The Cruise of 'The Kate.'

Preface

. ' THE Kate ' yacht is a small boat, twenty-one feet in length along the keel, twenty-three feet along the deck, and seven feet in beam. It has an iron keel, weighing over six hundred weight and an iron keelson of four, together with eleven hundred weight of ballast, cast in iron to fit the partitions built on the bottom on purpose to re ceive it. Its draught of water is three feet nine at the stern, and about one foot ten at the bow. The model is what a sailor terms ' round ; ' that is, there is nothing cut away, as in boats built for racing purposes, which must sail fast in light airs, however bad sea-boats they may be. The model is so perfect that the water is felt every where, and the boat must rise gracefully and especially rapidly in a seaway ; its quickness in mounting a sea is very remarkable, and that without any violent motion. The hoist of the

PREFACE.

. VIII mainsail, from the tack to the jaws, is thirteen feet; from the deck, about fourteen feet six. The hoist of the peak is just the total height of the mast, about twenty feet. The length of the mainboom is eleven feet six inches. The sail has three reefs and a balance-reef; each reef was ordered two feet six inches, but I believe there is a slight difference, the first reef being only two feet, as also in the jib, which was de cidedly a large sail, being the full hoist of the mainsail and six feet on the foot. The mizen is also a large sail, and is, in fact, the least thing too large ; it had one reef, about two feet deep, which was very frequently used. The storm mizen was never set ; it was too small for any practical purpose, but might have been useful in a very violent hurricane. The masts and spars were all made of Oregon pine, and looked very handsome when scraped.

The bowsprit was a hollow, bad spar, and is a proof of how long a spar will stand if well stayed. It was very severely tested in many ways, but especially by the sea breaking heavily into the jib, when beat ing to windward. I have often been astonished that it still remained when the deluge of water had passed ; a deluge which was often several

PREFACE.

. IX inches deep over the whole forward part of the boat, completely hiding it from view, and which would have drowned an open boat. The voyage of ' The Kate ' was from the Thames to the Thames, and not from any port in the Thames to any port in the Thames. I have been frequently asked on my way round the coast whether I be lieved the story of ' The Red, White, and Blue ' having crossed the Atlantic. I did not read all the evidence ; but I most certainly would not insult myself by doubting the fact. I know that ' The Kate' could go across, and can under stand that other boats can do the same. As for the improbability of the men carrying the canvas they state they did, at times when other vessels were made very snug, I see no improba bility; the men could not be ordinary men, and would not be at all likely to set the amount of canvas that ordinary men would carry.

I most unhesitatingly believe that the men did cross as stated, and I shall continue to believe so until certain proof is brought against them. The anchors were self-stocking, and very handy, but very unsafe. The stock was retained in its place by a notch, which worked through a slot in the head of the anchor. I had seen the

PREFACE.

. X necessity for and had ordered a couple of spring pins, to slip in through and prevent the stock turning round, when the boat was going about at her anchor. The pins were forgotten. The iron worked as I had expected, and I have hauled up both anchors unstocked ; after which I always slipped in a plug of wood, but that would work out, so that I cannot recommend the anchors without the vertical spring pin. The pictures of 'The Kate' have created considerable astonishment to some of my friends. One bold horsewoman said she would rather her horse stood on one hair of his tail than venture in 'The Kate.' Such being the case, I simply state that, where daylight allowed an opinion, the engravings have been toned down below the actual fact. April, 1870. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Start i II.

From Ramsgate to Southampton . . 24 III. From Southampton to Dartmouth . . 50 IV. From Dartmouth to St. Ives ... 65 V. From' St. Ives to New Quay ... 86 VI. On Harbours of Refuge . . . .102 VII. From New Quay to Boscastle . . .110 VIII. From Boscastle to Milford . . .129 IX. From Milford to Kingstown . . . 162 X. From Kingstown to Leith . . .192 XI. From Leith to Bridlington . . .221 XII. From Bridlington to Southwold . . 247 XIII. From Southwold to the Thames . . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE ' The Kate ' at the Lizard .... to face 73 Chart 139 'The Kate' in mid-channel between Milford and Wexford. Struck by a cross sea at the change of tide to face 1 73 • The Kate,' when struck crossing the sand . to face 256 ' The Kate ' on the edge of a wave precipice . to face 260 VIGNETTES. The Bell-buoy 200 Russian lamp, cooking-place, and well, &c. . . . 231 The dingy pulling through the surf .... 252 The crew of ' The Kate ' aloft, hooking on peak halyard-block, &c 258 'The Kate' at anchor in the Thames, off the Maplin.

