274 FOREST AND STREAM. oon. 30, 1884 
SMALL CRUISING BOATS. 
A bigest pleasure navy of this country includes an innumerable variety 
of craft from the delicate birch of a few pounds weight to the 
stately steam yacht, every variety of out-door sport being fully repre- 
sented; the canoe or dugout, the sinkboat, sneakbox, houseboat and 
steam launch of the hunter, the numerous rowing and sailing craft of 
the fishermen; the shell, the gig and the barge, together with a vast 
number of less elegant craft used by theoarsmen, the handsome and 
saucy fleet whose emblem is a paddle; the sailing fleet, the little cat- 
boat, the spider-like catamaran, the large number of small yachts of 
various types, the sloops, cutters and schooners of the racing fleet; - a 
and of late years, a rapidly increasing fleet of steamers of all sizes i= 45, 
and models, from the puffing, pretentious little dinghy, to the queenly - 
Namouna; but in all this fleet there is one class that of late has come 
into more general notice, and in the future promises to take an im- 
portant place of its own, that as yet is little known and poorly repre- 
sented, the small cruiser in which two or three may travel by oar or 
sail, in safety and comparative comfort. 
Cruises of this kind have until recently been little known in this 
country. Prior to the war the interest im athletic sports was very 
slight, and the charms of an out-door life but little appreciated by 
the young men of the cities, and during the war there was no time 
for such development, but the last decade has seen a marked im- 
provement, People are learning the importance of play; baseball, 
cricket, football, tennis, archery, rowing and racing, bicycling, canoe- 
Ing and yachting are recognized as important factors in the develop-- 
ment of the perfect man—though like other good things, subject to 
abuse—in communities where once they would not have been tol- 
erated. The busy men of to-day, in all their rush and haste for for- 
tune, are having the lesson of the absolute need of rest and relaxa- 
tion forced on them, as one after another succumbs to overwork and 
the diseases consequent on a sedentary life, and are forced to recog- 
nize the fact that the men who do the best work, and do it the long- 
est, are those who do not devote every waking moment to the “‘street”’ 
or the office, but who find time for a pull on the river, a few miles on 
a wheel, a restful hour over a spruce paddle, or a day to windward i he meg 
onthe bay orsound. The patrons of out-door sports form avery | —————— 
large and rapidly growing army, recruited from all ages and stations, 
and the manufacture of the various implements of their sports con- 
stitutes no small portion of our industries. 
Avery large division of this army find their amusement on the 
water in different forms, and to meet their requirements the various 
craft have been developed to a high standard of excellence; for the 
racers, the light cedar, or paper shell boat, the fast open boat and 
catamaran, the racing sloop, cutter and schooner; for the hunters, 
boats and implements suitable to their sport; for the larger cruisers, 
the schooner or steam yachts; but when it comes down to the smaller 
boats, the list is much shorter. 
Some fifteen years since, a party of gentlemen desirous of taking a 
summer cruise up the Hudson, could find nothing better for their 
purpose than an ordinary open rowboat of fairly good model, but 
still poorly adapted for such a trip. They made the cruise, however, 
from New Yorkto Albany, and enjoyed it somuch that they cast 
about for a better craft for more varied cruises. Their attention was 
drawn to a new craft that had just come into prominence in England 
under the title of canoe, They made inquiries, obtained the lines of 
the craft, several were built and imported, and with the formation of 
the New York C, C., the sport was inaugurated in America. Its sub- 
sequent growth is well known; canoeists have penetrated every por- 
tion of the country, they have a pone 9 and vigorous organization de- 
voted to their interests, to collecting information, securing recognition 
and rights to members, aiding cruisers of all kinds, while with them 
campmeg and cruising is reduced to a science, and their boats are 
marvels of completeness and excellence. Canoeing fills the wants of 
a very large class, but from the canoe to the cruising yacht, even of 
moderate size, is a long step, the first cost jumps at once from one or 
two hundred dollarsto up in the thousands, while the current ex- 
penses increase in like ratio. 
There are many more who do not care for so smalla craft as a 
canoe, and who on the other hand cannot afford an outlay of $500 to 
$1,000 per year for a yacht, but who would like to take ther outing 
in the shape of a cruise if a suitable boat were available, They have 
at their disposal the tribe of rowboats, good for many purposes, but 
most y unfit for theirs, and on the other hand, the nearest approach 
in the shape of a sailboat has been heretofore the well known catboat, 
say 16 to 18 ft., wide, shoal, with centerboard, open cockpit, and cat 
rig, good for its purpose of short sails in light weather, and haviog 
the advantage of light draft, but on the other hand, very unsafe, a 
bad sea boat, the rig not adapted for crusing, hard to steer, with little 
ot ne stowage room, and no sleeping accommodations. Many cruises 
have been made in such boats for want of better, but they are badly 
suifed for uhe purpose. Besides these are the sneakbox and 
sharpie, both used sometimes for cruising, and above them comes the 
small cabin boat, like the catboat, wide, flat, dangerous, useless in a 
sea, poorly rigged, and of limited accommodations. These comprise 
the boats within the reach of those who wish to cruise as comfortably 
as possible at a small expense. 
