The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-08
EXPENSIVE PLEASURES.
WHAT 1T COSTS To OWN A YACHT
AND ENTERTAIN FRIENDS.

Jay Gould Paid S475.OOO for the At
Atlanta, Got But Little Pleasure
Out of Her-What James Gordon
Bennett Pays for five Months
Yaehting-Aueh Cheaper 10 Hire
one
From the Philadelphia Times.
OF all the pleasures to which the rich
are given in which the element Of gam
bling does not enter. there is none so
costly as yachting. In the first place. a
lS0-ton vessel viii in all probability cost
over S2oo,000. much OF this being spent
on useless extravagant fittings. but when
you come 10 sell one the drop in values is
alarming. A rich broker in New York
built the Esmereid, at a cost of $4,000.
He died. and his executor, on looking
over the bills. decided to get rid OF such
a costly toy. The yacht was in perfecJ
order, thirteen months old, and sold at
public competition for S5S,OO0
How easy the road in life is to a man
with plenty of money. A telegram to any
one of half a dozen ship brokers in New
York or Boston will bring a very ele-
CANT gentleman on here in a few hours.
In looks he might be secretary to a bishop,
but he knows yachts from the cardboard
streak to the billet head-has owned.
bought and sold hundreds. You want to
take a dozen friends, make a trip to
Bermuda. then to the Bahamas. through
the St. Nicholas channel along the north
side of Haytb through the leeward pass
age into the gulf. visiting some OF ths
islands. and home by the middle OF Sep
Ill -
no more trouble than If you were COINS
to a pianked shad dinner at Gloucester.
He will hire you a vessel that will ac-
cOmmodate your party as comfortably as
the Bellevue can, give you an experienced
captain who is a gentleman, nrst-class
sailing master, engineer and fireman, ana
a crew of six good sailors, all Swedes or
Fins. If you are jongo, you may say
something about American sailors, best
in the world, etc, ETC., and are answered
that the native crews are New England
ers who work in shoe factories in winter
and follow the water in the summer, they
are not extra water men, persistent kick
ers at the grub work and liberty allowed,
expect to be cOddled and are often inSo-
lent and insubordinate. on the other hand
the Northern Europeans are born and
bred seamen, obey orders and are salts
fled with the living and service More
over, they are first-class bOatmen, and in
going and coming in the West Indies
where there are no docks, this is a very
grave matter, as anyone that has ever
pulled ashore through a moderate surf,
will admit, and these are the reasons for
preferring a crew of foreigners.
An ordinary steward can, and most like
" will, beat you to the tune of $1,000 a
month. The engineer in coal and the cap
tain in supplies for the crew may MAKE
your bills a terror, but a hired yacnt is
looked after by men who know their busi-
ness well, stand no extortion and they
"A n n nee
George Gould once remarked thai If the
ATLANTA would sink at the moorings he
would be a gamer, although getting only
a limited insurance. She cost the elder
Gould $475,000 at first, and not less than
100000 after in alterations and repairs
His idea was to get a foothold in the
aristOcratic New York yachting set ana
so omen the road for the entry of his fam
lily into society, but ii was a failure, and
he grew to hate his costly toy, tried to
sell, but failed, and had the modification
of hearing that If II had any other owner
purchasers would not be wanting. To
sail the ATLANTA with a crew of sixty
men and twenty officers and supernumer-
aries would take 100000 per annum, so
with an anchor watch of fifteen men she
is heaving and tossing on the waves of the
sound.
An English yachting journal has stated
that Benefits craft, the Namouna, costs
every year not less than 100000 sterling,
and she is only in commission about FIVE
months.
Upon the whole, a quiet man, who does
not want to make a show, can get as much
pleasure out of a naphtha launch as
lotion yacht. One of the former can be
to. the size of hull and engine. Last win
ter The writer was offered a 40-foot
launch in excellent order, not more than
nine months from the shop, for $50, and in
all the year. A run down the Delaware
below Pea Patch, where you first meet
the swell of the ocean and get the fresh
sea breeze, is very eniOya BILE, and the
from bad steering. Even with a much
more weatherly boat if you get broadsi1e
on to the waves you are likely to breach
to and fill.
The log of a small vessel that made a
summer cruise last year will give one
some idea of not over-eXpenSive but very
enjoyable voyage in a Cotton yacht. Six
gentlemen of this city hired the Trident
of a Boston broker, agreeing to pay 81, 800
for three months, from April /, everything
found. The bargain was an equitable one.
The food was plain but good and album
dant, and, curious from an ordinary point
of view, not one drop of liquor was drunk
by the passengers on board during the
cruise. Accommodations We're rather
cramped, and two hammocks were Slung
for use, but in general everything was
very endurable they first steered for the
Bahamas and had one day of storms and
head sea, the result of norther and ev-
cry one of the party got so sick that
resolution to return home was nearly car
ried. BY evening Of next day they were in
sight of Abasco Light. Three days were
spent in fishing, buying shells and hearing
wrecking stories; then through the Wind
ward Passage into the gulf. Then they
stopped at Port au Prince and saw what
a bad government could do to ruin the fin
est island in the world. They now steer
ed south, visiting Martinique; saw the
statue of the creole empress; coming out
of the harbor the Trident, took the ground
hard and fast but an English corvette
pulled her off after six hours detention.
A stop was made at Curacao Here a
topper should live forever, for the saloon
keepers make the best cocktails in the
world. The Spaniard calls this drink a
"helada," and the English a sunbeam"
It is made of broken fee, Curacao bitter
orange. a suspicion of vanilla and Santa
Cruz rum, and is a most seductive and ex-
hilarating draught. Although all of our
party were temperate men, none were to-
tai abstainers and they drank heladas in
a way that played the deuce with their
liyers. The English doctor was called in
and silently he laid down blue mass nils
as big as shellbarks, two to be taken be-
fore dinner. Well, they were finally Cur
ed, but will not soon forget the island of
the sunbeam"
And now a course was made for Ia