, unadulterated 
 patriotism, is yet a sure foundation for patriotism 
 to rest upon ? 
 
 River navigation is always most uncertain. 
 How often we were " headed off" by the wind in 
 some days of sailing on the James it is hardly 
 possible to say. We started to Brandon in a calm, 
 but reached our anchorage in a furious little gale, 
 which covered the river with white-caps in a few 
 minutes. However, the tide was going out, and 
 we soon found the yacht had nestled down into 
 a soft bed of mud, where she quietly lay. That 
 was not a hundred yards distant from where an 
 ocean-steamer passed an hour before. 
 
 On the evening of June 22d we anchored south 
 of the Chickahominy, and next morning ran over 
 to photograph the mouth of this historic river. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. yy 
 
 In itself it is nothing but a good-sized stream, 
 opening through swamps and low, pine-covered 
 bluffs into the James. For all this, however, it 
 has been the scene of some of the most impor- 
 tant events witnessed in our short colonial and 
 federal life. Captain John Smith, very soon after 
 the location of the settlers upon Jamestown 
 Island, set out to explore the Chickahominy 
 region, which, though nominally under control of 
 Powhatan, was directly governed by his brother 
 Opechancanough, who from first to last was hos- 
 tile to the whites. It was on this trip that Smith 
 was captured, and marched from village to vil- 
 lage by his captors, then doomed to execution, 
 and rescued from the jaws of death by Pocahon- 
 tas. This, at least, is the legend, which, it is to be 
 remembered, came not at first from Smith him- 
 self The romance of it never was heard of until 
 Pocahontas became, after baptism, the Lady Re- 
 becca. Here, too, is a strange incident in her life, 
 which, as it has not been so fully told elsewhere, 
 I will quote from Doyle (" English Colonies in 
 America : Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas," 
 p. 143) : " It now came to Argall's ears that Po- 
 cahontas, now about seventeen years old and mar- 
 D 7 
 
74 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 ried to one of Powhatan's captains, was with the 
 king of the Potomac. Argall at once determined 
 to possess himself of her, as a means of ransom- 
 ing the English prisoners and goods taken the 
 previous year. With this view he went boldly to 
 Japazaus, and told him that unless he delivered 
 up Pocahontas to the English he must no longer 
 regard them as brothers and friends. This threat, 
 backed up, according to one account, by the 
 promise of a copper kettle, proved too much for 
 the fidelity of Japazaus. Pocahontas was beguiled 
 on board Argall's vessel, and found herself a pris- 
 oner. Other influences possibly were at work to 
 bring about a union between the races. In the 
 spring of 1613, Pocahontas was baptized by the 
 name of Rebecca, and married to one of the prin- 
 cipal settlers, John Rolfe." This was just about 
 one year later than when, as a captive, she was 
 the wife of one of her father's captains. Was 
 she for a brief period a widow ? One year later, 
 Ralph Hamor, who appears to have been both 
 educated and influential, went to Powhatan with 
 a request for another of his daughters. I will not 
 give the full particulars of that visit, but refer the 
 reader to Doyle {op. cit.y p. 145). This same 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 75 
 
 Hamor (apparently) wrote that Rolfe "married 
 one of rude education, manners barbarous, and 
 cursed generation, merely for the good of the 
 plantation." 
 
 The least that can be said is, this is a pity if 
 true, — so much of a pity that we prefer to accept 
 Bancroft's account of the conversion and court- 
 ship of the Indian princess. It may be that 
 Hamor's own unsuccessful suit had somewhat 
 soured his disposition against the Indian race 
 and manners. 
 
 Still more history has been made for Virginia 
 along the banks of the Chickahominy. In 16 16, 
 owing to the almost exclusive attention which was 
 paid by the colonists to the culture of tobacco, 
 there was not enough of corn for food. The 
 Chickahominy Indians had promised a supply, 
 but, seeing the straits to which the whites were 
 reduced, refused contemptuously to deliver the 
 stipulated quantity. This resulted in a fight, in 
 which twelve Indians were killed and as many 
 more captured. This for a time enforced peace ; 
 but only for a time. The Indians, a few years 
 later, made a bloody retaliation, which threatened 
 the very life of the young colony. 
 
^6 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 The events of i860 to 1864 along the famous 
 little stream are still fresh in memory. At last 
 white-winged Peace, in the shape of trading- 
 schooners, go up and down the Chickahominy 
 giving Northern money in exchange for Virginia 
 lumber. We may now well believe that its future 
 will be as quiet as its past has been turbulent. 
 
 Prosperity came slowly to Virginia ; but it did 
 come, nevertheless. Bancroft, describing the con- 
 dition of things there in 1656, says, "Virginia had 
 long been the home of its inhabitants. 'Among 
 many other blessings,' said their statute-books, 
 ' Almighty God hath vouchsafed increase of chil- 
 dren to this colony, who are now multiplied to a 
 considerable number ;' and ' the huts in the wil- 
 derness were as full as the birds'-nests of the 
 woods.' " 
 
 I was much struck by the patriarchal appear- 
 ance of some of the negroes. One, whose white 
 head and placid countenance was especially im- 
 pressive, called to mind the lines of Keats, — 
 
 " While his bow'd head seem'd listening to the Earth, 
 His ancient mother, for some comfort yet." 
 
 Nights in June, along the James, apparently 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. yy 
 
 were just suited to the fire-flies. Rather, I should 
 say, these bright Httle creatures were almost the 
 only things visible after dark. They would crowd 
 about the yacht when a mile out from land. 
 
 The bluffs, along the southern shore especially, 
 furnished a most instructive lesson in world- 
 making, stratum after stratum being piled each 
 above the other in a very striking way, their hori- 
 zontal position suggesting naturally enough their 
 deposition from the water, and then, being undis- 
 turbed ever since. On the other hand, the water, I 
 might say, gives an equally interesting lesson, but 
 one which is not so far advanced. Approaching 
 the southern shore, just below Hog Island, as 
 we were hunting a channel into a little creek, we 
 found by the lead-line that for a long distance the 
 bottom was almost absolutely flat. " One fathom" 
 was the report, repeated until it became painfully 
 monotonous. The lead indicated everywhere that 
 soft mud was being evenly deposited. In many 
 places an oar could be run down into it several 
 feet with the utmost ease. The bluffs were once 
 just as the river-bed now is, and, allowing suffi- 
 cient time, the future student of geology may find 
 the now-forming mud flats above the surface of 
 7* 
 
78 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the water, and point to them as being simply 
 another page in the same natural history. 
 
 Jamestown Island was the next point of special 
 interest below the Chickahominy. Mr. Brown, 
 the present proprietor of Old Jamestown, received 
 me with the utmost kindness, and allowed me to 
 photograph whatever I desired to. The patience 
 of gentlemen who own such interesting spots as 
 this passes my comprehension. But once during 
 the entire vacation did I meet with anything 
 which approached a rebuff, and that was under 
 circumstances which were fully and satisfactorily 
 explained afterward. Yet I had no letters of 
 introduction anywhere; and I take this oppor- 
 tunity of saying, once for all, that the pleasantest 
 memories of my trip on the James are associated 
 with the uniform kindness I received from those 
 upon whom I called for information, or for per- 
 mission to photograph points of interest. I espe- 
 cially desired to secure good photographs of the 
 ruins on Jamestown Island. My want of success 
 has been explained in connection with a similar 
 failure at Lower Brandon. 
 
 Even the ruins of Jamestown have almost dis- 
 appeared. Fragments of the old magazine remain, 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 79 
 
 and also a portion of the church tower ; but these, 
 with the cemetery back of the church, are the 
 only visible memorials of a time and a settlement 
 which we regret have left so few monuments. It 
 is evident, however, from the scattered bricks and 
 the faint indications of old cellars and the like, 
 that the settlement covered a considerable area.* 
 It was ill-fated from the very start. The unfortu- 
 nate site was chosen simply because, being an 
 island, it might more readily be defended against 
 Indian attack. It is strange, however, that it was 
 necessary for the friendly Indians to warn the 
 settlers that, if they expected exemption from such 
 onsets, they must clear the ground and remove 
 the reeds or tall grass that grew on the low, 
 swampy lands, for in these the attacking parties 
 would surely secrete themselves. 
 
 Disease, growing out of the situation, swept 
 away the settlers, and proved so inimical to the 
 young colony that its abandonment as the chief 
 point was merely a question of time. Disaster 
 after disaster was associated with the place. 
 About 1609 the condition of things there was 
 
 * It is more than probable that the James River now flows over 
 what was once within the limits of the town. 
 
8o VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 disheartening. Smith, who had ruled wisely and 
 firmly, was so injured that he was obliged to 
 return to England. Percy succeeded him, but, 
 owing to ill health, lacked the force of will re- 
 quired in one who was to rule over so turbulent 
 a community. Doyle (/. c, p. 132) thus describes 
 the situation : " The Indians slew the settlers* 
 hogs, and cut off any stragglers from the fort. 
 Ratcliffe, who had gone in command of a foraging 
 party, was entrapped into an ambush by the In- 
 dians and killed, with thirty of his men. The 
 outward aspect of the colony proclaimed its state 
 of anarchy and distress. Jamestown looked more 
 like the ruin of an ancient fortress than an inhab- 
 ited town. The palisade was torn down, and the 
 gates off their hinges. Rows of deserted houses 
 told of the mortality which had thinned the set- 
 tlement, while their shattered timbers, torn and 
 broken for firewood, bore witness to the sloth 
 and thriftlessness of the survivors." Abandon- 
 ment of the whole place and embarkation for 
 more promising shores were seriously considered, 
 and only the arrival of reinforcements, with fresh 
 stores and with provisions^ prevented the execution 
 of this purpose. Then, several years later, came 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, 8 1 
 
 the first massacre by the Indians, in which three 
 hundred and forty-seven settlers were slain. This 
 assault was directed, if not led, by Opechancan- 
 ough, of whose subjects, it will be remembered, 
 twelve had been killed and twelve captured in a 
 previous encounter with the whites. In 1644 the 
 same inveterate foe instigated another massacre of 
 the whites, in which three hundred perished. Then, 
 among its other reverses, Jamestown was burned in 
 the struggle between Bacon and Berkeley. James- 
 town was abandoned as the capital, and Williams- 
 burg named as its new location. (In 1696?) 
 
 The most interesting ruin of Old Jamestown is, 
 of course, its church tower. One marvels that a 
 church so large as this was (judging from the 
 ruined tower) could have been erected at so early a 
 period in colonial history. It is to be remembered 
 that to the men of those times (at least, to the 
 better part of them) worship was something more 
 than a luxury. I did not measure the tower (as 
 I should have done), but should say it had a 
 square base of about twenty feet. The remains 
 still rise say twenty-five feet, and are entered by 
 a fine large doorway. The bricks, of course, were 
 brought from England. The first question which 
 / 
 
82 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 naturally suggests itself is : Why should a spot so 
 full of sacred and patriotic memories as this is 
 be allowed to fall into ruin, and to be overgrown 
 by weeds? Or, worse still, why should it be 
 allowed to remain so ? Alas for mankind ! The 
 proprietor apologized for the appearance of the 
 ground, and said, " I would gladly open it up and 
 uncover the graves, were it not for the fact that to 
 do so would simply be to make them more ac- 
 cessible to curiosity-seekers. Men come to the 
 old tower and carry off the young ivy shoots ; they 
 break the tombstones, and nothing is so sacred as 
 to prevent its destruction." From what I saw, 
 there could be no doubt about the truth of his 
 statement. 
 
 Through the gateway of the tower we passed 
 into the old graveyard, over what was probably 
 the site of the body of the church. Here and 
 there an opening in the rank underbrush and 
 weeds revealed a tombstone or sepulchral slab, 
 and on some of these an inscription may be made 
 out. Time has dealt harshly with the lettering, 
 and in some cases almost destroyed the characters. 
 There is a remarkable instance of the effect of 
 tree - growth, furnished by a buttonwood tree 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 83 
 
 (Platanus occidentalis) which stood by the side of 
 a grave. Since the time of burial this has grown 
 into a very large tree. Meanwhile its lateral growth 
 encroached upon the horizontal slab covering the 
 grave, and also carried it upward slightly. Hence 
 the stone became imbedded in the base of the tree, 
 and was also subjected to a considerable vertical 
 strain. The two forces fractured it. Mr. Brown 
 informs me that human agency aided in its 
 further destruction afterward. There was no 
 date to indicate the age of the grave. 
 
 From other graves I copied the following in- 
 scriptions : 
 
 " Under this Stone lies interred 
 
 The Body of 
 
 Mrs. Hannah Ludwell, 
 
 Relict of 
 
 The Hon. Philip Ludwell, Esq., 
 
 By whom She has left 
 
 One Son and Two Daughters. 
 
 After a most exemplary Life, 
 
 Spent in chearful Innocence 
 
 And exercise of 
 
 Piety, Charity, and Hospitality, 
 
 She Patiently submitted to 
 
 Death on the 4th Day of April, 1731, in the 52 
 
 Year of Her Age." 
 
34 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Another reads : 
 
 " Here Lyeth William Sherwoo— d, (?) 
 
 That Was Born in the Parish 
 
 of White Chappel Near 
 
 London. A great Sinner 
 
 Waiting for a Joyfull 
 
 Resurrection." 
 
 The colony was then, at the time of Mrs. Lud- 
 well's death, more than a century old. This 
 further shows with what rapidity even our sup- 
 posed imperishable memorials are effaced by time. 
 It raises the question, also. Was this the first ceme- 
 tery the colonists had upon the island ? It also 
 makes clear that removal of the capital from 
 Jamestown, in 1696, did not depopulate the place, 
 however much it may have lessened its importance. 
 Doyle has correctly stated that the life of the 
 Virginian of that period was, from choice, in the 
 country, rather than in the town, — his plantation 
 interests demanded his presence. 
 
 There is probably less than an acre inside the 
 brick wall surrounding the cemetery. It is incom- 
 prehensible that the State of Virginia should not 
 have made some provision for the care of these 
 grounds. Some other States would have pur- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 85 
 
 chased the site, and established such a custody- 
 there as would have effectually protected the 
 place. 
 
 A few hundred yards above the church tower, 
 along the bank of the river, we came upon what 
 tradition calls the " old magazine." I at first 
 thought I had reason for doubting that this had 
 been its purpose. However, a closer examination 
 showed me that tradition was probably correct. 
 The vault and the thickness of the walls make 
 this the most plausible theory. The illustration 
 shows that the building is now almost wholly 
 undermined by the water. A cypress-tree, still 
 farther up, stands now well out in the water. 
 This, too, the illustration shows. Yet, some 
 thirty years ago, the road, I was told, ran by 
 that tree ; hence so recently as this the magazine 
 must have been well inland. These data serve to 
 show with what rapidity the river is encroaching 
 upon the land. 
 
 Williamsburg was laid out with such great 
 anticipation of its future, and in such extreme 
 loyalty to the king, that its ground-plan was that 
 of the letter W- However, it failed to meet the 
 hopes which were formed. 
 
S^ VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 The long-cherished idea of a college for the 
 colony was realized there. Doyle (/. c, p. 273) 
 says of it : " Meanwhile, the college was advanc- 
 ing, and before Nicholson's term of office had 
 come to an end two sides of the quadrangle 
 which the building was designed to form were 
 completed. A few years later, however, a fire 
 undid all that had been accomplished ; and when 
 Beverly wrote, in 1720, though the damaged 
 buildings had been restored, no further progress 
 had been made." 
 
 This institution was first contemplated in 1619. 
 The Indian massacre, which so shortly followed, 
 put an end to all consideration of the project at 
 that time. In 1660 grants in its behalf were 
 made; but it was not until 1695 that it was actu- 
 ally chartered. Along with the charter the Col- 
 lege of William and Mary received, through the 
 intercession of the Rev. James Blair, a small en- 
 dowment also. In 1776 it was made surveyor- 
 general of Virginia, and thus received about five 
 thousand dollars a year from fees. This source of 
 income was swept away by the Revolutionary war. 
 Washington was examined here, and received from 
 the college his authority as a deputy surveyor. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 87 
 
 The objects of the college were specified in the 
 petition of Blair for its charter. " They were to 
 be Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Philosophy, Mathemat- 
 ics, and Divinity." Of course this assumes that its 
 chief function was in the interest of the Church. 
 It may be interesting to note its influence. Bishop 
 Meade ("Old Churches and Families of Virginia," 
 vol. i. p. 28) writes of this College of William and 
 Mary in 181 1 : It "was regarded as the hot-bed of 
 French politics and religion, and I can truly say 
 that then, and for some years after, in every edu- 
 cated young man in Virginia whom I met I ex- 
 pected to find a sceptic, if not an avowed unbe- 
 liever." From this we may infer that, so far as the 
 dogmas of religion were concerned, its mission re- 
 mained unfulfilled. 
 
 Quoting again from Doyle (/. c, p. 274) : " Yet 
 we may well doubt whether the college did much 
 for the colony. About thirty years later one of 
 its own Fellows pithily described it as a ' college 
 without a chapel, without a scholarship, and with- 
 out a statute, a library without books, a president 
 without a fixed salary, and a burgess without elec- 
 tors.' The College of William and Mary had but 
 a small share in training that generation of Vir- 
 
88 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 ginian statesmen who left so deep an impress on 
 the history of the world." 
 
 Of its subsequent history we prefer to say 
 nothing, save that an institution which lost a 
 large part of its government support through 
 the Revolution in 1776 would appear to have still 
 some claim on the Union which grew out of that 
 struggle. 
 
 Passing Hog Island on our way down, we ran 
 in along-shore, and spent Sunday at anchor near 
 Ferguson's wharf, which is nearly abreast of the 
 Point of Shoals light-house. 
 
 The bluffs looked very inviting, and I expected 
 to find something of interest there. We had seen 
 a blue stratum exposed at several points along the 
 river. Here it formed the base of the bluffs, and 
 was very suggestive of tertiary deposits, which I 
 had seen elsewhere. However, Lew anticipated 
 me in the discovery. He soon returned to the 
 yacht with the news that there was no end of 
 such things (coral and fossil shells) on shore. I 
 suggested that the coral might have come there 
 as ballast from the West Indies ; but Lew scouted 
 the idea : " There is too much of it for that." So 
 we went ashore together. The blue stratum was 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 89 
 
 full of shells (pecten and its usual associates). 
 Here and there the tide had undermined it, and 
 masses fell to the tide-level, where the shells lay- 
 in profusion. The coral revealed itself just at the 
 tide-hne, and not in the bluff, but out in the water. 
 So far as we could see, it was there as an immense 
 mass, from which we broke off a fragment weigh- 
 ing about two hundred pounds. It never came 
 there as ballast. As to its origin and its extent 
 geologists may decide, if, indeed, they have not 
 already done so long since. We — that is, Lew 
 and I — made considerable collections of these 
 interesting things for the Philadelphia Academy 
 of Natural Sciences. 
 
 June 25th gave us a strong head-wind, which, 
 with the tide against us, made the run to Newport 
 News a tedious one. No stop was made, as we 
 had " done the place" on our way up the river. 
 
 Newport News appears to be one of the spots 
 created for some great ends. Its high situation 
 indicates easy drainage, and, so far as that goes, 
 freedom from many diseases which curse some 
 neighboring towns which are built on lower land. 
 The great depth of water along-shore, its accessi- 
 bility (being free from ice the year through), and, 
 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 above all, its being midway between the lands of 
 wheat and of cotton, are factors in its destiny 
 which indicate a great future for the place. Add 
 to these the fact that a strong railroad company is 
 erecting buildings so large, so costly, and so per- 
 manent that it cannot afford any failure on the part 
 of the place. It is, besides, quite as easy of access 
 as Norfolk, and has advantages which the latter 
 does not possess. Northern energy and capital 
 had "taken hold," and many "modern houses" 
 were contemplated, if not actually contracted for. 
 Most of the buildings erected when we were 
 there were of the class that suggested the name 
 "Shanty-town" naturally enough. Their tempo- 
 rary character, the inmates, and the proportion of 
 bar-rooms were strong reminders of some new 
 Western towns I had seen; but, like them, New- 
 port News bids fair to grow into something better. 
 The push and energy of the new West, however, 
 were in striking contrast when placed alongside 
 of the ways of the old South. It is strange in- 
 deed that this, the first river region of the conti- 
 nent actually settled in by an English-speaking 
 population, should be about the last to feel the 
 awakening of a real active life. Were I a young 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 91 
 
 man seeking a home, with the privilege of choos- 
 ing between the West and the James River region, 
 I should decide in favor of the latter. I offer no 
 advice to others in this matter, but what I have 
 written represents my own views upon the sub- 
 ject. I make the statement, too, with a full 
 knowledge of the unhealthfulness of the region ; 
 but remember, at the same time (leaving Indiana, 
 Illinois, and portions of Ohio out of the question), 
 that the Juniata Valley of this State (Pennsylva- 
 nia) was once as bad as the valley of the James is 
 to-day. 
 
 The name Newport News is still full of stir- 
 ring memories. For one short day the victory 
 gained by the " Merrimac" (" Virginia") awakened 
 hopes among the Confederates which must have 
 been bright, — the more so as all that had been 
 expected of the new ironclad was far more than 
 realized in her combat with our wooden vessels. 
 These hopes were but bright illusions, for the 
 very next day the " Monitor" turned the tide of 
 victory against the soldiers and the sailors of 
 the South. 
 
 Besides the memorable naval battle associated 
 with Newport News, it and the whole northern 
 
Q2 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 shore were closely connected with our campaigns 
 against Richmond; just as Norfolk and the south- 
 ern shore were with the defensive operations going 
 on at the same time on the part of the Confeder- 
 ates. 
 
 Fortress Monroe and Hampton. — We an- 
 chored on the evening of the 25th of June in 
 Hampton Creek, among " oyster-pungies" and 
 fishing-canoes. Negro life appears here, I may 
 say, certainly in a most characteristic form ■ pos- 
 sibly, too, I may add, after considering all its ob- 
 stacles, in a most promising form. Evidently very 
 much of the old spirit — the war of the races — is 
 still found in certain quarters in Hampton. " Nig- 
 ger, light that lamp !" was the order given in a 
 store of the village to a colored man of the estab- 
 lishment. The fact that it was silently obeyed 
 would probably indicate that it was neither un- 
 usual nor unexpected. I will not add in which 
 of the churches, / was aftcrzvard told, the white 
 gentleman held a conspicuous place. However, 
 time is a sovereign cure for many diseases. Prob- 
 ably in another generation such specimens of lin- 
 guistic pathology will be studied even there with 
 about the same interest and disgust as that with 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 93 
 
 which a microscopist of to-day examines a section 
 from any other festering sore. 
 
 As I watched the water in the night from the 
 deck, one of the " nettle-fish" (jelly-fish) passed 
 by, slowly drifting out with the tide. It was 
 brilliant enough to be seen as a ball of phosphor- 
 escent light. We found them so abundant as to 
 be nuisances. In Mob-jack Bay, north of York 
 River, bathing-houses are built for the express 
 purpose of protecting the bathers against them. 
 
 On the night of the 26th of June we had a 
 settled rain. Even if there is no inspiration to me 
 in the patter on the deck, it is always pleasant. In 
 the " Marble Faun," Hawthorne makes his count 
 say, " The sky itself is an old roof, and no doubt 
 the sins of mankind have made it gloomier than 
 it used to be." It was a leaky roof that night, 
 in all truth, but our deck was better than the 
 roof; so that we had none of the count's gloomy 
 philosophy in the little cabin. The next morning 
 it was still raining, but I could look out from 
 my " ten-by-twelve" home and commiserate the 
 negro fishermen as they went by in their open 
 canoes. So on down through the various grades 
 of comfort one may go. I have no doubt that 
 
94 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 yon negro, clad in oil-cloth, cares nothing for us, 
 but is extending his sympathy on down toward 
 his poorer comrade, who is now passing the point 
 below in a very dingy old canoe, and who has not 
 one single stitch of oil-cloth between himself and 
 the rain. Men, in comparing, seldom care to go 
 higher than themselves. It is best that they 
 should not in anything but virtue. 
 
 But, take it " all in all," the life on the water is 
 a healthy one. In spite of rain and wind and 
 soul-tormenting calm, hardened hands and sun- 
 browned face, I have enjoyed it all. It is simply a 
 return to first principles, — a vagabond life, if you 
 insist upon so considering it, but still one which 
 most men some time long for. June 1st I came 
 on board my boat painfully conscious of having 
 nerves and aching points all over my body. But 
 after a month of aquatic life I found muscle had 
 the nerves in subjection, and not a single pain 
 interfered with perfect peace of mind or of body. 
 
 I have looked in vain through Bacon's " Wis- 
 dom of the Ancients" for an interpretation of the 
 fable of Antaeus, the earth-born giant. This enor- 
 mous being was said to have been monarch of 
 Libya, and a son of Neptune and Terra. I have 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 05 
 
 often wondered why the wise Baron of Verulam 
 allowed the conflict between the giant and Her- 
 cules to pass unnoticed. His " Novum Organum" 
 supplied, so thinkers say, the pass-key which 
 opened all the dark chambers of mind and mat- 
 ter. I believe, however, that no single thought 
 as to what the fable might mean ever entered 
 the lord high chancellor's dream. Great truths 
 usually become plain when the world is ready for 
 them, — at least so nearly ready that, when started, 
 they can take care of themselves. Modern civil- 
 ization had not in 1609 a.d. brushed away the 
 last particles of soil which clung to man. He was 
 still of earth, a little earthy, and not wholly un- 
 natural. He, too, as well as Antaeus, remembered 
 his ancient mother, knew that he was fashioned 
 from the dust, and drew fresh strength whenever 
 he pressed the dear bosom again. The little 
 pigmy cares, to Antaeus, were only playfellows 
 that entertained him as he lay full-length, absorb- 
 ing might from the greensward or leafy bed. 
 But these same associates, with whom we dwell 
 not only by day, in business hours, but at night, 
 in the renewing and strengthening hours, have 
 grown to be the Hercules lifting us up so high 
 
96 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 from earth that neither hand nor foot nor mind 
 can often touch the soil whence all our early- 
 strength came. Only once in a great while do we 
 get down to our fount of life and vigor ; and then 
 we leave it strong or weak as we have lingered 
 there or hastened rashly away into the grasp of 
 Hercules again. How much these summer-loi- 
 tering hours with earth and sky and water would 
 renew our youth if we would allow our minds 
 and bodies a holiday ungrudged ! 
 
 When a man, already rich, comes to endure labor, 
 through the heat of summer and through the cold 
 of winter, simply for the gain it brings, then he 
 needs a force to drag him off for a season, to 
 isolate him from the world, while he can contem- 
 plate some high ideal in art or in science, in philan- 
 thropy or in religion. 
 
