The History: Wilbur has been staying at the Arlington Hotel in Elizabeth City, North Carolina since Saturday. He has been trying to find boat transportation to Kitty Hawk. No one seems to know where Kitty Hawk is!

Finally a local fisherman, Israel Perry, agreed to take him to Kitty Hawk on his flat-bottom schooner [a sailboat with more than one mast; the mast is a long pole that supports the sails]. This schooner, the Curlicue, was anchored 3 miles away; so they loaded Perry's skiff [a light rowboat or a small light sailboat which can be rowed] with Wilbur's lumber and luggage to get to the schooner. The skiff was already very full! Consequently, Wilbur decided to leave the glider at Elizabeth City.

The skiff leaked and took on water which Wilbur and the two crewmen bailed frequently until they reached Israel Perry's schooner.

Map Of Elizabeth City And Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Area

As Wilbur walked onboard the schooner he became concerned. The schooner was in terrible condition! He later wrote his father, "The sails were rotten, the ropes badly worn and the rudderpost half rotted off, and the cabin so dirty and vermin-infested that I kept out of it from first to last."

Light winds slowed the skiff's progress. By dark, they had only sailed a small distance as the water became rough. Israel Perry seemed worried.

The wind direction changed becoming a headwind [wind blowing opposite to the intended course, which tends to work against the boat moving forward] and the waves struck the boat forcing it back more than forward. The boat sprung a leak and with the waves breaking over the bow [front] of the boat, Wilbur and the crew had to bail water out of the boat.

By 11:00 PM the wind had become a gale [a wind 32 to 63 miles per hour] and Perry decided to go around a point [a projecting piece of land] to sit out the storm. One of the sails blew loose and Wilbur and a crewman took it down. Then the mainsail tore away and they pulled that in as well. So they sailed with nothing accept a jib [a triangular sail] rounded the point and anchored.

Quotation from the book The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Volume 1 by M. McFarland.