1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



253 



BRATTLEBORO, Vt , Oct. 17.— The Brattleboro Rifle Club allows 

 no siphtinff shots, each contestant must start his score witii his 

 fii'st off-hfind shot, tiiis puts the boys on tlieir nerve at the very 

 first. Mr. Cobt) has a firm hold on the" medal, his score of 114 is the 

 best yet made on the range in the first 10 shots of the day, The fol- 

 lowing is the sopre for 300yds., Massachusetts target, lO slxots each; 

 Record Match. 



Cobb .w, 12 13 U 10 11 12 11 13 12 11-114 



Nichols a 9 IJ 11 9 11 18 9 12 11—105 



Hannon 11 41 13 10 8 It 11 10 10 10-105 



Read ... . ... .11 10 11 » 10 11 10 9 12 10—103 



Sargent 1 £l 10 lO 11 8 11 8 10 9 11— 98 



Knight 10 9 10 r 11 10 9 10 10 12-98 



Special "Record Competition. 



Nichols 11 12 10 10 11 11 11 12 13 12—112 



Cobii ,12 11 12 10 11 11 12 10 10 11-110 



Kr,i£rb( .11 11 11 13 10 10 11 10 12 10-108 



SarKein 11 10 11 10 12 11 11 8 11 10-105 



Read 1^ 9 11 11 11 9 9 11 11 lO-lOl 



Next week the club will sive a trial to the Farrow tai'get. as de- 

 scfibed in the Fobkst am) Stkb.vm of Oct. 8. 



BOSTON, Oct . 17. — There ^ras a, smaller attendance of ritlenipn tliau 

 Tisual at the nieetinj; of the TMassacliiisetts Kille Associaiioti at Walnut 

 Hill to-day. Duriag tue early part of the day there was ;i, moderate 

 wind, but'a mo.st peiplexin.g mirage, which even at the 200yds. range 

 proved most de5hsive. At 4 o'clock the mirage disappeared, the wind 

 calmed and the conditions were almost perfect. .T, N. Frye scored 

 100 out of a possible 100 in the rest match. This was the fourth time 

 the feat has been performed in a match. The 10 shots were all inside 

 of the 10 circle of SKiin diameter, not one touching the circle line. 

 M. 0. Daulton, Company M, Eighth Regiment, in a short space of 

 time, recorded 4 scores of -30, 22. 22. 2.^, out of a possible 25, winning 

 the silver badge in the Massachusetts militia match. The details of 

 the day's work weie as follows; 



Creedmoor Match. 



L Herbert (mil.) 4.54.54'135r;4-13 L Barton (mil.) :^,3.55H;W::!1!-3S 



HWBftldwin(mil.)..5433444454-40 CF Carter (mil) 41.J45.53l.ii.'! 3s 



B Ford (mil.J 44344481 15--39 S Neal (mil ) 44;m4.34it-37 



Decimal Match- Off-band 



BG Warren . 8 10 9 9 5 6 « 7 10 r-80 



J N Frye 89695 10 978 5-76 



A Rolfe 797788759 0—73 



L Baldwin « 5 7 8 8 5 7 8 8 9-73 



GPRowe 10 7 6 2 5 7 7 9 10 10-73 



C Davis. 9 5 7 5 l0 9 3 8 8-70 



Decimal Match— Rest. 



J N Frve 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10-100 



8 Wilder 10 10 9 10 10 10 9 10 10 10— 98 



JHurd , 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 10 9 10— 97 



RBronson 10 10 lO 10 9 10 10 10 10 8- 97 



FHill ^,.,...9 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 9 9- 95 



OArasden 3 9 8 10 10 9 10 8 10 10—92 



N Adams , 10 9 10 9 10 10 8 9 8 8—91 



THE TRAP. 



Correspondents wlio favor us with club scoresi are particula/riy n - 

 guested to jcj-ife on one side of the paper only, 



NORTHSIDE OV^ CLUB.-Woodside, L. L, Oct. 7.-Match at 

 25yds. (Ki-umbeck 27yds.): 



Ki-umbeck ., 0010011—3 Eberhardt lOlOllV- 5 



Winholz lllini-7 Japken 1101101—5 



Siems 1010010-3 Bohmke 0100001 -2 



Manning 1101001— 4 Helmken 1100011—4 



Dr Franz 1001100-3 Barlow 1101111—6 



Kroger 0111111-6 Gran 1111101-6 



Dr. Franz and Eberhardt divided first. Winholz second. 



