Maiden Stranded

Last week, the mother of the President, Mrs. James Roosevelt, well wrapped against a cold north wind, drove from Hyde Park 25 miles up the Hudson to the estate of her friend, Poultney Bigelow. There she carefully picked her way with her rubber-shod cane to the river's shore to break a bottle of champagne over as queer a craft as has been launched in U. S. waters for many a day. For 12 of his 46 years Captain William Sallston, Isthmian Lines skipper, dreamed of sailing the globe in his own craft--alone. Most suitable type of boat, he decided, was a swift, untippable South Sea catamaran. His rich friend, Poultney Bigelow, backed him to the limit, loaned him his barn to work in. After four months of labor Captain Sallston produced three copper-sheathed canoes bolted about four feet apart with three long spruce planks. The centre canoe, almost twice the size of its two "floats," is 25 ft. long, has cabin, cooking and sleeping space and carries mainsail and jib, the ship's sole motive power. "I christen thee Good Will," said Mrs. Roosevelt, and stoutly added, "which is something we need all over the world these days." Skipper Sallston stepped in, raised sail and promptly stranded on a sand bar half-a-mile downstream. Undismayed, he declared, "She'll go all right as soon as I get her ballasted, just as sure as God made little apples."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.