Feb. 14, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



57 



desired. Abaft the ladder is a small space of floor with a sleeping 

 berth on one side, (he end dovetailing alongside the cockpit, the 

 opposite side being devoted to sail room. Ice chest and water 

 below the cockr it floor. On deck there will be a hatch to the fore- 

 castle, cabin skylight, and the main companion with a quadrant 

 sli:le. Wirfi all the beam necessary to make a very stiff and buoyant 

 boat, with a high side to keep her dry, good draft and outside weight 

 to keep her down to business i ; 1 rough water, and more room below 

 and on deck than in sloops of much greater size, the Merlin is cer- 

 tain to be a popular boat among all clas-es, and a worthy represen- 

 tative of the cutter for length measurement racing. 



STEAM YACHTS. 



OH, yes, explanations. Awful'y small world this. Can't put your 

 foot down without walking on somebody's Sunday bunion. 1 

 don't mind the owners of steam yachts who have been buzzing round 

 my ears since I wrote a few words about them two weeks ago. I 

 hieant what I said. I have no more regard fio i a yachting stand- 

 point for those forgotten-looking individuals on the hack area of a 

 steamer who allow themselves to be screwed around by a lot of 

 hired servants and take no more tab i est m the whole business than 

 to growl at the bills. 1 say back area, because it would be a shghtto 

 a proper quarterdeck to apply such a smart appellation to the after 

 end of the. shoal traps liou-ed in with tenements t' i supply deficiency in 

 freeboard which New Yorkers think the pink of perfection inthat class. 

 But wueu the bull lers of steam yachts arise in ire and want to know 

 whai 1 meant by deriding small screws, then I jump up to explain. 

 They at I ast can tell the difference between a trap and a yacht. 

 Now, 1 said nothing at all against steam yachts. On the contrary, 

 I like them and easily understand their use from a spo ting point of 

 view. There is just as much and perhaps more skill in steaming a 

 vessel than in sailing. It was not the yachts against which I inveighed 

 but the languid superficial methods in which owners pursued the 

 business and their want of discernment in building. To follow and 

 perhaps master the management of boiler and engine is particularly 

 instructive and entertaining and of great practical benefit. The Stu- 

 dious and ob erving owner of steam yachts has opportunities ot 

 conferring inestimable profit to the science and practice of steam 

 engineering, even thougn he declines to roll up his sleeves, but sim- 

 ply directs and delegates the work to others. 



Furthermore, to take charge of a steamer's deck is no ehild'splay . 

 but calls for quid; perception, good judgment aud executive ability, 

 in the display of which your geuuine steam yacntsman delights. 

 Nothing couid be more attrac ive or intensely absorbing than experi- 

 mentation upon the numerous vital questions before the engineering 

 world to-day, and the man with money starts out with a long lead in 

 the race for contributing to the world's stock of knowledge and en- 

 hancing his own reputation and that of his yacht. Now. how much 

 has any one owning a steamer in America earned the regard of the 

 community as a man with brains besides money? Such experiments 

 and innovations as have been undertaken have brought about noth- 

 ing, unless they have made some yacht owners a butt of ridicule more 

 than anything else. Crude departures, forbidden by tried and ac- 

 cepted laws, repetitions in directions long ago found out to be impos- 

 sible with the inevitable failures, a reverence for the antiquated, and 

 persistent disregard for the lesson taught elsewhere in the world, 

 these represent the "progress" for which we have to thank the 

 wealthy people who are ridden round by engineer and master. 



Why should I take kindly to the sprawJiii ■>. low-waisted Onuses, 

 Entures, Ulies, L'i lines. Ajabs and like contrivances which, though 

 100ft loug, dare not follow a inarch round the Sandy Hook lightshih 

 in moderate weather'? Or to the clumsy StrangleW, Horsehairs aud 

 Appleantas, which differ from coasters and carriers chiefly in gilding 

 and paint? Oh, no; I like a steam yacht, but not the awful ghost's 

 we see in these waters. I might mention one building concern who 

 manage to get a flush deck and good seagoing qualities on alight 

 draft for Florida waters, aud high speed, on small consumption with 

 lightweight of machinery occupying small space. And I might 

 mention a string ot good serviceable flush-deckers abroad, no longer 

 than 50ft., all ot which challenge respect in their modelling and tit- 

 tings, as well as in engine efficiency And I might mention good 

 little launches at home and abroad combining safety, simplicity, and 

 even high speed. And as long as I can do this, I propose to be ex- 

 cused from chanting praise to hybrids half awash, loaded with 

 boilers and tug engines wh.eh are failures as high speeds, and cari- 

 catures as cruisers. I can appreciate the steam yachtsman, but 

 turn up my nose at the lazy steam dawdler, who is a cipher in the 

 sporting and intellectual world as much as the feeble drifter in the 

 cockpit of a. craft propelled by sails. For the amateur tar on deck 

 and the amateur mechanic in the engine room I have sympathy to 

 the extent of admiration. The best tools for their purposes is what I 

 am after. It is not steam yachting I condemn, but ihe shams of the 

 real article, whether in men or in the boats they own. C. P. K. 



