SIZE AND STRENGTH OF HAWSERS
| Size in Circumference | Size in Diameter | Weight of 100 Fathoms Manila in lbs. | Breaking Strength in lbs. | Number of feet in 1 lb. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | thd. | 3/16 | in. | 12 | 540 | 50 feet, | |
| 9 | " | ¼ | " | 18 | 780 | 33 " | 4 in. |
| 12 | " | 6/16 | " | 24 | 1,000 | 25 " | |
| 15 | " | ⅜ | " | 30 | 1,280 | 20 " | |
| 1¼ | in. | 7/16 | " | 37 | 1,562 | 17 " | 8 " |
| 1½ | " | ½ | " | 46 | 2,250 | 13 " | |
| 1¾ | " | 9/16 | " | 65 | 3,062 | 9 " | 3 " |
| 2 | " | ⅝ | " | 80 | 4,000 | 7 " | 6 " |
| 2¼ | " | ¾ | " | 98 | 5,000 | 6 " | |
| 2½ | " | 12/16 | " | 120 | 6,250 | 5 " | |
| 2¾ | " | ⅞ | " | 142 | 7,500 | 4 " | 3 " |
| 3 | " | 1 | " | 170 | 9,000 | 3 " | 6 " |
From Catalogue of A. S. Morss, Boston, Mass.
ON RIGGING
"Then let his vessel feel the strain
When wars the gale along the main;
Strong in his trust of shroud and stay
The seaman holds his leeward way,
Spreads the reef'd sail on buckling mast
And proudly dares the stormy blast."
ON RIGGING
When we speak of a vessel's rigging we mean everything that supports the spars and is employed in setting and trimming the sails. Rigging is divided into two classes—standing and running. The first is the portion that remains stationary, and whose office is to hold and strengthen the spars. The second is rove through blocks and moves; its office is to hoist, lower and trim the sails.
Rigging has been much simplified of late years owing to the use of better proportioned fittings and stronger materials. The use of wire rope in place of hemp has reduced the size and weight of standing rigging, and what is of more importance, given a stable factor.
In the old days when hemp was used, the shrouds and stays had to be constantly watched, as they varied in length every time there was a large change in the atmosphere. This was a frequent cause of dismasting. A vessel before leaving port would have her rigging set up in dry, cold weather; going to sea she would run into a warm region and everything would slack up. As it is now, the expansion and contraction of wire rigging is so small that a few turns of a screw will take it up or give it back. The only danger from wire is in setting it up too taut when at its full stretch, but this, in such length as go to make the shrouds of a yacht, is little to be feared. But the funnel guys of steam-yachts should be frequently looked to, as the expansion of the iron is liable to pull out the deck eye-bolts.
I am not going to tell you how to rig a yacht, because you can learn that better and quicker by doing as the Yankee did who wanted to learn how to make clocks—took one apart and put it together again. Just strip a yacht, then re-rig her, and you will be in a fair way to learn all about it. What I am going to do, is to point out to you a few things in regard to rigging that may aid you in taking better care of what you have, and in making more secure and simple its use.
The one axiom of the business is this, and I want you to engrave it on your memory, for the violation of its truth is the cause of nine out of ten breakdowns: The weakest part of any shroud, stay or tackle is its strongest part. If you take two pieces of chain capable of lifting a ton, and join them with a piece of rope capable of lifting five hundred pounds, your combination is only as strong as the rope, and will only lift the smaller weight. This is why shrouds so frequently give way; the wire rope is strong enough, the splice is firm, but the rigging-screw is only capable of bearing half the strain of those parts. Same with halliards; the tackle will lift a ton, the pin in the block or shackle not five hundred pounds. All parts of any tackle must be proportionately strong.
The most unreliable portion of a yacht's rigging is the ironwork. In the first place, much of it is badly proportioned, and in the second place it is too light. There is no sense in making ironwork so light as is frequently done. The amount of weight saved, especially in those parts attached to the hull, is of no importance. Another source of weakness, especially in chain plates, is in making the straps too short; not giving room for the fastenings. Chain plates should be carried right down and be secured to the frame.
The kingpin of the whole structure erected above the deck of a yacht is the bobstay. If that goes you are liable to lose everything, and it does go frequently. The principal cause of its parting is the over setting up of the headstays. Sometimes the bobstay itself is set up too taut, at other times the jib stay is strained. One way or another the spring of a spar is brought on it, and the vessel, getting into a head sea, begins to pitch; this causes a back-lashing and away goes a bolt or a plate.
