Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-06-01
Greenback State Convention.
Wanted n Holiday.
A JOURNALISTIC YACHT.
Mr.. Bennett and His Cruise With the
Presidential Nautical Boudoir and
Her Fittings.
wash. Corr. St. Louis Globe Democrat. ]

James Gordon Bennett and his new
yatch, the Namouna, came up the river
and cast anchor at the Navy Yard re-
Gently. The gorgeousness of thi
'handsomest vac It in the world, " has
been described ia print many times,
but even with that aid, visitors were
astonished at the compile 'eness and ele-
gance of everyth lg about it. The lux
uries that one dreams of are realities ON
the Namouna, and the large state rooms,
the gilded and oaved saloons and the
electric lights surpassed all ideas.
Stained glass windows, plush covered
furniture, open fire places filed with
flowers, rare pictures, Turkey rugs and
upholstered passage-ways rob sea voy-
age of half its terrors. Besides his own
large state room with its magnificent fit
t'1gs, Mr.. Bennett has accommodations
for twenty guests, carved bedstead and
space to swing cot, affording luxuries
never dreamed of by them on the ocean.
The mariners home is not so hard when
be sleeps under bedspread Of Persian
silk, made stiff with embro'deri of
gold thread, and lis corch is draped
with heavy curtains of white damesk
There are cannon on deck and an arm
ory of weapons below sta;rs, end if Mr..
Bennett wishes to embark in any little
private piratical enterprise, the IN ms
are at hand. The officers and crew are
all uniformed, ard are as separa,e ,e an es-
tablishment from the owner and his
guests as though they sailed on another
ship. Mr.. Bennett, who has owned a
yacht and been on the water ever since
his sixteenth year, has named his boat
from character in an old Persian story,
Namouna, the Prince of the Harem, and
his friends have further christened the
craft as the "Harum- -scarum.'
Mr.. Bennett brought with him from
New York party of gentlemen, among
them Charley Longfellow, son of the
late poet, Lord Vaudeville and Law
renee Jerome. The party dined with
the President on Monday evening, and
the next afternoon large company was
invited to make q trip down the river ON
the Namouna. The President, the men,
bers of his Cabinet and the ledies
of their families went on board
the boat little before 2 o'clock, and
after three minutes trip down the
eastern branch ran aground on a mud
bank at point where it runs into the
Potomac river. Desperate efforts were
made to get them off, but in spite of all
the distinguished company had to re-
main stuck i'll the mud, and the out
going tide made them all the more Sc
cure in their stronghold. Vexation
ruffied the official brows and frayed the
fine fabric of their patience, a. the case
proved hopeless. The banquet was en-
joyed regardless of he absurd situation,
the yacht duly inspected and admired,
and at o'clock the Presidential party
took leave, appriately carried to shore
by the tug Rescue Mr.. Bennett re-
mained, like Casab'anca, refusing TO
desert the new ship, and shortly after
midnight the kindly tide lifted it up
silently and foated it out into the chan
mel of the river. This running aground
in the eastern branch is not new thing,
and hardly school-ship, dispatch boat
or man-of-war reaches or leaves the
Navy Yard without sticking fast. Even
at high tide the old salts hold their breath
and use their passwords as they drag
their way through the mud. Congress
has been appealed to yearly, in vain
for a sufficient appropriation to fix the
channel once and for all, brt the rural
members are too busy with creeks and
rivulets, and fishing scows of their own
districts, to attend to the Potomac river
and naval ships. 1t may prove for
tunate thing in the end that the
Namouna ran aground with the Presi-
dent and Cabinet on board, as attention
is rather prominently called to the neces-
sites of the case, and there is no doubt
but some action will be taken.
Mr.. Bennett and his boat have re-
turned to New York after this little
trial trip, and will start very soon on a
cruise to the Canary Islands. A party
of friends have been invited for this
journey. and the tall gray Scot pro-
poses after that to take a little run
around the world in the Namouna.
The route will be through the Meditor-
ranean and the Suez Canal to India,
Australia, China and Japan, and over
six months will be devoted to the cruise.