BOATS AND BOATING. 253 



Water ballast is undoubtedly the safest ballast when pro- 

 perly managed in this manner, as should the boat through an 

 accident be filled she immediately gets rid of her ballast, and 

 her crew may hold on to her until assistance arrives. So im- 

 portant has this been deemed, that in our navy and coast-guard 

 service no other than water ballast is on any pretence allowed, 

 and it would of course be much better to use no other kind in 

 all boats ; but the truth is, there is rarely sufficient space to 

 stow the necessary weight, and a little stone or iron must be 

 had recourse to, to make up what is wanting. The tanks for 

 water ballast will be found well adapted to a beach-boat, as 

 they can be filled after you are afloat, and emptied on coming 

 ashore. They should rest firmly against each other on the 

 timbers of the boat, without any bottom boards intervening, 

 and be secured by a stout batten, firmly nailed to the timbers 

 at the outer edge of each, which will prevent their shifting when 

 the boat heels over to the breeze. When there are no battens, 

 it is usual to have a board nailed on its edge, on the central 

 bottom board, which prevents the ballast shifting in a squall or 

 puff. The number of fatal accidents which have resulted from 

 neglect of the above precautions exceeds belief. 



Beach-boats should never have an iron band on the keel, 

 as it causes them to drag heavily in launching and hauling up, 

 but instead of this a false keel or shoeing, as it is called, of holly 

 or African oak, with a crooked piece for the fore-foot and heel. 

 This shoeing is to be fastened on with oak pegs (by shipwrights 

 termed tree-nails, vulgo trunnels), as they will wear away equally 

 with the shoeing, and offer no impediment in passing over the 

 ways, which for small boats consist of pieces of flat oak, holly, 

 or beech, five feet in length, by four inches in breadth, and with 

 a little grease lighten the work of launching and hauling up 

 very considerably. 



For small boats of this class, only two rigs are admissible, 

 the spritsail and lugsail, by which I mean the working lug, the 

 tack of which being fastened down close to the mast, the sail 

 does not require lowering when the boat is put about. 



Both the sprit and working lug are handy sails, as they can 

 be set or lowered with great despatch, from the small amount 



