Her Majesty's Mails.
Again, many said that a boat with such a high freeboard and so little draught would not claw off a lee-shore in a bad sea; but as she was designed for artist's work chiefly in local waters, where there is protection every four or five miles, it was not intended that she should be submitted to heavy weather. We always had a lurking suspicion that she would not do very well in a seaway, but here we were again agreeably surprised; for, seizing a favourable opportunity, we brought her round the nose of Howth (as nasty a spot as anyone could wish in dirty weather), and there we put her through her facings, with the result that we found her an able vessel, safe to stay even when much knocked about, and when we purposely allowed her to make a stern board, with the aid of the mizzen, we could put her head in which direction we chose. Several steamers passed us during the trials, and these were shipping tons of water, while we did not take a cupful. Around the boat, six inches below the covering board, is a very wide 'rubbing-piece,' a ribband of 'thumb' moulding, whose form will be understood by reference to the cross-section drawing. This projects some inches from the side of the boat, and the effect of this small bead in throwing off seas is most remarkable. Often have we watched green lumps of water lapping up her sides with a rush that threatened to bring them over the bulwarks in the next instant, especially at her bows, but on reaching this 'stroke' the whole mass seemed diverted outward, and to drop back into the sea. True it is that action and reaction are equal and opposite, and the momentum of the wave must have been communicated to the boat in some way (likely to be detrimental to her speed and affecting her leeway), but we were unable to realise practically any injurious effect to at all balance the pleasure of a dry boat. Such, indeed, is the general success of the boat as a quiet, safe cruiser, that it is intended to have a new one designed by some crack authority with better lines, built of steel, with the important existing features adhered to, but doubtless with much improvement in the speed. As to the rigging, the stays'l carries a boom and the sheet travels on a 'horse,' the jibsheets run aft, and the mizzen-sheet is made fast to a cleat on the under side of the mizzen-boom; thus the helmsman can put her about single-handed if he please. In smooth water he puts the helm down, and, when she fills on the other tack, shifts the jib. In a short sea, if she is likely to lose way in stays, he puts the helm down, slips a loop over it, then hauls on the mizzen-sheet till the sail is fore and aft, when she goes about with certainty. He then shifts jib; he does not take the sheet from the cleat, but simply hauls on the fall; consequently the sail does not require adjustment when the vessel fills. In smooth water, such as the Broads or Windermere, or the Liffey Estuary, no particular tactics are needed in going about, but in the frequently troubled water of Dublin Bay these matters are noteworthy when we remember that she is 60 feet long, has a beam of 12 ft. 6 in., and draws only 3 ft. 6 in. of water.
Storm without, calm within.
Kingstown, Dublin Bay.
Report of the Hon. Medical Officer
In one of the steamers of which I had medical charge it was a common saying that all that was medicinally required by the crew and passengers was a weekly dose of 'one pint of sulphur wash and 2 oz. bilge nails,' and that teeth might be drawn by the 'key of the kelson.' No such drastic treatment should be required on a yachting cruise, but a few medicines and surgical appliances should always be on board, and the sanitary condition of the boat should be rigorously and minutely inspected, not only before starting, but daily during the cruise, be it long or short. To begin with, before stores or passengers come aboard I have the carpet or other covering taken up and some of the flooring lifted along the entire length of the boat, and I carefully see that no fragments of food, animal or vegetable, have accidentally got about the ballast, that no pieces of paper, however small, nor sawdust, nor shavings, nor 'matter out of its proper place' of any kind whatever, is left below the flooring. I personally see that the limbers are cleared, and that a copious flush of water redolent of calcium chloride or 'Sanitas' is poured in forward and pumped out of the well aft. Next, I inspect the sail lockers, and if there be any musty smell, I have the sails, &c., removed on deck and hung up to thoroughly dry; in the meantime the locker beams and ceiling are washed over with a solution of chloride of lime and thoroughly aired. The steward's store lockers and cooking utensils are carefully examined, a solution of potassic permanganate being freely used; the mattresses are turned over and searched for the slightest mouldiness, and, if any be detected, are sent ashore to be taken asunder and stoved; the lockers under the berths are aired, and the Indian matting with which the bunks are lined taken down and examined, and, should there be any mustiness, which will surely be the case if it has not been kept dry, I condemn it and get fresh—fortunately it is a cheap material. The w.c.'s are of the underline type and consequently require rigorous examination, as that kind is subject to leakage, and they should always be provided with simple means for tightening up the joints, and so devised that all the strains due to pumping, &c., are self-contained. There should also be an automatic supply of a strong solution of permanganate of potash every time the w.c. pump is used. Besides this, however, I always make the boy pour in a pint of strong permanganate solution night and morning, and with a good air-draught, secured by having the door made so that there are several inches above and below between it and its frame, I have never had the slightest reason to doubt the efficiency of the apparatus as a sanitary appliance. Earth-closets are a delusion; you cannot get earth, nor even sand, when on a cruise, and there are other serious objections. Carpets should be examined for mould in the interstices of the material, and should any be detected, however slight, the carpets should be taken ashore—they cannot be properly treated in a small boat. In short, fungoid life of any kind must be stamped out, and it is to be observed that yachts of every kind, and especially small ones, are peculiarly subject to this kind of parasite, for it frequently happens that boats are not inhabited, or only partially so, for some weeks, or even months. Without fires in the cabins, or other means adopted to withstand the moist air inseparable from the conditions, then it is that the microscopic fungoid plants flourish.