NationA-L Gvk Association Tournaments.— Special Notice.— Mem- 

 bers desirous of organizing tomnaments in their vicinity, imder the 

 auspices of the Association, are requested to notify the undersigned. 

 All the expenses of the same will be paid by us. Make your arrange- 

 ments for 1886. We propose to establish a circuit of tournaments 

 annually. Claim your dates now. General office and headquarters, 

 Macon, (ia.— JIatt R. Fbj:e5ias, Vice-President and General Manager; 

 F. 0. Ethpidge, Secretary, Macon, Ga. Send 10 cents for hand] book 

 containing rules, constitution, etc. "Fairly started and its future 

 depends entirely upon the manner in which the sportsmen throughout 

 the country respond."- C. M. Stark, April 18, 1885.— ^Idu. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ng Co. 



"PROBABLY THE LAST APPEARANCE." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Am I right in supposing a cutter to be a single-masted vessel with 

 loose-footed mainsail, jib set flying and a running bowsprit? If so, 

 why do you not give your readers a hiijt to that effect and stop some 

 of the talk about cutter and sloop? As to the Puritan, in rig she is 

 neither a sloop nor a cutter; and if being designed, bu fit and sailed by 

 Americans can make any vessel American, then surely the Pmitan is 

 American. As for her being a copy of this or that, she resembles 

 nothing on earth, under the earth, in or on the waters, under or on 

 the earth, except herself. 



Does your eorreipondent "Loyalty" realize thefactthat the Shadow 

 draws nearly lift, of water without her board, and that although she 

 has no outside lead, she has about five tons cast to fit as low as possi- 

 ble inside? >:o one ever said that the Shadow had a "cutter model," 

 wljatevei- that may he, and yet she is, to all intents and purposes, as 

 much a cutter in shape as the Puiitan. If every deep, narrovv vessel 

 with long overhang is a cutter, then every cutter is a "barrel head," 

 as half a barrel head with lead on the bottom and rigged as a toy 

 yacht has probably been familiar to ail boys living on salt water 

 since the year one. and I should not be surprised If it was the real, if 

 not nominal, father of the Thames rult^ ; in which case said rule should 

 be called "barrel head"— as good a name as any for it. probably, ex- 

 cept block head. 



Ill writing of the Buccaneer, Mr. Bayly forgets to say what her rig 

 was, so perhips she was a sloop, althouo'h classed as a cutter, in 

 which case she might pass as the real original sheep in the wolf- 

 f old or wi 4f in the sheepfold. Is the Boston keel sloop Hera a cutter? 

 She is deep, not very wide, and has a heavy lead keel. Was the old 

 sloop Nautilus a cutter? She had two head sails and was verv deep 

 and not very beamy. Was the old Provincetown packet, "which 

 carried a heavy iron l^eel before most, of your readers, including my- 

 self, were thought of, a cutter? She was schooner rig, liy the way. 

 Is the Mii-auda a cutter or a schooner? She is almost, if' not quite, 

 cutter model. 



Can you not give your readers a definition of cutter and sloop? I 

 mean a clear, concise, every day working definition. It would save 

 a great deal of "wind chewing," wtiich wotild be a great blessing in 

 New York Harbor in summer, as wind seems rather scarce there 

 u.sually. Do you consider a vessel which, in order to make a passage 

 across the Western ocean, has to come down to jury rig, a nice sort of 

 craft to go to sea in ? Why .so much fuss about the Genesta and n®t 

 a woi'd for the little Clara, which came over with her working spars? 

 Why is a jib set flying any more English than French or Dutch? Par- 

 don such a number of questions, but I am a steady reader of Forest 

 AND Stream, Spirit of the Times and New York Herald, the result, of 

 tne last three months' reading being to greatly unsettle my mind, or 

 what 1 am pleased to call my mind, and to give me serious doubts 

 what kind of a craft I have been on board of ail summer, to whicli 

 doubt you are indebted fur this long letter. I am afraid that most of 

 niy questions partake of the nature of that large and unfortimately 

 increasmg class of conundrums to which the only atswer is "So is a 

 hen." In the cntcisms of the treatment received by the owners of 

 thePmntan from the New YorkY. 0.,Ido not think enough stress 

 has been laid on the truly hospitable behavior of iVlr. Busk, of the 

 Mischief, and it seems to me that he did so much that the queer 

 actions, or rather lack of actions on the part of the other members of 

 the club to which he belongs, should be passed over in silence even 

 bad they been much queerer than they were. 



