Yachting Volume Ii Part 12

The extreme draft is not to exceed one-sixth of the load-water-line.

The counter, if any, is not to exceed one-sixth of load-water-line, nor is the rabbit, where it intersects the afterside of the sternpost, to come nearer the surface of the water than 4 in.

The overhang of the bow, if any, is not to exceed one-sixth of the load-water-line. Any excess of overhang beyond these limits must be added to the length of the load-water-line, and the result taken for cla.s.s and time-allowance.

The whole overhang of any counter, whose rabbit, where it crosses the afterside of the sternpost, is less than 4 in.

above the surface of the water, must be added to the length of the load-water-line, and the result taken as the length for cla.s.s and time-allowance.

The crew, including helmsman, is not to exceed one man for every 7 ft. or fraction of 7 ft. One of these may be a paid hand.

Centreboard boats are allowed to compete, but the plates are never to be lowered beyond the limit of one-sixth of their load-water-line and must be kept down at a fixed draught during the whole race. (If the latter part of this rule has been altered, it is only lately that the alteration has been made.)

The Royal Alfred Yacht Club is still houseless, and keeps to its original purpose of devoting all its available funds to the encouragement of match-sailing. It has lost within the last few years the valuable a.s.sistance of its late secretary, Mr. James A. Lyle, who might almost be said to have fathered the club from its earliest infancy; but with a foundation so ably laid, a working team of thoroughly practical seamen to officer and steady the helm (and to whom I am greatly indebted for the help given me in compiling this paper), the members have every reason to be proud of the position their a.s.sociation holds as a representative racing yacht club.

"GRAPHIC CRUISERS" OF DUBLIN BAY

_Notes by the Hon. Skipper_

A lovely night, a gentle breeze, a gla.s.sy, heaving ebb, all sail set, the boat coaxingly pulling at her moorings, her port and starboard eyes bright and glistening, her punts (choked with artists'

sketchings, gear, and a gun-case or two) safe at the davits; her deck rather littered with Gladstones and canvas bags; a murmuring sound from below, accompanied by a light clatter of coffee cups: on deck are only 'Billy' (our cook), 'Jack,' the 'boy' (general f.a.g and washer-up), and the 'skipper' (one of the party selected by ballot for the cruise).

The buoy is overboard, 'Jack' hauls the stays'l to windward, Billy lowers the chain silently through the hawse, the 'Iris' gently glides from among the surrounding boats, and is off for a week or two, heavily laden with an artistic, musical, medical, legal, and other 'crew' seeking relaxation, and a recovery from that dyspepsia which sooner or later overtakes every hard worker in this so-called temperate climate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Outward bound.]

In this boat the pa.s.sengers are converted into 'crew'; all must work, all obey the lawful commands of the skipper for the time being, though perchance he may not be the best sailor; and although some of the members are crack yachtsmen, all loyally avoid offering nautical advice _unasked_. Each is allotted some particular duty. One is medical officer, another is second in command, and the most onerous task is that accepted by the 'steward.' He is generously a.s.sisted by the advice of such of the crew as have had experience, and has 'Billy'

and 'the boy' to carry out his behests; neither of the latter appearing much on deck, for the boat is worked in easy watches by the 'crew.'

It would almost appear that some insidious apology should prelude a description of such a homely and slow craft as that selected for this occasion; but, as she fills a s.p.a.ce in the different cla.s.ses of yachts, and has proved an unspeakable comfort for the purposes intended, these, and the means adopted, may have an interest for many who enjoy quiet pursuits. The crew was a typical one. There were several artists, several ardent naturalists, and a photographer (a lawyer, who could prove to demonstration that a photographer _might_ also be an artist), and all practised music.

The cruise was limited to Dublin Bay and a few harbours north and south.

Some of the most beautiful spots, from an artist's point of view, cannot be reached in a deep boat, and so our draught was limited to less than 3 ft. 6 in., a condition complied with by the 'Iris.' She is 60 ft. long over all, with a beam of 12 ft. 6 in., diagonally built of mahogany, with a metal keel, as well as internal ballast cast to fit her. Her mid-transverse section shows a rather barrelled bottom, but her form forward and aft is such that she rolls very little; and, for this reason, and also from the fact that her saloon table is not far from the plane of her centre of rolling motion, the swinging apparatus of the dining-table has been removed, and it is now a satisfactory fixture.

