480 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 5, 1892. 



GLORIANA AND THE HERRESHOFFS. 



[Concluded from Page U06 1 



IN considering Gloriana, we may safely start out with the assump- 

 tion that she is both faster and better than anything near her size 

 new or old, in the fleet. Not only has the 46fc, class as a whole made 

 a most favorable showing through the season alongsida of the 70- 

 footers as well as the 40-footers, to say nothing of older boats 

 like Clara and Cinderella; but within the class Gloriana is undoubt- 

 edly the fastest. Another point that may be assumed at the outset 

 is that apart from her actual merits, she is the distinct embodi- 

 ment of a principle that is likely to play au important part in the de- 

 signing of the future. At the same time there has been more sheer 

 rank nonsense written about her than has ever before been showered 

 on a winning yacht. Her speed, her performance in rough water, 

 her peculiar features, have all been exaggerated, with the most ab- 

 surd theories to account for each, until those who have never seen 

 the boat are in doubt whether to accept the whole story in the face, 

 of reason and common sense; or to reject entirely as a Yankee hoax 

 the mythical yarn of a yacht with a nose like a shark, designed by a 

 man who is totally blind, and winning by miles under all conditions 

 from yachts whose high speed is beyond question. 



After a careful study of the racing of the 46fc. class last season, 

 the full record of which appeared in the Forest and Stream of Nov. 

 12-19, the impartial yachtsman will come to the conclusion that 

 while Gloriana is the head of the class, under equal conditions of 

 form and handling she will beat the first half dozen of her compet- 

 itors by minutes and not by hours or miles. Considering the gen- 

 eral excellence of the class and the amount of hard racing, this in 

 itself is a position seldom attained by a successful yacht, the sea- 

 son's honors usually being divided among several; or if going to a 

 single winner, being discounted by the 'fact that most of her rivals 

 are older and inferior in racing construction. 



In the case of Gloriana, her success may be attributed to three im- 

 portant factors, racing form, racing "construction, and design. 

 Gloriana was the only one of the class which was ready in time and 

 at the same time was well handled throughout the whole season: 

 those of her rivals which might have been the most dangerous 

 were hampered from first to last by delays and breakdowns 

 which should have been, and in Gloriana's case were avoided by 

 forethought and superior construction. Those boats which were 

 best sailed were among the most unfortunate in I his respect, and of 

 the class. Gloriana was the only one which started every race in 

 really good condition and with a good hand at the stick. As old 

 racing men, the Herresboffs were fully aware of the great advantage 

 of early and thorough preparation and of regular and skillful 

 handling, and as the result proves, they took no chances, but re- 

 duced everything in advance to a mechanical certainty. 



In both the planning aud execution of her construction, Gloriana 

 was far ahead of her mates; the actual ratio of ballast to displace- 

 ment was no higher if as high, as in others of the class, but in the 

 first place the weight was carried low, that part of the hull above 

 water with its double skin and thin deck being far lighter than 

 tne solid yellow pine planking of Mineola, Sayonara and Alborak. 

 while deadwoods. bulwarks, coamings, etc, were cut dowu as much 

 as possible iu weight. While a part of this gain was offset by the 

 extra superficies of the ends, it is probable that through a good dis- 

 tribution of material the center of gravity of the hull and rig was 

 lower than in any of the others of equal power. Light construction 

 is a great thing in racing, but it must be of the kind that stands, aDd 

 not the kind which is constantly breaking down. Fortunately for 

 Gloriana, hers was of the former variety; while in the case of most 

 of her rivals there was something amiss in every race: topsides and 

 bottoms leaking, stems pulled apart in the scarfs, channels doubling 

 up, masts over the side, bobstays parting, splices drawing and other- 

 diverting incidents that add variety to the chances of yacht racing. 



No doubt there may have been defects of construction developed 

 in Gloriana in the course of racing which have not been specially 

 advertised to the public, but no mishap occurred to mar her chances 

 in a single race ; the rig gave occular evidence of its excellence in 

 the notably perfect sit of the canvas, and the hull is sound and tight 

 after a season of hard sailing, the yacht having been in use from 

 May to November. 



