CHAPTER XVII.

THE STANDING-RIGGING OF A SLOOP.

The picture of a sloop Thad Glovering produced on board of the Goldwing was a drawing which the skipper had hastily made just before he went on board of the boat. He passed it to Ash Burton, who knew more about a boat than any other student of the party. But all of them wanted to look at it, and they had nearly fallen overboard in their eagerness to get a sight of it.

"Hold up, fellows!" called Thad, taking the picture from Ash. "Do you want to make a bear-garden of the standing-room of the Goldwing? Not much! You will all get a chance to see it without upsetting the boat."

"There comes the Marian!" exclaimed Hop Cabright, as the new steam-yacht came shooting across Beechwater as though it had been discharged from a rifle. "I believe she is faster than the Sylph."

"Come to, Thad!" shouted Luke Bennington, the captain of the swift little steamer, from the pilot-house.

"What's up now?" said the skipper of the Goldwing, as he put his helm down.

The boat came up into the wind, with her sail banging furiously in the lively breeze; and the Marian went alongside of her. Luke handed Thad a little bundle of papers, which the principal had forgotten to give to the temporary instructor in sailing. The steamer started her screw again, and dashed into the creek leading to the river. Thad filled away again, and followed her. As soon as he had the boat under way, he opened the package.

"Here is just what we want; and it will prevent you fellows from spilling yourselves into the drink in looking at my drawing," said Thad, as he produced the contents of the parcel. "I have heard something about these before."

"What are they, Thad?" asked Archie.

"A copy for each one of you of a sloop, with letters to indicate the parts," replied Thad, as he distributed them among his crew. "It is a picture of a sloop from Captain Douglas Frazar's book, called 'Practical Boat-Sailing.' The principal says it is a most excellent little book, containing a vast amount of simple and useful information for those handling sail-boats. Captain Gildrock is well acquainted with the author, and knows him to be a thorough seaman as well as a skilful yachtsman. Now, look at the picture, and imagine that it is the Goldwing."

"But the Goldwing has but one jib," replied Ben Sinker.

"And you have but one hat," returned Thad.

"I have another in my room."

"This sloop has another jib in her room, which is the sail-room in the boat-house. She don't wear it just now, as you don't have on your other hat. Now, Archie, what is the upright stick in the forward part of the sloop? Be practical about it, and don't talk any moonshine, if you please."

"It is the mast," replied Archie confidently.

"That isn't the name of it."

"Not the mast?" asked Archie, perplexed.

"It is the mainmast."

"The mainmast! Then, where is the foremast?" demanded Archie, with a good deal of faith in his argumentative question.

"She don't happen to have any."

"Then, what's the sense of calling it the mainmast when she has no other mast?"

"Excuse me, Archie, but you remind me of the Dutchman," laughed Thad. "'Do you know der reason wot we call our boy Hans for?' They could not guess the reason, and the father explained. 'Der reason wot we call our boy Hans for, is dot's his name.' With your permission, Archie, we will call this stick the mainmast, for the same reason. If it is not the right name, it is neither Captain Frazar's fault, nor mine."

"I accept the amendment; and c c is the mainmast," added Archie.

"Now we are happy! This mast is placed at about one-third of the length of the boat from the bow; though, of course, this distance sometimes varies a little," continued Thad. "What is the spar above it, Syl?"

"The topmast."

"The main-topmast, if you please, as Hans' father would call it. But, when there is only one mast, we often cut it short, and call it simply the mast, or the topmast. Understood! The mast, including the topmast, may be one stick, as is the case in the Goldwing, or it may be two. The topmast is marked _d d_."

"Then, it is a clergyman," added Hop, trying to be funny.

"The nautical meaning of _D. D._ in the navy is 'Dead. Discharged.'"

"What is the spar at the head?"

"The bowsprit, marked _h_."

"Right you are, Ash. What is _i_, which the Goldwing does not wear just now?"

"The flying jib-boom," shouted Archie, who had been very unfortunate in his answers so far.

"Out on a fly! Jib-boom is enough for this spar. Only two more: what is _b b b_, the lower one?"

"The boom," replied Archie desperately.

"The main-boom!" shouted Hop.

"Correct, Hop. The upper one, _e e_?"

"The main gaff!" roared Archie.

"Go to the head. Good boy!"

"To the head of the boat?"

"The head of the mainsail, when you know what it is. Now we will attend to the rigging."

"There is not much of it to attend to," said Archie.

"A short horse is soon curried, but the short horse needs currying quite as much as the long one," replied Thad. "Now, suppose the mainmast were simply run through the forward deck, and the foot of it inserted in the socket in the keelson: would it be strong enough to bear the pressure of the sail in a stiff breeze?"