As it was intended to frequent shallow waters and dry harbours like Howth, Lambay, Rush, Skerries, Wicklow, &c., provision had to be made for taking the ground comfortably. It is not possible to do this with 'legs.' There is always a doubt on the mind of the responsible officer as to which side she is likely to cant, and whilst on one side of the boat there may be good hard sandy ground, on the other may be a patch of soft mud, into which the leg may gently subside if she unfortunately happen to cant in that direction. Again, the time when the tide will leave her may be some hours hence, and a weary waiting ensues, perhaps after a stiff pa.s.sage, when all hands long to 'turn in.' Of course, when you have a paid crew, they do the waiting; but a paid crew in this cruise would in great measure defeat the main object of the expedition.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of 'Iris.']

To obviate the necessity for 'legs,' a simple and efficient subst.i.tute is shown in the transverse section. Two deep bilge pieces 10 feet long are bolted to broad stringers above the timbers, and extend fore and aft some 5 feet longer than the bilge pieces, thus distributing the strain over a large portion of the boat. They are wide at the skin, and taper downwards. The bolts are inserted diagonally, and the bilge pieces are shod with keel bands; they are modelled on the outsides, but the inner faces are flat and _almost_ parallel, being further apart aft than forward by one inch, for reasons that need not here be mentioned. Such a contrivance helps to improve the leeway of so shallow a boat, although not proportionately to the area immersed. It is objectionable on grounds set forth by Kemp and others, as offering a larger surface for friction than is the coefficient for the lateral gain; but it is a great comfort when you have to take the ground and wish to have dinner with ease of mind (a necessity with a dyspeptic), and a joyful exchange for the sloppy, and lumbering, and inconvenient and unsteady 'legs.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: Section of 'Iris,' showing permanent legs.]

The boat is 'ketch' rigged--probably the safest of all rigs, and certainly the simplest and least laborious to be worked by few hands; indeed, this boat has been worked to windward in a narrow tideway, single-handed, over and over again. This comfortable rig was determined upon after many experiments. The boat was originally schooner-rigged, with sails by Lapthorn; but she would not wear, at least quickly enough for safety, in narrow waters and crooked channels, especially in strong winds. This difficulty in 'wearing' is common to many good-sized boats. Quite recently I saw a revenue cutter charging away towards a bank with several hands at the tiller, and the main sheet eased off without affecting her mad career until the officer scandalised her mainsail; then she slowly yielded the point, and just cleared the bank by tearing up the sand and mud, leaving a yellow track behind her. Again, during the recent racing season, the pilot-boat (about sixty tons) started from Kingstown Harbour for her cruising ground. The old pilot at the helm sucked his pipe with confident air as she slipped; you could almost imagine his saying, 'This old boat and I are old chums; I know her. See how, with one finger on the tiller, I make her gracefully fall off to avoid that group of yachts ahead!' Suddenly the smile disappears; the pipe is chucked from his mouth. She won't fall off! she is charging bang into the yachts! The old man's legs are toughened out, and both hands grasp the tiller, as a shout from the man forward, who is hauling the jib to windward, calls the attention of the other pilots aboard, and one who grasps the situation rushes to the peak-halliards and scandalises the mainsail; then she tears away showing her copper as she fills, while skippers around fire a volley of muttered blanks at the 'old tub' as she makes for the harbour's mouth.

But with the ketch-rig the helmsman of the 'Iris,' by manipulating the mizzen-sheet, threads her in safety to or from the wind along a shallow tortuous gut left by the fallen tide. Remember she is 60 ft.

by 12 ft. 6 in., and with _a draught of less than 3 ft. 6 in._ Her ability to take the ground upright is a source of gratification to the artistic members of her crew; neither flowing nor ebbing tide, nor a shift of wind, makes it necessary to alter the positions of the sketching-seats, easels are a convenience that may be comfortably indulged in, and then the operations of the steward are not disturbed.

But there is another great advantage in being able to take the ground in this manner when you have to stop in harbours that are nearly half dry at low water--an advantage having a large element of safety, and best ill.u.s.trated by a case in point, an incident in our recent cruise.

We had spent the night on the beach at Ireland's Eye, an island north of Howth, rich in geological, archaeological, and botanic interest. On one side a shingle and a silver strand, a ruined abbey, and a charming view. On the other, wild and romantic cliffs, thousands of sea birds, a smuggler's cave, a seal cave, and a very remarkable profile rock.

