CHAPTER X

MORE RIGS OF ALL KINDS FOR SMALL BOATS

How to Distinguish between a Ship, Bark, Brig, and Schooner--Merits and Defects of Catboats--Advantages of the Sloop--Rigs for Canoes--Buckeyes and Sharpies

THE two principal rigs for vessels are the fore-and-aft and the square rig.

=Square rigged= consists in having the principal sails extended by yards suspended at the middle (Fig. 159).

=Fore-and-aft rigged= is having the principal sails extended by booms and gaffs suspended by their ends (Figs. 148, 149, 150, 156, and 161).

Barks, brigs, and ships are all more or less square rigged, but schooners, sloops, and catboats are all fore-and-aft rigged. In these notes the larger forms of boats are mentioned only because of the well-known interest boys take in all nautical matters, but no detailed description of the larger craft will be given. All that is aimed at here is to give the salient points, so that the youngsters will know the name of the rig when they see it.

The Cat

There is a little snub-nosed American who, in spite of her short body and broad waist, is deservedly popular among all our amateur sailors.

The appreciation of her charms is felt and acknowledged by all her companions without envy, not because of her saucy looks, but on account of her accommodating manners.

Possessing a rare ability for quick movement, and a wonderful power to bore her way almost into the very eye of the wind, or with double-reefed sail to dash through the storm or gently slide up alongside of a wharf or dock as easily as a rowboat, the American catboat, with her single mast "chock up in the eyes of her," has made a permanent place for herself among our pleasure craft, and is omnipresent in our crowded bays and harbors.

Knowing that there is little danger of the catboat losing its well-earned popularity, and being somewhat familiar with many of her peculiarities, I am free to say that this rig, notwithstanding its numerous good points, has many serious defects as a school-ship, and the beginner had better select some other rig with which to begin his practice sailing.

First, the great sail is very heavy and difficult to hoist and reef. Second, in going before the wind there is constant danger of jibing, with serious results. Third, the catboat has a very bad habit of rolling when sailing before the wind, and each time the boat rolls from side to side she is liable to dip the end of her heavy boom in the water and "trip herself up." When a boat trips _up_ she does not necessarily go _down_, but she is likely to upset, placing the young sailors in an unenviable, if not a dangerous, position. Fourth, when the craft begins to swagger before the wind she is liable to "goose-neck"; that is, throw her boom up against the mast, which is another accident fraught with the possibilities of serious mischief.

The catboat has no bowsprit, no jib, and no topsail (Fig. 148), but that most graceful of all single-stickers,

The Sloop

possesses several jibs, a bowsprit, and topsail. Besides these, when she is in racing trim, a number of additional sails are used. All our great racers are sloops, and this rig is the most convenient for small yachts and cutters.

Racing Sloops

A racing sloop (Fig. 161) carries a mainsail, A, a fore staysail, B, a jib, C, a gaff topsail, D, a club topsail, E, a baby jib topsail, F, a No. 2 jib topsail, G, a No. 1 jib topsail, H, a balloon jib topsail, J (Fig. 157), and a spinnaker, K (Fig. 157).

Jib and Mainsail

A small sloop's sails are a mainsail, jib, and topsail. A sloop rig without topsail is called a jib and mainsail (Fig. 149).

While every small-boat sailor should know a catboat and a sloop when he sees them, and even be able to give the proper name to their sails, neither of these rigs is very well suited for canoes, sharpies, or other boats of the mosquito fleet; but the

Schooner Rig

which is the form of boat generally used for the larger yachts, is also very much used for open boats. As you can see, by referring to Fig. 150, the schooner rig consists of a bowsprit, fore and main mast, with their appropriate sails. Lately freight schooners have appeared with four or more masts. For small boats two adjustable masts and an adjustable bowsprit, as described in the Rough and Ready, Chapter XIII, are best. The sails may be sprit sails, Figs. 164-169; balance lug, Fig. 151; standing lug, Fig. 152; leg-of-mutton, Fig. 153, or the sliding gunter, Fig. 163.

