Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc

Front matter

l\H'

Class jiV-iiL- Book « K OS — -

SMALL-BOAT SAILING

Prefatory Note

In consequence of the severe wound received by Mr. Knight at the battle of Belmont, necessitating the amputation of his right arm, and his subsequent orders to accompany the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York on their Colonial voyage as correspondent to the Mof^ning Posty the Author was unfortunately greatly hindered in giving the final touches to his book, and was called away without being able to write a preface.

In these circumstances two friends and experienced yachtsmen stepped in to his assistance, and we feel sure we are only carrying out what would be the wish of the Author in here thanking them for their services on his behalf

To Mr. H. Warington Smyth the Author is indebted for the illustrations, most of them original, but some the interpretation of drawings made by Mr. Knight with his left hand.

vi PREFACE

The proofs have had the benefit of careful reading and revision by Mr. Frederick St. John Gore, whose practical knowledge of sailing has enabled him to make various suggestions for the improvement and perfecting of the book.

As regards the book itself, little need be said. The skipper of the Falcon is too well known as a daring and experienced boat -sailer, and we launch his little volume in the confident belief that it will prove of real use to the class of yachtsmen for whom it is intended.

The Publishers.

Chapter I Page

How to survey a vessel — Galvanic action — Age of a vessel . . i CHAPTER n

THE EFFECT OF THE WIND ON A BOAT

Stability — Lateral resistance — Action of the wind when a vessel

is close-hauled — Centre of effort — Action of the rudder . .14

CHAPTER HI

Hawser and cable laid ropes — Worming, parcelling, and serving — Splicing — The various bends, hitches, and knots — Purchases and tackles — Racking a tackle — Selvagee strops — Clip-hooks 26

CHAPTER IV

Clinker and carvel build — Construction of a boat — Ballasting — False keels — Bilge keels — The coble — Centre-boards — Lee-boards — Sailing-punts— An adventure in the Gulf Stream — Dipping and standing lugs — Leg-of-mutton rig . . . 42 viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

OPEN SAILING-BOATS WITH BOOM-SAILS, AND

HALF-DECKED BOATS

PAGE

The Una rig — Balance-reefs — The sliding-gunter — The balance-lug — Main and mizzen rig — The sloop — Half-decked boats . 72

CHAPTER VI

A cutter's spars, sails, standing and running rigging — Advantages of the yawl and ketch rigs 91

CHAPTER Vn

How to set, reef, and take in sails — Getting under weigh— Full and bye — Tacking — Running — Jibing — Heaving- to — Balance of sails— Sailing with wind abeam — In a Pampero — Coming to an anchorage and picking up moorings — The drogue 1 18

CHAPTER VIII

Shifting ballast — Sailing in rough water — Management of open boats — Beaching through a surf — Hints on river sailing — Working the currents — Sailing under bridges . . .157

CHAPTER IX

How to ballast and fit her out — Anchors and cables — Lights — The compass — Swinging the vessel — Deviation of the compass — The equipment — Cooking stoves — Yacht's dinghy — How to tow a dinghy at sea — Collapsible boats — Sailing dinghies 175

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER X

PAGB

How to use charts — Sounding — Heaving the log — Tides — The barometer — Getting a slant — Weather- wisdom — Storm signals — Weather forecasts 194

CHAPTER XI

Taking the departure by cross-bearings — Underbowing the tide — Ascertaining one's position at sea— Current sailing — Making a landfall — Employment of the ground-log — Running for shelter 222

CHAPTER Xn

BOARD OF TRADEjAND OTHER REGULATIONS AFFECTING YACHTSMEN

Lights — Fog-signals — Rules of the road — Distress and pilot signals — Custom-house clearance — Ship's papers — Admiralty warrants— Owner's yachting certificate — Relations between owner and crew — Log-book — Insurance . . , . 238

CHAPTER XIII

TWO CRUISES ON LATEEN-RIGGED CRAFT

A dhow race in the Red Sea — Down the Nile cataracts . , 266 Index .• ... 293

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

PAGE

Hove to in the Channel frontispiece

Topsail sheet bend

Off Venice ....

