Photograp!) by International

abouts furnished exciting sport at Sarasota. W. Roland, covered the nine-mile course in a little over 14 minutes

—

119 West 40th St., New York

No. 5

Racing of all kinds is popular in Florida. A class of fast displacement run-

CONTENTS

Cover Design by Albert D. Neville Navy Department Says: “Don't Fly The Yacht Ensign

ME RATA Ahh 6d HEE 64+ UNE eer eeaned cue se tude 13-14 ee he ne iiig ated és dakb ances weasees 15 ce 8 ee ee 16-17 By Water Ways to Gotham—Part 2..............0.205: 18-20 Among The Glacters of Alasha.........ccceccescccccees 21-23 EE 6 once seer RA dee eV esEs 68 eh dd +b eeein eabeeae 24 A en SE Nes kine cberrcteasioneedonde Kes 25-26 Re re rr er 27 oe FP ee ee ere 28-31 Biscayne Baby Class Still Attracts. ........00 0. cece eens 32-33 How I Would Design A Gold Cup Racer—Atkin........ 34-35 Cannonball, A Double Ended Hydroplane............... 36-37 A Fe ihis pebetsedeedrisasetessnuessan 38 Small Motor Boats, Their Care, Construction and Equip-

WEEE i tnddniivnens inn0saks deeiensianetartiantennss 39-42

Prize Question No. 1: Solving The Carbon Problem 39-40 Prize Question No. 2: Canvasing and Finishing The

SN. Secadacusneac Be PR See Oar See 41-42 Pla TE BOE 6 iis 6 oaks canes tenes venssenss 43 The 1925 Improved Hall-Scott Six... ........00 cece eees 43 FE PU fi cheeadadevcedévauseseiensovaus 44 A TE FE yoo 5 5 500 bck dhensaeveveveses 45 FOR bsbb 6ikte4cd ed adeddinsesbdebwetens 46

Miss Ohio, owned by T.

Next Month

NOTHER interesting in-

stallment of Lewis R. Freeman’s story, By Water Ways to Gotham. A cruise from Milwaukee to New York in a 16-foot rowboat, powered only with an out- board engine of three horse- power. Instructive, enter- taining and thrilling.

NEW series of articles

by Alfred F. Loomis, written particularly for the benefit of the young folks. An instructive story which will describe the operation of gas engines, both two and four-cycle, and written in elementary § language which no boy will fail to comprehend. It will be a veritable education in gas engine technique, and all yachtsmen should see that their offspring read and study these articles.

ILLIAM ATKIN has

designed for you an exceptional little cruiser. This boat is a flat bottom type and intended for the cruiser of moderate circum- stances. A small engine and a comfortable boat, suffi- cient to afford countless hours of pleasure and recre- ation to the man with a desire for a boat, but who must do his boating in the least expensive way.

NOTHER valuable edu-

cational feature is an illustrated article on the use of current diagrams and tide tables, written and prepared by Commander G. T. Rude, of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Every yachtsman should read and be familiar with this branch of naviga- tion, since it will frequently save hours of time and many gallons of fuel.

MoToR BoatinG is published monthly by the International Magazine Company, Inc., William Randolph Hearst, president; C

Hathaway, a gg Ray Long, vice-president; J ih A. Moore, treasurer; A ta early subscription in the United States and Canada, $3.00. In foreign

New York, S. A. Single copies, 25 cents.

- 5 Clark, secretary, 119 West 40th &t.,

counteles, $4.00. When you receive notice that your subscription has expired it is best to renew it at once, using the blank enclosed. hen changing an address, give the old address as well as the new and allow five weeks for the first copy to reach you. Copyright, 1925, International Magazine Company, Inc. MoToR BoatinG is fully protected by copyright and nothing that appears in it may be

reprinted wholly or in part without permission.

Vol. XXXV

U9 West 40™ Street. New York. N.Y.

