A Water-biography, etc

Preface

. Boating and yachting men may be roughly divided into two classes — those who go to sea for the sake of competitive sport afloat, and those who do so for love of it, their boat, and all that moves on the waters. A sporting* yachtsman's craft is worthless to him after, owing to some change of racing measurement, she fails to end a season with a string of prize flags from topmast to bowsprit and boom-ends ; while as soon as the racing season is 3 o over, he quits the sea for the moors and stubbles ; and though sometimes, as he grows older, a racing yachtsman here and there tones down into a cruiser, the line which marks him from the cruising yachtsman becomes, I think, more distinct every year. What may be called the seamanship of large racing craft, and the watermanship of smaller ones, is usually left to their skipper and crew.

But much of a cruising yachtsman's pleasure consists in acquiring some knowledge of the details of handling his craft, and of the seamanship required for making passages ; while the smaller boating-man,

PREFACE.

. X who loves it as an art, is equally desirous of becoming proficient in what may be termed " watermanship," by which I do not mean the mere steering a boat under sail, but the art of placing her, in varying conditions of wind, weather, and tide, alongside a landing-place or quay ; boarding a vessel at anchor ; picking up a mooring; getting under weigh, or bringing up in or from a crowded anchorage ; mooring and legging up his boat on a hard for a scrub, etc. Beach work again is another distinct form of " watermanship," and may be described as the art of launching, or landing in a boat, under sail or oar through a surf. Little of course can be taught or learnt about such matters in books, but people like to read of the accidents and experiences of others in any art they care for. I have, therefore, in the following pages of waterbiography jotted down,, among other personal experiences, one or two actual squeaks or shaves met with during a boating life of fifty years, hoping they may have some interest for the rapidly increasing number of those who delight in boat-sailing and watermanship, and the healthy tax on mind and muscle entailed by it.

Robert C. Leslie. Southampton, June 11, 1S94. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Robert c. LESLIE Frontispiece RAMMING A BARGE ... . .16 COD FISHERMEN AND ICEBERGS ... .27 REEFING TOPSAIL ........ 37 COD FISHERMAN HOVE-TO . . .41 SKETCH IN WOOLWICH REACH, 1849 .... 51 ' A SAILOR'S YARN '....... 59 HARRY CONANT ........ 62 ' England's rose.' under the cliffs, ladram bay . 63 ' FOAM ' AND BRIG ....... 73 SIDMOUTH REGATTA ....... 95 LANDING OF GIG ........ 99 THE BRIG AND HER BOAT AS WE LEFT THEM . . . 123 THE "persuader" . . . . . . .138 INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF 'RIP VAN WINKLE ' . . 140 TOWING A SPAR ........ 145 THE 'RIP VAN WINKLE' ON HER CRADLE . . . 149 WILLIAM BARON . . . . . . • .151 SAIL PLAN OF 'RIP VAN WINKLE ' . . . . .174 A DILEMMA . . . . . . • • .211 TUG GRAPPLING WITH SHIP ON THE GOODWIN'S . .221 FLOOD TIDE, CRAYFORDNESS ...... 231 'LILY' IN "OWERS' LEAK" . . . . . .261 LINES OF 'FOAM THE SECOND' .... 268, CONTENTS.

Chapter I

I am put into Salt-Water— Make a Voyage to America— Come back — Return to London — Want of Education — Early Pursuits there —Learn to Swim — Don't run away to Sea — Why — Explore the River Lea with a Cousin — Don't get Drowned in it — Milk-maids replaced by Savages on its Banks — Under Fire on the Lea — A Council of War— Some Dangers attending being able to Swim — A Drift Sea-waid — Under a Boat's bottom — I join a Rowing-Club —Race with a Putney Steamer, and Result — Ram a Coal-barge in an Outrigger — An Honest Owner ? etc. ... ... ... p. 1

