Yachting Volume Ii Part 2

[Footnote 2: Described by Lord Bra.s.sey, in his chapter on Ocean Cruising, Vol. I.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Corsair,' R.Y.S., Winning the Queen's Cup at Cowes, 1892.

_40-rater_ (_Admiral the Hon. Victor Montagu_).]

The squadron at the time of writing is composed of 227 members, and the fleet consists of 107 vessels, as follows: 44 steam yachts, 10 steam schooners, 28 schooners, 13 cutters, 12 yawls, 107 vessels, making 20,367 total tonnage. The minimum tonnage is 30 tons register for sailing vessels, and 30 tons net for steamers (rule, May 1870).

The Queen's Cups are sailed for by yachts belonging to members of the Royal Yacht Squadron only, but other prizes are given during the Squadron Week, generally the first week in August.

_Names and dates of yachts owned by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales_

+----+------------+----------+---------+ |Date| Name | Rig | Tonnage | |----+------------+----------+---------+ |1865| Dagmar | Cutter | 36 | |1871| Alexandra | " | 40 | |1872| Princess | " | 40 | |1873| Zen.o.bia | S.-steam | 38 | |1877| Hildegarde | Schooner | 205 | |1880| Formosa | Cutter | 104 | |1882| Aline | Schooner | 210 | |1893| Britannia | Cutter | 220 | +----+------------+----------+---------+

Beside several steam launches and sailing boats.

The German Emperor, who became a member in 1891, in that year brought over the 'Meteor,' _nee_ 'Thistle,' to compete for the Queen's Cup, and evinced the greatest enthusiasm, sailing in her for the prize, August 3. The 'Meteor' finished first, but the 'Corsair,' 40 tons, Rear-Admiral Victor Montague, R.N., came up with a smart breeze, saved her time, and won.

Much interest was also taken in the presence of a 40-tonner, designed by Mr. G. L. Watson for Prince Henry of Prussia, and steered by the Prince, who seemed thoroughly to enjoy it, and remained all day at the tiller--a sort of thing the British public fully appreciate.

Unfortunately the wind was not true.

The Queen has always graciously encouraged yachting in every way. The list of challenge cups presented by Her Majesty will amply confirm the a.s.sertion.

_List of Yacht Clubs to which the Queen has occasionally given Regatta Cups_

Royal Yacht Squadron (Cowes) Every year since 1843, annually Dublin Yacht Club 1849 Royal St. George's Club 1851, 1866, 1870, 1874, 1878, 1884, 1892 Royal Thames Club 1851, 1868, 1874, 1880, 1885 Royal Victoria (Ryde) Club 1851, 1852, 1856, 1888 Royal Southern Club 1851, 1857, 1870, 1891 Royal Irish Club 1852, 1865, 1871, 1877, 1881, 1885 Royal Cork Club 1850, 1852, 1858, 1865, 1869, 1889 Royal Yorkshire Club 1853 Royal Mersey Club 1853, 1857, 1861, 1866, 1881 Royal Western (Plymouth) Club 1858, 1861, 1867, 1878, 1882 Royal Northern Club 1859, 1869, 1882, 1890 Royal West of Ireland Club 1863, 1867, 1873 Royal Cornwall 1871, 1884 Royal Alfred Yacht Club 1872, 1879, 1886 Royal Albert Club 1873, 1890 Royal Cinque Ports Club 1875, 1891 Royal Clyde Club 1876, 1883, 1888 Royal Ulster Club 1880, 1887 Royal Harwich Club 1883 Royal London Club 1886 Royal Dorset Club 1887 Royal Portsmouth Corinthian Club 1889 Royal Forth Club 1892

_Cups given by the Queen to Clubs not Royal_

Canada Yacht Club 1891 Upper Thames Sailing Clubs (Challenge Cup) 1893

[Ill.u.s.tration: Royal Yacht Squadron. Queen's Course.]

The majority of members of the Squadron own, and chiefly use, large yachts, but not a few of them are practical seamen. One prominent member, Lord Dufferin, is specially notable as a keen devotee of single-handed sailing, and is the owner of a famous boat, 'The Lady Hermione.' The Editor has thought this an appropriate place to insert a description of the pastime kindly contributed by his lordship, followed by an account of his well-known boat.

