Evening star., 1938-01-09
By NJ. LambOrne. J.


A FLOCK of swans streaked
~ the blue sky ahead as we
~ passed Ragged Point in the
4 a lower Potomac River. BY the
Larc's compass they were flying SOUTH
eastward. Like one giant and dis
torted serpent they beat their way
steadily, if little YEARLY. toward the
coastal feeding grounds of the Caro-
linas. 1T was yet early in November;
but successive cold waves in their
Canadian haunts were sending them
flying ahead of time.
Much like the migratory fowl, the
yacht Larc II, one of the first cruisers
to depart from Washington, was an
other Of that growing clan which each
fall cruises south with the sun into
Florida and the nearby Bahamas
More than predictions of a severe
winter were responsible for the in
creasing number of yachts noted. This
year marked the first fall that boats
could cruise, without once wetting
their decks with spray of the unpre-
dictable Atlantic, all the way down
the coast safely inside.
1t scarcely seems possible that the
Capital boat owner has before him
the gateway of the royal and coconut
palms. that can be made in the small
est crafts devoid of the worries and
discomforts of off-shore cruising The
1ntracoastal Waterway is the name
given to the series of joining water
routes that have been dredged and
marked with countless buoys to pro-
vide a nearly complete protected pas
sage for pleasure boats along the At
lantic and Gulf Coasts between New
England and Texas.
The route from the Delaware River,
where 1t leads through the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal, passes down the
bay to Norfolk. Oddly enough, this
section in the lower Chesapeake,
within . days run from Washington,
Is the most hazardous Of some 1900
miles that lie between the Capital and
Key West, Fla. For, below Norfolk,
the way is protected through long
canals, twisting creeks and rivers and
straight sounds.
THROUGH this portion of the wa
terway from fall until midwin-
ter can be seen great migration that
can only compare with the recent
trend southwark of "landlubbers" in
trailers. An observer at one point on
the route reports that last week 80
yachts of all sizes and descriptions
passed within five days. With the
completion of the last link between
Little River and Winyah Bay in South
Carolina in April of last year. boats
are able to travel the 1,139 miles of
the legendary and historic Southern
coast entirely inside" as this method
of cruising is known to yachtsmen
through the East.
At numerous points only few hours
by rail or plane from Washington, the
waterway traverses country that
seems part of another century and a
different world Great cypress swamps
stretch for miles, silent save for the
throbbing OF your boats engine. Glis-
tening sand dunes provide the only
barrier between your craft and the
noisy surf just beyond. Semi-tropical
vegetation crowds the banks of a
broad, sluggish river, reminiscent of
a certain Rio San Juan in Venezuela.
When the vast loneliness has made
itself felt after few days, you would
not be surprised to see an Indian in
all his f1nery padding around the next
point or catch glimpse through one
of the many inlets of pirate ship
standing in for shore.
This section formed an integral part
of the early history of our continent.
Those dunes we're the first landfall
made by the explorers of the sixteenth
century. One group of colonists after
another swept inland like the waves
that brought them across the sea to
lay the foundation of nation. The
waterway itself dates back to the days
of the colonies, when plans for canals
to connect the natural bodies of water
inside the coast line were discussed by
far-seeing colonials. As early as 1853,
following surveys made by George
Washington, the Dismal Swamp Canal.
constructed IN 1928 and still in use
today as an alternate route, was plan
ned.
1T WAS not until 1887 that Congress
= made an appropriation for survey
ing the Carolinas as far as Winyah