Part 6

Before turning in, if the weather looks at all dubious, but not threatening enough to warrant your going to the trouble of sending off another anchor, you can secure yourself from a sudden attack by these means. We will suppose you are riding to your heaviest bower. Down the second bower under the fore-foot, being careful to see that it falls clear, then take the end of your hawser from underneath the coil, and take a round-turn round the mast, securing the end with two half hitches over the standing part. See that it renders freely from the top of the coil. Pass it through either the chock on the bowsprit or the chock on the rail. If the yacht drags she will carry out the hawser and fetch-up when the end is reached. If you are using chain see that it is clear for running out. By employing your second anchor in this way, you will prevent fouling hawse if the yacht swings with the tide or wind.

Backing an anchor is done in several ways, but as it is only done in extreme cases you are generally obliged to do it the best way you can, using such materials as are at hand. Take two or four pigs of ballast, wrap them securely with a strong small line, and put on a shawl-strap handle over the chain and let them slide down with a small line attached to prevent their working right out to the anchor. A small piece of chain is better than rope to use on a chain hawse. If you can heave in you can lash the ballast to the chain, and then pay out again.

Backing is usually done at the last call, and as it is wet and dangerous work on a small boat's head when she is pitching with a sea, the job is a hurry one and is frequently bungled. By putting a line on the ballast you can recover it if the lashing parts or frets through.

A trip-line is made fast to an anchor with a clove hitch round the crown, and either buoyed or led on board. If led on board, it should be stopped down to the heel of the shank with a rotten stop and belayed with plenty of slack.

Now I am going to give you ten rules for anchoring, but be pleased to remember that these rules are not fixed laws, and as such do not bind you to do anything against what judgment, experience, or a present difficulty may suggest.

1. Never drop an anchor until you have first examined it.

2. Never drop an anchor stock down.

3. Never drop an anchor from the bows while the boat has headway, except for the purpose of preventing her going ashore or into something.

4. With the wind and sea ahead give any amount of scope.

5. In a tide-way give just sufficient to hold, no more, unless the conditions of wind and sea oblige a long lead; then watch your hawse when she shifts tides.

6. When getting underway in a strong wind, do not shorten too much before everything is ready aloft; same when surrounded by other vessels.

7. Be sure when you make fast, that you make fast. Always weather-bit your hawser before turning in. Don't make fast over an old set of turns when you shorten hawse. Always keep your riding-bits clear of everything but the hawser.

8. Always examine the gear before leaving the yacht or turning in. If she is riding hard, feel if she is fast or dragging.

9. Keep your hawsers or chains leading free of the bowsprit rigging. Look out for chafing and freshen the hawse frequently.

10. Never anchor on rocky bottom without a trip line.

WEIGHT OF ANCHORS

===============+=========+=========+=========+========= Length | Kedge |1st Bower| 2d Bower| Spare ---------------+---------+---------+---------+--------- 20 feet o. a. | 10 lbs. | 20 lbs. | ---- | 30 lbs. 25 " " | 10 " | 25 " | ---- | 40 " 30 " " | 15 " | 30 " | ---- | 50 " 35 " " | 15 " | 40 " | 30 lbs. | 60 " 40 " " | 20 " | 45 " | 35 " | 80 " ===============+=========+=========+=========+=========

These weights should be (excepting kedge) increased 25 per cent. when anchors are for use on a broad shoal model, and can be decreased if model is very sharp and the hull light. There is no advantage to be had by decreasing the weight of the spare in any case. Anchors are seldom forged to weigh exactly the above weights, but the matter of a few pounds either way will not effect the service.

SIZE AND STRENGTH OF CHAIN

======+===========+=======+==========+==========+========= Size | Average | Proof | Average | Suitable | Size of | Weight | Test | Breaking | for Yacht| Anchor | Per Fathom| | Strain | | ------+-----------+-------+----------+----------+--------- Inch | In Pounds | Tons | Tons | Tons | Pounds | | | | | 3/16 | 3 | 1/2 | 7/8 | 1-1/2 | 20 1/4 | 4-1/2 | 3/4 | 1-1/4 | 2 | 30 5/16 | 6-1/2 | 1-1/2 | 2-1/2 | 4 | 50 3/8 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 75 7/16 | 12 | 3 | 5-1/2 | 18 | 100 1/2 | 15 | 4 | 6-1/2 | 30 | 150 ======+===========+=======+==========+==========+=========

From Catalogue of A. S. Morss, Boston, Mass.

