Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/190

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soapings and brushings, show with what pleasure they welcome its recurrence. Yacht minstrelsy, with its accordion, its songs of twenty verses, its never-ending choruses, its pathos, is a thing of itself. Some day, perhaps, some Albert Chevalier will make it fashionable. Such as they are, I know of no class of Englishmen superior, if any be equal, to the sailors who man our yachts. Of course, there are sharks, or at any rate dogfish, in all waters, but where the good so immensely outnumber the bad, that man must be a fool indeed who gets into wrong hands."

With these sentiments I most cordially concur.

The yacht owner will engage his cook and his steward to suit himself. Some seagoing chefs of steam yachts get bigger pay than a commodore in the navy, while many stewards have grown wealthy out of their perquisites. With these men I have nothing to do. They belong to the owner exclusively, so let him deal with them as he may see fit. The ship's cook, however, is a most important functionary, and every canny skipper tries to ship a thorough "tip-topper," who will feed the boys "high," while at the same time taking care of the owner's interests by guarding against waste. A cook of genius will on a pinch "create" a savory dinner for all hands out of what may appear a most unpromising batch of materials, and I am glad to say that cooks of genius are by no