Gale of wind. Time, about 6 p.m. .... 280 ' The Kate ' at anchor in the Thames. Night pitch dark. Vessels' lights in all directions. Time, midnight . 2S6

Chapter I. The Start

My wearied thoughts were wandering down the High Street of Southampton, during the Christmas week of 1868, and conducted tired limbs to the excellent circulating library of Messrs. Gutch, where faded eyesight fell upon a work bearing the title of ' The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy.' An instant sympathy with its contents created an exchange of matter; five shillings causing a deficiency of ballast in one pocket, while extracted essence of old clothes created a bulge in my starboard coat, correcting my proper trim, and allowing me to cruise to my usual station without more rolling than was actually necessary, in proportion to the paved or mudded depressions on the way. All hail B ' The Voyage Alone.' I am afraid to say how many times I read Mr. Macgregor's yawl voy age ; certainly I have never met with any book of its class which pleased me so much.

I read, then wrote to Messrs. Forrestt, of Limehouse, the builders of the ' Rob Roy,' requesting all in formation about the craft; the correspondence ending by my sending an order for a similar boat with one or two slight alterations, such as a heavier iron keel, &c, to be ready on the 15th May. My route gave me no difficulty; for I im mediately determined to sail around England, choosing that course as the most difficult one I could think of, on account of its powerful tides. I may say I knew very little about sailing-boats at the time of writing the order for one, as I had passed several years, from 1858 to 1864, in the Punjaub, serving with her Majesty's 51st Light Infantry. I was fond of sailing when a lad, and went out sometimes in a small cutter, when residing at Jersey, but the oar usually offered the chief attraction : I presume from the fact that no one could meddle with my oar; whereas amateur sailing-boats, from stern to tiller, are rarely commanded by anyone.

Tom seizing the tiller as often as not, without the slightest notion of steering ; Jack the main-sheet which would be much better belayed ; the fore- WHY I SOLD OUT OF THE ARMY. 3 sheet, the one which requires watching, being usually made fast. The ocean was no novelty, for when fifteen years of age I went a voyage to Australia in the ship ' Albemarle.' My respected father, the late Boswell Middleton, Esq., Barrister-at- Law, and Advocate-General of Jamaica, had applied for a commission in the navy, but the Government refused it because I was a month or so over fourteen, which, I believe, was the standard age for admission at that time. The merchant service taught me a great deal of sea manship, but especially how to steer under all difficulties. I liked the voyage on the whole, but came to the conclusion that the mercantile marine was not exactly suited to me as a pro fession ; I therefore obtained a quittance from my cousin Mr. Tindal, the owner of the 'Albe marle,' and bid good-bye to the sea as a profes sion.

The army was not my choice, but the excitement caused by the Indian Mutiny led me to don the red coat, though the treatment I received very soon disgusted me with that service. The case was as follows. An officer sold out of the regiment in India on November 9, 1859, an(^ appeared as gazetted out in the Indian papers. I was the senior ensign for purchase; my money was lodged, my examination passed ; month B . after month went by without my name appear ing in the English Gazette, and on the colonel writing to enquire the cause of delay, the answer received was that my examination papers had not arrived in England, and that I could not be gazetted until they were received. Such was the answer returned, in spite of the official announce ment from the regiment and the colonel's assur ance that I had passed the necessary examination.

I was actually gazetted a lieutenant in March 1 86 1. But how about the pay from November 1859 to March 1861 ? Doubtless you imagine my commission was antedated, and the amount, exceeding one hundred pounds, placed to my credit with the regimental paymaster ? Not a bit of it; the whole sum was handed to the man who had left the regiment and virtually the service. So much for justice in the army! I sold out on the first opportunity, and am glad I did so, for my very blood would congeal if compelled to serve on such terms. Comparing the service with other professions, I think that the officers are dis gracefully paid. It is no light thing to be an officer in the army ; the duty banishes a man from his country. Not only so, but keeps per petually banishing him. If he is in India, and has dared to make himself comfortable in one station, he is banished to another, from that LESSONS IN A PRACTICE-BOAT. 5 to a third, and so on through a period of usually ten years ; when, with good luck, he may find himself back in England, to be again rooted up at the end of three years, and packed off to some new part of the world.