SIZE AND STRENGTH OF HAWSERS

==============+=========+===============+=========+================= Size in | Size in | Weight of | Breaking| Number of feet Circumference| Diameter| 100 Fathoms | Strength| in 1 lb. | | Manila in lbs.| in lbs.| --------------+---------+---------------+---------+----------------- 6 thd. | 3/16 in.| 12 | 540 | 50 feet, 9 " | 1/4 " | 18 | 780 | 33 " 4 in. 12 " | 6/16 " | 24 | 1,000 | 25 " 15 " | 3/8 " | 30 | 1,280 | 20 " 1-1/4 in. | 7/16 " | 37 | 1,562 | 17 " 8 " 1-1/2 " | 1/2 " | 46 | 2,250 | 13 " 1-3/4 " | 9/16 " | 65 | 3,062 | 9 " 3 " 2 " | 5/8 " | 80 | 4,000 | 7 " 6 " 2-1/4 " | 3/4 " | 98 | 5,000 | 6 " 2-1/2 " | 12/16 " | 120 | 6,250 | 5 " 2-3/4 " | 7/8 " | 142 | 7,500 | 4 " 3 " 3 " | 1 " | 170 | 9,000 | 3 " 6 " ==============+=========+===============+=========+=================

From Catalogue of A. S. Morss, Boston, Mass.

_ON RIGGING_

"_Then let his vessel feel the strain When wars the gale along the main; Strong in his trust of shroud and stay The seaman holds his leeward way, Spreads the reef'd sail on buckling mast And proudly dares the stormy blast._"

ON RIGGING

When we speak of a vessel's rigging we mean everything that supports the spars and is employed in setting and trimming the sails. Rigging is divided into two classes--standing and running. The first is the portion that remains stationary, and whose office is to hold and strengthen the spars. The second is rove through blocks and moves; its office is to hoist, lower and trim the sails.

Rigging has been much simplified of late years owing to the use of better proportioned fittings and stronger materials. The use of wire rope in place of hemp has reduced the size and weight of standing rigging, and what is of more importance, given a stable factor.

In the old days when hemp was used, the shrouds and stays had to be constantly watched, as they varied in length every time there was a large change in the atmosphere. This was a frequent cause of dismasting. A vessel before leaving port would have her rigging set up in dry, cold weather; going to sea she would run into a warm region and everything would slack up. As it is now, the expansion and contraction of wire rigging is so small that a few turns of a screw will take it up or give it back. The only danger from wire is in setting it up too taut when at its full stretch, but this, in such length as go to make the shrouds of a yacht, is little to be feared. But the funnel guys of steam-yachts should be frequently looked to, as the expansion of the iron is liable to pull out the deck eye-bolts.

I am not going to tell you how to rig a yacht, because you can learn that better and quicker by doing as the Yankee did who wanted to learn how to make clocks--took one apart and put it together again. Just strip a yacht, then re-rig her, and you will be in a fair way to learn all about it. What I am going to do, is to point out to you a few things in regard to rigging that may aid you in taking better care of what you have, and in making more secure and simple its use.

The one axiom of the business is this, and I want you to engrave it on your memory, for the violation of its truth is the cause of nine out of ten breakdowns: The weakest part of any shroud, stay or tackle is its strongest part. If you take two pieces of chain capable of lifting a ton, and join them with a piece of rope capable of lifting five hundred pounds, your combination is only as strong as the rope, and will only lift the smaller weight. This is why shrouds so frequently give way; the wire rope is strong enough, the splice is firm, but the rigging-screw is only capable of bearing half the strain of those parts. Same with halliards; the tackle will lift a ton, the pin in the block or shackle not five hundred pounds. All parts of any tackle must be proportionately strong.

The most unreliable portion of a yacht's rigging is the ironwork. In the first place, much of it is badly proportioned, and in the second place it is too light. There is no sense in making ironwork so light as is frequently done. The amount of weight saved, especially in those parts attached to the hull, is of no importance. Another source of weakness, especially in chain plates, is in making the straps too short; not giving room for the fastenings. Chain plates should be carried right down and be secured to the frame.

The kingpin of the whole structure erected above the deck of a yacht is the bobstay. If that goes you are liable to lose everything, and it does go frequently. The principal cause of its parting is the over setting up of the headstays. Sometimes the bobstay itself is set up too taut, at other times the jib stay is strained. One way or another the spring of a spar is brought on it, and the vessel, getting into a head sea, begins to pitch; this causes a back-lashing and away goes a bolt or a plate.

Not long ago we were trying to insure a yacht that was to go South. The underwriters refused the risk on the ground that the yacht would get dismasted, and be obliged to put back or be lost altogether. At the same time they willingly took a risk on two small topsail schooners bound to the West Indies. We all sailed within four days. The yacht went through all right, but both the schooners lost their fore topmasts, bowsprits, jib booms and other headgear, and had to return to New York for a refit. They ran into a high head sea, and the foremast, being set up on the bowsprit, the bobstay parted under the strain and away everything went.

