COMPARISON OF YACHTS. 331 



before the wind, the cutters and schooners always hauled up the 

 tack of the mainsail, that the wind might draw under it to fill the 

 foresail and jib. Another reason given for it is, that the wind, 

 drawing downward from the belly of the sail, tends to make the 

 vessel bury, and by lifting the tack she is made more buoyant. 

 It is never done in America. 



This was before the race in which the "America" beat the 

 English yachts. I suspect that her superior sailing qualities 

 were more owing to her peculiarities of rig, the cut and material 

 of her sails, and to seamanship, than to the model of her hull. I 

 have no doubt \re can still build and rig a vessel that will be her 

 superior. While the English stick to flax canvas, long gaffs, 

 heavy top-sails and graceful curves, I do not think there is any 

 danger that they will. When the Englishman is close-hauled 

 w r ith his boom as near amidships as he can get it, his long gaff 

 will swing off so far that there must always be a considerable 

 part of his canvas in the peak that actually retards more than 

 it assists him. The Englishman thinks much of beauty of form 

 in his sails, but his standard of beauty is arbitrary a fashion. 

 To my eye, without regard to the primary beauty of utility, the 

 simplicity of the cut of our sails is much more agreeable. 



On the deck of the flag-schooner, we saw the commodore of the 

 Club (an Earl), a gray-haired old gentleman, who sat in an arm- 

 chair, reading from a newspaper to some ladies. 



On reaching Portsmouth we took a boat to visit the navy-yard, 

 within the walls of which, being foreigners, not having a pass, 

 we could not enter. Our boatmen told us that if we chose to 

 enter we should not be challenged, as no one would suspect us 

 as being other than Englishmen, and that the prohibition was a 

 silly old form that prevented no one from seeing the yard who 

 wished to enough to lie for it. 