Chapter II

I am in danger of drifting into Art — My Cousin goes to Sea — Is proud of his Ship — We go and look at her, and meet his Captain — I narrowly escape becoming a Naval Architect — Interview Sir William Symonds — His Answer — Make a Second Voyage to America — Learn a little Navigation — At Sea in Sailing-ships — A Hungry Crew — Icebergs — Arrive in New York — Visit Baltimore — An early Twin-screw Boat — See Niagara — Take a Shower-bath under it — Return to London — Get hopelessly involved in Art — Become a Student at the R. A. — Work there V — A Sailor's View of the Sea ; not the popular one — Another Trip to New York and back — A Winter Passage — Ship pooped — Wheel takes charge — Getting down Royal Yards — Thirty Days of Vingt-et-un — Harda-port- — A near Shave — Cod Fishermen on the Banks — Their Risks — Force of Wind — A Deck-hatch in the air — A Calm after a Gale — How I calculated Ship's Angle of Heel— The Captain's Joke — Return Trip of the Hendrick Hudson — How my Cousin saw the last of her ... ... ... ... ... ... p. 20

Chapter III

I exhibit at the R. A. — Get married ; and moored for a time near London as an Artist — But gravitate toward the River at Greenwich — A Floating Dockyard there — I charter an old Boat — The Lower Thames in those days — I make a Studio in a Boat — Too CONTENTS. late for a Tide — Join Watermen's Boats in tow of a West Indiaman — Pleasures of Towing — Under the Bows of a Brig — Save my Tide — Cheating* tlie Tide — Blaekwall Point — Men ashore take an interest in my Boat — Discover why, just in time to save her Mast — Meet J. W. M. Turner early in Life— And in the R. A. later — The English Merchant Seaman of 1842 — I quote Shakespeare on Tides, but uot taking his Advice, move my Family to Sidmouth — Regret of conscientious R. A. at this step — Hoav I consoled myself for loss of his Friendship — Harry Conant and England's Rose — A Fisherman's Life on Sidmouth Beach — I build a Boat — A Rival Boat-builder ... ... ... ... p. 46

Chapter IV

A Trial Trip, weather or no, in my Boat — Five Hours to Windward — Bailing out — Gain on Water — Conant's opinion of the Boat versus a London Friend's — Arrive at Exmouth — Boatmen's Opinion there — Take Lodgings for a Week — Explore the Exe iu Boat — Return to Sidmouth, weather or no, in her — Early Morning — Mackerel Fishing — Caught in a Mackerel Breeze — Sea too heavy to land at High-water — A Run for Shore under Sail — Foam's Life on the Beach — A Gale at Sidmouth — Boats Afloat and Moored round a Fresh-water Pump — Conant's Parlour that Evening — Mrs. Partington's Mop at Sidmouth — Long Sea-trips in the JFbamwith Wife and Children — Some Friends remonstrate, etc. — My Wife criticizes the Foam's Speed — A Launch with the Plug out p. 69 CHAPTER Y. The repose of Sidmouth disturbed by a Man of enterprise — He gets up a Regatta, and to avoid being mixed up in it, I go to Sea in the Foam for the Day— But, after all, owing to bad weather, do get mixed with it, and sail round the course with two other Boats — How Sidmouth was supplied with Coals— The Foam launched to board a Light Collier caught in a Breeze — Rowing out through a Sea— A Vessel drives Ashore, night of Royal Charter Gale — Some Beermen land on the Beach at night in heavy gale — England's Rose driven to Sea with a Gentleman and two Ladies- Towed back by Foam— I build a smaller Boat as Tender to Foam — A year later begin to think of buildinga Vessel large enough to leave Sidmouth in — Her dimensions," etc. — Other reasons for building her, instead of buying one— I begin to take long walks with a Boat-bnilder to find Timber for this Vessel— I buy a big Tree— The felling of it, and getting it upon a Saw-pit ... p. CONTENTS. XV

Chapter VI

I leave my Keel-piece and Plank to Season, and take a Trip in a Steamer with my Wife and Children to New York — The U.S. Paddle-steamer Arago, Captain Lines — We land in New York — Up the Hudson — A Musical Boat, the " Calliope " — Break down at Tarrytown — We take to the Rail — Niagara — Not improved since I first saw it — Why — Down Hudson by night — Dragging over the Fiats — We embark for Liverpool in the Canada — Description of her — A Fog — We run down the Rover's Bride — A Steward's first idea of " hice " on hearing our Engines stop — ■ Why — The Rover's Bride forsaken and her Crew taken on board our Ship — A Rough Passage, and near Shave after landing- Passengers at Queenstown — Heavy Gale in Irish Channel — Soldiers on board Ship at night — Land at Liverpool, and return to Sidmouth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... p. 113