 The recent address of Herbert Spencer in New 
 York came with great power from one who knew 
 so well, experimentally, the evil effects of overwork. 
 He told us, — 
 
 " In America, as in England, work with many 
 has become a passion. The savage thinks only of 
 present satisfaction, and leaves future satisfaction 
 uncared for. Contrariwise, the American, eagerly 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 97 
 
 pursuing a future good, almost ignores what good 
 the passing day offers him ; and when the future 
 good is gained, he neglects that while still striving 
 for some remote good. 
 
 " What I have seen and heard during my stay 
 among you has forced on me the belief that this 
 slow change from habitual inertness to persistent 
 activity has reached an extreme from which there 
 must begin a counter-change, a reaction. Every- 
 where I have been struck with the number of faces 
 which told in strong lines of the burdens that had 
 to be borne. I have been struck, too, with the 
 large proportion of gray-haired men ; and inquiries 
 have brought out the fact that with you the hair 
 commonly begins to turn some ten years earlier 
 than with us. Moreover, in every circle I have 
 met men who have suffered from nervous collapse, 
 due to stress of business, or named friends who 
 had either killed themselves by overwork or had 
 been permanently incapacitated, or had wasted long 
 periods in endeavors to recover health. I do but 
 echo the opinions of all observant persons I have 
 spoken to, that immense injury is being done by 
 this high-pressure life, — the physique is being 
 
 undermined. 
 
 E ^ 9 
 
gS VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 "... Old Froissart, who said of the English of 
 his day that ' they take their pleasures sadly, after 
 their fashion,' would doubtless, if he had lived 
 now, say of the Americans that they take their 
 pleasures hurriedly, after their fashion. . . . Nor 
 do the evils end here: there is the damage to 
 posterity. Damaged constitutions reappear in 
 children, and entail on them far more of ill than 
 great fortunes yield them of good. When life 
 has been duly rationalized by science, it will be 
 seen that among a man's duties care of the body 
 is imperative, not only out of regard for personal 
 welfare, but out of regard for descendants. His 
 constitution will be regarded as an entailed estate 
 which he ought to pass on uninjured, if not im- 
 proved, to those who follow ; and it will be held 
 that millions bequeathed by him will not com- 
 pensate for feeble health and decreased ability to 
 enjoy life." 
 
 Holiday grew out of holy-day. This originally 
 meant a day which was perfect or excellent. The 
 history of our word for such a season of recreation 
 hardly more clearly suggests the sacredness of 
 rest, than it does the godliness of strength which 
 springs from the holiday. There is a sin against 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 99 
 
 the body which is unpardonable, because it leads 
 to death, and so destroys the form in which 
 creative energy has thus far culminated. Recrea- 
 tion once signified restoration to health. 
 
 Hampton Roads and the region around is the 
 veritable historic centre of the country. An ac- 
 cident gave the name, Point Comfort, to the sandy 
 point where Fortress Monroe now stands. Driven 
 by a heavy storm in July from the Piankatank, 
 Captain John Smith found his first secure shelter 
 under its protection. Hence the name, inspired 
 by gratitude. But how often since has the same 
 safe anchorage awakened similar emotions ! 
 
 The plans for French naval co-operation dur- 
 ing the Revolutionary struggle were made here 
 before the advance on Yorktown. In 1813, after 
 being repulsed at Norfolk, the British vented 
 their rage upon the unprotected village of Hamp- 
 ton. During our recent war the possession of 
 Fortress Monroe decided in our favor most im- 
 portant events. Indeed, it is hard to say what 
 might have followed had this position fallen into 
 the hands of our adversaries. A glance at the 
 map will show at once how essential to us it was. 
 There might have been no iron-clad engagement 
 
100 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 at Newport News, but, instead, Washington and 
 Baltimore would have been exposed to immediate 
 attack from the " Merrimac." Here the first slaves 
 were landed ; and in Fortress Monroe was issued 
 General Butler's famous order which declared 
 slaves to be, as property, " contraband of war," — 
 an order that removed the curse under which for 
 two centuries the African race had groaned on 
 our j^^^ shores. 
 
 To speak of that marvel of hotels, the " Hygeia" 
 (under the very guns of Fortress Monroe), is 
 simply to repeat what is already well known. 
 
 In the village of Hampton is St. John's Church, 
 one of the ecclesiastical landmarks of the country. 
 It was built in 1658, was in ruins during the war 
 of 181 2, and used then by the British as a stable, 
 and burned in 1861, when General Magruder fired 
 the town to prevent its being used by the Northern 
 troops. The walls are built of bricks made in 
 England, and seem as though they might still 
 outlast the centuries, notwithstanding the trials 
 they have endured. I am indebted to the present 
 rector, Rev. J. J. Gravatt, for a photograph, show- 
 ing one of its sides, in front of which is a group 
 of Indian students from the Hampton School. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, jqi 
 
 So much of history of the early and the late 
 events of national life can seldom be found 
 crowded into so limited an area. Yet I have 
 only alluded to some of the striking outlines of 
 all that has been witnessed here. 
 
 Still more important history — at leasts not less 
 important — is being made now on the same ground, 
 but under the quiet rule of peace. Less obtrusive 
 by far than the stirring events of the past, what is 
 now being done toward educating the Indian and 
 the colored races must leave a trail of light in the 
 future. It will yet be reckoned among the first 
 clear, shining acts of justice toward those with 
 whom our dealings in the past have been dark as 
 infamy. If we credit the Hampton School with 
 no higher results than those of an experiment, 
 thus far successful, we cannot over-estimate the 
 importance of what it has accomplished. What 
 is to be done with the Indians ? Probably Hamp- 
 ton and other like schools will soon teach us. 
 
 Its great mission is with the Negro. A curse 
 follows a crime closely ; and the curse is looming 
 up dark and threatening. If slavery was once 
 fitly characterized as the black plague, what shall 
 we say of the ignorance it engendered among 
 
102 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 those who were the victims ? Emancipation, irre- 
 spective of its righteousness, became a war meas- 
 ure necessary for the salvation of the country. 
 With it came the right of suffrage, as naturally as 
 sunshine comes with the sun. But a vote is a 
 vote, whether cast by an intellectual giant or by 
 a mental dwarf, and has as much weight in one 
 case as in the other. In this is the well-recog- 
 nized danger; for the perpetuity of republican 
 government is assured only as long as the ma- 
 jority is intelligent as well as honest. Couple 
 these evident truths with the fact that the rate of 
 increase is vastly greater among the uneducated 
 black race than among the more cultured whites. 
 This is the whole truth and the whole danger, 
 and this, then, the curse : that those whom we 
 once enslaved and degraded threaten to subvert 
 even the power that at last invested them with the 
 dignity of a full citizenship. Shall the vigorous 
 free black, with his enormous rate of multiplica- 
 tion, sometimes vengeful, usually injudicious, come 
 to doom finally the very institutions which, as a 
 slave, he has already so greatly endangered ? 
 
 Hampton School demands not only national aid 
 in its projected work, but national gratitude as 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. J03 
 
 well. Every educated colored man it sends forth 
 is a pledge to the future. Considering the diffi- 
 culties which lay in the road of the institution, 
 it is no longer an experiment, but an astounding 
 success. 
 
 Copying from the official report of the school, 
 which bears date of June 30, 1882, I find the fol- 
 lowing statements of Mrs. E. C. Dixon : 
 
 " Of the 389 graduates and 37 Senior under- 
 graduates — those who left before the end of the 
 third year — entered in the new * Record-Book :' 
 (males, 280; females, 146; total, 426), I have 
 learned that 326 have engaged in teaching, and 
 that more than three-fourths of the whole — i. ^.,319 
 — have made teaching their vocation since they 
 left the institute ; three are licensed preachers, as 
 well as teachers. Over ninety per cent, have en- 
 gaged in teaching. Of the whole number 27 have 
 died ; 2 became insane ; leaving 397 to be ' kept 
 track of.' 
 
 " Taking those engaged in teaching : Of 
 these, 
 
 ** 276 have taught in Virginia. 
 
 46 " ** « North Carolina. 
 
 14 " « " South Carolina. 
 
 16 " " " Maryland. 
 
104 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 5 have taught in New Jersey. 
 
 5 " 
 
 « 
 
 << 
 
 Georgia. 
 
 4. " 
 
 « 
 
 « 
 
 Alabama. 
 
 4- " 
 
 (( 
 
 « 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 2 " 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Florida. 
 
 1 has 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Tennessee. 
 
 I '' 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Missouri. 
 
 I " 
 
 « 
 
 tt 
 
 Kansas. 
 
 I '' 
 
 « 
 
 <* 
 
 Delaware. 
 
 I *' 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Ohio. 
 
 I *' 
 
 « 
 
 « 
 
 Vermont. 
 
 I '' 
 
 « 
 
 (( 
 
 Nebraska." 
 
 One can hardly help noticing the overwhelm- 
 ing proportion of those students who went South, 
 where they could render the most signal service. 
 Such a showing leads inevitably to the conclusion, 
 that, together with the knowledge imparted, the 
 institute must keep constantly before its students 
 what is their manifest destiny and their highest 
 moral obligation. 
 
 We owe support to a school that does so 
 much toward removing the national danger from 
 ignorance, and substitutes for it, hope and high 
 possibilities. 
 
 Besides the mere matter of education, in its 
 common acceptation, we must also remember the 
 trades which the negro has a chance of learning 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 105 
 
 there, some of which, at least, he can learn in very- 
 few other places. Hence the tendency of the 
 work done in the school is not only to place the 
 pupil on a respectable plane of life, but to enable 
 him to hold his position in future. The full 
 import of this can be understood only when it 
 is remembered that over a large portion of the 
 United States there are trades' unions from which 
 the negro is systematically excluded, and by 
 which, so far as may be, he is prevented from 
 acquiring a trade. I am simply mentioning the 
 fact, not criticising it. In truth, bad as the prin- 
 ciple may be, it is in reality no worse than Wall 
 Street gambling in the property of others, or than 
 a wheat corner in Chicago, which speculates in 
 the daily bread of the laboring man. Neither of 
 these is worse than the others, for all spring from 
 the law of self-protection first, and then grow into 
 inordinate selfishness at last. 
 
 How well the Hampton work is done appears 
 from the following extract, taken from the memo- 
 randum - sheet accompanying the " Report for 
 1882 :" " Our printing-office, book-bindery, har- 
 ness-, tin-, wood-working, and shoe-shops, will 
 gladly compete for work wholly on the merit and 
 
I06 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the prices of the articles made." [Signed, S. C. 
 Armstrong, principal.] 
 
 Two large farms and a saw-mill, besides the 
 above-named industries, give to the willing and 
 energetic students further means of supporting 
 themselves while receiving their education. 
 
 In a volume like the present it would be out of 
 place to go more into detail than we have. 
 
 The Indians, of whom there were ninety-two in 
 attendance during the year ending June, 1882, ap- 
 pear to be mainly, or. in part, at least, supported by 
 the government, — that is, the United States gov- 
 ernment pays one hundred and sixty-seven dollars 
 apiece for each of one hundred Indian lads. This 
 does not include, or meet the expense of tuition, 
 which costs, besides, about seventy dollars a year 
 for each student. 
 
 From the report of Miss Isabel B. Eustis, I quote 
 the following pithy passages : " The success of the 
 education of our Indians turns upon the conditions 
 which await them on their return to their homes. 
 We believe in their ability to stand in an ordinarily 
 healthful moral atmosphere. The false conditions 
 of life which exist in an Indian agency, the diffi- 
 culty of obtaining healthful sympathy or wise re- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, loy 
 
 straint make their task of stemming the current of 
 savage life an almost superhuman one. The girls 
 have no foot-hold on which to attempt to breast it. 
 The boys have their trades, and can separate them- 
 selves from their old homes and their camp life. 
 There is absolutely no position of dignity to which 
 an Indian girl can look forward after three years of 
 training, with any reasonable confidence. There is 
 nothing for her but to enjoy or suffer the present 
 as best she may." ..." Should the United States 
 government ever find it possible to keep their 
 treaty with the Sioux tribe, which provides for a 
 school and suitable teacher for every thirty chil- 
 dren in the tribe, the way might open for the solu- 
 tion of the knotty problem." Such schools located 
 . among all the Indian tribes " would give honorable 
 work, full of inspiration to our best Indian girls." 
 Just one extract more to show the other side, — the 
 absence of such suitable employment. This I take 
 from the report of Lieut. George Leroy Brown : 
 "The girls- must be prepared to stand up against a 
 ' sea of trouble' and temptation." 
 
 There is one more aspect to this question of 
 practical philanthropy which is working out a 
 solution of so many social and political problems 
 
I08 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 and dangers. Those who lead in such movements 
 are, in a large number of instances, ladies, — women 
 of character, culture, and refinement, who endure 
 the work and the sacrifices connected with it from 
 the very best and purest principles. Yet to these 
 very pioneers our leading colleges, in most in- 
 stances, deny the advantages of an education 
 which would be cheerfully accorded to the pupils 
 of those ladies. It is useless to decry this as an 
 act of flagrant injustice; just now our eyes are 
 blinded when we look at the question. But 
 some sort of moral revolution will come, — nay, 
 is coming, — by which the scales will be removed ; 
 and we will then ask, how could we ever have 
 been party to such a wrong ? 
 
 It is right that the Negro or the Indian should 
 be admitted to the best college course, when pre- 
 pared for it. But how can it be right that his 
 teacher shall be deprived of like advantages ? 
 
 Do the ordinary avocations of daily life, where 
 the sexes mingle without restraints, justify the 
 fears of our conservative college rulers ? The 
 day is probably not far distant when public in- 
 stitutions, instead of being judged by what they 
 think of themselves, may be measured by their 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 109 
 
 aggressive power for the widest usefulness; and 
 when neither age, respectability of teaching force, 
 well-equipped laboratories, nor crowded library 
 shelves will atone for the sin of narrowness. 
 
 The Hampton National Home for Disabled 
 Volunteer Soldiers is well worth visiting. Unfor- 
 tunately, the limited time at my disposal prevented 
 me from doing so. A view of the grounds, as 
 one parses the water-front, leaves the impression 
 that all possible is being done for the inmates. 
 
 Wind and weather often interfere with the 
 plans of yachtsmen. My own experience did not 
 in this respect differ from that of those who sailed 
 before me. So with this explanation I must leave 
 the large remainder of interesting facts concern- 
 ing this most noteworthy region untold. What 
 Fortress Monroe now is need not be stated, for 
 others have done so more fully than I can do. 
 
 A delightful, easy southerly wind carried us up 
 the shore, past Back River, which was once the 
 scene of General Magruder's military operations. 
 The ground is now devoted to labors more peace- 
 ful, more odorous, and more useful. An estab- 
 lishment for the extraction of oil from the small 
 
 fish known as " moss-bunker" stands in sight from 
 10 
 
no VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the bay. These fish swim in schools, and may- 
 be recognized by the dark color they give the 
 surface water. The refuse remainder, left after 
 extracting the oil, is ground up and forms the 
 basis of a fertilizer which is in considerable de- 
 mand by agriculturists. That the business is 
 lucrative may be supposed from the vast number 
 of vessels engaged in the capture of these fish. 
 Almost every inlet of considerable size along-shore 
 has one or more " fish-mills," where " the catch" 
 is " worked up." How long the industry will last 
 at the present rate of destruction of the fish is a 
 problem which we cannot yet solve. Those en- 
 gaged in the business did not mention to me any 
 scarcity of fish. Indeed, at Newport News the 
 James River appeared to be dotted over with the 
 dark schools. Between catching oysters in winter 
 and the fish in summer, these amphibious beings, 
 negroes and poor whites, manage to eke out a 
 living, such as it is. The negro workers I saw 
 at one fish-mill, which shall be nameless, were as 
 degraded a looking lot of human beings as I ever 
 met. But for the fact of their speaking English 
 one might have supposed they were fresh from 
 the " Guinea Coast." 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, m 
 
 It is a puzzle to me to understand how a man 
 can labor amid the filth, the stench, and the as- 
 sociations of such an establishment, and still retain 
 anything of purity, though I know some men who 
 do ; nevertheless, I cannot understand it. 
 
 As noon of the 28th of June approached, we 
 rounded Too's Point light-house, on the York 
 River, and looked long and eagerly before we saw 
 Yorktown. A mere glance at the bluffs, which 
 front the river, would leave on the mind of an 
 observer the impression that these and the ground 
 back of them were an ideal battle-field. There 
 is very little concerning the place that remains 
 unsaid. If I were obliged to offer an opinion 
 at all concerning the town, I should say that 
 neither fire nor war could damage its appearance 
 very much. Time was when I regarded the 
 surrender of Cornwallis as due entirely to the cour- 
 age of our troops. I am now inclined to think he 
 wanted to get away from the place badly enough 
 to make almost any reasonable sacrifice. I have 
 no doubt he would have left earlier had he found 
 it possible to do so. 
 
 The evening of June 29th found us anchored in 
 Antepoisen Creek, — that is, in the hook made by 
 
112 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the northern shore, which is guarded by Rappa- 
 hannock Spit light-house. What evil genius in- 
 spired those who named Mob-Jack Bajs, Sting-ray 
 Point, Antepoisen Creek ? Our run had been only 
 about thirty-five miles. The wind was fair, though 
 most of the way very light. So far as I am able to 
 say, I think that, during the month of June, morn- 
 ing and evening can generally be depended upon 
 for a breeze from some quarter in Chesapeake Bay. 
 There is almost as certainly a trying noon calm, 
 during which the sun beats down with a most 
 intense fervor. Squalls, to be dreaded, often come 
 during June and July, and their usual time of ap- 
 pearance is towards evening. Our harbor in Ante- 
 poisen Creek was another of the many beautiful 
 ones, such as we had hitherto found. Near its 
 head we were completely landlocked and had 
 about two fathoms of water under the bow, — just 
 such a place as one can sleep most soundly in. 
 There was no fear of anything. 
 
 A brilliant shooting-star darted across the sky 
 in the early evening, and after it there were several 
 others, but none so bright as was the first. 
 
 Lying on the ground, or on the deck of a ves- 
 sel, one becomes acquainted with the sky. The 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 113 
 
 longer he looks the more unfathomable do its 
 
 depths appear. The most distant stars seem on 
 
 the hither side of space, shining out clear of their 
 
 background, and leave on the mind the sense of a 
 
 great void behind them, dark or blue from its vast- 
 
 ness. A night without such meteors is rather rare, 
 
 but we are so taken away from them by fatigue, 
 
 or so shut out from heaven by slate and shingles, 
 
 that we miss seeing their fiery trails when they 
 
 journey inside the limits of our vision, and thus 
 
 we think them something unusual. Cuthbert, the 
 
 shepherd-b.oy of the northern English lowlands, 
 
 fancied, when he saw such stars sink into the sea, 
 
 that they were angels carrying home the soul of 
 
 good Bishop Aidan. Like all who led his life, 
 
 the lad had never come to think of the stars 
 
 simply as of lanterns. He had watched them 
 
 through all his eight years, and had made them 
 
 his friends, — remote to be sure, — friends, too, that 
 
 sometimes hid their faces behind the clouds, when 
 
 he would fain have seen them ; but still they were 
 
 friends with some good mission toward such 
 
 simple folk as lived in those trustful times. I 
 
 have companions who have sought wisdom in 
 
 the books until they are pale, and who have lost 
 h 10^ 
 
114 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the elastic step one should have until his head is 
 silvered. They can name each star and tell its 
 distance from the earth in miles, but they have 
 never laid down and gone to sleep while looking 
 up at them, and wondering, not studying, how big 
 those stars were. I think these persons have 
 missed an element of education which would 
 send them back to work wiser and better and 
 healthier for their gazing. 
 
 A zoologist could employ his time well on the 
 boat some days studying the habits of the an- 
 imals. Swallows come and sit on the gaff, when 
 far away from land. That is not strange; but 
 that anything so small, and withal so hated, as the 
 potato-bug should venture miles away from shore, 
 and then stop on a vessel, is both strange and 
 reckless. We simply started them on their way, — 
 with the hope, however, that they might not live 
 to plague the farmers of the Eastern Shore. Off 
 the Piankatank, as we went down the bay, my 
 friend, Mr. J., shot a loon. Dissecting it, he 
 found in the stomach, undigested, a small, slender 
 fish, whereof my other friend, Dr. Bean, of the 
 Smithsonian Institution, writes, as follows : 
 
 " The fish which you sent me on the 28th, and 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 115 
 
 which I return now, is Siphostoina fiiscum (Storer, 
 Jordan and Gilbert), — the common pipe-fish. It 
 frequents our northern coast southward to Vir- 
 ginia at least; northwardly its range is unknown, 
 but it extends probably as far as Maine. 
 
 " In the pipe-fishes the dorsal fin is the prin- 
 cipal propeller, and the body is held obliquely in 
 swimming; they swarm in the sea-weeds along- 
 shore, feeding upon minute crustaceans and prob- 
 ably small detached fragments of Algae. In some 
 species the female is much deeper-bodied than the 
 male, and in the breeding season is more brightly 
 colored. The male has only a rudimentary anal 
 fin, and behind this is a marsupium, or egg-pouch, 
 into which the eggs are received from the female. 
 The young are developed before they leave the 
 paternal pouch. The brood is usually large, 
 considering the size of the parent. 
 
 " The graceful movements of the pipe-fishes, to- 
 gether with the peculiarities of their embryology, 
 make them extremely interesting animals for 
 marine aquaria. The dorsal is usually oscillating 
 with an undulatory motion, its margin describing 
 the form of the letter S. Food is sucked into the 
 bill with considerable force. The gill-openings 
 
Il5 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 are minute and situated about on the median line 
 of the body ; they can be wholly closed by the 
 operculum, and thus doubtless facilitate the in- 
 ward movement of objects desired for food. 
 
 "The number of species of pipe-fishes on our 
 coast is rather large, the Southern States having 
 a much larger proportion of them than the North- 
 ern. The whole number of recorded species in 
 the known seas is upward of one hundred and 
 twenty. They prefer warm seas, sometimes enter- 
 ing fresh waters. 
 
 " In some cases the marsupium of the male is 
 abdominal instead of being behind the anal. We 
 have not yet heard of such species in our waters." 
 
 " Crabbed" is a word the meaning of which I 
 should enlarge, and say it is a senseless pugnacity 
 and a disposition to attack anything with or with- 
 out hope of success. This I would deduce from 
 observations at headquarters. Lew brought a crab 
 to the surface, which, though the well-baited hook 
 was less than a foot away, was, nevertheless, 
 attacking the lead sinker with all his might. 
 Probably on reaching the bottom the sinker had 
 fallen on his back or touched one of his numerous 
 appendages, and thus excited his wrath, or he 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, nj 
 
 may have attacked it on the general principle that 
 it was an intruder. When the water was clear 
 and quiet, looking over the side of the boat, we 
 saw another wrestling with a fish larger by far 
 than itself. Their odd projecting eyes are sharp 
 enough, and ever on the watch for something to 
 attack. The first approach of an enemy causes 
 the claws to rise in aggressive as well as defensive 
 warfare. The crab is a mail-clad bully. Probably 
 the fact that he is mail-clad, and hence more than 
 a match for all his familiar associates, makes him 
 reckless in attacking even those with whom he 
 is not so well acquainted. He does not know that 
 a falling brick would crush him, armor and all. 
 
 Crabs serve to reinforce some ideas one occa- 
 sionally gets of men, — the less brains, as a rule, 
 the more pugnacious, — that is, granting that all 
 stomachs are equally good. I am persuaded that 
 an angel would quarrel when suffering from 
 dyspepsia. 
 
 Though we had a gun on board, no song-bird 
 was shot, or even fired at, from my boat. We had 
 every morning in the early part of our cruise 
 what was to me a sacred concert. Blackbirds, 
 robins, sparrows, even crows and fish-hawks, 
 
Il8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 joined as best they could in the chorus which 
 was sure to bring the sleepers on deck. Is a man 
 the worse for having emotions ? Less than a year 
 ago a gentle mother sat with a suffering infant on 
 her lap, and she promised the babe that when 
 summer came, and it was well, the birds would 
 sing to it. The promise was kept sooner than 
 any one dreamed it would be, for only a few days 
 later, before even a crocus was above the ground, 
 they did sing a sweet song close by where the 
 tiny form lay at rest. I believe the spirit listened 
 from beyond the clouds. Since then their notes 
 sound to me so much like music intended for the 
 best part of man that I always stop to listen. At 
 all events, the soul capable of such enjoyment is 
 somewhat the purer for being gratified. 
 
 On June the 30th we started early, hoping to 
 make the harbor in the mouth of the Patuxent. 
 This was only about forty-five miles in a direct line. 
 Knowing the uncertainty of the wind, we desired 
 to take every advantage that time could give us ; 
 hence an unusually early start. At first we had 
 a fair wind, and plenty of it ; it was right " astern" 
 also. Before we reached the Great Wicomico it 
 was " dead ahead," and when we fairly opened the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, hq 
 
 mouth of the Potomac there was a calm. This at 
 first was simply an annoyance. We supposed 
 it was merely one of the lulls we. had so often 
 experienced before, and endeavored to comfort 
 ourselves by such philosophy. Hour after hour 
 passed, but no wind came. The tide was carrying 
 us down and across the bay, — just the direction 
 we did not want to go. Then annoyance deepened 
 into exasperation (senseless, to be sure), as the 
 little yacht was tossed like a feather on the heavy 
 swell. There was not a trace of air. Never be- 
 fore did I so fully realize what was meant by a 
 dead calm. With each lurch of the boat the 
 blocks creaked and the sails flapped heavily from 
 side to side. The heat was more than the word 
 intense implies; it was scorching, and the glare 
 from the superheated deck was almost unendur- 
 able. What was the pleasure in yachting ? None, 
 under such circumstances. So that entire day 
 passed. Exasperation gave place to, — well, call 
 it fear. " All men are cowards at times," and it 
 only renders matters worse to add to the weak- 
 ness of fear the sin of prevarication. 
 
