Yachting Volume I Part 6

Prior to 1820, what yachts there were afloat seem to have presented but little individuality of form, and showed, in common with the faster smugglers and fishing vessels of the day, a round barrel-like bottom, full round bow and fairly clean run, the b.u.t.tock lines and after riband lines being generally fair and easy. These yachts were, one and all, built of timber, were ballasted with stones or gravel, the more advanced possibly with ore, while the sails and equipment were of a piece with the hull, the main rigging being of hemp, and no attempt being made after flatness in the sails.

The original 'Arrow,' of 84 tons, built somewhere about 1823 by Mr.

Joseph Weld, seems to have been a fairly representative craft of that time, and raced with considerable success, even against much larger vessels than herself.

This original 'Arrow' was 61 ft. 9-1/2 in. long by 18 ft. 5-1/4 in.

beam, with a depth of hold of 8 ft. 8 in.--that is, she had a proportion of length to breadth of 3.35--not very much differing in proportion from our present cutters of 1893: 'Calluna,' the 40-raters 'Lais' and 'Vendetta,' being about 3.4 and 3.5 beams to length, and the American 'Vigilant' about 3.32.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Midship section.

'Leopard.' Built by Linn Ratsey, Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1807. These lines are accurately reproduced from the original by his grandson, Michael E. Ratsey.]

'Arrow' had the usual round barrel-like bottom, and, so far as can be learned, a round, short bow, the run being fair and easy, the small midship section lending itself pleasantly to this.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'ARROW' CUTTER

_Midship Section_

_113 tons. Length on L.W.L., 79' 2"; beam extreme, 18' 9"; draught extreme, 11' 6"._

[The original 'ARROW,' 84 tons, was built by Mr Joseph Weld about 1823. In 1846 she was bought by Mr. Thomas Chamberlayne and rebuilt; but it was not until 1852 that her bow was lengthened and she appeared as shown above.]]

Racing with the 'Arrow,' but without any very conspicuous success, was the cutter 'Menai,' designed by that famous sportsman, Mr. T.

a.s.sheton-Smith, and memorable from being the first vessel in which hollow lines were adopted. But little notice seems to have been taken of this very radical alteration in form, and although Scott Russell in 1840 elaborated a system of construction, based on hollow lines, and the famous 'Mosquito,' built in 1848, and 'Tiara,' built by Simons of Renfrew in 1850, all showed this feature strongly, it was not till the 'America' schooner appeared in 1851 that the old round bow was utterly condemned, and everyone went more or less crazy on the long hollow bow.

Meanwhile the original old 'Arrow' was being sailed with fair success against craft much larger than herself, until in 1827 she was laid aside by her owner in favour of the first 'Lulworth,' of 130 tons, known for little else than that she was of the same name as the famous 'Lulworth' of 80 tons, also built by Mr. Weld in 1857.

Meantime, Mr. Weld built the famous 'Alarm' of 193 tons in 1834, and for a long time this enormous cutter was Queen of the Solent.

But the old 'Arrow' was to begin a second career. Bought in 1846 from a dealer by Mr. Thomas Chamberlayne for a few pounds, that gentleman had her replanked and some alterations made in the bow and run, indeed not very much more than the amidship frame seems to have been preserved. Anyway the resuscitated vessel appeared again in 1847, recommencing a career which has certainly been an extraordinary one.

In 1848 'Mosquito' was built and fairly tackled the older ship, but the 'Arrow' was not yet the boat she now is, or as represented in the plate, as it was not till 1852, and until after the advent of the 'America,' that she appeared with her present long, hollow bow, having been pulled out some 17 feet in the winter of 1851, as indeed was pretty well everything else that aspired to be in the fashion. As is often the case, the pendulum swung too far the other way; bows were built on old boats, and new boats were designed with fore bodies, altogether out-Heroding Herod; and the 'America's' graceful, well-proportioned and moderately hollow bow was caricatured in some instances to a ridiculous extent. The 'America' showed also a decided departure in form of midship section, the bottom being much straighter than in our British-built craft, and the bilge higher and quicker--altogether a fine form for stability. The run, though somewhat short, was very fair, the b.u.t.tock lines especially (as will be seen by the plate given in the second volume) showing beautifully easy curves.

But the lesson hinted at by 'Menai,' reiterated by 'Mosquito' and 'Tiara,' insisted upon by Scott Russell, but only brought home to us by the American schooner, was not the only one to be gleaned from that graceful vessel. Previous to her advent, our British-made sails were most baggy productions, kept decently flat only by drenching the luffs with water, a process called 'skeating.' This defect could not altogether be laid at the door of our sailmakers, as they did fairly well, considering the material they had to work with; but flax canvas at that date was still made by hand and was little firmer in texture, if indeed as firm, as the unbleached merchant canvas of the present day. The 'America's' sails were of machine-spun cotton, and, farther, were laced to the booms as well as the gaffs and masts, the staysail also being laced to a boom. These flat sails certainly suited the easy form of the 'America'; but here again the reaction was too strong, and it is undoubtedly the fact that for some years afterwards sails were got too flat, at least, for many of the full-bodied boats that they were put over, and the want of flow of the older-fashioned loose-footed sails was sadly missed when there came to be any work off the wind.

