The Sappho, a much larger schooner, sailed from New York to Falmouth in July, 1868, the time of her passage being fourteen days. She was in charge of Captain T. P. Baldwin, a retired merchant skipper, two mates, and six men before the mast, none of whom were yacht sailors. Judging from the logs of these two representative schooners, no difficulty was experienced in handling them, and both made excellent passages, the America reaching Havre in seventeen days and a half, in spite of the retarding circumstance that she carried only the small sails of the pilot boat Mary Taylor, a wonderfully fast schooner built by Mr. George Steers.
Mr. E. F. Knight, the English yachtsman, has some very sensible things to say on this subject, and, as he speaks from wide experience, my readers will be interested in his remarks. He says:
"It is my opinion that there should not be a single yacht sailor on board the foreign-cruising 50-tonner. It is difficult to get the right ones, and it will be bad for the owner if he fall in with the wrong ones—men who have been spoilt by foolish employers, for instance; a numerous class, I fear. We all know them. Smart-looking fellows enough, maybe, but shirkers of honest work. They prefer to ship on show yachts belonging to owners who like to exhibit themselves and their vessels in the fashionable yachting ports each sea-
