We were shown the logs of several deep-water cruises she had made, together with track charts of the voyages. We were entertained with an intelligent and interesting description of the yacht's behavior in a hurricane off Bermuda, given with a wealth of seamanlike detail, which we both hugely enjoyed. It was evident that the skipper was a firm believer in his boat, and that he had tended her with care and loving kindness from her christening to that day. He explained that his owner had married a woman who hated the sea, and that the vessel was in the market at a reasonable price.
That schooner now flies my friend's private signal, and that same skipper is still her sailing-master, and, according to his employer, is worth his weight in gold. This practical illustration may demonstrate the advantage of employing a sailing-master by the year and not by the season.
Every word I have written about a skipper applies, in the case of a steam yacht, to the engineer. And if possible, still more strongly, for the deterioration of marine engines left without care or protection is both rapid and, I need hardly add, costly in the extreme.
I strongly advise a yacht owner who thinks he has the skill and knowledge requisite for the command of a yacht, to assume command himself and dispense with the services of a professional sailing-master. Let him ship a competent
