With the British Empire Exposition in England and the Olympic Games in France as the chief European attractions this summer, an unprecedented number of students at the University are planning to cross the Atlantic this summer. A canvass held recently by the CRIMSON places the total number at slightly below 500. Of these, some 325 are sailing by the customary first and second class passage; nearly 100 are to go in the special student third class cabin instituted this year by several steamship lines; almost as many men again are making their passage instituted diverse ways as stokers, deck hands, stewards, and cattlemen. And a remainder of ten men from the University are crossing the ocean in the most unique way of all--as the officers and crew of a boat of their own.

Trip First of its Kind

The vessel is the "Nereus", a steel schooner, square-rigged. It is 242 feet in length, 39 feet wide, with a depth of 23 feet. She has a gross tonnage of over 8,000 tons, and her masts, which are steel, shoot up 150 feet above the deck.

The idea of this cruise of the "Nereus" with a crew made up entirely of college students, was conceived some three months ago by Captain B. W. Joy and Lieutenant Commander John McCracken, who are to share the command of the vessel during the three months cruise It is the first time that such a trip has ever been undertaken, and the response among seafaring college men has been quick in the various colleges of the East where recruiting stations have been opened. The maximum capacity for the cruise is 100 berths, and already a crew of over 50 men has been made up from students at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Dartmouth. Harvard and Yale will both contribute about ten student sailors, while the Princeton and Dartmouth enlistment's total about 15 men from each college.

These men will be allowed in all parts of the ship during the voyage. They will be taught to handle the wheel, and trained in all the occupations about the deck and in the hold. The only jobs they will not try their hand at is cooking, but even in the galley, a university atmosphere will be maintained, as the three cooks who have been engaged have all served as chefs in prominent undergraduate clubs at Harvard and Princeton.

The cruise will start from Boston on June 21, and is expected to end early in September. The boat, will stop at Plymouth, the Isle of Wight, Cadiz, the Madeiras, and Bermuda.