Feb. 10, 1894. | 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



127 



MILWAUKEE Sail Plan. 



ment. There was by some mistake, evidently, another anchor on 

 board, an unprecedented piece of good luck. 



At last we were under way (weigh?) and I wiped the perspiration 

 from my face and put up a prayer of thankfulness, which I fear was 

 not very well received, after what I am afra'd had been some ques- 

 tionable ejaculations during the getting under way. I was congratu- 

 lating myself that for the present, at least, my troubles were ended, 

 when away went the hook of the throat halliard block, and the sail 

 and hoops settled down as far as the peak would let it, and there it 

 hung, a charming object to a sailor's eye. What was to be done? 

 Just nothing, of course, for there was no man or boy aboard to 

 relieve me at the tiller to go forward, lower away, and repair dam- 

 ages; not one of the callow youths aboard knew the stem from the 

 stern. 



It always seemed to me that a boat took a malicious pleasure in 

 taking advantage of your being short-handed to cut up and mortify 

 you in sight of the critics, and especially when you were particularly 

 anxious to have things to go smoothly. It is at such times that 

 every rope is seized with a diabolical determination to kink and 

 tangle, or get overboard, and every halliard to get a turn, and if you 

 have a jib sheet it is bound to get foul of the fluke of the anchor or 

 bitts and hold to windward when you are cominer about; then if there 

 is a sandbar under your lee and you have to do some close steering 

 some woman is sure to get in front of you, or in case you are steering 

 with a tiller she will plump herself down alongside so you can't put 

 your helm down. 



To take a party out single-handed is to offer a premium for all the 

 petty annoyances that sailing is heir to and generally results in dis- 

 aster. Your guests not understanding such liabilities, land with a poor 

 opinion of your skill as a sailor and proceed to criticise thereafter 

 in all the superior confidence ignorance gives. Meanwhile you are in 

 a savage mood at the way things are going and enter a mental 

 resolve never to do it again, or if so never to leave your anchorage 

 without a man or boy to assist in getting under way or coming to; it 

 is imperative, for it is an undisputed fact that every boat has two 

 ends and at times both need attention at the same moment, especially 

 if she is a boat of any decent size. 



The amateur yachtsman is ever under the fire of criticism of the 

 .standing committee, the gentlemen who stand on the wharf with 

 their hands in their pockets, and their greatest pleasure is to see the 

 owner of a boat get her under way and pass judgment on his 

 methods. It is these gentlemen that make and mar the reputation of 

 boats; they have their favorites, and such a boat is a tub and such a 

 >ne a daisy, the favorites generally belonging to some chap of their 

 own ilk. 



In getting under way under the eye of the committee, if things 

 are a little difficult, some craft close under your lee, a strong tide, a 

 baffling wind, too much or too little, or you are trying to make a cred- 

 itable landing calling for a little extra skill, the committee at once 

 shows great interest, with a running fire of commentaries on your 

 nethods. They exchange conjectures as to "What is he trying to do?" 

 •Goin' to run down that ar' schooner, I guess," If you are so fortu- 

 nate as to accomplish your landing without a smash-up, they look 

 grieved and injured. 



There is ever an uncompromising feud between those gentlemen 

 ind amateur yachtsmen, especially in our town (Pan Francisco), 

 where every owner sails his own boat, and that supernumerary luxury, 

 i sailing master, is an unknown quantity, as are also large crews; con- 

 sequently the most the committee can hope for is an occasional job or 

 i day's work on a regatta day. They look upon Corinthians as enemies 

 :o the "profesh," and such enemies as a great grievance; but pardon 

 this digression. 



Having sailed out of sight of the committee, with a consciousness 

 that my stock was way down, but still thankful for being saved the 

 mortification of their seeing what a plight I was in, with the sail half 

 up, I managed with a free wind to make my port, a charming sandy 

 beach under a high bluff with a glorious shade of oaks. Nothing could 

 be more lovely for the picnic, and after landing the party in the small 

 boat, having run the craft as far on the beach as I could, as the sail 

 would not come down I turned my attention to repairing damages. 

 Letting the craft drop back to the small anchor that now came in 

 play, I had to take a turn at bailing, as she was keeping up her habit 

 3f leaking, so my time was pretty well occupied while the others were 

 having a good time, and were calling out to me to come ashore before 

 ill the chicken salad was gone. I had just sat down to a dish of good 

 jhings with an appetite born of salt water, which every yachtsman 

 ind boarding-house keeper knows (to their sorrow) is ravenous, when 

 nappening to look seaw ard I discovered the craft walking off with the 

 bit (anchor) in her teeth, drifting to leeward. I dropped the suste- 

 nance and jumped into the boat and gave chase, overhauling her, and 

 »ot sail on to her to get her back to anchorage, by which time it was 

 getting well along in the afternoon, and the chaperones began to 

 gather their chickens under their wings, and the debris of the lunch 



was returned to the baskets, I in the meantime having run the craft 

 on shore and got the anchor bedded on dry land, determined she 

 should not get adrift a second time, but in the excitement of gathering 

 up and getting the people aboard my lunch was a thing of the past, 

 and had to be postponed to a future occasion. 