For some years then after 1851 (the year of 'America's' _debut_ here), sails were probably flat enough for the forms they had to drive; and American sailmakers apparently arrived at this conclusion, as they first of all gave up lacing the head sails, and later cut those rounder and rounder, until now American head-sails are cut much fuller than our own, and their mainsails also somewhat fuller. But while the 'America' was undoubtedly the great epoch-making vessel in yacht designing, the cutter 'Mosquito' possessed quite as many original features, and had she only come from abroad instead of being a home production, would have made a far greater stir than the schooner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Mosquito,' 50 tons, 1848.]

The 'Mosquito' was turned out by the Thames Iron Works Shipbuilding Company. She was designed by that great original genius, Tom Waterman, who had already produced many successful merchant steamers and sailing ships: notably the steamer 'Himalaya,' built originally for the Peninsular and Oriental Company, but afterwards sold to Her Majesty's Government for a troopship, and still a gem of the ocean and mother of the troopers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Midship section.]

The 'Mosquito,' besides presenting novelties in form, in the way of an easy and hollow bow, large displacement, well-raked post and deep heel, also upset all preconceived notions of what was yacht fashion, by being built of iron. Great was the discussion over this departure; but, among many prophets of evil, a writer in 'Hunt's Magazine,' in 1854, discussing wood _versus_ iron, predicts that 'the "Mosquito" is likely to be well and hearty when the present wooden craft have gone to that "bourne from which no traveller returns."'

This prediction has been exactly fulfilled, as 'Mosquito,' after as long and brilliant a career as has fallen to any yacht, is now, or was a few years ago, doing good work as a pilot boat off Barrow-in-Furness.

In 1852, Mr. William Fife, of Fairlie, in Ayrshire, who, with his father before him, had for some years been turning out fast and weatherly boats, produced 'Cymba,' a notable cutter. His father had made Scotch-built yachts, well known by his 'Gleam,' built in 1832, though only fitted out for racing by Sir Robert Gore Booth in 1837; but 'Cymba' was a marked improvement on this model, having a far longer and easier bow, larger displacement, considerable rake of post, and great drag aft.

The dimensions of 'Cymba' are appended, and it will be seen that she was just under four beams in length.

_'Cymba', built 1852, by Fife_

Length of keel 52 feet Length between perpendiculars 59 "

Breadth, extreme 15.3 "

Draft aft 10 "

Forward 5.6 "

Mast from stem 23 "

Length of mast 56 "

Boom 53 "

Bowsprit 32 "

Lead outside 3 tons Lead in all 23 to 24 tons

Meanwhile in matters of equipment steady progress was being made.

Wire rope was rapidly ousting hemp for all standing rigging.

Sailmaking, in the hands of Messrs. Lapthorn and of Charles Ratsey, was rapidly becoming a science. Machine-spun and woven flax canvas was in universal use, even cotton canvas was fitfully tried, and from the first strongly upheld by Charles Ratsey, of Cowes; but prejudice was too strong as yet for this material, and flax held the day for many a year to come. It is gratifying that Mr. Ratsey should have lived to see his favourite material triumphant, and to have looked, as he might have done in 1893, at the finest fleet of racing yachts the world has seen, clothed, from the Prince of Wales's majestic 'Britannia' to the tiny half-rater, entirely with cotton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'LETHE'

_163 tons, showing lead keel and construction. Designed by G. L.

Watson. Built by Fay & Co., 1889._]

A considerable factor in modifying form was the gradual abolition of shifting ballast; this, though not yet actually illegal, was being more and more looked upon with disfavour, and as the use of outside lead increased, it was found that depth was a more than sufficient subst.i.tute for weather ballast, especially as beam was being squeezed down by the tonnage rule, and a long lever in this direction rendered impossible.

Timber was still the favourite material for building ('Mosquito,'

'Torpid,' and one or two others being the sole exceptions to this rule); but about 1860 a new system of construction was tried in which an iron framework was combined with a wooden skin or planking. This system came rapidly into vogue on the Clyde, and was adopted by several firms there in the building of those beautiful creations, the China clipper ships. The annual race home with the season's teas was the subject of discussion in the great Clyde shipyards, and I can well remember the highest ambition of every spirited lad in the drawing office was to live to design a China clipper. The Suez Ca.n.a.l closed for ever this avenue to fame.

