u8 OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



angles to the axis of the boat so as to catch the full force. Still 

 it can go no faster than the wind is blowing for the sails would 

 then act as drags and hold it back. But in a good breeze a boat 

 with its sail set at an angle to the wind (frontispiece) may go 

 faster than the wind is blowing for the factor that shoves the boat 

 ahead may be much greater than the resistance the water and 

 air offer to the hull and superstructure of the boat. 



This art of sailing a boat with the sails set so the wind strikes 

 them at an angle is a fairly recent innovation. In old times the 

 sailboat simply ran before the wind. It was not until 1537 

 that Fletcher, an Englishman of Rye, discovered it was possible 

 by proper adjustment of sails and rudder to sail a boat into the 

 wind a discovery of great importance commercially, for ships 

 now sail to their destination even with a head wind. The dis- 

 covery was of great importance historically, too. When the 

 great Spanish " Armada" set sail to conquer England the ships 

 were of the old type high out of the water to catch all pos- 

 sible wind. They were able only to run before the wind in the 

 storm that struck them. The English boats were low-lying 

 vessels that could sail into the wind and could easily gain posi- 

 tions to rake the Spaniards with their broadside of cannon fire 

 and get away before the Spanish gunners could return it. Be- 

 tween the storm and the new type of sailing vessel that had 

 come out of Fletcher's discovery, with the new skill in handling 

 such craft, the course of events in history was turned quite 

 unexpectedly. 



In the twenty-five years or so prior to our Civil War no sailing 

 craft in the world were as famous for speed as our American Clip- 

 pers. The American merchantmen were then the world's greatest 

 carriers, and our foreign carrying trade was exceeded by no other 

 nation. The " Flying Cloud" in a trip from New York to San 

 Francisco ran 1,256 miles in four days. The "Sovereign of the 

 Seas" in one day's run sailed 411 miles while the " Lightning," 

 record-maker, sailed 436 miles in one day. These are good records 

 even for steamers. 