THE MEASUREMENT CONUNDRUM. 



Editor Forest and' Stream: 



Many like myself— my remarks are purely local— have been forced 

 into the ungainly "spread-outs" because symmetrical forms were 

 not protected. We have been groping about under a length measure- 

 ment cloud all our lives. Is it strange, then, that we have run into 

 exeess of beam, even to the extent of two-thirds the length in w tdth f 

 Builders and owners alike are tired of the strain. Reduction of sail 

 is conducive to easy forms, and leads up to better models and rig 

 And yet if you tax sail area, do you not tax shape as well? I cannot 

 see my way out of the fog. When two boats are of the same size 

 (equity), and one by her superior shape is enabled to carry more sail 

 than the. other, is she not iu all fairness entitled to it? Otherwise 

 you put a veto on progress, Most of our yachts have been built under 

 a protean The uro'crtunats designer had no alternative under the 

 Ola regime but to lme out his boat with as little resistance as possible 

 with the greatest bulk and keep out of gaol. The smooth-water 

 have had their day even with us on -the Delaware. Big hulls, heavy 

 spars and badly shaped sails towering skyward, will no longer 

 tyrannize over the modest, honest little craft which fearlessly fights 

 a way m bad weather in our bay or along the coast, where expensive 

 racing machines twice as large dare ndt venture.' Small seagoing 

 boats are coming into favor, and the new boats, regardless or the 



E resent rule, are being built with an eye to safety as well as speed. 

 t our Quaker city Yacht Club still persists in measuring by length, 

 then these boats will form a class of their own and sail under their 

 own rules. As a member of the club I hope something definite will 

 lie done this season to emancipate intelligent builders from the 

 thraUdom of coercion. The London Times has been pleased to ad- 

 mit that U-hiladelphians can build boats." So they can, and did. 

 even as remote as 1770, and in later days produced' a Vixen. That' 

 Dr. Valette, the prospective commodore of the Q. C. Y, C., in his 

 judgment saw fit to throw his Esculapian eye eastward for a 70-ft. 

 yaehi, is no guarantee that the flagship will be better than a home- 

 built vessel. The club will elect officers this month for the r 

 year. 



Philadelphia. 



f t 'ae objection to sail area rule raised by our correspondent is 

 a perfectly proper one. It is the weak spot in the equity of the rule, 

 lo a certain extent and in certain cases it is a direct tax upon form 

 which cannot be equitable. But between two evils choose the lesser 

 Ihe length rule prescribes all but the most extravagant forms and 

 sizes. Ihe sail area rule bears hard on extravagant forms and sizes 

 and encourages a more moderate average. A fair rule ought not to 

 weigh upon any style more than another. A bulk rule bears upon 

 size and not upon tne form that size assumes, hence it is the onlv 

 rule ever devised which can apply to every form under the sun with- 

 out prejudice to any particular shape. A tax upon ten tons or a 

 hundred cubic feet leaves the builder absolutely free to mould such 

 volumes as he pleases in all directions. Neither the length nor the 

 sail area rule can be defended upon logical or equitable grounds. 

 Both are purely empyrical standards. As the sail area rule avoids 

 extreme.-, as far as its workings are at present understood, it seems to 

 us a preferable standard of comparison than simple length, as a 

 makeshift, ho. vever. until the public is ready to grapple with the 

 quesuon more thoroughly than at present. Objections have been 

 made to the .-ail rule on the score of complexity. Bat such persons 

 are m need of fresh schooling and have no business to assume leader- 

 ship in anything. The man who cannot read off a tapeline, then per- 

 form a simple sum m arithmetic, should wear a dunce's cap instead 

 or putting in his oar on the question.] 



NOTES FROM THE DELAWARE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The yacht Nohma, formerly the O'Donnell, has been sold to Mr. 