Here in the summer you may see a Lord Justice picnicking with his family, a Bankruptcy Judge, a gallant and skilful yachtsman, prowling after rabbits, a Churchill gazing at profile rock and smoking like a furnace, an Academician describing the hermit's cell, a citizen from Dublin dining with his friends, an excursion of the Dublin Sketching Club working in platoons, and, should lovely harmony startle the night air, perhaps some members of an opera company have come down by the last train after the performance to breathe the fresh air and sleep aboard the 'Iris.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Bailey, Dublin Bay.]

Well, as I said, we spent the night at Ireland's Eye, and in the morning found the barometer dropping rapidly far away at the harbour on the mainland. The coastguards had hoisted the one point downwards, indicating a gale from the south'ard. We were in perfect shelter, but as we had arranged to help the Tennis Club Entertainment that afternoon by playing some stringed instruments, we hoisted sail and made for Howth Harbour, coming to anchor in nice time to escape the preliminary bursts of the truthfully predicted 'blow.' The wind blew off sh.o.r.e, and so there was no send or swell in the harbour. We were free to anchor in very shallow water, careless whether we were left high and dry or not, and herein lay our safety, not from wind nor wave, but from vessels rushing for shelter into the small and crowded portion of the harbour where the water is deep, and also from craft dragging.

Last year, during a gale off sh.o.r.e, eleven boats of different sizes, one an iron steamer, dragged into a corner of the harbour and crunched one another into matchwood. There was no '_sea_,' only a disordered and irregular 'chop.' The 'Iris,' drawing only a few feet of water and anch.o.r.ed within an inch or two of the bottom, could not be approached by any dragging or sailing boat of greater draught; long before reaching her they would be fast aground.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Graphic' artists at work during the gale of October 5, 1892.]

In the evening, after our labours for our friends ash.o.r.e had been satisfactorily completed, we pulled aboard fairly dry, and in a few moments were seated at dinner, the boat perfectly upright and immovable, with about 2 ft. 6 in. of water around us. The lamps gave a rich glow of colour and glitter to our table, all the more comfortable from the contrast with the sudden cold without and the howling and moaning of the gale. After coffee we lounged on deck, well wrapped up, to enjoy a cigar and observe the storm. The lighthouse lamps burned brilliantly, and the anchor lights of the craft in harbour flickered and struggled for a feeble existence, their movements showing that over there at any rate there was rolling and uneasiness. Here, our steadiness was enjoyable, as was also our dry deck, due to our bulwarks of over 2 ft. high. Suddenly above the breakwater appeared a black pyramid, growing bigger every moment; then another, then many.

They were fishing-vessels beating for the harbour for shelter, but they slowly disappeared one by one; they had gone about on the other tack; we might shortly expect them in. Soon there struggled in the narrow mouth the shadow of a close-reefed trawler of sixty tons or so.

Why does she stop? Is she on the rocks at the light? No, she has missed stays; there is not room to do more than drift astern, and she disappears in the darkness. And in less than half an hour she will try again, for the harbour has a difficult entrance. A few minutes afterwards there rushes in a more fortunate vessel; then comes another, and another--each in turn makes straight for us, but we smoke quietly; we know they cannot approach. Still they are near enough to enable us to hear, above the fighting winds, the shrill cries of the men to 'Let draw,' or 'Hold on, Pat,' the rattling of blocks, the vicious flap of the canvas and shock of the heavy boom as each vessel goes about, and soon the rattling of cables as anchors are dropped, followed by such silence as the gale permits, while the men seek some rest after a heavy battle with nature. In the meantime the occupants of the other boats at anchor have had serious moments; dangerously near came some of the fishing vessels, and even when anchors had been let go anxious eyes blinkingly peered against the salt, blinding wind to see if the trawlers' anchors held, and that the boats were not drifting down upon them with inevitable result. Skippers also watched their own holding gear with some concern; for if one of these crafts dragged, she would be broken up against the breakwater, and should she be fortunate enough to ground she would be down at the ebb, but, especially if she were a racer, she would not rise again with the next flow. Here we leave them and go below to our comparatively calm and safe berths, knowing that even should it calm down by morning we shall see tired and worn faces around us, and that we, thanks to our subst.i.tute for 'legs,' shall have slept in ease and peace, and awakened refreshed in body and in mind.

