SAILING CRAFT 91 



have added jackass brigs to his list of male 

 exceptions. The real explanation may pos- 

 sibly be that the English still spoken at sea 

 is, in some ways, centuries older than the 

 English spoken on land, and that the nautical 

 ' she ' comes down to us from the ancient days 

 in which all inanimate objects were endowed 

 with life in everyday speech and neuters were 

 as yet unknown. 



Immediately this most stirring ceremony 

 ceases, the stentorian order comes to ' Down 

 dog-shore ! ' on which the dog-shore trigger 

 is touched off, the dog-shores fall, an awaken- 

 ing quiver runs through the sliding-ways and 

 cradle ; and then the whole shapely vessel, 

 still facing the land from which she gets her 

 being, moves majestically into the water, where 

 her adventurous life begins. 