Chapter VII

Keel of Rip Van Winkle laid, and Shed built over it — Sawders at work, getting Timber to Pit, etc. — Reasons for and against a Clench-built Yacht — How to ensure sleep on board one — The Designing of the R. V. W. — How her Moulds were connected with Church Restoration — We begin to " make a show " in the Dockyard — And genteel people and Nautical Men visit it — An Admiral does so — His advice — A retired Ship-owner's Criticisms — The Boat-builder criticizes the Critics — Why the R. V. W. took some time to build — Steam called to our aid — The "Persuader" — Riveting — Its effect upon Visitors — Plan of R. V. W. inside, etc. — Getting a Mast for her — I go in Foam to Exrnouth after a Spar — Find one, and after some trouble pay for it — Tow it to Sidmouth — Strange behaviour of Spar on the Voyage — Conant and I cut out some Sails — Difficulties to be overcome in launching the R. V. W. — How met, etc. — Engage a Crew for her — Invaluable Qualities of William Baron ... ... -p. 128

Chapter VIII

Floating of the Rip Van Winkle — Does not seem inclined to do so, but in course of time changes her mind — Her start Jury-rigged in the evening for Exmouth — We join her there — Fitting-out at Exrnouth — Windlass, etc. — How we got the Mast into her — I am boarded by Port Officials, who want to know a lot of things — They measure the R. V. W. — We hoist a Flag for our second hand Tupman, and sail late one evening for Dartmouth — Arrive there before Daylight, and turn into the Harbour at Daybreak — More fitting-out at Dartmouth — Men's Bunks, etc. — Our Cooking CONTEXTS. XVI Arrangements on board, etc. — Our Swell Companion at Dart mouth—Number of Souls on board R. V. IT.— Why not Bodies? — Trips up the Dart to Totness in Dinghy — Baron and Tupman's work on board — Late hours kept by Dinghy — Our Commander-in-Chief issues an Order — Difficulties in carrying it out — Slack Rigging — Out of Water and Coal — How over-ruled and obtained — An early start for Salcombe — An invisible Entrance and Buoys — Lovely Scenery — Trip up to Kingsbridge — The Bread of Salcombe— The doubtful Loin of Mutton of that place, and what became of it — We lose some Bottled Stout ... p. 152

Chapter IX

Summer Weather on the South Coast — The Wings of the Morning — We sail for Plymouth — Anchor off the Hoe — Add some stones there to our ballast — The Port Admiral objects, through a Coastguardsman — We apologize — Last resting-place of those stones — A long trip up the Tamar — The Navigation of Tidal Estuaries by Strangers easy ou a flood-tide, but risky on the ebb — The younger members of my Crew and their good conduct — The Library of the Yacht — Gayness of Plymouth after Sidmouth — We lay in stores and sail for Fowey — Enter that Harbour full sail — Rig of the R. V. IF., first idea of from the old Sican of the Warren — Comfortable Corner of the Fowey — Exploration of River to Lostwithiel, etc. — We nearly take root at Fowey — But on reflection sail for Fal mouth — Pull up the Fal to Truro, and go by land to Penzance — The Yacht has her bottom scrubbed — We rejoin her from Truro in the Dinghy after spending a week at Penzance — Sail again for Plymouth — But anchor in the Yealm — No Supplies there — A change of Weather — Our Anchor drags, and we leave the Yealm about midnight and run into the Sound — Weather-bound in Cat-water — An Epidemic on board — We sail for Salcombe — Anchor there for the night — A Beat-out of Salcombe — Thick Fog in the Channel — TheBell on the Start — A Brixham Smack looms up and asks where he is — A Fine Afternoon into Dartmouth ... ... ... ... ... />. 166