In your issue of Oct. 8 you claim that the Genesta is the superior 

 of alt American yachts except the Pm-itan, and equal to her. JN'ow I 

 hold the belief, and I am by no means alone iu that behei", that the 

 Priscilla would make a very close race witb the Genesta, much closer 

 than the Genesta can make with Puritan, in any kmd of weather. In 

 the last race, although the Puritan only beat the Genesta a little over 

 one minute, yet she sailed fully one mdu further, and practically beat 

 the Genesta three times iu one race; in fact the boat won in spite of 

 about as bad management as I ever saw in a race. I think there can 

 be but few people, who know one end of a boat from anotber. who 



saw the race and the attempted races, who can have much doubt that 

 the Puritan is able to beat Qetiesta from ten to fifteen minutes over a 

 fifty-mile course, in any kind of weatlier l:.hat the Genesta can carry 

 her racing spar.^ in. By the way, were tlie Unp races sailed to deter- 

 mine who was to hold the Cup, or were they merely to find out when 

 a sloop is a cutter or a cutter a sloop? I have owned sloops such as 

 "Loyalty" admires so much, and think there is more cutter than 

 sloop about them. "Loyalty" makes the mistake, when he gets so 

 excited about representative American sloops, of forgetting that the 

 whole 'leaboard of 1he United Stater Is not comprised in the shores of 

 Long Island Sound and New York harbor. The Puritan may not be 

 a representative New York sloop— no one ever claimed she was— yet 

 she can be truly American for all that. Skimming dislies with tlieii 

 masts way up in their eyes have never been in favor on this side of 

 Cape Cod, and I doubt very much if they ever wUl be; at any rate I 

 hope not. If the Pui iian is derived from the English, I am very much 

 afraid that the Shadow is also, as is easily seen b.v comparing her 

 with the cutter Buccaneer. 1 have always thought myself a sloop 

 man, but if "Loyalty" k-nows what he is talking about, 1 find I have 

 been laboring tmdcr a mistake, and that I am in fact the worst ivind- 

 of a rabid cutter maniac; therefore 1 am much distressed, as I am a 

 strong AnglopUobiast. and tf it wore not for tlie hope that some of 

 your correspondents may yet make out that cutters were first in - 

 Vented in this country and copied from us bj' the Britishers, I am 

 afraid that I should seek consolation in suicide or a retreat in the 

 wdlds of Long Island. If you have waded through this rambUng 

 scrawl of mine as far as this. I IliinK you have waded enough, and I 

 will give you a rest, so to speak. IT. B. 



COH.^sSET. Oct. 12. 



The alio^ e Ictti'r from an Eastern yachtsman reiterates the old 

 question that has so often been discussed in our columns that it 

 seems an unwarranted imposition ou our readers to again inflict it on 

 them, but as we ha ve lately received some other iuqiui-ies of the same 

 tenor as "H. B.'s" we will herein endeavor to answer them finally 

 and for all time before the cutter-sloop question passes into history. 

 At the j)resent day the tsvo terms have lost the distinctive meaning 

 that tliey 07ice iJOHsessed, and the sooner the}' disappear from the 

 yachtsman's vooihulary, or. if retained, the sooner that their inea,n- 

 ing is definitely limited, the better it will be for all who talk or write 

 about yachts, ' Wiiat is now wanted is a term that will express con- 

 cisely and exactly a yacht with one mast, rigged with a boom and 

 gaff mainsail and triangular headsails; some less awkward equivalent 

 of the term "singlesticlici-," which expresses all that is really neces- 

 sary, but is too lengthy and too cumbersome. We have already the 

 words catboat, yawl and schooner, each of which defines a special 

 rig. without regard to model : now a fourth is needed that will take 

 the place of the words sloop and CHtter, Here is a first rate chance 

 for some ambitious yachtsman to distinguish himself and confer a 

 substantial benefit on his fellows by coining a suitable substitute and 

 letting these two words revert to their proper meaning. Tbey both 

 have been greatly abused of late years, knocked ahout like a pair of 

 shuttlecocks, but the great changes that have been made in our 

 yachts within a few years have dcrstr'oyed their distinctive meanings 

 and made it almost impossil>le Ui define them now. 