Double their present pay could not even compensate for the utter loss of comfort and ties which usually make life bearable. The next thing to be done after ordering the yawl for a single-handed cruise, was to learn something about the handling of a sailing-boat. I therefore went out some dozen times during the winter months in a boat I hired from Mr. Stockham, a boat-builder in Southampton, and the boat-builder who has turned out the fastest and stiffest boat of its class in that part of the world. I failed to discover a yawl, but practised in a small cutter seventeen feet long, accompanied by a lad. The winter of 1 868 was very severe, so that we usually started under reefed canvas. I often wondered how I should feel by myself, which puzzle I determined should be solved on board ' The Kate.' The amount of canvas to be carried was a most important question.

The practice-boat had a seventeen foot mainsail with reefs three feet apart. I noticed that when double reefed in a breeze she had hardly enough sail, but the single ' THE KATE. reef was too much. Five from seventeen leaves twelve, which was about what the boat could bear in a strong breeze. ' The Kate ' I knew would be a much stiffer boat, and so I determined the hoist of the mainsail should be thirteen feet, which, with a jib of the same hoist, and a large mizen, would be as much sail as could be carried in a fresh breeze ; and I have often had cause to congratulate myself that I had no more. The boat required a very great deal more in light airs, especially aloft ; as my flag would some times blow out strongly when the sails were nearly becalmed. I can say nothing of the sailing of the boat in light airs — for instance, a two pound breeze — for then a mainsail of twenty feet hoist, cutter-rigged, over the stern a long jib-boom, with a powerful jib, convert ing the present one into a foresail, is about what the boat could carry.

I imagine with that canvas it would be hard to beat, for when the breeze freshens, to suit the present amount of sail, it forges ahead at a great pace, and lies very close to the wind. A seaway is necessary to bring out all the sailing qualities ; the motion is then beautiful and easy, without any of the awkward plunging of sharp-built boats — in fact it is my belief that ' The Kate ' would drown most racing-boats of the day, especially when running MODEL OF ' THE KATE. 7 either across a sea or dead before it. The model is so perfect, that seas have no chance of coming on board, for if they have any shoulder, the build feels it instantly, and rises like a cork. Seamen tell me that there are great curling seas, which will swallow up anything ; and I can fully understand that no vessel could live in the heavy breakers to be met with on the Cornish coast ; but I have run before curling seas, of cer tainly from eighteen to twenty feet high, off Cromer, and yet nothing of any importance has ever come on board.

I have looked behind and seen waves which threatened to curl right over me ; but they always ran under the stern, the white water rushing along the decks on each side sufficient to drown an open boat, but of no con sequence to a decked one. Again, the length of twenty-one feet is of the greatest advantage when running, for the boat only contends with one sea at a time ; whereas the greater length is sometimes hung on two, and frequently over runs the seas. The wave usually carries ' The Kate ' along with it — for this reason, that the greatest beam is about three feet aft of the main mast. The sea therefore holds on to that point and sweeps the boat along on its edge (if a curler) until broken, when the staunch little craft rushes through the white water as smoothly ' THE KATE.' 8 as possible.

The lines were drawn by Mr. White, of Cowes, and they reflect the greatest credit on the designer, for a more perfect sea-boat cannot float. If the same model was adopted by gentlemen who wish to possess a safe, handy sea-boat, we should hear of far fewer accidents, for it would take a very great deal to put ' The Kate ' over. My mast would not carry away ; but then it is exceptionally thick, being nearly six inches in diameter. Four-and-a-half is quite enough, and I fancy would break before the boat could upset ; that is, the power required to put the boat over would snap the mast. Such should be the proportion sought for when mast ing a boat ; and for that very reason I should not advise unpractised amateurs to use wire rigging. I do not see how a boat can be upset when skilfully handled.

I take it accidents happen something after this fashion ; a number of amateurs go for a sail by themselves, none of whom are fit to handle a boat, or have any real experience : no one in particular is told off to command, and if there should be, the rest would not obey. The breeze begins to freshen and becomes puffy ; our ama teurs all inwardly wish to have a reef down, but no one starts the idea for fear of being thought nervous ; consequently squall No. i half fills the HOW BOATS ARE CAPSIZED. 9 boat, which squall No. 2 capsizes, and some one is drowned. Now, if a little real courage were shown by anyone of the party insisting on a double reef, and a hasty return to port, the sail would have had a satisfactory ending, and such an individual after a little chaff would have risen in the estimation of the rest.