 All day the barometer had been going down. 
 It was certain that a storm was impending. East, 
 
120 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 south, and west were filled with heavy clouds. 
 We could hear the heavy thunder, and see the vivid 
 lightning flash across the sky. Would there be 
 enough of wind before the squall burst upon us to 
 enable us to make some harbor? Or must we 
 too stand the onset in our little boat out in the 
 middle of the bay? These questions were never 
 uttered, though I am quite sure they were in- 
 wardly asked by both Lew and myself 
 
 Later in the afternoon a slight wind was seen 
 coming over the water towards us from the mouth 
 of the Potomac. It came so slowly that we feared 
 it would die away before reaching us. After what 
 appeared like an age it began to be felt, first fan- 
 ning our cheeks, then filling our sails ; and in a 
 few minutes more we were quietly slipping through 
 the water, back toward Great Wicomico, which we 
 had passed early in the morning. This, to be sure, 
 was not where we wanted to go, but choice was 
 lost in thankfulness to reach any harbor. In 
 two hours, just as darkness had fairly settled 
 around us, we let our anchor go in a quiet arm of 
 the Great Wicomico. It was a lovely, secluded 
 little bay, in full sight of one of the greatest fish- 
 ing establishments of the Chesapeake, — a perfect, 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 121 
 
 " restful" place that we had found for the morrow, 
 which was the Sabbath. 
 
 During the night the storm came; and, as we 
 heard the wind whistling fiercely through the rig- 
 ging, and felt the yacht rocking on the waves, we 
 thought even kindly of the breeze which had car- 
 ried us away from our destination, but into perfect 
 safety. 
 
 I have related the experience of that day to 
 show the most dismal side of yachting by sail. 
 If one has a long purse and no end of generosity, 
 if he is willing to keep a floating home for sailors, 
 to be simply a passenger on his own boat, to go 
 when and where his sailing-master directs, then a 
 large steam-yacht is much better. I was yachting 
 under other circumstances and with other objects 
 in view; and, furthermore, as the season wore 
 along, I gradually came to prefer risking my 
 boat under my own directions than to accept 
 what greater skill the presence of a sailing-mas- 
 ter, might bring. I will simply add: yacht-owner, 
 learn the rudiments, go slowly, but command your 
 own craft. If there be any manhood in the sport, 
 that will bring it out. If there is not, then it were 
 better abandoned. 
 
 F II 
 
122 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 I must, however, say this : if one can find an- 
 other Lew, then he is fortunate. Lew is equal 
 to any emergency likely to occur on a small 
 craft. Entering the harbor I have described, our 
 boat, though drawing only a little over two feet of 
 water, grounded. While I was off in the yawl- 
 boat hunting the channel he jumped overboard 
 and pushed the yacht into deep water. By the 
 time she was fairly floating I had found the chan- 
 nel, and we were soon in our Sunday harbor. 
 
 On Monday, July the 2d, we were off, and with 
 a stiff breeze astern soon passed the mouth of the 
 Potomac. I do not know whether, or not, this 
 river is usually treacherous, but it has so hap- 
 pened, that both my friends, with whom I have 
 conversed, and myself have been, as a rule, baffled 
 there, by the wind. By ten o'clock in the morn- 
 ing we were safely on the northern shore, and 
 soon after two o'clock were at anchor back of 
 Solomon's Island, in the Patuxent. 
 
 We had passed during the morning from one 
 State into another. Was I mistaken in supposing 
 that I saw greater thrift north of the Potomac ? 
 A few years ago it would have been argued that 
 the difference was due to the greater dependence 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 123 
 
 of Virginia on slave labor, — that, though Maryland 
 was still a slave State, yet it was not absolutely 
 wedded in all its life habits to the enervating curse. 
 This may or may not be true. I shall not attempt 
 to decide. I cannot take leave of Virginia, where 
 I received so much kindness, and for the character 
 of whose citizens one must have such respect, 
 without bringing out the early relation of the 
 mother-country (as judged by her own writers) to 
 the perpetuation of the system of negro slavery 
 in the colonies. 
 
 Quoting from Doyle (" English Colonies in 
 America, Virginia, Maryland, and the Carolinas," 
 p. 388), I find: " In 1719 the Assembly [of South 
 Carolina] took the further step of imposing a duty 
 of forty pounds on all imported negroes. Had 
 this measure been carried, it must have put an 
 end to the slave trade so far as South Carolina 
 was concerned. It is sad to think that such a 
 measure was frustrated by the cupidity and jeal- 
 ousy of the English government. But it had 
 become a settled maxim of colonial policy to 
 allow the provincial assemblies no control over 
 external trade, and in all commercial legislation to 
 regard the profit of the English merchant rather 
 
124 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 than the social and industrial well-being of the 
 colonists. The proprietors and the crown were 
 for once united, and the measure was vetoed." 
 . . . "A Virginian clergyman, writing in 1724, de- 
 plores the number of negroes, and the consequent 
 discouragement to the poorer class of white emi- 
 grants. In South Carolina more than one attempt 
 was made to stem the tide. In 1678, an act was 
 passed offering a bounty on the importation of 
 indented white servants, Irish alone excepted. 
 That they were designed to counteract the influx 
 of black slaves, is shown by the provision that 
 they were to be distributed among the planters, 
 one to every six negroes" (loc. cit., p. 388). 
 
 Patuxent may be called the dividing line be- 
 tween the low, sandy shore on the western side 
 of the Chesapeake and the bolder bluffs which we 
 find more common on the upper parts of the bay. 
 I have never seen a more beautiful illustration 
 of how perfectly parallel to each other, strata 
 may be deposited, and how subsequent erosion 
 may remove some and leave other portions, than 
 the northern shore of the Patuxent, shows at the 
 river's mouth and some distance inside and out- 
 side. Neither have I ever seen more tempting 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 125 
 
 building-sites than these same bluffs offer. High, 
 dry, froixting on salt water, with no fresh-water 
 marshes near, such situations, one might infer, 
 would be healthy. For aquatic sports the harbor 
 of the Patuxent would afford abundant facilities. 
 I have no doubt game is abundant both on land 
 and on the water in season. 
 
 It is safe to say, that when the demand for 
 country homes becomes more common among 
 persons of culture than it now is, these bluffs will 
 be in demand as building-sites. Of course, that 
 will be when facilities for reaching Washington, 
 Annapolis, and Baltimore are greatly increased. 
 
 From the Patuxent we crossed to the Eastern 
 Shore. Early in the morning there was a gentle 
 breeze. It soon showed that we could not de- 
 pend upon it. I therefore headed directly across 
 to secure an anchorage where we could hold what 
 ground we had gained, and not drift hopelessly 
 back with the tide. It was late in the afternoon 
 before we had any wind. A large schooner that 
 passed across our bow, going up the bay, had 
 drifted back several miles astern of us. Night 
 came on, dark enough, and we were obliged to 
 
 appeal to the- lead-line to aid us in finding our 
 II* 
 
126 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 way up the Choptank, after passing the light off 
 Benoni's Point. We at last, fearing to venture 
 farther, let an anchor go in Lecompte's Bay on 
 the southern shore of the Choptank. Next morn- 
 ing, July 4th, we had a fair wind into Cambridge 
 Harbor. 
 
 Sunday morning, July /th, I rose early, at half- 
 past four. The pure glory of the morning im- 
 pelled me to do so. Home-life is very apt to rob 
 one of the cream of the day. Tired by the duties 
 which the acquisition of daily bread imposes 
 upon us, we shut ourselves within ourselves and 
 brick walls. But this is not to be endured when 
 yachting. The windows are widely open, and the 
 earliest streak of dawn along the horizon invites 
 you forth to receive your day's allowance of health 
 fresh from the hand of morning. Some one says 
 early risers are apt " to be conceited all forenoon, 
 and stupid all afternoon." This does not apply 
 to one in whom the aquatic life has done its full 
 work of regeneration. Constant intercourse with 
 nature has banished conceit, and when afternoon 
 comes he does as most other easy-going, sensible 
 animals do, — deliberately goes to sleep and renews 
 his stock of mental and physical vigor, — that is, if 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 127 
 
 at anchor. If sailing, there can be no drowsiness 
 by day or by night, short of absolute exhaustion. 
 I am becoming each year less surprised at how 
 little real good the majority of our health-seekers 
 gain by their vacation. That they reap so little 
 benefit, is simply, as a rule, because they have 
 not earned it, and hence do not deserve it. The 
 professional man, if he wants the vigor of the sailor 
 who is with him, must do as the sailor does. One 
 new muscular fibre is added to another, when by 
 exercise we throw off the sloth-softened old ones. 
 
 When one can hardly keep his conscience 
 quiet, when it reproaches him for making his 
 vacation unduly long, then he is in a fair way to 
 accomplish something notable on his return to 
 duty. This sense of wasting time is often the 
 very best sign that vacation is doing a worthy and 
 beneficent work. It tells how well the man has 
 become, that he longs for activity in duty instead 
 of longer rest. 
 
 The jelly-fish exist by thousands in portions 
 of the Choptank. They fairly swarmed around 
 the boat. But, graceful and wonderful as they 
 were to watch, they were nevertheless a nuisance, 
 inasmuch as the daily bath was often postponed 
 
128 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 because of them and their merited title, ''sea- 
 nettles." The mode of reproduction of these soft 
 animals is wonderful, and when first fully made 
 known sounded almost as strange as a fairy tale. 
 It has, however, been written again and again, and 
 is in every *' Elementary Zoology ;" so that we 
 refrain from giving its details here. 
 
 The Choptank differs but little from the other 
 rivers of the Chesapeake. Almost any one of them 
 would afford a naturalist good working-ground 
 for an entire season. There is, however, more 
 monotony in the country bordering the Choptank 
 than in that along the Patuxent, for the former is 
 nearly a dead level. Yet to me there is a quiet 
 charm about the many-armed Choptank, which 
 makes me wish to spend a whole vacation on its 
 waters. During the season there is, for those who 
 care to catch them, an abundance of fish, crabs, and 
 oysters. And during colder months water-fowl 
 congregate there in vast numbers. 
 
 The Choptank has for Pennsylvanians, and 
 especially for those of them in sympathy with the 
 Society of Friends, a special historical interest. 
 Late in December, 1682, says Bancroft, " tired 
 of useless debates, Penn crossed the Chesapeake, 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 129 
 
 to visit Friends at Choptank, and returned to his 
 own province prepared to renew negotiation, or to 
 submit to arbitration in England" (" History of 
 the United States," vol. ii. p. 125). The difficulty 
 alluded, to grew out of settling the boundary line 
 between Maryland and Pennsylvania. I have 
 often been amused at a statement made by Alsop 
 in times long antedating the American Revolution, 
 — a statement which has all the characteristic 
 truth and point, with none of the venom (or 
 something worse) which so often appears in the 
 scamp's doings and sayings, — " He that intends 
 to court a Maryland girl must have something 
 more than the tautologies of long-winded speech 
 to carry on his designs." The brightness and 
 unaffectedness of the modern representatives com- 
 pel the belief that sham is as much despised by 
 them as it was by their good mothers. 
 
 Cambridge may be taken as a characteristic 
 town of the Eastern Shore. To those who 
 have, as we had, friends there, it is always a most 
 delightful place to visit. When we say that on 
 the Eastern Shore one finds more traces of the 
 old colonial life and customs than elsewhere in 
 Maryland, no disparagement is intended. On 
 
130 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the contrary, we may be quite sure that the 
 social habits and the hospitality, which form such 
 striking reminders of earlier times, are real and 
 most sincerely genuine, and are very certain to 
 be impressed on the memory long after more 
 formal meetings are forgotten. 
 
 There is certainly a great future awaiting the 
 Eastern Shore. The climate, soil, and situation 
 all combine to make one think that its rejuvena- 
 tion cannot be long delayed. During the past 
 few years the new industry of oyster-canning has 
 given some towns a most extraordinary impetus. 
 I do not regard this, as it is now conducted, as 
 likely to be of any great, permanent good, be- 
 cause it must require but a few years to remove 
 the oysters on which present" prosperity depends, 
 unless oyster-raising becomes, as it may, a feasible 
 thing. To this we shall allude later. But when 
 I remember the agricultural capacity of the East- 
 ern Shore I think its future is certain, simply 
 because the rest of the country "hath need of 
 it." I am convinced that in the next generation 
 the owner of land on the Eastern Shore will be 
 said to have, like the owner of a rich silver- 
 mine in the West, " a sure thing." 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 131 
 
 The early history of Maryland reveals some 
 strange modes of aiding Church and State. Think 
 of raising a church-rate by imposing a duty on 
 tobacco ! I fear many sensitive mortals in these 
 days would wash their hands clear of the con- 
 tamination caused by touch of the funds. Yet 
 when, in 1698, the Episcopal creed was the one 
 recognized by law, the rate was so raised. Hawks, 
 in his " Ecclesiastical Contributions," calls to mind 
 another striking bit of legislation : In Maryland 
 " the vestry of Port-Tobacco Parish imposed a 
 tax on bachelors, and the Assembly confirmed it. 
 It, at least, indicated the sense of the Legislature 
 that it was a luxury to have no wife, and that 
 the privilege ought to be paid for." These are 
 mere remembrances of the past, only alluded to 
 because they had well-nigh been forgotten, and 
 because they may serve to illustrate the changing 
 phases of human thought and morals. 
 
 The yacht left Cambridge on the morning of July 
 9th, — that was j ust before peaches were ripe. Hence 
 we were prevented from seeing the shipment of the 
 great peninsular crop. Peach season is, of all times, 
 the one in which to visit the region. More infor- 
 mation can be gained then than at any other time. 
 
132 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 We could notice a great change in the weather 
 since we went down the bay a month earlier. Then 
 the wind appeared to be continuous, or usually so, 
 in one direction from early in the morning until 
 towards evening. When we left Cambridge we 
 found that the calms we had experienced off the 
 mouth of the Potomac and in crossing from the 
 Patuxent to the Eastern Shore were but the first 
 of a series. From Cambridge up, we were reason- 
 ably sure of a morning breeze (though often a 
 very gentle one), then a noon-day calm, then more 
 or less threatening weather towards evening. Not 
 that evening always brought its squall, for it did 
 not, but that it nearly always attempted to, — if 
 such an expression be allowable. 
 
 Starting from Cambridge at 9 a.m. with a fair 
 breeze, which died out, it was full twelve hours 
 before we dropped our anchor in the snug little 
 harbor between Poplar Island and the main-land. 
 I was particularly anxious for a good, rousing wind 
 that day, as my friend. Captain Thomas Howard, 
 was with me, and I wanted to show my little sloop 
 to the best advantage. When we stopped for the 
 night it was blowing hard from the south. The 
 last two or three miles of our run were made before 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 133 
 
 a wind under which the yacht fairly staggered; 
 and as we passed over the shoal water in the dark- 
 ness, before reaching our anchorage, I knew that 
 if we made any mistake and ran aground, the mast 
 would go like a reed in a hurricane. In spite of 
 the wind, which whistled vigorously through the 
 rigging, we lay down in a most comfortable frame 
 of mind. We could feel the boat tugging away 
 at the anchor, but having full confidence in the 
 strength of our cable and in the holding power of 
 the anchor, we could sleep undisturbed. 
 
 Though I am one day late in doing so, I must 
 here add, William Butler, Jr., of West Chester, 
 had come on board at Cambridge to share the 
 luck of the cruise with me.* 
 
 Leaving Poplar Island next morning, we 
 threaded our way out into the bay past the south- 
 ern end of Kent Island. It should here be stated 
 that a light-house has been erected within a few 
 years on the end of the bar which " makes out" from 
 the southern point of Kent. Outside of that bar 
 
 * I will also state, that owing to news from home, Lew was 
 obliged to leave me at Cambridge, In his stead I hired a 
 colored man (Moses Robinson) for the rest of the summer. A 
 more faithful servant no man was ever fortunate enough to have. 
 
134 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 is one of the deepest parts of the bay. My chart 
 shows, for a single point there, eighteen fathoms. 
 
 The low shores of Kent Island, in spite of their 
 monotony, were very attractive. Besides this, toO; 
 the island played a very important part in the 
 early history of the country, being claimed both 
 by Virginia and by Maryland. 
 
 In 1 63 1* the Virginia Assembly sent a sur- 
 veyor named William Clayborne to take posses- 
 sion of the island. It was claimed both " by royal 
 grant and by actual purchase from the Indians." 
 It appears to have been occupied several years 
 earlier by settlers and by Indian traders from Vir- 
 ginia. Besides its fertility, its position from an 
 offensive or defensive point of view, as well as its 
 value as a trading-post, made both colonies eager 
 to possess it. Clayborne was a resolute, and prob- 
 ably a somewhat reckless, man, belonging to a 
 class still largely represented in our frontier States. 
 Things remained in an unsettled and somewhat 
 threatening condition on the island until the spring 
 of 1635, when Clayborne took steps which inau- 
 gurated open hostilities. In the naval skirmish 
 
 * There appears to be a little conflict of dates between Bancroft 
 and Doyle on the Kent Island troubles. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 135 
 
 which ensued, three Virginians and one Mary- 
 lander were killed. Clayborne, being worsted, was 
 obliged to leave the island. Maryland now took 
 possession, and Captain Evelyn was made its gov- 
 ernor. The inhabitants being mainly from Vir- 
 ginia were naturally enough hostile to Maryland, 
 and the new governor appears to have had any- 
 thing but an amicable community to deal with. 
 Accordingly, we find it was not long before he pro- 
 claimed martial law. For a time, at least, there 
 seems to have been no bloodshed, though it was 
 necessary to refer the case to the home authorities 
 in England. By them, after much debate, it was 
 finally assigned to Maryland. In 1641, authority 
 was given by Maryland to the Kent Islanders to 
 wage war against the neighboring " Susquehan- 
 nock" Indians, who had become exceedingly 
 troublesome. At first, the relations between them 
 and the islanders appear to have been of the most 
 friendly character, but only for a time ; it was noth- 
 ing but the inevitable conflict between a higher 
 and an inferior race when brought into actual con- 
 tact. One or the other must ultimately give way. 
 About 1644 Clayborne renewed his attempt on 
 Kent Island, and, after holding possession for a 
 
136 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 year or two, was finally ejected by Calvert, of 
 Maryland, who himself died very shortly after- 
 wards ; and his death, as Bancroft tells us, " fore- 
 boded for the colony new disasters" (/. ^., vol. i. p. 
 192). 
 
 From Kent Island across to Annapolis our run 
 was short and pleasant. We reached our old 
 anchorage there just about noon. After dinner 
 Mr. B. and I went to the top of the State-house. 
 When the gentlemanly janitor accorded this privi- 
 lege, it was with the proviso that we should not 
 use our pencils or knives on the building. Apart 
 from the fact that we had no desire to leave any 
 kind of a memorial of our visit, was the further 
 fact that we could not have done so if we had de- 
 sired, as previous visitors had already covered the 
 dome with their scribbling. Adventurous, ambi- 
 tious fellows had climbed, at the risk of their bones 
 and lives, up under the timbers of the dome, and 
 there marked or carved their names. Who can 
 fathom the depth of human vanity ? The desire 
 for such notoriety implies the lurking supposition 
 that some one will care to read the inscription. 
 As a rule, the less the importance of the scribbler 
 the greater the desire for such immortality. To 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 137 
 
 return to the dome, however. Such a panorama 
 as we had there spread out below us is seldom 
 to be seen. The country was looking its very- 
 best. The reaped and the promised crops bespoke 
 the fertility of the soil, just as the throng of 
 small boats engaged in fishing, told how prolific 
 the water was. Undulating hills, with valleys 
 through which navigable streams ran, made a per- 
 fect lowland landscape. Mountains near, or even 
 remote but visible, might have made a stronger 
 picture, though they could have added nothing 
 to the calm, peaceful perfection of that landscape. 
 I could have studied and enjoyed it day after day 
 without weariness. 
 
 The evening of the nth of July found us in 
 Chester River, after a most wearisome drift across 
 and up the bay. About four p.m. dark clouds 
 came up in the south, and, anticipating a blow, 
 we lowered away our sail to take in a double reef. 
 This was hardly done before the squall was upon 
 us. In a few minutes we had, for the river, very 
 high waves, and, more than all, found that we had 
 a lee-shore much nearer than we liked. However, 
 the vessel carried her sail well, and we " clawed 
 
 off" in good style. 
 
 12* 
 
138 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Queenstown, in the southern bend of the river, 
 was where we desired to anchor for the night. 
 We succeeded, after getting aground, in working 
 our way into the Httle harbor through a pro- 
 vokingly narrow channel. The names of the 
 towns on the Eastern Shore are strikingly sug- 
 gestive of Old England : Queenstown, Oxford, 
 Cambridge, Easton, Chester, all indicate pride 
 in, and affection for, the mother-country. 
 
 Sometimes for weeks the yachtsman has to do 
 almost constantly with calm or squall, and the 
 alternatives narrow down to drifting or scudding. 
 We apparently had entered upon one of those 
 trying periods. As we came out of Chester River, 
 there was a bare suspicion of wind. No one could 
 say where it came from, — first south, then west, 
 then nowhere. After exercise of great patience 
 and muscle we had worked, by three p.m., out into 
 the bay again. Meanwhile, the clouds were piling 
 up dark and threatening, and the falling barom- 
 eter told that beyond doubt a storm was impend- 
 ing. Together with these, there were obvious 
 warnings — there was a peculiar, hazy atmosphere 
 and an absolute stillness — which led us to think 
 that when it did come, it would be severe. The 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 13^ 
 
 cloud-bank moved, from the southeast, west, 
 then toward the north, gathering, as it went, into 
 a heavy, blue-gray or lead-colored (but not 
 black) mass. There is something in waiting for 
 such an onset not unlike the feeling with which 
 the soldier waits for an enemy's charge. It was 
 certain to come, and it was certain to be full of 
 danger. Those who can best control their feelings 
 are the most fortunate. The man who under such 
 circumstances boasts that he has no fear is not so 
 much to be envied for his supposed fortitude as 
 pitied for his lack of truthfulness. 
 
 There was a large schooner which came out 
 of the river with us. She had headed northward 
 for Baltimore, and we were endeavoring to enter 
 Magothy* River, to the west. First we saw the 
 schooner take down her topsail, then her fore- 
 sail, then her jib, and then her mainsail. We 
 knew that there was no time to waste. It was 
 evident that the captain, looking to the wind- 
 ward, had reason for his prompt action. So we 
 lowered our jib and put a double reef in our main- 
 sail. We hoped to carry enough of canvas to 
 run into Magothy River. The bay was still as 
 
 * Sometimes spelled Magotha ; at others, Magothy. 
 
140 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 calm as a mill-pond after we had shortened sail. 
 But in a few minutes, darkness suddenly shut the 
 schooner to the north of us out from view. In 
 an instant later the rush of the wind was upon us. 
 The stanch little boat endured the tremendous 
 strain so bravely that we were at once reassured 
 as to her seaworthiness ; and she held her way 
 toward the harbor. " Mose" braced himself 
 against the tiller, and, though a powerful man, it 
 required all his strength to keep the boat from 
 luffing, as her jib was down. In less than five 
 minutes the waves were breaking over us, and 
 the spray dashed into our faces until we were no 
 longer able to endure it. If we could have stood 
 at our posts the boat would have gone safely into 
 the Magothy River. But we could not, and there 
 was nothing left for us to do, except to lower the 
 mainsail and go to the southward, under bare 
 poles, before the wind. This had become the 
 more necessary as we were now among larger 
 vessels, all of which were scudding. Hence, if 
 for no other reason than to keep out of their 
 way, we were obliged to do likewise. 
 
 The intensity of the wind did not last more 
 than twenty minutes; but while it did last our 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 141 
 
 Speed was fearful. To make matters worse, we 
 were towing the yawl-boat, which ran up on to us 
 and would drive its iron-clad bow into the stern 
 of the yacht with tremendous force. As the 
 darkness " lifted," we saw coming down astern of 
 us a large schooner. To keep out of its way, the 
 jib was hoisted. It was impossible to prevent the 
 yacht from "yawing" when she rose on the waves, 
 and then the jib would fly from side to side until 
 each time the sheet tightened it made our heavy 
 bowsprit quiver like a reed. Soon after, we 
 hoisted the peak of the mainsail. We soon saw 
 that there was no danger now so long as we kept 
 going before the wind, for, in spite of the high 
 seas which followed us, not a drop of water came 
 on board after we headed south. The buoyancy 
 of the boat was wonderful. And, from that day 
 forth, I felt that my yacht more than compensated 
 for being slower than some others, by being safer. 
 The iron ballast, low down and well fastened, 
 evidently, was just where it was doing the most 
 good. 
 
 In an hour it was all over ; and, under all sail, 
 we were heading for Annapolis Harbor. We could 
 now look around and see the damage done by the 
 
142 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 squall. Several vessels, whose sails had been 
 split, were repairing damages. Others, like our- 
 selves, were hunting an anchorage. Just as the 
 sun went down we dropped our anchor in the 
 same snug berth that we had left two days before. 
 
 Looking back on this squall, I can now only . 
 regard it as a small cyclone, — at least, having its 
 revolving character. Before it disappeared the 
 clouds were again back in the south. The rain, 
 though heavy, was not in proportion to the wind. 
 
 Viewing these storms, after several seasons of 
 cruising, I am more than ever surprised that a 
 good barometer is not regarded as an essential 
 part of every vessel's outfit. I am safe in the asser- 
 tion that mine never once deceived me during all 
 the time I had been using it, and that it has often 
 put me in a safe position by its timely warning. 
 Once, indeed, taking advantage of its indications, 
 we sought shelter through a gale which strewed 
 the bay with wrecks, and which cost many human 
 lives within a few miles of where we lay in quiet. 
 It may appear like a waste of words to urge this 
 subject, but, knowing that many yachting-parties 
 never include this instrument among their effects, 
 I wish to say that when I claim small vessels may 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 143 
 
 undertake long voyages, I only do so when this 
 instrument is on board and all due precautions 
 have been taken. Anything short of this is 
 simple foolhardiness, which nothing can justify 
 or extenuate. 
 
 " Mose" proved to be a character, — huge of 
 frame, of unbounded good-nature, and possessed 
 of such a fund of unusual expressions, which he 
 used without the slightest regard to their meaning, 
 that we were kept in perpetual laughter. His pa- 
 tience knew no limit. He would sit by the hour 
 untangling the " worst snarled" gill-net, and im- 
 mediately go through the same work again if 
 from carelessness or clumsiness one of us tangled 
 it a second time. " There," said he, as he opened 
 a mass of knots which had tried him for half an 
 hour, " I'se got one more aggrawate out on it." 
 He serves to. illustrate forcibly what education is 
 doing for the colored people. " Ef I only had the 
 larnin' my brother has I'd be satisfied." The 
 brother is younger than " Mose," and conse- 
 quently his school-days came in later, more fortu- 
 nate times. Under my tuition he wrestled with the 
 alphabet and with the task of writing his name. 
 His success will be measured entirely by his per- 
 
144 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 severance. His respect for the barometer is in- 
 finite. " Dem little tell-tales, — I'se seed 'em before. 
 It's time to hunt a harber when dey says so." 
 His cooking is cleanly done, and the galley is 
 always in order. Both of these features are much 
 more than mere taste. They make yachting more 
 comfortable, and even make our simple fare more 
 homelike.. 
 