Not long ago we were trying to insure a yacht that was to go South. The underwriters refused the risk on the ground that the yacht would get dismasted, and be obliged to put back or be lost altogether. At the same time they willingly took a risk on two small topsail schooners bound to the West Indies. We all sailed within four days. The yacht went through all right, but both the schooners lost their fore topmasts, bowsprits, jib booms and other headgear, and had to return to New York for a refit. They ran into a high head sea, and the foremast, being set up on the bowsprit, the bobstay parted under the strain and away everything went.
I have seen a small racing boat with a bronze rod of ⅜ inch diameter for a bobstay, and this secured to the stem with two one-inch screws. You cannot make your bobstay too strong or fasten it too securely. It was formerly a custom to fit two bobstays, a regular one and a smaller one, called a preventer. This latter was set up slack of the heavier one. For many reasons this was a poor practice, it being far better to put the strength of the two in one. In another chapter I have told you how to rig a tackle preventer for use when going to sea.
Bowsprit shrouds should be made heavy, and carried as far aft as possible to get a spread. Care should be taken to set them up evenly. Foot ropes under a bowsprit are unsightly, and are not needed unless the spar is long. If your jib stay is carried through the spar and made fast to the stem, it should render freely in the bee hole. Unless it does it is liable to strain the spar. I nearly lost a mast once by the jib stay sawing into the wood and sticking. It parted in a sea-way, and the shock broke the bobstay shackle. Every cruising boat should have two shrouds to a side. On pole-mast boats one of these should run to the hounds and the other to the masthead. Don't set them up to bands; eye-splice and put them over the spar. You never can trust the eye in a band. The rigging screws should be just twice as heavy as what the average man will tell you to use. The screw is the weak part. Cutting the thread destroys the strength of the metal. The extra weight is nothing to speak of; the extra strength is everything. Although they are more trouble to care for I prefer lanyards.
Always keep your shrouds set up bar-taut; the old notion that a mast should have play is a fallacy. The stiffer your spar the better it will carry sail. In our modern boats a mast should be kept plumb. From what I have seen all boats sail better with their masts plumb. Another thing, don't cut your sheer-poles too short; they are so cut on half the boats I have seen; the consequence is they are always working loose.
On many yachts the rope used in the running rigging is too small. It may be plenty strong enough, but a man gets tired of picking up and pulling on shoestrings. This is a frequent fault with main-sheets; another is not having enough parts. A sheet tackle should be powerful enough to give one man control of the sail at any time. Weak travelers is another defect. This should be doubly strong, as it is frequently used to tow or make fast to. Every boat should have a strong ringbolt on each side in the quarters for boom lashings, etc.
There are plenty of good blocks and plenty of bad ones. The modern metal blocks are good, but should be of a big passage, as the gear when wet is apt to jam in them. This is a fault with all blocks having small sheaves. The weak part of a block is either the pin or the shackle.
On small boats a single topping lift is all that is needed, but on yawls and ketches, where the main boom is inboard and short, two lifts are better. Boats with heavy spars should have a jig fitted to the lift. Lazy jacks are useful on cruising boats, especially if you are sailing short handed, but they are a nuisance when reefing. The ends should be made fast in such a way as to allow of their being slacked up, but not so as to permit of their getting adrift. I have got into trouble several times through the lazy jacks getting adrift. The ends blew across the peak halliards, and fouled them in such way as to prevent the sail from coming down. If this happens at night when reefing you are liable to be in a fix. I may as well say here that the ends of all running gear should be made fast.
If you have a pin-rail this is easily done. Take out the pin and slip the socket through the rope between the strands, shove it on the collar of the projection and put the pin back. If your halliards are belayed to cleats, marl them to the cleat. At night or in a blow the crew will let go one halliard to pick up another, and away goes the end flying out. If it is dark it can't be found, as more than likely it is wrapped round a shroud or lift, or is flying out from aloft like a pennant. I have had some anxious times hunting the ends of gear of a dark, windy night. When sailing in the dark or in bad weather make the end of your mainsheet fast; always keep a knot in it. Jib's sheet should be endless, running right round the cockpit. Then you can always find them, and the end won't wash overboard.
It is the custom now to put bridles or spans on gaffs and booms in order to distribute the strain. They are good things if used in moderation, but it is extremely foolish to put a rig of this kind on a twenty-footer carried out in the lavish fashion of a cup defender. I have seen little boats knocking about with spans on the boom that would pretty nearly have held the Columbia's spar. Some of our designers have an especial fad for loading down boats with all kinds of gear, and seem to glory in bridling everything that offers the least excuse for such fittings. The first thing that a good racing man has to do when he gets one of these boats is to strip off about half the stuff and change leads all round.
