Arthur Hamilton Clark

“ And, like England in her defense against Spain, the United States gathered her gallant sons and sent them out upon the ocean to attack the flag of Great Britain whenever and wherever it could be found upon the sea. Side by side with the memorable naval battles that illumine the pages of American history, on the lakes and on the sea, stand the heroic exploits of the privateers and their intrepid commanders and crews. ”

“ The Witch of the Wave had a crew of Portsmouth riggers, shipped by the run to Boston, and it did not take them long to put the topsails on her. As soon as the yards were braced, she began to dart through the water like a fish, and soon ranged up on the weather beam of the R. B. Forbes, the hawser towing between them with the bight skipping along among the blue waves in showers of sparkling spray. On board the R. B. Forbes the safety valve was lifting, with steam at thirty pounds pressure murmuring in protest to the breeze. ”

“ Amsterdam rose to be a city of the first rank,—the centre of commerce in Europe,—and Holland grew in wealth and influence until it not only held its own against Spain, but invaded Spain's most valuable monopolies.
From remote times, the people of Holland have been celebrated for their skill and industry upon the ocean. They were the first to develop the whale and herring fisheries, which proved not only a source of great wealth, but were the nursery of a splendid race of seamen. ”

“ One can scarcely conceive anything more grimly grotesque than the spectacle of these inexperienced reformers, in their red flannel shirts and black slouched hats with pistols and bowie-knives stuck in their leather belts, and trousers tucked into the tops of their cowhide boots, the odor of the gin palace and dance-hall clinging to their unwashed skins and clothing, as they wended their way to Pacific Wharf, where the Challenge lay moored, and demanded that Captain Waterman and his officers be delivered over to them for purposes of justice. ”

“ This grand ocean exploit was celebrated in San Francisco with rejoicing, as every American in the town felt, now that the voyage round Cape Horn had been made in three months, that he was nearer to his old home in the East; while in the Atlantic seaports the news was received with enthusiasm, and was regarded by the press not only as a personal victory for the owners, builder, and captain of the Flying Cloud, but as a triumph of the United States upon the sea. ”

“ Fleet Street was the course of the River Fleet. Walbrook was a winding stream, passing through the city into the Thames. And London Bridge was a structure covered with wooden houses on each side.
The houses of London, at that period, were built of wood thatched with straw, each story projecting forward, one above the other, until the houses nearly met over the middle of the streets. And many of these were narrow, without pavements, badly drained; constantly strewn with every kind of refuse and filth, engendering pestilential vapors. ”

“ In 1796 the Vauxhall Cup was sailed for from Vauxhall Gardens to Putney Bridge by the Vixen, Captain Fairbrother, and the Mercury, Captain Astley. The wind was light, with rain showers, and the Vixen drifted past the mark-boat the winner. "The river was covered with vessels of all descriptions from barges to wherrys, and the Turkish Ambassador was in the Vauxhall cutter, and the magnificent car was exhibited on the occasion filled with musicians, and formed no less a splendid sight than an attractive entertainment." ”

“ McKay was of a generous nature, and liberally rewarded the men who assisted him, and he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than himself. So soon as he began to prosper he sent for his parents and made a new home for them at East Boston, and their comfort and happiness were always his care and greatest pleasure. In his later years he endured misfortune and ingratitude with the same sturdy sweetness and equanimity that he had shown in the days when fortune smiled. ”

“ In those days ships carried single topsails with four reef-bands, studding sails, ringtails, water-sails and sky-sails, when
"A yankee clipper and yankee crew,
A yankee mate and captain too"
were picturesque and even romantic objects of interest, which so many New England boys were unable to resist, and whose influence continued strong in after life; for the love of a ship and the sea once implanted is rarely, if ever, uprooted.
In what, then, does this pleasure of being on the ocean in a finely-equipped, well-manned and commanded sailing vessel really consist? ”

“ It had been the policy of Great Britain to keep her American colonies as much as possible in ignorance concerning naval affairs, doubtless from fear of their growing ambition. They were therefore led to copy the models of French vessels, not only from choice, on account of their excellence, but from necessity as well. Thus it came about that the frigates of Great Britain and the United States were developed from the same source.
A sailing ship is an exceedingly complex, sensitive, and capricious creation—quite as much so as most human beings. ”

“ I have endeavored to trace the origin and first era of the development of yachts and yachting from the year 1600 until the establishment of Yacht Club, in 1815, and have thus brought this history within the majestic portal of the nineteenth century, with its steadfast endeavor and brilliant achievement in all branches of knowledge, while yachts and yachting have also steadily advanced with scientific discovery and the accumulation of wealth. ”

“ One of the New York papers [1] in the course of an editorial remarked: "Such a passage as this is more than a local triumph, and inures to the reputation not alone of the builder of the ship and her enterprising owners, but of the United States. It is truly a national triumph, and points clearly and unmistakably to the preeminence upon the ocean which awaits the United States of America. The log of the Flying Cloud is now before us. It is the most wonderful record that pen ever indited, for rapid as was the passage, it was performed under circumstances by no means the most favorable." ”

“ At that time the commercial greatness of the United States rested upon the splendid qualities shown by her sailing ships and their captains upon the ocean. And after all the only really rational sovereignty of the seas that exists, or has ever existed, is maintained by the merchant marine, whose ships and seamen contribute not only to the welfare and happiness of mankind, but also to the wealth of the nations under whose flags they sail. ”

“ The nearness to the forces and glories of nature, the awful majesty of the hurricane is inspiring, as the ship, stripped of her canvas, with naked spars, held between earth and sky in the strong grasp of the mighty ocean, wages her battle amid the wild waves and pitiless blast of the whirlwind. And this sublime solitude is never loneliness; for, on the ocean one is never less alone than when alone, and the absolute stillness and quiet when the winds and waves are at rest are peace to the soul. ”

“ Many of the merchants had been sea-captains in their youth, and it was the captains who really made Salem famous. These men, from the training of the New England schoolroom and meetinghouse, went out into the world and gathered there the fruits of centuries of civilization, which they brought home to soften the narrow self-righteousness of their fellow-citizens. In later years these captains carried missionaries to India, China, and Africa, unconscious that they were themselves the real missionaries, whose influence had wrought so desirable a change in New England thought and character. ”

“ Moreover, yachting is a sport by no means confined to one yacht gaining mastery over others in point of speed; but to that grander mastery upon the sea, over tides, head winds, fierce waves, and over oneself in calms and fogs. ”