To do so. we Quist go back to the time when the English cutter, 

 both iu rig and model, was practically unknown in American waters, 

 about six or seven years ago. At that time, the word cutter, as ap- 

 plied by English yaditsmen, the only ones who habitually used it. 

 was applied to the rig only. This rig had as its prominent features, 

 one mast stepper! well aft,' and fom- principal sails, a mainsail with 

 long head and low hoist, a foresail, staysaU or forestaysaii set on a 

 stay from the stem head, a jib set flying or on its own luff from the 

 bowsprit end, and a topsaiL A marked featui-eof the rig was that 

 the three lower saUs presented a rather long and low area, while 

 the topsaU was very large in proportion to them, while a second feat- 

 ure was the divisi"hifity of the sails and the facihties afforded for 

 many and easy changes. Five or six sizes of jibs were used and 

 four sizes of topsails, while the entire spar plan pi'ovided for cor- 

 responding reductions, the topmast being fitted to lower and the liow- 

 •sprit to reef ill. There were also .some minor peculiarities, the mainsail 

 was almost alwa.vs loose ou the foot, and the spars were thoroughly 

 stayed with shifting backstays, while the jib was set up with a power- 

 ful chain puichase. and at times the mainsail was stowed and a 

 trysaU set. The salient and distinguishing featm-es of the rig may 

 then be briefly summed up as follows; one mast, four sails, low and 

 broad mainsail, low and extended area of lower sail, large propor- 

 tionate area of topsaU, several sizes of jibs and topsails, and housing 

 spars well stayed. 



Now. looking at American single stickers, dubbed sloops, there was 

 a marlced difference. In the first place there were only three sails — 

 mainsail, jib and topsail: the mainsail was veiy long in the hoist, 

 with a short, high peaked gaff. The jib was ot very great size and 

 was sec on a fixed stay at bow.sjirit end ; it was reefed or "bobbed," 

 as occasion compelled, but could not be taken in. The area of the 

 two sails was lofty a,Tid narrow, and the topsail was of verj^ small size 

 compared with lower sails; whfle bowsprit and topmast, the latter a 

 short, stumpy affair, were both fixtures. The mainsail was also laced 

 to the boom, and even some cases have been known where the jib 

 was laced to a boom also, while excepting the extra topsails, no vari- 

 ation of sail ai'ea was possible except by reefing, and the mast was as 

 far forward as possible. Briefly, then," the sloop rig had three sails- 

 high and narrow mainsail, very small topsail, very large jib and fixed 

 spars. These were the meanings accorded to the words when applied, 

 as they properly were, to the rig, b.v those who used them. Now, look- 

 ing at the hulls that carried these rigs, we find that the English yacht, 

 whether cutter or schooner rigged, had some marked peculiarities. 

 Her proportion of beam to length varied from 1-3 to 1-7, approaching 

 the latter of late in the smaU sizes; whi'.e the draft, alf the boats 

 having keels, was as much, and in many cases more 

 than the beam. All of these boats had fiush decks, metal keels of 

 greater or less weight, a plumb stem, along overhang or counter, 

 and none were centerboard boats except a few isolated instances no 

 more numerous than keel yachts once were here; while they were 

 boats of heavy displacement. The models were approximately the 

 same, whether cutter, yawl or schooner rigged, and many of the 

 boats were of moderate beam. With the awakening of an interest in 

 these boats among American yachtsmen they naturally looked at the 

 fastest racing craft of the day, which were all very narrow, very deep, 

 with heavy lead keels and cutter rigged; and these are the only boats 

 they have ever shown any special interest in. They were cutters iu 

 one sense, and the term has been applied to them and to them only 

 in the long controversy over English and American models and rigs ; 

 but at the same time there were hosts ot other yachts, criusers and 

 ex-racers, all keel boats of moderate beam with outside ballast, such 

 as Bucaneer. which were just as thoroughly English cutters, and 

 which in numbers exceeded the "lead mine" pure and simple, to 

 which the name was misapplied. 



