Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-12

with the same shrewd method with which
he arranged his work in town so as to do
the utmost most in the utmost least mo-
ments.
of the old-time yachting owners, who stole
all the time that they could from their dull
business In town to give 1t to their yachts,
and who often slept aboard them even
While they were still on drydock.
OF the twenty yachts that lay In the
BASIN at least four were more than 200
feet long, and the rest ranged from 40 to
100 feet, 1t was easy to see that these
were craft whose owners expected to
| handle them and manage them and know
them as real yachtsman knows his boat.
Glorified Packets.
They were packets-glorifled packets, but
packets just the same, intended primarily
to carry their owners and other passengers
from place to place with the greatest pos
sible amount of ease and luxury and safety.
Each year there are more of these pri-
vate passenger steamers in the United
States. And each year the real yachtsrnen
become more and more dismayed when they
hear the owners of these ships called
| yachtsmen," and not only honored by the
title but often elected to fill the coveted
places of flag officers of yachting fleets.
Not that these ship owners are all ig-
norant of yachting or lacking IN daring and
tIie ZeSl IOE the royal sport. SOIiS Oh tHciIl
are good nayigators and good sailors; many
| OF them are fairly adept with yachting
| technicalities; many of them love the sea
| for its own sake. But they are too rich.
| They've got too much.
| SO rich they and much have they
| that the poor devils haven't time for any
one sport. They rush from seaside home to
| city home, from opera TO hunting field, from
automobile to yacht-driven. driven, driven
! by the fury of unrest that rides the char
| lots of gold In America.
There is another reason why the owners
o. the great modern yachts do not take the
| intensely personal part In the fitting out
and sailing OF their craft that the owners
of smaller vessels do.
When ship assumes the proportions Of q
young warship. the demands that personal
command would make are excessive. The
bigger steam yachts have proportions great
er In everything except tonnage than many
Of our protected cruisers OF the second
class. The famous Goelet yacht Mayfiower,
for instance, which is part of the United
States navy now, is longer than warships
like the Marblehead.
Merely to put yacht like this in commits
sion for the season entails the labors OF
sue. multiplicity Of trades and men, and
costs so much that a bookkeeping force is
needed to keep track of the expenditure
alone To put yacht like Morgan Corr
! sair In commission means the expenditure
! Of at least 81 500, even with the utmost
| economy. And If the engines are overhaul
| ed or changed or other vital alterations
made, the expense may and does run up to
| $1,000 and more.
A Queen of Sheba.
If the liner she's lady" the steam
yacht Is Queen of Sheoa, and. like that
| royal beauty, demands a fortune from her
| King solomons for her entertainment. The
whims of pretty woman in the way of
gowns are as nothing compared to the
| whims Of the steam yacht In the way of
| everything from manganese bronze propel-
| Ter to main truck.
| Be she clothed ever SO glorously in the
beginning OF one season, she needs brand
| new apparel the next
| Her flashing white duck awnings will re-
| fuse to fash after even the most expert
scrubbtngs within few months. Her steel
! wire rigging viii insist on sagging despite
| all nursing known to seamen. Her maste
| need grooming like race horse. Her en-
| CINE room stan clamors for new machinery
| and her chief engineer will look with a
| foreboding eye and a hopeless face at any
estimate that falls far short of completely
new engines.
| Every inch OF her steel hull must be
| scraped clear to the mother metal cement
| ed and painted, first with the best red lead
| pure, and then with the finest glossiest
and. OF course, most expensive paint that
| there Is in the world of ship ehandlery
| Spars and wood work drink up spar
| varnisk that costs more than some kinds
| OF wine, and they drink It by the gallon
| Ike old topers Pure leaf gold must be
| layished on the bows and the stern and In
| q score of other places as gold must be
| lavished on a spoiled belle.
| During the preceding season, even In the
| most quiet of cruising, our Queen of Sheba
| has lost rivets and gear like a girl at 4
| wild masked bail. There isn't a part OF
| her that doesn't need the marine complex.
| ion specialist or the dressmakers of the
| sea, whose bills come higher than those OF
| Worth
! She is a sweetheart who viii drain hei
lovers purse before he knows it, and like
many a sweetheart, she costs her lover sc
much during the eourtship that often ht
has not enough money left to marry her
In other words. many yacht owner Is sc
| overwhelmed with unexpected charges fol
putting his yacht in commission that b