Complicated running rigging is a nuisance; it cannot be too simple so long as it is effective. The less strings you have to pull the quicker you can work. This is just as true on a cruiser as it is on a racer. A lot of line is also a nuisance round the decks; a clear deck is a sailor's blessing.
One of the things I have helped to simplify is the gear on spinnakers. Long ago I pointed out that this sail could be used on small boats without outhauls and lifts, and that without them the sail was easier set and easier taken in. This method of handling that sail has since been practiced on the majority of our racing craft. Half the spinnaker poles are too heavy for their length, and the sails too big to be effective in anything but extremely light weather. All gear belonging to the pole should be snap-hooked, so that it can be attached or detached at once.
Snap-hooks and sister-hooks are excellent contrivances, but beware of them. They have a trick of giving out just at the wrong time, and are to blame for many a lost spar. They should be extra large and strong if they are to be subjected to heavy and continued strains.
All gear, especially the iron work, should be constantly examined, not only when at anchor, but while under way. Many men never look at their boat's gear from the time she is put overboard until she is hauled out. Here is a case that fell under my notice: A boat was being stripped for hauling out, when we noticed that her mast was shaky; on examining the step it was found that the heel of the spar was just in it and no more, allowing the mast to play. Taking her under the shears, we raised the spar, and found lying in the step a cold chisel that prevented the heel from dropping home. This boat had been sailed about all summer, and the owner admitted that he noticed something was wrong with the mast, but that he had never examined the step. Another time I was on a cutter that carried away her mast-head. When we examined the break it was found that the stick was completely rotted through. The damage was caused by hollowing of the wood above the upper band, which allowed the rain water to stand and soak into the grain.
If I have a boat in charge I make it a duty to go aloft at least once a week when she is under way and take a careful survey of all the ironwork, blocks and splices. I also examine the bowsprit rigging thoroughly. The ironwork should be sounded with a hammer or heavy knife blade, just as railroad men sound carwheels. Blocks should be looked to and kept well oiled. Turnbuckles should also be kept oiled, and if you are out in much rough water they should be covered with a false parceling of painted canvas. If this is done they won't freeze, and when you want to tauten or slack the rigging you will be able to do so without using a lot of kerosene and hard twisting.
On cruising boats with outboard booms reef-pendants for the two lower reefs are generally kept rove, but they are much of a nuisance. This can be obviated in a measure by having them in two lengths, keeping one part in the sail and the other in the locker when not in use. If the sail is heavy a small tackle is handy. Such a tackle should be carried on all boats; it saves a lot of hard labor, especially if you take ground and have to haul off.
Auxiliary Cruiser for Southern Waters
ON STRANDING
Borne o'er a latent reef the hull impends,
And thundering on a marble crag descends;
Her ponderous bulk the dire concussion feels,
And o'er upheaving surges wounded reels—
Again she plunges! hark! a second shock
Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock.
—Falconer
ON STRANDING
This is a subject upon which I can pose as a master. If any man has been ashore more times than I have, I should like to meet him and spend an evening comparing notes. One of my favorite amusements is to sail into places where a man of sense has no business to go; consequently my boat is continually being hung up on rocks, shoals and bars. While this is not particularly good for the boat, it has done me no harm, as I have gathered a lot of knowledge and experience which, you willing, I will spread before you.
Yachts, unlike merchant vessels, are seldom damaged by taking ground. This is because, in proportion to their weight, they are extremely strong fabrics. A merchant vessel when loaded has little reserve buoyancy, and when she strikes, she hits hard; but a yacht is almost as buoyant as an empty barrel, and unless she hits with a perpendicular portion, does so very lightly.
Frequently when a yacht hits a rock it seems to those on board as if the end of things had come; but when an examination is made it will be found that little harm has been done.
I once struck a rock with a small sloop. It was blowing a strong breeze and considerable sea running. When she struck, the blow was terrific; it threw me over the wheel to land on my head in the fore end of the cockpit, and knocked the rest off their pins. The centerboard was driven clear up out of the case against the cabin roof, the sloop making a jump over the stone and into deep water on the other side.
We all thought the boat must be badly damaged, but as she made no water, we turned round and worked her home. When she was hauled out, the only sign of the blow was a dent in the lead keel just deep and wide enough to hold a finger.
