POSITIONS OF DANGER. 365 



Every lap of a wave she then takes in will 

 increase the predicament. Never sail with the 

 wind right aft in rough water, or the punt will 

 show an inclination to dive, and, what is worse, to 

 keep her fore-deck under. If she were at such 

 times sailed stern first, or the weight of the gun 

 brought a little aft of amidships, she would then 

 skim gallantly over the breakers. When in real 

 danger the most valuable gun is as nothing to 

 risking your life ; make fast the anchor-line to the 

 stock and shove it slowly and carefully overboard, 

 being well sure that there is no chance of its 

 hitching to you or anything else as it goes down. 

 It will, with this addition, be no hard matter to 

 recover it by dragging with a grapnel the next 

 fine day. Its whereabouts may be fixed by points 

 taken at the time on shore, which must be well 

 borne in mind, and, what is more, sketched down 

 when land is reached, as I hope it may be. 



You cannot well carry a coil of rope to attach 

 to the gun, strong enough to raise it when it pays 

 a visit to the bottom, with a cork buoy at one end ; 

 this may be a good idea in theory, but practice 

 is another thing. You could not estimate how long 



gun would float for ever, and, by means of the coaming, be very easy 

 to hang on to. She would not capsize like a boat, and leave nothing 

 but a slippery keel to take hold of. A fowling- punt could not be 

 expected, under any condition, to be a first-rate sea-boat (that is, one 

 able to weather a fair-sized wave), and yet get well up to wildfowl. 

 The lower a punt is the better will she act for shooting; such build, 

 however, is very unsafe in rough water. She cannot be made to 

 answer more than one end really well, and that should be to get near 

 the birds she follows. If you want a seaworthy craft you must build 

 her high and big all over too much so for successful shooting by a 

 long way. 