SINGLE-HANDED SAILING

BY THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA

The wind blows fair, the vessel feels The pressure of the rising breeze, And, swiftest of a thousand keels, She leaps to the careering seas.

The following description of 'The Lady Hermione' has been written by my friend Mr. McFerran, who is a much better sailor than myself; but, as the Editor has asked me to prefix a few observations of my own on single-handed boat sailing, I have great pleasure in recommending to the attention of the readers of the Badminton Library that exceptionally pleasant form of sea adventure.

Probably the proudest moment of the life of anyone who loves the sea, not even excepting the a.n.a.logous epoch of his marriage morning, is the one in which he weighs anchor for the first time on board his own vessel. It is true that from the first hour he could call her his own his existence has been a dream of delight, unless perhaps for the pa.s.sing cloud cast by the shadow of the cheque he has been required to draw for her payment. As soon as she has come into his possession, her ungainly naked bulk, as she lies upon the mud, a.s.sumes divine proportions; and as by slow degrees her 'toilette' proceeds, her decks whiten, her masts a.s.sume a golden hue and clothe themselves with sail and rigging, his happiness becomes unspeakable. If he is animated by the proper spirit, he has at once set himself to learn navigation; he has plunged deep into the 'Sailor's Manual'; and, to the amazement of his female relations, he is to be seen busily employed in tying and untying knots on short pieces of rope. But his princ.i.p.al preoccupation is the fitting of his cabins. The mystery of the ship's practical garniture he leaves to his master, as being beyond the utmost effort of his intellect, though he has a certain satisfaction in knowing that he possesses a pretty accurate knowledge of the way in which the framework of the vessel has been put together.

At last everything is reported ready. He gives the order to weigh anchor, and, as if by a magical impulse, he finds that the being upon whom he has lavished so much affection has become a thing of life, has spread her wings, and is carrying him into the unknown. He paces the deck with telescope under his arm, in the proud consciousness that he is absolute master of her movements, and that with a wave of his hand he can direct her to the golden islands of the west or to the fabled homes of Calypso and the Cyclops, according as his fancy may suggest.

No emperor or autocrat has ever been so conscious of his own majesty.

But soon a most unwelcome and humiliating conviction damps his exaltation. He discovers that for all practical purposes of command and government he is more incompetent than his own cabin-boy or the cook's mate: that the real ruler of the ship's movements and destiny is his 'master,' whom his crew call the 'captain'; and that the only orders he can issue with a certainty that they are not open to criticism are those he gives for his breakfast and his dinner, if indeed he is in a position to partake of either. Officially he is gratified with the ambiguous t.i.tle of 'owner,' while he is painfully conscious that his real social status is that of a mere pa.s.senger, and that this unwelcome servitude has every likelihood of enduring during his whole career as a yachtsman. He may indeed, as a man of education, or perhaps of scientific attainments, become in course of time a better navigator than many of the splendid rough and ready sailormen who command the ships of our squadron; but, unless he has been able to spend more time on board than their multifarious occupations allow most owners of yachts to devote to seafaring, he must know that it is idle for him to pretend to compete either in seamanship or experience with the man whom he employs to sail his vessel for him. In short, he remains an amateur to the end of the chapter, and, if he is sensible and honest, is always ready to acknowledge himself the disciple of the professional sailor.

But in single-handed boat sailing this humiliating sense of dependence and inferiority disappears. For the first time in his life, no matter how frequent may have been his cruises on bigger vessels, he finds himself the _bona fide_ master of his own ship, with that delightful sense of unlimited responsibility and co-extensive omnipotence which is the acme of human enjoyment. The smallness of his craft does not in the slightest degree diminish the sense of his importance and dignity; indeed, there is no reason why it should. All the problems which task the intelligence and knowledge of the captain of a thousand-tonner during the various contingencies of its nautical manoeuvres have to be dealt with by him with equal promptness and precision. Anch.o.r.ed in a hot tideway and amongst a crowd of other shipping, he has perhaps a more difficult job to execute in avoiding disaster when getting under way or picking up his moorings than often confronts under similar circ.u.mstances the leviathans of the deep; and his honour is equally engaged in avoiding the slightest graze or sixpence worth of injury either to himself or his neighbours as would be the case were a court-martial or a lawsuit and 5,000_l_. damages involved in the misadventure. The same pleasurable sentiments stimulate his faculties when encountering the heavy weather which waits him outside; for, though the seas he encounters may not be quite so large as Atlantic rollers, nor break so dangerously as in the Pentland Firth, they are sufficiently formidable in proportion to the size of his craft to require extremely careful steering, and probably an immediate reduction of canvas under conditions of some difficulty.

