The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-20
YACHT FLEET THAT persisted.
GRAVESEND BAY LONELY SINCE
WEDNESDAYS TEMPEST,

But the Beach 10 Like Marine Bone!srd
Great Work Ahead for the Boat
Builders--Dramatic sights In the hur.
ricsne Among Yachting Down the Ray.
II there is good sailing weather when the
sun rises over Gravesend Bay this morning
n little fleet will spread it's wings for It's
weekly fight beyond Norron's Point to the
open sea. But it will be worry little fleet
compared with that which caught the breeze
and logged out last Sunday morning.
Most of the white sails that then swelled
and glistened have been torn to tatters
and many of the little craft that rode the
waters under them are stark and mangled
on the beach.
The yachtsmen will he assembled to-day
on the clubhouse verandas and in smoking
rooms or strolling along the shore looking
a, the battered hulks and searching for
relics of their ruined craft But there
will be only small contingent afioat.
The one consolation that these amateur
sailors have is that the killing wind came
in mid-September and not in midsummer
They feel a certain satisfaction in having
That much no angry wind can blow away.
from them.
While it lasted they enjoyed ii to the full.
for they're handy shippers. whose sloops
and yawls and baby schooners find haven
between Fort Hamilton and Sea Gate.
The boys and girls down that way learn
to swim before they learn to read. and most
OF them can handle catboat before they
can do sums in long division.
Even such good sailors and weather
scenters as they had no reason to expect
on Wednesday that their anchorage would
play them false. Tradition had SO long
vouched for the safety Of the shoals that
liz, within the great bend back Of Coney
Island Point that doubt found no place
in their minds, even when rumors of hurri-
canes began to run along the telegraph
wires from the South.
Whatever else might go wrong, they
thought. Gravcsend Bay was safe Coney
Island might be torn to flinders and the
Jersey shore might be battered out Of all
semblance 10 itself, but the Gravesend
craft would ride. snug and tidy. They
always had and they always would
SO when the east wind piped and shrieked
on Wednesday morning the Gravesend
yachts swung around at their moorings,
pointed their noses into the gale, tugged a
little harder than usual at their cables and
seemed as secure as ever. Everything
seemed serene with them. though their
,nlucky neighbors on the other side of the
deep ship channel were driving ashore and
breaking UP on Staten Island.
Men and women who were on some Of
the yachts in Gravesend Bay stayed aboard
and feared nothing. There were children
out in the fleet, and no one was concerned
about it,
Folks ashore in Bath Beach and Benson
hurst alto their midday meal and felt no
apprehension. But when shortly after
luncheon the wind lulled and then swung
half way round the compass and began
| to sweep on shore with redoubled fury. their
| complacency gave way and they rushed in
! wonder and alarm down 10 the beach.
They came running and painting just as
| they happened to be-some Of the women
! not stopping to change the white shoes and
stockings which they are fond Of wearing
on, fair days. Those who had no hats handy
came bareheaded and those who wore
hats soon wished they'd left them at home.
Curs and tresses burst from their tethers
and went flying in the gale. The salt spray
cut like hail al it beat upon tender faces.
f, Never before had the good looking girls
| Of the harbor side appeared so bedraggled
and dishevelled as they were two minutes
after they darted for the waterfront.
, But nobody cared. II was an hour when
oil, np1,,
| dressed PERSONS were the boatmen in their
oilskins, toiling with rope and boathook
! and good right arm to make berths fol
such of the incoming craft as could be
saved II there was dry thread on the
beach from Norton's Point to Old Fort
Lafayette nobody discovered it.
There were other things than clothes
and back hair to look at and think about
Only 1UI yards or so out in the bay from
the Brooklyn Yacht Club two boats WITH
women aboard were rising and plunging
and it seemed that every plunge must BIZ
their last Their friends ashore prayed
and wept or wrung their hands in an agony
| of helpleesness. Men were seen on other
craft, many Of them, but all eyes were
turned on the women. SO near and yet SC
utterly beyond assistance.
] Al! this time the smaller yachts were
| pulling away from their moorings anc
| coming ashore. And how proudly tn ey
| rode as they were swept in to destruction
| While the anchor chains held they hesved
and tossed like creatures in pain, but. once
free to so, they rode in beautifully.
| Only when they struck and tremblet
| and began to creak and groan were they
| pitiful to see. Before that there was
space when they were pathetic but lovely
Those that beachen on yielding sand did moi
suffer irreparably. Many that were dashed
together were the ruin OF ono another
Drifting booms and spars and timbers
| made ghastly wounds IN the cleaning
sides Of others
Six pretty ~loops were borne together
against the pieces Of a shattered lumber
raft near the Ign Yacht Club. and they
| persisted as cruelty as things of lite In 6
moment masts We're Swapping. decks anc
sides crunching ribs yielding and cracking
hulis parting and mingling in a commo,
| mass Of WI eckage. Before the wind sub
sided nos a recognizable hit of any one %
the six stood apart from the general patel
of driitwood
That was. perha ps. the worst fate tina
hcfell any of the fleet. But dozens more o
the single stickers were, practically. M
better than these dismembered six.
Of the forty-fvc craft OF the Brooklyn
Yacht Club only five held true. The res
were stranded in various stages OF dis
tress Soma of the smaller club squadron
g.,,tr do