 The day after the squall we started again to 
 go up the bay. Leaving Annapolis early in the 
 morning, the breeze, though ahead, was promising 
 enough, so far as its strength was concerned, but 
 on our very first tack it died away entirely, and we 
 drifted hopelessly. About two o'clock it revived 
 just a little, and we headed for Magothy River. 
 By dint of hard rowing, we at last rounded Sandy 
 Point, and then reached the mouth of the river. 
 Then turning south into Deep Creek we anchored 
 for the night. For small craft, a more desirable 
 haven than this could not well be found. Later 
 in the evening I discovered that the water was as 
 well stocked with pickerel as the shore was with 
 wood-ticks. The channel had from six to eight 
 feet of water in it, but along-shore it was shallow 
 and muddy. In the shoal water the interesting 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 145 
 
 "water-weed" {Anacharis Canadensis) was grow- 
 ing in the greatest profusion, and as we rowed 
 through the tangled mass the startled pickerel 
 could be seen darting on all sides of us. The 
 plant was in full bloom. Female flowers could be 
 found in abundance, but no male flowers, though 
 we made most diligent search for them. Though 
 one of the commonest plants, this shows some of 
 the most striking vital phenomena. It is hardly 
 a fanciful statement to say that we can see it in 
 the very act of living. Place a single fresh leaflet 
 under a microscope which magnifies about five 
 hundred diameters, and you can plainly see the 
 fluids in the cells rotating up one side and down 
 the other, showing that the very foundation — or, 
 rather, essence — of life is motion. It is a fresh 
 illustration of Ritter's celebrated statement, that 
 " life is simply a change of relation." In the ex- 
 pansion of this generalization he did not limit 
 himself to what we call living things, but, with a 
 more than poetic truth, applied it to the action and 
 reaction of one portion of the globe upon another. 
 The male flowers of this plant are so rare that it 
 is evident its increase is not limited to the usual 
 
 mode by seeds. Apparently, wherever its joints 
 G k 13 
 
146 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 touch the earth new root may be taken. Years 
 ago it was introduced into Europe, where it has 
 become a serious pest by its rapid growth and by its 
 tendency to choke up the water-courses. It even 
 impedes navigation on the European canals. Dur- 
 ing the middle of July you see, as I have said, 
 abundance of the female flowers. They attract 
 attention by their long, thread-like tubes and ex- 
 serted, knob-like stigmas. But the male flowers, — 
 where are they ? Seldom seen, but, when found, 
 are usually separated from the plant which pro- 
 duced them. Chance floats, perhaps one out of 
 many, past a female flower of another plant, and 
 so by the accomplished act of fertilization the life 
 and vigor of the species are maintained. We like 
 to believe, with most of the botanists, that a cross- 
 ing of the sexual elements of different individuals 
 of the same plant species is the condition upon 
 which a long-enduring vigor depends. So, doubt- 
 less, it is in most instances. But how are we to 
 explain the amazing reproductive power of the 
 plant in European waters, where no male flower 
 has ever been found ? The eel-grass is a much 
 more conspicuous example of this separation and 
 floating of the male flowers. Yet, uncertain as 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 147 
 
 such a mode of fertilization must be, I was amazed 
 at the number of fecundated, seed containing ova- 
 ries which I found among Anacharis. 
 
 The chief productions of the region appeared 
 to be melons, peaches, and " garden truck." Prox- 
 imity to Baltimore doubtless made such interests 
 very lucrative there. The busy freighting-season 
 for these productions was just coming on, and it 
 was with difficulty that I convinced one farmer 
 that I could not be induced to do his carrying for 
 him. 
 
 The morning of July 14 was clear, and gave 
 no indication, by barometer or otherwise, of an 
 impending storm. By five a.m. we were well 
 started, — that is, in the absence of the wind we 
 went out, like Barkis, " with the tide." But we 
 were no sooner in the bay than a nice breeze 
 sprang up. It bore promise on its wings, for it 
 was none of those puffy winds which we had felt 
 so often before, but a steady, constantly strength- 
 ening one that intimated its full intention of re- 
 maining with us for the day. It increased as the 
 sun rose. Before ten o'clock, however, dark 
 clouds were in the west, and the barometer gave 
 undoubted signs of a coming storm. As far as 
 
148 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 we could see to the south the vessels were " hold- 
 ing the wind." This encouraged us to think 
 that this same friendly breeze would last until we 
 reached Still Pond Harbor before the storm came. 
 Swan Point was left behind us, and in a couple of 
 hours more we passed Worton's Creek ; then we 
 rounded the point and stood in for Still Pond. 
 We had the usual difficulty in getting over the 
 bar, and working through the narrow inlet to the 
 pond. But we succeeded, and by one o'clock we 
 had two anchors out and sails all snugly stowed. 
 Then we went below, — " Mose" to preparing din- 
 ner, and we to preparing for an " afternoon fish'* 
 after the storm was over. So far as the ordinary 
 dangers of navigation were concerned, we had 
 passed out of them when we entered our harbor. 
 It was astonishing to see how little impression the 
 wind made on the boat where she lay ; but, look- 
 ing outside, we could see others tossing furiously 
 on the waves. The rain was severe, and the wind 
 too, though the latter was nothing like that of 
 two days before. During the afternoon we had 
 a succession of thunder-storms. The play of the 
 lightning was very grand. Both zigzag and 
 sheet lightning illuminated the heavens. As we 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 149 
 
 watched, we could see tall spires and ruined build- 
 ings, even, represented in the fiery shapes on the 
 sky. Afloat or ashore, it matters not : man lives 
 more during an hour of storm than during any 
 other equal period. His own utter weakness and 
 the unlimited power of the elements, both, force 
 themselves upon his mind. There is no escape 
 from either. He need not be an abject, cringing 
 coward to realize both to the fullest extent. On 
 the contrary, he may be a brave man, and one full 
 of good faith and of good deeds, and still these 
 feelings will rise and overwhelm him. A thunder- 
 storm is a rich experience, — one well worth living 
 through. 
 
 On our way up from Magothy we met the 
 "John McClintock Yacht Club," bound down the 
 bay. As they were from Philadelphia, we could 
 not refrain from saluting them, though our ves- 
 sel was very diminutive alongside of theirs. The 
 salute was returned in the most cordial and gen- 
 tlemanly manner. Wishing each other a successful 
 voyage, we held our courses and were soon out 
 of sight. These yachting-parties, where congenial 
 friends hire a good vessel and at a minimum of 
 expense get a maximum of rational recreation, 
 13* 
 
ISO 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 are becoming much more frequent. They are 
 also creating a just public sentiment in favor of 
 aquatic sports. There was a time, not many- 
 years ago, when to be a yachtsman was entirely 
 synonymous with being a blackguard, in the eyes 
 of many well-thinking persons ; and, to tell the 
 truth, this imputation was too often deserved. 
 He who wrote " Rob Roy on the Jordan" did 
 missionary work, both when he distributed tracts 
 and alms among the poverty-stricken souls, and 
 when he sailed his little yacht, — no less in the 
 one case than in the other. He preached salva- 
 tion to soul and body both. 
 
 There is needed, now, a book describing the 
 models of small craft peculiar to our American 
 coast, with a clear statement of the merits and 
 defects of each. It should also give descriptions 
 of the most suitable waters for sailing in at each 
 season, along with some statements concerning 
 the historical and other attractions of each harbor 
 likely to be visited. To the above might be added 
 a very interesting chapter on the most important 
 voyages undertaken in small vessels. The fact is, 
 that in this age of huge ships size has come to 
 be regarded as the sole measure of safety. We 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 151 
 
 forget, however, in what small vessels the men 
 of earlier days made the most notable maritime 
 discoveries. Leaving out of sight the probable 
 discovery of this continent by the Northmen, in 
 open boats, long anterior to the days of Columbus, 
 we have Irving's statements concerning the vessels 
 of the great admiral : " Three small vessels were 
 apparently all that he (Columbus) had requested 
 Two of them were light barks, called ' caravels,' 
 not superior to river and coasting craft of more 
 modern days. Representatives of this class of 
 vessels exist in old prints and paintings. They 
 were delineated as open, and without deck in the 
 centre, but built up high at the prow and stern, 
 with forecastles and cabins for the accommoda- 
 tion of the crew. Peter Martyr, the learned con- 
 temporary of Columbus, says that only one of 
 the three vessels was decked. The smallness of 
 the vessels was considered an advantage by Co- 
 lumbus in a voyage of discovery, enabling him 
 to run close to the shores, and to enter shallow 
 rivers and harbors. In his third voyage, when 
 coasting the Gulf of Paria, he complained of the 
 size of his ship, being nearly a hundred tons 
 burthen. But that such long and perilous expe- 
 
152 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 ditions into unknown seas should be undertaken 
 in vessels without decks, and that they should 
 live through the violent tempests, by which they 
 were frequently assailed, remain among the sin- 
 gular circumstances of these daring voyages." 
 
 Of Magellan's fleet, which started to circum- 
 navigate the globe, the largest vessel was the 
 " Trinidad," of but one hundred tons. Two were 
 but sixty; and it was the "Victoria," one of the 
 smallest, which brought back the news that the 
 great deed had been done. Vasco da Gama's 
 vessels were of only one hundred and twenty 
 tons each. Martin Frobisher crossed the Atlantic, 
 and entered the sub-Arctic strait, which has since 
 borne his name, with two vessels which were of 
 twenty-five tons each, and with a pinnace of ten 
 tons. Now, that a steamer of less than three 
 thousand tons' burden has almost come to be 
 regarded as too small safely to cross the ocean, it 
 may be well to make the following extract from 
 the Lo7idon Times ^ of May ii, 1 8 19: 
 
 " Great Experiment. — A new steam-vessel of three hundred 
 tons has been built at New York^ for the express purpose of car- 
 rying passengers across the Atlantic. She is to come to Liverpool 
 direct." 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, 
 
 153 
 
 This vessel, the "Savannah," started from the 
 city of the same name on May 22d or 25th, and 
 came to anchor off Liverpool on June 20th. Of 
 this time, she was under steam eighteen days. 
 
 That same needed book should, for the benefit 
 of amateurs, also give some history of the nautical 
 terms most in use. Their study would serve to 
 relieve the monotony of many an otherwise dull 
 hour. Many of the words now so glibly used 
 have come down to us through centuries ante- 
 dating England's rule over the waves. Some 
 of them were in common use from Denmark 
 through Scandinavia even to Iceland, and all, 
 without doubt, had a real meaning when coined, 
 even though we now fail to recognize their origin. 
 Take, for example, the word " starboard," which 
 meant originally the side of the boat on which 
 the steersman stood. It traces its origin to a time 
 so remote that, instead of a rudder, the boat was 
 steered with a paddle, or an oar, as much smaller 
 ones are to this day. " Keel," in primitive form, 
 appears in the old Danish and Swedish, and prob- 
 ably, from the former of those languages, was 
 taken into the English. " Kelson," or " keelson," 
 is merely a derivative from " keel." Our modern 
 
154 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 word " schooner" is supposed to have originated 
 in 17 1 3 at Gloucester, in Massachusetts, where 
 the first vessel of this class was launched. It is 
 true that the name was then given because of a 
 remark made by one of the witnesses to the 
 launch. " See how she scoons !" said he as the 
 vessel slid into the water. Hence our word 
 " schooner," or, as first spelled, " scooner." But 
 there is an old verb, — " scoon," which means " to 
 glide swiftly," and it was this which the uninten- 
 tional christener of the schooner used. 
 
 Angling and shooting each have a literature, — 
 one containing volumes which are classic in our 
 language. Why should yachting not have? 
 Under title of "Yachting in Blue Waters," 
 there is an article in Harper's Monthly Magazine 
 for the year 1877, by Mr. Warren. I cannot for- 
 bear quoting from it: 
 
 " Yachting is undeniably looked upon by the 
 mass of the community in the light not only of a 
 slothful and luxurious pastime, but as an actual 
 waste of time ; yet it is none the less true, that 
 the larger number of those who cruise upon 
 blue water are men of positive character, who, 
 becoming impatient of the humdrum conven- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 155 
 
 tionalities of society, prefer to assert their man- 
 hood in contention with the elements. And 
 these men, who may have been skirmishers on the 
 outposts of science, are not infrequently, by the 
 very nature of their new pursuit, drawn within its 
 charmed circle, and by their observations and 
 experiments become important contributors to it." 
 
 If this form of recreation has anything in it 
 better than the old-time regattas, and their too 
 often disgraceful associations (which I think it 
 has), then by all means let us have it out. 
 
 Sailors' expressions are often full of quaint 
 humor. During one of our prolonged drifts, when 
 there was no wind, " Mose" took our long oars 
 and went vigorously to work. " Cap'n Will," 
 said he, addressing Mr. B., " dis is what we sailor 
 men calls a woodin wind ; but when we gets into 
 de yawl-boat and goes ahead with a line and tows 
 de ship, dat is a buggy-ride. You think makin' a 
 woodin wind is hard work, but it ain't nuthin' to a 
 buggy-ride." 
 
 Darkness came on at Still Pond before the net 
 was placed as we desired. Though the next 
 morning, one twenty-inch pickerel showed that 
 during the month between our first and second 
 
156 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 visits to the place the supply had not been ex- 
 hausted. 
 
 There are fated spots sailors think. I never, 
 save once, have gone from Still Pond to the mouth 
 of the Elk that I did not have to drift, or, at most, 
 to sail with barely enough of wind to give us 
 " steerage-way." My last trip up, over the same 
 water, was no exception. Hour after hour the 
 surface of the bay was undisturbed by any 
 breeze whatever. Our only comfort lay in the 
 fact, well known to sailors, that some boats drift 
 better than others, and we had the satisfaction of 
 being among the best in that kind of navigation. 
 Later at night, on July 15th, we anchored in Elk 
 River, — still in sight of our starting-point in the 
 morning. The rising sun of the following day 
 brought with it a moderate breeze, before which 
 we made our way through Back Creek to 
 Chesapeake City. 
 
 In spite of its storms and its calms, its over- 
 dreaded mosquitoes, and its alleged malaria, I 
 have come to think of the Chesapeake Bay as my 
 sanitarium. I know that I come back from my 
 trips there stronger than when I start on them. 
 It is a soul-expanding process simply to gaze out 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 157 
 
 on the water, to study the features of the head- 
 lands, and to conjecture in what time and by what 
 agencies they were formed. 
 
 Who does not dread the Chesapeake and Dela- 
 ware Canal, if he has any regard for his own 
 vessel ? Mine fared probably as well as small 
 craft usually do in making the transit from bay to 
 bay. The helmsman of a canal-boat managed to 
 jam my yacht against the rocks of the tow-path, 
 much to the injury of her planking. However, 
 his associates remarked, by way of apology, " the 
 fellow is only half-witted." I did not see that the 
 explanation made the rent in the plank smaller. 
 
 It was a relief to be *' locked out" into Delaware 
 Bay, though our welcome there was a stormy one. 
 Hardly were our sails up before the usual after- 
 noon clouds warned us to prepare. This time, 
 however, the barometer did not indicate anything 
 heavy as likely to reach us. The yacht was kept 
 on her course until we passed the black buoy, 
 midway between Delaware City and New Castle. 
 Rounding this, we dropped anchor in two and a 
 half fathoms of water. By the time the sails were 
 down and stowed, the storm had reached us. It 
 was more severe by far than I anticipated from the 
 
158 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 slight warning given by my barometer. This was 
 the only time that I was ever misled by its indica- 
 tions in the slightest degree ; and it should be said 
 that it did fall some, though not in proportion, I 
 thought, to the severe "blow" which followed. The 
 wind came from the west, and the tide was running 
 out very rapidly; so we lay in a direction diagonal 
 to the two forces, and, as a consequence, were con- 
 siderably tossed by the waves. Our big anchor, 
 which had always held well hitherto, was dragged, 
 and to prevent being carried out into the channel 
 we were obliged to let the other one go also. 
 Together, the anchors held us firmly, and we went 
 below to dine and ride out the storm. 
 
 My somewhat tempestuous trip up the Chesa- 
 peake had made certain points more clear to me. 
 As between the English yacht and the American, 
 we may say that the former is an infinitely better 
 sea-boat. The English vessel is characterized by 
 greater draught of water and by correspondingly 
 less beam. It carries its ballast as low down as 
 possible, and much of it in the form of a keel of 
 lead or iron outside. The American vessel, on the 
 contrary, is characterized by less depth and greater 
 beam, with but little ballast as compared with the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 159 
 
 deeper boat. It is simply astonishing with what 
 impunity the Englishman goes to sea in his very 
 small craft. On the mere score of safety in rough 
 water, sudden squalls, and in "clawing off" a lee- 
 shore, beyond doubt, the English model is the 
 safer one. The Englishman sails where he will 
 in safety ; the American goes where he can, often 
 at considerable risk. It is to be remembered, 
 however, that our shoal vessels come, to a certain 
 extent, from the character of the waters in which 
 we sail. Many of the most desirable places, to 
 me at least, could only be reached in a vessel draw- 
 ing less than four feet of water. 
 
 But, then, have we not gone from one extreme 
 to another? Is there no compromise possible 
 between English depth and narrowness, on the 
 one hand, and American shallowness and breadth, 
 on the other ? Whatever else may be justified in 
 the model, the prodigious spars and sails under 
 which most of our yachts stagger are absolutely 
 dangerous, and should be discountenanced by all 
 yachtsmen who would do more than limit them- 
 selves to an occasional regatta. The question of 
 "rig" appears until very recently to have been 
 limited, with us, to one of two kinds for small 
 
l6o VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 boats, — i.e.y the sloop and the cat-boat. For any- 
 thing over twenty feet keel the latter of these may 
 be regarded as about the worst possible form, 
 sacrificing every other good quality to simple 
 convenience. The sloop will still have many 
 stanch friends, in spite of the signal victories 
 which the cutter has so recently won among us. 
 Were I yachting in waters where great draught 
 was no objection, I should, beyond all question, 
 prefer the cutter rig; but in either Delaware or 
 Chesapeake Bay I think the yawl is to be the 
 small boat of the future. So far as I know, there 
 is but one yawl on the Delaware waters. Of 
 course, he who introduces such a rig must expect 
 to bear the cheap wisdom of " the rule o' thumb" 
 men. The sufficient answer to all their objections 
 is, that in England, in Boston, in New York, and 
 in San Francisco, the yawl rig has been tried, and 
 its merits too fully tested and too widely ap- 
 proved to leave any doubt as to its safety, con- 
 venience, and ease of working. We might define 
 the yawl to be a modified schooner, whose fore- 
 boom came aft as far as the rudder-stock, and that 
 aft of the rudder-stock was inserted a mast for a 
 sail whose area should not be greater than that of 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. i6l 
 
 the jib. The special advantages of this rig are, 
 first, safety in case of sudden squalls, for by letting 
 the mainsail {i.e., foresail) come down on the run, 
 the mizzen and jib still set, leave you under storm 
 canvas at once, with which the boat can be readily 
 managed ; or, second, if either of the other sails 
 be damaged, the boat under foresail alone, does 
 well ; or, third, if the rudder be unshipped at sea, 
 the boat can be worked into harbor by slacking, 
 or hauling the mizzen aft. It should be said that 
 this has been done more than once. 
 
 The illustration (p. 162), from Forest and Stream^ 
 will show at a glance the whole plan and mode 
 of working. A yawl of thirty feet deck need not 
 draw over three feet and a half of water, and still 
 be a thoroughly safe boat. Add to this, the fact 
 that in most cases, if absolutely required, one man 
 could manage her. If the yawl had no other ad- 
 vantage than the ease with which her sails can be 
 reefed, that alone would compensate for, the very 
 small loss of speed which is alleged to exist when 
 compared with the sloop. 
 
 The great mission of single-hand yachting is to 
 
 take a legitimate, healthful recreation out of the 
 
 hands of hirelings and " professionals," and make 
 I 14* 
 
1 62 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 it tributary to the growth of character and strength 
 in the yacht-owner. It is interesting to read in 
 this connection the following extract, taken at 
 
 CRUISING RIG OF *' CANNET YAWL. 
 
 second hand from what Dr. Waldstein, of the 
 University of Cambridge, had to say on a closely- 
 related subject before his institution : 
 
 " The same causes which led to the growth of individualism 
 affected the great change in the spirit of athletic institutions. 
 While before they were a means to a great political and social 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 163 
 
 end, they now become ends in themselves to which all other con- 
 siderations become subservient. While before athletic exercise 
 was a part of the daily occupation of the Greek youth, which was 
 meant to contribute its share to the great end of making him a 
 sound and normal being, harmoniously developed both in mind 
 and body, and thus a serviceable citizen to his state, it now, step 
 by step, becomes itself the great aim to which time, life, and aspi- 
 rations of the youth are devoted, and to which they are made 
 subservient. It is the step recurring in the history of athletic 
 games in all times, — the step from the gentleman athlete to the 
 professional athlete. In art we see the signs of the loss of propor- 
 tion in such works, which increase in the next period. We hear 
 from ancient authorities how pugilists and pancreatists were fat- 
 tened up and made bulky, how muscular development was exag- 
 gerated even to ugliness. In the mythical figure most imme- 
 diately influenced by athletic art, in Hercules, we see this in 
 later instances, where the muscular development is abnormal and 
 repulsive. The germs of the rapid decline of this great institu- 
 tion are to be found in the fungus growth of its own importance, 
 growing till it obscured the great aim which gave it life and char- 
 acterized its highest development. It leads to degeneration, or, 
 as the pathologist would more accurately term it, to hypertrophy. 
 Let me only bring before you one interesting instance to illustrate 
 this step towards professional athleticism. This coin of Amyntas 
 III., of Macedon, who reigned from 389 to 369 B.C., representing 
 a horse with its rider, is typical in one respect of all similar repre- 
 sentations before the middle of the fourth century b.c, namely, 
 in respect of the relation of rider and horse, and of the corre- 
 sponding importance of both in the mind of the people of that 
 time. Like all representations of riders down to the middle of 
 
l64 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the fourth century, the rider is here large in comparison with the 
 horse. If now we turn to this coin of Philip of Macedon, there 
 is a striking difference in this respect, the horse being dispropor- 
 tionately large, while the rider has dwindled down to an under- 
 grown jockey. The whole matter is explained by the fact that this 
 coin of Philip represents his racer whom he sent to Olympia, and 
 who there came out the winner. Now, in the previous periods 
 it was for the rider's sake that horse -racing existed ; it was to show 
 and encourage his skill in horsemanship, and he got the glory ; 
 there existed no jockeys. In the time of Philip the horse became 
 the great centre of interest, and the gentleman rider and warrior 
 of the Parthenon frieze is no longer to be found at Olympia. In 
 the course of this natural or unnatural selection the horse, too, has 
 altered its form, merely to excel in fleetness. It is curious to 
 consider how similar the action of these * laws' has been in 
 ancient and in modem times. Thus, not only with the human 
 form, but even with animals, the course taken by the athletic 
 games in the later periods tended to destroy the ideal of form 
 established, during the great age of Greek culture, by art through 
 the earlier influence of the same institution. . . . 
 
 " The history of the Greek boxing-gloves, the l/xdvrec, typifies 
 and illustrates the three chief phases in the history of the palsestra, 
 from its height to its decline. The earliest form were the /iet?ix<^i, 
 which were to soften the blow to the striker and the one struck, 
 and were thus subservient to the exercise. The second f«rm was 
 the Ifiug b^q, a leather thong wound round the hand, protecting 
 the hand of the striker, but increasing the severity of the blow. 
 This belongs to the period when professional athleticism was be- 
 ginning to be introduced. The third form, marking the period 
 of decline, the Graeco-Roman and Roman age, was the brutal 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 165 
 
 csestus, garnished with leaden balls, which produced disfiguring 
 blows, sometimes leading to death." 
 
 The application of the above extract is neither 
 "far-fetched" nor difficult to see. We desire a 
 generation of men and citizens with the physical 
 proportions and mental qualities of the Greek in 
 the days of Amyntas, instead of the jockey who 
 dwarfed the master to less than his own size, or 
 instead of the beast who wore the caestus for the 
 pleasure of a patron of worse morals even than 
 himself. 
 
1 66 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CRUISING ON THE DELAWARE RIVER AND BAY. 
 
 This chapter is intended not as a mere "log" 
 of our trips up and down the Delaware, but 
 rather as a general statement of such facts of 
 interest as came under the author's observation. 
 It will also give some points which may be of 
 service to other amateurs who undertake to man- 
 age their own boats when sailing in the same 
 waters. It is, it is true, only amateur advice, but 
 then, for that reason, is likely to touch the very 
 points upon which the holiday cruiser wants in- 
 formation most, and which a veteran sailor would 
 be most likely to pass over in silence. 
 
 Comparing the Chesapeake with the Delaware, 
 each bay has peculiarities of its own. If the 
 former has heavier squalls, the latter has swifter 
 tides, which prevent your going against the current, 
 unless the wind is fair. But the Delaware has its 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 167 
 
 full share of squalls, for, as already stated, the first 
 hour we sailed in it, after coming through the 
 canal, we encountered a heavy " blow." 
 
 The Delaware, though all harbor, so far as 
 good -sized vessels are concerned, has but few 
 of the cosey nooks which characterize the Chesa- 
 peake, and into which small vessels may creep 
 for a night of quietness and safety. True, there 
 are many small rivers and numberless small 
 sloughs opening into the Delaware, where we 
 could go and be out of harm's way, but they 
 did not attract me as did the little resting-places 
 of the other bay. 
 
 On July 2 1st we ran up the river to Camden, 
 and by two p.m. were at anchor at Cooper's Point, 
 from which we had started more than a month 
 before. Our good little boat was cordially wel- 
 comed back among the others of the same class. 
 
 No one, of course, cares to contemplate what 
 may happen after he has seriously determined 
 upon a trip. It was a satisfaction to be back 
 again at our starting-point. It was, furthermore, 
 a greater satisfaction to think that the trip was 
 made under circumstances which certain wise 
 heads had regarded as unfavorable. I only refer 
 
1 68 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 to this to point the moral that risk is determined 
 as much by the individual as by the circum- 
 stances. A better sailor could have gone to the 
 James and back in a much smaller boat ; a worse 
 one (if he could be found) might have been lost 
 in a much larger vessel, in no worse weather than 
 we encountered. Next to having a tight, strong, 
 well-ballasted vessel, and one obedient to her 
 helm, the yachtsman must be temperate and 
 prudent if he expects the air and exercise to do 
 their best for him. 
 