Nor are even misfortunes when they occur, as occur they must, utterly devoid of some countervailing joys. He has neglected to keep his lead going when approaching land; he has misread the perverse mysteries of the tides, and his vessel and his heart stop simultaneously as her keel ploughs into a sandbank. The situation is undoubtedly depressing, but at least there is no one on board on this and on similar occasions to eye him with contemptuous superiority or utter the aggravating, 'I told you so.' Nay, if he is in luck, the silent sea and sky are the only witnesses of his shame, and even the sense of this soon becomes lost and buried in the ecstacy of applying the various devices necessary to free his vessel from her imprisonment. He launches his Berthon boat, and lays out an anchor in a frenzy of delightful excitement; he puts into motion his tackles, his gipsy winches, and all the mechanical appliances with which his ingenuity has furnished his beloved; and when at last, with staysail sheet a-weather, she sidles into deep water, though, as in the case of Lancelot, 'his honour rooted in dishonour stood,' the tragic origin of his present trial quickly fades into oblivion, and during after years he only recalls to his mind, or relates with pride to his friends, the later incidents of the drama.

Another happiness attending his pursuit is that he is always learning something new. Every day, and every hour of the day, the elements of each successive problem with which he has to deal are perpetually changing. As t.i.tian said of painting, seamanship is an art whose horizon is always extending; and what can be more agreeable than to be constantly learning something new in a pursuit one loves?

I have heard it sometimes objected that single-handed boat-sailing is dangerous. Well, all sport is dangerous. People have been killed at golf, at football, and at cricket; nor is sitting in an easy-chair exempt from risk; but during an experience of five and twenty years, though laying no claim to much skill as a mariner, I have never had a serious accident, though occasionally a strong tide may have swept me whither I had not the least intention of going; nor have I ever done more than 10_l._ worth of damage either to my own vessel or my neighbour's. The princ.i.p.al thing one must be careful about is not to fall overboard, and in moving about the ship one should never leave go one holdfast till one's hand is on another. It is also advisable not to expose one's head to a crack from the boom as one is belaying the jib and staysail sheets in tacking, for it might very well knock one senseless.

In conclusion, I would submit that to anyone wearied with the business, the pleasures, the politics, or the ordinary worries of life, there is no such harbour of refuge and repose as single-handed sailing. When your whole thoughts are intent on the management of your vessel, and the pulling of the right instead of the wrong string, it is impossible to think either of your breakdown in your maiden speech in the House of Commons, of your tailor's bills, or of the young lady who has jilted you. On the other hand, Nature, in all her beauty and majesty, rea.s.serts her supremacy, and claims you for her own, soothing your irritated nerves, and pouring balm over your lacerated feelings.

The complicated mysteries of existence rea.s.sume their primaeval simplicity, while the freshness and triumphant joyousness of early youth return upon you as you sweep in a dream past the magic headlands and islands of the Ionian Sea or glide along the Southern coast of your native land, with its sweet English homes, its little red brick villages and homesteads nestling in repose amid the soft outlines of the dear and familiar landscape. The loveliness of earth, sea, and sky takes possession of your soul, and your heart returns thanks for the gift of so much exquisite enjoyment in the pursuit of an amus.e.m.e.nt as manly as it is innocent.

N.B.--Single-handed sailing need not preclude the presence of a lady pa.s.senger. On the contrary, she will be found very useful on occasion, whether in starting the sheets, in taking a spell at the wheel (for they are all familiar with the art of despotic guidance), in keeping a sharp look-out, in making tea, or in taking her part in a desultory conversation.

