ON STRANDING
Borne o'er a latent reef the hull impends,
And thundering on a marble crag descends;
Her ponderous bulk the dire concussion feels,
And o'er upheaving surges wounded reels—
Again she plunges! hark! a second shock
Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock.
—Falconer
ON STRANDING
This is a subject upon which I can pose as a master. If any man has been ashore more times than I have, I should like to meet him and spend an evening comparing notes. One of my favorite amusements is to sail into places where a man of sense has no business to go; consequently my boat is continually being hung up on rocks, shoals and bars. While this is not particularly good for the boat, it has done me no harm, as I have gathered a lot of knowledge and experience which, you willing, I will spread before you.
Yachts, unlike merchant vessels, are seldom damaged by taking ground. This is because, in proportion to their weight, they are extremely strong fabrics. A merchant vessel when loaded has little reserve buoyancy, and when she strikes, she hits hard; but a yacht is almost as buoyant as an empty barrel, and unless she hits with a perpendicular portion, does so very lightly.
Frequently when a yacht hits a rock it seems to those on board as if the end of things had come; but when an examination is made it will be found that little harm has been done.
I once struck a rock with a small sloop. It was blowing a strong breeze and considerable sea running. When she struck, the blow was terrific; it threw me over the wheel to land on my head in the fore end of the cockpit, and knocked the rest off their pins. The centerboard was driven clear up out of the case against the cabin roof, the sloop making a jump over the stone and into deep water on the other side.