, 1889-02-06

A VOYAGE.
Capt. Andrews Relates His Experience Of
Crossing the Ocean In n Dory.

Crossing the Ocean In n Dory.
Perhaps few among the audiences
that nightly attend the performance
of "a Dark Secret" know that the Capt
Andrews who appears during the
fourth act is the plucky sailor who at
tempted to the Atlantic in his
dory the Dark Secret A Mail re
porter had n very interesting CONVEX
sation with the captain and asked him
for n brief account of his attempt to
cross the ocean blue.
Il started" he said, Sin the little
dory from Point of Pines beach near
Boston, Monday, June IS. This is the
boat in which | made my journey.
II measures, keel ~ feet, beam 3 feet
depth ? feet 1t was built under my
direction and supervision. Yes, !
started all alone, not even a dog or
cat on board. When / crossed the
Atlantic in 1873 in the little dory
Nautilus my brother Walter accom-
panied me. That boat was four feet
longer than the Dark Secret We
made the voyage in the Nautilus in
forty-fve days from land to land, but
we had better weather than | expert
euced on the last trip.
Tho rigging and sail are very sim.
pie. l had only one sail, whnt is usu.
ally called n ~lateen, or three cornered
sail, and the rigging consisted OF just
three pieces Of rope. Yes, the Dark
Secret is an excellent sea boat She
behaved beautifully in the terribly
bad weather | encountered. ! made a
mistake in starting from Boston. The
weather at Georges bank was awful,
and 1t was n month before | got out of
fhn hnww 81 - A. .--.1- -
rent After that / did not have quite
so hard n time of it. The longest time
i vent without rest was forty-eight
hours during a gale, and | didn't eat
much during that time, either. In
fact all | did eat during the voyage
was crackers and canned provisions.
/ had an alcohol stove with me, but il
became useless after the first day out.
Living on crackers and drinking rs
little water as possible evidently didn't
pounds the day | started. When
picked up ! tipped the beam at 1875,
after eating n hearty dinner at that.
'"The Norwegian bark Nor picked
me up about 1888 miles from my
starting poiut Aug. 81, after | had
been Just siNty-two days out. | was
indeed in n sorry plight / had lost
my drag, with which | held the boats
nose 10 the sea when ! turned in, my
oiled clothing was completely worn
out my provisions aud water were
running short, and tho boat was in
bad condition.
How did | slecp1 / put tho craft
to, threw out my drag, and turned in
for brief periods only. My mattress
got wet during tho first gale and was
not a very comfortable bed, but it did
not keep me from sleeping like a top
when | got n chance. Some nights
the boat drifted back so far that il took
me from n TO three days TO make up
lost ground. During heavy gales ]
used oil on the water. You have read
in the good book about putting oil ON
the troubled waters We'll, il works
first rate. ! let it trickle out Mt the rate
OF ten drops u minute. 1t has n o
dcrful effect in reducing the waves.
What started ME on such u trip?
Well, | have always been an enthusi
asst on boating, and believe that small
boats can be built, If correctly mod
clcd, that will live through storms
that would sink an ocean steamer, and
my ambition has been to cross in the
smallest boat alone. ! think it is a
mistake to go alone, as one man can
steer or cook while tho other is sleep
g."-ChicagO Mail.