"It would not: the first flaw would take the mast out of her," replied Ash Burton.

"It would take the mainmast out of her," added Archie sharply.

"I respectfully asked you to be reasonable, in the beginning, Mr. Pinkler," interposed the skipper.

"He called the mainmast simply the mast," pleaded the critic.

"Will you be kind enough to point to the mast?" When he did so, "What are you pointing with?" asked Thad.

"With my finger."

"With your forefinger, you mean. But it is not always necessary to specify exactly what particular thing is meant. I told you that mast was enough in a sloop, though when we come down to the proper names of parts, we should apply the right name. The flaw would take the mast out of her, and it would be likely to do so. What rigging keeps the mast in its place when the flaw comes, Hop?"

"The shrouds. One of them is on each side of _b_, nearest to the mast," answered the student indicated.

"Then, there are two of them?"

"Two in the drawing; but the Goldwing has only one on each side of the boat," added Hop. "A ship may have nine or ten of them; and I suppose they put on as many of them as are needed."

"Sensible you are, Hop. They are shrouds, and the number of them differs with the size of the vessel. But they are not often called shrouds in small boats as in larger craft. Boatmen call them stays, though the word is rather confusing sometimes. You observe that the shrouds, or stays, in the drawing are both set up abaft the mast."

"I saw a fellow in Genverres yesterday who was set up," said Con Bunker. "He did it with whiskey."

"He was tight; and that is just what rigging is when it is set up, though we don't do it with liquor. Suppose we should rig a purchase on the shrouds of the sloop in the cut, and continue to tighten them as long as we could, what would be the effect on the mast?"

"It would bend the mast towards the stern," replied Ash promptly.

"Then the shrouds would support it from that direction," added Thad. "If no other rigging were used, it would be likely to bend it towards the stern. Look at _g g_ on the diagram; and what do you call it?"

"The jibstay, on which the jib is set," answered Ben Sinker.

"Never mind the jib now. The name is right. Suppose we rig a purchase, and tighten the jibstay: what will be the effect?"

"If we haul it taut enough, it will straighten up the mast," replied Ash. "Therefore it will support the mast from the bow of the boat."

"And all of you will see that it would be impossible to take the mast out of her in a blow unless something broke," added the skipper.

"But tightening the jibstay would hoist the bowsprit," suggested Syl Peckman.

"That is just where I was leading you, my hearty. Now, look at _f_, if you please; and what do you call it?"

"The bobstay," replied Ash, who had sailed a boat a little at Westport before he entered the school.

"Correct. Haul the bobstay as taut as you can, and it will keep the bowsprit from hoisting. The stem of the craft is the upright timber, placed farthest forward, and forming a continuation of the keel. The iron eye to which the lower end of the bobstay is made fast, is bolted into the stem in the strongest manner. Now you can see how both the mast and the bowsprit are held in their place, and how each is made to support the other. The topmast is, or may be, supported in precisely the same way. One or more ropes leading down to the side of the boat from the topmast would be called the backstays, as in a ship. There are none in the picture. When they are needed, with a balloon-jib, they are sometimes carried to the quarter; but these are temporary. In a small boat, backstays are not needed, for the topmast is stiff enough without them. Look at _k_; and what is it?"

"The main-topmast-stay," said Ash.

"That is it in full, though I should not have objected if you had called it simply the topmast-stay in a sloop. Archie would. If there are no backstays, it will not do to haul this stay too taut, or it will bend the topmast forward, which is not pleasant to the eye. The jib-boom is held by the rope under it, which is called a stay. In large vessels, the bowsprit and jib-boom are also held in place by ropes at the sides, called guys. As a whole, what do you call the rigging we have talked about?"

"Give it up," replied Hop, after a silence of a minute.

"The standing-rigging; and the principal told you so when he described the ship. Now that we have the spars where they will stay, we will pass on to the sails and running-rigging. Begin at the main boom. What is the rope marked _a a_?"

"The topping-lift," said Ash.

"When the sail is not set, this rope holds up the boom. The lower end of it, you can see for yourselves,--as you have the real thing before you as well as the picture,--is provided with a purchase, so that the after-end of the boom can be raised or lowered."

"What is this thing?" asked Archie, pointing to a pair of wooden joists, with a bolt through them, like the cross-legs of a table or cot-bedstead.

"That is the crutch. Top up the boom with the purchase, and then place the crutch under it after you anchor."

By this time the Goldwing had reached Lake Champlain.