Another time I was in a bulb-fin boat, racing, when she struck a rock. She was close-hauled and going like a scared cat. It felt like banging up against a stone wall, the shock sending us all flying forward. The damage done amounted to a bruised bulb and a slightly bent fin; the hull was, so far as we could ascertain by superficial inspection, unhurt.
Metal-shod keels are undoubtedly a great protection, and a yacht that strikes fairly on her iron or lead will seldom be damaged to such an extent as to endanger her safety. I have known boats to be sunk by striking rocks, but they hit either the side of the bow or the bilge and stove in the plank. For this reason, if you find yourself going on a rock, always take it stem-to. By this means I jumped a rock in Wood's Hole that was six inches out of water, and landed all right on the other side.
The most dangerous thing to do, yet the thing that is most natural to do, is to put the helm up or down with the hopes of escaping; consequently your craft is carried on, and strikes broadside. This not only is liable to bilge her, but makes it far more difficult to get her off. It is especially dangerous if you go on with a weather wind or tide.
Always remember that wounds in a hull are least dangerous at the ends, and most dangerous in the middle body. If a boat is pierced in her head or tail you may be able to trim the leak out, or save her from sinking by stranding and jacking the leaky end up, but if she is pierced amidships you cannot get at the hole unless you haul completely out. I remember seeing a sandbagger that had torn the plank away from her stem saved from sinking by trimming, the crew raising her head by piling all the bags aft.
Luckily for the navigator, the sea by constant washing, and nature by a covering of seaweed and slime, prepares the majority of rocks for his reception, so that if he strikes the object fairly with sufficient way on, his craft will slide over. But sometimes he runs against a ragged reef, and then there is trouble. The reefs and lone rocks along our coast are generally worn smooth, and are not dangerous customers like the coral formations of warmer climes. One of the worst things to run on is a reef of small boulders, as you are liable to get one on either side just under the bilge. These places are the remains of a point or island, and are good places to fight shy of. The worst boats to take ground are flat-bottomed craft like sharpies; when they go on they generally make a perfect job of it. They are bad things to strand on a sand-bar or flat, the bottom of the boat sucking like a leech to a turtle's hindquarter. Unless you can get the tide to lift one of this kind off, it is either jettison the ballast or dig out. A man who knocks about a sandy land in a sharpie should always carry a shovel with him.
The first rule of action upon stranding is to at once lower all sail. There is but one exception to this; I will state it later. You cannot drive a vessel off ground with her sails (you may back her off); at least I never could. The reason of this is that a boat under sail pressure drives down, and draws more water the harder you force her. Again, if you drive her off, or over bottom, with the sails, you are likely to damage the hull or break the rudder.
After taking off sail run out a kedge against the wind or current, unless both are ahead; then take it out the way you came in. Give it all the line you can; the straighter the pull the less likely that your anchor will come home. As soon as it is down, heave taut, and keep the vessel's stern to the sea, current or wind, whichever is most powerful. This done, if on a rock, go below and see if she is making water. While you are doing this let the other hands sound round the craft to find how she lies.
If she is not leaking, get all your beef on the hawser and heave away. Here is where a handy-billy or watch-tackle comes in. Sometimes you can use the windlass, but this is not as good as a tackle, because the hands have to stand forward to work it, and you want all the weight aft. If she refuses to budge under the pull, go below, and if you have inside weight shift it aft. If she still refuses to start, get out everything weighty, and either lighter it or heave it over-side.
Sometimes you can start a boat off a rock by broadening off the main-boom, and sending a man out on it to roll her. Before you do this be sure and set up the topping lift, and weather preventer if one is fitted. The principal thing is to keep a constant and firm strain on the hawser.
If there is any roll on, get the hawser set up fiddle-string taut with the tackle, then place all hands so as to surge it sideways every time she lifts on the sea. If the boat is one with a deep false keel you can gain a few inches off the draught by careening her. This is done by taking an anchor off at right angles to her lay and setting up the hawser by any of the mast-head tackles, either jib or peak halyards. Never do this if there is any sea on, as it is liable to strain the hull or break the false keel. I don't believe it is much good, and do not recommend its practice except as a last call.
Another plan which I found to work well when a boat is stranded on a shelving bank of either mud or sand is to overhaul the throat halyards, and bend the gaff-block to a bight in the hawser, letting a tail of the hawser drop down from the block. Then set up hard on the halyard, using the windlass or watch-tackle. This done, let a man hang on the tail of the hawser, throwing his weight up and down so as to surge it, the rest taking in the slack. This makes the mast a lever to lift her, and if there is water under the stern she will surely start.