Sheepshank .

. 36

Centre of lateral resistance .

A set of purchases

Wind action on sails

Selvagee strop

Tacking ....

Clipbooks . . . .

Centre of effort .

Bilge keel . . . .

Wind forces ....

Yorkshire coble .

Rudder action

Ketch with lee-boards .

Serving, worming, and par-

Lee-board fitting .

celling ....

Mount's Bay boat .

A whipped rope .

Standing lug

Short spHce ....

Spritsail

Long splice . . .

Spritsail barge

Eye splice ....

Leg-o'-Mutton sail

Cut splice ....

Leg-o'-Mutton as storm sail

Overhand knot

Una boat

Reef knot ....

Sliding Gunter rig

A 'granny' ....

Sliding Gunter fitting .

A common bend .

Balance lugsail

Two half-hitches .

Lugyard fitting

Clove hitch .

Main and mizzen .

Timber hitch

. 33

Sloop ....

Blackwall hitch .

Half-decked boat .

Rolling hitch

• 34

Reefed standing lugsail anc

Bowline and running bow roller foresail

. 90 line ....

• 34

Cutter's masthead

. 92

Bowline on a bight

• 34

Cutter ....

. 92

Fisherman's bend .

• 35

Cutter's bowsprit .

• 94

Topsail halyard bend .

• 35

. 98

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

XI

PAGE

PAGE

Cutter's topsail .

A Dutch schuyt .

.

Spinnaker to port .

In the Sound

.

Diagram of spinnaker .

lOI

Course set on a chart

Mainsheet fitting .

Off the Cornish coast

Foresail sheets

III Chinese junks off

Hong-

A yawl

Kong

The Alertt's boat .

El Hamdi dhow .

A reef-earring rove

Dhow running before the

A scowed anchor .

wind

A drogue

Dhow beating

Makeshift floating anchor

On the Nile .

Under storm trysail

Gayassa below Haifa

Sheet fastening .

A nugger

Chinese balance lugs ,

A high-peaked sail

SMALL-BOAT SAILING

CHAPTER I

How to survey a vessel — Galvanic action — Age of a vessel.

This work is intended for the use of the tyro who has little or no experience of sailing — not for the owner of the luxurious floating palace, but for the young Englishman who has a true love of the sea, and who, though unable to undertake long cruises on a smart schooner, or to race his cutter against the crack ships of the season, is yet ambitious to own and to sail single-handed his small craft, ready to rough it in the pursuit of his favourite pastime. Without doubt he who sails his own little vessel appreciates best all pleasures of yachting. *The smaller the vessel, the better the sport,' has long been a maxim of mine. I have sailed my own vessels, from the tiniest craft up to seventy-tonners, upon many seas ; but I think that in this particular sport I have got the most unadulterated delight out of the open boats of my boyhood, and out of my first five-tonner, a little yawl with which I

A cruised single-handed, or sometimes with one friend on board, for thousands of miles along the shores of several European countries, visiting out-of-the-way creeks, remote islets (as on the Baltic) inhabited byprimitive folk, fishing havens, shallow estuaries and straits, and winding fiords, inaccessible to larger yachts, which have to make their passages from one well-known great seaport to another, missing the most interesting features of the coasts by which they sail.

And how the single-handed sailor comes to love his little vessel ! He takes such a keen pride in keeping her smart without the assistance of others, and he is indeed jealous of their interference. Those who know not the delights of small-boat sailing sometimes dub the amusement a monotonous one; and, occasionally, it may certainly appear to be so to the ignorant spectator — much as golf does, for the matter of that, to the uninitiated. But there is no monotony for the true sailor alone with his yacht. Loving his craft, he does not find the time hang heavy, even when she floats idly in a calm — a position trying to the temper of those who are not enthusiasts of the sea. There is always some work to be done on board, repairs, painting, and so forth — a labour of love that he accomplishes with affectionate thoroughness ; and when that is complex- 'i he awaits the wind patiently, contemplating his vessel over his pipe, admiring her, and thinking how he can do this or that to improve her; or he

PLEASANT MEMORIES 3

plans fresh cruises ; or calls up pleasant memories of former cruises in her — of how at one time she showed a clean pair of heels to a craft double her size, and how she weathered that gale in the North Sea in such a year, when she behaved so well, and breasted with safety the steep seas by which bigger vessels might have been overwhelmed. No girl over her doll can contrive to make herself more perfectly happy than is the true yachtsman over his little ship.