ow. let us see what is necessary or desirable in such a craft, large 
or small, between the canoe and the yacht of say 30ft. water-line, 
which is as large as most amateur sailors will care to cruise in with- 
out a hired crew. Speed we will put out of the question, as of little 
impcrtance at present compared with other matters, but safety comes 
first of all. The smaller boats, of course. cannot be made non-cap- 
sizeable, but much may be done by a suitable model and ballast to 
render them practically safein that direction, while they may be in- 
finitely superior in rough water to the ordinary open boat, especially 
when the latter has toreef. All experience points to what may be 
called the canoe model, both ends pointed, a proportion of beam _to 
length of 14 to 1-6, bold sheer, long flat floar, good freeboard and a 
comparatively large depth, as the best boat for such purposes as we 
are concerned with. To this family belong the whale boats, the gal- 
leys of the Vikings, many modern Jife and surf boats and_ ship 
launches, most savage canoes, the Norwegian pilot boats, Block Island 
fishing boats, and some of the vessels of the early settlers of America; 
all boats designed for’easy performance in rough water and many ot 
them capable of developing a good rate of speed. The ballast should 
be of iron or lead, the latter being better and cleaner, but more ex- 
pensive, and should be as low as practicable. The rig should be so 
divided as to be easily managed by one man if required, and capable 
of being quickly and surely reduced to meet any emergency, 
,. ro obtain comfort, there must be some provision for sleeping, with 
a suitable shelter, and also ample and convenient storage room for 
clothes, bedding, provisions and other necessaries, with apparatus 
for cooking. 
Provided with a suitable boat and equipment, a party of two, three 
or four congenial companions will find vo limit to the cruising 
grounds at their disposal, or to the amount of hearty, healthy sport 
they can, at small cost, enjoy. What may be done has been told 
many times in books: the ‘‘Vacation Cruises” of Prof. J.T. Rothrock, 
‘“‘Gruises in Small Yachts and Big Canoes,’ by Mr. Speed; Bishop’s 
and MacGregor’s books—the latter by far the most charming of all 
the list, and ‘responsible for the making of more canoeists and cruisers 
than any other agency; the cruises of the Orion, Leo, Kate, Silver 
Cloud, Procyon and many others. 
Perhaps one of the most instructive of these books is the chatty and 
interesting yarn spun by Mr. H. T. Speed. of cruises in various small 
eratt; to Holland in a 10-tonner; in smaller boats on Southampton 
water, the Solent, the Channel and the “crystal Thames.” The first 
of these cruises was made in a 10-tonner, the Watersnake, described 
by her skipper as follows: ‘‘She was a small cutter of about 7 tons, 
built at Portsmouth in 1873, but redecked, sparred, canvassed, and 
thoroughly overhauled and refitted by McWhirter, at Erith, in 1878; 
of pretty Smart appearance and not overdone with sail. Dimensions 
as follows: Length overall, 34ft. 6in.; counter, 6ft.; beam, 8ft.; draft 
of water, 5ft. She had iron ballast inside and a small lead keel of 
half aton. Of course caryel built, and with considerable rise of 
floor. Sternpost nob much raked, and clew of mainsail plumb with 
taffrail. Main cabin 10ft. 3in. long; after cabin 3ft. bin. long; a good 
forecastle, with room in it for a bed-bunk, but with which it was 
never fitted. Her fittings below were mostly teak and mahogany 
Frenehb-polished. The little after cabin was entered by a ladder on 
the starboard side through the cabin top, and had a washstand on 
the starboard side and a 6ft. berth on port side, which was carried 
along under the deck and passed along one side of the steering well. 
The latter was 2ft. 7in. long, and completely shut off from, the main 
cabin by 2 bulkhead, which had fitted on it a small shelf to take the 
pinnacle in a handy position.”” The crew numbered three—the skip- 
per, his brotherandafriend, — 
Startine from Erith on the Thames, they ran around the South Fore- 
land to iiaver thence past Calais, Dunkerque, Ostend, and on to 
Flushing, thence for a month through the maze of Dutch water- 
courses, and home again, laying up after a cruise of three months, 
The whole cruise seems to have been full of incident and pleasant 
occupation, coupled with some hard work and hearty exercise. 
The next cruise recounted is in a smaller craft, a ‘‘Mersey canoe” 
16ft. long, 4ft, 114in. beam., 20in, deep amidships, with 6/4im. of keel, 
containing 8cwt. of lead. Insideshe carried icwt. 10lbs. of lead. The 
gail area was 190ft. mainsail and mizzen, lugs. with jib, the dimensions 
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of spars being: 
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Main boom for lug sail.......-...+.-+++-.ss+se e224 10ft. din. 
Main yard for lug sail. ...- .2......steiese esses . 61 
Main boom for gaff mainsail..........-.----..6--++ 8ft. 5in. 
Main gaff for gaff mainsail........ is ht oes adele 8ft. 6in. 
PVEEZZEVIIASt Oe eta eeess Ha lepicip tne are tices pete? 8ft. 
MizZen DOOM... 6... cpap ets e ee ee ents eeenrees ... +6 Gft 4in. 