In a boat with a deep sternpost and sloping keel you can sometimes do better by swinging it on its heel, and heaving off bow first, getting all your spare live weight out on the bowsprit to bring her by the head; but it depends on where she is hardest fast, and how much weight you have to trim with. If she is fast aft of midships this plan will work, but if forward of that point it will not.
The most frequent strandings are when trying to enter the mouths of creeks or rivers; places beset with bars and flats. If the wind and tide are ahead you can easily get off, but if either is astern you are liable to be in a fix. If you strike carrying the tide and wind with you, down all sail instantly, lash the helm amidships, and get out the anchor and long warp.
The minute a vessel strikes under these conditions she will swing broadside-to, and drive up higher, at the same time the tide will pile the sand or silt round her. If you can hold her stern to the tide, the current will cut the sand away, and the swell will help you to pull her off.
Now comes the only exception to the rule of taking in sail: If you are going into an inlet with a fair wind and head-tide, and take ground on a soft bar, keep your sails full and hold the boat's nose to the current. If you can keep her steady, which you can best do by getting all your spare life weight forward, the current will cut a passage for you. The most dangerous stranding is with a strong in-running tide and a stern swell. A boat under these conditions is liable to be hove over on her side and flooded. A small steamship was lost last winter in the Bristol Channel by an accident of this kind; she struck on a shoal, swung beam to the tide, and rolled completely over.
Several power boats have been wrecked in the same manner, as from the narrowness of their beam they are very liable to roll over when caught broadside-to by a current. Another thing that often damages launches is leaving them where, when the tide falls, they are broadside on a shelving bank. The water leaves them and they fall over; the tide returns, and not having sufficient buoyancy to lift before it rises to their coamings they are flooded and sunk.
Years ago, when I was a lad, a very fast and narrow steam launch was left by her crew on a shelving bank close to where we were anchored. When the tide dropped she fell over, and as her crew did not return we tried to save her, but the bottom was too soft to allow working on, and she filled at the flood. On the next ebb we bailed her out, and with a little engineering and a lot of labor got her righted up.
We took two big joists and lashed them across the boat, but so poorly fitted was she with cleats and other things to make fast to that we had to bore holes in the deck to pass the lashing and secure them to the frame. The ends of the joists stuck out about fifteen feet on the high side. Under these ends we laid another timber, parallel to the boat's length, in the mud and ballasted it with stones and iron. To this timber we lashed two tackles, one from each joist. Then as the tide made we hove slowly down on them, and she righted up.
If the bottom had been hard we could have parbuckled her, but it was impossible to do it in the deep, soft mud. This boat had a high and heavy boiler, which made the work harder, as it levered her down.
If you can float another boat alongside of a launch in this fix you can lift her by parbuckling, or you can do it from a dock if the wall is high and near enough. To do this, take a stout line, made fast, from the near side over the deck and right under the keel; then lay your floating boat alongside as close as possible, and bend this line to the latter's throat halyards. Heave taut on it and belay.
If possible get two lines, one forward and one aft, having separate tackles. As the tide makes keep heaving in the slack, letting your floating boat draw in sideways to the launch. This strain will aid the water in lifting, as the launch will have to rise with the floating boat. If the launch is very heavy or of scant beam, like the steam craft I mentioned, you had better use joists or spars to help the leverage.
I once took a launch off a rock by this same plan, when hours of heaving on hawsers had failed to move her. Another plan is to lift a boat by lashing empty barrels to the side by passing slings under the keel. If the boat is neaped so that sufficient tide cannot be got to lift her, you can fill and sink the barrels, bunghole up; then shorten up the slings and pump the barrels out with a hand-pump. This barrel trick is only performed when a boat is bilged and full of water.
Let me say here that all small power boats that cruise in strange waters where the bottom is hard should carry either a screw or hydraulic jack, and a good stout piece of square timber. If you get aground in places where there is little or no rise of the tide you have something to start in the wrecking business with. A jack and timber are also useful if anything happens to the wheel and you want to get the stern raised.
To show the danger of forcing a boat off a rock let me cite one instance: A 50-foot sloop of the old flat-floored centerboard model struck on a stone when going free with a moderate wind. The sailing master kept his sails up, and with this pressure and a warp dragged her over and off the rock bow first. She had no sooner gone clear than she filled and sank.
