The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-20
SWEETEST OF BOATS.
Famous Schooner Elmina and Her NJ

, Haven Owner.
 She is built of steel, 6S feet on the
 water line, 99 feet on deck, her taper
 ing topmasts, with their fiuttering
 of her sister craft and the very fastest
 thing of her class that floats, That is
 the Elmina, the crack New Haven rac-
 ing schooner which has this season
 shown her heels time after time to the
 fleet Quisetta, the graceful Quickstep
 and her sister craft, the Maud. Thirty
 thousand dollars in cold had cash it
 cost her to build her $1,S00 to $2,o0o a month to run her. Her owner, Fredr- ick F. Brewster of New Haven, secre- tary of the & F.. T. Fitch company, who is but 2S years old, young enough
 to rejoice in the red blood which courses
 through his veins, declares that she has been more of joy to him than any,
 thing he ever owned, not even except
 ing his first pony. Next season he IS lgoing to spend many thousand dollars more on her, after which, so swear the
 marines who wear her blue uniform,
 she will be from 15 to 20 minutes faster than she is now.
 From her 56 ton lead keel to her main truck the Elmina is built from the best of materials with the greatest skill. She is staunch enough to cross the seven seas and fleet enough to make the old
 time captains of clippers cease their
 tales of record breaking fights over those water ways. "Yachty" in every T o+, f1t1
 steam to the polished brass rail of her
 quarter, there is little of gingerbread work about her. She was built to sail
 the blue and to sail it swiftly She was
 not designed as a receptacle for after
 noon and young ladies in lana locked | harbor. Her masts are tall ana shape- | ly, but they are sturdy as the scrub oaks of the hills her bellying sails are
 white as driven snow, but far stronger
 than the dingy canvas of passing coast
 CTS; her glistening white hull is lean and lank. but withal wonderfully stifL
 in a sea way.
 l I've ain't been a carryin' away no l topmasts, nor openin' no seame on this
 hooker" proudly declared grizzled quartermaster to a party of dWellers | by the Sound shore, including several New Londoners, who were enjoying the
 Emina's hospitality. "We hain't been
 a bustin' anything on this little snip and we've been a doing our share of
 racin' in all sorts of breeZes, too.' The
 Elmina, it may be remarked, has start
 ed in 15 races this season, winning all | but two. She finished first in every
 contest, but twice she was disqualified,
 once for forcing the Quisett to come about when her sailing folk did not feel
 tha they should have been obliged to
 and once for winding buoy in the | wrong direction.
 To the landsman who knows little of | tumbles, home staysails and main sheets, the Elmina is no less a thing of
 wondering admiration than to the bronzed wrestler of the white caps She
 is flush deck craft. Her mahogany
 hatches show above the spotless plank | ing of her deck, but there is no cabin trunk and no cockpit to break the straight white sheer. Below she is
 model of compactness and cleanliness. | Descending the after hatch one enters
 short, narrow hall. On one side is the sailing masters state room, and l the other that of the owner, an apart ment almost as big, and fully as com l fortable as your own room at home, his bath room glittering with the tile and | richest plate and the guest room. For ward of this is the main saloon, a | large room nearly 20 feet square, with broad divans about the side, which will, upon request, turn themselves into very comfortable hunks. The decora- tions and furnishings are simple, for MT. Brewsters craft was built for rac- ing rather than entertaining, and be- l fore a rarce, as everyone knows, every | thing in the cabin goes on shore, even | to the cushions and the galley stove.
 Forward of the saloon are the officers | quarters, where dwell the mates, the steward and the cook, and forward of this the galley OSitchen in the language of the landlubber), and cold storage room. In the bow is the forecastle, the abiding place of the mariners, who haul the ropes and man the davits and whis- tie for the breeze. The Elmina carries crew of 15, sailing master, or cap tain, two mates, a steward, cook and | 10 seamen.
 The present skipper of the Elmina, Capt Dennis who was for several sea sons i'll charge or the neet AlnOT1ta, loves the boat as he loves life, and next to the boast he lover her owner. why" he said, as MT. Brewster went over the side into the launch for Crescent Bluff, and quartermaster rose up from the little knot of men in blue clustered in the sheet of the bowsprit to strike six bells in the evening watch, that fel- lows only 2S, with money to burn, and he hasn't got a bad habit in the world.
 He don't drink and says he thinks high living is as bad as drunkenness. He's true out and out sport, that's what he is He doesn't know any more about running this schooner than he does about running a balloon, but he's on board In every race, and he's about the keenest one I've seen yet. When we're sailing he sits there at the stern and trolls for bluefsh. When we're racing he's there by the hatch or works with the fore1nast hands at the ropes. He's never given me rmy mates bit of advice or bit of a kick yet and, win or lose, he never as much as winks an eve. Only time I ever saw him get demonstrative was in that famous race with the Quisetta, when we finished