Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-30
LONG TRIP IN a CAT-BoAT.
Capt. Kunhardt Returns After a
Sixteen-Hundred-M lie sail.
From he Na,e York World.

|
From the N6aO York World.
Swinging at anchor near the breakw2ter
which projects from Elizabethport into
the Kill Won Kull, queer little craft was
found Yesterday morning. 1t was the cat
boat Coot, Capt. C. y. Kunhardt, but In
place of the spar cockpit there was a snug
! bit of cabin with an entrance aft near the
| clear space where the helmsman STOOD
! The Coot had lett the Kills on ThanksgiV-
ing day last with Capt. hunhardt as sole
occupant, and yesterday she came up 10
her anchorage off West Brighton with the
same gentleman in command. he hau
| sailed 900 miles, had pushed down as lar
! as Beaufort, y. c., and had returned to
tell the story of a novel trip. Speaking to
reporter he said:
81 went on this trip at the request OF
the Forest and Stream, OF this Guy, anu
was the correspondent of that paper. 1t
was intended to show what could be done
in sIngle-handed cruising, and L thlnK
that the trip just ended is the longest on
record. / started from Port MOTIFS,
where the CoOt was put in order, went
down the East river and around the Kills
to New Brunswick, whence l entered the
Delaware and Raritan canal, reaching
the Delaware river at Bordentown. Down
the river to Delaware City. and from there
by the Delaware and Chesapeake canal
to the Chesapeake Bay. Then down to
Norfolk and by the Albemarle and Chesa-
peake caual to Albemarle Sound, and SO
down through the connecting line OF
inland towns-Albemarle, Currituck.
Croatan, Pamlico and Cove Sounds-to
Beaufort.
81 was caught in the ice and detained
days and weeks in one spot. l have lived
on the Co0t and have not taken meal
away from her nor slept in any bed
but my snug berth aboard. 1t is, as you
see, a catboat, and so requires most care
ful handling, 80 that after a long sail the
strain upon the mind through the con-
slant attention required has often been
severely felt. ] received the hest atten-
ton everywhere, and found the people
of the shore counties in several states
| hard workers, intelligent and honest. L
did not lose an article until on my return,
when some rascal in Philadelphia stole
my small boat. The shoreman and
fishermen did not take kindly to
the catbOat model, since they have
lar better craft adapted to the hard
work of sailing on these sounds. The
short. choppy seas there are much more
difficult to manage than the long swell Of
an ocean. OF course | could not travel
| at night, for iC was all new district TO
me, but the charts were accurate to the
! smallest fraction, and in daylight there
was little trouble. ! took time sailing
I here and there to see this or that place,
| talk with the people and generally ENJOY
myself. There is not the least trouble
| about such a single-handed cruise, and
find that SO per week has paid all my eX-
penses OF eating and incidentals. have
not had a sick moment and have lived on
! the provender i bought as l went along.
"The run down was not the hardest
| part of the work, for then ] had northern
winds and could lay my course easily,
but coming back was only one continual
beating up against head winds"
Going aboard the COOt, the simple ar
rangements for bed and board were read
! ily inspected. On one side of the centre
board was the bed, and the bachelor cap
| tain had a characteristic bachelor head
| quarters. An oil stove was mounted on
the other side of the centreboard. This
| did all the cooking, and when the yacht
was coated deep with ice made the wee
| little cabin very comfortable. Windows
about six inches square were here and
there on the sides and every part of the
| interior walls were utilized for the storage
of some bit of necessary paraphernalia.
| The Captain could, from mis- couch, reach
| every part of the abln, and the lamp
| mounted over the head of the bed told how
| he had read and rested. He raised the
anchor, made sail, steered and acted as
lookout, went below as cook, and for eight
months has not had fellow traveller nor
an assistant OF any kind. Leaving the
city weighing 100 pounds he comes back
at AS, and brown as bit of old parch-
ment. Hedeclares that he has had the best
| of endowment; has seen an interesting
and little Travelled portion of the country,
and would gladly take the trip over again.
He has Deen n close observer, and a port
folio full of sketches tell the story of the
unique trip in graphic style.