'THE LADY HERMIONE,' SINGLE-HANDED SAILING YAWL

BY JAMES MCFERRAN

In the course of two summers pa.s.sed on the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Naples the writer had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the details of the construction, fittings, and equipment of a very remarkable little yacht, whose white canvas for a couple of seasons was constantly to be seen on that unrivalled sheet of water between the months of June and October. He has thought that a description of the vessel in question may prove interesting, not only to such of the readers of these volumes as are devoted to the art of single-handed sailing--that most delightful, manly, and invigorating of all sports--but also to the general body of yachtsmen who, during the summer and autumn months, fill, in ever-increasing numbers, our various yachting ports with the most perfect specimens of the shipwright's craft that the world can produce.

'The Lady Hermione,' as the vessel whose qualities and characteristics it is proposed to describe is called, is the property of Her Majesty's Amba.s.sador at Paris, his Excellency the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava.

His Lordship, as is well known, has from very early days been a keen yachtsman, and though for some time past he has had no opportunities of indulging in his favourite pastime in large yachts, he has long been devoted to sailing in vessels in which he comprises in his own person the hierarchy of owner, master, and crew. During the last fifteen years, in whatever part of the world he may have been, provided sailing were possible, he has never been without a little ship specially constructed for this form of amus.e.m.e.nt. In each succeeding vessel some new invention or arrangement for her safer, easier, and more efficient handling has suggested itself, and been worked out under the owner's direct supervision. In the present boat the development of the single-handed sailing yacht seems at last to have reached perfection, and it would hardly be possible for the most inventive mind to suggest an improvement in her.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.--'The Lady Hermione.']

'The Lady Hermione' is a yawl-rigged yacht (fig. 1), built by Forrest & Son, of Wivenhoe, to the order of her owner. She is 22 ft. 9 in.

long between perpendiculars, 4 ft. 2 in. in depth, has a beam of 7 ft.

3 in., and a registered tonnage of four tons. She is built with mild-steel frames, galvanised so as to resist the corrosive action of sea-water--a mode of construction which has recently been adopted for torpedo-boats--and is sheathed with East Indian teak and coppered. A novel feature in the hull of so small a boat is its division into water-tight compartments by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, composed of galvanised steel plates riveted to the steel frames. These bulkheads form a large forward compartment, two compartments on each side of the cabin, and a compartment at the stern, thus rendering the vessel water-tight as long as they remain intact.

On the deck, forward and aft, are hatchways which give entrance to the bow and stern compartments respectively. The hatches to these openings, which are kept constantly closed at sea, are fastened down with strong gun-metal screws fitted with b.u.t.terfly nuts, the screws being fastened to the deck and made to fold down on it with joint when not in use. The coamings of the hatchways, as well as the inner edges of the hatches themselves, are lined with india-rubber, so as to render the covers perfectly water-tight. Access to the side compartments is obtained by means of manholes opening from the cabin, and covered with steel plates screwed into the bulkhead. In the event of the yacht's shipping any water, it is removed by a pump leading through the deck near to the c.o.c.kpit and within easy reach of the steersman's hand. The cover of the pump works on a hinge, and lies flush with the deck when closed. The pump-handle is made to ship and unship at will, and is in the form of a lever, which renders the operation of pumping more easy than in the ordinary form of pump usually employed in small boats (c, figs. 2 and 11).

'The Lady Hermione' is ballasted with lead, the greater portion of which is carried outside in the form of a keel, which weighs about two tons. On trial, it was found that the little craft was too quick on her helm--a quality which, however useful in racing vessels, is undesirable in a single-handed boat, where the operation of getting aft the sheets when going about naturally requires somewhat more time than it does when the crew is composed of more than one hand. In order to remedy this defect a deep oak keel has been fixed outside the lead keel, and has to a considerable extent answered its purpose. It has also added immensely to the boat's stiffness; and it is blowing very hard indeed when a reef requires to be taken down. In fact, owing to her deep build and her heavy outside keels, 'The Lady Hermione' is virtually uncapsizable, while her water-tight compartments render her unsinkable. It is impossible to overrate the value of these two elements of safety in a boat which is always worked by one person and is taken out in all weathers.

