Old-Timers Sailed Thrilling Races

“We used to see some exciting races between freight schooners on the lakes in the old days,” remarked Bo’s’n Slattery to a group of lake men in the assembly rooms of the Lake Carriers’ Association yesterday afternoon.

“That must have been great sport,” spoke Port Hole Paddy as he lighted his pipe and sat back prepared to hear a yarn from the oldtimer.

“You might call it sport,” replied Slattery, “but the sailors on those vessels took it as serious business. I remember some great brushes between the Moonlight sailed by Captain Sullivan of Chicago, who is now a wealthy owner, and the schooner Porter, sailed by Capt. Orville Green. They used to ply between Buffalo and Chicago, and there as much rivalry between them. They were splendid sea boats, and their skippers were among the best navigators of those days,”

“Which of them used to finish ahead in the races, Bo’s’n?” asked Fo’c’sle Frank Fogarty. “I have heard my dad say that the Moonlight used to outsell any of the boats of her class in those days,” declared Screw-Driver Scotty.

“There was little to choose between them,” said Slattery. “On the whole they averaged up pretty even. They used to alternate on being ahead, watch to watch. I was on the Porter a few trips, and I sailed with Capt. Sullivan on the Moonlight quite frequently. I have seen some nip and tuck races between them, and right now I wouldn’t undertake to say which was the better boat. I saw them almost collide one day on Lake Michigan when Capt. Sullivan in a spirit of deviltry attempted to cross the bow of the Porter going to windward.

“Later on, when the wind shifted and they were running before it, Capt. Green stood on the stern of the Porter waving his hat at Capt. Sullivan; and a few hours afterward the Moonlight managed to get the better of the breeze and got by her rival, while. Capt. Sullivan and his crew cheered and waved everything they could get hands on back at Capt. Green and his outfit.

The contests were so keen between these two ships that the sailors were constantly on the alert, taking advantage of every breeze that could be coaxed into their sheets. They were kept continually reefing, crowding sail, and maneuvering in every known way. It was a case of Lord pity the mate who didn’t have a good excuse to offer when the rival schooner happened to be ahead when his skipper came on deck after a temporary absence from the bridge.

Capt. James M. Todd, local United States inspector of steamboat hulls, was mate on the Porter with Capt. George MacLeod for a time, and I sailed with them one trip. He can verify what I’m saying about the thrilling contests between her and the Moonlight, and he will tell you that they were at no time one-sided.”