 Ferry and others of Trenton, N. J., and is now at the builders' yard 

 undergoing the ne essary alterations for a cabin, etc. SheistiSft 

 long, ot large displacement; S,8001bs. of iron will be placed on keel 

 ceuttrboard trunk will be cut down one-half, she will have two iron 

 boards, one working within the other with independent pivots. When 

 completed she will be non eapsizable and fit for sea. It will be seen 

 the Trenton public reads Forest and Stream, aud don't forget what 

 they read. The O'Donnell last year entered in two races, winning 

 third prize m her class in the Q. C. Y. C. regatta, and first prize in 

 Klatz regatta m which the Q. (. Y C. participated. She on this occa- 

 sion teat the flsat big and little, and fa one of Mr Collins's best pro- 

 ductions. Mr Furry was not asleep when he bought her, and 13 now 

 wide awake to the improvements now being made. He and the. 

 builder are in perfect accord, believing a safe boat is not necessarily 

 slow, which they hope to prove. x 



present 

 R. C. W. 





CHESAPEAKE CRAFT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mention has been made several times recently of the Chesapeake 

 Bug-eye. The etymology of the term makes it "Buckeye" These 

 boats are an exaggeration of the 'dugout" canoe, and were developed 

 gradually by the hay shore people, as the necessity for larger boats 

 became apparent, ll was easy to get almost any desired length in a 

 single log, but not so as to beam and depth. Very natural it was to 

 add to beam ami depth by building up and out with logs bolted to the 

 sides of the long, narrow and shallow dugout. This was done, and 

 masts and sails added to nut the increased size. A large boat re- 

 quired anchors and cables instead of being di agged up on the beach, 

 as with the small canoe. The primitive builder bored two holes, one 

 on each side of the stem, through which to pay out his cables. 

 These were simply two round holes, bored with a large augur, aud 

 when the boat was coming head on, resembled, to the fancy of the 

 negroes, the eyes of a buck. The illusion was somewhat increased 

 by the addition of a bowsprit and its attendant gear. The leg-of- 

 mutton sail— the primitive sail of all nations -was adopted, with two 

 masts; the bowsprit aud jib beino- a later accession 'I his is yet the 

 favorite rig of canoes of thirty feet in length and under 



As before observed, length being the dimension most easily attain- 

 able, the Buck-eye was built long and narrow, and being heavy in 

 body but easily driven through the water, with a low con I er of effort 

 fonts sails, it proved a fast and stiff boat. It was sharp at each end; 

 the greatest beam was about one-third the distance from stem to 

 sterii, thence sloping by easy lines tore and aft, giving a clear en- 

 trance and good clearance. As to deadrise, it was a matter of choice 

 or convenience. Generally the deadrise was slight. Its en the con- 

 struction depended on convenience and economy. It had no over- 

 hang, because it was easier and cheaper not. to have any. It had no 

 stays to the masts, because it was cheaper not to have any, aud 

 besides a "springiness" to the masts was considered desirable, lie- 

 cause sudden flaws were not so likely to knock down, The center- 

 board was always inserted, because the Buck-eye was intended for 

 the shallow waters of creeks and inlets as well as for the waters of 

 the hay. Oue peculiarity was the manner of stepping the masts. 

 The foremast was longer than the mainmast and did not rake so 

 much. To the mainmast was given a rake aft. The negroes say it 

 makes them sail faster on the wind. In small canoes the mainmast 

 is shifted, so as to stand upright when sailing before the wind. The 

 accompanying sketch indicates the rig and position of the masts. 

 Of late years imitations of the old-fashioned Buck-eye have been 

 regularly built, timbered and planked, and the beani has been in- 

 creased. This has necessitated an area of sail, and the schooner rig 

 has been used. Sometimes only the foresail has a gaff. The genuine 

 Buck-eye rarely has less than five beams to the length. Tlie modem 

 imitations sometimes have less than four. This puts them on a par 

 with other broad, shallow boats. 



The Buck-eye has a well-deserved reputation for speed and sea- 

 worthiness. It pounds somewhat in a heavy sea, but its weight 

 forces it tl.i i over, the combers. This makes it a rather 



wet boat, but the exhilarating sensation produced by great speed 

 and a sense of security at the same time, makes amends for the in- 

 convenience of flying spray and a wet jacket. Last summer I cruised 

 in company with a Buck-eye. 42ft. long, manned by two gentlemen of 

 Baltimore city. She drew twenty inches without the board. In 

 sudden and heavy flaws she was rarely luffed. She would ' lie over 

 and appear to spill the wind out of Iter tall sharp sails, and then right 

 again. Her crew took pleasure in tackling every sailing craft for a 

 race; nothing under 70ft. in length ever beat her. She steered under 

 any two of her three sails. On one occasion this craft, on her way from 

 Cape May to Cape Charles, was driven out to sea before a heavy 

 northwest blow. Her crew, the aforesaid gentlemen, worn out' by 

 fatigue, hove her to and went to sleep. She broke her tiller lashing 

 during tne night, and when they awoke, she. was pegging away on a 

 southeast course under her jib. They put her about, and in twenty 

 hours were inside Cape Henry, pretty well tired out. Buck-eyes fie 

 quently run from Norfolk to New York with fruit. For shallow 

 waters, I am satisfied there is no better craft afloat. Built deep, 

 with a loaded keel, they would rival the English cutter in seaworthi- 

 ness and speed. 