I have seen a small racing boat with a bronze rod of 3/8 inch diameter for a bobstay, and this secured to the stem with two one-inch screws. You cannot make your bobstay too strong or fasten it too securely. It was formerly a custom to fit two bobstays, a regular one and a smaller one, called a preventer. This latter was set up slack of the heavier one. For many reasons this was a poor practice, it being far better to put the strength of the two in one. In another chapter I have told you how to rig a tackle preventer for use when going to sea.

Bowsprit shrouds should be made heavy, and carried as far aft as possible to get a spread. Care should be taken to set them up evenly. Foot ropes under a bowsprit are unsightly, and are not needed unless the spar is long. If your jib stay is carried through the spar and made fast to the stem, it should render freely in the bee hole. Unless it does it is liable to strain the spar. I nearly lost a mast once by the jib stay sawing into the wood and sticking. It parted in a sea-way, and the shock broke the bobstay shackle. Every cruising boat should have two shrouds to a side. On pole-mast boats one of these should run to the hounds and the other to the masthead. Don't set them up to bands; eye-splice and put them over the spar. You never can trust the eye in a band. The rigging screws should be just twice as heavy as what the average man will tell you to use. The screw is the weak part. Cutting the thread destroys the strength of the metal. The extra weight is nothing to speak of; the extra strength is everything. Although they are more trouble to care for I prefer lanyards.

Always keep your shrouds set up bar-taut; the old notion that a mast should have play is a fallacy. The stiffer your spar the better it will carry sail. In our modern boats a mast should be kept plumb. From what I have seen all boats sail better with their masts plumb. Another thing, don't cut your sheer-poles too short; they are so cut on half the boats I have seen; the consequence is they are always working loose.

On many yachts the rope used in the running rigging is too small. It may be plenty strong enough, but a man gets tired of picking up and pulling on shoestrings. This is a frequent fault with main-sheets; another is not having enough parts. A sheet tackle should be powerful enough to give one man control of the sail at any time. Weak travelers is another defect. This should be doubly strong, as it is frequently used to tow or make fast to. Every boat should have a strong ringbolt on each side in the quarters for boom lashings, etc.

There are plenty of good blocks and plenty of bad ones. The modern metal blocks are good, but should be of a big passage, as the gear when wet is apt to jam in them. This is a fault with all blocks having small sheaves. The weak part of a block is either the pin or the shackle.

On small boats a single topping lift is all that is needed, but on yawls and ketches, where the main boom is inboard and short, two lifts are better. Boats with heavy spars should have a jig fitted to the lift. Lazy jacks are useful on cruising boats, especially if you are sailing short handed, but they are a nuisance when reefing. The ends should be made fast in such a way as to allow of their being slacked up, but not so as to permit of their getting adrift. I have got into trouble several times through the lazy jacks getting adrift. The ends blew across the peak halliards, and fouled them in such way as to prevent the sail from coming down. If this happens at night when reefing you are liable to be in a fix. I may as well say here that the ends of all running gear should be made fast.

If you have a pin-rail this is easily done. Take out the pin and slip the socket through the rope between the strands, shove it on the collar of the projection and put the pin back. If your halliards are belayed to cleats, marl them to the cleat. At night or in a blow the crew will let go one halliard to pick up another, and away goes the end flying out. If it is dark it can't be found, as more than likely it is wrapped round a shroud or lift, or is flying out from aloft like a pennant. I have had some anxious times hunting the ends of gear of a dark, windy night. When sailing in the dark or in bad weather make the end of your mainsheet fast; always keep a knot in it. Jib's sheet should be endless, running right round the cockpit. Then you can always find them, and the end won't wash overboard.

It is the custom now to put bridles or spans on gaffs and booms in order to distribute the strain. They are good things if used in moderation, but it is extremely foolish to put a rig of this kind on a twenty-footer carried out in the lavish fashion of a cup defender. I have seen little boats knocking about with spans on the boom that would pretty nearly have held the Columbia's spar. Some of our designers have an especial fad for loading down boats with all kinds of gear, and seem to glory in bridling everything that offers the least excuse for such fittings. The first thing that a good racing man has to do when he gets one of these boats is to strip off about half the stuff and change leads all round.

Complicated running rigging is a nuisance; it cannot be too simple so long as it is effective. The less strings you have to pull the quicker you can work. This is just as true on a cruiser as it is on a racer. A lot of line is also a nuisance round the decks; a clear deck is a sailor's blessing.

One of the things I have helped to simplify is the gear on spinnakers. Long ago I pointed out that this sail could be used on small boats without outhauls and lifts, and that without them the sail was easier set and easier taken in. This method of handling that sail has since been practiced on the majority of our racing craft. Half the spinnaker poles are too heavy for their length, and the sails too big to be effective in anything but extremely light weather. All gear belonging to the pole should be snap-hooked, so that it can be attached or detached at once.

Snap-hooks and sister-hooks are excellent contrivances, but beware of them. They have a trick of giving out just at the wrong time, and are to blame for many a lost spar. They should be extra large and strong if they are to be subjected to heavy and continued strains.

