The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-03-04

BROOKLYN LETTER.

Yacht-HoW the AicyOne CluD
Holds a Regatta-FOx Hunting on
Long Isiand-POlitical Gossip.
Special Correspondence of the Star.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, March l, 1880.
The word "Club" in fashionable So
ciety once had signifcation which,
though not altogether lost, has become
swallowed up in multiplicity OF other
meanings. While it is still the bug
bear of young wives and the captivating
mystery of unsophisticated maidens,
whose most vivid impressions on that
score are of parlor-windows filled with
gay young fellows, twisting their NOUS
taches and sitting in elegant idleness, as
though all the owing, SO far as they were
concerned mot the tailors), were on the
aide of the world, the Club has come to
mean more than gathering place for
gentlemen of leisure to play whist and
eat expensive suppers. 1t has. in word,
obtained sporting import, and though
the word sporting may mean great
many things, from chicken main to a
tro,ting match, use it in the sense of
out of door exercise.
And, in this sense, think the ladies
Are rather favorably inclined to the Club
than otherwise, for manly sports, some
how or other, either directly or indirect
Iy, covet the approving smiles, if not in
all instances the presence of the fair sex,
ss witness even so barbarous a phase as
existed in the tournaments of Knight
rrrantry.
The American gentleman has always
been lover of manly sports, but it is
snly comparatively recently that he has
turned those tendencies into systema-
tized channels. In this respect he is fol
lowing in the footsteps of his illustrious
English cousins; though he bids fair in
this, as in all other directions, to surpass
all competitors. Notifications OF this
assertion may be had in yachting, row.
ing, polo, hunting and rihe-shooting- =
the five directions in which the American
gentleman expends his surplus energies.
Brooklyn, especially, has heartily en-
tered into the new movement, and
though polo playing is left to such
lively young New Workers as Bennett
to risk their necks and their ponies
necks at, all the other sports named have
been developed here to their utmost.
And first the boating, which is not an
unreasonable topic, seeing that even so
early as this, yacht bottoms are being
scraped and painted, and racing shells
varnished and oiled No city in the
world surpasses this for aquatic privi-
hges. On one side is the broad East
River, which widens to the south into
the magnificent New York Bay, which,
in turn, opens into a still grander ex-
panse of water, in the ocean itself For
nine or ten miles the city follows the
course of the river and bay, and in time,
with growth, must creep across the half
dozen miles that for the present separate
Its southern limits from the southern
shore of Long Island, laved by the
waters of the ocean and such estuaries
as Canarsie Bay.
With such facilities it would indeed
be remarkable if Brooklyn failed to es-
tablish numerous boat clubs, and hence
one is not surprised at finding here three
yacht clubs Of commanding rank, the
Brooklyn, the Atlantic and the Seawan-
haka. The first two have their anchor
AGE in Gowanus Bay, subdivision of
New York Bay, on the Brooklyn shore,
northeast of Staten Island. The Sea
wanhaka Club have their berth near
Eewtown Creek, on the extreme north
ern boundary of the city. Attached to
these clubs are to be found some of the
most costly and elegant pleasure crafts
in America, from the little sloop with a
eock-pi Just large enough to hold three
or four persons, to the schooner manned
with regular crew and containing &C.
commodations for large pleasure party,
or room and appliances to meet the re-
auirements of an extended cruise.
But in pleasure sailing as we'll as in
commerce | think the tendency is for
steam to supersede the wind as means
of locomotion, and though as yet steam
yachts are comparatively few, l believe
the day is not far distant when major
fly of our yachts will be propelled by
steam. only such owners as demand the
excitement of tending the sheets and
manning the tiller retaining the sail.
One of the largest steam yachts in the
bay is Mr.. Andrew R. Culver's, and last
summer, between 8 and II p. m, it car
ried ten of us, not reckoning the engineer
and fireman, over sixty miles, or COM
pletely around Staten Island, and
f4r enough 'out on the ocean to
obtain an excellent view. of a pyro.
technic display at Coney Island. That
steam yachts are coming into fashion is
shown by james Gordon Bennett having
one building for him at a cost of $45, 900
Charles J. Osborn and George A. Os
good one each at $4,000 and VIM. Bel
den one at $4,000. These, by the way
are all New York gentlemen, but tlieil
crafts will be sailed in the Harbor, so
though none Of the Brooklyn Clubs viii
be able to claim them, indeed as at pres