Chapter X

Determine to sail farther East — Leave Dartmouth for Weymonth — Thick Fog outside Mewstone — Shape a course for Portland Bill — The Nautical Instruments of R. V. W. — We make Portland — Anchor inside Breakwater, near Chesil Beach — Night Alarm by Thames Barge — I am boarded by Officials, owing to our unofficial Flag — No Papers — Not Registered, etc. — Conclude, after a Survey, that Weymouth is not a place to remain in, and sail for CONTENTS. XVII the Solent— St. Albans Race — Arrive in Solent — Meet Royal Mail Steamer Parana — Her Swell, and result — Anchor at Southampton — Run up the Itchen — Moor Ship off Itchen Ferry — Take a Cottage at Woolstone — Pay off Tupman — Description of Itchen Ferry, etc. — My Wife drags her Anchor — Advertise the Yacht for Sale — Advised to sell her by Auction, and move her into Southampton Docks — Our Neighbours in Dock — The Fox, etc. — We are mistaken for a Dutch Family — And become Lions in the Dock — Baron talks Dutch — A Night Alarm in the Dock; the Dog overboard — Difficulty of getting Fresh Water — Baron gets some on Trial, etc. — The Day of Sale — Yacht Agents, Marine Store-dealers, etc., on board — Eloquence and Brandy — Sale Collapses — I become wiser and poorer — An Ignominious Termin ation to our Cruise — How it might or ought to have ended — Expensive Adjectives — Leave the Yacht — Baron Ashore — He roasts a Leg of Mutton, etc. ... ... ... ... 181

CHAPTER XL

The Rip Van Winkle winters in Dock — Two tempting Offers — I refuse them, and haul out of Dock — Mr. Blocks — I obtain his assistance — Official Red-tape — Mr. Blocks carried out of Dock in R. V. W. alone — Terrible Scene with him on board — An Interesting Family Event — Its Consequence — A third Offer for Yacht — I part with her — She is re-christened, and sails for Jersey — I keep the Dinghy — Itchen Ferry Fishermen — Yachtsmen and Racing Craft — I design a Half-decked Boat — She is built, etc. — Mr. Marks and my Brother christen her — Navigation of the Itchen — Jersey Boat — An unexpected turn — Tugs and their Followers — I nearly suspend my Certificate — My Boat jumps an Oar — A bad Look-out — Getting under Weigh too soon, etc. p. 197

Chapter XII

I take part in a Naval Review — A Night iu a Railway-Station — "The Pride of the Morning" — Sou'-westers, Oil-skins, and Summer Toilets — A crowded Landing-place — H. M.S. Achilles' Boat stops the way — I get on board an Ironclad, dry — Captain Vansittart and his Ship — A Sail in a Man-of- War's Cutter — To Spithead and back— A long Row — I leave Woolstone — Reason for doing so — Go to Deal — The Dinghy makes her first appearance on that Beach — I add to her Freeboard, and cruise in her in the Downs, etc. — Deal Boatmen and their Gear — The Lugger Tiger — A Lugger split in two — Ship on fire in the Downs — A heavy Gale — Wind Force — Deal Boatman's Cuddy — Our Neigh- CONTENTS . hours at Deal— J. W. M. Turner at Margate — The Van Kook Life-boat— Sandown Castle, etc.— We leave Deal — Take a Villa at Erith — Why — Economy and Advantages of moving — The Dinghy sails for Erith with our Cat on Board — Boating at Erith — Great increase of Steam Traffic — John Brett on the River — Lower Thames compared with Upper— The Last of the Flood round Crayfordness — Peter-boats, etc. — Pick up a capsized Canoeist — An old Waterman's Prophecy verified — I return to Southampton — Sell my old Dinghy — A short History of her — Her untimely End at Chelsea p. 213

Chapter XIII

Difficulty of getting a Boat — Hear of one at Oakum's — The way tlicre — I see the Lily — Fall in love with her — She becomes mine — Not a young Boat, but cheap — Her Birth, Parentage, etc. — A good Boat compared with a Horse — Advantages of Boat over Horse — Safety of Modern Lead-keeled Racers, etc. — Southampton Water — Large Boats easy to handle there — My Lady Friend and her Ten-tonner — My third Boy takes his Sister's place at the Tiller — Precaution against his getting overboard — Fishing — I start a Beam Trawl-net — Drawbacks and Pleasures of the Sport — Steering with the Trawl-warp — I am knocked Overboard — My Boy does not care — I get inside my Boat again — An old Watch still ticking — A Cold Bath — Watch all right again — It parts its Cable one day and takes a Bath alone — Is recovered — How to treat a Watch after being four hours in the Sea — The Lily in Winter Quarters — Fitting-out at Oakum's — Energetic Skippers — " Sugar," its effect on them — Work to be done — How to judge of it — Ready for Sea — London Owners — Weather, its effect upon fitting-out — The Beginning of the End ... ... ... p. 235

