The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-14
TAKES HIS FAMILY TO SEA.
mas HIS WIFE AND SEVEN OF HIS
TEN CHILDREN WITH HIM.
Cant. George r. Bentley Launches schoon-
crs From Ills Farm Into the BAY OF
Fundy and Then Sails Thcm-HOmellke
Uayin which the Cabins Are Furnished.

ar as the classic ancient shippers call II,
the escutcheon-of the three-masted Nova
Scotisn schooner Ada Bentley ia unique,
nc is the wonderfultern herself. The name,
Ike the autograph of John Phoenix, may
bo relied upon as authentic, as IL was painted
bv Ca pt. George E. Bentley. the commander
ii the Bentley, himself. Whatever may be
the personal opinion of the shippers wife.
once a schooltea cher, for whom the fore
and after is named. in regard to the punct-
uation Of the nameboar I'd, she has made no
remarks except Of "A complimentary kind
about it. And far he it from the ship news
mant 10 pose as an art critic Of esoutcheons.
A. has been recorded, the Bentley ar
rived on Thursday from Santo Domingo
with a cargo of $40 tons Of sugar, and yes
terdav. after a night of Liberty Island,
size towed to a sugar house at Yonkers.
Can't. Bentley has along to keep him COM
rany his blue eyed and cheerful wife, seven
Children and a colored maid, who does
the washing. There are no ordinary sea-
men aboard the Bentley. All, so the
skipper says, are extraordinary, and even
tha ebon cook considers himself as able
as anv man who ever tende sheet or hauled
m halvard. Never in the history OF the
mort of New York have so many persons
come to the bay in the ships company of
a fore-and-after.
The skipper is a, stocky, gray-eyed and
optimistic. He said:
The newspapers were wrong this morn
ing when they said | had all my family
with me. | left three at home in Port
Greyille, Nova Scotia, on the Bay of Fundy
twins, fourteen months old, and Lille,
nv fonr-year-old."
Mrs. Bentley broke. in at this point to give
some information about the ages and names
Of tho children, which the skipper said he
could not remember. With the ship were
MYRTLE. 70 wears old Walter, aged Is. one
Of the finest bows that ever helped set sail"
and a swift hand aloft; Wilkinson, IL years
old: Marvin, aged :: Brazil, . years old;
Mlriel, II years old, and lrina, . years old.
The twins, Dorcns and Lois, and Lille, the
four-vear-old. unconsciously included in the
census by the father, were at home. The
population Of Port Greville, Mrs. BENTLEY
said, was made up mostly OF Bentleys.
Doubtless the reporters would wonder at
tho peclliaritv of some OF the names. The
twins we're named for Biblical personagesand
tho others were the selection Of the family,
which does not believe in ordinary names.
Capt. Bentley said that the Bentley was
the seventh schooner that he had launched
from the bach door of his farm ia cling the
beach of the Bay of Fundy. This bay, as
Capt. Jim Dever Of the natty brigant inc
Miramichi says in his exhaustive work on
the subject, is also unique, the tides, at GER
tain sHa,pns having a rise and fall, of SO
fc.. The shipyard of Capt Bentley at
Port Greville employs twenty-five men in
the season when the skipper is not search
ing for cargoes in faraway ports or TAX
ing most of the population on an outing,
Il do not raise much on the farm" the
ana babies. Not one Of my little ones
bas been born at sea. Most of the spruce,
hscmatack and pine l cut on the farm.
The masts Of the Bently, which are more
than ninety feet above the deck, l had to
have shipped all the way from Seattle.
Timber don't grow tall in Nova Scotia;
The Bentley is the best ship ever launched
from my yard. Folks came all the way
from Maine TO see her slide off the ways.
We simply had to wait for the tide to come
up and then knocked out the chocks She's
Al, under American register, for twelve
wears. and she showed herself worthy
Of the rating or the trip up from Santo
Domingo"
The after cabin Of the Bentley is divided
into two parts by a partition. In the after
seal from the farmhouse. in which the
baby, lrma. sleeps with her mother. He
himself occupies a berth Immediately above,
suspended from the scantling of the top
Of the cabin. The rest of the children
s,aeo in berths in the forward half of the
C4hin. The sleeping quarters are as liberal
a. those of many New York flats but they
ave not been painted. The fact is the
Bent'av was launched in an unfinished
c~on1ition inside but of fine shape other
WIS.,.
l'ne Bentley sailed from Port Greville
on her maiden voyage on November %,
laden with spruce cut from the shippers
farm. He arrived here after a pleasant
vcvag e on December Is with all his seven
youngsters and the same crew he has now.
He took aboard a general cargo and sailed
for Martinique on January 10. He had fair
Weather all the way and made the trip in
'eycntecn days; After discharging he
saIlel for Santo Domingo in ballast.
He was boarded of Santo Domingo City
by a lieutenant of the American gunboat,
Dubuque, who became much Interested
in the family party, particularly the little,
bright eyed two-year-old Irma. The lieu
tenant, finding that the papersof the Bentley
were all right, went back to the gunboat.
He returned next day with a billy goat. which
he said had been the Dubuque's mascot.
He presented the goat to 1rma, who en-
hraced it enthusiastically after she realized
that 1t belonged to her. The Lieutenant
told them the name of the goat was Ran
dolph Hearst. Capt. Bentley, who gives
little attention to anything except his
snlpvard and family affairs, and knows
nothing OF American politics, asked with
grave simplicity Yesterday, who is Ran
dolph Hearst" The goat was fed fire.
quently and literally, but died on the trip.
The admlring Lieutenant also gave little
lima a game Santo Domingo rooster.
The rooster got up one morning while the
wind was blowing o gale and welcomed
the sun from a perch on the weather rail
His comb was soon out Of sight under the
roar Of combers.
Capt. Bentley was 16 when he had his first
command, a little two-mnsted trading
schooner plying etween Nova Scotian ports
and Boston, He had no certificate but he
knew all about the business, having first
gone to sea when he was a boy of 8 aboard
his fathers ship. He was the Youngest
navigator that ever has gone out Of Nova
Scotia. For two years he was master Of a
square rigger. Although a captain twenty
eight years he never has been shipwreclied
and never has lost a spar. The %ronghest, or
one Of the toughest, trips in his long eXper-
ieace is that which he has just finished
The only seasick person aboard was Mrs.
%entley, and she was only one day under
Il weather.
On the first day out from SantoD omin go the
ga was placid and the breeze light ard
favorable, In the Wirdward Passage n
heavy northeaster struck the schooner,
carrying away the jibstay and sending her
to ieeward under shortened canvas. With
II ten days Of reaching port, while laborin 6
under the assaults of crested cross seas,