S3 4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 27, 1895. 
SAIL PLAN OF KNOCKABOUT. 
Defender. 
The Yankee crew of the new Defender reached New York on April 
18, and at once made their way to Tebo's, where Colonia has been 
lying for two years. The interior of the yacht has been refitted and 
gives better accommodation for the crew, and she is now nearly ready 
for use, her spars and bright work receiving the first attention of the 
new hands. Captain Haff and Mate Berry are in charge. 
There has been some delay at Bristol through the non-arrival of the 
brass sternpost from the Providence foundry, due, it is said, to a de- 
fective casting. In the meanwhile the stem has been set up and the 
fore and middle body of the boat is framed out, while the frames are 
ready for the after portion, and will go up as soon as the sternpost is 
in place. The garboard plates, of manganese bronze, with rivets of 
the same material, have been set, projecting two feet below the brass 
keel plate and covering the upper portion of the lead keel. The out- 
line of the stem is reported as beiDg shorter than in Vigilant, while 
there is less round to the frames, the result being a bow more like Val- 
kyrie and Britannia. 
The sails are now well under wav in the new loft, the men being at 
work now on the mainsail. BeBide the suit which the builders will 
furnish, the owners will bave another, and, after negotiation with seve- 
ral sailmakers, a contract was made last week with Wilson & Silsby, 
of Boston. The areas of the sails, as given, will be : 
Sq.ft. 
Mainsail 6,500 
• Topsail and jib 2,300 
Working topsail 1,325 
Total 10,125 
Club topsail 1,848 
Two sets of spars have also been ordered, one from the Boston Spar 
Company and one from Piepgrass at City Island The dimensions 
given for the Boston spars are : 
Ft. 
Mast— heel to head. 102 
Topmast . . . . ; 61 
Boom 103 
Gaff 64 
Bowsprit 44 
Spinaker boom. 72 
Topsail yards 57 and 51 
These spars show a larger sail plan than Vigilant, with a proportion- 
ately larger mainsail and smaller headsails, the mast being further 
forward and the distance from mast to bowsprit end being less. The 
Piepgrass spars are given as mast 104ft. and boom 103ft. Of course 
all of these measurements are in the rough, and the lengths may be 
reduced in use. The housing of the mast is given as 9ft. 
The following is from the Boston Globe of April 21 : n 
Here are some of the yarns which yachtsmen are spinning around 
town. Some of them are true. The truth or untruth of the others 
will be shown in due time. They say : 
That a yachtsman who has had a look at the Defender saw no signs 
of an auxiliary centreboard forward a la Jubilee. 
That the Defender would not need such a board anyway, as she 
is less cut away forward than the Jubilee. 
That although General Paine always had the Jubilee's forward 
board down in going to windward with the jibtopsail set, skipper John 
Barr was never quite sure whether or not it was doing any good. 
That Defender is about as commonplace and non-distinctive a name 
as could be selected, and that it looks as though the syndicate, in se- 
lecting it, took the easiest way to avoid an avalanche of coupon sug- 
gestions. 
That as long as the Defender is the only new boat, and is likely to 
defend the cup, there is not so much assurance in taking a generic for 
a specific title as there would be with another new boat building. 
That sailm ker Wilson has been given carte blancbe on the syndi- 
cate suit of sails for the Defender, and will show yachtsmen a new 
wrinkle or two in specially woven duck of extra fine quality. 
That the yachting writer or correspondent who figures the beam 
of the Defender so close as 23ft. and one-quarter of an inch, had 
better watch closely or a thirty-second of that quarter may escape 
in the final burnishing of the plates. 
That Herman Duryea, who is soon to" marry the widow of the 
late ex-Commodore Wm. F. Weld, and who has taken a house at 
Cowes for the summer, has ordered a 1 rater of the Herreshoffs for 
the racing 1 in Southampton water. 
That another order of the Hereshoffs is for a ^-rater, to meet 
Spruce IV., the boat which J. Arthur Brand, of London, will bring 
to this country, and for the racing of which the Seawanhaka Corin- 
thians will offer a fine international challenge cup. 