 I clip the following from the Philadelphia Ledger 
 for July 24th : 
 
 [Special Dispatch to the Public Ledger^ 
 A VIOLENT STORM AT ASBURY PARK. 
 
 AsBURY Park, N. J., July 23. — A violent storm burst over 
 this place at half-past three o'clock this p.m., doing damage to 
 the extent of tv/enty thousand dollars. The rain fell so heavily 
 that the air seemed filled with spray, and it was almost impossible 
 to distinguish objects twenty feet ahead. Tin roofs were carried 
 away like so much paper, and shingles and trees were blown in 
 every direction. The Howard, Gilsey, Barrett, and Sunset 
 Hotels were entirely unroofed, and the Madison and Princeton 
 Hotels were badly damaged. Six tents and some outbuildings 
 at Ocean Grove were levelled to the ground. Boats were lifted 
 from the water of Sunset Lake and blown some distance upon 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. i6q 
 
 the land. Seven teams were upset near the lake. Lamp-posts 
 were wrecked everywhere, and chimneys were blown down on 
 many private cottages. It was bathing-hour, and hundreds of 
 people were in the surf. There were several narrow escapes 
 from drowning, but only one life was lost, — that of a colored 
 waiter at one of the hotels, who was blown out to sea. A boat 
 containing two boys was capsized, but they were rescued. The 
 telegraph wires were blown down between this place and Ocean 
 Grove. Windows were broken everywhere, and the streets are 
 littered with broken limbs of trees. The storm lasted about half 
 an hour. 
 
 My object in making this extract is because 
 of its association with certain somewhat unusual 
 phenomena, — that is, unusual from the popular 
 way of looking at them. For several days past 
 my aneroid barometer on the yacht had been 
 unusually high. On the morning of the 23d it 
 had gone down to 30 inches ; by noon it stood 
 at 29.95. At three p.m. it began to rise slightly, 
 and in two hours there was a calm. During the 
 height of " the blow" at Asbury Park the yacht 
 was anchored a few miles above Chester, waiting 
 for the wind to subside. 
 
 We had left Camden at ten a.m. of that day 
 with a strong, but somewhat puffy, wind from the 
 northward, and hence astern of us. In three- 
 H 15 
 
I^O VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 quarters of an hour it had gone around enough 
 to have become a head-wind, and as such it con- 
 tinued the rest of the day, — so long, at least, as 
 it blew at all. 
 
 West Chester (Pennsylvania) is situated, say 
 fifteen miles in an air-line from Chester, and my 
 friend. Dr. George Martin, residing in the former 
 place, has kindly furnished me the mean standing 
 of his barometer (after it was reduced to the sea- 
 level) for several days before the storm. Thus, for 
 
 July 
 
 17th it 
 
 was 
 
 29-943 
 
 inches. 
 
 a 
 
 1 8th « 
 
 « 
 
 30.108 
 
 (( 
 
 te 
 
 19th " 
 
 (( 
 
 30.133 
 
 
 it 
 
 20th " 
 
 « 
 
 30.178 
 
 
 t< 
 
 2ISt " 
 
 <c 
 
 30.198 
 
 
 (( 
 
 22d " 
 
 (( 
 
 30.062 
 
 
 t( 
 
 23d " 
 
 (( 
 
 29.929 
 
 
 These figures bring out very forcibly a fact well 
 known to scientific men, but not sufficiently ap- 
 preciated by many who have barometers in their 
 houses, or on their yachts, — that a marked sudden 
 rise, as well as a fall, may be the precursor of a 
 storm. In other words, to speak more generally, 
 it indicates an atmospheric change, which is 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 171 
 
 usually followed by more or less of a storm about 
 the time that the index or mercury has fairly com- 
 menced to fall to a lower figure. This, too, is true 
 even if a figure not lower than the mean standard 
 of the place is reached. 
 
 It may be noted that the storm, the account of 
 which I have taken from the Ledger^ was not 
 associated with a great fall at Philadelphia, Ches- 
 ter, or West Chester. It would be interesting to 
 know the readings of the instrument at Asbury 
 Park the day of, and a few days previous to, the 
 storm there. 
 
 There is apt to be somewhat of excitement 
 connected with yachting on the edge of a storm. 
 One may fail to recognize how heavy the wind is, 
 so long as his boat behaves well. I was under no 
 apprehension, but, remembering now how fiercely 
 the wind whistled through the rigging, I am per- 
 suaded that most people would have regarded it 
 as quite strong. At all events, it blew hard 
 enough to make us drag our best anchor more 
 than half-way across the river ; yet, there was 
 no marked fall in the barorneter where we were.* 
 
 *So thoroughly am I impressed with the importance of this 
 subject that I make the following clear extract from "The 
 
1^2 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Up to this point not a single word has been 
 said about the mistakes made in sailing. Possibly 
 the reader might be deluded into the idea that the 
 writer is an accomplished practical sailor. As a 
 matter of fact, he is nothing of the kind. My 
 object in buying and in owning a boat was to be- 
 come a more practical waterman. Day after day 
 I blundered on, making mistakes both numerous 
 and humiliating ; but there is virtue in persistency. 
 These blunders became less frequent as the season 
 went on. Occasionally a mud-bank would get on 
 the wrong side of the yacht, and we would stick 
 fast there until liberated by the friendly tide. 
 This occurred at Chester when two friends were 
 
 Sailor's Handy Book and Yachtman's Manual," by E, F. 
 Qualtrough, Master, U.S.N. : " A sudden rise of the barome- 
 ter is very nearly as bad a sign as a sudden fall, because it shows 
 that atmospherical equilibrium is unsteady. In an ordinar)- gale 
 the wind often blows hardest when the barometer is just begin- 
 ning to rise, directly after having been very low." 
 
 " Besides these rules for the instrument, there is a rule about 
 the way in which the wind changes which is very important. It 
 is well known to every sailor, and is contained in the following 
 couplet : 
 
 " « When the wind shifts against the sun, 
 Trust it not, for back it will run,' " 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 173 
 
 along, who charitably held their peace, even 
 though they must have thought hard things of 
 the awkwardness which deprived them of several 
 hours of fine sailing. To be sure, these were 
 tribulations ; but I count the ability to manage 
 my own yacht cheaply earned, even through such 
 blunders. There is no position more pitiable than 
 that of the boat-owner who must become the 
 servant of a sailing-master. Therefore, command 
 your own boat, and inform the professional water- 
 man, who applies, that what you want is not a cap- 
 tain, but a cook. It might fairly be assumed that 
 any educated man can soon learn as much as one 
 of less education, and that to sail a yacht it is not 
 absolutely requisite to forget all else besides. The 
 one great charm in single-handed yachting is that 
 whatever you want done, you must do for yourself, 
 even if you have first to learn how. 
 
 After six or seven weeks of sailing I found that 
 I had been so completely fascinated by my vaca- 
 tion freedom as to have neglected to keep the run 
 of events. There had been several murders and 
 defalcations, and the Pennsylvania Republican 
 Convention had been held since I had read a 
 
 newspaper. I knew nothing whatever of these 
 15* 
 
1^4 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 affairs ; in which I was probably just like the great 
 mass of mankind. So I came to understand how 
 the world and its inhabitants can continue to exist, 
 the one as serene in its motion, and the other as 
 happy and as pure in their morals, even if the 
 flood-gates of human iniquity are not opened for 
 them daily by the early newsboy. 
 
 The ravages of the cholera in Egypt first came 
 to my knowledge on the 26th of July. Anchored 
 above Chester, we could see the quarantine " Vis- 
 itor" come down the river, and could watch the 
 health-ofiicer board the in-coming vessels. That 
 boat is the thin wall which cuts Philadelphia off 
 from the contagion of tropical and unclean re- 
 gions. To protect the million of people lying 
 back of it, that " Visitor" should be armed with 
 authority as solid as adamant. Brooklyn's great 
 preacher once wisely said, " Cholera is God's 
 opinion of the filth in your streets." Truly a 
 brave statement, but only half of the truth ; good 
 and saving so far as it went, but needing the sup- 
 plementary idea, that if the quarantine keeps the 
 germs of disease out, the Divine opinion may not 
 be openly expressed in terms of mortality. 
 
 Egypt's agony awakens fear in the cities of the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 175 
 
 New World, just as the waves starting on the 
 shores of the Mediterranean ultimately leave their 
 weakened impress on the sands of our coast. 
 These periodical pests, bad as they are, do have a 
 mission. The loss of a hundred lives may awaken 
 a wholesome fear of the causes of disease, and 
 thus lead to such care as will shear pestilence of 
 its dreadful power. 
 
 Here is an extract from an official letter written 
 by a distinguished physician. It shows that even 
 in so great a city as New York, cholera can be 
 controlled : 
 
 On Wednesday, when the epidemic was at its height, the ist 
 of August, 1866, I gave my pledge to the Board of Commission- 
 ers and to Mr. Schultz, president of the Board of Health, in 
 your presence, that I would drive the cholera from the work- 
 house in from three to five days. I said this in no spirit of boast- 
 ing, but in the simple reliance on the well-known and estab- 
 lished laws of hygiene. The commissioners executed literally 
 and promptly every order which was given by the committee. 
 
 The epidemic began to decline from the day they were fully 
 carried out, and on Monday last the pledge was redeemed.* 
 
 As nations become bound together more closely 
 
 * Flint's " Practice of Medicine," second edition, page 476, 
 foot-note. 
 
176 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 in their commercial relations, so also do the dan- 
 gers of intercourse increase. 
 
 The quarantine which now exists at Tinicum, 
 about thirteen miles below Philadelphia, is the 
 outgrowth of the act of April, 1700, which was 
 passed by the Colonial Assembly, William Penn 
 being Proprietary Governor. Quarantine is but 
 one form of restraint which individual interests 
 and inclinations must endure for the public good. 
 National or State and City health boards would act, 
 if authority as full were given them, with no less 
 beneficent results; but their existence is perpet- 
 ually threatened by the power which should be 
 their support. Ignorance, or worse than ignorance, 
 is constantly appealed to, to thwart their measures 
 and to limit their usefulness. We tolerate the 
 quarantine because the disasters which it helps to 
 avert are so sweeping in their character, and force 
 themselves upon us in so conspicuous a manner, 
 that no expediency or mere political necessity dare 
 interfere with its operation. Yellow fever, cholera, 
 and other scourges of like character carry an inex- 
 orable logic in their death-rates. But the diseases 
 with which local or general health boards (inland) 
 have to do, — scarlet fever, diphtheria, and the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, lyy 
 
 like, — may In a decade number more victims than 
 either or both of the other plagues, which we allow 
 the quarantine to stop outside of our doors. 
 
 It is just in the domain of sanitary science that 
 modern medicine, whose essential character is pre- 
 ventive rather than curative, has wrought its most 
 signal triumphs. To prevent an epidemic, is of 
 vastly greater importance than to arrest it, after its 
 work of decimation has been largely accomplished. 
 To fully understand the problem which preventive 
 medicine, through health boards, proposes to itself, 
 it would be well to compare the ravages of a dis- 
 ease like smallpox two centuries ago with the 
 relative immunity we now possess. Before the 
 time of Jenner, Great Britain and Ireland lost 
 from this loathsome plague, each year, out of 
 their population, forty-five thousand souls. When 
 that sublimely simple prayer for those in the perils 
 of maternity was placed in the Episcopal Church 
 service, about one sufferer in fifty perished in 
 performance of a natural function. Probably the 
 mortality to-day would not exceed one in three 
 hundred. True, improved treatment has had a 
 full share in this shortened roll of doom but 
 when we consider what hygiene has done to- 
 
178 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 wards the same end we can see how great is its 
 credit. 
 
 That the quarantine precautions are no mere 
 sham, or useless parade of zeal, is fairly to be con- 
 cluded when we remember that in 1762 an infected 
 vessel from the West Indies brought the yellow 
 fever to Philadelphia, and that out of the then 
 small population — less than forty thousand — there 
 were a thousand lives lost. 
 
 In the perfected republic towards which we are 
 growing, neither the ward politician nor his master, 
 will dare to lay his hands upon the measures which 
 belong to the public health, any more than he 
 would dare to touch individual religious opinion. 
 There will be no party or clique allegiance stronger 
 than the allegiance a man owes to the health of 
 his family and of his neighbor, and the success of 
 the one will come to be largely measured by what 
 it does for the other. The present drum-majors 
 of election day will be recognized as those who 
 make the display, but who originate no good or 
 useful measure simply because it is good or useful ; 
 and in their stead will come men of better motives 
 and larger deeds. 
 
 For a yacht the size of mine, the Delaware 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, lyg 
 
 River anywhere above Fort Delaware may be re- 
 garded as all harbor. It was my custom at night 
 to run in along shore as closely as I dared to, and 
 then to anchor in about a fathom, or a fathom and 
 a half (according to the tide) of water. This gave 
 me room to get away at any hour I desired to, and 
 still kept me out of the way of boats large enough 
 to harm me or mine by collision. Then, with a 
 reliable anchor-light out, we could sleep without 
 anxiety. Such, at least, was my comforting way 
 of looking at it. One night, however, I remember 
 we laid down in firm assurance that things were 
 all as safe as could be. But before morning I 
 found we had anchored in a spot where, between 
 wind and tide, the^ boat had tossed enough to put 
 her light out, and there in darkness we had waited 
 for some other shore-loving vessel to run into us. 
 The useful lesson was not lost, and in future we 
 were never found without proper safeguards. The 
 risk run then became a healthy episode in the 
 cruise. 
 
 The Delaware Bay, by which I mean all below 
 Fort Delaware, is a more turbulent sheet of water, — 
 one, too, which is whimsical sometimes besides. 
 It may, almost without provocation, so far as wind 
 
l8o VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 goes, be quite rough enough for any small boat. 
 In less than half an hour I have seen a very ugly 
 sea " kicked up" by opposing wind and tide, and 
 one against which it was exceedingly difficult to 
 beat. Two harbors offer at the upper end of the 
 bay, — Salem Creek, on the New Jersey side, and 
 the channel between Reedy Island and the Dela- 
 ware shore. The latter, however, furnishes only a 
 partial protection. They are good starting-points 
 for a long run down the bay. It should be said 
 that Salem Creek is a hard place to get out of, if 
 the tide be against you, unless the wind enables 
 you to run tolerably " free." 
 
 Almost due east from the light on the lower 
 end of Reedy Island is the entrance to Alloway's 
 Creek, on the Jersey shore. This can be entered 
 directly by a vessel drawing four feet of water. 
 Run within, say, two or three hundred yards of the 
 shore, and the creek-mouth cannot well be missed. 
 It affords a safe and most desirable anchorage for 
 small craft in heavy weather. 
 
 About a quarter of a mile above Duck Creek 
 light, on the Delaware side, is Duck Creek. The 
 water here is shoaler, and, unless he knows the 
 way in, the amateur had better use his lead-line 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, jgl 
 
 pretty freely. From this, east by south, nine miles 
 distant, is the Cohansey light, which marks the 
 entrance to the creek of the same name. Here is 
 an admirable harbor, which any one with a chart 
 before him may easily enter. From this light, 
 south by west, out in the middle of the bay, stands 
 Ship John light. I have called attention to these 
 lights particularly because, fir^t, above the Cohan- 
 sey light about a mile, and extending out into the 
 bay nearly as far, there is a shallow spot or bar, 
 which is in daytime often, if not usually, indicated 
 by the " tide rip." Beware of this if drawing over 
 two feet and a half of water. Caught there with 
 a heavy sea running, one would be uncomfortable 
 enough. My second reason for speaking particu- 
 larly of Ship John light is, that, unless you are 
 acquainted with the water there, it is well not to 
 attempt crossing from the western side until Co- 
 hansey light is about east of you, and it were 
 better to go still more to the south, so that in 
 crossing you would go to the north of and about 
 a mile from " Ship John." This, of course, all 
 implies that I am writing for amateurs who have to 
 feel their way. There is a third reason for men- 
 tioning that light; it is this: after you have en- 
 i6 
 
1 82 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 tered Cohansey you may desire, for some reason, 
 to find a particularly safe, quiet anchorage. Fol- 
 low the river up, say about a mile from its mouth, 
 and on the south side, around the first bend, just 
 when you have Cohansey light and Ship John in 
 range, you will see a little creek, not over thirty 
 or forty feet wide. There is water enough there, 
 at all times, for a vessel drawing three and a 
 half to four feet. I have abundant reason for 
 remembering that place, for we lay there quietly 
 through a storm of more than average severity. 
 Rail-birds were abundant in the last of August, 
 but out of season. 
 
 Were I seeking a place on the bay where I 
 could go and spend a couple of weeks in Sep- 
 tember in my yacht, I should, I think, select the 
 Cohansey. It is accessible, safe, within easy 
 reach of Sea Breeze, which has daily communi- 
 cation with Philadelphia, and affords good sailing, 
 while there is good fishing only a few miles to the 
 south. Besides this, the water is salt, and the 
 beach is very good. So far as I know, there are 
 but two serious objections to the place, — first, the 
 green-head flies during the heat of the day are 
 numerous and hungry ; the second is, the number 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 183 
 
 of mosquitoes at night. I suppose one must en- 
 dure the former if he would go bathing, but the 
 second were most effectually excluded from my 
 cabin by a double thickness of mosquito netting. 
 
 I have made no allusion to the western shore 
 of the lower Delaware Bay for two reasons, — first, 
 because I know nothing of it; and, second, be- 
 cause my friends, who have cruised there, do not 
 speak of it as being so attractive as the eastern 
 shore. 
 
 Below Sea Breeze, the chart shows a conspicuous 
 landmark, Ben Davis's Point. Using the line and 
 following the shore into the depths of the little 
 bay around the point [i.e., south of it), one may 
 easily run into Back Creek, if he draws no more 
 than three feet. We found a schooner on the 
 shoals at its mouth, and were told by the crew 
 that there were some ugly cross-bars there. Here, 
 however, a caution is requisite. Going out of this 
 creek to the south, give the shore a wide berth 
 until you have passed the black buoy about two 
 miles to the southward. Between this and the 
 shore an ugly bar " makes out." We crossed it 
 in a very heavy sea, and had only a fathom of 
 water on the hard bottom. 
 
1 84 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Once the buoy is passed, the yachtsman may 
 take the shore down to the next resort, Fortescue. 
 Above this, about a quarter of a mile, there is 
 another creek, which is safe enough, once the 
 bar is crossed. I was " brought up" there at half- 
 tide in a vessel drawing only three feet of water. 
 
 From Fortescue to Egg Island Point light 
 there is enough of water for ordinary yachting 
 along-shore. If one is familiar with the place, he 
 may take a pretty direct course from Fortescue to 
 the light just named. Rounding this point, if 
 the wind be favorable, even a stranger may keep 
 a couple of hundred yards from the shore (not 
 more), and steer north of east to the light-house 
 south of Maurice River, until the mouth is just 
 a very little west of north, when he may run past 
 the buoy on the shoals and into the river. The 
 landmark for the river-mouth is the ships' black- 
 smith-shop, which stands a little way up in the 
 river. There is no building with which it can 
 be confounded north of the buoy on the shoal. 
 By following this course I always have entered 
 Maurice River in a light-draught vessel, but it 
 must be remembered that, unless you are able to 
 take the channel close to the shore as you round 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 185 
 
 Egg Island Point light, then you must give it a 
 wide berth to avoid a bar, on which I saw a yacht, 
 drawing only three feet of water, strike last sum- 
 mer. Wd could only tender sympathy to the un- 
 fortunates, but it was the crowning mishap to a 
 long series which they had experienced. There 
 are other creeks forming good harbors on either 
 side of the bay from Fort Delaware down to 
 Maurice River Cove. But the amateur yachtsman 
 should learn to enter all that I have named, and, 
 of course, as many more besides as he can. 
 
 From Maurice River Cove south, I should say, 
 no amateur should go until he has become a toler- 
 ably good sailor, or has one with him, and then 
 only in a strong, safe, well-provided boat. To 
 point this statement I would say that in one of 
 my trips to Maurice River, a boat' several feet 
 longer than mine came in there and ran ashore. 
 It was the only thing left for her to do. There 
 was a very heavy wind and high sea outside. 
 The captain, who had been hired by the party, 
 was said to have a chart, and yet, coming up from 
 Cape May, he managed to get aground, though 
 drawing but three feet of water ; besides this, he 
 
 split his jib and lost his only anchor, and then 
 16* 
 
1 36 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 ran by accident into Maurice River. I say " by 
 accident," for we were assured that even if he 
 knew of the place he did not know the way in. 
 Here was a combination of blunders, — first, to 
 go out in a boat any part of whose rigging or 
 ground-tackle was weak, and with but one anchor ; 
 second, to trust to a man who was not known to 
 be a competent navigator in all weather, and who 
 proved to be wholly unacquainted with the bay. 
 I wish I could think such trips were rare, but, on 
 the contrary, I think they are only too common. 
 There should always be at least two "good- 
 holding" anchors on board, and, no matter how 
 heavy the cable may be, it will pay amateurs to 
 memorize the aphorism that " No chain is stronger 
 than its zveakest link.'' 
 
 The sudden coming of squalls in June and July 
 and part of August tannot be too strongly im- 
 pressed on the mind ; it may serve as a check on 
 foolhardiness. Even with a barometer, one cannot 
 ahua^s predict the severity of a coming squall. 
 Besides this, too, it should be remembered that the 
 blackness of the clouds is not necessarily in pro- 
 portion to the force of the wind. I have observed 
 that the " saltest" navigators can guess very wide 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 187 
 
 of the truth on such matters. I have seen the 
 line of the coming squall on the water, but half a 
 mile away, look so threatening that I lowered all 
 my sails and let both anchors go ; yet when the 
 wind reached us its force was gone. On the other 
 hand, I have seen a very severe " blow" where the 
 previous indications were not in the least alarm- 
 ing. Sailors have learned to watch the vessels 
 to the windward, if there be any, and to regulate 
 their own conduct by the effect of the wind on 
 the vessels which it first strikes. So far as any 
 rule for general guidance can be given, this is 
 about as good as any. But, after all, the one 
 cardinal precept for such circumstances is. Be 
 sure you have plenty of ballast, securely fastened, 
 and as low down as possible. Next to this, never 
 carry more sail than you actually need. Racing- 
 rig is no part of a cruising outfit ; and the sooner 
 we all learn to subordinate speed entirely to 
 safety, the sooner will the drowning-list be short- 
 ened enough to make even amateur yachting a 
 perfectly legitimate and safe way of spending a 
 vacation. 
 
 But this list of platitudes is long enough for 
 any one man to inflict on his readers. It is to be 
 
1 38 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 hoped that some one else more competent will 
 complete the needed category. 
 
 A genuine water-spout is among the meteoro- 
 logical phenomena rarely seen by us. Probably 
 they are not often seen by any one. Lying in 
 Maurice River, during the storm to which we have 
 already alluded, we saw a moving column over 
 the water, rotating just as whirlwinds do. Like 
 them, too, it was dust-colored (but what colored 
 this ?). It had the usual hour-glass shape. We 
 did not see any sign that water was drawn into it 
 from below, nor did we see any fall from above. 
 It was not a very dreadful-looking thing, though 
 what it might have been to a passing vessel is 
 more than I can conjecture. 
 
 Maurice River and the Cove into which it opens 
 are full of strange life, visible to those who seek 
 for it. In fact, they are little worlds with, to a 
 certain extent, characters of their own. The Cove 
 proper may be said to cover an area of probably 
 thirty-five square miles. Besides this, there is, ex- 
 tending south, toward Cape May, and on the same 
 side of the bay, another shallow area of more than 
 double this size. The average depth of water in 
 both of these areas is, at low tide, about eight 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 189 
 
 feet, in some places becoming as low as three 
 feet, and in others reaching as much as eighteen 
 feet. 
 
 It is, as most lovers of oysters are aware, a spot 
 celebrated for "the quality of those bivalves ; and 
 the trade in them has produced a peculiar class of 
 vessels, shallow and swift, as well as a peculiar 
 class of men to sail them. 
 
 A few years ago one of a party with which I 
 was yachting there brought to the surface on his 
 hook a fish, the like of which our " skipper" and his 
 associates declared had never been seen in those 
 waters before. It was a Reinora^ doubtless a wan- 
 derer from warmer seas. This one was about a 
 foot long, rather slender, dark-colored, and had 
 a curious sucking-disk covering the head and the 
 forward part of the back. The group to which 
 the Remora belongs has been made the subject of 
 an enormous weight of encyclopaedic knowledge. 
 This we present in hope that some one of more 
 than ordinary comprehension will be able to say 
 what it really does mean : " Remora, a genus of 
 
 *Some of these species do sometimes get as far north as 
 Labrador on our coast. 
 
1^0 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 fishes which Cuvier placed among the Discoboli, 
 but which constitutes an entire family, Echinidse, 
 near the Scombridae, among Acanthopteri." That 
 should be lucid enough ; though, on the whole, 
 we would almost rather accept the ancient notion 
 that this same Remora was nothing but a fish 
 whose sucking and adhesive capacity was entirely 
 out of proportion to its size. Those of long ago 
 coined the name from the word remorari, because 
 the nondescript group was alleged to retard sail- 
 ing-vessels by using the sucking-disk to adhere to 
 I their bottoms. Group, we say, because there are 
 several species of them, some edible, and others 
 useful in another way, — that is, by attaching them- 
 selves to turtles, and holding on until Remora and 
 turtle both, are pulled to the surface by a ring and 
 line fastened to the tail of the fish and leading to 
 the hand of a fisherman above. 
 
 The sucking-disk on our specimen was about 
 three inches long. The margin was slightly 
 raised, thick, soft, and flexible. In the interior of 
 the inclosure was a series of transverse ridges, 
 which anatomists assure us are simply modified 
 parts of the first fin on the back. These have 
 muscles attached to them, and may be elevated so 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, igi 
 
 as to increase the depth of the cavity on the cen- 
 tral surface of the disk. Thus the vacuum was 
 formed on which the adhesive power of the disk 
 depended. 
 
 The ancient Romans had the idea that this 
 fish retarded the progress of ships, as we have 
 already said ; and this became woven into their 
 history, and possibly, also, to a certain extent, into 
 sea-side mythology. Did Antony's vessel fail 
 to come up in time to the battle of Actium ? It 
 was, because the Fates had fixed a Rcmora to the 
 commander's vessel. It is almost a sin to doubt 
 the tale, but it is probable that Egypt's queen at- 
 tracted Antony's ships more than the Remora did. 
 
 However, to give the fish its due, it does use 
 this disk to fasten itself to vessels. Stranger still, 
 it thus attaches itself to other, larger fish, and so 
 escapes their attacks, — a mode of defence which 
 appears to be almost unique. 
 