The American boat of the same period was of an average beam of 

 one-thu'd or over, a draft of less than one-third of the beam, with in- 

 side ballast of scrap iron or even partly of stone; all with center- 

 boards, trunk cabins, short overhang aft and clipper stems, and all 

 of light displacement. Some of these wei-e schooner- rigged, but the 

 principal ones and the fastest were sloop-rigged and entered into the 

 controversy under the name of sloops. As most of the type were 

 sloop-rigged. and as the keel sloops wei-e small and few in'number, 

 the word answered web enough for ihe time, and the terms sloop and 

 cutterlcame into genei-al use with the two special meanings attached to 

 them that we have indicated aliove. 



It is true, as "H. B." states, that there was then the Shadow, deeper 

 aud far better than her class, and some others that gave promise of 

 something better in time; but though the whole seaboard of the United 

 States is not comprised in the shores of Long Island and New York 

 harbor, it is equally true that New York harbor has been the head- 

 quarters of American yacht racing from its birth and the home of 

 those yachts, especially iu the lai-ger sizes, which by their perform- 

 ances have won the title of representative American yachts. We do 

 not wish to depreciate Boston yachts and yachting; in respect to 

 houcbt boats and real amateur sailorizing they have been ahead of 

 New York for a long time, but when it comes to fast sloops or 

 sehoonej's of large size, especially the former, Boston is out of the 

 count. 



Not to meddle with ancient history but only going back to the 

 middle ages that preceded the modera renaissance that has made a 

 Puritan not only a possibibty, but has made American yachtsmen re- 

 ceive her with open arras as what they always believed in, we flind 

 the racing fleet of "reppeiysentative" yachts composed of Arrow, 

 I Vision, Gracie, Addie Voorhis. Windward, Meta, Whitewing, Fanny, 

 Coming and their tribe. These boats were modeled and built on the 

 Sound or about New Yorii, they belonged to the New York Y. C, 

 they raced over Its com-se or at Kewport for its prizes, and theirfame 

 is fli-mly coimected with New York yachting. These were the boats 

 that were put forward prominently 'at the opening of the controversy 

 and they represented in their design and construction certain ideas 

 which were then generally accepted by the body of American yachts- 

 men. Before attempting to class Puritan let us see what these ideas 

 were, and how they compared with the similar fetitnres of English 

 boats. First, their displacement was relatively small, much less than 

 thar of the Ltglish models, their ballast was of bulky material, 

 stowed mside the hull at a greater or less height, while the cutter, 

 as we will continue to call her, carried her ballast in the compact 

 shape of lead, stowed as far as possible on the keel; the sloop had a 

 centerboard and drew 5 or 6ft of water, the cutter had a keel aud a 

 draft of 10 to 13ft.; the former had a beam of one-third her waterline, 

 and even more, while the average large cutter had about one-fffth of 

 her length. 



The diffei-enee m rig we have atrepdis^flotice^, TbesfdewMch^ftere 



were some secondary but marked points of difference. The sloop had 

 a long overhanging clipper stem, a .short round 1 1 the fore foot, a keal 

 nearly straight wil;h greatest draft aft, a vertical stempost, a shot 

 stubby counter, a low waist, high ends, and a high catiin house. Con 

 trasted with these the cutter had a plumb stem, a fore foot boldly 

 cutaway, a keel well rockered wirli its depth abaft the raidshiijs, a 

 great rake of sternpost, a long, light counter, high freeboard, and 

 flush decks. Some of these features, such as the shape of the stem, 

 are merely superficial and have little effect on the performance of the 

 boat, but at the same time they were distinctive and marked the 

 difference between the two classes. At all times iioals have been 

 found on each side that embody some of the priucij'les of the other: 

 even now, since the alteration of the rub-, clipper steins have become 

 popular on the smaller yachts iu England, aud in this country we 

 have at times had nai'row yachts, yacht,-; with iron keels (as the old 

 Provil1eetov^-n packets instanced by our coiTespoadent), deep yachts 

 like Shadow, and .yachts with double headsails; but still these 

 features were directly contrary not only to expressed theories but to 

 our general piraetiee. 



Besides the many points of ditferenec mentioned above there were 

 other details of construction, the methods Of framing and ballasting, 

 the wide keel of the English yacht blending into the huU with no 

 break at the rabbet line, and man.y points in the iron work, masthead 

 fil tings, lead of lines and make of sails. 