As we stated last week, the lines, and even the exact dimensions 

 of Gloriana, are the secret of her builders, and are not available tor 

 publication, but as it would be impossible to describe her, and much 

 less to discuss her peculiar features, with nothing more than a 

 verbal description to enlighten those who have never seen the yacht, 

 the accompanying design has been, specially made. While not 

 official, it is based on a close study and observation of her through 

 the season, aided by many sketches and photographs taken both in 

 and out of the water. The dimensions are those commonly 

 assigned to Gloriana. as published last week, the designed water- 

 line being taken at 45ft., the racing measurement, while the sail 

 plan is based on the official figures of baseline, perpendicular and 

 total area. The dimensions and elements of the design are as 

 follows: 



DIMENSIONS AND "ELEMENTS OF DESIGN. 



Length on waterline 45ft. 



Forward overhang 12ft. 3in. 



After overhang 13ft. 6in. 



Length over all, stemhead to taffrail .70ft. !»in. 



Beam extreme 13ft. 



L.W.L 13ft. Sin. 



Draft extreme 10ft. 6in. 



Freeboard, least , 3ft. 



Sheer -' b ? w 2ft - 



oneer | stern lfr. 



Rake of sternpost, degrees . 30. 



Displacement, long tons , .,,31,55 



Ballast, lead keel, long tons. ...21. 



Ratio of ballast to displacement .60 per cent. 



Area of midship section 49.28sq. ft. 



load water plane 404. 



lateral plane 319. 



rudder 21. 



Center of l.w.l. to— 



Midship section 2 50ft. 



Center of buoyancy 2.00 



Center of lateral resistance.. . . 3.22 



Center of effort 2.33 



Center of effort above l.w.l 26.40 



Center of buoyancy below l.w.l. 2 TO 



Center of lateral resistance below l.w.l 4.3? 



DIMENSIONS OF SAIL PLAN. 



Mast from fore end of l.w.l 14ft. 



deck to hounds , 41ft. 



diameter at deck nin. 



masthead 9ft. 



topmast— heel to hounds 37ft. 3in. 



Bowsprit— cranse iron to end of l.w.l 30ft. 6in. 



stem 18ft. bin. 



gammon iron. . .21ft. 



Boom 56ft. 6in. 



Gaff 37ft. 



Spinaker boom 44ft. 



Topsail yard 35ft. 



club 29ft. 



Mainsail 2073sq. ft. 



Jih 600sq. ft. 



Staysail 440sq. ft. 



Working topsail 528sq. ft. 



Total 3640sq. ft. 



Lower sail 3112sq ft. 



Seawanhaka rule sail area 4137sq. ft. 



square root 64.3 



Sailing length 54 . 17 



T. R. A. rule sail area, working topsail 42S7sq. ft. 



rating 32.1 



The lateral plane, identical with Gloriana, shows rather less of 

 the extreme triangular outline than is found iu the Burgess, Fife 

 aud Watson boats, the forefoot well cut away, but with some depta 

 under the mast, the greatest depth forward of the heel of keel which 

 rounds up slightly, and a sternpost raking about 30 degrees. There 

 is nothing specially striking in the lateral plane or the midship sec- 

 tion, but there is a decided departure from the conventional in the 

 length and outline of the two ends; which are carried out to an ex- 

 tent heretofore unknown, while the angle of the stem and the cen- 

 ter timber of the stern with the waterline is much more acute than 

 in the average yacht, Superficial and extraneous as these long 

 ends are, they attract the eye at once, and nearly all of the critics 

 and commentators having seen have believed, and have sought no 

 further than these abnormal extremities for the reasons for the 

 superiority Of Gloriana over the rest of her class. She has longer 

 ends and sails faster, consequently long overhangs give speed of 

 themselves, and it is only necessary to spin a boat out into an ex- 

 travagant caricature of a fish or a snake to make a winner of her. 



