788 



YACHTING. 



YACHTING. (German, JacJit ; Dutch, jagt ; 

 originally a swift boat, fromjagten, to speed, 

 to chase.) The modern definition of a yacht is 

 a pleasure-boat, propelled by sails or steam. 

 That pleasure-boats were known to the an- 

 cients is evident from various references, of 

 which the earliest is probably that of the proph- 

 et Ezekiel (xxvii, 6, 7), where he refers to the 

 pleasure-galleys of Tyre as fitted with " bench- 

 es of ivory " and sails of " fine linen and broid- 

 ered-work from Egypt." Sails, however, were 

 in those days used only on a "free wind," 

 or as auxiliary to oars, just as sails are at pres- 

 ent used as auxiliary to the screw-propeller. 

 William of Orange (about 1570) has the credit 

 of being the first sailor yachtsman, and Charles 

 II of England maintained a small sailing-boat 

 of Dutch build on the Thames a century later. 

 During the next hundred years sailing-yachts 

 multiplied to such an extent that, in 1815, the 

 Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes was organized, 

 and since that time almost every year has wit- 

 nessed the formation of similar associations. 

 Lloyd's "Yacht Register" (British) for 1885 

 contains the names of 3,125 yachts, and the 

 "American Register " for the same year has 

 1,797 yachts. This is an increase in Great 

 Britain of 39 and in America of 266 over the 

 preceding year. These lists, however, are con- 

 fessedly incomplete, as a great many yachts are 

 not registered, and do not belong to clubs. As 

 sea-going vessels, yachts are entitled to special 

 privileges, being permitted to enter and leave 

 the ports of all maritime nations without the 

 usual formalities required from merchant-craft. 



According to the latest attainable statistics, 

 there are now over 100 clubs in the United 

 States flying recognized private signals, besides 

 the national yacht ensign as prescribed bylaw. 

 The Hoboken Model Yacht Club was the first 

 in America. It was organized in 1840, Mr. 

 John 0. Stevens being prominent among its 

 founders. Its boats were mostly small, and of 

 what is now derisively called the " skimming- 

 dish " pattern, suggested by the prevailing mod- 

 el among river-craft, and well adapted to the 

 smooth and shallow waters in which they were 

 used. Within the next few years, larger ves- 

 sels were built, the most famous of which was 

 the sloop " Maria," designed and owned by 

 Mr. Stevens. She measured 110 feet on deck, 

 had 26 feet 8 inches beam, and drew 5 feet 3 

 inches of water. She was very heavily sparred, 

 carried an enormous spread of canvas, and was 

 unquestionably a very fast boat, in the com- 

 paratively smooth waters that were her natu- 

 ral home. It is worth noting that outside 

 ballast, so successfully used of late years on 

 the English type of cutter, was tried on the 

 " Maria's " center-board. This vessel, despite 

 her great speed under favorable conditions, 

 seems to have exceeded the limit of size re- 



garded as desirable by American yachtsmen. 

 At all events, no more sloops of her dimen- 

 sions were built, and for large yachts the 

 schooner rig became the most popular. 



During this decade George Steers was win- 

 ning great reputation as a builder of fast sail- 

 ing-vessels. American clipper-ships were mak- 

 ing wonderful records for speed all over the 

 world, and in 1851 Steers turned out the fa- 

 mous schooner-yacht " America," which was 

 sent across the Atlantic, and, asking no favors 

 in the way of rules or allowances, beat the 

 whole Royal Yacht Squadron so effectually that 

 not one ot them was in sight when she crossed 

 the winning-line, after a race around the Isle 

 of Wight. 



The " America " is a deep schooner, 94 feet 

 over all, 22 feet 6 inches beam, and 12 feet 

 draught. She revolutionized English yacht- 

 building and sail-making. Many of the crack 

 English craft of the day were cut down, and had 

 new bows added approximating the Steers 

 model, while all the new boats that were built 

 were modified to meet the new conditions. 

 Sails that prior to this time had been purposely 

 made to " bag," under the mistaken idea that 

 they would hold the wind better, were now 

 made to set as flat as possible, and the com- 

 paratively bluff bow gave place to a long, nar- 

 row "entrance," with the greatest beam well 

 aft. The " America " was sold in England, 

 but no English crew was ever able to make 

 her equal her record under American manage- 

 ment. She became a blockade-runner during 

 the civil war, was sunk by a United States 

 cruiser in Savannah river, and was subsequent- 

 ly raised and used as a practice-boat in con- 

 nection with the United States Naval Academy. 

 She was purchased by Gen. B. F. Butler in 

 1867, and is still owned by him. It is gen- 

 erally conceded that she is no match for the 

 fastest of our modern schooners, but she is 

 still a fine boat of her class. 



The " America's " victory gave an impetus to 

 schooner building, which lasted until within a 

 few years. Every one that wanted a large 

 sailing-yacht must needs have a schooner ; but 

 of late " single-stickers," as they are collective- 

 ly called, have been growing in favor as being 

 relatively faster, large enough for most pur- 

 poses, and on the whole more easily handled 

 than schooners. 



In this country the tendency has always 

 been to favor the use of the center-board, rather 

 than the excessively deep keel, for sailing- 

 yachts. In England the tendency has been 

 the other way. As a result, many American 

 yachts have been made shallow and wide, de- 

 pending for their stability on great breadth of 

 beam, while English yachts have with each 

 succeeding year been made narrower and deep- 

 er, with very heavy lead or iron keels (outside 



