^B. 20, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
IBB 
The Quebec Pilot Boat. 
The Quebec "pilot boat" is to the lower St. I/awrence what 
e catboat is to Great South Bay and similar localities, and 
e ia interesting as being a direct imnortation from Brit- 
ny. She is the chasse maree of the French Channel ports, 
odified to a certain extent by the climate and conditions of 
e lower river, but only to a comparatively small extent. 
The chasse maree, speaking broadly, is a lugger with very 
uff ends above water, a big displacement, and varies in 
se from an open boat to a craft big enough to cross the 
fclantic. The "pilot boat" is never too big to permit of her 
ing handled on shore by her crew, and the boats are 
ays beached at low tide. The larger craft of the river 
■e the universal schooner, the typical craft of America in 
ite of the sloop, and perhaps an adventurous pin flat. 
The pilot boats are not rigged with the lug, and the rea- 
n for this is not hard to find. The lug requires for its effect- 
e use a big crew, and a big crew is not available in the lower 
. Lawrence any more than on any other American water- 
ay. I take it for granted that why no localized American 
aft carries a lug rig, and that why so many of their Europ- 
ji prototypes do is mainly because men were and are more 
entiful, and cost less in wage and share, in Europe than on 
is continent; as it is with an engine lathe, so is it with a 
^11: the American has had to invent something that would 
> the work with the least possible amount of labor, and the 
)ld countryman," to use a Canadian colloquialism, has not. 
The pilot boats are powerful craft of about three beams 
length, built on a straight plank keel, projecting 9 to lOin. 
slow the garboards. They are very full fore and aft above 
le waterline, and have what used to be called a lifting bow, 
id good big quarters. Their dead rise is of about 15* with 
year were sailed under conditions willingly agreed to by the 
Chicago yachtsmen, who at this late day cannot evade the 
blame for their defeat by pleading the "baby act." If the 
Chicago papers are to be believed, as well as the statements 
of Western yachtsmen. Lake Michigan has nothing to learn 
from the East. Apart from the purely local skill, amateur 
and professional, it has now the services of the real designer 
of Vigilant, Gloriana, Niagara and Defender, as well as of 
one of the best of Defender's crew. After the boasts made 
last winter of the superior skill of the men who were making 
the match, designing the yacht, and who proposed to and 
finally did sail her, it is idle to cry over having been out- 
matched as well as outsailed by the other side, which said 
little or nothing, but went to work quietly to meet the chal- 
lenge in the best possible manner. 
The match from the start was an uneven one; it could not 
be otherwise under the circumstances, but the only ones to 
blame for it were the Chicago men. who held back their in- 
tended challenge until their yacht was partly built, and then 
sought to force the other party into a special size and type 
which was not only most undesirable in itself, but in which 
the challenging party would have a very great advantage 
over the challenged. The refusal of the Canadians to build 
after the Niagara class and type made a race impossible ex- 
cept by some special arrangement, and such was made after 
due discussion and deliberation by the challengers, some of 
the most experienced yachtsmen of Lake Michigan. Not 
only the Vencedor party, but the Canadians as well, were 
bound by set limits from the signing of the agreement early 
in the spring; the latter came to tiie line in August with 
warerline and sail area within the limits; the former was 
prepared to sail on a shorter waterline than agreed, and to 
TBCE QUEBEC PILOT BOAT. 
hard bilge, and they are heavily and strongly constructed, 
enerally carvel, but if lapstrake it is of the heaviest and 
rudest description, the full thickness of plank being carried 
ver the lands. This is typical of all the French-Canadians' 
ipstrake constructions. 
1 One very funny part of their outfit is the leg that keep« 
lem upright when they go ashore. It is an iron bar 
hackled to the gunwale, with a shoe on the bottom to keep 
t above the mud. 
' The rig is as shown in the sketch, and while it is much cut 
ip it is still about as simple, effective, and has as low a cen- 
er of effort as a rig can have. The boats are very stiff and 
Fcatherly, and the stone ballast goes up to the windward 
rhen it blows, so that they carry sail hard; but if it blows 
iftrder, as there are no reef points, there can be no "haul out 
,nd tie down." The mainsail is doused, then if the breeze 
she blow some up," in comes the jib, then the jigger sprit 
omes out, then the sprit out of the foresail, and by that 
ime nothing but a pilot boat and a 4,000-tonner have much 
>usiness to do on the lower St. Lawrence. 
One little peculiarity of the rig is worth noticing; the miz- 
,en is stepped off the center to let the straight tiller come 
aboard, .^nd it does not seem to do them any harm. 