We see, then, thfil, by general usage and consent the term cutter. 

 Btricilv pertaining to rig "uiy. had in time cotue to signify a yacht of 

 certniii proport^ions and I'cat.ures, all pretty clearly marked, and of a 

 certain defiiute rig; while the term sloop was applied in the same way 

 to a yacht ot: difl:erent proportions, details and rig. At one time thg 

 nomenclature answered very fairly, but within five .years past a groat 

 change has been wrought. The cutter of to-day is practically th e 

 same as that of 1880, only a little deeper and narrower; hut what 

 about the sloop? One by one the various points of the cutter, both 

 rig and model, have been quietly iucorporatea iu the so-called sloo'^ 

 until it is no wonder that even her oldest friends fail to recognize and 

 sometimes refuse to own her. The double head rig. the shift.ng jibs 

 the low rig, long gaff, long housing topmast, backstays, and man^^ 

 nunor details are too comnion on our boats to excite any not ice. Lead 

 ballast, as low as possible, is preferred by aU, higher freeboara 

 plumb stem, counters, are found everywhere, and practice liasfii ly 

 proved their value. 



But where did all these features come from? How many of th 

 points of the American model and rig have sutwived ? We still ad 

 here to the beam, but not to the ext:ent we once did. Depth has in 

 creased greatly. The high bUge is still found as a necessary adjunc 

 to the beam, and the centerboard is still retained. Beyond this we 

 follow, in rig and other features, the cutter, until it is no wonder that 

 a man stops bewildered aud asks, "What is a cutter and what is a 

 sloop?" It is true that on three points, and these the most important 

 ones, we stfll differ radically from the English; on beam, displace- 

 ment and centerboard; but at the same time the beam is less than 

 of old. and may still further decrease in time , the entire theories of 

 light displacement have been thrown overboard, and though using 

 less than the cutters it is more than the old sloops; and it now 

 looks as though even if we retain the board it will be with a substan- 

 tial keel added, as in Puritan. On all other points save two minor 

 oues.;iaced mainsail and housing bowsprit, we have generally accepted 

 the English methods iu our practice. 



It is still a dilTlcult task to class Puritan, but first let us make it 

 plain what w(' have t hus far claimed in regard to her; not that she is 

 neccessarily a cutter, not that she is not a sloup, but that she is in no 

 way a representative of the class of large American single-stick 

 boats, or of our beUefs and practice untU a very recent period, and 

 that apart flrom the beam, board and moderate displacement, her 

 details are those of the cutter rather than the sloop. The beam, 

 while much less than the old boats, is in direct opposition to 

 Enghsh ideas, the displacement is less than Genesta's on the 

 same length, but at the same time it is much greater than 

 formerly; the centerboard is retained, but to it is added a sub- 

 stantial keel 18in. deep and 22in. wide on top. True, she has a 

 laced mainsail and fixed hoiv.sprit. but the other features are autirely 

 Mioseof tlie cutter as far as is compatible with the two fizzed condi- 

 tions of a modertitelj' wide and shallow centerl)oard j-acht, by which 

 her designer ^vas actually limited. 



To enumerate some of these features, ber rig is in principle the 

 cuttei-, mast well aft, low hoist, long gaff, long toDma.st, foresail on 

 stay, jib set flying, with various sizes ot jibs, backstays, boom out- 

 haul, masthead fittings, round bowsprit, all, both in principle and de- 

 tail, are F.nglish and distmctively non American, except iu so far as 

 the.>' can be called so from having been uatm'alized since Madge came 

 here, or. as our correspondent states, made in Americi b.y Americans. 

 In the hull the same resemblance is found; the plumb stem, the hand- 

 some rocker to the keel, the raking sternpost and counter, and the 

 •shape of her lead keel as well as the keel itself, all proclaim at once 

 their origin, while the sheer is no more American than Enghsh. Tliac 

 she would be better with a sloop rig, that the stem hinders her speed, 

 that her lead keel makes her logy, no one would now contend ; her 

 success has been a full justifica"tion of her designer's judgment in 

 selecting these featiu-es and his skill in combining them, but let us at 

 least be honest and acknowledge their origin, and also that they are 

 contrai-y to the beliefs once boldly expressed by Amencan yachts- 

 men. 