We have another style of boat in the Chesapeake, the American 

 rival of the English deep boats. It is here styled a pungey. The 

 pungey is regularly built, that is, timbered aud planked and is narrow 

 and deep, with no waist to obstruct the seas that may sweep over 

 her. This is a remarkably fast and able sea boat, much used for 

 oj ster dredging m winter. It is a saving here that "when a pungey 

 reefs, a steamship had better make harbor." I beg leave to com- 

 mend our Buck-eye to shallow-water sailors aud our pungey to deen- 

 water sailors, suspecting that either would be an improvement on 

 some of the fancy yachts of our Northern brothers. Buck-Eyk 



Baltimore, Feb. 3, 1884. 



[The "pungies" of the Chesapeake are smart, handsome ciaft with 

 many of the elements of a good vessel. The best of them have 

 moderate beam, considerable depth and great deadrise with a V bot- 

 tom. Also keel with mucn drag, well rounded up forward and great 

 rake to stern post. With the necessary refinement of lines, outside 

 weight and corresponding increase of rig, they would rank high in 

 all respects. They can be classed about half way between the New 

 York pilot boat and the racing cutter. ] 



CONCERNING SAILS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Let me say through your paper a few words concerning sails for 

 yachts. Most owners insist upon too light duck. This is a mistake, 

 arid a great point in favor of small English yachts, which use duck 

 almost double the weight we are accustomed to. Where I have my 

 own way 1 always advise heavy duck, it is better for light winds, at 

 least m the ower sails. They sit (latter and can he kept in better 

 shape. Badooners should of course be light. The speed of cutters 

 iu light airs I ascribe to some extent to the weight of their lower 

 sails and large top-ails, and jibs for catching the fitful breaths I 

 can see no object to a loose foot, however, when a laced sail is prop- 

 erly cut to sit flat. Maker. 



[There is much about sails difficult to explain in words. W r e pre- 

 fer heavy duck for lower sails. in light winds according to English 



experience. We offer this reason. Light sails not only bag, but 

 give locally to the puffs. The force of the wind is expended in creat- 

 ing the bag or pucker in a spot, and nothing remains to slide along 

 the surface of the sail, and transmit its energy to driving the boat'. 

 The local pucker imprisons and kilte the light breath. But in a Heav- 

 ier sail, after striking, no local cul-de-sac or give cushions the breeze 

 out of its strength, but the sail has enough stiffness to resist without 

 being devoid of enough elasticity or spring as a whole*. The wind 

 caroms along and escapes around the leech, the time and means 

 being si pplied for transferring its impulse to the boat. A loose foot 

 aids in the same way. The sail gives as a whole, as one surface to 

 the puffs. When laced, the puff is more likely to be bagged in the 

 middle. A loose foot allows The sail to adapt its surface more readily 

 to the impulses of the wind, while a laced sail is i igid along the foot. 

 Further, the vertical bagging of a sail is reduced by allow iug play to 

 the foot, and there is less back sail at the clew. The surface is more 

 effective. In hard boats of the beamy style, so much sail can be car- 

 ried that the small ad vantage of a loose foot need not be considered. 

 Insensitive boots, whose sail power is limited, and which must be 

 utilized to the utmost, experience seems to point to positive advan- 

 tage in the loose foot. La«ed sails were trietl in English waters after 

 the advent of America, but have again been discarded. Apart from 

 all this there are solid reasons for a loose foot from the sailorizing 

 standpoint. You are always able to control the sit of the sail by a 

 pull or slacking on the outhaul. In light winds a sail should not sii 

 too flat, and a cutter mainsail gives you the choice. For a hasty reef 

 to meet a squall the tack can be triced up and foresail lowered, re 

 ducing canvas to one-half in an instant. For knocking about, for 

 half .-peed when trolling or fishing and for making a crowded road 

 stead, tricing up the tack is a useful aud handy arrangement. For 

 sea work in a small boat, it prevents a weight of water lodging in t he 

 sail when boarded or sailing wide. For racing hi beamy boats, a 

 loose foot may be of no special benefit, though that is a' question 

 subject to more thorough experiment, but for general purposes the 

 loose foot is a useful and convenient arrangement for any boat 

 Heavy lower sails have, been tried on many yachts in recent years 

 with acknowledged benefit to speed in lie-ht* winds, and the practice 

 will no doubt become general. This is one of the many minor on 

 provements for which we have to thank the "cutter agitation."! 



