Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-07-05
DEER ISLE.
WHERE SAILERS OF CUP DE-
TENDERS ARE GROWN.
AS SEEN by NEW YORK REPORTER
WHY DEER ISLE SAILORS
EXCEL.
From the New York Sun.

ties in profusion. One is sailorman
and the other is granite. 1t is the proud
4 boast OF the people of Deer Isle that W ile
the variety of their productions is limited
the quality in each case is unsurpassed
anywhere on earth. Whether or not
that statement, so far as granite is con-
eerned, is anything more than a boast
need not be discussed here. This story is
about the other of Deer Isles productions
the sai!ormen who become members OF
the crews Of yachts, and tpho always help
An'Tica to defend the cup when plucky
Brltisher comes after it.
Right here at the beginning OF the
story the Sun wants to set the people of
Deer Isle right before the world in two
matters that are a source of untold vex-
alton to them.
First it's Deer Isle and not Deer Island
as most people led by careless newspapers
suppose The sun redder i'll understand
just what sore point this is when he re-
calls that the penal colony of Boston, the
Hub OF New England, is Deer island in
Boston harbor. The Deer Isle people are
law abiding, and in that are totally unlike
the people of Deer Island.
Second, Deer Isle, wi here the sailormen
are bred, is anything in the world but a
typical tisherman's village, as it has been
described a thousand times. To make
good the stories, the Deer Isle people as
sert that a newspaper photographer once
took pictures of the backs instead OF the
fronts inf thR hnnapa n int Cd l,o, -
the everlasting discredit OF the place.
This typical fisherman village" libel is
particularly resented because Deer Isle
has certain social aspirations. They'll
tell you there that Bar Harbor isn't in it
or climate or scenery. They'll also tell
you that the people will soon find it out,
in spite of the conspiracy on the part of
tho public press to distort its name and
character and on the part OF the railroads
to keep it more or less inaccessible by re-
fusing TO run line nearer than thirty
miles from its shore.
Deer Isle is in Penobscot bay. Ellis
worth is its nearest railroad station
north, aud that is nearly thirty miles off
Roekland is twenty-eight miles away.
and that must be reached by boat.
There's little Deer Isle and big Deer
Isle. It's the big Deer Isle that grows the
sailormen, and the world has come to
look upon the Deer Isle sailoEmen as
saiormen OF superior quality.
The Sun reporters mission to Deer Isle
was to find out why and how Deer Isle
grew better sailormen than any other
place on earth, and how many of them
were there. The last question is easily
answered. The population of the island
is something more than 100, about evenly
divided between the sexes, and there are
just about 1000 sailormen and boys. The
Sun reporter, who expressed some doubts
about the accuracy of this estimate, was
solemnly assured by Capt. J. w. Green,
who is better known as Tip" Green.
that the estimate was rather under than
over, "for, by ginger, there's some of the
gals that's better sailormen than The boys,
though they don't work at it steady" he
said, and the little "gal", who was as
pretty as picture with rosy cheeks and
snappy eyes, and who made the Sun
mans dinner pleasant, wore Eastern
Yacht club buttons and reckoned she
could sail boat with the best Of EN-
and she looked it,
The average Deer Isle man is not ego
tistic, and he'll assert that the world has
mist AIKEN idea a bout the isles growing
the best sailormen in the world. He'll
tell you that the sailormen up there are
just average, but then he'll go on and say
'Ye see the boys from here don't drink.
That's one thing I'll say for them. They
amt drinking men, as a rule. or course
now and then you'll find one that does,
but II you scratch him you'll find he amt
n real Deer Isle man. Maybe he was born
here but his ancestors don't go back fur.
He amt real unless maybe he's a captain,
m OF course when man gets t. be cap
tain then he's reached the age of dis
cretion m he's got right to drink mod
erately, m most of 'em likes their toddy
when they gifts to that age as well as the
next and takes it moderate like"
The Deer Isle man will go on and say:
NO, it's mistake t. say that Deer Isle
grows smarter sailo-men than anywhere
else on EARTH but It's fact that we got
more than ninety captains in yachts, an
we got MORN a hundred captains saiin'
tn high seas, m we got fifty or SO cap
tans that's retired m settled down t.
raise up more captains in their sons, m
then we got MORN three hundred sailor
men m mates on yachts this summer.
No, our boys amt smarter than other
folks boys, but our boys gets along" If
you continue talking to the average Deer
Isle man he'll say: "They amt many
o. our boys that goes wrong; they amt
many. Once in a while they's one that
goes into the engineering department; but
they amt many"
The listener will then realize the exact
meaning of that old row in the American
navy between the line and the engineers,
now happily at an end. He'll also be con-
WINGED, however, that while the line and
the staff of the American navy may be re-