MANAGEMENT OF THE VESSELS. 141 



ward, with the wind on her starboard bow, and baring only the fore and main spencer set. During 

 this gale several merchant and fishing vessels met with disasters. The sea at this time is so high 

 that it is frequently necessary to rim nearly dead before the wind to prevent the vessel being 

 "knocked down" or "tripped," or a sea boarding her on her quarter. The next move is to take in 

 the riding-sail and jib and furl them up. When this becomes necessary the wind is blowing 

 nearly a hurricane. The vessel is now running under a double-reefed foresail, and can continue 

 under this sail as long as the canvas will stand. Instances iu which it lias been blown away are 

 not unusual. Fishing vessels are not often obliged to come down to a double-reefed foresail in the 

 summer months, though they do so sometimes during the so-called "fall hurricanes." In the winter 

 a voyage of a few weeks is seldom made without running under double-reefed foresail at least once, 

 and, in many instances, ten or twelve times during the trip, particularly if long passages are 

 made. 



It is unfortunate that there is no means of estimating the force of the wind as it blows in mid- 

 ocean, but many observers consider that its velocity far exceeds anything that has been recorded 

 on the land, except perhaps at such exposed locations as the top of Mount Washington. 



When the auemometer at the signal station on Thatcher's Island records a wind velocity of 

 65 to 70 miles an hour, it has been reported that fishing vessels iu the immediate vicinity have, 

 in some cases, carried double-reefed foresail and mainsail, and jib without the bounet, and, in 

 other instances, double-reefed foresail, jib with two bonnets removed, and riding-sail. This, too, 

 was when they were saibng by the wind and carrying less sail than they could carry had they 

 been running free. The remarks with reference to sailing with the wintl "on the quarter" apply in 

 a general way when the wind is "abaft the beam" or "well aft." 



SAILING "BY THE WIND.'' 



When the vessel is sailing by the wind the management of the sails is similar to that already- 

 described, except that sail is reduced sooner as the wind increases in force. The sheets being- 

 hauled tight, the booms, within a few degrees, parallel to the line of the keel, and the sails showing 

 a tlat surface to the wind, a much greater lateral pressure is brought to bear upon the vessel. A 

 vessel running free is, of course, going in the same direction as the wind, and feels its force in a less 

 degree. A vessel sailing by the wind will come down to double-reefed sails, when, with the wind on 

 her quarter, she might, perhaps, carry whole sail. When a vessel running with the wind on her 

 quarter would be under double-reefed sails, one sailing by the wind would need to be "hove to" 

 under double-reefed foresail. 



■WITH TIIE WIND "ABEAM." 



When the vessel is sailing with the wind abeam sail is reduced in the same manner as already 

 described. When the wind is abeam sail can be carried longer than when sailing by the wind, 

 though not so long as when the wind is on the quarter. This is not so much on account of limita- 

 tions connected with the management of the sails themselves, but because when a gale is blowing 

 it is necessary to avoid sharp seas directly upon the beam, which are frequently very dangerous 

 and sometimes result in "knocking the vessel down." Occasionally a vessel sailing with the wind 

 on the beam must be "hove to" sooner than when sailing "by T the wind," and always sooner than 

 with the wind "on her quarter." 



WITH THE WIND ASTERN. 



When the wind is astern a comparison between the schooner and the square-rigged vessel 

 is least favorable to the schooner, except perhaps during very light winds. Every 7 possible device 