The boats are strong, seaworthy and weatherly to a degree, 
.ccidents being unknown, and yet the lower river is no 
looming picnic ground; and they have a great reputation 
or speed, as have all local boats of this class that possess the 
aore necessary good qualities enumerated. Retaw. 
The Lake Yachtsmen. 
FoK a journal which is as a rule both well informed and 
air-minded, the Boston Transcript has, in the following, 
ichieved a collection of misstatements which almost entitle 
b to the local supremacy in this peculiar line of misrepres- 
Intation and undeserved abuse: 
"It looks now as though the formation of a lake yacht rac- 
iig association, on which pretty much depends the future 
if international racing on the Great Lakes, would be a diffi- 
ult matter. The Canadians interested in racing on the 
Jreat Lakes appear to be a grasping and obstinate set of 
nen, and although the Americans have made some impor- 
ant and as a good many of them think uncalled-for conces- 
lions, it is not thought that the rules which have thus far 
>een put forward will be adopted by the four associations of 
rhich the union is to consist. If the reports of the proceed- 
Qgs which have been sent on here are correct, the American 
'achtsmen on the Great Lakes must be a particularly guile- 
ess and unsophisticated set of men, and entirely wanting in 
he astuteness which has so often been shown by their breth- 
en. of the salt water in international racing arrangements, 
^he races last year were sailed under conditions which made 
hem practical gifts to the Canada. There is no question 
hat she is the better boat of the two, but the arrangements 
fere such that the Vencedor could not have won if she had 
een proportionately better than the Canada. At one of the 
eoent meetings for the formation of the union, one of the 
ules which was presented by the Canadians, and was only 
ejected by the Americans after an elaborate consideration, 
raa one providing that the midship section of all new boats 
hould be 35 per cent, of the load waterline multi- 
died by the extreme draft. The Canada's midship sec- 
don is 28 per cent., so that it can easily be seen just 
tbout how much chance there would be to build a boat 
inder such a rule which would beat her. This rule was 
inally rejected, and a set of rules which was not much better 
yas adopted. These rules provided that the percentage of 
ihe midship section of the new boats should not be less than 
hat of certain boats which were cited, one for each class, 
md every one of which was a Canadian. This rule is not 
tnly unfair, but impracticable, as it would be almost impos- 
(ible for American designers to secure the measurements of 
he Canadian boats. The general opinion of the Americans 
iu the Lakes is that the Canada people do not want to race 
'or the cup again." 
There is in the above hardly a single statement which is 
within hailing distance of the truth, and the whole tenor of 
he article is most unjust and niisleading. The races las 
carry a larger clubtopsail. The agreement explicitly called 
for Corinthian crews, and Canada was manned throughout 
by amateurs; while two of Vencedor's crew, offered as 
Corinthians, were rejected by the judges because they were 
professional yacht sailors, their places being finally taken by 
ot hers. 
If their own word is to be taken, the Chicago yachtsmen 
are neither guileless nor gullible, but a particularly sharp 
and wideawake set of men; here is the evidence of one 
Chicago journal, given when the race was first proposed: 
"The Lincoln Park Y. C. is "a club of paramount standing 
with Larchmont, Atlantic, Seawanhaka or even New York 
on tidewater, and just a little bit higher up the shrouds and 
better stayed than any individual club of the Lake Y. R. A. 
(Ontario)." 
The statement of the Transcript, that the proposed rule 
was "that the midship section should be 35 per cent, of the 
waterline multiplied by the extreme draft," would indicate 
that it had paid no attention whatever to facts or common 
sense, but had merely jumbled up a lot of statements that 
might serve to create ill feeling between Americans and 
Canadians; such nonsense as this is of itself enough to dis- 
credit the whole article. The rule regarding the midship 
section was proposed by some Canadian yachtsmen and in- 
dorsed by many of the 'American members of the Lake Y. 
R. A. as fair and sensible. But one American club opposed 
it, the real serious opposition being from two Canadian 
clubs; and this purely for local and personal reasons. The 
action of these clubs at the Buffalo meeting in advocating 
the proposed rule with but a small difference in the size of 
the coefficient, proves that they had no real quarrel with 
the principle involved. The dispute is in no sense an inter- 
national one between American and Canadian clubs, but 
purely a local quarrel between Toronto and Hamilton. It 
was through the American clubs on Lake Erie that the pro- 
posal was retained in the Yacht Racing Union of the Great 
Lakes, just as it was through the influence of a few Can- 
adians that it was opposed in the Lake Y. R. A. 
