Besides these, there are many other yachts of a smaller kind, employed by the commissioners of the excise, navy, and customs; or used as pleasure-boats by private gentlemen.
YARD, vergue, a long piece of timber suspended upon the masts of a ship, to extend the sails to the wind. See Mast and Sail.
All yards are either square or lateen; the former of which are suspended across the mast at right angles, and the latter obliquely.
The square-yards, fig. 1. plate [IX]. are nearly of a cylindrical surface. They taper from the middle, which is called the slings, towards the extremities which are termed the yard-arms; and the distance between the slings and the yard-arms on each side, is, by the artificers, divided into quarters, which are distinguished into the first, second, third quarters, and yard-arms. The middle quarters are formed into eight squares, and each of the end parts is figured like the frustrum of a cone. All the yards of a ship are square except that of the mizen.
The proportions for the length of yards, according to the different classes of ships in the British navy, are as follows:
| Guns. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 : gun-deck :: | 560 : | main yard expressed by d, fig. 1. plate [IX]. Note, the figure represents the yards and sails of a ship of 74 guns. | 100 |
| 559 : | 90 80 | ||
| 570 : | 70 | ||
| 576 : | 60 | ||
| 575 : | 50 | ||
| 561 : | 44 | ||
| 1000 : main-yard :: | 880 : | fore-yard | 100 90 80 |
| 874 : | all the rest. | ||
| To apply this rule to practice, suppose the gun-deck 144 feet. The proportion for this length is as 1000 is to 575, so is 144 to 83; which will be the length of the main-yard in feet, and so of all the rest. | |||
| 1000 : main-yard :: | 820 : | mizen-yard | 100 90 80 60 44 |
| 847 : | 70 | ||
| 840 : | 24 | ||
| 1000 : main-yard :: | 726 : | main topsail-yard e, fig. 1. plate [IX] | 24 |
| 720 : | all the rest. | ||
| 1000 : fore-yard :: | 719 : | fore topsail-yard | 70 |
| 726 : | 24 | ||
| 715 : | all the rest. | ||
| 1000 : main topsail-yd. :: | 690 : | main top-gall. yard | all the rates. |
| 1000 : fore topsail-yd. :: | 696 : | fore top-gall. yard f, fig. 1. plate [IX]. | 70 |
| 690 : | all the rest. | ||
| 1000 : fore topsail-yd. :: | 768 : | mizen topsail-yard | 70 |
| 750 : | all the rest. | ||
Cross-jack and sprit-sail yards equal to the fore topsail yard.
Sprit topsail yard equal to the fore top-gallant-yard.
The diameters of yards are in the following proportions to their length.
The main and fore yard five sevenths of an inch to a yard. The topsail, cross-jack, and sprit-sail yards, nine fourteenths of an inch to one yard. The top-gallant, mizen topsail, and sprit-sail topsail yards eight thirteenths of an inch to one yard.