Chapter XIV

The Lily is armed — Boys and Guns — Some Experiences — I buy a new Dinghy — Make Mud-pattens, and become a Wild-fowler- — Exploration of Creeks, etc., with the boy Robin — He learns to Shoot, and walk upon Mud — First attempt — Planted in Mud — Variety and extent of Creeks — List of Wild Birds — Rough Weather — A hard beat home — Water in Fore-peak — A Pump-out — Mainsail split — Pick up our Mooring, and lose the Dinghy — Her narrow escape — History of my Mainsail — A Weak Point in it — Robin alone in the Lily among the Wild-fowl — A Morning- Row — Robin in India — The old Lily drops her Iron Keel — My Moorings tested by a Timber-raft in a Gale — Lily salved by Bill Kirby — Lily among Ice — Careless Neighbours — An Anchor CONTENTS. XIX through bottom of Lily — She sails into Port in a sinking con dition — Why she kept afloat at all — The Laud-lubber's plea — My Mate, little Nut — Her dread of a Squall — How she kept a reckoning by nose — I fall in with a Friend afloat, and a new Boat, Foam the Second — Itchen Ferry Rig versus Sloop for Single handed Sailing- — Description of Foam No. 2 — -Winds and Weather in Southampton Water and Solent — Hamble River — Up to Bur seldon — Eighteenth Century Ships built there — The Training ship Mercury — Beaulieu River — Buckler's Hard ; old Ships built there — Solitude of Beaulieu River to-day — A Wet Night in it — How navigated by an Old Trader — His Look-out — Directions for sailing into " Bewley Haven " — Conclusion — Two Lives insufficient to exhaust various conditions of cruising under sail. etc. p.

Chapter I

I am put into Salt- Water — Make a Voyage to America — Comeback — Return to London — Want of Education — Early Pursuits there — Learn to Swim — Don't run away to Sea — Why — Explore the River Lea with a Cousin — Don't get Drowned in it — Milk-maids replaced by Savages on its Banks — Under Fire on the Lea — A Council of War — Some Dangers attending being able to Swim — A Drift Sea-ward — Under a Boat's Bottom — I join a Rowing-Club — Race with a Putney Steamer, and Result — Ram a Coal-barge in an Outrigger — An Honest Owner 1 etc. I was born a Cockney,1 and first introduced to salt-water by a stout, strong old lady of Brighton in a blue serge suit, who took me by main force from the top step of a little rickety bathing machine, round which small waves were rolling, 1 When this took place, in 1826, there were genuine English Cockneys, Englishmen now are born all over the world, while London has so extended that it is not easy to be born a Cockney even there to-day.

B and selecting one of unusual size and fury soused me under it. This she repeated three times, after which I scrambled into the machine again, with eves, nose, and ears full of salt foam and sand. I was about four years old at this time, and remember seeing nothing of the sea afterwards until four years later I crossed the Atlantic for the first time in the Black X sailing-packet Philadelphia, and after six weeks at sea, was told that a low line of flat grey cloud on the horizon ahead of the ship was American land — Lone Island shore. Matters over which I had no control led, six months later, to another delightful trip over the sea in the same ship, and in three weeks to a sight of the chalk cliffs of the Isle of Wight. I have no recollection of any storm or nautical incident of importance during either of these voyages, nor even of sea-sickness, and was only sorry to change the pleasant deck of the little 500 ton packet for the outside of the Portsmouth coach for London.