Advertising Index wiil be found on page 166

2 Ra

At the right, club staff without yard or gaff. In such an arrangement, the American Ensign is flown on the mast- head with the Yacht Club Burgee just be- low the same

GREAT deal of confusion seems to exist in the minds

of most motor boat- men as to the proper National Flag to fly on the stern staff of their craft. Probably the greater number of the motorboats and yachts today fly the yacht ensign, but there is considerable uncer- tainty as to whether it is the proper flag which should be flown from this staff. Strictly speaking, a yacht should display the National Flag of its country from eight in the morning until sundown. The flag which we know as the Yacht Ensign is not the United States Flag and as a matter of fact has never been adopt-

ed or officially designated as one of the flags of our country. Therefore, yachtsmen, to be perfectly correct in their flag etiquette, should not fly the Yacht Ensign from the stern staff, but should fly the National Flag, con- sisting of the thirteen alternate red and white stripes with the blue field and forty-eight stars.

The Yacht Ensign is handed down to us from a practice adopted nearly a century ago, before the first steam yachts or motorboats existed. At that time, the only form of pleasure crait were a few boats propelled by sail. These boats in form and ap- pearance very closely resembled the commercial sailing craft of our coun- try, which at that time were very numerous on the high seas and har- bors of our country. Therefore, some sort of distinguishing signal was necessary as an outward sign that the particular boat in question was a yacht and not engaged in commercial Pursuits. Our thirtieth Congress au- thorized, on August 7th, 1848, that all licensed yachts shall use a signal of the form, size and color prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy. The Sec- retary of the Navy, at that time, designated the Yacht Ensign which

Na vy Department Sa LVS

‘Don’t k ly ne Yacht Hasign

ASHORE”

Yacht Clubs Should Be Par- ticular to Fly the American Ensign at Their Club Houses and Shore Stations

On a Yacht Club staff without yard but with gaff, the club burgee is flown from the masthead with a U. S. Flag at the yard arm

The Proper Colors to Fly Flag Staff Having Yard and Gaff

Rs coi cus aneboun nae cwametel At Masthead. 2 (Oe At Peak of Gaff. Flag of Officer in Command of Station for time being.........Starboard end of Yard.

Signals—Code or private (call)..At Port end of Yard. Signals or Union Jack, or For- eign Nation flag..........s.e00- If foreign flag is displayed, sug gest it, and U. S. Flag be at yard arms on the same level. U. S. Flag on starboard yard arm.

Flag Staff With Gaff (No Yard) NEY i.4c sug anuaberaeeccanmetenan Masthead.

U. 3. Flag.... a Flag Officer’s Signz ‘od other Signals--Union Jack ....Hoisted at Masthead and hauled down to clear Burgee or visi- bility Foreign Nation Flag............. Put pd block on Gaff.

Flag Staff With Yard (No Gaff)

rere At Masthead. & Gt OR esr ees On a Yard Arm Flag Officer’s Signal—Ccde ocr other Signals—Union Jack..... Yard Arm. Foreign Nation Flag............. When foreign flag is displayed. suggest U. S. Flag starboard Yard, foreign flag port yard and make signals from mast- head. Flag Staff Without Yard and Gaff RS eee SEE aid eked eids ys sacctseeodes Below U. S. Flag or two blocks if U. S. Flag is not set. Flag Officer’s Signal............. Below U. S. Flag or two blocks ‘ if U. S. Flag is not set. Code or other Signals............ Below U. S. Flag or two blocks if U. S. Flag is not set. NE I occcuevesnacecsresevers Below U. S. Flag or two blocks ; if U. S. Flag is not set. Foreign Nation Flag............. On same level with U. S. Flag.

NOTE—The U. S. Flag referred to is the U. S. National Flag, NOT the U. S. Yacht Ensign.

When it is desired to fly the flag of a foreign nation from a mast having yard arm only, the Club Burgee should be flown from the masthead with U. S. Flag at the starboard yard and foreign flag from the port yard

Photographs by M Rosentelj

On an arrangement where there is a gaff but no yard arm, the Club Bur- gee is flown from the masthead with the U. S. Flag on the gaff

we have today as the special signal for yachts, and for years it was flown from the rigging of yachts in addition to the American Flag, which was displayed in the same position as on commercial crafts. At the time there was no thought that the Yacht Ensign would in any way replace the American Flag or be used in its stead.

With the coming of the American yacht, and particularly the motor yacht of today, the real use for the Yacht Ensign and the real purpose for which it was originally intended, no longer exists. From their outward appear- ance any form of yacht today, either a sail or motor, can be easily distin- guished from commercial craft. There- fore, it follows that to be strictly in accordance with etiquette and law, our American yachts and motor craft should fly the National Flag and not the Yacht Ensign aft.

