The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-02-08
The Yankee Skipper and the
Fundy Tides.

Fundy Tides.
1t seems, according to the old story
tellers, that years ago the captain of a
New England coaster determined to
discover the exact location of "Down
East" AT every port he visited, from
Cape Cod to Boothbay, the inhabitants
all denied that they lived there, and
when asked where " Down East was,
only pointed mysteriously up the coast.
Finally, when the skipper of the
Dancing Polly" received a cargo of
goods for Grand Pre- he was highly
pleased, thinking that at last "Down
East would be found-for in those
days Nova Scotia was considered "the
jumping-off place"
One fine spring morning the
schooner got under way and sailed
merrily up through the maze of islands
that skirt the coast of Maine. Fair
westerly winds favored them, and on
the second day they entered the ia
nous Bay of Fundy, or Fond de la
Bale, as the French call it.
The skipper had never heard of the
great tide there, and when, the follow
ing morning, the mouth of the Minas
Channel appeared on the right shore,
he bore away for it, wing and wing,
and he was soon under the shadows of
the old Acadian hills.
The rich green fields and the villages
alongshore seemed to give friendly
greeting, and captain and crew decided
that down East" was very pleasant
region.
But luck is tickle, and as they were
| l. o1-,, 4, al
felt a sudden jar, then heard a scraping
sound and moment later the " Dane
ing Polly" twas aground under full sail.
The small-boat was put out with a
kedge, and the sails were braced this
way and that, but all to no purpose
the boat was aground hard and fast, the
tide was going out, and skipper and
"crew would have to wait until the
high tide came to float them off. 1t
was quite late in the day, and ere long
the captain and the cook, the great
Newfoundland dog and yellow-and-
black cat, who constituted the "crew,"
all went to bed
Early the next morning the captain
was awakened by the dog, and when
he crawled out of his berth he found
the floor of the cabin so aslant that he
had to scramble on all-fours to reach
the ladder. The schooner was evil
IDENTIFY heeled over. But the captain had
expected this, and he made his way on
deck as best he could.
Was he dreaming? He certainly
thought so; and then, having some
doubts, he reached over and gently
touched the yellow-and- cats tail
An answering wall assured him that
he was awake, and that he and the
where high up in mid-air.
The bewidered skipper crept to the
rail, his establishment all the while in.
creasing. The broad stream of the
day before had vanished. Not DROP
of water was in sight, but far below
him could be seen vast basin OF
mud, in which pigs were roofing anC
grunting!
For some time the skipper stood and
looked, then noticing the cook stand
ing by and, like himself, lost in wonder
he said:
"Wal, John, l reckon we've reached
here at last"
Reached where?" exclaimed thu
cook.
"Down East" replied the old man
solemnly.
cit looks more like up East ant
on a powerful high perch, moreover,
retorted the cook; and Pm for strik
ing inshore."
The two men started forward, anC
they soon found that the schooner wa
resting on a great ledge of rock like
tower that rose out of the mud. Low
ering a rope over the side, they lie
themselves down upon the rock, an,
even then were several feet from tn
muddy surface.
The great pedestal upon which the,
: stood was covered with olive-hued ant
black weeds, which concealed innumer
able star-fshes, sea-urchins and shells
and it gradually dawned upon then
that the Dancing Polly" had no
3 been transported inland, but that tn
water had gone seward and left them
How to get down was the next ques
ton, and after debate about leavin!
' the dog and cat, the two men FINAL
: managed to slide, slip and scramble t.
the plain below, and through mud waist
deep floundered to the shore, wher
9 they were received with roars of laugh
= ter by group of fine looking Acadians
who had been watching their descen
and their difficult progress.
Then and there the Yankee navigate
first heard of the Fundy tides; and sex
eral hours later, from the deck of tn
. little craft, he saw the "bore " com
in-frst a small stream, growing rapid
s wider and deeper, until the entire basi
was filled with the surging waters ths
s rose higher and higher, until FINAL
, the Dancing Polly" hoated free, an
. once more sailed away in the directio
of Grand Pre.-C. f. Holder, IN S
- Nicholas for February.