A FAMOUS YACHT AS CARGO TRADER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 123, 11 February 1918, Page 8

A FAMOUS YACHT AS CARGO TRADER

R. L. STEVENSON'S CASCO. The war has, brought many strange vessels to light and use, and admirers of the Scottish novelist, R. L. Stevenson, will be interested to know that the little yacht Casco, in which, the author sailed to .the South Seas from San Francisco in quest of health, nearly thirty years ago, is being rejuvenated for coastwise trading for the Pacific. The craft, which was originally built for racing in California waters, has had an eventful career. She is a topsail schooner, 95ft. long and of 70 tons burden, has graceful lines, behaves well under sail, and sttll has life, although time and hard usage have made her a very different bont from what she was ' when Stevenson chartered her for his ' voyage to Samoa. At that time she glittered with brass and boasted a saloon that was-fitted luxuriously. Thoso who are familiar "with the "Wrecker" will remember the skipper of the Casco, Captain Otis. The crew of "sea-law-yers," as Stevenson called them, was composed of "three Swedes and the inevitable Finn," when" the author slipped out through the Golden Gate never to return. Stevenson subse- '• quently went to Honolulu, and, for a ! short time, engaged a house at Wai- '' kiki, where he wrote part'of "The Mas- ' ter of Ballantrae." '<■ Hβ then dispatched the Casco back 6 to her owner at San Francisco. At a ' later date the boat was purchased by ' and for a number" of years en- ' gaged in that trade. At another time, * according to rumour, she was used in l Chinamen and opium into I the United States. About a decade ago ' she was laid up at Victoria, 8.C., and T three years later was pressed into ser- * vice long enough to transport a cargo * of junk to Vancouver. She was then } obtained as n training ship for a local c band of Boy Scouts. Again she changed , owners, and is now being refitted. c