Building the Boat.
They lost no time in commencing to build the boat. The first thing to be done was to make two long pontoons or floats, on which to erect the superstructure of the yacht. This was a comparatively easy matter. They made two long wooden boxes of the following sizes and dimensions. Each box was twenty-four feet long, four feet wide in the middle portion and tapering off at each end to a fine point, and two feet six inches deep. It was made of one-inch deal, and strongly supported and fastened together by ribs and cross-pieces of wood in the interior. The seams were caulked with tow and a mixture of red and white lead, and then covered or protected by slips of wood nailed along them. These two pontoons were then laid on the ground side by side with a space of three feet six inches between their centres. They were then joined together by strong pieces of wood fastened the whole way across, every two feet. On the top of these again, a flooring of planks was laid, and neatly finished off round the edges with a bulwark of rope stretched on iron uprights. On this was erected a cabin three feet six inches in height, nine feet long and seven feet wide. This was fitted with a door at the aft end, and a row of little windows along each side. Inside were two low broad seats, which were also intended to serve as beds when occasion should require.
Each pontoon was fitted with a rudder and a helm, and these were connected by a cross-piece of wood, so that both rudders were worked at once. On this cross-piece were two iron loops, that the steersman, holding on by them, might have greater power over the helm. Each pontoon had a strong keel about two inches deep to protect its bottom from injury. Such a keel was not sufficient to enable the boat to sail to windward, so two drop-keels or centre-boards were added, each about seven feet long and two feet six inches deep. These were fixed in a line along the centre two-thirds of the boat, and worked on strong pivots at their foremost corners, so that by means of chains attached to their aft corners and passing through holes in the deck they could be let down to any required depth, or hauled up in the space between the pontoons.
These were intended to give the yacht a greater hold on the water when beating to windward. The main-mast was stepped close to the bows. Its lower part was weighted with lead and iron, and was so arranged that if it were requisite to pass under low bridges, the mast could be lowered and raised with great facility, working on a fulcrum three feet six inches from the deck. There was no bowsprit, but the fore-stay was made fast to the cross-piece connecting the bows. The mizen-mast was attached to a cross-piece at the stern, and the mizen-sail was worked by a sheet rove through a block at the end of a fixed boom. The main-sail was a lug-sail with a large boom, and did not require to be dipped every time a tack was made.
The above is a description of the yacht when completed, but it must not be supposed that it was made straight off with no labour. On the contrary, it took an immensity of time and labour before it was completed. The three boys worked at it manfully, Frank taking the lead and doing the major portion of the work. Indeed, they would have given it up many times had it not been for his pluck and determination. Unforeseen difficulties fast presented themselves, and cost them no little thought to overcome. When they had got the two pontoons and the flooring done, they fell short of cash, and for two or three days they went about very disconsolately, until Dick informed them that his father's gardener was about to demolish a summer-house in the garden, and that they might have the wood. This enabled them to make the cabin, and by dint of keeping their eyes open, and picking up every scrap of wood or iron, and every nail or screw which they came across, they got along pretty well until Frank's quarter-day came, and he received his allowance of pocket-money. Mr. Merivale, who of course soon found out what they were after, laughingly said that they went about with such greedy eyes, and looked so suspiciously at everything, that he was afraid they might take a fancy to some part of him, as being useful for some part of their boat.
A Yarmouth Yawl.
At last they had everything ready but the sails, and then they had an unexpected stroke of good luck. Dick discovered in an old lumber loft, a complete set of sails belonging to a yawl-rigged yacht which was formerly the property of his grandfather. These his father willingly gave to him. Although so old they were strong, and they were speedily converted into sails for the yacht. Then the yacht was painted white, and a small flat-bottomed punt with pointed bows was made to accompany her, and all was ready for launching.