However uncertain it may be as to the proper flag or Yacht Ensign to fly aboard our craft when they are in commission, yet the practice and law as to the proper flag to fly ashore is very clear. As mentioned above, the Yacht Ensign is simply designated as a distinguishing signal to be flown on yachts. It was never intended that the Yacht Ensign should in any way oF at any time be flown ashore or any- where else except on a yacht in com- mission. (Continued on page 72)

for om the | in “ial no uld lag

ruising on a E Weds

The Yachting History of Colonel E. H. R. Green, Railroad Builder, Capitalist, Philanthropist and Patron of Motor Boating

HILE How- ard Lyon and I were

sitting out on the Flamingo Dock one day just before the Miami Midwinter Regatta, I looked across Bis- cayne Bay at a large houseboat, tied up to Star Island, that had aroused my curiosity for over two months. “Who belongs to her?” I asked him, pointing her out.

“Oh, that is the Colonel, that be- longs to Colonel Green. He is a real yachtsman. You ought to know him.” Then he went on to tell me a lot of the Colonel’s experiences afloat. I interrupted to say that they sounded good enough for MoToR BoatinG and the upshot of the conversation was that I got Lyon to intercede with Colo- nel Green at the next meeting of the Re- gatta Committee, and he, with consid- erable reluctance, agreed to be inter- viewed.

I promptly grabbed Rosey, to take some Pictures, drove over to Star Island, and found the Colonel standing on his dock. These big men are

doubtless constantly overrun with reporters, and as this was my first experience on a regular interview, I didn’t know quite where to begin. The first thing that struck me was that Colonel Green must be a Preity good sportsman to stick to yachting, because he is lame and cannot jump around the way the younger man in the game can, but it certainly has not dampened his

By FRANK PEMBROKE HUCKINS

TR AEN al xe

RAPA RAS COWLAOODY BOE, — ~ . 4 A Vi in oa ,

te ee

Colonel E. H. R. Green at the entrance to the novel elevator on board his remarkably fine diesel yacht Colonel

airplane. oy Now,”

Photographs by M. Rosenfeld

enthusiasm. He or- dered me to come aboard with a gruff- ness that was not inhospitable, and promptly walked into an elevator, shut the door and pushed a button. This took my breath away. I have seen some great schemes on _ yachts before, but this one certainly deserves the blue ribbon for in- genuity in getting around an incapacity that would drive most men out of the sport.

By the time I had decided that we were on a boat and not in an apartment hotel, the elevator stopped, the door opened, and we walked out of one of the smokestacks, mind you, onto the deck. We looked around here a bit, Rosey did his stuff, faded out of the pic- ture, the Colonel gave me another ride in the elevator, down to the promenade deck, or whatever you call the second deck of a yacht big enough to have three decks, and we sat down out forward in extremely comfort- able chairs, com- manding the best view of the Beach and the race course

that is obtainable outside of an

said I, confronting the Colonel with what I tried to make appear as an experienced attitude, “will you tell me the history of your yachting career, starting at the be- ginning.” (I came very near relaps- ing into the Huck Says style just then and adding, “Which he done.”) (Continued on page 104)

4 4 { a

HUCK Says

(Goop ByEM

Burnin ig B reakers, Bibulous Blusterer;

ELL, Chap, was you the person what complained of the noise in Cur de Lyon’s room in the Flamingo along

about two o’clock last night? They blames it on me, but I wasn’t the guy what done it. You knows that my room it was next door. The Curdled Lyon, he won a bag of swell golf clubs for coming in second in the Free-for-all at the Midwinter Regatta. Maybe he might of come in first, but the big dumbbell goes into the race with a party of seven guests aboard and then he tries to tell me that he thought the race, it was the next day, and the first thing he knows a gun it bangs off just as he was opposite the judges’ boat and he sees a lot of boats start, so he goes along too, and that night he reads in the paper as how he comes in second, and tonight they hands him a bag full of golf clubs and the first thing he done, it was to crack me in the shin with a putter, showing me as how it is done.