As this book is intended for the instruction of the amateur skipper who would command his own small craft — and in most cases would be skipper, crew, and cook in one — I shall have nothing to say of the larger type of pleasure-craft, but will confine myself to dealing with small boats of various sizes, from the tiniest up-river dinghy to the ten-ton cutter or yawl. Professional sailors often declare that no book can assist a man in the acquisition of seamanship. I hold that books are of far more service than these mariners imagine, and enable the novice to acquire the elements of the art of sailing far more rapidly than would be possible otherwise. I remember well that I picked up many a wrinkle from books when I first took to sailing. But, of course, only long practice on board a craft can teach that self-confidence, that instinctive readiness to do the right thing promptly in any sudden emergency, without which all book-acquired theory is valueless at sea.

The selection of a boat is the subject of my opening chapter. Now, it is an exceedingly difficult matter to select a boat for another man. An old sailor once truly remarked that he would as soon trust a friend to choose a wife for him as to select his craft. Each man has his own taste in the matter of wives and boats. None save himself knows what will suit him best. All one can do is to proffer him some advice as to the selection of his vessel, give him some hints which are the fruit of personal experience, and then let him choose for himself

As the novice, whether acting on the advice of friends or on his own responsibility, is almost certain to be dissatisfied with the first craft he may happen to possess, it is well that in the first instance he should purchase a cheap boat, so that when the inevitable divorce ensues the sacrifice may be the smaller. A small, stiff, open or half-decked boat snugly rigged will suit him best in the early days of his apprenticeship ; but of what type that boat should be depends not only on his own idiosyncrasies but on a variety of circumstances — the character of the waters he purposes to navigate ; whether his boat is to be kept on the banks of some smooth river or tideless lake, or on the shore of the restless sea ; whether the water allows of the use of a deep-keel boat, or whether it be so shallow that he is compelled to employ a craft of light draft ; whether he has a snug haven for his boat, or whether she has to be run through the breakers and beached

THE NEED OF CAUTION 5

on an exposed coast after each sail ; and so forth.

I will suppose that the tyro has come to a decision as to the class of craft he requires, whether it be sailing dinghy or five-ton cutter, and that he is looking round the various boat-builders' yards to pick up a good second-hand craft ; for it is generally a mistake to have a boat built for one until one has gained considerable experience and understands exactly what one wants. Excellent second-hand boats can often be purchased at less than a quarter of what they cost to build, and yet be in all respects practically as good as new.

But great caution should be observed in the selection. Do not be deceived by a fair exterior, so easily produced by a discriminate application of paint, putty, and oakum. Examine the vessel carefully before concluding the purchase, or you may find yourself wofully deceived. I remember, som.e years ago, seeing a 'great bargain' lying off the Mall, at Hammersmith — an unlikely place for a yacht. She was a cutter, of about ten tons, that had been purchased below bridges for a ridiculously small sum, by a young man of Hammersmith, who had no experience whatever of sailing, and scarcely knew one end of a boat from the other; but it was his ambition to become a yachtsman. Having bought his cutter, he had her towed up to Hammersmith, where she was to be fitted out. He modestly announced that as soon as she was ready for sea, he would take a trial trip in her across the Bay of Biscay to Spain — a bold first venture for the amateur. He invited the author to accompany him, but the latter could not see his way to avail himself of this kind offer. He would take no advice save from a man professing to be a boat-builder, who was ignorant of his work, but who set himself in a very leisurely fashion to patch the old craft up and make a good profit out of this callow youth. For months the work of preparation went on. The hull of the yacht was beautiful to the eye with glossy black paint and gold streak (concealing rotten planking and puttyfilled holes). Her mast and topmast towered higher than those of any vessel ever before seen at Hammersmith ; she attracted crowds of admirers from the neighbouring slums. But, alas ! it was soon discovered that her beauty was skin deep indeed. Her decks, when an attempt was made to scrape them, came away in lumps of tinder, so that half the planks had to be replaced by new ones. Then her mast was found to be dangerously unsound at the usual spot — where the spar traverses the deck, — so a new mast had to be bought. There was no end to the useless and unworkmanlike patching : each day revealed some fresh defect ; and though the young man was dismayed at the expense, his friend the boat-maker tinkered cheerfully on, as sanguine as ever in his opinion that the craft would shortly be fit to sail to Spain. A