"H. B." instances Shadow as simfiar to Puritan, and in some re- 

 spects she may be; but again in many features— ng, general outlme, 

 lead keel and others she differs materially. If we have made our 

 views clear we have answered incidentally several of his '■conun- 

 drums;" but there are still two or three left, though we share his 

 doubt as to what kind of a craft he sails aboard and hear(;fi.y sympa- 

 thize with his perplexit.y. We consider Genesta a flc vessel to go to 

 sea in, and it does not follow, in these days of overspatriug, that a 

 vessfl can carry safely m an ocean voyage in the fall such a rig as 

 summer racing necessitate'!. Were Puritan with her on her present 

 craise she might he glad to reef that long boom with a handsaw be- 

 fore she sighted the Needles. Genesta had an extra word for her 

 passage out b>:xcause she was the first of her type that had crossed the 

 .4.tlantic. After her followed Stranger, and the two, with the bustle 

 of the races, rather overshadowed the feat of little Clara, which was 

 much more worthy of comment than either of the others, aud settles 

 pretty conclusively the question ot the sea going powers of these 

 boats. The jib set flying is in one sense as much Dutch or French as 

 English, as they all use it; but yachting in Hofiand, oreven in France, 

 amounts to very little compared with England, and is only a copy 

 aud reflex of the latter. As our correspondent knoAvs, the only real 

 yachting nations are America and England fand Boston ?). 



We have endeavored, without classing Puritan, or coiaplying ex- 

 actly with his first request, to shed such light on the subject as would 

 make it plain to all what the difl:erence between the types really is or 

 was. Our yachts have been, and are still, in a transition state, in 

 which the terms cutter and sloop have lost their meaning; what the 

 coming American yacht will be like, or by what name she wiO be 

 called, we cannot say, but it is certain she wifi have little claim to the 

 title of sloop. If the two words are retained, we sboifid in the future 

 define a sloop as a vessel with one mast stepped forward, one jib, a fixed 

 bowsprit and stay; and a cutter as a vessel with one mast stepped 

 well aft, two head sails, and a long topmast, leaying minor points 

 unnoticed, as they are now common to both, and excluding any idea 

 of model as iu the case of yawl and schooner. The leading differences 

 in model, large or small beam, heavy or light dksplacementand draft, 

 and centerboard or keel, must be denoted by some new terras. 



"H. B.'s" estimate of PrisciUa is simply one man's opinion and 

 differs from that of many others, even her own friends, and she her- 

 self has done little this year to justif.y it. We cannot agree with his 

 conclusions in regard to the final race and much less as to the relative 

 speed of Puritan and Genesta, but every man is entitled to his own 

 opinions. 



If "H, B," follows out his intention of seeking a quiet retreat in 

 which to meditate for a time, we hope to have his address, in case 

 there should be anything further to communicate. 



ANOTHER ANSWER TO THE QUESTION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Mr. Bayly asks me through .your columns what ai'e the points 

 which constitute the difference between cutter and sloop other than 

 their rig, and as the gentleman knows what he is talking about, I will 

 freely admit that strictly, or rather technically, speaking, there is 

 none. A sloop may be wide or she may be narrow ; she may or may 

 not have a centerboard. Her draft of water can be one foot or twenty 

 feet, and precisely the same may be said of the cutter. Even in rig 

 the two approach so nearly that it would require a very long-headed 

 sea lawyer to mark the dividing fine. As a matter of fact. If I am 

 not mistaken, cutters are in England sometimes caUed sloops. 



There are two things which usually the cutter does and the sloop 

 does not possess, namely, a loose-footed mainsail and a sUding bow- 

 sprit. This may be called the chief difference, though practically a 

 trillmg one, between the two, so far as mere technicality goes, but as 

 Galatea is to have a laced mainsail (and a centerboard) we may ex- 

 pect that in the near future the two types will so closely fraternize 

 that both wiU from sheer necessity sail imder one name, as they now 

 do in the New York Y". C. Aud, afl;er all. why not? Our English 

 relatives can teach us many things worth knowing. They are also 

 willing to be taught by us. 



In ujy previous letters on the sloop cutter question it has been my 

 wish to emphasize more particularly the difference m shape of hull 

 between the modern English racing cutler and the American sloop 

 rather than to discuss the minor and more indistinctly defined matter 

 of rig, and this distinctness as to form is fortimately very clearly dis- 



