AN ITEM FOR SAILORS.
Here is an important statement—if true—for those interested in sailing. An English newspaper says that while it is hard to believe that the speed of a sailing-vessel can be increased by boring holes in her sails, an Italian sea-captain nevertheless claims to have conducted experiments which go a long way towards proving it. His theory is that the force of the wind cannot fairly take effect on an inflated sail, because of the cushion of immovable air which fills up the hollow. To prevent the formation of this cushion, the captain bored a number of holes in the sail. These holes let through the air which would otherwise have been retained in the hollow of the sail, and allowed the wind to exercise its whole power by striking fairly against the sail itself. Several trials of this device have been made, and it has been found that in a light wind a boat with ordinary sails made four knots, while with the perforated sails she covered five and a quarter knots. In a fresh breeze she made seven knots with the ordinary and eight and three-quarter knots with the perforated sails; and in a strong wind she made eight knots with the old and ten knots with the new sails. This gain—from twenty to twenty-five per cent.—is of so much importance that the experiments will be repeated on a larger scale.