A FRAUDULENT CUTTER 7

new stern-post and rudder were found to be necessary ; a huge piece of lead was actually put on the rotten and loosened keel ; a new suit of sails was ordered for her; no expense was spared in luxuriously fitting out her cabin. At last, on coming down to visit her one morning at high tide, the dismayed owner could see nothing of his beloved vessel save her masts rising above the Thames's turbid stream. She had foundered at her moorings. Bumping on the hard gravel at each low tide, the old craft's bottom had been knocked in; for she could not bear the weight of her own ballast when unsupported by the water. The boat-builder would have gladly undertaken to raise her, repair her bottom, and make her what he was pleased to call * seaworthy ' again. But the young man had had enough of it ; he had at last come to his senses. After having thrown away several hundreds of pounds — he might have built an excellent ten-ton cruiser for less — he realised that to patch up a hull so rotten that the bolts, when any strain was put upon them, dragged through the timbers as through so much tinder (they pulled the chain-plates out of her on one occasion when setting up the rigging) was a sheer v/aste of money, and that he could never hope to sail to Gravesend, far less to Spain, with such a craft. So he wisely abandoned her, and she was rapidly broken up by the wash of penny steamers bumping her crazy frame against the hard foreshore. This experience sickened him of yachting, so he deserted the water, took to the road, and bought himself a buggy, I trust with happier results.

The above may be an extreme instance, and the young man in question was exceptionally green ; but I dare say that several readers of this work went through experiences of a somewhat similar description — I know well I did — when they first undertook to purchase cheap old yachts and fit them out for sea. The following are some of the most ordinary precautions that must be observed when selecting a second-hand craft; and if the novice have a friend experienced in nautical matters, he will do well to take him with him when the examination of the vessel on which he has set his affections is to be made.

When surveying an old vessel, thrust a penknife into various portions of her planking and timbers in order to discover whether these be sound or are soft and rotten in places. Do this more especially in the parts most liable to decay — for example, in the planking between wind and water, in all closed and ill-ventilated places, as in the sail-locker, where dry-rot frequently appears. Closely inspect the stem and stern posts. As a rule, the timbers of a yacht can be seen by opening her cabin lockers, but in order to effect a more thorough examination of her frame, remove the ballast in places, and if possible take out some of the cabin panelling. If any repairs are in progress, observe the sawdust brought

ADVICE TO PURCHASERS 9

out by the gimlet; it is powdery if the wood is unsound.

Examine her nails and bolts to see whether she be ' nail-sick,' as the sailors call it — that is, if they have worked loose by the straining of the vessel, or are corroded. Remember that to renail a vessel is an expensive business.

The exterior of the vessel and the keel must be examined when she is high and dry. If she is coppered, her sheathing will reveal whether she has been strained, or has suffered injury by running aground v/ith violence. Horizontal or diagonal wrinkles on the copper show that the vessel has been strained. Vertical wrinkles, unless extending over a large surface, may, as a rule, be disregarded ; they merely show that the side has been rubbed against some hard surface. If the horizontal wrinkles are regular, and extend along a great part of the vessel's length, she should be condemned ; for these show that her frame has been so loosened by age or severe straining that her shape undergoes a considerable change when she is taken out of the water : she settles down, not being able to support her own weight. The fact that doors and lockers that open and shut readily when she is afloat will not do so when she is high and dry indicates the same condition.