But as I was saying before, along about two A. M., just as I was getting to bed early, he comes crashing into his room with a lot of other notorious characters. Right off I hears Wilbur Young start in to tell somebody that Ira Hand, he was a total loss any- ways and Ira, he horns in and says as how Wilbur isn’t got enough brains to know what a total loss is when he sees

one. About the time they has run out of fuel, Harry Greening he starts up and says as how the periphereal speed of a surface propeller, it is such that when the square root of the slip it is divided by ten, that at 99 knots one of the blades of the wheel it is sure to fly off on account of the great torque. I doesn’t know about that kind of torque, but their talk, it was getting so loud that pretty soon the night watchman, he bangs on the door and he says, stern-like, “Hey, does you think that this, it is the Senate in session? Doesn’t you know that they is some respectable people in this hotel what wants to sleep? Cut it out.” Which they done.

They is a lot of things what I wanted to ask you about. I woulda asked you them face to face, but you snook off last night and took the train back to New York when we

“Is you the Hand of V bottom fame?” “No,” says Ira, “I is Hand with the round bottom”

Sin ~

Bouncing Boats, | ind Bronzed Babies f

none of us was looking. What was the matter? Was you suspected of bootleg- sing? Or did one of these Bronzed \Mammas try to speak to you? Or what? Anyways, what I wants to know is as follows: When they is only eight men appointed on the Regatta Committee, how ; that when you holds a meeting eighty fellers horns in? Why didn’t I get some kind of a prize? Everybody else down here got one, whether they was in a boat race or just talking all the time. Why does all the yachtsmen come from Detroit ? While you is thinking up suitable an- swers to these questions, I proposes to tell the public something about this Mid- winter Regatta. In the first place, they has a meeting of the Regatta Committec. Commodore Gus Schantz, he opens the meeting with a prayer, that they has a chance race. Then Commodore Kotcher, he makes a speech, either for or against it, 1 forgets which. Then ten other fellers from Detroit, they makes speeches, either for or against it, I forgets which. Then you puts it to a vote and everybody but Gus Schantz, they votes against it. Then you appoints a committee to clear all the foating bottles off’n the course. Then : Gus Schantz, he makes a speech in favor ; of having a chance race, and when you calls him to order, ten other fellers from Detroit, they gets up, singly and in pairs, and they speaks, for or against it, I for- gets which, including Gar Wood, whe gets up and claims that his runabouts, they was the only gentlemanly runabouts what would runabout the course. No vote was taken. Then you appoints the ’ Chief of Police to take charge of the Police, which he probably appreciated. Then Commodore Schantz, he gets up and proposes that they has a Chance Race. Then you appoints the Chief of the Fire Department to take charge of the fires, which it was a intelligent thing lor you to do, I thinks. Then you asks Ira Hand if he wants to make a speech and he gets up and he says as how he has / nothing to say, for which I thinks they : ought to give him the Gold Cup.

Then Gus Shantz, he gets up and says as how it would be a good idea to have —

(Continued on page 70)

as) ae

att

Doesn't you know that they is rags

some respectable people in this sey

hotel what wants to sleep. Cut it out

ise A 4

Just before leaving the landing float of the yacht club at Milwaukee

ater By \ ays

» GOTHAM

By LEWIS R. FREEMAN

The first part of the Adventure cruise story, By Water Ways to Gotham began in April MoToR BoatinG and described many of the problems inci- dental to fitting out the boat and securing the needed equipment for its

cruise.

It is being made in an eighteen foot runabout, fitted with a two-

cylinder Elto outboard engine as its sole power plant. The intention is to navigate single handed from Milwaukee to New York, via the Lakes and Rivers. Due to the limited space on board a small boat the big problem is

to find space to stow the necessary baggage and provisions.

This install-

ment finds the boat actually starting on its voyage.

Up THE WEST SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN Part II

the man who. sails the Great Lakes is better off

than the navigator of the major salt water seas. That is on the score of the availability and dependability of weather forecasts. Completely surrounded by settled regions, reports of meteorological changes in every direc- tion makes it possible to forecast the approach of general storms with comparative certainty. On ocean coasts, on the other hand, the great seaward area is largely a blank from the forecaster’s standpoint, and considerable dis- turbances may descend unheralded save by the some-

_ HERE is one particular—and one only—in which

times cryptic barometer. Radio reports from ships ply- ing the regular sea lanes have mitigated this difficulty considerably, but such weather service is hardly com- parable to that available in a region where the move- ments of storms can be charted hour by hour in what- ever direction they are swooping.