When floated and docked it was found that she had a hole in her bilge big enough for a dog to crawl through. The first blow had started a butt; this caught, and in dragging over the plank was bent back and ripped away from the frames. Had he taken in sail, and pulled her off stern first, she would have floated long enough to have got into harbor.
Having considered accidental stranding, let us now consider voluntary stranding—that is, the running of a vessel ashore to save the vessel or the life of her crew. Let us suppose that you are caught on a lee shore, and for some reason cannot claw off. You are bound to go ashore anyhow, and in order to give the boat and people a chance decide to run in and strand her.
If the shore under your lee is rock I can do nothing for you. Your only chance is to pick out an opening or cleft and drive her in, and the minute she strikes jump for hard land. Such places are usually to be found on the rocky shores of our coast, but if the land is steep-to and sheer-faced, there is little hope for the boat or her people.
There are two kinds of sandy shores on which you may have to strand your vessel—the gradual slope and the steep slope. The former is by far the more dangerous, as the broken water extends some distance from the beach.
In running in breaking water—in fact, in running in all heavy seas—the rule for safety is this: Let the wave-crest pass you, not carry you. If you can hold the boat back, so that the wave-crest will split at her stern and rush by on each side, the boat will travel in safety. This is why it is dangerous in heavy water to carry sail when running. Many men do it for fear of pooping, but there is far less danger of pooping than there is tripping or being brought by-the-lee. Fore-and-aft canvas, particularly sails laced to booms, are bad things to run under; anything in the shape of a square sail is much better. Hundreds of vessels have been lost by running under a press of sail—probably ten times as many as have been destroyed by pooping.
Now if you are obliged to strand on a flat beach, keep your vessel's stern to the swell and moving as slowly as possible. The best thing to do is to tow a hawser astern, or a small sail. This will check her way, and also prevent the sea swinging her stern round. Watch her closely as the sea strikes under the stern, and check the desire to broach with the helm. She can also be aided by having hands on a small jib or staysail sheet, and backing this sail either on one side or the other, as the threatened sheer requires. Get your weights out of the bow and keep her trimmed a bit by the stern. The idea is to have her strike bottom on her whole keel-length, and not on the forefoot.
Here is where the luck comes in. If she strikes with her heel first and her head raised on a sea, you will probably land well up on the beach, but if she strikes with her forefoot first and her stern up in the air you will land—well, only good fortune can save you.
I have seen fishing boats beached in this way in heavy surf, the crews dropping an anchor and checking the craft until the right moment, and then slacking away smartly. In this way they rode the boat in on the back of successive seas. With sharp-stern craft this can be done with safety, but I would not care to try it with a square stern or long after-overhang craft.
I would advise the young seaman to take a small skiff or dingey to a beach where there is a small sea breaking and practice making-off and landing through the surf. He had better dress in a bathing suit, and try the game when the water is warm. In a day or two of this work you will learn more than I could teach you in seventy volumes.
If the beach is steep-to, the sea breaking but a few rods from the strand, you can stand in under good way, keeping her end-on until close to. The instant you feel that she is going to strike put your helm over and bring her almost broadside to the sea. The wave rising under her weather bilge will throw her sideways on the beach, and each succeeding sea will drive her higher up.
In running at any time in heavy water use oil, letting it drip from either bow. With a good thick slick in your wake you will be less likely to be washed by the crests.
But better than all these directions is the advice to keep off rocks, shoals and shores. Don't go into places unknown to you unless you have a good chart or your lead going; especially keep away from dangerous places when the wind is brisk, the sea heavy or the tide strong. An ounce of precaution in this matter is worth tons of cure.
Nine out of ten strandings or strikings are the result of carelessness or recklessness. The only thing a man is justified in hitting is a wreck or a lone rock; these things the lead will not announce, and they are frequently uncharted. Old familiar "didn't know it was there," should more properly be "didn't know I was there." Rocks don't move, but you would think they did to hear many yachters explaining how it happened. I have hit a good many rocks in my day, but don't believe I could prove an alibi except in one case, when the boat ran on a stone that nobody had ever heard of before. We examined the stranger and found it was a rock sure enough, but where it came from or how it got there no man knew, but all hands stood ready to swear that they had sailed over the exact spot many times and never touched anything.
I don't doubt but what there are thousands of uncharted rocks over which and alongside of which vessels constantly pass but do not happen to strike. Like the celebrated Daedalus Rock, they may lurk for years in the course of commerce, until the unfortunate boat comes sailing along that is destined to win immortality by striking and unmasking the danger. But it is not worth while to worry over these vigias while there are plenty of well-known dangers to keep the navigator busy. So proceed fearlessly but cautiously, trusting in your lead and chart, and hug and play with weather shores as much as you please, but give the lee ones a wide berth.
