The craft was about sixty feet in length and correspondingly broad of beam.

She carried a tall mast, but the lead in her keel was amply sufficient to keep her from going over unless under full sail in a very heavy wind.

The cabin was fairly large and richly furnished, for the Sutters were a family of means, and desired everything of the best.
If the boys liked the yacht they also liked the man who had charge of her, bluff and hearty Jerry Tolman--Captain Jerry, as Bob Sutter called him.

He was truly an old salt, having sailed the ocean since his tenth year, on both whalers and merchantmen.

Captain Jerry lacked a book education, but he was naturally shrewd, and far from being a fool.
"Downright glad to meet ye, my hearties," he said, when the boys were brought on board.