(MARI)TIME WARP! 1893: BEACH HAVEN PLANS & SAILS

Welcome to Toms River Seaport Society’s (Mari)Time-Warp, taking our supporters back through the nautical history of the Barnegat Bay and Toms River watershed areas!

This time we reprint a vignette into Beach Haven summer plans and sailing days of our area, August 1893, courtesy the Philadelphia Inquirer and Newspapers.com.

Special Correspondence of The Inquirer.

Beach Haven, N.J., Aug. 26.--Real estate men and capitalists who are interested in lands of Long Beach and in this immediate neighborhood, and who have been for years working for closer railroad connections with New York and Philadelphia, think that they have at last solved the problem.

It is proposed to build a line direct from Gloucester ferry, opposite Philadelphia, to this beach, which will make us within one hour of Philadelphia. It will also tap the main line of the New Jersey Southern Railroad at Atsion, and will thus materially shorten the present roundabout route from New York city. This proposed road would knock off two hours from the present time between this place and Philadelphia and at least one hour between this place and New York city. It would also give New Yorkers a straight through and almost air-line route to Atlantic City, as the scheme is to run a line from Atsion, the junction with the New Jersey Southern, direct to Atlantic, cutting off nearly an hour's time on that route.

"Duke" Thompson, of Gloucester City, is in the forefront of this movement, and it has back of it some of the foremost capitalists and shrewdest politicians in South Jersey; hence it is confidently predicted that it will be a success from the start.

Captain Joel Sprague's yacht Arimas is the champion of the Beach Haven fleet for the summer of 1893. The annual regatta was sailed last Saturday and there were 10 entries, including one from Toms River and one from Island Heights. THe course was a 10-mile one, and the prize the gold cup. Two of the contestants were built at Bristol by Herreshoff: they were the Sayonara and the Merry Thought. The winners were: First prize, Arimas; second, Cayonara; third, Fannie K.; fourth, Restless, all of Beach Haven; fifth, Comet, of Toms River; sixth, Merry Thought, of this place.

A garvey race will be held by the lady guests at the Engleside this afternoon and promises to be a most amusing affair. The small cockleshell boats will be sailed by ladies only, members of the sterner sex being barred out and only allowed to comment on the seamanship displayed by them. The judges of the regatta consist of a committee of ladies whose experience in yachting ably fits them for the position. Three prizes are offered, all of which are handsome and costly. The affair is under the management of the Misses Van Dusen and Mrs. B.K. Jamison, Jr.

Ex-Senator John Scott, general solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad, is a notable guest at the Engleside.

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