We quote, as a fair sample of the ridiculous nonsense that has 

 been uttered and printed about Gloriana, the following from the 

 New York Herald of June, 1891, a story by the way which like all of 

 the Herald's yachting news of late years, came from Boston: 

 "The Gloriana is simply a boat that measures a shadp less than 



forty-six feet on an even keel, but is so shaped as to her overhang 

 fore and aft that for every foot she heels she extends her waterline 

 immensely, and when fairly over, close hauled, she measures about 

 65ft. on her actual waterline. As she never sails practically 

 on an even keel she is constantly exceeding 46f c. on her actual water- 

 line, and the greater the pressure from the canvas the more her re- 

 sistance to it increases. The resultant force must be expended in 

 making more arrowy her flight through the water. On an even keel 

 a small craft can carry the canvas of a man of -war, but, feeling the 

 wind, would turn over. The Gloriana with her 46ft. measured length 

 can carry the sail area of a 65- footer, because she is built to sail on 

 her side. 



"Is this to be contemned as a 'smart Yankee trick' to weather 

 tne rules? Or is it to he considered as the fair and brilliant solution 

 of the problem? 'How to combine the highest speed and best 

 wearherly qualities in a yacht eligible to the 46ft. class?'' 



"Possibly such geniuses as Burgess and Fife will, adopting this 

 idea, design boats that will outsail the Gloriana. It is more than 

 probable that they will do so, for the mind that evolves a novel idea 



found any adherents, and yet there are not a few yachtsmen content 

 to accept it as the true explanation of Gloriana's superiority. 



A look at the lines will show that such a yacht as Gloriana will 

 actually shorten her waterline as she heels down on her power- 

 ful bilge, and can only increase her length by increasing 

 at the same time her displacement, which we know is 

 theoretically and practically constant, whether she is at anchor or at 

 her highest speed. The increase of the displacement due to the 

 pressure of the wind when under way is not only small in a boat of 

 this size and type, but it is shared in common by all the boats of the 

 class, Gloriana gaming no more in this respect than Mineola, Sayon- 

 ara or Beatrix. We have shown on the drawing the inclined water- 

 line at 2o degrees, a very considerable angle of heel, and in the 

 accompanying diagram we have shown the true shape of the in- 

 clined load water plane, and above it, by the shaded portions, the 

 immersed or leeward and the emersed or weather side of the yacht 

 when heeled to this angle. The grea test length of waterline that can 

 be measured in any direction is not (55 but 48ft. If this line be length- 

 ened by depressing the bow, which by the way Gloriana does not do 



' GrLOUIANA." IN DRY DOCK. 



of this sort rarely carries"'it out to its most ultimate possibilities 

 But in the meantime the Gloriana remains to-dav thoroughly proven 

 the fastest and best of her class, and perhaps the practical answer 

 to the main problem of yacht architecture ' 



' ' !#•' * * * * -Jit ' * , .'+» ^itf' 



"The Gloriana's victories are the talk of the yachting world, and 

 most of those who look into the matter are inclined to agree with 

 the explanation for them offered in the Herald a. tew days ago— that 

 she increases her waterline length very much as she heels over and 

 consequently increases her power to carry sail and her speed. 



"Mr. , a yachting writer and an amateur designer thoroughly 



grounded in the theory and not a little in the practice of the art, 

 savs the HeruWs explanation is the correct one, and that it was on 

 the peculiarity of the Gloriana's model, in regard to increasing her 

 waterlme length when heeled, that he based a prediction early in 

 the sea=mi that she would be among the first four in the class, if not 

 first. He saw the boat on the wavs before launching and also the 

 lines on the draughting board. From measurements given him he 

 calculated the waterline when the boat is heeled at an angle of 10 

 degrpes and found it to be about 55ft. Uo to that angle of heel, 

 which brings the yacht's rail a little more than half way to the 

 water, the waterline lengthened very rapidly, but after that the in- 

 crease is very slight. 'She makes this rapid gain forward.' says 

 Mr. . 'hecause her bow is carried out very full beyond the nor- 

 mal waterline, and makes it aft because her quarters are 

 very low. The full bow of a dory would not be a bad illustration of 

 the'principle of the Gloriana's bow. The waterline length sh« gains 

 gives her additional buoyancy and therefore power to carry sail. 

 Most of the naval architects thought the principle was wrong, but 

 Mr. Nat. Herreshoff has proved it to be right.' 



The question of a gain in effective length through overhauging 



save m rough water, the stem must rise, thus shortening the after 

 end of the waterline in short the only way in which a material 

 lengthening of the waterline can take place is a great addition to the 

 displacement which shall immerse the boat bodily and permanently. 