Before entering an inlet, creek or river mouth, if you are not familiar with it, lay-off or anchor outside. Send in the dingey with a lead or pole, and sound for the deepest place on the bar; when this is found, let the dingey lie there or on a line inside of it to guide you in. You may lose a few minutes by so doing, but by the delay may save yourself hours of hard labor and anxiety.
Never try to run inlets when a heavy swell is on; the open sea is far more merciful than a bar at such times. It is especially dangerous to attempt such places in small power boats.
In a second book now in preparation I shall talk to you upon sails, ballast, sea-anchors, cruising, rough water, weather and other subjects of interest to the young mariner. I will be pleased to have my readers suggest themes the exposition of which would interest them, and if I am competent to discuss the subject I will be only too glad to do so.
Technical and
Practical
Technical books are tools. No man can excel in a trade unless he has good tools; neither can a man expect to excel in a sport unless he has at hand, ready for reference, a good collection of books relating to its theory and practice.
We have in this list, gathered for the first time, all the obtainable books on the subject of yachting and its kindred sports.
The yachtsman will find here those books which are invaluable as guides to a higher knowledge of yachting, and which no yachtsman's library is complete without.
Any book not here listed, if in print, we will obtain, no matter in what language or land it is printed.
Send postal for complete catalogue.
THE RUDDER PUB. CO.
9 Murray St.New York, U.S.A.
Books for the Yachtsman's Library
| TECHNICAL AND PRACTICAL. | |
|---|---|
| Amateur Sailing. By Biddle | $1.50 |
| Amateur Sailor. By Alex. I. McLoed | .50 |
| Boat Sailer's Manual. By E. F. Qualtrough | 1.50 |
| Canoe Handling. By C. B. Vaux | 1.00 |
| Corinthian Yachtsman | 1.50 |
| Canvas Canoes—How to Build Them. By Field | .50 |
| Canoe Cruising and Camping. By P. D. Frazer | 1.00 |
| Canoe and Camera. By Steele | 1.00 |
| Canoe and Boat Building for Amateurs. By Stephens | 2.00 |
| Canoe and Camp Cookery. By Seneca | 1.00 |
| Electrical Boats and Navigation. Illustrated | 2.50 |
| Elements of Navigation. By Henderson | 1.00 |
| Fore and Aft Seamanship | .50 |
| Handbook of Naval Gunnery. By Radford | 1.50 |
| How to Swim. By Capt. Dalton | 1.00 |
| How to Build a Racer for $50 | 1.00 |
| How to Build a Skip Jack | 1.00 |
| Illustrated Coast Pilot. By N. L. Stebbins | $1; by mail 1.25 |
| Ropes, their Knots and Splices | .50 |
| Log of Yachts | .50 |
| Model Engines and Small Boats. By Hopkins | 1.25 |
| Model Yachts. By Grosvenor | 2.00 |
| Manual of the Canvas Canoe. By Webb | 1.25 |
| Marine Engineers—How to Become One. By E. G. Constantine | 2.50 |
| Navigation for Yachtsmen. By V. J. English, R.N. | 7.50 |
| Practical Boat Building. By Nelson | 1.00 |
| Practical Boat Building and Sailing. By Nelson, Kemp and Davies | 3.00 |
| Practical Boat Sailing. By Davies | 2.00 |
| Supplements to Small Yachts. By Stephens | 4.00 |
| Sails and Sailmaking | 1.25 |
| Steam Yachts and Launches. By Kunhardt | 3.00 |
| Sailing Alone Around the World. By Capt. Joshua Slocum | 2.00 |
| Small Yachts—Their Design and Construction. By C. R. Kunhardt | 10.00 |
| Torpedoes and Torpedo Vessels. By Armstrong | 1.25 |
| The Pilot. How to do the work, a Text Book for Navigators | 1.00 |
| The Rudder—Volumes 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 | each 3.50 |
| Yacht Etiquette. By Patterson | 1.00 |
| Yachting Wrinkles. By A. J. Kenealy | 1.00 |
| Yacht Designing. By Biddle | 1.00 |
| Yacht and Boat Sailing. By Dixon Kemp | 10.00 |
| Yacht Architecture, Designing and Building. By Dixon Kemp | 16.80 |
Any of the above sent postpaid in United States or Canada on receipt of price
THE RUDDER PUB. CO.9 Murray St., New York, U.S.A.