 Familiarity with common objects induces a cer- 
 tain disregard for them, — I do not say contempt, 
 for the old adage is probably too strong. To my 
 unaccustomed eyes the external growths on the 
 shells of living oysters were a source of perpetual 
 wonder. Sponges and diatoms, one will almost cer- 
 
1^2 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 tainly find, and much more besides. For objects 
 large enough to be handled, and down to those 
 visible only through the magic tube which increases 
 vision a thousand-fold, the oyster-shell furnished 
 life and foothold. I know it is a great risk for one, 
 in this science-ridden age, to write about anything 
 with so hard a name as diatom, to say nothing of 
 the still larger names with which men of learning 
 insist on ticketing these little organisms. But if 
 the public do not care enough for them to ex- 
 amine and name them, men should not complain 
 if the universal language of science lays hold on 
 them. At all events, the long name is no fault 
 of the little plants, and it were surely hard if the 
 name should sound so large as to prevent their 
 case being heard. These diatoms are wonderful 
 plants, microscopic in size, thriving alike in fresh, 
 or in salt water, and found in the oceans about 
 either pole, as well as under the equator. During 
 their life, in a small way, they render signal ser- 
 vice to their animal neighbors by giving off 
 oxygen to the water for them, and by making 
 •food upon which they may live. When dead, 
 they leave a solid memorial behind. This memo- 
 rial is, indeed, the most characteristic thing about 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 1^3 
 
 them, and is made of the purest silica, — that sifted, 
 as it were, by the organs and processes of life, 
 and then deposited as a shell around the living 
 part within. The green interior of the diatom 
 dies, decays, and disappears; but the sandy shell 
 remains for all time, and may, when in vast numbers, 
 even serve as a foundation to build cities upon, or 
 may choke up harbors. It may pass unchanged 
 in shape, unaltered in its wonderfully delicate 
 markings, from the depths of the ocean, through 
 the base of a volcano, and be thrown out in an 
 eruption, and finally be found, bleached, beautified, 
 and perfect, thousands of feet above the sea on 
 the flanks of the fiery peak. This is no fable, but 
 sober, scientific fact; for on the sides of Mount 
 Erebus, as near to the south pole as men care to 
 go, these skeleton memorials may be found now. 
 Histories, too, these same little plants may be- 
 come : those of to-day recording for the future the 
 advance or retreat of ocean, just as those of the 
 past have, by their sandy shells, declared the re- 
 treat of the waves from what are now inland spots. 
 So they tell us of a retreat from Richmond, when, 
 inch by inch, before man was, the waves in which 
 
 the diatoms lived, retired and left the soil on which 
 in 17 
 
194 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the human hosts contended so recently. The 
 skeletons of men, the skeletons of diatoms, lying 
 on the same spot, each tell of strife. 
 
 " There rolls the deep, where grew the tree. 
 O earth ! what changes thou hast seen ! - 
 There, where the long street roars, hath been 
 The stillness of the central sea." 
 
 Diatom life, whether on, or in the oyster, or 
 wherever found, is a strange tale, — one which 
 should hardly be started save in the presence of a 
 good microscope. Take up some standard work 
 on botany, and learn how curiously they are re- 
 produced : by one individual dividing its interior, 
 living portion into two parts, and then each half 
 secreting a new shell around its outer face, so that 
 when these perfected halves become independent 
 individuals, each is made up of one old and one 
 new shell. But sooner or later the succeeding 
 generations become too small to represent the 
 species, by this mode of reproduction. A new 
 process now comes in to reproduce full-sized in- 
 dividuals. Two distinct plants unite, and their 
 contents grow to maximum size, then take on 
 their characteristic sandy coat, and begin again 
 the first mode of reproduction. There is infinite 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 195 
 
 variety in almost infinitesimal size among these 
 plants. Look them up, find their illustrations in 
 Carpenter's work on the Microscope, and be con- 
 vinced how wonderful they are. Meanwhile let 
 me ask my fi-iend, Professor Macloskie, to tell, in 
 his clear way, what hints they furnish. "The 
 shells (or shields, as they are termed) are chiselled 
 and ornamented with markings which are charac- 
 teristic of the twelve hundred or more species 
 known. Some of them are circular, some ellip- 
 tical, and so on through varying forms, as tri- 
 angles, squares, lozenge-forms, fans, boat-forms, 
 sigma-curves, stars, spiders' web, and the radiant 
 sun. Fancy may detect all sorts of beautiful 
 forms in their shields, and artists in the precious 
 metals may here find an inexhaustible mine of 
 new suggestions for elegant designs. The shields 
 are adorned with systems of hollow pyramids or 
 intersecting lines and bands. High powers of the 
 microscope, with special arrangements of oblique 
 illumination, are required to show these, and new 
 advances in microscopic constructions are signal- 
 ized by success in resolving diatoms that had 
 baffled former efforts. Many forms are supposed 
 to have markings which have not yet been dis- 
 
iq5 vacation cruising in 
 
 covered, and there is reason to believe that our 
 interpretations of some parts are erroneous, be- 
 cause the light which we employ is made up of 
 waves which are too coarse for such fine work. 
 Thus it is not by the fault of the microscope, but 
 by the clumsiness of light, that we find ourselves 
 bewildered." * Had Hans Christian Andersen 
 been fascinated by these small things as much 
 as some men of less genius are, he would have 
 clothed their whole life with the charms of a fairy 
 tale, and made their history plain enough to have 
 been read in the nursery. 
 
 Squids' eggs are those half jelly-like, olive- 
 shaped bodies which one finds so often in Sep- 
 tember adhering to the shells of the living oyster. 
 Some people call them sea-grapes, but the oyster- 
 men have fearful names for them. They are little, 
 if any, heavier than water, and hence, when agi- 
 tated by a heavy storm, the water sweeps over the 
 cove bottom, and the light bunches of sea-grapes 
 float away bodily along with the oysters, which 
 they help to buoy^ up. The oyster-farmer may 
 
 * " Macloskie's Botany," p. 220, et seq., a work furnishing exact 
 information in a most readable form. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, jg^ 
 
 thus find his whole crop carried away by the wind 
 and waves. To be sure, it is almost an unheard-of 
 thing among landsmen, but the oysterman knows 
 it; is only too true and too common. " Dumb as 
 an oyster" is a remark often heard ; but whatever 
 their intelligence may be, there is no doubt as to 
 their extreme sensitiveness. A heavy clap of 
 thunder, or a hard jar received by the vessel car- 
 rying them, it is affirmed, may kill a whole cargo. 
 The dip of your oars in the water as you approach 
 an oyster-bed may cause every one of the thou- 
 sands of shells, over which you float, to close. 
 Among the foes with which the oyster has to con- 
 tend is the crab. Indeed, there comes to us from 
 the Middle Ages a tale that the crab dropped a 
 pebble between the open shells, which prevented 
 their closure, so that, without danger to himself, 
 he was enabled to capture the animal he was after. 
 But the little crab which we find inside the 
 oyster-shell, and which we eat as a luxury, is quite 
 another animal. Naturalists designate it as Pinno- 
 theres. One might suppose that so hard a name 
 was in some way intended as a punishment ; but 
 the oyster crab is a friend, not a foe, to his host. 
 
 This crab is a real nursery, on which multitudes 
 
 17* 
 
iq8 vacation cruising in 
 
 of still smaller animals, with still larger names, 
 live, — Zoothamium. It is too bad, but that is 
 the fact. Now, the whole tale appears to be this : 
 the Zoothamium is on the Pinnotheres, and the 
 Pinnotheres lives inside the oyster, which, in turn, 
 eats the Zoothamium. This is all very strange ; 
 but that when so insignificant a thing as a Zootha- 
 mium happens to die, and fall off from the stalk 
 which supported it, still smaller and less consequen- 
 tial things — " rod-like vibriones" — should grow out 
 of the stalk, is still stranger. It is almost past- 
 belief that there should be so much besides the 
 oyster inside the shell ; but as the official docu- 
 ment, which was prepared with infinite care, says 
 so, we must believe it to be true. It would be 
 a very long chapter if we were to tell all that can 
 be told about the friends and foes of the oyster. 
 Not only is animal life leagued against it, but the 
 elements conspire to destroy it. The wind agitates 
 the water, this stirs up the fine mud and sand, 
 which, entering the open shell, fill the oyster's 
 respiratory organs, and it dies from suffocation. 
 
 The statement would be incredible, if it were not 
 made on the best authority, that not one out of a 
 million eggs spawned becomes an adult, edible 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, jgg 
 
 oyster. The very process of fecundation in our 
 American oyster involves a chance against the 
 species ; for the eggs and the male elements are 
 left to meet as best they can after extrusion from 
 the animal, and can only complete the reproductive 
 function if wind or tide bring them in contact. 
 
 Hence appears the urgent need of such investi- 
 gations as those undertaken by the general and 
 by some of the State governments. The impor- 
 tance of this oyster trade, now in its infancy, may 
 be estimated, when it is known that the value, 
 at first hand, of the Delaware Bay crop each 
 year is about ^2,425,000. Our young life on 
 this continent has produced marked deviations in 
 our way of looking at things as compared with 
 Old World views. Older nations have learned by 
 experience to husband national, as well as indi- 
 vidual, resources. But two and a half centuries 
 ago our ancestors landed on these Western slopes, 
 and found them so prolific in forest wealth that 
 before an acre could be cultivated it must be 
 cleared. Just about two hundred years back, good 
 William Penn wrote most enthusiastically con- 
 cerning the food which the waters contained. 
 Abundance in flood and in forest, induced habits 
 
200 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 of extravagance, which have become so deeply- 
 instilled that we can hardly recognize the tradi- 
 tional wisdom of older countries, even when it is 
 pointed out. We have come to regard our pam- 
 pered habits of life and thought as the normal 
 ones. Now, in the full vigor of early youth, with 
 high hopes of an unexampled prosperity before 
 it, the nation finds it has squandered the good 
 things of its heritage. The forests are disappear- 
 ing from the land and the fish from the sea. By 
 great good fortune, prophets came to warn and 
 masters to teach. Baird, Hough, Price, Sargent, 
 Brooks, and Ryder are names that will be better 
 known half a century hence, even than now, be- 
 cause the importance of their present work will 
 appear greater as time passes. Because a wise 
 man, who was a power in the land, and who but 
 lately left us to join the " silent majority," said he 
 had no heart for scientific investigation after it 
 became useful, other weaker ones, without his 
 genius, have emblazoned his watchword on their 
 banners. 
 
 Let it be known, then, that the names recorded 
 above, are of those, who do not scorn to make 
 their knowledge useful, however much they value 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 20I 
 
 it in the abstract. The streams restocked with 
 fish, the beds replenished with oysters are practi- 
 cal illustrations of the value of science, worth as 
 much as ever was or ever can be written on the 
 morphology of the star-fish. I do not disparage 
 the value of the latter, either. All abstract scien- 
 tific studies confer standing and power on the 
 nation, but their extreme advocates must not re- 
 veal to the world how one-sided their studies may 
 have made them, or they will bring all science 
 into contempt. Scientific arrogance is the spirit 
 which, of all others, the culture of succeeding 
 generations will least tolerate. Even abstract sci- 
 ence may come to be regarded in the future much 
 as we regard some learned pursuits of earlier 
 times, though I sincerely hope not. 
 
 One out of a million oyster eggs reaches ma- 
 turity ! It was somewhat so once with fish spawn. 
 But now these dwellers in the deep appear to be 
 transplanted and hatched, one is tempted to say, 
 w^ith about the same certainty as chickens. Within 
 the year, the daily papers have told us that John 
 Ryder had succeeded in raising young oysters, 
 after artificial fecundation of the eggs, in natural 
 inclosures. This is one of the great achievements 
 
202 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 of the age. It is a food-producing conquest over 
 the thousand causes which conspired against starv- 
 ing men and women. Let it be told all over the 
 land, that towards this end, that patient investi- 
 gator has worked when others slept ; worked when 
 others saw no reward for his labors ; worked year 
 in and year out with a persistency which was 
 sublime. It is just such studies that the govern- 
 ment does well to encourage. The following ex- 
 tract comes from the American of November loth, 
 1883: 
 
 OYSTER-BREEDING FROM ARTIFICIALLY-FERTIL- 
 IZED EGGS. 
 
 Mr. John A. Ryder, embryologist to the United States Fish 
 Commission, to whose labors in oyster culture we had occasion to 
 refer in the columns of a recent issue of this journal, thus briefly 
 summarizes the results of his latest researches in this important 
 branch of economical biology : " While it is too soon to affirm 
 that artificial breeding may be profitably available on an extensive 
 scale in practical oyster culture, our experiment has demonstrated 
 a number of very important facts. These are : (i) Oyster spat 
 maybe reared from artificially-fertilized eggs; (2) the spat will 
 grow just as fast in such inclosures [artificially-excavated ponds, 
 connected by a guarded passage-way with the open water of the 
 sea] as in the open water; (3) food is rapidly generated in such 
 inclosures ; (4) the density of the water in the ponds is not ma- 
 terially afi'ected by rains or leaching from the banks ; (5) ponds 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 203 
 
 are readily excavated in salt-marsh lands, and can in all prob- 
 ability be used for fattening and growing Ostrea Virghiica for 
 market just as successfully as Ostrea edidis and angulata are 
 grown by a similar method on the coasts of France. Pond cul- 
 ture where there are salt marshes adjoining arms of the sea, the 
 waters of which have a density below 1.020, can doubtless be 
 carried on profitably in connection with intelligent use of simple, 
 cheap collecting apparatus placed in both open and confined 
 waters to catch a 'set' of spat, which can then be transferred to 
 ponds or open beds." 
 
 When we were in Maurice River there was 
 nothing to indicate the activity which the first 
 day of September would bring to those waters. 
 Then a hundred sail, or more, of trim sloops and 
 schooners, manned by hardy, enterprising sailors, 
 would move to and fro across the dredging- 
 grounds, plying a vocation which promises to 
 grow into still more stupendous proportions. 
 
 It is a source of regret that the child-like, but 
 not too moral sailor of a generation ago is disap- 
 pearing from our wharves. He of the old type, 
 who made the hour of the young ebb tide wildly 
 melodious with his songs as he " hove the anchor 
 short," or hoisted sail for departure to " furrin 
 parts," may have gone with the advent of the un- 
 welcome, alien, steam " ocean tramps" that carry 
 
204 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 our produce away, when we should do it ourselves. 
 But in a measure, this new race, landsmen in 
 summer and oystermen in winter, has taken his 
 place. Go among them, and you will find them a 
 class by themselves, who have their own language 
 and their own views of life. They may be as 
 rough and as hard-shelled as the bivalve they 
 capture, but, then, like it, they are good enough 
 within. Sharp at a bargain, mayhap suspicious 
 of new-comers, you will 'find them generous to a 
 friend. You can trust them in the hour of need, and 
 may feel sure that a favor is never lost on them. 
 
 On our inland waters there is no harder life than 
 that which they lead in winter. So long as their 
 vessels " can live" and carry sail there is no 
 weather in which they do not go. Their business 
 is fairly remunerative, — at least, enough so to make 
 them stick to it from early manhood on. There 
 is no " easy berth" on their boats, and one would 
 find, that life through they 
 
 " Tugged at it night and day, 
 
 Till each was a saint in glory, — 
 If he happened to go that way," 
 
 I cannot help admiring the persistent fortitude 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 205 
 
 with which they work and sail when even the 
 decks and rigging are covered with ice, and always 
 think of them as a sort of subdued Vikings, with 
 all the hardihood of the prototype, and none of 
 the viciousness which Taine has so vigorously 
 portrayed. 
 
 This oyster-dredging is very suggestive, and a 
 person wonders, when he sees the vessels dragging 
 their great iron rakes over the oyster-beds, and 
 finds the men amid the filth and discomfort of the 
 business, that so many are willing to engage in it. 
 But, then, take our ship of state. See her sail- 
 ing over the shoals and dragging a host of rakes 
 that stir up more mud and dirtier than all the 
 dredges of Maurice River Cove, fouling as they 
 go, the surroundings in which quiet folk must live. 
 Probably, after all, hunting oysters is a cleaner, 
 more reputable profession than hunting office. 
 
 There is one peculiarity about the inhabitants 
 of Central and Southern New Jersey. I say pe- 
 culiarity because I have nowhere else seen the 
 characteristic so marked. I mean their rational 
 enjoyment of life. Busy as the busiest at times, 
 yet, again, say in August, you may find them, 
 sometimes by thousands, often by hundreds, at the 
 
2o6 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 shore of the bay, near Maurice River, engaged in 
 a thoroughly old-fashioned picnic. Such a time as 
 they have refreshes a whole neighborhood, and 
 brushes away the gloom and business monotony 
 from an entire community. I have somewhere 
 read that once a year the Laplander brings his 
 reindeer from off the mountains and moorlands to 
 the sea-shore, and allows them there to drink and 
 to bathe in the salt water to their full content, that 
 they may go away invigorated for the rest of the 
 year. Just so these sensible folk gather at the 
 bay from miles and miles away to renew their 
 youth, meet their friends, and to wash the burden 
 of daily care from off their souls. Some come in 
 wagons, some in vessels by water, some tent on the 
 mosquito-plagued shore, but all enjoy themselves. 
 Wet, stormy days, when one does not sail, are 
 not wholly lost time. There is some quiet enjoy- 
 ment, if not, indeed, a sort of education^ gained by 
 lying in the berth and listening to the rain patter- 
 ing on deck. It may be that in some corner of 
 the brain lurks a cell or two whose characteristics 
 are inherited from agile ancestors that swung by 
 prehensile tails under the palm-leaves of tropical 
 forests, and enjoyed such shelter because they had 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 207 
 
 no better. How else can we explain the pleasure 
 with which men listen to the falling rain-drops on 
 the tent ? I suppose those were what most active 
 men would call lazy days ; but this term is quite 
 too hard. They were, rather, recuperative days, 
 in which animal energy was stored, until its very 
 excess obliged us to break out into some exercise 
 of mind or body. 
 
 In " Mose" this explosion was usually retro- 
 spective in character. He was not exactly " rocked 
 in the cradle of the deep," but he began " goin' to 
 sea when he cudn't do nuthing but run roun' de 
 deck." His brain is full of stormy remembrances, 
 and I suppose it is pleasant when one is in a good, 
 quiet harbor to call back to mind the storms when 
 there was no such resting-place available. " Mose" 
 meditates a long time, then he breaks out suddenly 
 with, " Cap'n, dis heah 'minds me." " Of what, 
 Mose?" I like to encourage yarns in the cabin 
 when the wind is whisthng outside. They make me 
 content to stay where I am and await more peaceful 
 weather. " Dis heah 'minds me ob de nite I was a 
 comin' out'n de Potomac in January. It was a 
 snowin' and a blowin', and we was loaded down 
 deep, and had a big deck-load on. Cap'n, he put 
 
2o8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 de schooner in Cornfield Harbor, and jis when he 
 was a goin' to let de anker go, de wind cum round 
 fi-om de sou'east. * Dis heah ain't no good place 
 fur us, boys,' sais de cap'n. We hauled de sheets 
 aft, and headed de schooner cross de Potomac fur 
 Yeocomico River ; but afore we got dere de wind 
 hauled round, first one way, den anoder way, and 
 it jist howled and blowed all it knowed how. 
 Did you say dark ? Yes, you cudn't see yur hand ; 
 and it snow'd till it cudn't snow no harder. I 
 reckin we was half-way acrosst when we split our 
 jib ; den we parted our main-sheet. * Dis heah is 
 dangersum, or wuss, boys,' says cap'n. Fust a 
 gust wud hit her, till you'd a thought everything 
 would go ; den a back flaw wud strike her, and way 
 wud go de boom, till we spected it wud jist carry 
 de masts out. Twicet we boys went into de rig- 
 gin' ; but den dat wusn't no good place, fur suah. 
 Sartin as dem sticks went out'n her we'd gone, too. 
 All on a sudden cap'n sings out, ' Boys, dis head- 
 wind's gwine to cum steddy out'n de sou. Hard a 
 lee !' sais he. De schooner cum up into de wind 
 and looked out into de bay. Reckin was 'bout 
 midnite wen we headed north, and I tell you it was 
 squally, fur suah. We shuk a reef out'n de main- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 209 
 
 s'l, and started fur Patuxent. We know'd drivin' 
 her so hard was openin' de ole schooner's seams J 
 but we was goin' sumwere wen we did git started. 
 I tell you, de decks was wet and slippery w.id 
 slush. Purty soon de wind settled down and cum 
 from sou'east, and den it jist screamed ; but we 
 kep' her goin'. I tell you we give her all de can- 
 vas she'd stand. 'Twas a sin how we made her 
 carry sail. Reckin 'twas 'bout three o'clock in de 
 mornin' wen we let her anker go in Patuxent. 
 Wen I went below dat nite I kinder made up my 
 mind dat I'd quit de bisness. Dat was nigh on't 
 seven years ago ; and here I am, on de water yit." 
 
 " And what a vision greets their weary gaze ! 
 What realms of wonder, chaos of wild dreams 
 Out-chaosed, kingdoms and seas of tumult!" 
 
 Watching the " fiddler"— that is, the " fiddler 
 crab" {Gelasimus pugilator) — was a sort of kill- 
 time employment for a wet day. In what one- 
 sided currents the thoughts of men run ! How 
 many profound memoirs our naturalists have 
 written upon bilateral symmetry as illustrated in 
 the animal kingdom ! yet not a single paper has 
 been produced on the quadrilateral awkwardness 
 
 of this betwixt-tide nondescript. Some friends of 
 18* 
 
210 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 mine have, by eavesdropping and spying in his 
 muddy domain, been inquiring into his habits ; but 
 it is little they have discovered concerning him, 
 save that, come day or come night, when the tide 
 is out, he is most industriously engaged in carry- 
 ing dirt out of the depths of his burrow. So far, 
 
 THE FIDDLER CRAB. 
 
 then, as known, his highest ambition is to dig his 
 cellar deeper. Go ashore and see the flying troop 
 darting towards the shelter of their homes, and 
 then stopping outside, to see if you will come 
 closer. They do have a use, however, that of 
 serving to illustrate certain human peculiarities, 
 — crabbcdness as associated with cowardliness. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS, 2II 
 
 Sometimes, when approached, that one overshad- 
 owing claw is raised in a warning and in a " come- 
 if-you-dare" spirit ; but walk one step nearer, and 
 it is instantly lowered to where the back and 
 shoulders ought to be, while the whole ungainly 
 anatomy trundles hastily away under the burden 
 of that same threatening arm. Amphibious, — well, 
 one must neither think nor say things too hard 
 about an animal whose hold on life is limited to 
 the narrow strip of earth between high- and low- 
 water. Long before this, most of those who 
 started with him must have gone for good to one 
 element or the other. If he does excite our sym- 
 pathy for the hardness of his lot, he, at the same 
 time, awakens our-^admiration when we see the 
 fleet-footed, multitudinous progeny he has raised 
 on this undesirable, abandoned shore-line. 
 
 When we left Camden we started with an in- 
 dustrious colony of ants on board. How they 
 came was always a mystery, for the boat had 
 never once been alongside of a wharf during our 
 stay there. We were no sooner started than they 
 appeared, and then disappeared. Where they 
 went was equally a mystery, and one which we 
 never solved ; but before long we learned to as- 
 
212 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 sociate their reappearance with a falling barometer. 
 V/hen a storm threatened, these ants (and along 
 with them the flies) came out in force ; but a more 
 harmless set of stowaways than they never stole 
 passage on any vessel. They neither troubled our 
 provisions, nor came about us by day, or by night. 
 Man's inhumanity has been well denounced; 
 one sees it everywhere, sometimes absolutely 
 needful, sometimes pardonable, sometimes inex- 
 cusable, but always and everywhere unpleasant to 
 contemplate. It is not in the mere destruction 
 of life that its greatest iniquity lies, but in the 
 torture inflicted upon animals which are small and 
 of but little use as food. I can hardly think that 
 the slaughter of an ox brings with it the pain that 
 a fractured limb does to an unlucky bird. There 
 were places along the Delaware (and elsewhere) 
 where bird-murder was at its height in August. 
 Early in the morning, and at dusk in the evening, 
 when the birds were flying most actively, the 
 guns were heard constantly. All available places 
 where the passing flocks could alight, were 
 chosen by "pot-hunters" for their blinds, whence, 
 the instant the birds stopped, the contents of one 
 or both barrels were poured into them. At 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 213 
 
 many places along the usual lines of flight in the 
 marshes, dead bushes were raised to aflbrd resting- 
 places, and thus to tempt the weary birds to stop 
 and meet their fate. It is not for those killed 
 outright that I raise this "hue and cry." That 
 may all be justified by the mouthful of nutriment 
 each small body furnishes. It has, too, a market 
 value. But how about the scores of maimed 
 victims, with broken wings and legs, that each 
 day of such sport, or such business, leaves suffer- 
 ing or starving in the marshes? If there were 
 a single element in such shooting which could 
 take away the curse of cold-blooded torture, it 
 might be looked upon with toleration. Is there 
 no more sportsmanlike, less horrible, and equally- 
 lucrative manner in which this business can be 
 carried on ? 
 
 One is likely to be regarded as super-sensi- 
 tive for finding fault with such deeds. The 
 charge may be true enough as public opinion 
 goes, and if it is, then I hasten to accept it with 
 all the demerit which attaches to it. I am in full 
 sympathy with those maimed victims, and utterly 
 out of sympathy with their destroyers. At the 
 same time, I was and still am fond of the rod and 
 
214 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the gun and of all the legitimate uses that these im- 
 plements imply. It should be a cardinal doctrine 
 among genuine sportsmen never to kill game 
 simply for the sake of killing it, and never to 
 shoot at a game-bird or quadruped without the 
 chance of killing it outright, or of finding it when 
 wounded. 
 
 I never saw so few brilliant, nocturnal phos- 
 phorescent displays in the water as this year (1883). 
 
 There is a pleasure in listening to the sound of 
 distant steamer-paddles. It is almost past belief 
 how far they can be heard. More than once we rec- 
 ognized the solid beat of the " Republic's" wheels 
 before she was in sight. On one occasion this same 
 steamer gave us a remarkable illustration of the 
 interception of sound. We were then lying on 
 the New Jersey side, a few miles below Fort Dela- 
 ware. The steamer passed down on the western 
 side, perhaps a mile away ; every stroke of her pad- 
 dles could be distinctly heard. Suddenly she ran 
 behind a large sailing-vessel, and (making allow- 
 ance for passage of sound over the intervening dis- 
 tance) the sound ceased almost absolutely, to begin 
 again at the proper moment after she came out 
 from behind the sailing-vessel. I think I never 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 215 
 
 before had so striking an illustration of intercepted 
 sound. 
 
