The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-09-23

| weather bureau
Mr.. President, if couldn't. do better
work in the way of announcing weather
| probabilities than tue signal service people
have dome lately should retire FROM office
| III this club at once"
We'll. go on with YOUR probabilities"
We arc going to have one of the biggest,
| most earnest, an | most businesilike north
| east storms that have been seen in this
| nsighh"rho"d for years, sir. It's going to
blow great gus AMI last fully three days.
"Thli'll b. bad for the poor sailor men,
Siid john Hart, the man who told the story
of the great cyclone
what do you know about sailor men,
inquired samuel Sanders, tho objcctor of
the clih.
Come, coma, said the president, ''let us
have peace What is the subject for the
yarns of tt,a oYcuiu2;t7
Tho subject for this evening said tn
secretary, is 'Iachtius''
All, Indood,' replied the president
Well before We 20 ahea with that mu it
ask u tow questions Is theirs any gentle
man present. who owas yacht
There was dead silence for fully min.
Ute, when Samuel Sanders rose and said.
"!liram sudbury owns a canalooat."
Can that ho classified rs a yacht" in,
quircd the president of the secretary.
That depends on the use to which 1t is
put, responded Professor Snodgrass is
Your boat ISei simply as a pleasure vessel
Mr. sudbury"
We'll, said the person addressed, slowly
climbing to his feet, Il kin hardly say she
an uses hs to snip pigs ontcr.
That settles that point said tho presi
dent Has any gentleman present eve,
sailed Oh a yacht"
There WIS no answer to this INJURY,
HAS any one of You ever seen a yachtP
Two or three members admitted that they
had soon boats which they were told were
yachts, hut they did not know whether they
had becu rightly Informed or not The
president decided that the club was in a
proper state of mind TO grapple with the
subject, AMI called upon Cartwright Nc
clip to tell 4 yachting story. Mr. McGiIp
arose, anu, casting q knowing look around
tue room. tegan his tale
a amt what you may call dude yachts
man, ! amt. cause | never owneI no Yacht
cSecptiu' little jiband Inain-saii boat
about twonty five feet lolg. iut I've been
a yayhtiu man fer nigh onto twenty wear.
| started a cabin boy and worked NV
way up an ROW I'm the sslilin' master o
the schooner Salamanicr, JOS feet over all.
aud a regular out and out cracker for car
ryin' sail 1t was in the summer of 1881
that tho thing happened wot I'm a-guin' for
10 tell you about, an if You don't say it
Beats all. then may | never smell bilge
water again this sill o Davy Jones locker.
1T was the spring regatta of the Barren
Island Yacht club. There were four prizes
up One was for the first class scio ,pcrs
Of eighty five feet water line and over. ths
second was for second class schooners of
ScVcnty-iive or cIghty-tiyo feet: the third
class WAS Tor first class cutters, SloOps and
yaw's of fifty five to seventy five feet, aud
the fourth was for second class single stick
ers If from forty five TO fifty feet You
see, we did't want no small fry in the race,
hecauSc l. WAS an extra event The race
WIS over tho New y ork Yacht club course
startln from an imaginary line off Owls
Head. in the bay, through the Narrows, to
AMI around the Sou west Spit buoy, 10 and
around Sandy Hook ightship, keepin' the
same on the starhoari hand, then back over
the same course, and tinishin' oil Euoy M
- in the Lower bay
1t WAS as loaStly Il Iookin mornin' os
yoa ever See. 1 war down at Staten islam
with the schooner a-waitin for Mr. Parker
the owner He war to come down on lhe
lH4ges' boat, tue Emanuel Stickenhack
Mr. Parker Is one o the finest amateur slil-
"rs e'ef seen IN New York waters He
holds a masters license au' he's fit fur TO
take his boat around the world. that's
wOt ho Is, an 10 can do it, too When bs',
an RI h.. h
though | say it myself, wot is his
satin master, he can dS II Just as
we'll as over can, Well, as | said, it war
a dirty morGin'. The sky war Just Il duh,
heavy sort o gray, an ths water looked
ike :" much load colored paint The wind
war 10 thcaSt, lis" the same as It's now, an
1t war BLOWN putty fresh an increasin' a
little every hour. | made up my mind we
We war guin' to have one o the liveliest
yacht races ever seed around Now York,
an 1t turned out that / war right
Mr. Parker came down on the Sticken
back aud came right on board lie SAYS tn
uie that 1t war goin' to he big race. an |
SAID he war correct, a usual The other
iroats war getiin' under way There war
the schooner, f'lureniIna, ScaIly wag. an
Empress the cutters Arah, Verona, RelIo,
N ate, ami Sis, the sluop< Hold Hard
Trouble, ~ mmetry, Get There, ami
Srrawler, and the yawl Tommy poii.
" sill, to hurry along, the startn' gun was
fired ct lnF', and we had ten minutes for
-ctiin across the line. You can bet your
lie that the Salamlnder war the first boat
across Mr. Parker had her away up to
"I"d"ard with Der nose pointin' Just OIL
The wind an her sails shakin' every minute
As she c;lBie up TO it We uaru't lnore'u
lnJ yards from the limo when the gun was
Tired. Mr. flrker wore ship, an we tore
Town to the line Us if We We're a goin To a
lire, We crossed at Ib;y9.:3 We hal UP a
wortIn' IuaiHtops'l, fore an nltins Is, a tib
ard 1yiu Hh, aui they war all a pulln
BIKE mad The Arab AMI Verona cutters
"rro right behnl Us, tlcn came the others
IN Ills order; Scallywa.. Empress. Fio;cu.
ilra, Hold Hard, Bellc, Kate, Trouble, SIS,
~ hmet'y, SPraw!er, aud Get Their. The
'et There was always last
Well, sr, it war jest al the to-. ,yautpI
10 no t" keep Up with Us u goin down to the
SPIT The way we tore through .he water
war Il sight 10 see When we war off the
inner end o. the Swash channel the big seas
commenced to come rollin' in an knowed
We war coln to have mighty act time
Of 1t outside. Fly ana by we rounded tbs
spit an pat her nose against tho seas We
war still aIeadin' tho fleet by about 100
yards, the Arab coisin' after Us like a fiend.
an the seal; vag not far behind her.
" eli, us aoaa'r go hHadc,. out to a.s sees
felt like Goin' back, fur our bowsprit DO
gan to climb up as if it war goiu to Jam
! hole in the sky, an tnen down it would
90 again as if it war goin TO harpoon the
I0ttom . the bay. Outside | could see the
zig whitecap' a-rollih' in, an l could boar
.he surf breakia' Oh the Hook as if it war
Join to knock tho pint right OIL We
Tcatherel the Hook in good shape, an war |
Don a-billn' past Buoy No j. The boat |
var a-laborin little too much, an Mr. !
'arker ordered inc to have the topsail taken
n al the topmasts hou ed When that war
m 4