PATRIOTISM WITH A PATENT TO THE RES- 

 CUE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



■ I have read tfce Forest and Streaii with pleasure and profit almost 

 from its first issue, and I have long ago learned to respect its opin- 

 ions upon its specialty, the rod and gun. 



In your issue of Jan. 31 appears an article entitled "No Money for 

 Revolutions," upon wdiich I am sorry to join issue with vou. It con 

 tains so much error and ignorance that 1 am constrained to violate an 

 almost inflexible rule of my life in an attempt to set you right. This 

 effort, however, may be considered a work of supererogation, in view 

 of the fact that the adverse opinions of a journal devoted to the dis- 

 semination of knowledge on fishing and gunning will not have much 

 weight among seusible men, when compared with the favorable 

 opinions which have been expressed by such standard technical 

 authorities as the London Engineer and' Scientific American. You 

 evidently know nothing about scientific naval architecture, and, 

 therefore, you are wholly disqualified to write upon the subject of 

 the important invention of Captain Ltmdborg for improvements in 

 steamships, which are based entirely upon such principles. 



I have known Captain Ltmdborg' intimately for nearly two years. 

 He is a man of the highest attainments En his profession as a 'scien- 

 tific naval architect. His inventions are the result of many years of 

 scientific research, aided by long experience in practical seamanship 

 and by innumerable rank experiments upon the system of the late 

 Professor Froude. I have submitted the drawings, designs, models 

 and mathematical calculations of the Ltmdborg ship to" the ablest 

 shipbuilders and scientific naval architects of this country for their 

 examination and criticism, all of whom concur in the opinion that the 

 invention is important and of great public utility: and that a ship 

 constructed upon his model will insure greater speed, greater safety 

 greater carrying capacity and greater comfort to passengers than 

 has hitherto been given to the traveling public. 



I have confidence in the judgment of those persons who have ex- 

 amined and approved of the invention, for the reason that they are 

 competent to judge of its meritsand their judgment is unprejudiced 

 Capiain Lundborg courts and challenges the most searching investi- 

 gation, aud he invites intelligent criticism from all persons who are 

 qualified and competent to treat upon the subject. .1 realize the diffi- 

 culty in making innovations upon an old order of things. All the old 

 logic, in creation claim the right to cry out against inventors, not- 

 w iihstandiug the fact that by their genius and energy ihey have revolu- 

 tionized the industries of" the world. I recollect very distinctly when 

 Captain Ericsson came to this country with his invention for. war 

 ships, and attempted to induce our government to Utilize it for the 

 public good in preserving the union, all the fools and cranks in Chus- 

 tenflom decried and ridiculed the pro 1 osition much after the tone and 

 spirit of your article on Captain Lundborg, and after repeated failures 

 to induce the government to adopt, his invention, some patriotic Citi- 

 zens of Boston aided ami encouraged him in the-«onstruciion of the 

 Monitor, which saved the nation and revolutionized the navies *f the 

 world— a fact recently acknowledged and testified lo in terms of 

 eulogium by an honorable Senator upon the floor of the -American 

 Senate. Captain Lundborg is a countryman of Ericsson's, educated 

 in the same scientific schools in Europe, a man of genius and ability 

 and I am impressed with the belief that your criticism upon his inven- 

 tion is as unwise and unjust as wore the foolish and crazy strictures 

 upon captain Ericsson and his invention. « hen he first attempted to 

 introduce it m this country. I believe that the Lundborg invention 

 will eh yet a greater revolution in Ihe merchant marine than did Cap- 

 tain Ericsson s in the navies ot the world, and if it can be utilized 

 toward the restoration of the American flag upon the ocean, for re- 

 -, tO American citizens their share of the ocean carrying trade 

 and to give lo them an equal chance in the proceeds of a businc-s 

 amounting to over $200,000,000 a year, which is now wholly monopo- 

 lized by aliens, I think it is worthy of a fair trial, even at the public 

 expense, and upon that issue, assuming that you are a true American 

 your encouragement and support will not be wanting. 



This letter is running to much greater length than I had intended 



