Sailing
"The tar's a jolly tar, that can hand, reef and steer, That can nimbly cast-off and belay; Who in darkest of nights finds each halliard and gear, And dead reckoning knows well, and leeway: But the tar to please me must more jolly be, He must laugh at the waves as they roar."--Dibdin. IT would be very difficult to trace to its origin the art of sailing. Perhaps the curled leaf passing over the water, with one end erect, might have given to observant man the first notion of a sail. It has been supposed that the Nautila, Argonaut, or sailor-fish, was suggestive of the first sailing-vessel; but long before the Argonaut had been noticed, sails of some kind or other had no doubt been common. A man could not stand in the simplest boat without perceiving that the wind exerted a power upon him and his boat; and therefore the idea of a sail must have been identical with the first launching of the rudest boat. The science of sailing, however, has grown up gradually through a succession of ages, and has now reached a perfection of which the ancients had no idea.
We will first speak of the various kinds of vessels, which are distinguished principally by the number of masts, and the number and shape of their sails. A Sloop is properly a vessel with one mast, having her sails, with the exception of her topsails, set in the plane of her length, which is technically called "set fore and aft." Her topsail is a square sail, rigged at right angles to the plane of her length. The bowsprit is generally elevated from the bows, inclining slightly to the deck. The term "sloop" is now usually applied to a man-of-war, ship-rigged, and carrying less than 18 guns. A Cutter differs from a sloop in being without a square sail, and in having her bowsprit horizontal; her mast at the same time "raking" aft. Her topsail is fore and aft, and triangular in shape.
A Brig is a square-rigged vessel, with two masts.
A Schooner is a two-masted vessel, with fore and aft topsails, which are called gaff-topsails. Sometimes she has a square fore-topsail and top-gallantsail.
A Brigantine is something between a schooner and a brig, and is worked either with oars (called sweeps) or sails.
A Dutch Galleot is rigged like a schooner, but of a broader and more Chinese build, her bottom being nearly flat.
A Billy-boy is rigged sometimes like a sloop, and sometimes like a schooner; but her bottom is nearly flat, and she draws but little water. A Smack is a small vessel with one mast like a cutter, used principally for fishing.
A Canoe is a boat used by savages, usually made of a trunk of a tree, hollowed.
A Felucca has two triangular sails, is used in the Mediterranean, and is particularly swift. It can also use oars in calm weather. A Junk is a Chinese vessel, used either for war or merchandise. It is built very heavily.
A Proa is used by the natives of the Ladrone Islands, and is remarkable for its swiftness and sailing close to the wind. The lee-side is quite straight, and the weather-side is convex, like a common boat. Both head and stern are equally sharp; and in working her there is no necessity to tack or turn at any time. Besides this peculiarity of construction, the proa has on her lee-side what is called an "out-rigger," which is made of two poles, extending about 10 feet from her side, having at their extremity a piece of solid wood. This prevents her from having any lee-way. She will sail with a good wind twenty miles an hour.
The natives of the Society Islands use a canoe, averaging in length from ten to forty feet. It is made of a trunk of a tree, hollowed out; and is just wide enough for a person to sit down. It will carry from one to as many as thirty persons. It also has an outrigger, like a proa. When a native leaves one island to go to another, he joins two large canoes together, and builds on them a small hut, which will hold all his family. This is the most convenient way to travel in a canoe, for it is difficult to see anything but one's knees when sitting down in the ordinary manner. These canoes carry a square sail in the fore-part.
We will now speak of the vessels we have most to do with--viz. yachts.