Since by far the greater part of the course I had laid out for my voyage through the Lakes was to be along coasts where weather reports would only be available belatedly if at all, there was really no great comfort to be extracted from a condition of which only the regular

ae n= |

—-"-e © 83 Oo

- ne Gee mmm nk he ae a eS

some heart from it, however, was due to the fact that

navigator could take full advantage. That I did take _ into the oil- and coal-dust-streaked tongue of water called the Milwaukee River and started for the Yacht Club on

regular Weather Bureau service was going to be avail- the outer harbor. It was like throwing a snow-baby into

able to the several Coast Guard stations located at con- yenient intervals along the first, and conceivably the worst, leg of my voyage—the open and‘stormy west coast of Lake Michigan. With everything still to learn about Great Lakes navigational conditions, this, with reason- able care and luck, would give a fair chance to get shaken down for the work along the wilder and more

unsettled coasts far- ther along.

The fair weather promised for the day set for my departure from Milwaukee came on as forecast. The morning was mild, windless and cloudless, with not even a blur of murk- iness hanging as a threat on the north- eastern horizon. I was to learn later that most of the days that came with these smiling, shining morning faces had clubs behind their backs in the way of afternoon thunder- squalls. But this day was an_ exception, bent on playing out the game with the cards thrown down on the table at the opening dawn-time deal.

A highly welcome recruit for the run as far as Green Bay turned up at the last moment in the per- son of Newell Tel- lander of the Mil- waukee Yacht Club. He had just brought his own yawl through the tail of the late storm from some- where on the north- ern lake, but was quite unable to resist the temptation to find out at first hand how the same waters would behave to a rowboat. For my part, overloaded though my little craft Promised to be, I was only too glad to have with me for the initiatory period one of the most experi- enced of Lake Michi- gan yachtsmen. I was especially pleased at

Ready to push off into the lake at the beginning of the long voyage

the prospect of having potential help available in the wind and sea came up. event of a forced landing in rough weather. Just how like that of a mill-pond, one could keep dry on a plank.

my boat was going to be taken in through breakers and beached was a problem which I knew was going to take a deal of solving, and it was reassuring to know that my first tentative experiments would have the benefit of an

extra head and hand.

lo the accompaniment of the cheers of crowds on the bridges and the tooting of whistles, we launched the boat

a pit of tar, with the consequence that what were one moment glossy dove-gray sides, sparkling under a coat of indurated spar varnish as the boat flashed through the sunlight on her maiden plunge, were transformed in an instant to the dusky, unrefulgent smeariness of the bows of a self-dumping coal-barge. swan trying to navigate the great pitch lake of Trinidad

Lohengrin’s homing

couldn’t have made a sadder mess of it. And that was the launching, the occa- sion so carefully and prayerfully prepared for by sailors that all may be _ propitious and of good omen! No wonder our friends at the Yacht Club asked if we'd replaced the _ tradi- tional bottle of cham- pagne with a coal- hod.

And the omen of that far from auspi- cious launching was singularly prophetic. A month and a half later running through Harlem River and Hell Gate and across Long Island Sound to Flushing — the voyage that had be- gun in a mile of oil and coal-dust, fin- ished in ten miles of garbage. Yet be- tween these unsavory havens of departure and arrival stretched two thousand miles of the cleanest, greenest water, and a hundred days of the liveliest and most exhilarating naviga- tion I have ever known.

What with a fare- well luncheon party at the Yacht Club and the infinite odds and ends of loading, trimming and a final shake-down of outfit, it was close to four- thirty before we were ready to make a start. With the ad- dition of Tellander’s weight, the boat sat even lower in the water than I had an- ticipated; but that was not a matter to worry about until the

With the surface of the lake

There was the usual flood of parting advice and ad- monition, most of it superfluous. caide, in command of the Milwaukee Coast Guard sta- tion, coming from a man with one of the most notable

That of Captain Kin-

life-saving records in the service, could not be taken

otherwise than seriously. . “Hug the coast pretty close all the way round the west

The coast guard crew at Sheboygan take their boat out for a practice trip

and north shores of Michigan,” he said. “After you get to the Straits of Mackinac you will have islands to dodge behind most of the way to the foot of Georgian Bay. But don’t take any unnecessary chances along the oper coasts of Lake Michigan. Don’t leave harbor if the weather is threatening, and if it becomes threatening while you are out, head for the nearest shore and make your landing before the seas get up. Don’t risk keeping out on the lake with bad weather coming up from any direction. A squall off the land may blow you out into the middle of the lake even if it doesn’t swamp you, while one from the lake will quickly get up such a sea that you can’t count on making a safe landing through the breakers. You'll find it a good rule not to get over four or five miles offshore at any time, no matter how much distance you can save by cutting from point to point.”