In the chapter on how to build the Rough and Ready, the sprit sail is depicted and fully described.

The Balance Lug

comes as near the square sail of a ship as any canvas used on small boats, but you can see, by referring to the diagram, Fig. 151, that the leach and the luff are not parallel and that the gaff hangs at an angle. To boom out the canvas and make it sit flat there are three sticks extended across the sail from the front to the back, luff to leach, called battens. This has caused some people to call this a batten lug. Like the lateen sail, part of the balance lug hangs before the mast and serves the purpose of a jib. This rig is said to be easily managed and to possess good sailing qualities.

The Standing Lug

is another sail approaching the square in pattern (Fig. 152), and, as any novice can see, is a good canvas with which to scud before the wind. It is very convenient for open boats built to be propelled by paddles. While the standing lug cannot point up to the eye of the wind like a schooner or cat, it is very fast on the wind or when running with the wind astern. Probably the safest form of sail used is the old reliable

Leg-of-Mutton Sail

This is used by the fishermen on their stanch little dories away up on the coast of Maine, and by the "tide-water" people in their "buckeyes" on Chesapeake Bay. The latter boat is very little known outside of the locality where it makes its home, but, like the New Haven sharpies, it is very popular in its own waters.

The Buckeye

or "bugeye," as it is sometimes vulgarly called, has a great reputation for speed and sea-going qualities. When it cannot climb a wave it goes through it. This makes a wet boat in heavy weather, but when you travel at a high rate of speed you can endure a wet jacket with no complaint, especially when you feel that, in spite of the fast-sailing qualities of this boat, it is considered a particularly safe craft.

The construction of a =buckeye= (Fig. 162) has been evolved from the old dugout canoe of the Indians and the first white settlers. America was originally covered with vast forests of immense trees. Remnants of these forests still exist in a few localities. It was once possible to make a canoe of almost any dimensions desired, but now in the thickly settled regions big trees are scarce.

So the Chesapeake Bay boat-builders, while still adhering to the old dugout, have overcome the disadvantage of small logs by using more than one and bolting the pieces together. Masts and sails have been added, and since the increased proportions made it impracticable to drag such a craft on the beach when in port, anchors and cables are supplied. Two holes bored, one on each side of the stem, for the cables to run through, have given the boat the appearance of having eyes, and as the eyes are large and round, the negroes called them buckeyes, and this is now the name by which all such craft are known.

At first only two masts with leg-of-mutton sails were used, but now they have a jib and two sails. With the greatest width or beam about one-third the distance from bow to stern, sharp at both ends, its long, narrow, and heavy hull is easily driven through the water and makes both a fast and stiff boat.

The buckeye travels in shallow as well as deep waters, and hence is a centreboard boat, but there is nothing unnecessary on the real buckeye--no overhanging bow or stern, for that means additional labor; no stays to the masts, for the same reason. The lack of stays to stiffen the masts leaves them with "springiness," which in case of a sudden squall helps to spill the wind and prevents what might otherwise be a "knock-down."

The foremast is longer than the mainmast and does not rake aft so much, but the mainmast has a decided rake, which the colored sailors say makes the boat faster on the wind. Sometimes in the smaller boats the mainmast can be set upright when going before the wind.

