SAILING CRAFT OF THE CHANNEL. 33 



uncommonly, cutter-rigged. Instead of being of whitewashed 

 cotton, the sails of the coasters here are tanned hemp, having the 

 appearance, at a little distance, of old brown velvet. In sailing 

 qualities, the advantage is every way with us ; in the build, the 

 rig, and in the cut, as well as the material of the sails ; for our 

 cotton duck will hold the wind much the best. Ninety-nine in a 

 hundred of our single-masted market-boats, in a light wind, would 

 run around the fastest coaster in the Mersey with the greatest 

 ease. They are not calculated for working to windward rapidly, 

 but are stiff and weatherly, and do very well for boxing through 

 the Channel, I suppose ; but for such business we should rig 

 schooner fashion, and save the expense of an extra hand, which 

 must be wanted to handle their heavy mainsail and boom. Fur- 

 ther up, we saw, on the beach, several cutter-rigged yachts. 

 They were wide of beam, broad sterned, sharp built, and deep, 

 like our sea-going clippers. 



The immediate shores grew low as we entered the Mersey. 

 It was nearly calm; but though the surface of the water was 

 glassy smooth, it was still heaving with the long muscular swell 

 of the sea until we reached the town. We approached nearer 

 the land, where, on the right hand, there was a bluff point, bare 

 of trees, with large rocks cropping out at its base ; beneath the 

 rocks, a broad, hard, sand beach, and low on the water's edge, a 

 castle of dark brown stone, the only artificial defense, that I no- 

 ticed, of the harbor. The high ground was occupied by villas 

 belonging to merchants of Liverpool, and the place is called New 

 Brighton, and bears a resemblance to our New Brighton. There 

 is the same barrenness of foliage, and some similarity in the style 

 of the houses, though there are none so out of taste as some of 

 those that obtrude upon the scenery of Staten Island, and none 

 so pretty as some of the less prominent there. 



As we entered the cloud that had hitherto interrupted our view 

 3 