If we are not greatly mistaken, one of the leading principles of 

 Gloriana s model is diametrically opposed to this theory of the 

 lengthened waterline; the form which Mr. Hen-eshoff has evolved is 

 one directly calculated to minimize the inevitable shifting of the cen- 

 ters which takes place, especially in disturbed waters : so far from 

 Seeking a change of length as the propelling force increases, the ob- 

 ject seems to be to keep the immersed body as nearly as possible 

 the same as each part is in turn supported by the wave. As the bow 

 is immersed in a sea, the section at the fore end of the waterline 

 No. 0, is nearly of the same form as the next section abaft it while 

 this section in turn assumes the same shape and area as the next 

 section abaft it, The midship section shifts forward to No 6 or No 5 

 without any radical change of form and area, while the sections' 

 i-ikeu out aft vary in the same manner. Not only Gloriana but all 

 flu- later boats show this same peculiarity, a form which may be de- 

 pressed by bow or stern and yet retains nearly the same length of 

 waterline and form and area of the immersed sections, and conse- 

 quently of the whole under-water body. With such a form as this, 

 the disturbing influences of a long, hollow how dropping into a 

 sea, or of a full heavy quarter immersed for a moment and then 

 lifted out are avoided, with a great gain in easy motion, iu speed and 

 m steering. ^ 



No doubt a part of Gloriana's merit lies in this direction, but be- 

 yond this, she is unquestionably a very large and powerful boat for 

 her class. This superiority does not lie in the direction of any fan- 

 tastic expansion of the waterline, varying from time to time but it 

 is constant at all times, the yacht as she lies at anchor is larger and 



DIAGRAM OF IMMERSED AND EMERSED SIDES. 



. . — ~- " ' * C~ '~T> 



.._ . 



L O AD W ATE R LINE PLANE, IMMERSED AND EMERSED SIDES. 



ends is one that is frequently discussed by yachtsmen, and wbich 

 has been elevated to a far higher deg<ee of importance than it really 

 deserves, but it has never been carried to such an absurd extreme' as 

 in the present case. The fallacy that a substantial gain in effective 

 length can be effected by means of long counters and clipper stems 

 has long been popular, in spite of the absence of any scientific rea- 

 sons for it, and of much proof in the other direction afforded by the 

 performance of plumb-stemmed boats with short counters. The 

 familiar Cape Cod catboat is an example of a fast boat with square 

 ends, and the 2^s rater, Glycera, whose lines we published April 21, 

 is but one out of some two-score of successful boats by the same de- 

 signer which have won from the clipper-stemmed craft. Even the 

 moderate amount of gain which is possible in the case of a craft 

 with long ends compared with one with square ends, is lacking in 

 the case of Gloriana compared with the resr of her class, as all of the 

 others are carried well out over the water, forward and aft, so that 

 whatever gain accrues to Gloriana is shared by them in a great 

 degree. 



The theory we have qnoted, that a yacht may measure but 46ft. 

 when at anchor and yet increase this length by 20 feet as soon as she 

 begins to move, is so absurd that tb= only wonder is that it has 



more powerful than the others of her class, by virtue of the extended 

 area of the load water plane. The advantages bf a large area of 

 load water plane have always been realized by successful de- 

 ignerg, the Herresboffs in particular, but there has beeu an obstacle 

 m the way in the form of theories and dogmas in regard to the ex- 

 aet shape of the waterlines, and though these theories have i hanged 

 Irom time to time, they still exist, and have exercised a fer too great 

 influence with many designers. 



Considering the ease with which the horizontal waterlines are ob- 

 tained from a wooden model or laid down in a design, it is not sur- 

 prising that m the course of years they should have been exalted to 

 a position of importance out of all proportion to their merits, and 

 should have taken precedence over all the other lines of a yacht 

 The young yachtsman from the first sees the waterlines prominently 

 outlined on every model, he is treated to lengthy dissertation on the 

 merits of a little hollow there and just so rnueh fullness here, and if 

 he takes up designing or turns to the books for information the 

 waterlines confront him everywhere. The subordinate theories as to 

 the exact shape of the waterlines may change from time to time, but 

 the main theory, that the essential feature of a design is the form of 

 the waterlines, has existed for many years. At one time the fad of 