Wealthy gentlemen on the Chesapeake are now building regularly equipped yachts on the buckeye plan, and some of them are quite large boats. A correspondent of the _Forest and Stream_, in speaking of the buckeye, says:

"Last summer I cruised in company with a buckeye, forty-two feet long, manned by two gentlemen of Baltimore city. She drew twenty inches without the board. In sudden and heavy flaws she was rarely luffed. She would lie over and appear to spill the wind out of her tall, sharp sails and then right again. Her crew took pleasure in tackling every sailing craft for a race; nothing under seventy feet in length ever beat her. She steered under any two of her three sails. On one occasion this craft, on her way from Cape May to Cape Charles, was driven out to sea before a heavy north-west blow. Her crew, the aforesaid gentlemen, worn out by fatigue, hove her to and went to sleep. She broke her tiller lashing during the night, and when they awoke she was pegging away on a south-east course under her jib. They put her about, and in twenty hours were inside Cape Henry, pretty well tired out. Buckeyes frequently run from Norfolk to New York with fruit. For shallow waters, I am satisfied there is no better craft afloat. Built deep, with a loaded keel, they would rival the English cutter in seaworthiness and speed."

When the hardy, bold fishermen of our Eastern States and the brave fishermen down South both use the leg-of-mutton sail, beginners cannot object to using it while practising; knowing that even if it is a safe sail, it cannot be called a "baby rig." Another safe rig, differing little from the leg-of-mutton, is the

Sliding Gunter

In this rig the sail is laced to a yard which slides up or down the mast by means of two iron hooks or travellers (Fig. 163). No sail with a narrow-pointed top is very serviceable before the wind, and the sliding gunter is no exception to the rule. But it is useful on the wind, and can be reefed easily and quickly, qualities which make it many friends.

In the smooth, shallow waters along the coast of North Carolina may be seen the long, flat-bottomed

Sharpies

Without question they are to be ranked among the fastest boats we have. These boats are rigged with a modification of the leg-of-mutton sail. The ends of the sprit in the foresail project at the luff and leach. At the luff it is fastened to the mast by a line like a snotter at the leach. It is fastened to a stick sewed into the sail, called a club. The sheet is attached to the end of the sprit (Figs. 164-168).

The Sprit Leg-of-Mutton Sail

has this advantage, that the clew of the sail is much higher than the tack, thus avoiding the danger of dipping the clew in the water and tripping the boat.

The Dandy Jigger, or Mizzen Rig

is named after the small sail aft, near the rudder-head. This jigger, mizzen, or dandy may have a boom, a sprit, or be rigged as a lug. (See Figs. 170, 171, 173, 174, 175, 178, 180, and 184, which show the principal mizzen rigs in use.)

In puffy wind and lumpy water the main and mizzen rig will be found to work well. The little sail aft should be trimmed as flat as possible. It will be found of great help in beating to the windward, and will keep the nose of the boat facing the wind when the mainsail is down. Different rigs are popular in different localities. For instance:

The Lateen Rig

is very popular in some parts of the Old World, yet it has only few friends here. It may be because of my art training that I feel so kindly toward this style of sail, or it may be from association in my mind of some of the happiest days of my life with a little black canoe rigged with lateen sails. At any rate, in spite of the undeniable fact that the lateen is unpopular, I never see a small boat rigged in this style without a feeling of pleasure. The handy little stumps of masts end in a spike at the top and are adorned by the beautiful sails lashed to slender spars, which, by means of metal rings, are lightly, but securely, fastened to the mast by simply hooking the ring over the spike. I freely acknowledge that when the sails are lowered and you want to use your paddle the lateen sails are in your way. It is claimed that they are awkward to reef, and this may be true. I never tried it. When the wind was too strong for my sails I made port or took in either the large or the small sail, as the occasion seemed to demand.

The Ship

When you are out sailing and see a vessel with three masts, all square rigged, you are looking at a ship proper, though ship is a word often used loosely for any sort of a boat (Fig. 159).

=The bark= is a vessel with square-rigged foremast and mainmast and a fore-and-aft rigged mizzen-mast (Fig. 160).

=The brig= is a vessel with only two masts, both of which are square rigged (Fig. 158).

=The brigantine= has two masts--foremast square rigged and mainmast fore-and-aft rigged (Fig. 155).

=The barkentine= has three masts--mainmast and mizzen-mast fore-and-aft rigged and foremast square rigged. (See Fig. 154.)