 It is astonishing what a wealth of sounds there 
 is about us in the night-time, when we are camp- 
 ing out in the forest, or when we listen for them 
 on the water. True, there are some nights, when 
 the stillness of death is everywhere, but on the 
 average night, the air is full of sounds, which we 
 only recognize when we listen for them. The 
 rain-drops on the oak-leaves, the stealthy tread of 
 some prowling animal, or the murmur of the water 
 as it comes rippling against the boat-sides are 
 all musical in my ears. I cannot understand or 
 enjoy the music of Wagner: I am not sure that 
 I ever could find anything in it which would 
 strengthen me ; but that of the rain-drops, or the 
 murmur of the water within a foot of my head, 
 is full of healthy influences for me. All the music 
 of the masters is in its very youth compared with 
 these. 
 
 If one is only in the secrets of nature, he will 
 find that there is no wind but has its own distinct 
 character. The south wind in early spring-time 
 is very different from that of the dog-days. It 
 brings with it other ideas, and touches our faces, 
 
2i6 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 or plays with our hair, awakening other emotions. 
 Then the east wind is as full of gloom as it is 
 of fog. It darkens and depresses until the sufferer 
 no longer wonders that Holmes inquired whether 
 it ever reached Paradise. Euroclydon has a bad 
 character. But full of promise and of exaltation 
 is the west wind. It comes laden with healing 
 powers gathered from all the plants of prairies and 
 of plains, and these purified by sifting through the 
 hemlock boughs on our mountain-tops. No one 
 can mistake that which comes from the north. It 
 is so sincere and earnest that, lying in the berth 
 below deck, one may recognize its whistle in the 
 rigging. In homely phrase the western poet 
 describes its doings truly and pathetically when 
 he tells what it does in autumn, — 
 
 " They's somepin kind o' hearty like about the atmosphere 
 When the heat o' summer's over and the coolin' fall is here. 
 Of course, we nuss the flowers and the blossoms on the trees, 
 And the mumble of the hummin' birds and buzzin' of the bees ; 
 But the air's so appetizin', and the landscape through the haze 
 -Of a crisp and sunny morning of the early autumn days 
 Is a picture that no painter has the colorin' to mock, — 
 When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock." 
 
 The rapidity of the tide in Delaware Bay is a 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 217 
 
 revelation to one who has been accustomed only 
 to sailing on the Chesapeake. When two cur- 
 rents meet, a well-marked " tide-rip" is produced, 
 which in the Chesapeake would certainly be re- 
 garded as indicating shoal water. In the Dela- 
 ware Bay, however, this may be found over very 
 deep water, as may be seen where the ebb tide from 
 Salem Creek meets with that in the Delaware. 
 Of course, there are places in the Delaware where 
 shoals are indicated by just such rips. One ap- 
 pears at certain stages of the water on the bar 
 between Delaware City and the head of Reedy 
 Island, and another just above Cohansey light, on 
 the New Jersey side. 
 
 Following down along the " rip" formed by the 
 ebb from Salem Creek, I was surprised to find 
 how sharply the line was maintained for miles be- 
 low where the currents making it, first met. This 
 was clearly shown by the floating staminate (male) 
 flowers of the Zizania, or water-rice, — the tall grass 
 which forms the mass of the reed-like vegetation 
 along the muddy shores of Salem Creek. No 
 doubt, a little later we should have found that 
 some, at least, of the matured seeds were being 
 
 transported from their place of growth to a new 
 K 19 
 
2i8 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 point at which they might begin a young colony 
 of water-rice. It was a good illustration of the 
 means by which the geographical distribution of 
 plants -is effected now and has been for, no one 
 knows, how many centuries. From some chance 
 seed the new island, just emerging from beneath 
 the surface, might receive its first vegetation. 
 Under such circumstances it would probably grow 
 and speedily cover the whole marshy spot. If, on 
 the other hand, this water-rice seed had been 
 drifted to shores already occupied, even if it 
 reached there with the germ in healthy condition, 
 there would have still been doubt as to its success 
 in obtaining a foothold. It must then have con- 
 tended with the other occupants of the soil, and 
 the victory would have been decided by, first, the 
 inherent fitness of each of the contending plants 
 for the place ; and, second, by the capacity each 
 had for adapting itself to new conditions of life as 
 they might arise. (As a matter of fact, the seed of 
 the water-rice, along the Delaware, is pretty sure to 
 be successful.) This struggle for existence every 
 observer knows to be more than a Darwinian 
 dream. It has been active ever since earth be- 
 came a life-crowded surface; and in all places 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 219 
 
 where soil and climate furnished the rations upon 
 which the hves of the battling armies depended, 
 the struggle has been kept up. What the floating 
 flowers of the Delaware suggested, then,^is no 
 narrow problem limited to the waters on which we 
 sailed. It might be comforting to our pride if we 
 could think that mankind was exempted from the 
 limitations imposed by this relentless law. But it 
 is all-embracing, and man, as a link in the food- 
 needing chain of life, has written his own struggling 
 history, in conquest, over other living links in the 
 same chain. Our cleared acres and our tunnelled 
 mountains are eloquent witnesses of the contests 
 we have had, and of the victories we have won in 
 competition with each other and with the soil from 
 which our bread must come. But high over the 
 curse comes the blessing; the strengthened sur- 
 vivors are themselves better fitted to enjoy what 
 they have gained, and to transmit a full vigor to 
 those whom they beget. Natural selection is in- 
 flexible. Competition, vigor, and perpetuity are 
 joined in the eternal order. 
 
 Our larger plants have well-defined geographi- 
 cal areas over which each particular species may 
 range. Only a few are really cosmopolitan in 
 
220 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 character. But this year I encountered a small 
 lichen, growing upon the trees at the water's edge, 
 which, from some starting-point, has encircled the 
 globe. It is known to inhabit every continent, 
 and the islands of Polynesia as well. Still, it is a 
 wee thing, seldom growing an inch long, with 
 branching, gray or greenish-gray stem, and a small 
 golden-colored cup on the end of its branches. 
 Botanists have called it TJidoschistes clDysopthal- 
 imis. They have other names for it, but this one 
 is hard enough, so I will not allude to the others. 
 I cannot give it an English name, for I do not 
 know that it has one. This only shows how very 
 little it has been noticed by common folk ; yet it is 
 older probably than any race of men on earth, and 
 has reared a thriving colony in every quarter of 
 the globe. We speak of our Anglo-Saxon as the 
 greatest colonizing race, but it seems we must 
 rest that claim upon other ground than mere dis- 
 persion, and occupation of territory ; for this little 
 lichen has planted more colonies, reared more 
 and larger generations, and endured more than 
 our noble English stock. 
 
 The particular species I have named has a near 
 relative, more dwarfed still, — one which crouches 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 221 
 
 down closely to the surface of rock, or bark, to 
 which the winds have carried its spore (seed), and 
 on which the rain has nourished its growing tissue. 
 Almost anything, living or dead, serves as a start- 
 ing-point for its humble life. I have it from the 
 moss-banks of Unalaska, from the trees of Massa- 
 chusetts and New Brunswick, from the bones of 
 some unfortunate sailor, whose remains were found 
 bleaching on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and 
 from the wreck of the cedar boat which lay 
 by his side. I have gathered this same species 
 where it grew more than two hundred feet up in 
 air, on the stones in the spire of the Strasburg 
 Cathedral, in Southern Germany. Let me ask, 
 What is the purpose in creation of this lichen, so 
 widely diffused, thriving under circumstances so 
 different, resisting the intense glare of the sun on 
 the one hand, and the cold of the polar winter on 
 the other ? Evolutionist that I am, I can see in 
 development nothing which contravenes Divine in- 
 tention. Say, if you will, that I am sodden in 
 sentiment ; yet, I will still confess that I never see 
 these rough, slow-growing things without wishing 
 to sit down and question them on their own his- 
 tory and on the history of men that has been 
 
222 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 enacted around them. Lichens though they be, 
 humble, repulsive, rejected by men, for all that, 
 they have sensibilities so refined that amid the at- 
 mospheric impurities where factory chimneys pour 
 forth their black volumes they produce less fruit 
 than where sunshine, shower, and clouds take the 
 place of smoke. 
 
 These and the larger plant- wanderers we can 
 trace by the unassisted vision ; but there exists a 
 class so small as to defy our poor eyesight, — 
 germs, microscopic in size, that float in the air, 
 nestle on and in living or dead plants, penetrate 
 into our lungs, or find their way into our very 
 blood and marrow, there to breed disease which 
 may decimate a community. These are the true 
 cosmopolites of the vegetable kingdom. Strange 
 that the smallest, apparently most delicate, living 
 things should be most ubiquitous, and actually the 
 most hardy ! 
 
 It is a strange, dual life that lichens possess. 
 Cut them through, making a section so thin 
 as to be transparent, and when you have placed 
 this under a microscope you will see two dis- 
 tinct anatomical elements in their structure, — 
 first, a set of colorless, branching, hollow threads; 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 223 
 
 and second, some round green bodies, whose size 
 might be stated as about the one-thousandth of an 
 inch in diameter. There is concerning each of 
 these elements a long history : on the one part, a 
 tale of theft, and on the other, one of servitude.* 
 The colorless threads are almost identical with 
 those which we find making the mould on our 
 bread and cheese, or with those which in a more 
 compact form make up the ordinary mushroom. 
 These green bodies are just such as one may find 
 on cold, damp brick walls, or occasionally forming 
 a green scum on the surface of stagnant pools. It 
 is a strange marriage, this, between the colorless 
 threads and the green bodies, but certainly, so far 
 as the threads are concerned, it is a union for life. 
 As a rule, only such parts of plants as possess 
 green color are capable of making their own food 
 out of the inorganic elements around them. The 
 threads must be helpless but for the green bodies 
 to which they unite themselves, and from which 
 they draw their sustenance. 
 
 Hence it appears that these fungal-like threads 
 
 * In giving this version of lichen life, I am not ignorant of 
 Mink's researches, but do n^t adopt them, because I cannot set 
 ' aside so easily the observations of Schwendener and Stahl. 
 
224 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 cannot live without the green algae, for such the 
 round bodies are, though the latter are quite capa- 
 ble of an independent existence. When did these 
 algae begin their life on this globe ? It must have 
 been in early geological time, — so long ago that 
 when we attempt to reduce the intervening period 
 between then and now to years, the mind staggers 
 under the effort to grasp the vast interval. Prob- 
 ably we never shall know when they first came. 
 Their tender tissues are so poorly adapted to 
 preservation that they might have existed from all 
 time and never have left a trace among the fossils 
 to testify as to their being. If one is ever found 
 here or there among the pages of the rocky 
 record, it will be simply by rare good luck. That 
 they began life exclusively as water-plants there 
 can be no doubt. Now they are, in one form or an- 
 other, present everywhere in places where sunlight 
 and dampness exist. Often either the mature alga 
 or its spore is caught up by the wind and carried 
 away to a pond, or, it may be, to the limb of a 
 tree, or possibly to a damp wall. It is often of small 
 importance to the plant on which of these places 
 the wind drops it. The chances are that it will 
 grow, though to a certain extent the character of 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 223 
 
 its growth, its final shape, may depend on the loca- 
 tion which accident has given it. Freedom in a flow- 
 ing stream, or even space on a damp wall, may allow 
 it to grow into a chain of small cells, which at least 
 serves to illustrate the first steps toward a compli- 
 cated organism ; but let the fungal threads seize 
 upon that stray cell or spor^, cramp its energy, and 
 dwarf its growth, and throughout its whole career 
 it may remain in the simplest form, — that of a 
 single cell. Fed upon by a parasite, nothing can 
 become so great or noble as when master of its 
 own resources. Still, there is even for the impris- 
 oned alga one honor: it does the best possible 
 under the circumstances, and by yielding to an in- 
 exorable fate, produces the lichen which in its own 
 way serves many useful purposes. More than 
 once the lichens of Arctic regions have furnished 
 food to starving men. And habitually they are 
 the staple food of the Laplanders' reindeer in 
 winter. There is much more which one might 
 say even of so inconspicuous a group of plants as 
 the lichens, all of which, too, would be suggested 
 by the yellow-capped specimen we found on the 
 trees by the bay-side ; but this is not a treatise on 
 botany. 
 
226 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 The vessels seen on the Delaware are as char- 
 acteristic of their work as any vehicles seen on 
 land can be. You may recognize the oyster-boats 
 not more by the large black figures on their main- 
 sails, than by their shoal, sharp character. Then, 
 here and there you meet one of the canal schooners 
 with short bowsprit and with masts made to lower. 
 They have high, straight sides, but little shoulder, 
 and are about as hideous models as one can see 
 anywhere. Besides this, they are dangerous in 
 heavy weather. There still linger a few of* the 
 sloops built thirty years ago as freighters. They 
 have great beam, light draught, and immense 
 spars, with not a trace of the clipper-bow. The 
 type seems to be disappearing very fast, only 
 lingering in the form of sloops destined to carry 
 stones or other equally heavy material. The hay- 
 vessel, when you see her loaded, is a phenomenon. 
 The illustration shows one I found lying along- 
 side a " Jersey marsh." A person might well ask 
 whether those who sailed in her had any remem- 
 brance of what " centre of gravity" meant. Two 
 days after the picture was taken she passed down 
 Maurice River. Her deck-load of hay was then so 
 high that the boom and sail could just clear it^ — 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 227 
 
 that is, the hay was about twice as high as the pic- 
 ture shows. It was a threatening evening when 
 she went out into the bay. Fortunately she found 
 a quiet bit of water behind the Egg Island light, 
 and there awaited calmer weather. I have seen 
 these great masses out where the water was so 
 rough that I could hardly help inquiring whether 
 the law of gravitation was suspended in their 
 favor ; if it was not, then what force kept them 
 from capsizing? The disparity in size between 
 the hay and the vessel was so great as to call to 
 mind the Hindoo notion that the earth was carried 
 on the back of a tortoise. 
 
 These large three-masted schooners which are 
 now so common, but a few years back were almost 
 a novelty. Coasting appears to be their chief oc- 
 cupation, not because they are unable to under- 
 take longer voyages, — for they could circum- 
 navigate the globe, — but because the increased 
 coastwise trade of the nation has grown enough 
 to give occupation to that large and enterprising 
 fleet. At the same time, too, our railroads have 
 largely increased their own tonnage. Day after day, 
 as we lay in, or near Salem Creek, we could see 
 the Reading steam colliers passing up and down. 
 
228 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Probably there were on the average daily two each 
 way that passed in the day-time. Besides them, 
 however, there was a fleet of these large schoon- 
 ers engaged also in coal-carrying. Ten years ago a 
 schooner of over three hundred tons was regarded 
 as a large vessel ; now it is not unusual to find 
 one three times that size. In fact, it is said to 
 be hardly worth while for a vessel of less than five 
 hundred tons to attempt to compete in the carry- 
 ing trade to any important port. 
 
 So far as we could see, the American Line 
 (proper) of four ships were the only steamers 
 going to Europe that carried the American flag. 
 Not a day passed, however, that several large 
 foreign steamers, bound in, or out, did not go by. 
 They were mostly of that unpopular class known 
 to sailors as " ocean tramps," — that is, they be- 
 longed to no regular line, and were bound to no 
 regular port, but took whatever offered and to 
 whatever destination it was consigned, provid- 
 ing it paid. Of course, they were mainly Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 There is, in the abstract, something very fasci- 
 nating in the idea of " ocean tramping," — that is, 
 in going where one wills, as a citizen of the world. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 229 
 
 But looked at from a practical, patriotic, or selfish 
 stand-point, those same tramps are, or ought to 
 be, to every American the objects of utter abom- 
 ination. 
 
 Their large aggregate tonnage represents just 
 so much of our own products taken hence by- 
 others, when we should carry most of it in our 
 own vessels. They represent fearful odds against 
 ourselves in any contest we might have with a 
 foreign power. They indicate how many seamen 
 some other nation has, and how few we soon will 
 have, if we continue to extend all aid and comfort 
 to foreign vessels. They tell of our decline as a 
 naval power, and of all that is implied in possible 
 marine dominion. 
 
 Aside from the direct importance as a means 
 of living to a considerable portion of our popula- 
 tion, foreign trading in our own ships is still, and 
 always has been, justly regarded as furnishing a 
 school where, in time of peace, we should train 
 and encourage those who were to uphold the 
 honor of the flag on the high seas in time of war. 
 Even yet, in an emergency, just a few such char- 
 acters as Paul Jones might be sharp thorns in an 
 enemy's side that would require a good many 
 
230 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 vessels to be kept in the safe shelter of home 
 waters by a foe. 
 
 Finding fault is a sorry feature in any book. 
 Still, it may not be regarded as unpardonable to 
 ask how long before the assembled wisdom of the 
 nation, meeting in Washington, can devise some 
 means of encouraging home maritime enterprise ? 
 The lost industry and the lost revenue should be 
 restored to us. It is probably a safe political prin- 
 ciple to act upon, that every productive interest 
 or business should be made as large and as per- 
 manent as possible. Passing up and down the 
 Delaware, I see the great ship-yard of Roach, at 
 Chester. It alone has, since 1871, turned out 
 over one hundred and sixty-seven thousand tons 
 of carrying capacity in the vessels built there. 
 What would be the effect upon the nation, if this 
 and the other well-known yards along the same 
 stream were furnished constant employment in 
 building vessels for our own sailors to carry our 
 own produce to foreign marts ? 
 
 Without indorsing or denying the validity of 
 the arguments, I insert the following from the 
 New York Herald of December 28th, 1883. If 
 XhQ facts are as stated, they alone should awaken 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 231 
 
 the most serious thought, whatever be the remedy 
 required ; 
 
 In pursuance of the same subject the following is a passage 
 from the interview with Mr. Grace : 
 
 " What influence has the tariff on American shipping ?" 
 
 " It has done all in its power to destroy it. In 1855, 75 
 per cent, of our carrying trade was done in our own ships. 
 I have not a dollar invested in shipping, and cannot therefore be 
 accused of partiality in the matter. Well, when our civil war 
 broke out our merchants in self-defence sold out or put their ships 
 under foreign flags. When the war closed we found ourselves 
 under a law forbidding us to buy our ships back, or to have any 
 ships whatever except such as we built here ourselves. Our com- 
 merce then began to dwindle. In 1867 we had but 34 per cent, 
 of the carrying trade, in 1878 we had 22 per cent,, in 1880 we 
 had 17 per cent., in 1881 we had 16 per cent., and if we keep on 
 as we have begun we will soon have to hire foreign vessels to dis- 
 play an American ensign for us, in order to assure the world that 
 there was once an American flag upon the high seas." 
 
 " Do you think we can ever build ships here?" 
 
 " Yes, and iron ones, too, if you will only abolish the duties on- 
 all the materials that enter into a. ship. It may surprise you to 
 know that at this moment I have on hand a contract to have a 
 couple of American steamers built for South American rivers. 
 Now, we cannot build these steamers as cheaply as they can on 
 the Clyde. Everything we use is taxed so highly that it would be 
 absurd to hope to do so. The duty on hemp and tow, for instance, 
 is ^20 a ton ; the duties on chemicals and stuffs that go into paints 
 are from 20 to 25 per cent. ; iron is taxed from 60 to 75 per cent. ; 
 
232 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 steel, 45 per cent, now; machinery and tools pay a duty of 45 per 
 cent. ; copper pays nearly ^90 a ton duty. In short, if you run 
 over a ship from truck to keelson, you can hardly touch an article 
 that is not made dearer by our protective tariflf." * 
 
 * This abstract is reliable beyond question, and comes from the 
 American of January 26th, 1884. The tonnage list from 1874 
 down makes a sad showing. 
 
 Among the details furnished by the report from the Bureau of 
 Statistics upon the commerce and navigation of the United States 
 for 1883 are those relating to the ship-building of the country last 
 year. They show that there were constructed in all 126S vessels 
 of all sorts, with a tonnage of 265,429.91 tons. Of this number, 
 829 were sailing- and 439 steam-vessels; 881 were built on the Atr 
 lantic and Gulf coasts, 91 on the Pacific coast, 171 on the Northern 
 lakes, and 125 on the Western rivers. The comparison made by 
 this showing with that of other years is presented in the following 
 table. It gives the number and tonnage of vessels of all classes. 
 
 both sail and steam, built 
 
 Years. 
 1874 
 
 1875 
 1876 
 
 1877 
 1878 
 1879 
 1880 
 1881 
 1882 
 1883 
 
 n the United States in the years stated 
 
 Number. Tonnage. 
 
 
 
 . 2147 432,725 
 
 
 
 I30I 297,638 
 
 
 
 . III2 203,585 
 
 
 
 1029 176,591 
 
 
 
 1258 235,503 
 
 
 
 1 132 193,030 
 
 
 
 902 157,409 
 
 
 
 1 1 08 280,458 
 
 
 
 1371 282,269 
 
 
 
 1268 265,429 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 233 
 
 What we want first of all is a hearing of the 
 facts throughout the land ; their statement should 
 not be limited to Washington. The sooner they 
 are everywhere known, the sooner will a remedy 
 grow out of public pressure. " The power behind 
 the throne" is here, if anywhere, "mightier than 
 the throne." This much is clear, that when 
 there are so many foreign vessels engaged in 
 our trade, and so few of our own, something is 
 wrong which should bejnade right. 
 
 Aside from this legitimate discontent with the 
 existing condition, on the nation's account, Phila- 
 delphians might be pardoned for much dissatisfac- 
 tion on their own account. Granting the fact that 
 New York's easy access to the ocean has placed 
 her ahead of all competition as the chief port 
 of the nation, yet as a great manufacturing city, 
 whose growth and prosperity will be largely meas- 
 ured by the condition of the Delaware River, 
 Philadelphia can hardly be long contented with 
 
 The whole number of iron vessels built in the United States in 
 1883 was 35, of which only one was a sailing-vessel. These were 
 nearly all built at the yards along the Delaware, — twenty-three at 
 Philadelphia and Chester, eight at Wilmington, — the others coming, 
 one from Baltimore, one from Buffalo, and two from New York. 
 20* 
 
234 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 the wretched channels in the stream between her- 
 self and the ocean. A better idea of Philadel- 
 phia's claims in this respect may be had on re- 
 membering that the last (tenth) census places her 
 invested manufacturing capital at ;^i 87, 148,857, 
 yielding a product to the value of ;^324,342,955. 
 The only classes who can in any way be content 
 with such narrow water-ways are pilots and tug- 
 boat owners, and we are willing to credit them with 
 an honest desire to see wider and deeper channels. 
 Besides the other evident signs of suffering which 
 Philadelphia's commerce shows, comes (at latest 
 hour) the rumor that several of her tug-boats are 
 to be taken (for want of remunerative employ- 
 ment in the Delaware) to New York. It should 
 also be said (in an undertone) that so long as our 
 government is willing to leave New York Harbor 
 in its present defenceless condition, so open to 
 foes, it should be the more unwilling to leave the 
 next important sea-port so difficult of access by 
 friends. 
 
 There was, but a few years ago, a righteous in- 
 dignation throughout the country over the vast 
 sum squandered in improving inland, unnavigable 
 streams. The fault lay, not in the sum appro- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 235 
 
 priated, so much, as in the use to be made of it. 
 There are scores of places in the Delaware where 
 it would, in the long run, be a true economy to 
 expend more than the most liberal Congress has 
 ever granted for it. 
 
 The wrecks inside, or in sight of, the Delaware 
 Breakwater are eloquent witnesses to the insuffi- 
 ciency of what has been done there. The next 
 generation will wonder that it was reserved for 
 it to afford at that point something better than 
 a snare for the storm-stayed mariner. Shoals and 
 wrecks have often gone too long unbuoyed. In 
 Maurice River Cove, for a long time, a wreck, 
 which was covered at high-water and partly un- 
 covered at low-water, was left without anything 
 to mark the spot. Yet, during all that time, it 
 was a danger to the small "strange craft" that 
 might be in that neighborhood. That no lives 
 or vessels were lost (if there were none) on that 
 wreck was less by the grace of the government 
 than by the grace of God. It is now buoyed. 
 
 Then, again, take the channel for small craft, 
 which exists close by Egg Island light, into 
 Maurice River Cove ; there is nothing to mark 
 that. To assume, which is true, that but few 
 
236 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 Strangers use the channel, hardly diminishes the 
 responsibility of the government, for more would 
 use it, if it were marked, and in heavy weather it 
 is often more than a convenient short-cut into 
 Maurice River harbor. Our charts are drawn up 
 too largely without regard to the wants of small 
 craft. The entrances to unimportant harbors 
 should be laid down more clearly and more fre- 
 quently than they are. It is true that, from 
 choice, such places are seldom visited by 
 strangers; yet it is also just as true that they 
 would be much more frequently utilized in times 
 of danger if the stranger were sure how much 
 water the channel of entrance afforded. Those 
 blocked by shifting bars could easily be indicated. 
 I am radical enough to wish that the most elo- 
 quent opposer of liberal appropriations in behalf 
 of life-saving stations, and of harbor opening and 
 buoying, might find himself, in some one of the 
 many wild December nights, out with the crew of 
 a small trading-vessel off the shore between the 
 mouths of the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays ; 
 I should like, then and there, to have his candid 
 opinion as to whether Machipongo, Wacha- 
 preague, Matomkin, Gargathy, and Chincoteague 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 237 
 
 Inlets should not be watched, lighted, and buoyed 
 in the best and most efficient manner known to 
 modern science. Furthermore, after his conver- 
 sion, I should like, if he were an honest man, to 
 hear him make his plea in Washington in behalf 
 of such and many other inlets along the coast 
 into which small craft might " creep" and be safe. 
 The statement that the channels leading to these 
 inlets shift with every storm, instead of relieving 
 our authorities of the responsibility of establishing 
 an efficient watch, only adds weight to it. 
 
 It may be a mere visionary notion, but I am 
 convinced that among the many, now unthought-of, 
 applications which the next generation will make 
 of our newly-acquired knowledge of electricity 
 will be to have buoys lighted by electric lights, 
 which will mark the way into every such harbor 
 on the coast, making their entrance thus as easy 
 by night as by day. If so, in a better sense than 
 we have yet understood the phrase, " the sea 
 will give up its dead." 
 
238 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHO SHOULD GO CRUISING. 
 
 There are many very hopeful signs now in our 
 social life. It is the custom to look at the gloomy 
 rather than the bright side of things ; but, with 
 all this, our pessimist friends must admit that as a 
 nation we are a larger, more influential, and prob- 
 ably a better, people, than one hundred years ago. 
 As to individuals, the average longevity has in- 
 creased notably during the same period. These 
 are very hopeful indications. 
 
