Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/189

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many a good British sailor, driving hitherto sober men to injure their health by excess whenever they get shore leave."

Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart., who saw the America win the cup that bears her name, over the Cowes course in 1851, and has been a devotee of the sport ever since, says: "Yacht sailors, as a rule, are sober, honest, obliging, good-*tempered, original. During the many years I have yachted I have had crews from north, east, west, and south, and I have almost without exception found them the same. A man must be hard to please, indeed, if after a three or four months' cruise, he does not part from his crew with regret, and with a genuine wish that they may meet again. Amongst yachting skippers I have come across some of the most honorable, trustworthy, honest men I have met in any class of life, men who knew their duty and were always willing and anxious to do it. The chief peculiarity of all the seafaring class that I have been brought into contact with, is their entire freedom from vulgarity. They are obliging to the utmost of their power, but never cringing or vulgar.

"The winter half of their lives is spent in fishing-boats or coasters, or sea voyages, where they have to face dangers and hardships that must be experienced to be realized. As a rule they are religious, and their preparations for the Sabbath, their washings and