How to Build a Motor Launch
By C. D. Mower
Designing Editor of The Rudder
A simple and practical work in every detail, showing how to construct a launch hull suitable for use with any description of motor.
Each step of the work is clearly and thoroughly explained, both by text and drawings, so that a man who has never even seen a boat built will have no difficulty in understanding the process.
The author, a self-taught boat builder, thoroughly comprehends what a novice does not know, and is, therefore, able to point out the hard places, and to show the amateur builder how to get over or around them.
In the after part of the book are given the designs of several launches, from 18 to 50 feet in length.
The whole is heavily illustrated, and is the most complete treatise on launch building yet published.
THE RUDDER PUB. CO.
9 Murray St.New York, U.S.A.
Bound in cloth, price $1
Same size and style as "How to Build a Skipjack" and "How to Build a Racer for $50"
On Marine Motors & Motor Launches
A handy book for yachtsmen
By E. W. Roberts, M. E.
A reprint in a handy form of Mr. Robert's instructive and interesting Rudder articles. In it the author explains what a gasoline motor is, and points out in understandable language the difference between the types, and shows what is a good motor and what is a bad one.
He gives valuable information to the buyer, and also explains how to run a motor, how to prevent breakdowns, and how to remedy defects.
To the novice, the chapter on gasoline is alone worth the price of the book, as it explains the properties of that fluid, and the proper manner in which to handle it so as to prevent accidents.
No motor man should be without a copy of this book; it will save him time, trouble and expense.
THE RUDDER PUB. CO.
9 Murray St.New York, U.S.A.
Bound in cloth, price $1
HOW to BUILD a SKIPJACK
Complete plans and directions for building a 19-ft. sloop, the material for which will cost less than $100; and pictures of numerous boats that have been built in all parts of the world from these plans. Bound in blue cloth and gold, uniform with "How to Build a Racer for $50."
price ONE DOLLAR postpaid
THE RUDDER PUBLISHING COMPANY
9 Murray Street, New York
How to Build a Racer for $50
Simplest, safest and fastest boat that can be built. The working plans are such that a boy can build from them. The plans were published in 1898, and since then some 500 boats have been built from them. The book has numerous illustrations of boats in and after construction, and also gives experience of builders in all parts of the world. Blue cloth and gold, uniform with "How to Build a Skipjack."
PRICE, POSTPAID, $1.00.
THE RUDDER PUBLISHING COMPANY, 9 Murray Street, New York.
The Rudder
The policy of The Rudder is to give to yachtsmen a thoroughly practical periodical, dealing with the sport of yachting in all its phases, and especially to furnish them with the designs and plans of vessels adapted to their wants in all localities.
In each issue is a design of a sailing or power craft, and at least four times a year a complete set of working drawings is given, so that the unskilled can try a hand at building with a certainty of making a success of the attempt.
In the last two years over 500 boats have been built from designs printed in the magazine, and in almost every case have given satisfaction.
Outside of the strictly practical, the magazine has always a cargo of readable things in the way of cruises and tales, while its illustrations are noted for their novelty and beauty.
The editor desires to increase the size of the magazine and to add to its features. In order to do this it is necessary that it be given the hearty support of all who are interested in the sport. The cost of a subscription, $2 a year rolled or $2.50 mailed flat, is as low as it is possible to make it and furnish a first-class publication, and he asks yachtsmen to subscribe, as in that way they can materially assist him in keeping the magazine up to its present standard of excellence.
THE RUDDER PUB. CO.
9 Murray St.New York, U.S.A.
Vol. XI, The Rudder
FOR THE YEAR 1900
TO BE HAD FROM
THE RUDDER PUBLISHING COMPANY
9 Murray St., New York143 Strand, London, W. C.
OR AT
Damrell & Upham, 283 Washington St., Boston, Mass.; Koelling & Klappenbach, 100 Randolph St., Chicago, Ill.; Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Co., 616 Front St., Seattle, Wash.; Wm. Foster Brown, 2323 St. Catherine St., Montreal, Canada; Levant & Chevalier, 50 Quai St. Jean Baptiste, Nice, France; Swain & Co., Munroe St., Sydney, Australia; and all booksellers throughout the world.
It contains 460 pages, 24 full-page supplements, 500 other illustrations, over 100 designs and plans. Bound in blue cloth; gold top and lettering.
Price, postpaid, $3.50; 15 Shillings; 20 Francs
Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical and punctuation errors repaired.