The Portland daily press., 1891-11-18
FROM RousE's POINT.
Arrival Of a Steamer by tho Direct
Line from Lake ChampIaIn.
Although Tossed by Mountains OF
Water She Rode Safely Through.

Among the marine arrivals night before
last, vessel which came booming into
port full tilt In front of the fast rising
wind and faster rising sea, was trim lit
tie white steamer, bearing the pleasant
name "Coquette on bow and stern.
The vessel is of about two-thirds the size
of the Merryconeag, not unlike her in
shape, and has no particular distinguish
ing mark to show at glance the strange
adventures which she has just passed
through. The Coquette came into the har-
Dor ahead Of the wind. and ran to Custom
House wharf, where she tied up at the
end, intending to remain during the con-
tinuance Of the storm. The wind and sea
rose so rapidly, however, that soon after
prudent to change his berth. aud he &C.
cordingly moved to Grand Trunk wharf
No. 8, where PRESS reporter found him.
getting out more lines fore and aft to re-
strain sthe frolicsome tendencies of the
craft.
On the stern of the steamer is painted
the name "Rouse's Point. N. Y" as the
hailing place of the vessel. Rouse's Point
has never been considered an Atlantic sea-
port before, so that few questions were
in order.
"Did you come from Rouse's Point?"
was the first.
"Why. certainly; yes; why not?" was
the reply. Then the captain laughed and
said: 'Why, it's nothing when you're
used to it; it's nice little trip for few
weeks"
"How do we come? Well, you know
Rouse's Point is at the head of an arm of
Lake Champlain. The RichelIeu river and
canal connect Lake Champlain with the
ST. Lawrence river, and here our trip be-
gins. The first thing that bothers us Is
the bridges. There are two of them. both
railroad bridges, that we have to squeeze
under. Then, after while, we get to So
rel, where the Richelieu and the st. Law
renee meet. Here we stepped to shake out
the reefs In our smokestack, and to pre-
pare for our trip down the big river. From
Sorel the run Is through the broad piece OF
water called Lake st. Peter, and on down
the river to Quebec. We laid up again at
Quebec and fixed things for sea trip"
The captain pointed to the temporary
bulwarks forward, put up to restrain the
angry seas, and to a number of extra
braces on the smokestack. "We left Que
bee two weeks ago next Saturday, and
sailed down the river and out into the open
Antcosti and outside the Magdalen ISL
ands, around Cape Breton, aud headed for
Cape Sable. From Cape Sable on our trip
has been a tough one. We marked out a
course from Cape Sable to Cape Cod, and
intended to go straight on, but 1t got to be
too many for us. Not that the boat isn't
seaworthy; she is. l never saw nicer
boat in my life. and I've been steamboat
ing for 46 years. She rides like duck, and
SO long as the wind was head on we had as
good run as we needed. 1t hauled around
to the south, however, and we got into the
trough of the sea SO that when we were
40 miles from Cape Sable decided to quit
and run In here for shelter. We had the
log over all the time, and although we
were 80 miles off the coast when turned.
we came in and made your two lights just
as calculated we should. About the
toughest part Of the whole trip was when
we were steaming in by your cape there.
We we're down in the trough of the sea,
and up on top of it in great shape; but she
never wet her decks except by splashes
from under her counter"
The captain said he liked the boat very
much indeed. She is only two years old,
having been built by Leonard, the hotel
proprietor at Rouse's Point. as pleasure
boat for the use of the hotel guests. She
has been used very little, having been out
only IS days last summer. She has been
sold to the Brooklyn Annex of the Shore
Line, and is now on her way to Brooklyn,
which is the reason for this little salt wa
ter iaunt.
The Coquette will remain in port until
the sea subsidies, when the trip will be re-
sumed.