The weather began to look dubious and the sky to cloud over, and 

 I saw trouble ahead, so with great difficulty I got a reef in. I say 

 difficulty as bearing on the absence of reef points or gear. 



At the start the wind was fair, but our trip involved hauling up 

 close on the starboard tack before going far, and it began to get 

 very squally, forcing me to luff up and shake her, which operation 

 lost all headway and she lay like a log, so I had to take the other 

 alternative and let the sheet go by the run and haul in when the 

 worst had passed, a condition of things that any yachtsman will ap- 

 preciate as being by no means pleasant and certainly not calculated 

 to gain much to windward. 



It grew blacker, and it was evident that we were in for a heavy 

 shower; I looked at the finery and fancy headgear of the female con- 

 tingent and saw a catastrophe ahead, thinking how soon all that ex- 

 hibition of art would lose its loveliness and look like the tail feathers 

 of the drenched chanticleer. I had not much time, however, to give 

 to coming damages, tor I had my hands full to keep the confounded 

 boat from foundering when the squalls knocked her down, the water 

 in her swashing to and fro, gave evidence that she needed bailing 

 badly, but this was impossible with a cockpit full of girls, who were 

 doing the usual amount of screaming whenever she took in water, 

 which she did much too often to please me. 



Several times I thought she would get the cockpit full, and if so I 

 knew she would go down like a log; meantime it came on as dark as 

 Erebus and began to thunder, and the lightning was very lively, which 

 latter I was glad of, as it enabled me to get my bearings. 



Presently down came the rain in torrents, the female contingent 

 had meantime all crawled below and were stowed like sardines in a 

 box and sweltering with the heat, some came out and braved the ele- 

 ments (those presumably wearing their old bonnets). For fifteen 

 minutes it poured down so hard that it forgot to blow, and then it 

 cleared up suddenly and brought a fair wind, and if ever there was a 

 grateful man it was I, for with a free sheet we made good speed, and 

 in the course of half an hour ran alongside the wharf and landed my 

 somewhat bedraggled party. 



The next move was to get the craft out to an anchorage, as she could 

 not be left at the wharf on account of the berth being required for the 

 steamboat early in the morning, so I cast loose, and giving her a good 

 shove with the oar, shot her out to a good drifting and cast anchor, 

 only to find that I was exactly over an old hulk full of spikes, and 

 when the tide fell she would be on top of them, so I had to haul up 

 that anchor and get clear, which being at last accomplished, I rolled 

 up the sail in what would not have passed for ship shape, and going 

 below shed my oil togs, filled my consoling pipe, and sitting down in 

 the cockpit in the then bright moonlight, reviewed the events of the 

 day, and gave the subject of single-handed yachting serious thought, 

 and the verdict I handed in to the court was this, that for the want of 

 an assistant I had made a slave of myself, endangered the lives of a 

 dozen people, had made a toil of what should have been a pleasure, 

 and that the day had been little else than a series of mishaps and an- 

 noyances, and all and every one of them would never have happened, 

 or if so, made trifles by the presence of even a boy, who could haul a 

 rope or steer; in fact, the veriest dunce would have saved me most of 

 the annoyances of the day. 



It is sheer folly for any person to go out in any decent sized boat 

 alone, anyway, for there are so many possibilities of unanticipated 

 accidents, and even a small boy may be a saving clause. How often do 

 we read of the solitary man being knocked overboard by the boom of 

 a small boat, for, as we who have had a crack over the head by a small 

 boom often, know how hard the little spar can rap. The best man 

 may be knocked over by a jibe, or change of wind, when his attention 

 is called away, and even though a good swimmer, his boat getting away 

 from him, and he may sink in sight of it, whereas, if another party is 

 in the boat, how easy to seize the tiller and keep the boat for the 

 swimming man and pick him up. 



Again, the sized boat one man can handle without much labor is not 

 large enough to be safe in outside or rough waters, and sooner or later 

 (generally sooner) the man comes to grief. 



I have noticed that these enthusiastic singlehanders that write up 

 their cruises in the Forest and Stream one season are not heard from 

 the next. One trial seems to fill the bill and satisfy them. 



