“Boys Start Off on Cruise To Gulf in 21-Foot Boat” from the October 23, 1936 Door County Advocate
Boys Start Off on Cruise To Gulf in 21-Foot Boat
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Given Tow as Far as Milwaukee by New Yacht
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Forced to postpone their college education because of lack of funds, three boys, Bob Goff, 19, formerly of this city but now of Evanston, Ill., Louis Wernicke, 21, of this city, and Ben Jelinik, 20, Milwaukee, left Thursday night with their practically home made, 21 ½-foot trunk cabin auxiliary sail and outboard motor cruiser for a trip down the Mississippi and along the gulf of Pensacola, Florida, planning to earn their way by odd jobs along the route when out of grub.
Hitch-hiking, or hitch-cruising, as it should more rightly be called, was resorted to in making the first leg of the trip to Milwaukee, the “lift” being offered by Fred Peterson who was delivering the 48-foot cruiser Catherine F. II. to its owner, Henry Faurot of Chicago. The Catherine, built at the Peterson Boat Works for a similar Florida cruise, glided down the bay in marked contrast to the small craft behind.
No Sark, is the name the boys will put on the stern when they get time, adapted from the name of that famous amateur mariner of Old Testament days. The hull, that of an abandoned life boat from the Roen barge Transport, is of steel with air tanks forward and aft. Odds and ends were assembled to stiffen the craft, build the cabin with its two bunks and a storage locker in the cockpit for motors, other marine equipment and what not. The speed is only seven miles an hour but the river current is expected to boost that to 10 or 12.
The cruise will be no endurance test if youthful skippers can help it. A tow will be taken any time its offered. The boys would go straight through Chicago with the Catherine F, if it were not for the fact that they want to spend some time in Milwaukee and figure that the trip from there to Chicago shouldn’t be so stormy.
All three of the amateur sailors are scouts. Bob has an Eagle badge and is also a quartermaster in the sea scouts. Louis has been scout for six years, joining the organization while living in Florida, while Ben is assistant scoutmaster of Troop 22, Milwaukee. Part of the boys’ fun en route will be gathering data for a report to the international scout jamboree at Washington, D. C., which they plan to attend next July.
Cruising the West Indies and then up the Atlantic coast to Washington and New York is remotely hoped for by the scouts, but whether they will do it or not depends on what success they have with the present boat, and if not successful in the open sea, whether or not they can get a better boat in Florida. Louis has an uncle in Pensacola, Bob has a friend in Panama, and there are other relatives and friends to call on at Washington and New York.
Before leaving, Bob promised to keep The Advocate posted on the progress of his trip.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[The Made in Chicago Museum, https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/single-post/western-felt-works, states that Henry W. Faurot, Sr. was born in 1864 and married Catherine Silverthorne in 1891. The article includes reflections by his grandson, Henry Faurot III made in 2022 at the age of 90.
No Sark is a near-homophone to “Noah’s Ark”.]
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