Stepping on board 'The Lady Hermione,' the visitor, however much he is accustomed to yachts, is struck by the number and apparent complication of the contrivances which meet his eye (fig. 3), the interior of the vessel looking, as a witty naval officer once observed on being shown over her, 'something like the inside of a clock'; but, after a few explanations, the usefulness and practical efficiency of the various devices become evident. The principle which has been adhered to throughout in the rigging and fittings is, that all operations connected with the handling and management of the boat shall be performed by one person without the application of any considerable physical force. It has also been laid down as a _sine qua non_ that everything shall work perfectly in all weathers and under all conditions of wind and sea. The result of the owner's ingenuity is, that the sails can be hoisted and lowered, the sheets attended to, the anchor let go and weighed, and the tiller fixed and kept fixed in any desired position, without the necessity of the one person, who composes the crew leaving the c.o.c.kpit. The arrangements for carrying out these objects will now be described in detail.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3.--'The Lady Hermione.' Deck plan.]

The first contrivance which claims attention is that for keeping the rudder fixed at any desired angle (figs. 4 and 5A). In his account of his cruise in the yawl 'Rob Roy' the late Mr. Macgregor says that he had never seen any really satisfactory method of accomplishing this object; but the difficulty has been solved by Lord Dufferin, who, indeed, has had fitted in many of his previous boats an apparatus similar to that in the present one. On the deck aft, about a couple of feet in advance of the rudder-head, are fitted two bra.s.s stanchions.

These support a bra.s.s bar which on its lower side is indented with notches similar to the teeth of a saw, and of a depth of about half an inch (A, fig. 4). On the tiller there is fitted a bra.s.s tube or cylinder made so as to slide backwards and forwards within a limit of some eight or ten inches, and bearing on its upper surface a triangular fin of bra.s.s (A, fig. 5). When it is desired to fix the tiller in any particular position, the cylinder is instantaneously slipped back until the fin catches one of the notches of the bar, and the tiller is thus securely fixed. The tiller is unlocked by simply flicking forward the cylinder with the hand, the locking and unlocking being done in a second. The toothed bra.s.s bar, it may be mentioned, is curved so that the fin may fit into any desired notch, no matter at what an angle it may be desired to fix the rudder (A, fig. 4). The c.o.c.kpit of the yacht being somewhat small, it was found that when there was a lady pa.s.senger on board the movement of the tiller interfered with her comfort, and, in order to obviate this difficulty, a steering-wheel has recently been fixed on the top of the cabin immediately in front of where the helmsman stands (fig. 6). When the wheel is used a short tiller is employed, with steel tackles leading from it through pulleys and fair-leads to the wheel itself. The axis of the wheel carries a bra.s.s cap fitted with a screw, by half a turn of which the steering apparatus can be locked or unlocked, and the helm fixed in any position. If it is desired at any time to subst.i.tute steering with the tiller for steering with the wheel, the process is very simple. A bra.s.s handle of the requisite length, and bearing a cylinder and fin as above described, is screwed on to the short tiller, and the tiller ropes are cast off, the whole operation being performed in a few seconds. The wheel, the stand for which slides into bra.s.s grooves on the cabin top, can also be unshipped and stowed out of the way in a very short time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fittings of 'The Lady Hermione.']

We now proceed to examine the gear for letting go the anchor, which, though difficult to describe, will readily be understood from the drawing (fig. 7). The anchor, a Martin's patent, when stowed, rests upon two crescent-shaped supports, which project from the bulwarks just forward of the main rigging (A, A', fig. 7). These supports are fixed to a bar or tumbler lying close to the inside of the bulwark, and arranged so as to turn on its axis (B, fig. 7; and C, fig. 12).

Fixed to the tumbler inboard there is a small bar which fits into a socket attached to the covering board. On the socket is a trigger (C, fig. 7, and D, fig. 12) from which a line leads along the inside of the bulwarks to within easy reach of the c.o.c.kpit (D, fig. 7). By pulling this line the socket is made to revolve, so as to release the arm; the weight of the anchor forces the tumbler to turn on its axis, bringing down with it the crescent-shaped supports, and the anchor falls into the sea.