Boys, however, never look far ahead, and a sail from the ship at Spithead to Portsmouth in a small, cutter-rigged tender consoled me greatly at the time. Having now crossed the Atlantic twice in a full-rigged ship, I of course felt at once competent to take charge of anything WANT OF EDUCATION. in the shape of a boat, — this was sixty years ago, — and I have held that opinion ever since, and seldom missed a chance of doing so whenever one was offered. Luckily for me, being the eldest of a large and rapidly increasing family, I had the advantage of a judiciously intermittent and well-neglected education, and this period of my life appears now to me to have been one long half-holiday, spent on the banks of suburban ponds and canals, sailing home-made model boats, or bathing, and catching sticklebacks and gudgeon.

Nothing, I think, tends more to habits of self reliance than an early and well-neglected education. But my Pickwickian tastes for the margins of the Hampatead and other suburban ponds led my father, about this time, to try and add the art of swimming to my other desultory studies, and I was handed over to an old boatman of Margate, who professed to teach me this noble art at the rate of two shillings a lesson. This was a mistake, for perhaps if the job had been a contract one I might have learnt something even from this experienced old expert. As it was, I really first learnt to keep my head above water in the Paddington Canal, finishing my education in the old Holborn baths, and that then deep, treacherous lake, the Serpentine. According to all ordinary or well-regulated water biographies, I ought now to at once leave a comfortable home and indulgent parents, and stow myself away on board a collier-brig ; or on what I should then have liked better, one of the great brown sailed Thames barges.

The course of true sea love should, I know*, run in this direction, but even love of the sea does not always run smoothly, and in my case was probably marred by a too early personal observation of some aspects of real "life on the ocean wave" before the mast, so that even after a long course of study of my Robinson Crusoe and other nautical fiction, I never remember at any time being tempted to leave my base of operations on good family bread and-butter, by running away to sea. And thus it came to pass that at this time my most ambitious nautical rovings were limited to short inland explorations of that Cockney haunt, the river Lea, where, near Upper Clapton, in the company of my cousin, a Blue-coat boy of intensely nautical tastes, I spent what little pocket-money I got in the hire of crank skiffs, well found not only in sculls, but mast, sail, and rudder.

There were many other BOATING ON THE RIVER LEA. places nearer home where boats might be hired, but none where the owner of one fitted with mast and sail could be persuaded to trust it in the hands of enterprising youngsters of our experience. Most of the craft on the Lea were owned by two old water men brothers, of the suggestive name of Solomon. And the chartering of one was always a serious matter, which my cousin, being a City man, and a year older than myself, always negotiated. He was also the actual owner of a watch, which, together with the combined cash in our pockets, remained in the hands of the Solomons as a form of insurance upon their craft, or guarantee for the hire of her in case of accident to or desertion of her by the crew. General holidays, or long summer Sunday after noons, were usually selected for these cruises, when, for the outlay of a shilling each, we were able to enjoy three or more hours of this kind of boating ; and as both of us were agreed that sailing, when ever practicable, was the only mode of progression for boys of our nautical ability, a windy day was always chosen for them.

It was upon one of these early cruises that I first nearly came to grief in a boat, by being carried by a strong current under the great water wheels of certain mills. Just above these mills was a low bridge, where in turning our boat she drifted, and we got her jammed broadside across it with the full strength of the stream running under her in such a way, that any movement on our part to clear her caused her to heel over toward it until the water poured into her on that side. "We at once saw that in a few seconds if we capsized we should be under those mill-wheels, and this, I believe, made us keep quiet and think what was best to be done. Luckily our mast was not up, and the bridge was wide enough if only we could get the boat round head to stream to use our sculls under it. So that, keeping very carefully amidships in the boat, and pulling the bow7 oar, with the after one ready the moment her head was round, after a few anxious moments we got out of this awkward fix, and clear of what we called " that beast of a bridge," with the strong dark stream below it.

Divided councils, I think, led to our getting athwart the bridge, and before we were clear of it the importance of one directing head in cases of emergency became evident to us both. This incident, however, had the effect of much in creasing our confidence, not only in small boats, but ourselves ; because we both felt that it did not happen through any fault of the boat, while as to SUNDAY BOATING ON THE LEA. 7 our share in it, the truth of the saying was evident, that " it takes a good man to keep out of trouble, but a better one to get out of it." Sunday boating in those clays was looked upon by people who did not indulge in it as a surer road to ruin than it is to-day ; while at the end of the journey it was then easier to get hung than now. We were therefore both logically safer from a watery grave than boys of the present day.