In order to get headroom there is 'trunk' 'rise' on the deck, as shown on the cross-section drawing, 18 in. high (in one place higher) and some 40 ft. long, leaving a conveniently wide gangway on the deck at either side; this rise has a number of dead lights at the sides, as well as skylights above; and during its infancy the boat was severely criticised. She was called the 'Tramcar,' and had other more opprobrious compliments paid her. As to her speed, there were sundry allusions to crabs and their propensities for walking backwards. It was therefore excusable, taking into account the windage due to the superstructures and high bulwarks, and to the general form of the boat and also to the bilge pieces, if we had very humble notions as to the speed of the 'Iris'; and although we all believed in 'the craft you sail in,' it was with some amazement that we found her unexpectedly fast in reaching, and therefore fast with the wind aft. This particularly struck us one morning when we saw a fine racing-cruiser rounding the Bailey. The wind was fresh and free; someone said, 'Here comes Charlie. Watch how he will swoop past us in his triumph.' But Charlie didn't triumph, neither did he swoop; we watched carefully until we saw that _Charlie was going astern!_--a fact that surprised us as much as it did Charlie.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Her Majesty's Mails.]

Again, many said that a boat with such a high freeboard and so little draught would not claw off a lee-sh.o.r.e in a bad sea; but as she was designed for artist's work chiefly in local waters, where there is protection every four or five miles, it was not intended that she should be submitted to heavy weather. We always had a lurking suspicion that she would not do very well in a seaway, but here we were again agreeably surprised; for, seizing a favourable opportunity, we brought her round the nose of Howth (as nasty a spot as anyone could wish in dirty weather), and there we put her through her facings, with the result that we found her an able vessel, safe to stay even when much knocked about, and when we purposely allowed her to make a stern board, with the aid of the mizzen, we could put her head in which direction we chose. Several steamers pa.s.sed us during the trials, and these were shipping tons of water, while we did not take a cupful. Around the boat, six inches below the covering board, is a very wide 'rubbing-piece,' a ribband of 'thumb' moulding, whose form will be understood by reference to the cross-section drawing.

This projects some inches from the side of the boat, and the effect of this small bead in throwing off seas is most remarkable. Often have we watched green lumps of water lapping up her sides with a rush that threatened to bring them over the bulwarks in the next instant, especially at her bows, but on reaching this 'stroke' the whole ma.s.s seemed diverted outward, and to drop back into the sea. True it is that action and reaction are equal and opposite, and the momentum of the wave must have been communicated to the boat in some way (likely to be detrimental to her speed and affecting her leeway), but we were unable to realise practically any injurious effect to at all balance the pleasure of a dry boat. Such, indeed, is the general success of the boat as a quiet, safe cruiser, that it is intended to have a new one designed by some crack authority with better lines, built of steel, with the important existing features adhered to, but doubtless with much improvement in the speed. As to the rigging, the stays'l carries a boom and the sheet travels on a 'horse,' the jibsheets run aft, and the mizzen-sheet is made fast to a cleat on the under side of the mizzen-boom; thus the helmsman can put her about single-handed if he please. In smooth water he puts the helm down, and, when she fills on the other tack, shifts the jib. In a short sea, if she is likely to lose way in stays, he puts the helm down, slips a loop over it, then hauls on the mizzen-sheet till the sail is fore and aft, when she goes about with certainty. He then shifts jib; he does not take the sheet from the cleat, but simply hauls on the fall; consequently the sail does not require adjustment when the vessel fills. In smooth water, such as the Broads or Windermere, or the Liffey Estuary, no particular tactics are needed in going about, but in the frequently troubled water of Dublin Bay these matters are noteworthy when we remember that she is 60 feet long, has a beam of 12 ft. 6 in., and draws only 3 ft.

6 in. of water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Storm without, calm within.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Kingstown, Dublin Bay.]

_Report of the Hon. Medical Officer_

In one of the steamers of which I had medical charge it was a common saying that all that was medicinally required by the crew and pa.s.sengers was a weekly dose of 'one pint of sulphur wash and 2 oz.

