Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-07-03
CONTINUE ON WAY
After Spending Night in Rock
island, Visiting Launch
Owners Resume Journey.
EaaouTE TO MuscA1INI
Fleet of 10 Fine Cruisers Harbor Here
Over Night-Company Has En-
joyed a Fine Cruise.

The fleet of cruisers from st. Louis
and Alton arrived at the local boat
harbor last evening about O'Clock
and We're assigned places 10 tie up on
the booms. They are a fine lot OF
boats and there were people from all
over the three cities down during the
evening and this morning to see them,
Last evening the men who were on
the boats took trip over the city and
were shown the places of interest that
could be reached so late in the even
ing. The visitors put up for the
might at the Harper There We're
| about 40 people in the party. in
GLIDING the owners of the boats,
their wives and daughters and the
| men who take care of the engines.
After taking on gasoline and ice this
morning the cruisers departed on the
| last part of their long trip to Musca
| tine. There were 10 launches in the
| flee. and every one of them is fine
| boat. The Duro which carries the
commodore of the Mississippi Valley
Power Boat association. H. r. Combs
of st. Louis, headed the fleet. The
rest of the fleet and their owners are
as follows: Camille of Grafton owned
by H. E. Ripley; the Wigwam from
Alton, owned by H. L. Winters; the
Chum from Alton, owned by H
| Meyers; the Sparks | and the Sparks
II owned by Mr.. Seisle and Mr. Bell
of Alton; the Mercury from ST. Louis,
owned by Mr.. Stock; the Mermaid
owned by Captain F. J. Swain of ST.
Louis; the Harriet owned by DR.. Phil
lips of st. Louis, and the Gypsy of st.
Louis, belonging to Dr. English
1t was expected that there would be
"a number of the launches from Peoria
join the fleet and go with it TO Mus
catine but it seems that the Peoria
Ipeople backed out at the last minute
at any rate they did not come All the
boats in the fleet are from s.. Louis
Alton and Grafton. The cruise taken
BIZ these clubs is an annual affair and
this year on account of the carnival al
Muscatine and the big excitement
. there it was decided to make the
cruise little longer than usual and
sec the regatta. There were many ex
citing incidents during the trip ant
the travellers have had an excellent
time according to their stories of theil
Experiences so far.
Fun With Commodore.
The members of the party have con
siderable fun at the expense of Com
modore Combs, whose boat is not tn
fastest in the fleet by any means
While he is not the commodore of thu
st. Louis club he undertook to TAX
l charge of the fleet on this cruise Blu
The has had his hands full because tn
3 faster boats continually ran away fror
t him and got out of reach of his orders
1t was the plan at the start to max,
( lit regular squadron run and 10 b.
e under orders all the time but this pla
was sooI; found to be impracticable an
: after the boats left Peoria Commodor
Combs orders were for each boat t,
n reach the canal as soon as possible
After that the boats were kept S,
+, close together through the necessity O
;, going through the locks together tina
d bordering them was an easy task an,
: the commodore's troubles were owe
for the time and the boats arrived a
j. Rock Island in company.
Trouble in Canal.
There were a number of places il
| the canal where the water was yer,
low and tine after time the boats ha,
e Ito unite and pull each other out of tn
4 mud in which they found themselye
e stuck. The Harriet was run up almos
e lon the bank in one place. DR.. Phi
lips was steering to one side to a
O low the Mercury to pass his boat an,
: the wave which the latter boat drew
y ION account of the low water caugh
! 1.-THE Harriet and lifted it almost bodil
r up on the shore, making several hour
h work necessary to get it off.
Seven of the cruisers in the flee
have four cycle engines and their owr
lers claim that the cruise thus far ha
e clearly demonstrated their superiorit
a lover the two cycle type. Two of tn
: latter boats have had to be towe
lnearly half of the way since enterin
the canal while the four cycle engine
y have behaved admirably. The owner
,of the two cyles however claim tina