Real seamen are rarely caught, for they reef down before the breeze comes on. However, everyone cannot be expected to have their experience ; but a little caution may often take its place. I have frequently reefed down in the early part of my cruise, three or four times in the day, and that instantly I saw anything like a squall ; and the mere fact of reefing gave me any amount of con fidence in myself: I felt I could do anything I liked with the boat. I have saved the trouble of reefing later on, when sailing through a mass of squalls off the land, by lowering the halliards a few inches, slacking off the tack, and making active use of the tricing-line. A good steersman can sail half the wind out of his canvas, and still have all that the boat can bear, in really dangerous squalls ; but, as a rule, there is nothing so distressing as to see a man continually shaking a boat, and I am convinced that a great deal of very unnecessary risk is incurred by yawing about, to avoid seas.

My own motto is, steer as ' THE KATE. 10 straight as possible. I had the sea right abeam, and heavy, when I crossed from Milford to Wexford. I should say the seas were about twelve to fifteen feet high, perhaps as large as any I have ever seen to the east of the Start in the English Channel, but I could not have made a course had I perpetually run the boat to lee ward to avoid them. I kept the boat as straight as it would go ; though at times not able to steer closer than four points, that is two each way. I let the boat run on occasions when a powerful sea swept it off, calculating the time it stood on that particular course, and kept it about the same time on the more weatherly course when thrown the other way — never at tempting to seesaw over the exact line. When a beam sea is to be avoided, wait until it is nearly aboard, and then the slightest movement will clear it.

A sea on the quarter is the hardest to deal with, because it has a tendency to counteract the force of the rudder ; but if caught just as the stern rises to the first part of the swell.the boat, if travelling fast, will pay off in time, with but a slight deviation from the course. Not only so, but it must be remembered that as the sea runs, the hollow runs, and if the boat is steered straight, the sea may often be beaten. Whereas if the boat is run off when in the hollow ALWAYS CARRY A DROGUE ! 11 of the sea, the course suffers considerably : more care is necessary with an open boat than with a decked one, for the sea will come in to leeward. Long boats, when running, should always carry a large canvas bag in the shape of a sugar-loaf, called a drogue, securely fastened by a rope to either the mizen-mast or athwart ; a check-line fastened to the peak of the bag allows it to trail behind unexpanded.

The peculiar use of the drogueisto stopthe boatfromoverrunningthesea, when, if the check-line is let go, the bag will fill. The builders were very much behind their time, so that it was not till June 10 that I was able to take the boat out of Messrs. Forrestt's yard for the purpose of having the compass ad justed by Messrs. Lilly of London Street. The stores were all shipped on the 9th, but many little things required fitting, so that I dropped down to Greenhithe on the afternoon of the 10th with a couple of carpenters on board, and a hand to assist in swinging the boat, and act as pilot. I had never seen a vessel swung, so that I left the directions to others, who proceeded to moor the boat by lines on each quarter, the bow being held by the anchor, with the chain up and down. Common sense told me that the lines were not in their proper places ; but as the men seemed to prefer their way, we blundered on till at last my method was adopted, viz., to moor with a line on the' quarter and another on the opposite bow.

I had at first intended having lead ballast astern, but was advised not to incur the extra expense, as the iron would an swer as well. The iron does not answer as well, for it has a very great effect on the compass — so much so in ' The Kate ' that the magnets failed to reduce the error to a working allowance, com pelling me to take the deviation ; and wonder fully well Mr. Lilly has done his work, for I have found his card exact. I attempted to put the boat on some firm sand on the evening of the nth, after the swinging was over, with a view to scrubbing the mud off the boat's bottom ; but the patch was very small, and at low water I found I had only added more mud ; I therefore hauled off again when the flood made, and started for Sheerness with the first of the ebb on Saturday morning. It was not advisable to wash the decks as long as the carpenters were at work, but the water was not spared whilst going down the river, when I speedily disco vered that the main-hatch leaked to such an extent as would have been dangerous in a sea way ; I therefore anchored at Gravesend, and re turned to the builder's yard with the next flood.

NEARLY SMASHED BY A STEAMER, 13 The leakage was caused by the warping of that piece of the main-hatch which overlapped the forward coaming of the main hatchway. An evil may exist, but its detection may be difficult. The way to find out an error, in almost any case, is to place the subject in such position as we wish it to excel in. I shut the main-hatch as close as possible, stood inside, and looked for daylight. I found I could place a sixpence between the hatch and its drop-piece, through an opening of nearly three feet in width. I had a fresh drop-piece made, the seam along the deck twice caulked (the last time at Kingstown), after which, not even one drop found its way into the cabin through that particular point, although the forepart of the deck was often invisible from the amount of water on board.

