New-York tribune., 1896-09-27
YACHTS IN PRACTICAL USE.
CARRYING THEIR OWNERS FROM COUN-
TRY HOMES TO BUSINESS.


URBAN POINTS AND CAUSE THE
DAILY TRANSIT TO RE
SOURCE OF RECREATION
ITS eight bells" remarked the old Battery
salt to his friend. they together sat- taking
their summer afternoon airing In Battery Park
near the city pier. by this he meant 1 o'clock
in the afternoon.
How do you know?' quered his friend. as he
stuffed his thumb into the bowl of his pipe to
stir the smouderng spark into an assault upon
the last dregs of the "cut plug nesting therein
How do know? Why. there's the Tillie. and
there goes her bell to prove my sayin' Of IT," and
the old salt chuckled at his own astuteness. But
more men than the old salt had known and
recognized this popularity of time relationship
between the stately steam yacht owned by the
late W. II. Starbuck and the city clocks Her
captain was prompttude itself when, in the
golden haze of every summer afternoon. he used
to come to the Battery pier to await the arrival
of the owner who used his boat as a pleasur-
able convenience in his journey back and forth
from home to business. and from his office
back to his home. on all the lazy days of the
summer time. But the Tiliie has been missed in
the season now ending. The death of her owner
brought her activities to an end. and Milton
Point and the Battery and the waters interven-
ing more gauge the lapse of hours by her ap-
pearance and departure. While Mr.. Starbuck
was alive the TIllie was his home in transit to
and from his city office. and he only
among the many instances of the owners of pri-
vate yachts. Others went further in their pleas
ure movements. using their boats for cruising in
holiday time: but it Is safe to remark that none
gathered more satisfaction from their floating
palaces than this man Of quiet demeanor. Now
that the butterflies of Sound and ocean are seek
ing safe refuge in harbor and pier-ocked basin.
there to await the hour when they shall again
appear robed anew in their costumes of white
and gold, glistenng ebony their absence is
deplored by idling thousands in the parks the
water front. who have come to know many Of
them by name and who have learned to watch
for them and to admire their lines of beauty
they flash by like dream phantoms in the bright
sunlight or in the mellower shades that precede
the night.
PRACTICAL Uses OF A STEAM YACHT.
Not many of those who view them aware
of the practical use to which a speedy steam
yacht may he put. The modern boat puts dis
tance tn discount and carries within her body
the comforts of home. and the man of business
has learned that whether up the Hudson or the
Sound, down the Bay, he get to his bust
ness office in about the same time that would be
required to accomplish that daily necessity a
railroad train. and that he can do it in peace
and quiet He misses the dust of travel. the
confusion of personalities. and the roar of the
grinding wheels He does not have to SIT and
listen to the man who is walking edition of the
funny almanac. and who tells the same old
stories for all the days Of the year save and
cepting Sundays, when he murders peace in the
home circle mayhap with his Adam old reminis-
cences. Fiat money and sixteen to one are un-
known quantities in the decorated cabin or the
breeze blown promenade deck of the flying craft.
The breakfast is made more delicious by the
breath of the salt spray. and the mental
vision is clarified and put upon the alert for the
crunch and grind Of the great commercial ma
chine Of which every business man is of the
component parts, necessary to its completeness
and yet never missed if he chances to be called
into the great aside His yacht which has
ried him so often over the inland waters passes
to other hands, and is perhaps rechristened and
repanted from black to white. or from white to
black. and cultvates the ocean fallow as indus
trously for her owner for the old after
the old owner has passed his last ferry under
captain and crew who recognize no distinctions
among their passengers. and so the game goes on.
GEORGE j. GOULDS ATALANTA.
Thus. while the Tillie no longer serves the Bat
terry lounger in lieu of watch. others have taken
her place, and throughout the summer
growing into the chill of fall weather, daily
current picture has delighted a multitude of the
less fortunate among human kind. one of the
figures in this changing picture more in evidence
than ever before at the Battery front has been
the Atalanta the gallant flagship Of the Atlantic
Yacht Club. and the marine home of Commo-
dore George ]. Gould. Mr.. Goulds cruising time
this summer confined to his run to Bar Har
Dor and to the ten-day outing Of the Atlantic
Yacht Club For the summer he lived in his
cottage at Seabrght, n. j., and every morning
he took the train from that point to the Atlantic
Highlands then boarded the Atalanta and was
hurried to the city at almost express speed land
ing al the Battery and proceeding to his Broad
way office In the evening he returned in the
same way the yacht during the day lying at her
familiar anchorage off the Atlantic Yacht Club
at Bay Ridge.
Another example Is furnished by jacob Rup-
pert jr. whose yacht. the Albatross, is his sum-
mer home He lives aboard for the most part.
and thus gets his vacation rest Yet he is at
business almost continually during business
hours running in i'm the morning, and going
ont into the Sound waters in the evening, there
to remain either cruising about or lying in
some pleasant anchorage III. NJ. Flagler, the
owner of the Alicia. which Is said to have cost
something like s2JOO 600 has beautiful country
home adjoining the house of the Larchmont
Yacht Club at Larchmont Manor. AT i:3o
o'clock in the morning of every weekday he
has been accustomed to board the boat. In the
cabin of which the morning papers are pre-
pared for his perusaL He takes his news with
his breakfast and by the time both have been
we'll digested the Alicia Is at East twenty
sixth-st the club station of the New-fork
Yacht Club To the merry round of the boat
swain's call the launch Is piped away. and in a
half-hour the owner is at his office In the
standard OIL building on lower Broadway, look