 Somehow, along with these changes, we can find 
 other notable ones in social and in moral ideas. In 
 fact, an idea must have something more than the 
 savor of antiquity to make it venerable now. If 
 it has outlived its usefulness, we cease to venerate 
 it. Social ideas and political creeds have come 
 to be looked at very much from the same stand- 
 point, — as good things to threaten the existence of, 
 as soon as they get strong enough to domineer. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 239 
 
 I hold it to be an element of Christian faith that 
 a man should care for his physical well-being, 
 and can never think of those old ideas which 
 led men to wrong the body, to benefit the soul, ex- 
 cept as being monstrous. Henry Ward Beecher 
 is said to have attributed his success in hfe to the 
 fact that he was a good animal. If he ever made 
 the remark, it was among the very wisest of his 
 utterances. Emerson had hit upon the same ex- 
 pression. Herbert Spencer, in the most absolute 
 cold-blood, engendered by his philosophy, puts 
 the idea in still more distinct and telling shape : 
 " We hear a great deal about the ' vile body ;' and 
 many are encouraged by the phrase to transgress 
 the laws of health. But Nature quietly suppresses 
 those who treat thus disrespectfully one of her 
 highest products, and leaves the world to be 
 peopled by the descendants of those who are not 
 so foolish." Surely the above opinions come from 
 a most unorthodox trio, so far as matters of faith 
 could have been judged by the creeds of twenty 
 years back. But just now these men are most re- 
 spectable because they were among the pioneers 
 in the special ruts in which our higher culture and 
 civilization are running. During June, July, and 
 
240 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 August I have been upon the water, loitering here 
 and there, as the wind and weather made necessary, 
 or as my whims suggested. It was not simply 
 waste time, but time devoted to search for physical 
 vigor. And the result justified my course. In my 
 boyhood, however, the most familiar moral maxim 
 concerned the work which an unpopular individual, 
 once an angel, found for idle hands to do. 
 
 The cooler nights, as well as the matured corn- 
 blades, which were yellow and dry, attested that 
 the vacation was over, and that the work of a new 
 college year must begin. All that remains is to 
 take my boat to her winter-quarters. But before 
 doing this, let us inquire, — 
 
 Who should go Cruising? There is a con- 
 stantly-increasing number of young and middle- 
 aged men who, under the exactions of daily duty, 
 find themselves each spring physically below par. 
 Many of them cannot afford the cost of a pro- 
 longed trip by the ordinary means of travel, even 
 if it be undertaken in the interest of health. In- 
 deed, it is by no means certain that such a vaca- 
 tion would yield the largest return, for the simple 
 reason that there is nothing for the individual to 
 do, save to pay his bills and be taken care of Thus 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 241 
 
 the stimulus of personal activity and of responsi- 
 bility is missed, and with it, also, that complete 
 change in mental occupation which a cruise is sure 
 to afford, if it be such as I have tried to describe. 
 
 The essential substratum upon which health 
 must rest is muscular exertion. Muscular fibre 
 comes only when earned. However valuable as 
 aids, I doubt whether all the tonics of the shops, 
 alone, ever created an ounce of muscle. Cruising 
 affords not only the incentive to, but the opportu- 
 nity for, healthful exercise. 
 
 The trips I have described were made in a small 
 vessel (six tons). A party of, say, four congenial 
 companions could make such, or more distant ones, 
 in a larger boat, spending a month in doing so, 
 and, after paying for the vessel, hiring a captain 
 and a cook, purchasing the provisions, still find 
 that the expense for each man did not exceed 
 fifty dollars for the whole trip. They could do 
 this, I have said, if they were congenial com- 
 panions. If they were not, the first week would 
 probably end the cruise. Is there any other way 
 in which so much health and pleasure could be 
 had for so small a sum ? 
 
 Probably this never would have been written 
 
242 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 but from the fact that no one here has yet tried 
 to write up a cruise as the author of " Rob Roy 
 on the Jordan" has done for England. That it 
 was needed in that water-loving land, and that 
 it was acceptable, is shown from the fact that 
 the book speedily passed through several edi- 
 tions. No such success is anticipated for this 
 effort. It will have accomplished its work if it 
 stimulates some one else to do better. 
 
 Who should not go Cruising? First, those 
 who expect nothing but comfort, and who can- 
 not endure plain living, or those to whom monoto- 
 nous drifting one day, with possibly a tempest- 
 tossing the next, is a greater annoyance than a 
 week of pleasant sailing and free, open-air life can 
 compensate for. Second, those whose education 
 has been so neglected that they have never been 
 taught to enjoy exposure for the manhood which 
 it brings. This feeling is to some a natural gift, 
 or, if you prefer, an unconquerable longing; to 
 others it must be an acquisition. Physicians know 
 that a very great trouble they have in dealing with 
 ailing ones is, that to order them to a camp or to 
 a cruise, would be to make life so intolerable that 
 no good could come of it. Hence, then, in the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 243 
 
 interest of health, it is part of a liberal education 
 to love the winds and the waves, as well as the 
 mountain-glens. The most profound thinker of 
 this age says, when in one of his lighter moods, 
 " Exclusive devotion to work has the result that 
 amusements cease to please ; and, when relaxation 
 becomes imperative, life becomes dreary from lack 
 of its sole interest, — the interest in business. Life 
 is not for learning, nor is life for working, but 
 learning and working are for life." An early and 
 a retained fondness for yachting and for angling 
 has prolonged, no one knows how many years, 
 Herbert Spencer's active, useful career. 
 
 There is a third class who should not go cruising. 
 I mean such as enjoy being weak, — those creatures 
 to whom bronzed skins and excessive vitality are 
 an abomination. To such we would say. Stay at 
 home, by all means ! In the whole world out of 
 doors there is no place for you. 
 
 " Still breathe we this high air with rapture, still 
 See earth dilated to a palace large, 
 Roofed with blue bravery of the cloud-sailed sky." 
 
 A fourth class should be named as unfit for 
 cruising, — those who are confirmed invalids, who 
 
244 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 have passed the point at which they can make 
 strength faster than such a vacation, or such an 
 occupation, would use it. To advise these to leave 
 comfortable homes is a moral wrong which admits 
 of no justification. 
 
 Within a few years " the canoe" has awakened 
 a profound interest in the United States. The 
 constantly-increasing number of those who yield 
 each summer to the fascination of the paddle 
 shows that there must be, as we know there is, 
 infinite pleasure in skimming our inland waters. 
 Nothing that has been written in advocacy of 
 yachting is to be construed as against " canoeing." 
 They belong together as forms of the same recre- 
 ation, each having its sphere, and each yielding a 
 full return for the time and money expended, 
 providing discretion rules the individual. 
 
 Caution : Cruising in fresh water ^ remember your 
 quinine-bottle. In the South, whether on fresh or 
 salt water y keep in mind the same injunction. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 245 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TO WINTER-QUARTERS IN THE CHOPTANK. 
 
 Nothing more clearly indicates the unsettled 
 character of the human mind than that we tire of 
 our pleasures. Nothing shows more strongly the 
 discipline of life than the patience with which well- 
 ordered minds toil on, until the hour comes when 
 they may fairly enjoy the freedom of doing'as they 
 will. I had waited and worked for my vacation. 
 I enjoyed the pleasure it brought until, sated, I 
 longed again for work. 
 
 Salt air and water, physical labor and mental 
 rest, had done much towards renewing my youth, 
 and promised to do more. Even a yachtsman may 
 realize that life has duties more important than 
 cruising. Autumn was approaching, as the rus- 
 set blades of corn plainly indicated. This meant 
 work. 
 
 On August 27th, when the tide began to ebb, 
 21* 
 
246 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 we heaved our anchor up and hoisted sail. The 
 wind was as fair and as strong as we could wish. 
 In an hour the sister-cities of Camden and Phila- 
 delphia were receding from view. There appears 
 to be a spell associated with the river from Cam- 
 den to Chester, so far as my sailing is concerned. 
 Save once, I do not remember ever to have had a 
 fair wind for the whole distance ; on all previous 
 occasions, it either died away entirely, or changed 
 its direction. On the trip I now write of, it be- 
 came weaker, then baffling, coming first from one 
 quarter, and then from another. Four hours were 
 consumed in reaching Chester. So we drifted 
 with the tide until what was ebb, and in our favor, 
 changed to flood, and opposed us. With this 
 change there came just enough of wind, and from 
 such a direction, as to keep hope alive, by setting 
 us forward very slowly. It was ten o'clock at 
 night before we were fairly inside of the canal at 
 Delaware City. 
 
 Tired and hungry and sleepy, after a very has- 
 tily-prepared supper, the crew of the " Martha" laid 
 down to await daylight. Nothing of ordinary 
 gravity could have awakened us. In fact, it was 
 not until next day, when we saw how roughly the 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 247 
 
 little boat had been used, that we realized the 
 force with which a large schooner ran into the 
 yacht, while we slept. 
 
 Accepting it as inevitable, I was glad to have 
 my boat in the canal again, and on her way to the 
 Chesapeake waters. This time we fared rather 
 better than when we came through en route for 
 the Delaware Bay ; though, where so much was 
 changed, I was rather surprised to find the bad 
 condition the canal was in at one point. Still, to 
 do them the fullest measure of justice now, I am 
 bound to say the employes were at work dredg- 
 ing near where my boat found less water and 
 more rock than safe navigation required. There 
 is one set of men employed on the canal of whom 
 I can speak, without any reserve, as being kind 
 and disposed to render any service they could: 
 I mean those on the tug-boats. Such, at least, is 
 the statement I must make so far as my three 
 trips entitle me to have an opinion. 
 
 I think in early autumn a trip through the canal 
 is far from uninteresting. Between locks — that is, 
 when not too busy — there was much to interest an 
 observer. The air of comfort and of prosperity 
 about the farm-houses was very marked. The 
 
248 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 dykes and embankments on the eastern end sug- 
 gested Holland, save that the Dutch had not 
 covered it with red-roofed houses and lazy, long- 
 armed windmills. The well-tilled corn-fields at- 
 tested a vigorous, pushing community, just as 
 strongly as the large peach-orchards suggested 
 late frosts and high prices for their fruit each re- 
 turning season. The canal itself was well filled 
 with a thrifty growth of eel-grass. I have already 
 alluded to its somewhat strange way of having 
 the female flowers fertilized by the floating male 
 flowers. This plant was in full bloom at the time 
 of my previous trip. Its graceful, waving leaves 
 are an interesting study as you see them in a 
 moderately swift current. 
 
 Out of the water, as well as in it, were sources 
 of enjoyment. After passing Saint George's the 
 country became more hilly. Two centuries of 
 cultivation had only changed the surface, re- 
 moving the trees and leaves, but substituting 
 smaller growths and a dense sward. Save here 
 and there, two feet below the surface, everything 
 was exactly as left by natural forces. The cuts 
 made by the canal revealed great deposits of 
 gravel, with occasional large, water-worn stones. 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS.' 249 
 
 The very first glance told plainly enough that 
 neither of these was made there, but that both 
 had come as immigrants from remote parts. So far 
 as their presence is concerned, there is no accepted 
 hypothesis which is not wonderful enough. The 
 first chapters of their wandering were written far 
 back in the past, and they were separated from 
 their birth-place with labor-throes, under which 
 the whole region must have groaned. This may 
 have been long before man appeared on earth. 
 Whether they were carried to the spot where we 
 now find them by single icebergs, floating over 
 what is now dry land, or whether they were car- 
 ried by the great glacial mass, which it is sup- 
 posed once overspread the Northern United States, 
 is a question geologists must determine. Prob- 
 ably if one could remove the water from the Banks 
 of Newfoundland, we should find just such rocks 
 and gravel. These are supposed to have been car- 
 ried there by bergs from the Arctic Ocean, and 
 thawed loose when the ice came into the water 
 warmed by the Gulf Stream. Humboldt has said 
 " the forces of nature are practically illimitable." 
 Nothing illustrates this more strikingly than an 
 attempt to conceive of the power implied by 
 
250 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 glacial movement, when, over hill and down dale, 
 the vast ice-fields, pressed upon from the north 
 swept resistlessly and directly forward without 
 regard to the trend of the hills which they ground 
 under their weight. At all events, be the explana- 
 tioil of the present position of the rocks and gravel 
 on the line of the canal what it may, one thing is 
 sure : they suggest travel, cold, and long-ago. 
 
 There has been no frost since the peach-trees 
 blossomed in early spring, yet we found the leaves 
 were changing color in advance of the coming 
 cold. They were a study, each having its own 
 characteristic hue, and they have left to this hour 
 the impressions then produced, photographed in 
 my mind. The leaves have fallen, and their 
 tender tissues are in decay, but the mental image 
 is as fresh as ever. Thoughts often outlive the 
 causes which produced them. Hence one might 
 well suppose that, such "things of beauty" are 
 naturally enough intended to be " a joy forever," 
 and that the pleasures of the mind are equal in 
 value to, and as legitimate as, those which spring 
 from the product of the mint. What besides them 
 do we take with us at last ? 
 
 The Liquidambar, or sweet-gum, foliage, was 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 251 
 
 red-brown, the sassafras was orange-red, and the 
 tupelo was scarlet. Other shades, as those of the 
 red oak and scarlet maple, and Ampelopsis, were 
 appearing and blending with the more pronounced 
 ones already named, to complete a perfect picture. 
 Botanists do partly divest this of interest, when 
 they remind us these bright colors are caused 
 by simply a worthless residuum in the leaf, after 
 all the important living colors have been removed. 
 This may suggest that the summer's work is 
 past, but then fancy only stretches forward to 
 another spring, when warmth and shower will 
 deck the same trees again, after the rest which 
 autumn colors promise. I do not care to reduce 
 life to mere chemical and vital force. It robs 
 being of love, of poetry, of personal protection, 
 and substitutes simply the chilling reign of objec- 
 tive law. After all, in whatsoever new channel 
 of evolution we start, or however far we drive 
 back the bars which shut out the sunlight of ulti- 
 mate truth, we do inevitably come at last to the 
 unknowable and the infinite. If men are content 
 with the comfort they derive from considering these 
 in terms of physical force, I can find no fault with 
 them, though I can claim that my dim notion of 
 
252 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 that power as a spirit is no less real than theirs, 
 which regards it as force. 
 
 The flowering fern {Osimtnda regalis), or, as it is 
 better called, royal fern, mingled its delicate, peer- 
 less foliage with that of the wild grape as they 
 grew along the narrow line where land and water 
 met. The vegetation on the canal banks taught 
 me some lessons of interest concerning the dis- 
 tribution of plants. Quei'ctis falcata, or Spanish 
 oak, was no longer rare, though in Chester County 
 (in Pennsylvania), but a few miles to the north, it 
 is not common. The Liquidambar told the same 
 tale. Larger generalizations still, come to light, 
 when we read the history of the Scotch broom 
 [Cytisus). This plant is a native of the sandy 
 woods of Western Europe. How came it here ? 
 Clearly, it was introduced by human agency along 
 the lines of human traffic. It is a low, dark-green 
 shrub, with a profusion of angular, slender, wiry 
 branches, which compensate for lack of leaves. 
 Its chief glory is the mass of large, bright-yellow 
 flowers, which spring out from slender foot-stalks. 
 On the southern bank of the canal it grew in all 
 its rugged luxuriance. At Yorktown, too, it was 
 about all that remained of British origin after 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 253 
 
 Cornwallis left. It is, however, too firmly fixed on 
 the dry, gravel hill-sides there, ever to abandon the 
 position. Again I saw it flourishing on the gravel 
 banks where the railroad cuts had been made 
 above Chester, in Pennsylvania. In all these 
 places it has come to remain, and to win, by its 
 superior hardiness, a victory over our native plants. 
 It is one of the naturally-selected which succeed 
 in the struggle for existence. Just so, too, the 
 wild carrot and the ox-eye daisy have done. But 
 there is some principle of justice in the retribu- 
 tion our American weeds, such as the common 
 fleabane {Erigeron), are wreaking in European 
 soil. 
 
 There is, however, a broader meaning than ap- 
 pears on the surface in these plant colonies, which 
 become so strong in new soil as to crowd out 
 the original flora. Its resemblance to human mi- 
 gration and conquest is too plain to escape notice. 
 Races of men and plants both are invigorated by 
 change of home. Rotation of crops and rotation 
 of races are associated in thoughtful minds. 
 
 One might be expected to moralize when out 
 on the Chesapeake, for there is inspiration in the 
 region ; but think of ethics, or equity, or anything 
 
254 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 else good or grand, rising out of the muddy waters 
 of a canal ! It is absurd. 
 
 No excuse is needed for introducing the ba- 
 rometer again, as those who go down in small 
 ships cannot be too well prepared, or too fully 
 warned. When we left Philadelphia on Monday 
 morning it stood in the cabin of the " Martha" at 
 30.35 inches. On Tuesday morning, as we left the 
 canal at Chesapeake City, it registered 30.25. The 
 wind, which for a few hours had blown from the 
 east, became again unsettled, — more so, even, than 
 on the previous day. We did succeed in getting 
 down Back Creek into Elk River, but with much 
 difficulty. What was surprising enough was that 
 in the open water, as we approached the bay, the 
 wind was more baffling than in the river. Most 
 of the time it came from the northeast. In an in- 
 stant our sails would be taken " aback" by a west- 
 erly wind. For two hours we sailed, first, " on the 
 wind," then free ; then we had to trim our sails to 
 meet the wind as it " bounced out upon us" from 
 some new quarter. At one p.m. we were off Sassa- 
 fras River. The barometer was still lower than 
 in the morning. It now was beyond doubt that a 
 storm was brewing. Still Pond and Worton Creek 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 255 
 
 were soon passed, both tempting harbors; but 
 we were sailing against time, and desirous of 
 making as speedy a trip as possible. 
 
 The wind was now strong, steady, and from the 
 east, or possibly east-northeast. Hence, I made 
 up my mind to follow the eastern shore down, and 
 to abandon the idea of going into Magothy harbor 
 for the night. So long as we had an off-shore 
 wind, it was of small moment how hard it blew. 
 '^y the time we reached (folchester Beach two ^ 
 large schooners that had been chasing us all day 
 passed us, on their way south._. They were carry- 
 ing sail enough to crowd their scuppers under. 
 My own little boat was fairly staggering from the 
 canvas we made her carry. She never showed to 
 better advantage. Every boat, like every man, 
 has an individuality. I had become acquainted 
 with mine, and whatever was in her I was by 
 this time able to get out. Night caught us as we 
 crossed the mouth of Chester River, and the wind 
 then had moved more towards the south, so that 
 we were obliged to take in some of the sheet. 
 This, with the rough water in the mouth of the 
 river, delayed us greatly. But we held our course 
 down the eastern shore. By nine p.m. Kent Island 
 
256 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 light became visible, and then we had a safe guide. 
 It furnished a striking illustration of the rotundity 
 of the earth : when we stood up, it was plainly- 
 visible; when we sat down, the light could not be 
 seen. Clearly, then, the height of a man made the 
 difference by removing the intervening obstacle. 
 Two hours later Sharp's Island light furnished 
 another illustration of the same thing. 
 
 From Kent Island light we had a tedious beat 
 in, over the bar and " sunken island," to a com- 
 fortable harbor near Poplar Island. We had to 
 feel our way through the intense darkness, and it 
 was well towards midnight before we came to 
 anchor. In daytime this harbor is easily reached, 
 and I am surprised that so few of our yachtsmen 
 in light-draught boats frequent it. I have always 
 found it a safe harbor in any weather. 
 
 Our run for the day, after leaving the canal, was 
 about seventy miles. 
 
 By five A.M. we were up and off. The fog was 
 as dense as it well could be. Fortunately, we had 
 our bearings, and ran through the narrow channel 
 between the mainland and the island without 
 trouble. The tide at first was against us, but it 
 turned as we entered the Choptank. It was, how- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 
 
 257 
 
 ever, a clear " beat" from the mouth of the river 
 up to Cambridge, which we reached about one 
 P.M. The barometer then stood at 30.15. 
 
 Hardly were our sails down and everything 
 made snug before the threatened storm burst. It 
 reached us mainly as rain; elsewhere it came as 
 wind. 
 
 Here, then, is the lesson so well known to me- 
 teorologists, but which I wish more and more to 
 impress on my amateur friends, that whether above 
 or below the mean, at the sea-shore, when it starts 
 to go down rapidly^ a ^'falling barometer'^ means 
 atmospheric disturbance ^ either wind or rain. 
 
 This storm was general. And I here insert two 
 newspaper notices to show it. The first is taken 
 from the Philadelphia Public Ledger of September 
 
 1st: 
 
 THE LATEST NEWS. 
 
 There was a violent storm on the Great Banks of Newfound- 
 land, on Sunday last, which drove hundreds of dories away 
 from their trawls. It is estimated that 100 dories and 80 men 
 were lost. Scores of the dories were capsized, and the ocean 
 was strewn with wreckage. 
 
 The second extract is from the Philadelphia 
 Evening Bulletin of August 30th : 
 
 T 22* 
 
258 
 
 VACATION CRUISING IN 
 FIERCE WINDS. 
 
 THE EXPERIENCES OF A STEAMER IN A CYCLONE. 
 
 The New York Tribune of this morning says : " The steamer 
 * Britannia,' Captain Jauffret, from Marseilles, with a cargo of fruit 
 to Seager Brothers, arrived at Prentice's stores, Brooklyn, yester- 
 day, with her sails and sail-covering carried away and her boats 
 badly damaged, in conseqvience of a cyclone which struck the 
 vessel on August 25th, in latitude 38 deg. 15 min., longitude 63 
 deg. 10 min. Captain Jauffi-et said of his experience, — 
 
 " ' I never before encountered such a storm. At 8 P.M. on 
 August 24th. the atmosphere was calm, though heavy, and the ba- 
 rometer stood at 30.2. The wind was southwest, but towards 
 morning it shifted to south. I ordered all sails set, as I did not 
 anticipate danger. At 6 A.M. the next day the sky began to 
 darken, and the barometer at 7 A.M. had fallen to 29.4. Half an 
 hour later a terrific gale suddenly struck us with the force of a 
 vast volume of steam suddenly let loose, carr}ang the sails away 
 and badly damaging the boats. The sky became black, and the 
 heavens and the water seemed to mingle together. We could not 
 see ten feet. We were thrown into a pitchy night in almost a 
 moment of time. The men lashed themselves to the ship, and the 
 35 passengers awaited the result in comparative calm. Indeed, 
 officers and passengers both acted with wdnderful coolness. The 
 vessel was placed under full steam, but this had no effect. She 
 was completely at the mercy of the elements. The wind seemed 
 to come from every direction at will, the water swirled over us, 
 and the steamer was carried around with them. There was a 
 terrific rumbling at the same time, which did not resemble any- 
 thing I had heard before. In the mean time the rain fell in lor- 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 259 
 
 rents. Indeed, it seemed as if all the powers of earth and air 
 had 'combined to produce the most disastrous effect. The light- 
 ning flashed vividly and appeared to leap from the waters to the 
 clouds in a most erratic manner. The cyclone passed away as 
 suddenly as it had come, the sky began to brighten, and the heavy 
 sea fell away. In the height of the storm one of the marble slabs 
 of the sideboard in the saloon was detached, and this struck 
 Joseph Modul, the chief steward, inflicting injuries from which 
 he died on the next day. He was buried at sea. The boatswain 
 had two of his ribs broken, but is about now. The rest of the 
 voyage was uneventful.' 
 
 " The * Britannia' is of 1838 net tons burden, and she has a double 
 bottom and double sides. For this reason Seager Brothers account 
 for her standing the storm so well. She had 6000 boxes of fruit 
 as cargo, and was only in ballast trim." 
 
 August 29th will long be remembered at At- 
 lantic City as the date of a fearfully destructive 
 tidal-wave. 
 
 During our fastest sailing at night, on our way 
 down, we would occasionally run over a jelly- 
 fish, which became, under the irritation, a beau- 
 tiful ball of phosphorescent light. It is well 
 known that this light, which is so striking, de- 
 pends upon a variety of animals. Among the 
 most perfect producers of it are the so-called 
 Noctilucse, — microscopic animals which, when the 
 
26o VACATION CRUISING IN 
 
 water is agitated by an oar, will leave behind the 
 blade a blue or silver streak, or reveal themselves 
 in bright drops of the same color, as they fall 
 from the lifted oar. In the waters about Cape 
 Cod I have often seen this condition of the water 
 more marked than I ever observed it in Chesa- 
 peake Bay. As a rule, the phosphorescence of 
 the water is greater in warm than in cold lati- 
 tudes, which fact Darwin attributes to the greater 
 abundance of life in the tropical than in the polar 
 seas. In some instances, however, he thought it 
 came from particles of decaying organic matter, 
 and that the ocean was thus purifying its waters. 
 The words of Humboldt combine truth with 
 poetry: '**... So also in the torrid zones, 
 between the tropics, the ocean simultaneously 
 develops light over a space of many thousand 
 square miles. Here the magical effect of light 
 is due to the forces of organic nature. Foaming 
 with light, the eddying waves flash in phospho- 
 rescent sparks over the wide expanse of waters 
 where every scintillation is the vital manifestation 
 of an invisible animal world." 
 
 This ended the cruising of the " Martha" for 
 
CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS. 26 1 
 
 the season. The stanch little sloop, now laid 
 up for the winter in Cambridge harbor, awaits 
 new duties in the coming season, — 1884. 
 
 Who that reads Tarn o' Shanter can fail to 
 see an overflowing genius in every line? Burns 
 must have been placed among the poets, though 
 he had written nothing save, — 
 
 " But pleasures are like poppies spread, 
 You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed ; 
 Or like the snow falls in the river, 
 A moment white, then melts forever ; 
 Or like the borealis race. 
 That flit ere you can point their place ; 
 Or like the rainbow's lovely form 
 Evanishing amid the storm." 
 
 Though every idea there is a genuine reflec- 
 tion from nature which inspired the poet, still, 
 whei^ I look back over my three months of quiet 
 cruising, those glowing lines do not express the 
 facts to me. True, the pleasures departed with 
 the days, but the memory of them remains as 
 part of me ; and is as truly a mental treasure to 
 me, as if derived from the pages of any author. 
 
262 VACATION CRUISING. 
 
 Far more real and full is the stately verse of 
 Tennyson, — 
 
 " But in my spirit will I dwell, 
 And dream my dream, and hold it true ; 
 For tho' my lips may breath * Adieu !' 
 I cannot think the thing * Farewell !" 
 
 THE END.