See whether the vessel be copper or iron fastened. Iron fastening is far the least expensive, and is the stronger so long as it lasts ; for a copper bolt, being softer, cannot be driven firmly home into hard wood as an iron bolt can. But, on the other hand, iron fastenings are apt to corrode rapidly, and an old iron-fastened vessel is likely to be nail-sick and to require refastening.

It must not be forgotten, too, that copper and iron, when immersed together in sea- water, set up galvanic action ; so that if an iron-fastened vessel be coppered, even though the greatest care was taken to prevent contact between the metals when the sheathin'g was put on, the insidious galvanic action may be at work in places, and the corrosion of the iron nails will be revealed by the presence of iror-rust stains at the junctures of the copper plates. Again, if, as sometimes happens, the sheathing has been brought down into close proximity with the iron keel, the bolts holding the keel may be eaten through, and cases have been known of a vessel's keel falling off when she is under way, in consequence of the unsuspected corrosion of the bolts from this cause. So, too, is it when lead and iron come into contact. Look to the fastenings of the lead keel, if there be one, for if, as is often the case even with copperfastened vessels, the floor-bolts be of iron, galvanic action may have been set up between the bolts and the lead ballast, and an examination may lead to the timely discovery that the bolt-heads are rotted through, and are ready to fall off.

The great strain of a vessel's rigging comes upon

THE AGE OF THE VESSEL ii

the chain-plates, so the planking and timbers surrounding them should be closely inspected. An old or weakly constructed vessel is often deformed and pulled out of shape by this strain.

Examine the masts and spars to see if they are rotten or sprung. Masts are most liable to be unsound where they pass through the deck, and beneath the hounds. Longitudinal cracks in spars are immaterial unless the fissures be of great depth. It is the custom to fill these cracks with putty in order to keep out the moisture ; take out a portion of the putty in places so as to ascertain whether rot has set up within. Transverse or diagonal cracks generally indicate that the spar is sprung, and should be condemned. If the examination of hull and spars proves satisfactory, there yet remains a careful inspection of all the equipment, the condition of the wire and rope rigging, the blocks and sails, the anchor, chain, and so forth.

The age of the vessel must also be taken into consideration before completing the purchase. It is a risky thing to buy an old craft of, say, twenty-five years of age, and at any rate she should be most minutely surveyed. On the other hand a vessel that has been built of honest stuff, and has been well cared for, will remain sound for a great many years ; and if, after close examination of an old vessel, she proves to be in really good condition, you may safely trust her more than you would a younger boat. With boats it is as with human beings. Even as a human life is more secure after it has safely passed the period of infantile ailments, so, too, the vessel that has knocked about for years is to be relied on if she still shows no symptoms of decay. Her original constitution must have been sound ; her timbers must have been properlyseasoned before she was put together ; she could not have been scamped and have been built of sappy rubbish. When sappy timber has been employed, dry-rot invariably breaks out within a few years.

||lj}klffl«:iJIl^^

Ofi' Venice.

A good stout old vessel, for example, was my yawl, the Alerte, of fifty-six tons, yacht measurement. She was nearly thirty years old when I crossed the North and South Atlantic in her, and lay hove-to for months in the often stormy sea off the desert island of Trinidada, while my companions were on shore searching for the hidden treasure

A GOOD BOAT 13

which was never found. She was built by Ratsey of Cowes in 1864, of honest teak, in days when loving care was taken in the building of a boat, and scamping was not so rife as now. Her every plank had been carefully selected, and had been lying seasoning for years in the builder's loft, ere used. When I bought her she was as sound throughout as when she first came off the stocks ; in not a single spot was decay visible.

Chapter II The Effect Of The Wind On A Boat

Stability — Lateral resistance — Action of the wind when a vessel is close-hauled — Centre of effort — Action of the rudder.

