(_Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York._)] Nevertheless, few women ventured into the open ocean during the early 19th century. They were generally afraid to brave the force of the ocean waves with only a female companion, since prevailing attitudes regarding the proper behavior of a lady prevented them from being accompanied by a man. When a few ignored this dictate, their bold actions gave rise to "ill-founded stories of want of delicacy on the part of the females."[16] An unbiased traveler, who gave an account of this mixed bathing in 1833, stated that parties always went into the water completely dressed and for that reason he could see no great violation of modesty. Mixed bathing at the seashore (fig. 3) was gaining acceptance, however, when it was reported only thirteen years later that "... ladies and gentlemen bathe in company, as is the fashion all along the Atlantic Coast...."[17] [16] JAMES STUART, _Three Years in North America_ (Edinburgh: Robert Cadwell, 1833), vol. 1, p. 441. [17] J. W. and N. ORR, _Orr's Book of Swimming_ (New York: Burns and Baner, 1846) as quoted in THOMAS, op. cit. (footnote 3), p. 270. In place of the dressing rooms available in the floating baths, special facilities were frequently provided. The bathing machine--in this case a device in which one changed clothes--was used where there was a gentle slope down to the water. This species of bathing machine was a small wooden cabin set on very high wheels with steps leading down from a door in the front. The bather entered and, while he was changing, the machine was pulled into the sea by a horse. When water was well above the axles the horse was uncoupled and taken ashore. The bather was then free to enter the sea by descending the steps pointed away from the shore (fig. 4). Machines of the 18th and early 19th century were frequently equipped with an awning which shielded the bather from public view as she or he descended the steps to enter the water. These awnings were left off the bathing machines during the last half of the 19th century. Such machines were used to a great extent in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the United States, however, they were used only to a limited extent during the first half of the 19th century. By 1870 they had practically disappeared--being replaced by the stationary, sentry-box type of individual structure and the large communal bath house. "Sentry-boxes" were used before the 1870s at beaches where the terrain did not encourage the use of the bathing machines. At Long Branch, New Jersey, and at one of the beaches at Newport, Rhode Island, lines of these stationary structures were available to the bather for changing, one half designated for women and the other half for men. Hours varied but it was the practice to run up colored flags to signal bathing times for the ladies and then the gentlemen. A male correspondent wrote from Newport in 1857: