With the 'Falcon' we once ran on before a favourable gale till the gale became a hurricane—a River Plate pampero—and then the sea was dangerously high, so that we were unable to do what should have been done hours before; that is, bring her up into the wind and heave to. Not daring to attempt this now, we had to make the best of the position, and run on under trysail and storm jib. The steering was a most difficult and anxious matter; there was considerable danger of broaching to, and our lives depended upon the watchful skill of the helmsman. The trysail had no boom, and was ever violently gybing, while so low was the body of the sail that it lost the wind when we were in the trough of those great seas. Now that was the very time when we needed the little storm square-sail. Under that snug bit of canvas the vessel would have steered with far greater ease and safety; there would have been no risk of a gybe; the tendency to broach to would have been much lessened, and a topsail of this sort, moreover, is, like a jib, a lifting sail, and helps to keep a vessel afloat. Hoisted well up, as it should be, right under the forestay, it is high enough to catch the wind between the seas.
If the owner does not carry a storm square-sail, he should have a boom to his trysail.
When the yachtsman, having purchased his 50-tonner, begins to fit her out for the ocean cruise, he is certain to discover that he will have to make considerable alterations in the arrangement of her ballast. The vessel that hitherto has been cruising in home waters only is sure to have a great deal more ballast in her than is necessary or advisable for his purpose. In the first place, when on a long voyage, he is not going to crack on as if he were racing for a cup. He will most probably have reduced his vessel's spars before starting, and has no ambition, when he is on the ocean for weeks at a stretch, to carry the huge spread of canvas under which his craft was wont to stagger in the Solent.
The ocean rover, who loves blue water for its own sake, is a quiet plodding sort of person, in no extreme hurry to reach his port. He wishes to be as comfortable and free from anxiety as possible, and, like the master of an East Indiaman of the olden time, is more likely than not to make things snug each sunset and take in his kites—the big topsail for example—as he does not approve of the watch below having to be summoned on deck at each squall.
So our foreign cruiser, snugly sparred and moderately canvased, need not be nearly so stiff as when she used to fly up and down the Channel, straining and quivering as if acutely jealous lest any other craft should outstrip her; and she can now be relieved of a considerable portion of her ballast. It is of such importance that the 50-tonner should be light and buoyant, so that she may leap over the Atlantic storm waves and not plunge into their curling crests, that I think the less ballast one can do with the better. I lay stress on this, because I know that the usual wiseacres and others, who frequent the shipwright's yard to proffer all manner of advice to the yachtsman while he is preparing for his voyage, will shake their heads if he speaks of lightening his craft to the extent I should advocate, and warn him that a perilous crankiness will be the result. There is, of course, a limit to this lightening process which must not be overstepped; but that limit—at any rate so far as my practice is concerned—does not, as a rule, find favour in the eyes of the forementioned advisers.
If the vessel be ballasted with lead when she comes into one's possession, the weight can be reduced to the exact amount that is required by selling a sufficient quantity of the lead and substituting the same bulk of iron, the specific gravity of one metal to the other being roughly as 11 to 7. A spare chain, spare anchors, and any iron implements not liable to be damaged by damp, can with advantage be employed as ballast in this way, but must, of course, be stowed so that they can be got at without difficulty. Whilst adjusting the ballast it is necessary to remember that, unlike the coasting yacht, the ocean cruiser will have to be laden with a considerable quantity of water and other stores—probably some six tons weight of these.
The question of what boats should be carried on the ocean-going 50-tonner is one to be considered carefully. The ordinary yacht's gig, that does very well to land passengers in Channel ports, is not adapted for our purpose; she would be cumbersome, occupying too much room on deck, and, most probably, would not be a sufficiently good sea-boat. A shorter dinghy of lifeboat shape, with plenty of sheer and a pointed stern, will be found much more serviceable, especially if one has to effect a landing on small oceanic islands or at other exposed spots where access is rendered difficult by heavy surf. The boat should be beamy and rather shallow; for if she is too deep she is likely, while lying on deck, to get very much in the way of the main boom, which will have to be topped up to an awkward height to clear her; or, worse still, she may even make it impossible for the main boom to be swung sufficiently forward when the vessel is running before the wind—a terrible nuisance on which it is unnecessary to dilate. I believe one of the principal reasons why the revenue cutters carry their large square-sails is that they could not otherwise get any speed out of them before a fair wind, to such an extent do their boats cramp the boom and prevent the easing off of the mainsheet.
In my opinion one cannot do better than carry a medium-sized Berthon collapsible in addition to one's big dinghy. A Berthon occupies very little room, and is so easily dropped into the water and hoisted on board again that she is sure to be used on many occasions when one would not take the trouble to put the heavier boat out. I was once shipmate with a delightful Berthon which had an iron centreboard and a balance lugsail. We gave her plenty of work in every port, creek, or river we entered; for she sailed admirably, and was one of the handiest little craft possible. She contributed a great deal to our enjoyment of the cruise.
A few remarks on that most important subject, the commissariat, may not be amiss. When fitting an ocean-going 50-tonner for the first time, one asks oneself with considerable misgiving how it will be possible to find room for all the necessary stores. I remember coming down to the 'Falcon' one morning, when we were getting her ready for her South Atlantic voyage, to find the quay, alongside which she lay, covered with barrels, sacks, cases, &c., the provisions for five men for nine months, which I had ordered from London. I stood aghast before this mighty mass, the bulk of which appeared to exceed by far the capacity of my vessel's hold; but it is wonderful what an amount of stowage room there is in the lockers and corners of a beamy vessel; however much is put into her, there seems to be place for more. I was much relieved in my mind to get my tons of stores snugly stowed out of sight, and all below the water-line too, so serving as good ballast. On the 'Alerte' we found no difficulty in carrying nearly a year's supply of provisions for thirteen hands.
As for water, extra tanks will have to be fitted up in all convenient places. On the 'Alerte' we had a gallon tank under the saloon table, while the cabin fireplace was removed and a large tank was built into the space thus gained. We carried 600 gallons in all, which ought to suffice for the longest run one is likely to make, allowing for calms in the doldrums and unforeseen delays. All the drinking water should be in tanks below. To carry any weight of water in casks on deck is a mistake for various reasons; but of course it is well to have some breakers on deck to hold any rain-water that may be caught on the voyage.