When a boat is floating on the water with sail set, the wind, as will be explained in this chapter, produces on her various effects. It tends to heel her over ; to propel her forward ; to drive her sideways away from the wind ; and to turn one end or other of her round, according to the balance of her sails and the distribution of her weight.

By a scientific construction of hull, sails, and rudder, these different effects are so utilised or counteracted as to enable the helmsman to sail his vessel in any direction he pleases, and even to work the apparent miracle of making her travel against wind and tide combined, with the aid of his canvas only. Those who wish to master the whole theory of sailing, and the scientific adaptation of a vessel to the forces of wind and water, must be referred to larger works than this. The principles that govern the arts of sailing and boat-building are

HEELING— STABILITY 1 5

fully and clearly set forth in Mr. Dixon Kemp's books. It is the author's intention in this chapter to confine himself to the elements of a subject concerning which every would-be sailor should know something; for in the art of sailing, as in every other art, the novice who takes the trouble to understand a little of the theory, will all the quicker acquire the practice.

HEELING — STABILITY

One of the above-mentioned effects of the wind on a sailing-boat is to heel her over. This effect, being wholly antagonistic to the object for which a boat is built — her forward progression — has to be resisted by giving her sufficient stability. Most of us remember how the model boats we used to carve out of blocks of deal in our boyhood lacked stability when placed in the water, and, refusing to float upright, swam on their sides until we had placed lead on their keels. If a boat is long and narrow, it is as impossible for her to maintain an upright position in the water as for a plank to float on its edge, for in that position her centre of gravity is high above the water-line ; she is^ in short, top-heavy, and must fall over till she assumes a position in which she is in stable equilibrium.

To give her stability, therefore, her centre of gravity must be lowered. This is done by placing ballast in her bottom, or by putting lead or iron on i6 EFFECT OF THE WIND ON A BOAT

her keel ; and it is obvious that the lower the weight the more effective it will be. A deep boat with a heavy lead keel cannot capsize. She heels over readily to the wind at first, but becomes stiffer as the angle increases ; for the more she heels over to the wind, with the greater leverage does her lead keel tend to right her again, and the greater force must the wind exert in order to heel her further. A Lake Windermere yacht, for example, can heel over till she lies flat on her beam ends, and yet rights herself briskly the moment the pressure of the squall diminishes.

On the other hand, a broad, shallow boat needs no ballast to enable her to float upright. Thus the ordinary, beamy, flat-floored, cat-boat of America, with its wooden centre-board, is as often as not sailed without ballast. Such a boat is very stiff at first ; she does not heel readily ; but having no heavy keel to right her, she capsizes so soon as she has heeled beyond a certain angle.

Of the effects of the wind on a vessel, the one which has to be utilised to the utmost extent is the propelling effect ; therefore every boat is constructed so that the water may offer the least resistance to her forward motion. Thus the bow is made sharp, like a wedge, so that it cuts through the water easily and with little friction ; while the stern is tapered off gently — the boat, if she be properly built, having what is termed a clean run, which enables the water to glide away from her

LATERAL RESISTANCE— LEEV/AY 17

stern without fuss, instead of forming a following wave to act as a drag on her speed, as is the case if the stern be finished off too abruptly.

LATERAL RESISTANCE— LEEWAY

But when a boat is sailing with the wind on iier side, the effect of the wind is not only to drive her forwards, but sideways as well, and she makes what is called leeway. A boat of VQvy shallow draft will, when close-hauled, drift bodily to leeward, and make, no headway at all. This tendency to make leeway has to be checked as much as possible by increasing the lateral resistance of the water ; and this 1^ done by giving the boat a deep keel or a centre-board, or by otherwise providing an extensive area of lateral surface below the water-line.

The lateral resistance opposed by the water to a ship's side acts through a point which is, roughly speaking, the centre of the immersed portion of the vessel's side, and this point is term.ed the Centre of Lateral Resistance. Thus, in Fig. i, a is the centre of lateral resistance. A rope made fast to the vessel's side at this point would tow her broadside on ; but were it madeTast before or aft of that point, the resistance would be greater on one side than on the other, and the rope would pull either the stern or the bow round, as the case might be.