It is all very fine and jolly for once for the novelty, and the young 

 and enthusiastic amateur thinks he has had a glorious time; but if he 

 goes again, and writes it up, it will be noticed that it is not in the first 

 person, but generally reads "Bob and I." Again, this single fad is a 

 very lonesome business, especially when night comes on; for then it 

 seems as if every living thing was out for your benefit. If on a river, 

 every old owl within five miles will call wound and get himself Jn a 



tree close at hand, and make night hideous until you have cold chills; 

 muskrats will swash around your boat and the crickets will open busi- 

 ness in a concert for your benefit, and very likely some farmer's dog 

 will locate himself on the bank and howl his views of a man who goes 

 poking about in such a cockle shell, getting cramps and rheumatism, 

 and calling it fun. It may do for an afternoon cruise around a harbor, 

 where your chances. are good for being picked up in case of an upset; 

 but all this talk of singlehanded cruising outside is simply bosh, and to 

 do it is tempting Providence and risking life that may be too valuable 

 to be thrown away so foolishly. 



"And that's what I say and I mean when I sing, 

 Oh, bother the preachers of any such thing." 



Podgkrs. 



The story that "Podgers" doth sing, tra-la, 

 Has nothing to do with the case . 

 The man who leaves bailer and ballast ashore, 

 And loads a crank eatboat with damsels galore, 

 As a yachtsman cannot claim a place. 



Such "singlehand" cruising may be very fine. 



But I want no dudes, damsels nor catboats in mine. 



Let him take a snug cutter, 



A leaden-keeled cutter, 



That will not bring him into disgrace. 



And then, like the others, he'll say and he'll sing, 

 This singlehand sailing is quite the right thing. 

 Sing tra-la-la-la-la, 

 Sing tra-la-la-la-la, 



Sing tra-la-la-la-la-la-la. Ed. 



Aquarium Exhibition. 



The yachting exhibition which opens at the Aquarium on Feb. 1 

 next promises to be of far greater value than that held last year. 

 First attempts are invariably experiments, and, though there was 

 much of interest in the 1893 display, it seems that the 1894 will be of 

 much more use to those concerned. To start with, the loan collection 

 will be a serious attempt to show the development of shipbuilding, 

 especially in the smaller craft which more closely approximate to 

 yachts, and here we are asked to state that the Aquarium Company 

 will welcome models of every kind which will bear on this point. , If 

 any of our readers who know of such models, paintings, engravings, 

 or even early photos which bear upon this subject will put themselves 

 in communication with Mr. du Plat at the Aquarium they will receive 

 prompt attention. 



The races between the Britannia and the Navahoe will be amply 

 illustrated, both by a model of the English cutter loaned by the Prince 

 of Wales and by contemporary original sketches and photos taken 

 by eminent artists, which are being loaned by the illustrated papers 

 and others. The Valkyrie and the Vigilant will be treated in the same 

 way, so that the galleries will present a resume of the past year in 

 yachting. Another feature will be models sent by the great ocean 

 firms, so that the relative proportions of the vessels of competing 

 companies may be compared. 



Altogether a most interesting display appears to have been 

 arranged, and one which will attract and please every yachtsman 

 worthy of the name. Among the trade exhibitors will be found names 

 of eminence, and the embryo yachtsman who desires to make a start 

 may walk in at one Aquarium door and emerge at the other fully 

 equipped.— Field. 



The Rig on Scarecrow. 



Brooklyn, N. Y,, Feb. 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: The rig on 

 Scarcecrow mentioned by my friend Thomas Clapham as having been 

 illustrated by you in his sketch of my Flying Pontoon (precursor in 

 regular progression of Bouncers, Gloriana, Whalebacks and Vigilant), 

 is fully described in Robinson Crusoe in connection with his famous 

 periauga voyage autour de son tie. Defoe alludes to it as a well 

 known oldtime sailorman's rig, and no doubt it was transferred to the 

 West Indies and the Spanish Main by the buccaneers. I first saw it in 

 British Honduras in 1860, on the splendid dug-out "dories," and built- 

 up-on-dug-out-foundations" creers," a sort of leg-of-mutton ketch, and 

 illustrated and described it in a paper on "Quaint Craft" in Lippin.- 

 coWs Magazine of August, 1875. Having but one halliard with cen- 

 ter of effort low, it is admirable where white squalls abound, especi- 

 ally for single-handed cruising. For racing, with a trained crew, I 

 agree with Capt. Fitzgerald, R. N., that no rig can equal the dipping 

 lug. . W. L. D. O'Grady, Capt., late 88th N. Y. Vet. Vols., 



formerly Royal Marines, 