This operation having been completed, it will probably be thought that now at last the crew must leave his point of vantage, and go forward to stopper and bit his cable. But no; we have not by any means yet reached the limits of ingenuity displayed in this extraordinary little ship. The chain cable runs out through a hawse-pipe in the bow, and across the hawse-hole a strong steel plate or compressor, with a notch cut in it to fit the links of the cable, runs in grooves. By pulling a line which leads to the c.o.c.kpit this compressor is drawn over the hawse-hole, and the cable is thus effectually snubbed. When the anchor has to be got up, or it is required to let out more chain, the compressor can be drawn back by another line which also leads to the c.o.c.kpit. These two contrivances for letting go and stopping the anchor, together with the apparatus for weighing it without leaving the c.o.c.kpit, which will now be dealt with, get rid of that fruitful source of discomfort in boats manned by one hand--namely, the necessity of the solitary mariner's having to go forward to deal with his ground tackle at a time when perhaps he has other pressing calls on his attention in connection with the management of his vessel.

Equally as ingenious as the means of letting go the anchor is the machinery employed for weighing it. The windla.s.s used is an ordinary yacht's windla.s.s, except that on its outer end on its starboard side it carries a cogged wheel (fig. 8). Close alongside the windla.s.s there rises from the deck a spindle cut with an endless screw (A, fig. 9), the threads of which take the teeth of the cogged wheel. This spindle runs through the deck, and has at its lower extremity a cogged wheel (B, fig. 9), fitting into another cogged wheel attached to a shaft, which runs aft on bearings in the ceiling of the cabin to the c.o.c.kpit (C, fig. 9). At the c.o.c.kpit end it is furnished with a large wheel (D, fig. 9, and fig. 10), on turning which the motion is communicated through the shaft and a system of cog-wheels (figs. 9 and 11), to the Archimedian screw rising up through the deck forward, and this screw in its turn revolves the windla.s.s, and the anchor comes merrily home.

The slack of the chain, as it comes in, drops perpendicularly through the hawse-pipe to the chain-locker below, and requires no attention or handling. The machinery for getting the anchor possesses great power, and, even when the anchor has a tight hold of the bottom, the wheel in the c.o.c.kpit can be turned almost with one finger. The wheel is made to ship and unship, and when not in use is hung up to the side of the cabin. As a general rule, especially when weighing in a crowded harbour, the anchor is simply hove up close to the hawse-hole until open water has been gained, the ropes carefully coiled down, and everything made snug and shipshape. The vessel is then laid to, or the helm fixed so as to keep her on her course, as circ.u.mstances may determine, and the crew goes forward to do the one thing he cannot perform from aft, the catting and fishing of his anchor. Suspended from the head of the mainmast is a tackle of the kind known to seamen as a 'Spanish burton,' with a long iron hook attached to its lower block. In fishing the anchor this burton is first overhauled, and, leaning over the bow, the operator fixes the hook in a ring let into the shank of the anchor at a point where the anchor exactly balances itself when suspended horizontally. He then pa.s.ses the various parts of the fall of the tackle through an eye at the end of a fish-davit--similar in shape to the boat-davits used in large ships--which stands up from the deck close to the bulwarks, a little forward of the supports for the anchor already mentioned (A, fig. 12).

By pulling on the hauling part of the burton the anchor is raised close to the end of the davit, and the davit, by an ingeniously arranged spring, on a lever at its base (B, fig. 12), being pressed with the foot, can be swung round until the anchor is suspended immediately above its resting-place, into which it is then lowered, the crescent-shaped supports already referred to having been previously placed in position, and the trigger locked. Here it rests in perfect security, and is ready to be let go by pulling on the line attached to the trigger. On the port side a second anchor is carried, an Admiralty pattern, weighing about fifty pounds, and secured in precisely the same way as the starboard or working anchor, though in weighing it the windla.s.s is used with an ordinary ratchet, as the windla.s.s barrel on the port side is not connected with the shaft previously described. It may here be mentioned that the starboard barrel of the windla.s.s can also be used in the ordinary way, as the spindle with the endless screw already mentioned is made with a joint, so that it can be disconnected from the cogged wheel and laid down flat on deck out of the way whenever necessary (C, fig. 8; and D, fig.