“But on a day of really settled weather—” I started to protest. I was ready enough to keep port in storms, but still harbored an idea that lost time could be made up by cutting corners when the going was good in between.

Wrinkles etched by a hundred storms on Captain Kin- caide’s weather-beaten face deepened and lengthened as he tried to repress a smile of amused indulgence.

“T forgot you were a stranger to these waters,” he said, half apologetically ; “else you’d know that there isn’t such a thing as settled weather on the Great Lakes, either in summer or winter. The fairest morning is likely to give you the foulest afternoon. You can’t take liberties with them in a ten thousand-ton freighter, let alone where you can beach ahead of bad weather. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

It has since occurred to me that these few simple admonitions of Captain Kincaide’s might be framed as an epitome of directions for rowboat and canoe naviga- tion of the Great Lakes. My respect for the wisdom

of them. increased with experience, and especially as a

sequel to the events following the one occasion on which I held them in flagrant disregard. Just as long as I kept them well in mind and acted accordingly, I was safe, or comparatively so; and the time I failed to heed them I was sorry, very sorry, indeed.

With but four hours of daylight left, Port Washing- ton, thirty miles to the north, was the only convenient harbor to be made for the night. Running out through the anchored yachting fleet, we headed. up for the north entrance of Milwaukee Harbor. The water was still glassy smooth, with barely a lop against the sides of 4 breakwater which, three days previously, I had seen almost completely obscured by the heavy surges crash- ing in against it from the lake. Outside was a continua- tion of the mirrorlike calm, with the glistening blue- green surface of the lake stretching unbroken to where water and sky merged in the slaty blur of smoke floating above the main steamer track.

Running due north, we passed close to the concrete crib of the old Milwaukee waterworks and headed up the bluffy coast. Water with barely enough movement to sparkle in the declining afternoon sun lapped an un- ending ribbon of silver-bright beach, with patches of sward behind and knots of trees still fresh with early summer’s new leafiness. A flock of ducks floated lazi’, doubled in size by their reflections in the mirror below. Seaward, a sloop with drooping sail, becalmed, waited for a breath of evening breeze.

There was something strangely familiar in the almost Nirvanic calm of that unwinding diorama of seascape and landscape which not even the staccato of a hard- hitting little motor could quite dispel, and presently | recalled what it was. It was the Great Lakes as I had first glimpsed them, the characteristic Great Lakes picture which had been in my mind when I planned my original quiet water voyage—‘“just one silver strand after another

(Continued on page 106)

Among the

Glac 1ers of Allaska

Thousand Miles of Exploration Along Waterways of Indescribable Beauty and Awe-Inspiring Might—Cruising in a Small Boat With a Mechanical Kicker

By JOHN EDWIN HOAG

(Photographs by the Author)

ept fe,

ig- ant

exception of a few streams that rise in snow-clad

mountains to dwindle away into blistering deserts, it is doubtful if such a thing as a salt water river really exists on the surface of our planet. Yet, within the geographical boundaries of the American Continent, and largely within the political jurisdiction of the United States, there is a stretch of waterway which to the motor- boatman, yachtsman, and lover of indescribably beautiful scenery and geographical phenomenon is nothing more nor less than a salt water river a thousand miles in length. Moreover, this extraordinary sheet of water has approxi- mately 350,000 miles of shore line, and in places is as much as 350 fathoms deep.

That a river a thousand miles in length can have a shore line equivalent to the distance fourteen times around the earth at the equator, makes it obvious that this unusual salt water river has shores that are very

R exc are not ordinarily salty, and with the

U. S. Eagle Boat No. 57 in front of Taku Glacier, Alaska.

irregular. Its surface is studded with innumerable islands—islands ranging from mere snags of rock to small continents; some of them larger than many of the independent nations of the world. There are bays and inlets along this stream as uncountable as the stars of the Milky Way. These range from tiny coves to great sounds large enough and deep enough to provide safe and roomy anchorage for assembling in a single group all the combined merchant ships and naval vessels of the seven seas.

