DESCRIPTION OF A WHALE SHIP. 197 



The masts and sails of a Greenlaiidman are not 

 without their peculiarities. As it is an object 

 of some importance, that a fishing ship should be 

 easily navigated, under common circumstances, by 

 a boat's crew of six or seven men, it is usual to take 

 down royal masts, and even some of the top-gallant- 

 masts, and sometimes to substitute a long light pole 

 in place of a mizcn-top-mast ; also to adopt such sails 

 as require the least management. Courses set in 

 the usual way require a number of men to work 

 them when the ship is tacked : A course, there- 

 fore, made to diminish as it descends, that is, nar- 

 rowest at the foot or lower part, and extended by a 

 boom or yard below as well as above, and this boom 

 fastened by a tackle fixed at its centre to the deck, 

 swings with the yards with little or no attention, 

 and is found particularly convenient. Fore-sails, on 

 this principle, have been in use about six or seven 

 years. In 1816, I fitted a main-sail and cross- 

 jack in the same way, the former of which we found 

 of admirable utility. Boom-courses * are not only 

 convenient in tacking, but are likewise a valuable 

 acquisition when sailing among crowded dangerous 

 ice. As the safety of a ship then depends, next to 

 the skilfulness of the piloting officer, on a prompt 



* To prevent confusion in speaking of these sails, I liave 

 confined the term ioow-sails to the new description of courses ; 

 and ga^-sails to the fore and aft sails, the tops of which are eX" 

 tended to a gaff. 