That, the yachtsman who has a piece of the duck from which the 
mainsail of Defender is being made at Bristol considers it not of 
extra good quality, and rather coarse and common in weave. 
That the first sternpost sent the Herreshoffs for the Defender had a 
flaw in it, and that the delay at Bristol is the wait for a new one to be 
cast and delivered. 
That the syndicate will not demand the contract forfeit if the 
Herreshoffs deliver the Defender within a reasonable time after 
June 1. 
That the syndicate did not choose manganese bronze plates for the 
Defender instead of Tobin bronze because they cost more, but sim- 
ply because the rol's for working the former were new and hence 
likely to produce a smoother plate than the somewhat worn rolls of 
the older company. . . ' 
That the writer who descends to wilful misrepresentation and silly 
personal abuse of another simply shows the state of his own mind, 
and moves the assailed one to merriment. W. E. Robinson. 
The steamer Paris^brought over the spare spars and gear of Vigi- 
lant, and they have been stored in the Erie Basin. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
The 30 ft. yawl building at Abramson's yard, South Brooklyn, is not 
intended, as has been announced, for racing, but was designed last 
fall by Mr. H. J. Gielow for Mr. J. F. Ackerman as a handy knock- 
about boat for the Sound. As Mr. Ackerman then owned several 
yachts, her construction was deferred until he had sold some of them, 
and has just been commenced. Sbe will be 45 ft. over all, 30 ft. Iwl., 12ft. 
beam and 5 ft. 5 in. draft, with a straight keel from which the stem 
rises in a straight line at a moderate angle, making quite a long for- 
ward overhang with considerable sheer forward. The counter will be i 
similar to Saona and other of Mr. Gielow's boats. The midship section 
is of the form common to the modern compromise centerboard boat, . 
the centerboard being of steel plate. The keel will be of iron, and the i 
construction will be strong and durable, with no special effort at light- 
ness, the boat being intended for merely all around service. She will! 
have a good-sized cabin under the usual cabin house, with a largei 
cockpit. The sailplan shows boom and gaff mainsail and mizzen, and! 
for'estaysail. The boat jwas designed without reference to the new 
Larchmont special class, in fact before the class was in any way 
outlined. 
There seems to be no good foundation for the rumored 34 footer for 
Mr. Maxwell from Mr. Wintringham's design, and for the 34 from Mr. 
Smith's designs, thus far no such boats have been ordered. 
Heedless, cutter, has been sold by Le Grand Olark;to Louis Wunder 
Brooklyn Y. C, who has sold the sloop Vixen. 
A contract has been given out by the Huntington Y. C. for a new 
house 40x25ft.. to be built on the steamboat dock recently .leased by 
the club. The work, which will include a float 30Xl2ft., and will cost 
$1,400, will be completed early in the season. 
Sentinel, steam yacht, formerly owned by Rev. John Aspinwall, has 
just been sold to L. C. Wachsmuth, of Chicago, and will sail for the 
Lakes soon. 
Com. Gould has appointed Gen. Thos. L. Watson as Fleet Captain 
and Dr. Ramon Guiteras as Fleet Surgeon of the Atlantic Y. C. 
The new Vanderbilt 21 footer was originally designed to be 32ft. over 
all, while the Larchmont 21ft. class is limited to 31ft. To bring her into 
the class, it has been necessary to shorten the counter by a foot. 
A meetiDg of the Harlem Y. C. was held on April 17 at which the 
club voted to join the new Sound Union. The vacancy caused by the 
resignation of Com. W. A. Brady was filled by the election of Mr. John 
Wimmer. 
Ituna, steam yacht, has arrived at New York after a long and pleas- 
ant cruise in the West Indies : all on board speaking in the highest 
praise of the yacht. Capt. John Crawford, formerly skipper of Liris 
in her first two seasons, and afterward of Bedouin, has been in com- 
mand since Mr. Armour purchased the yacht. 
JLOn Saturday morning at 10:45 a violent explosion of naphtha took 
place on board the steam yacht Reva, G. L. Ronalds, in winter quar 
