Evening star., 1924-08-10

north and south for 500 miles,
and from its northern end at
Cape Chidley the distance Is
about as much again UP Hudson's
Strait to the Bay. A longish jaunt
for a 3o-foot motor boat. but with
my cruising partner Bob" to keep
the engine going, 1 gambied that we
could make it in spite of head winds.
ice, storms and a total absence of
repair shops.
1t was to be non-return trip for
our little ship, the Daryl. She had
been bought by the Hudson Bay
Company, and our job was to deliver
her and get out again as best we
might.
We picked her up at a mission post
. on the North Shore Of the Gulf of ST.
Lawrence, where she had done noble
service for several years. but had not
been equally we'll done by. This was
not due to any intentional neglect.
but simply to the fact that surgical
instruments do not happen to be well
adapted to repairing engines and
boats. The good surgeon in charge
had fastened the journal boxes of her
connecting-rod bearings with fine
copper wire in lieu of nuts and bolts.
and there was certain evidence OF
surgical technique in various other
little jobs he had done to hold her tc-
gether.
1t was really wonder the whole
motor did not break up into is COM
ponent parts the first time we turned
it over. Yet nothing essential IVES
actually missing. and after Bob had
set up all the bearings tight and
washed the fish oil out Of her in
nards," as he disgustedly put it, we
found that she would mote"
The accommodations were snug,
but sufficient A cabin some IL feet
long under a low trunk housed
the motor, a good sized coal stove. all
our supplies and equipment-and our
selves When We had squeezed in we
felt like a couple of chestnut worms
on their native heath. But, as Bob
limit. We held stretching exercises
several times a day-especially after
working on the motor.
The starting point was Great Me-
cattina Island on the north shore OF
the gulf After due consultatio on with
the doctor and predictions of, early
disaster from various sources. we
concluded it might be wise to try our
ship out in a short spin. All the day
before a hard sou'wester had been
blowing and when we eased past the
rocky point which gave shelter to the
harbor and ran into the first of the
long gray surges outside, the little
Daryl lifted like an Irish hunter
going over a fve-rail fence. Bob
poked his head up through the hatch.
lis it going to be like this right
along?" he inquired mildly.
Reckon it is-for a while. Why?"
well, if this junk-heap once dies,
I'll never get her going again. Let's
give her a shoot and keep her at it,"
*
go our trial spin turned out to be
~ the real start. Presently i dis
covered why Bob had not wanted TO
turn back. 1t appeared that the en-
CINE had been run for months on
lowe grade fuel Oil which, in his
words, "gummed her up something
awful once stopped, the pistons
.'froze" solid within their cylinders,
and 1t required the strength OF a
Hercules simply to turn the n.y.
wheel over He thoughtfully spared
me the knowledge of this narrowing
fact.
1t was $50 miles just to where the
Labrador coast began, and this pas
sage down through Belle Isle Strait
gave US one of the choicest thrills OF
the expedition. We ran all night
through a drizzle of rain and fog,
first one and then the other Of jun
bo's" two cylinders going dead and
having to be coaxed back to life. We
guessed our position to be in the mar
row part of the strait, where the tide
runs with considerable violence and
both shores are strewn with reefs.
Presently the wind went into the west
and began to blow in fierce squalls
Anywhere else this would have
driven the fog away, but not so there.
1t streamed past, dense as snow, and
became, II possible, more opaque than
before. Suddenly a small iceberg
looned ahead. Daryl lodged 1t in
the nick Of time, took a big sea over
her stern and was swept from end
to end. She emerged exuding brine,
and we found ourselves in the midst
of a stream of floating ice. And
than lust TO cheer us UP, the engine
died.
Bob attempted to crank the thing
and swore. you'll have to sail her.
he announced.
had doused our CANVAS light
yawl rig-just few minutes before
in Difference to the weather; but now
it seemed to offer our best hope. We
put the rags back on her and con-
tinued to dodge ice. A single coll
lision would have made matchwood
of the Daryl, but at that there was
far more dancec in drifting than in
sailing.
Time passed rapidly and almost be-
fore we knew it dusk was falling.
owing to the treacherous currents.
had. very little faith in our reckoning
and was half expecting every moment
to see dirty reef with the sea smash
ing over 1t lift its head out Of the
mist. Bob. who was steering, .sug-
gestAd going aloft to try and see the
Bfador hills above the fog and SO
get some idea Of our position. This
A.