bilge nails,' and that teeth might be drawn by the 'key of the kelson.' No such drastic treatment should be required on a yachting cruise, but a few medicines and surgical appliances should always be on board, and the sanitary condition of the boat should be rigorously and minutely inspected, not only before starting, but daily during the cruise, be it long or short. To begin with, before stores or pa.s.sengers come aboard I have the carpet or other covering taken up and some of the flooring lifted along the entire length of the boat, and I carefully see that no fragments of food, animal or vegetable, have accidentally got about the ballast, that no pieces of paper, however small, nor sawdust, nor shavings, nor 'matter out of its proper place' of any kind whatever, is left below the flooring. I personally see that the limbers are cleared, and that a copious flush of water redolent of calcium chloride or 'Sanitas' is poured in forward and pumped out of the well aft. Next, I inspect the sail lockers, and if there be any musty smell, I have the sails, &c., removed on deck and hung up to thoroughly dry; in the meantime the locker beams and ceiling are washed over with a solution of chloride of lime and thoroughly aired. The steward's store lockers and cooking utensils are carefully examined, a solution of pota.s.sic permanganate being freely used; the mattresses are turned over and searched for the slightest mouldiness, and, if any be detected, are sent ash.o.r.e to be taken asunder and stoved; the lockers under the berths are aired, and the Indian matting with which the bunks are lined taken down and examined, and, should there be any mustiness, which will surely be the case if it has not been kept dry, I condemn it and get fresh--fortunately it is a cheap material. The w.c.'s are of the underline type and consequently require rigorous examination, as that kind is subject to leakage, and they should always be provided with simple means for tightening up the joints, and so devised that all the strains due to pumping, &c., are self-contained. There should also be an automatic supply of a strong solution of permanganate of potash every time the w.c. pump is used. Besides this, however, I always make the boy pour in a pint of strong permanganate solution night and morning, and with a good air-draught, secured by having the door made so that there are several inches above and below between it and its frame, I have never had the slightest reason to doubt the efficiency of the apparatus as a sanitary appliance. Earth-closets are a delusion; you cannot get earth, nor even sand, when on a cruise, and there are other serious objections. Carpets should be examined for mould in the interstices of the material, and should any be detected, however slight, the carpets should be taken ash.o.r.e--they cannot be properly treated in a small boat. In short, fungoid life of any kind must be stamped out, and it is to be observed that yachts of every kind, and especially small ones, are peculiarly subject to this kind of parasite, for it frequently happens that boats are not inhabited, or only partially so, for some weeks, or even months. Without fires in the cabins, or other means adopted to withstand the moist air inseparable from the conditions, then it is that the microscopic fungoid plants flourish.

Anon, fires are lighted, the air becomes dried, people move about, currents of air sweep through the cabins, and the spores, invisible to the naked eye, are wafted in myriads about the saloon, sleeping-cabins, and galley, until they come to rest on some moist place, there to propagate again if not checked. Fortunately, when the moist place happens to be the mucous membrane of our nostrils, the spores betray their presence, for the motion produced by the impact due to such shape and weight and composition produce the sensations which we term 'a musty smell.' I have frequently noticed objectionable odours of this cla.s.s about many fine yachts, and most small ones, but they are never absent from short-voyage cross-Channel steamers; these almost invariably reek with them to such an extent that often strong, good sailors feel ill before the vessel leaves the wharf.

With such precautions as I have outlined, almost any boat may be made 'sweet.'

Accidents of a serious nature involving surgical aid seldom occur in yachts; and if the cruise be a short one, a couple of needles, a scalpel, a forceps for extracting splinters, a stronger one for fish-hooks, a thermometer, and a long strip, two inches wide, of india-rubber sticking-plaster rolled up in an air-tight tin-box, will enable one to meet any case likely to arise. And for medicine I carry a mild aperient, magnesia cit., in bottles with air-tight covers, a supply of compound zymine (a most valuable ferment), and Burroughs's pocket-case. Phosphates I administer by selecting the food of the person under treatment. And I see that there is an abundant supply of fruits on board. Often I have noticed individuals in a yachting party come aboard for a cruise of a few weeks, all life and gaiety, and next day be quite depressed by the reaction from the excitement and novelty of the change. Such a person requires a little immediate treatment, or several days may elapse before he or she will be fit to enjoy the pleasures of the situation. It is necessary that there should be agreeable amus.e.m.e.nts to occupy the minds of the party, when lamps are lighted and all a.s.sembled in the saloon; and the function of providing these in some measure falls within the doctor's duty.

The food should be carefully considered by the medical officer. When a party of very young men embark on a yachting excursion they seldom pay much attention to the quality of this necessary fuel; quant.i.ty appears to be with them the important consideration. But when the party consists mainly of men who have already embarked upon the responsibilities of life, men whose brain power is severely taxed, the _cuisine_ must be such that, although they be not persons who 'live to eat,' they can regard the table as an additional attraction to the company surrounding it.