This tremendous salt water river with its innumerable bays, inlets, coves, and sounds—its almost interminable shore line of virgin forests, rugged snow-clad mountains, titanic glaciers, and sparse human population—is known, for lack of a better name, as The Inside Passages. A iractional portion of its shore and water area has been viewed by tens of thousands of exclamatory first-time tourists, most of whom have enthused over or been

Photographed from a floating iceberg

eaten a te

ITER

Ikigihk going North on the deck of Eagle 57 among the glacial ice floes in Taku Inlet, Alaska

utterly bewildered by the grandeur of the ever-changing panorama before them as they stood upon the decks of steamships plying between Seattle, Washington, and Skaguay, Alaska. A mere handful of motorboatmen and yachtsmen have learned that here is one of the most magnificent summer playgrounds on the face of the earth. In generations to come millions will learn of this mar- velous region, which today is known to comparatively few. Perhaps at some early future date some clever wit will devise a name more colorful than the sorrowful achromatic duo of almost meaningless words, Inside Passages, now used to designate a terrestrial wonderland upon which volumes might be written without even beginning to tell the story.

It was in July last year that Lionel W. Wiedey and the writer dropped off a Southern Pacific train at Port- land, Oregon, to supervise the final details of certain alterations and shipment te Seattle of a sixteen foot boat with which we proposed to carry out our own personally and privately conducted cruise through the world’s great- est salt water river. Everybody who derived a frag- mentary inkling of our plans knew we were insane. Our boat was merely a sixteen-foot Evinrude skiff—the little round-bottom spruce boat built over an oak frame, and cataloged by the Evinrude Motor Company, of Milwau- kee, Wisconsin, for use on quiet inland lakes and rivers. For purposes of locomotion it had a 2 h. p. single cylinder Evinrude outboard motor and a pair of oars.

Sometimes when we made camps at high tide, our boat would be beached high and dry a mile or more from water when the tide receded. If a landing was made on a gradually slop- ing shore the boat could not belaunched again until the next high tide

This boat was purchased out of stock at the Milwaukee frm’s Portland branch. The only alteration made was to fit it out with a centerboard and an 18-foot mast carry- ing 250 square feet of cat-rigged sail. This diminutive craft had neither air chambers nor the self-bailing feature with which sea-going life boats are conventionally equipped. Likewise it had no cabin and no provision for sleeping or preparing meals on board. To anyone with the slightest knowledge of boats it was evident that this little 300-pound cockleshell couldn’t weather much of a sea without being pounded under. One old Columbia River rat among those already convinced we were crazy, declared that a heavy fog condensing upon the walls of our centerboard well would fill our boat and founder us—there- fore, “How in the name of Jehosaphat we expected to cruise from Alaska back to the United States” was “too fur up the gulch” for him.

Further conversation with these boatmen, however, elicited the information that not one of them had any conception of the route we intended to cruise. They visualized our tiny boat being buffeted about like a match stem upon the hissing waves of the open Pacific. We, on the other hand, had spent months studying detailed navigation charts and maps—soliciting in- formation from Canadian and American Government sources, salmon fishermen, sourdough Alaskans, and about everybody else from whom a shred of reliable information might be gained. We had laid out our course through the Inland Passages. We had the tide tables almost committed to memory, and had scheduled our course to move WITH the tides as much as possible, to camp each night, and eat our meals on shore— and never to be beyond paddling distance from dry land with the aid of a life preserver, if we should be so unfortunate as to meet with mishap. We knew every point along the thousand- mile route where we could buy groceries, and had arranged for supplies of gasoline to be awaiting us along the shores over the longer portions of the trip where distance and the limited carry- ing capacity of our craft would not permit transporting the required amount of fuel.

In due time we arrived in Seattle, called at the freight house for our boat and equipment, and trucked the whole outfit to Colman Dock, where it was put aboard United States Eagle Boat No. 57. Squeaking against the dock, and tugging at her moorings on a rising tide, the naval craft was getting up steam

(Continued on page 128)

Ikigihk beached at the edge of East Twin Glacier.

Deceptive as it may seem, the ice walls seen in the background are probably 150 feet high and distant a quarter of a mile from the boat and party

Ikigihk among the floating drift ice in Twin Glacier Lake