There was a very fresh breeze up the river, which headed us for the last ten miles ; but the boat worked very well. The river was excessively crowded ; large numbers of vessels, taking ad vantage of the strong breeze, were pressing down under square sails, and steamers of every size and description were ploughing through the water with an utter disregard for small craft in the way. I was standing towards the north shore, at one of the bends in the river, when I saw an enormous steamer suddenly come round the corner under full pressure of steam, and steering very close to the bank. It paid not the slightest regard to my boat ; to go about was a doubtful experiment, on account of the crowded state of the river and the proximity of the steamer, and the wisest course appeared, to hold on until I was compelled to stay or run ashore.

The boat came round, but I was obliged to hang in stays, with the foresheet to windward, while the monster, some three hundred feet long, dashed past with the whole length of side barely four feet from my bowsprit end. The same thing, but to a less dangerous degree, occurred with another steamer a little farther on. Can nothing be done to prevent the reckless racing of steamers down a densely crowded river like the Thames ? I am aware that steamers require a certain amount of speed to enable them to answer the helm quickly in a tideway, but I am certain that the pace at which these vessels were being driven was far beyond what is necessary for the perfect command of the ship. I have sailed down the river Indus, between Attock and Mooltan, where the channels are very narrow, being often only twenty or thirty yards wide, where the turns are excessively sharp and the stream very strong.

Full speed is an absolute necessity for such naviga- THE MAIN-HATCH. 15 tion, and a novel sight it is to see a steamer rattling through a bight, or round a corner, at twelve knots an hour, with only a foot or so between the bow and ihe bank ; which is frequently struck stem on, the stream setting steering at defiance. Full speed can hardly be necessary on the Thames, although the steamers are very long, for the curves are comparatively large and the stream broad, with its greatest force spread over a wide expanse of water. I anchored off ' Duke's' shore at Limehouse, but the number of barges which are continually passing down rendered that anchorage unad visable for the small yacht, which was dropped down to the City Canal Dock, and taken up to the builder's yard in the morning. Mr. Mac gregor, the owner of the ' Rob Roy,' very kindly came down to Messrs. Forrestt's yard, and made several very necessary alterations in the work ing of the main-hatch, bowsprit, &c. The main-hatch is a most important article on board of a one-handed boat, and deserves special notice.

The great desideratum is that it shall slide well forward, and yet be firmly locked in that position, so that in a strong breeze in harbour it may be open without any fear of the wind blowing it away ; also that a minimum of friction may enforce a minimum of ' THE KATE.' 16 labour in the act of sliding it backwards and forwards. Each of these essential points is attained by simply maintaining the coamings to the full height for the exact length ofthe hatch; the forward part being sloped down towards the deck, also to the exact length of the hatch, which, when forward, will lie at an angle to its former position, but firmly resting on the coam ing at the lower end ; and the bearing on the side will always be less than the length of the hatch. Everything was in readiness to haul out into the river at tide time on the 15th.

My pilot was engaged to the Nore ; but I re-engaged him to Ramsgate at my sister's request. There was little or no water to float the boat out into the river, but mud abounded to such a depth as required the combined power of about thirty men to drag the little boat into the stream ; giving me a very satisfactory test of the strength of my rope cable, and rendering it serviceable by a good stretching. Everything was in readiness for a start by 7 P.M. The wind had been strong and puffy throughout the day ; but who could possibly give the weather a thought when pos sessed of a bran new boat, bran new sails, rigging, flags, and experience ? We raced along until "tve opened the first DRAGGED ANCHOR. 17 broad reach of the river, some three miles from Limehouse, where a sudden squall flung the boat over, putting two or three planks of the deck well under water, on which the mainsail was reefed, and then the jib and mizen.

The north-easter increased rapidly, compelling a second reef in the mainsail, under which can vas we made Greenhithe about 9.30 P.M. The mud in the anchorage is rather treacherous ; the best places were all occupied by a number of yachts, ships, and small craft. We chose a berth below the whole, and let go the anchor on what turned out to be indifferent holding ground. - We made everything snug for the night, and turned in, after a friendly pipe, to sleep soundly till the morning. I jumped on deck about 5-30 A.M., and found the boat had dragged the anchor, and was slowly going ashore. The breeze had increased during the night, and was little short of a hurricane when I awoke. To have dragged on the ground would not have injured the boat in the least, as it is very soft ; but the disgrace of going ashore on the first anchorage was not to be tolerated, so I called the pilot, and we made sail under a close-reefed mainsail.