All gear, especially the iron work, should be constantly examined, not only when at anchor, but while under way. Many men never look at their boat's gear from the time she is put overboard until she is hauled out. Here is a case that fell under my notice: A boat was being stripped for hauling out, when we noticed that her mast was shaky; on examining the step it was found that the heel of the spar was just in it and no more, allowing the mast to play. Taking her under the shears, we raised the spar, and found lying in the step a cold chisel that prevented the heel from dropping home. This boat had been sailed about all summer, and the owner admitted that he noticed something was wrong with the mast, but that he had never examined the step. Another time I was on a cutter that carried away her mast-head. When we examined the break it was found that the stick was completely rotted through. The damage was caused by hollowing of the wood above the upper band, which allowed the rain water to stand and soak into the grain.

If I have a boat in charge I make it a duty to go aloft at least once a week when she is under way and take a careful survey of all the ironwork, blocks and splices. I also examine the bowsprit rigging thoroughly. The ironwork should be sounded with a hammer or heavy knife blade, just as railroad men sound carwheels. Blocks should be looked to and kept well oiled. Turnbuckles should also be kept oiled, and if you are out in much rough water they should be covered with a false parceling of painted canvas. If this is done they won't freeze, and when you want to tauten or slack the rigging you will be able to do so without using a lot of kerosene and hard twisting.

On cruising boats with outboard booms reef-pendants for the two lower reefs are generally kept rove, but they are much of a nuisance. This can be obviated in a measure by having them in two lengths, keeping one part in the sail and the other in the locker when not in use. If the sail is heavy a small tackle is handy. Such a tackle should be carried on all boats; it saves a lot of hard labor, especially if you take ground and have to haul off.

_ON STRANDING_

_Borne o'er a latent reef the hull impends, And thundering on a marble crag descends; Her ponderous bulk the dire concussion feels, And o'er upheaving surges wounded reels-- Again she plunges! hark! a second shock Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock._ --FALCONER

ON STRANDING

This is a subject upon which I can pose as a master. If any man has been ashore more times than I have, I should like to meet him and spend an evening comparing notes. One of my favorite amusements is to sail into places where a man of sense has no business to go; consequently my boat is continually being hung up on rocks, shoals and bars. While this is not particularly good for the boat, it has done me no harm, as I have gathered a lot of knowledge and experience which, you willing, I will spread before you.

Yachts, unlike merchant vessels, are seldom damaged by taking ground. This is because, in proportion to their weight, they are extremely strong fabrics. A merchant vessel when loaded has little reserve buoyancy, and when she strikes, she hits hard; but a yacht is almost as buoyant as an empty barrel, and unless she hits with a perpendicular portion, does so very lightly.

Frequently when a yacht hits a rock it seems to those on board as if the end of things had come; but when an examination is made it will be found that little harm has been done.

I once struck a rock with a small sloop. It was blowing a strong breeze and considerable sea running. When she struck, the blow was terrific; it threw me over the wheel to land on my head in the fore end of the cockpit, and knocked the rest off their pins. The centerboard was driven clear up out of the case against the cabin roof, the sloop making a jump over the stone and into deep water on the other side.

We all thought the boat must be badly damaged, but as she made no water, we turned round and worked her home. When she was hauled out, the only sign of the blow was a dent in the lead keel just deep and wide enough to hold a finger.

Another time I was in a bulb-fin boat, racing, when she struck a rock. She was close-hauled and going like a scared cat. It felt like banging up against a stone wall, the shock sending us all flying forward. The damage done amounted to a bruised bulb and a slightly bent fin; the hull was, so far as we could ascertain by superficial inspection, unhurt.

Metal-shod keels are undoubtedly a great protection, and a yacht that strikes fairly on her iron or lead will seldom be damaged to such an extent as to endanger her safety. I have known boats to be sunk by striking rocks, but they hit either the side of the bow or the bilge and stove in the plank. For this reason, if you find yourself going on a rock, always take it stem-to. By this means I jumped a rock in Wood's Hole that was six inches out of water, and landed all right on the other side.

The most dangerous thing to do, yet the thing that is most natural to do, is to put the helm up or down with the hopes of escaping; consequently your craft is carried on, and strikes broadside. This not only is liable to bilge her, but makes it far more difficult to get her off. It is especially dangerous if you go on with a weather wind or tide.

Always remember that wounds in a hull are least dangerous at the ends, and most dangerous in the middle body. If a boat is pierced in her head or tail you may be able to trim the leak out, or save her from sinking by stranding and jacking the leaky end up, but if she is pierced amidships you cannot get at the hole unless you haul completely out. I remember seeing a sandbagger that had torn the plank away from her stem saved from sinking by trimming, the crew raising her head by piling all the bags aft.