The midship section of Canada was made public early last 
season, long before the race, by her owners, and has been 
published in the Forest and Stream, as well as in many 
other American papers. The proposal to take for the stand- 
ard certain Canadian yachts was made by the opposing 
party; and was finally reconsidered and killed by the action 
of the men whom the Transcript so severely condemns. 
These same "grasping and obstinate men" have from the 
first agreed to exclude their yacht from any advantages she 
might gain by the passage of the amendment which they 
proposed in furtherance of what they believed to be the in- 
terests of sport on the lakes; and they have also given to the 
new Union, which they have aided to found, the cup won by 
them last summer as ' a perpetual challenge cup. This, as 
the first holders, they are now ready to defend from any 
qualified challenger within the terms of the deed, as recently 
published. 
The local quarrel on Lake Ontario has done enough to 
hurt yachting on the Great Lakes, and there is no need 
whatever for such articles as this in American papers, tend 
ing to stir up ill-feeling between men who have for years 
worked and raced together without a thought of which flag 
they were under for the time being. We hope that the 
Transcript will at least take the trouble, as it easily may, to 
inform itself of the real facts and to make amends for its 
incorrect and unjust statements. 
A ICational Union. 
The failure in the New York Y. C. of the proposed nation- 
al league scheme by no means settles the question, and it is 
evident that the influences to which we have frequently re- 
ferred are now working very strongly toward a union of 
considerable extent. Whether or no any actual union of the 
Sound and Eastern clubs is made this spring is a small mat- 
ter, it is now plain that the parties concerned, both exceed- 
ingly prosperous in their home work, are in harmony on 
many points, and tend strongly toward a union. The posi- 
tion of the three large New York clubs, the New York, At- 
lantic and Larchmont, with regard to the Y. R. U. is still 
uncertain; the Atlantic Y. C. at least is in hearty sympathy, 
and only a nominal obstacle to its membership exists. The 
Boston Qlobe discourses Very fairly and sensibly on the 
question of one union of the coast clubs, as follows: 
In spite of the refusal of the New York Y. C. to join the 
movement for a national association of yacht clubs, the 
movement goes steadily forward, while at the same time 
the plan grows steadily in favor with clubs which do not 
have to support the burden of being the premier yacht club 
of the country. 
Which is as it should be. 
Even if it cannot at once secure uniform measurement 
and classification rules, or even if such uniformity can never 
be entirely brought about, a national association can benefit 
the sport in many ways, and bring the yachtsmen of the 
country into closer and more friendly relations than at pres- 
ent. 
If a club does not care to join at present, the remedy is to 
make so good an association that the club cannot afford to 
stay out; particularly if the association requires no sur- 
render of strictly club rights, but simply asks a lending of 
influence in ways which will benefit all the clubs. 
Uniformity in sailing rules i.s, for instance, one of the 
things which a national association could brine; about with 
advantage to itself and to all of the clubs affiliated with it. 
Time was when the New York Y. C. was considered the 
model for all others, but with the growth of other clubs 
and the spread of racing the clubs have struck out for them- 
selves, and have found that practical experience counts for 
more than prestige. 
The sailing rules are indeed very nearly uniform at the 
present time, but they still differ in several vital points, and 
if these points could be made uniform by mutual agreement 
a standard would be established which even a premier club 
could not afford to ignore. 
With all the clubs in one association, the possibility of 
future uniformity in measurement rules would be largely 
increased, for comparisons of the advantages of various rules 
could be systematically made and intelligently discussed. 
It is possible, owing to varying local conditions, that no uni- 
form rule could be found for boats of under 30ft. waterline, 
but certainly a uniform rule for boats over that length does 
not present such difliculties, while in any event the effort at 
uniformity is well worth the making. 
The question of joining a national association will be 
brought before the Yacht Racing Association of Massachu- 
setts the coming week, at a conference to be held in this city 
between the Association's exectitive committee and a special 
committee from the Yacht Racing Union of Long Island 
Sound. The proposition for a conference comes from the 
New York people, and should result in an interchange of 
ideas which will be of advantage to both organizations. 
So long as the Ma=isachusetts Y. R. A. ia not asked to 
change its present measurement rule, any action of its ex- 
exutive committee looking to a national association would 
doubtless be approved by the clubs now having membership 
in it But even if they did not express approval finally, they 
would undoubtedly like to hear the arguments pro and con 
for a national association, so that the conference cannot fail 
to be worth the time taken for it. 
