The Buckeye
or "bugeye," as it is sometimes vulgarly called, has a great reputation for speed and sea-going qualities. When it cannot climb a wave it goes through it. This makes a wet boat in heavy weather, but when you travel at a high rate of speed you can endure a wet jacket with no complaint, especially when you feel that, in spite of the fast-sailing qualities of this boat, it is considered a particularly safe craft.
Fig. 167.—Plain sprit leg-of-mutton.
Another form of the sprit sail.
The construction of a buckeye ([Fig. 162]) has been evolved from the old dugout canoe of the Indians and the first white settlers. America was originally covered with vast forests of immense trees. Remnants of these forests still exist in a few localities. It was once possible to make a canoe of almost any dimensions desired, but now in the thickly settled regions big trees are scarce.
So the Chesapeake Bay boat-builders, while still adhering to the old dugout, have overcome the disadvantage of small logs by using more than one and bolting the pieces together. Masts and sails have been added, and since the increased proportions made it impracticable to drag such a craft on the beach when in port, anchors and cables are supplied. Two holes bored, one on each side of the stem, for the cables to run through, have given the boat the appearance of having eyes, and as the eyes are large and round, the negroes called them buckeyes, and this is now the name by which all such craft are known.