Among the most successful builders of these ships were Messrs. Robert Steele & Co., of Greenock, who had, so early as 1807, built yachts for the Excise and for various Scotch owners. Mr. William Steele of that firm being an able designer of yachts as well as of ships, it was natural that this method of construction should be adopted by him in the building of 'Nyanza,' 'Oimara,' 'Garrion,' and the majestic 'Selene,' to-day one of the handsomest schooners afloat; while many of that firm's large steam yachts, notably the 'Wanderer,' 850 tons, the finest auxiliary yacht of her day, were built on this plan.

Dan Hatcher of Southampton carried out this system in building several vessels, commencing with a schooner, the 'Bella Donna,' of 119 tons, in 1867; 'Seabird,' 126 tons, 1868; 'Lizzie,' of 20 tons, 1868; then, in one of his finest craft, 'Muriel,' which he built for Mr. Bridson in 1869; and in the famous 'Norman' he also adopted this construction.

But, owing to the steel frame being considerably more expensive than timber, the composite build has never become popular until within the last few years, when the naturally weak shape of the modern yacht, the fact of all the lead being outside, and her enormous stability, have so increased the racking strains on the structure, that a merely wooden frame cannot be got to hold together without making the weight of the hull altogether prohibitive; and the composite racing yacht, for everything except very small vessels, seems likely to push all the others from the field. As ill.u.s.trating this method of construction, a midship section is given of 'Lethe,' 163-ton yawl, and one of the finest of our cruising yachts. The photograph shows the lead keel, the heaviest ever cast, and also the method of securing the same to the bottom of the ship.

Since 'Mosquito' astonished the yachting world in 1848, until to-day when 'Navahoe' and other American racing yachts have been constructed of metal, iron and steel yachts have been more or less successful; but the difficulty of keeping a smooth and perfectly clean bottom is a considerable source of expense and worry, although the immense strength of the steel sh.e.l.l, and in a large yacht its lightness, will always be a set-off to the trouble of the uncoppered bottom.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Lethe,' 163 tons. Built for S. C. Watson, Esq.--Midship section.]

In a lecture on 'Progress in Yachting and Yacht-building,' which I delivered early in 1881, in a fanciful specification of the yacht for the season 2000, I required that the plating below water should be of manganese bronze. Curiously enough, a few years later saw an attempt to combine the strength of steel and the smoothness, anti-fouling, and non-corrosive properties of copper, in the building of a torpedo-boat of this material; while this year the chosen defender of the America Cup has been plated with a similar bronze on a steel frame, the builders claiming, and not without reason, that the additional smoothness of bottom gives her an advantage of five to seven minutes on a forty-mile course. But such a practice seems hardly likely to become general for ordinary racing yachts built for men with a normal depth of pocket, and whilst, as in the old Mississippi steamboat days, it sometimes paid to burn hams, most of us have to try and get along with good coal.

I was going to build the topsides, frames, and beams of my ideal vessel of aluminium, and the other day a small yacht has been built, on the Continent, of this lightest of metals; but the present cost of this material, and, as yet, its unreliability, place it, for the present at least, outside the range of practical material for yacht-building. There seems more hope for some of the very beautiful and immensely strong alloys of aluminium, but they too are expensive, and also heavy. It may be some years before the complete realisation of my design is accomplished, and platinum is subst.i.tuted for lead as ballast, though when syndicates of millionaires start yacht-building there seems very little limit to extravagance in construction.

In nickel-steel there is promise of a very perfect material. This is an alloy of the ordinary Siemens-Martin steel with nickel, and called by the makers Yolla metal. It can be made to comply with all the ordinary tests applied to ship steel, in the way of ductility under stress, and at the same time have a breaking strength of 40 tons to the square inch as against 27 for ordinary steel. This metal was used by Mr. Fife in 1893 for the frames and beams of the 20-rater 'Dragon'

(third), and although the few pounds of weight saved by no means accounted for the phenomenal success of this little ship, yet the gain was all in the right direction.

Wire standing rigging continued to improve in quality, and very rapidly pushed out the old hemp rigging. From being made at first of good charcoal iron wire, it is now manufactured of the very highest cla.s.s of steel, of such perfect character that the breaking strength of each wire is equal to 130 tons per square inch.

Used at first for standing rigging only, flexible wire rope takes the place of Manilla or hemp for the runners, and runner tackles, topping lifts, bobstay falls, outhauls, topsail and jib-topsail halliards, and latterly even for throat and peak halliards.

Other details were also perfected. Instead of the heavy and clumsy windla.s.s, neat and light capstans are arranged of cast steel and gun metal, made so that the whole thing can be lifted away and stowed below while racing.

Right- and left-handed screws have superseded the old dead-eyes and lanyards, although these held their own desperately for many years.