The way toward a national association will be made much 
easier by a general recognition of the fact that no immediate 
action is possible in the matter of measurement and classifi- 
cation. No club or association has to-day a rule which it can 
confidently support as satisfactory for local or universal use. 
For the present at least, and until some better rule is pro- 
posed, there is no necessity for a difference as to which of 
several imperfect rules is the better. A great many impor- 
tant ends may be attained by the immediate formation of a 
union; but the question of measurement may well be left to 
"local option." It should ultimately be possible to devise a 
rule,or perhaps two rules, for yachts over and under 30ft. , that 
would be applicable to every club, large and small, through- 
out the country. The universal adoption of such a single or 
double rule, however, would of necessity be gradual, several 
years at least being required before all the clubs were 
obliged to conform to it. 
In the meanwhile there is plenty to be done in the uniting 
of the different associations and clubs, the unifying of the 
racing rules, and the concerted effort to discover a new and 
better measurement rule. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
At Tebo's Docks, South Brooklyn, the steam yacht Sul- 
tana, J. R. Drexel, is fitting out for a cruise to the West In- 
dies. The steam yacht Buccaneer, formerly Unquowa, has 
also fitted for a cruise to Cuba. Her present owner, W. R. 
Hearst, has refitted her most elaborately below. Lasca, schr., 
Gen. James S. Watson, is nearly ready for a cruise to the 
Mediterranean. Coronet, schr., after her long cruise to the 
Pacific, is again in the basin. 
A yacht club has been recently organized at Osterville, 
Mass., on Cape Cod, under the name of the Osterville Y. C. 
The oflicers are: Pres., A. B. Robbins; Vice-Pres., M. C. 
Crocker; Com., Herbert Crosby; Vice Com., Wilton Crosby; 
Sec'y-Treas., Alexander Till. 
The French yachting journal, Le Yacht, of 55 Rue Cha- 
teaudun, Paris, publishes a very large and complete list of 
works on yachting, navigation, etc., in different languages, 
published or sold by it. 
The Sibbick 52-footer Samphire will this year meet a new 
rival in the Mediterranean, where she now is, in the yacht 
launched on Jan. 9 at the works of A. le Marchand, at 
Havre. Luciole III. is a fin-keel of the modern type, with 
long overhangs— a very handsome craft, to judge from her 
photos. Her owner, Mr. L, Viton, of Bordeaux, is an en- 
thusiastic racing man. The new yacht is one of the largest 
racing yachts recently built in France. Her design and 
construction, as in the case of the very large number of 
smaller yachts, bear witness to the wonderful advances 
which the French have made in recent years. 
Marietta II. has been renamed Llewellyn by her present 
owner, Alfred Carr. 
Some San Francisco yachtsmen are now planning to build 
half a dozen yachts from the designs of Myra, skipjack, 
published in the Forest a>jd Stream. Quite a number of 
boats have already been built from this design in different 
places, giving great satisfaction to their owners. 
Mr. Archibald Hogg, N.A., has recently issued through 
the Tyne Printing Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Enu., a 
useful little book of "Tables for Constructing Ships' Lines." 
The tables, which are adapted to commercial work, passen- 
ger and cargo steamers, etc., are intended to enable the de- 
signer to secure quickly and accurately any required dis- 
placement, coefficient of fineness, position of C.B. and areas 
of sections. By their use the design may be rapidly roughed 
out, with a certainty that these main elements will be cor- 
rect. There is also included a formula for wetted surface. 
On Feb. 1 the Southwork Y. C elected the following offi- 
cers: Com., Joseph Peoples; Vice-Corn., Thomas Platz; 
Rear-Com., William Johnson; Sec'y, John O'Shea; Ass't 
Sac'y, R. Bennett; Treas., .J. Wilhelm; Mea.surers: B. Wil- 
on, T. Murray, C. Brown, R. Benuett; Trustees, E. Dealy, 
B. Wilson, R. Murray; Steward, Harry Quinn. 
The Hudson River Ice Yacht Club has elected the follow- 
ing oflicers: Com., Archibald Rogers; Vice-Com., James 
Reynolds; Sec'y-Treas., John Hopkins; Meas., Thomas New- 
bold. Regatta Committee: Guy C. Baylpy, Chairman; 
Archibald Rogers, H. Livingston, Thomas H. Ransom and 
Charles W. Swift. 
On Feb. 8 a meeting of yachtsmen was held at Oshkosh, 
Wis., and it was decided to attempt the reorganization of 
the Oshkoah Y. C. 