One of the most important elements towards the smooth working of the whole party is the presence of a lady, wife or mother or daughter of a member; her advent has a humanizing influence on the male members, however diverging their temperaments may be. If she be an artist or a musician (every lady should be a musician in its best sense) and does not object to smoking--if she be an artist she _won't_--in a properly ventilated, not draughty, cabin, her presence will be still more appreciated; and whether she be ash.o.r.e or afloat, the fact that a gentlewoman is a member of the party helps to give a peaceful restful glamour to the whole cruise. These remarks are intended to apply chiefly to small vessels. In large steamers, Transatlantic or others, the duties of the medical officer are rather directed to restoring people when they have become ill. On a yachting cruise his great aim should be to keep people well.

_Notes by the Hon. Steward_

When I first accepted this post I felt rather inclined to resign at once, for when the party came on board I was saluted with what were intended to be facetious orders. It was nothing but, 'Steward! take care of this ammunition.' 'Steward! let me have some soap and hot water; get my bag down from deck and let me have a brandy and soda, and, look here! be quick about it, like a good fellow.' But having often benefited by the efforts of predecessors, I endured the good-natured badinage, which died off after the first day. My first duty was to see that the cooking appliances, cutlery, and table furniture were in good serviceable condition; and I found that 'Billy'

had the entire service present on parade. The stove was a cast-iron one, a 'Fortress,' Smith & Wellstood, of Glasgow. It is a remarkable success. Though perhaps a little large for a small boat, as a great piece of the trunk deck was removable in fine weather, and the galley was otherwise well ventilated in cold, the heat was never objected to--at any rate 'Billy' never mentioned it. Catering for a cruise lasting a day or two, however large the party, does not call for any special remark, as it is easily done; but a cruise of more than four or five days in a yacht of limited accommodation involves some forethought as regards a _menu_ offering a sufficient and agreeable variety. If you can calculate on making harbour periodically, arrangements may be made to have provisions sent from town to the railway station, to be called for. But in that case you are tied to call, and this fixity of programme is objected to by 'Graphics.' It follows that the provisions for the whole cruise must be carried. Now, as regards meats, flies are great enemies to the satisfactory hanging of meat in a boat. It is surprising the number one comes across on a coasting trip. I have often met three or four bees or wasps far away from sh.o.r.e, and big bluebottles turn up in the galley, unexpected and unwelcome guests. One of these is sufficient to make several joints of meat very objectionable in forty-eight hours. A perfect corrective for this state of things is a CO_{2} box--that is, a box like a refrigerator, fairly air-tight, and with a communication from a small steel cylinder of compressed carbonic-acid gas; this gas is in a liquid state, and a little is allowed to expand into the box occasionally. So long as there is carbonic-acid gas in the box, the lamb, or mutton, or beef, or other food, will not be troubled with insect life, larvae or otherwise. If it be desired to cool the contents of the box, a good gush of the liquid gas is admitted. As it expands into the gaseous state it absorbs heat, and a temperature of -20 C.

has thus been produced. The carbonic acid used is a by-product, hitherto wasted, from the fermenting tuns of breweries. It is now collected and pumped into steel cylinders. I am informed that before long it will be sold for 1_d._ per pound liquid: at present the price is 3_d._ in Dublin. In practice we do not use so low a temperature as that above mentioned, which would blister some hands, and leaves a h.o.a.r frost over the contents of the box. We simply fill the box with gas at ordinary temperature, taking advantage only of its antiseptic properties. We have kept lobsters under a little pressure for six months. At the end of that time they had not parted with the delicate flavour of fresh lobster, and were totally unlike the tinned lobster one buys, which, with nearly all the tinned meats I know of, will keep you from starvation, and that is all that can be said in their behalf.

The prolonged high temperature to which they must be subjected in order to kill the bacillic spores practically destroys the best qualities of the natural juices. Some of the tinned vegetables are good and nutritious. Apples, French peas, French beans, pineapples, sweet corn, potatoes, pears, peaches, and tomatoes, arranged in order of merit as I have found them, are invaluable in a boat; but before using them examine the tins inside, especially those containing acid fruits. If the tins display a beautiful crystalline pattern inside, the contents should be dropped into cold water and rinsed for a few minutes before using. In any case the peas and beans and apples should invariably be rinsed in an abundant supply of cold water, and the fluid contents of the tins thrown away. It often surprises me that the makers of tins for 'canning' purposes do not invariably use those that are enamelled or 'glazed' inside; then there would be no fear of metallic oxides. At present, for what reason I will not state positively, the soups sold in tins do not agree with people. The flavours and the different kinds certainly afford variety enough, and would be unspeakably convenient aboard; but any experimenter, who has not a stomach like an ostrich, will find that if he uses these for a few days he will be ill. I make the statement without qualification.