Oct. 8, i8g§.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
man-of-war, yacht or fishing smack, was to be sailed 
as nearly upright as possible, While employing various 
means, such as beam, live or dead ballast, or cargo, to 
this end, the designer, even in the most remote days, 
fully understood that no possible power could retain a 
vessel when floating freely and under way with sails set 
in the same upright position which she would as- 
sume when at anchor, or in which she would naturally 
be represented in a design. The advantages of the up- 
right position are plainly apparent, the lateral plane is 
made effective in the highest degree, as its actual area is 
at the maximum in the upright position, and the flat 
portions of this area, the keel, centerboard and side, are 
opposed to the water at the most effective angle; in the 
same way the effective area of the sails is at its maxi- 
mum in the upright position, and the effect of the wind 
is greater as the angle at which it strikes the sail is 
increased. The comfort of passengers and crew, the 
facility for working about the decks, and especially the 
efficiency of guns, are all at their maximum in the up- 
right position with decks level. 
With a full realization both of the desirability and 
impossibility of holding his vessel in an upright posi- 
tion, the designer has accepted as one of the inevitable 
FIG. 2. QUESTION, 15-FOOTER, 1895. 
and unalterable limitations of Ids work that the angle of 
heel when under way can never be less than a certain 
minimum, and should never exceed a certain maximum. 
The actual limits for most sailing vessels may be placed 
at a minimum angle of about 5 degrees and a maximum 
of about 20 degrees. There are exceptions, the old nar- 
row cutters for instance greatly exceeded both limits, 
heeling heavily even in a light breeze, and lying almost 
flat in a hard blow. Both the old-time builder and the 
modern yacht designer assumed as a practical working" 
basis that his vessel would or should do her best work, 
attaining her highest speed under full sail, at an angle 
of about 15 degrees; and the latter at least relied for suc- 
cess largely upon his careful adjustment of the volumes 
and centers of his "in-and-out wedges," the portions of 
the hull about the L.W.L. alternately immersed or 
emersed, as the vessel tacked or jibed. 
The first contestants for the Seawanhaka cup, the 
challenger Spruce II II. and most of the defending fleet, 
Trilby, Trust Me, Olita and Ethelwynn, were designed 
on this principle, of sailing as nearly upright as pos- 
sible, the first two carrying heavy lead bulbs at a great 
depth, and the latter two relying on beam and the weight 
of crew. In this they simply followed all the larger and 
more famous yachts, America, Puritan, Volunteer, Vigi- 
lant, Gloriana and Defender. Ethelwynn in particu- 
lar, like all of the Sorceress type to which she belongs, 
was intended to be kept as nearly upright as possible 
by a crew of two men. her topsides being carried out to 
FIG 3, COMPARISON OF ETHELWYNN WITH GLENCAIKN TYPE, 
an extreme beam at deck of 6ft., to give a seat for the 
crew to windward. She was expected to do her best work 
within a limit of heel of 15 degrees, or even less; and her 
topsides were carefully shaped in order to give her what 
was then considered a good form when heeled to this 
angle. 
The great majority of yachts, as represented by such 
typical ones as America, Puritan, Minerva, Gloriana and 
Defender, whether keel or centerboard, may be classed 
together as of the V type of section, with a material 
amount of deadrise and a rounded bilge. This type is 
marked by a peculiar feature which is little known or 
appreciated by even expert yachtsmen. When the ves- 
sel rests at anchor, of course, in the upright position, 
the longest line of her plane of flotation is that measured 
by the rules, from the fore side of the stem at the water- 
line to the after side of the sternpost; all other fore and 
aft lines in this plane are shorter according to their dis- 
tance from this central axis. The idea is' almost uni- 
versal that as the vessel heels, the plane of flotation as- 
suming new forms, it lengthens very much owing to the 
immersion of the overhangs, forward and aft. This, 
however, is not necessarily, nor even usually, the case; 
on the contrary, the longest element of the new plane of 
flotation may and in all probability will be shorter than 
the measured L.W.L. 
Assuming the vessel in smooth water and at rest, it 
is evident that her displacement must remain the same at 
all angles of heel, and we will further assume that the 
form is such that there is no material alteration of fore 
and aft trim due to heeling. If the vessel be heeled by 
some outside force until one bilge is well immersed, say 
at an angle of 15 degrees, the bulk of the immersed bilge 
will in all probability be so great as to actually lift the 
axis of the normal plane of flotation (the measured 
L. W. L.) several inches out of the water. If the yacht 
is well cut away below water at the stem and stern, as 
in all modern craft, the new waterlinc on stem and stern 
will be materially shorter than the old. The new plane 
of flotation will be very unsymmetrical about the axis, it 
will, in spite of the overhang of the bow, shorten very 
rapidly there, and though it will lengthen considerably 
aft, it is quite probable that its longest element (the 
longest fore and aft line that can be measured on it) will 
be much shorter than the original measured L.W.L. 
This is shown in the accompanying design of Ethel- 
wynn, with the list line at an angle of 15 degrees plotted 
in the three plans. The designed L.W.L., between 
Stations 0 and 12, is 15ft., the displacement to this line 
being i,022lbs. When heeled to an angle of 15 degrees 
the axis lifts out about \ Y>\\\. for the same displacement. 
The immersed and emersed lines are shown in both 
sheer and half-breadth plans, in the latter forming the 
new plane of flotation, which is very unsymmetrical, the 
breadth of the lee side being 3ft. lin., and that of the 
weather side but ift. 2^1'n. The length of the axis has been 
reduced from 15ft. to but 13ft. 7><in. ; and this line is 
also the longest element of the new plane of flotation. 
Thus the greatest length of the yacht when heeled to the 
effective limit is shorter by nearly a foot and a half 
than when she is upright in measuring trim. Such 
modern yachts as Gloriana, Wasp. Vigilant, Britannia 
and Defender, all with long overhangs at each end, 
would show a similar plane of flotation when heeled; and 
it is probable that in none of them would the longest 
element of this plane equal the measured L.W.L. 
The conditions assumed in a theoretical investigation 
of this kind are not quite true to practice; the value of 
the overhangs in rough water is plain enough, though 
even in this case the effective limit is probably much 
more restricted than is commonly supposed, but even in 
in the middle body, narrowing a little at the transom, 
while the bow rounded in very bluntly. 
Question did her fast sailing when heeled to an ex- 
cessive angle, the lee deck awash or even under water 
and the keel and centerboard slot well clear of the water. 
In this position she became practically a narrow canoe 
of V section, one side and half of the bottom form- 
ing the V, while the square chine or corner of the 
bilge was immersed to a length materially exceeding 
that of the measured L.W.L. We have never understood 
the principle on which she and her immediate successors 
were designed, as we have Mr. Huntington's authority, 
within a few weeks past, for the fact that she and 
others, even including Skate of last year, were not. de- 
signed upon this principle, of sailing on one bilge only; 
and that Akabo, of this year, is the first boat in which 
he has tried it. Whatever the real ideas of her de- 
signer were, however, those who have studied her have 
attributed her speed to this evident reduction of midship 
section and beam and increase of length when heeled 
from the upright position to an excessive angle. 
This idea, more or less fully developed, was in the 
minds of many during the winter of 1895-6, and the 
"scow" type was well represented in the second series 
of the Seawanhaka trial races, in 1896. The most suc- 
cessful of the type, the winner of the trials, was El 
Heirie, designed by C. H. Crane, whose lines were 
published in the Forest and Stream of Aug. 22 and 
Sept. 26, 1896. In this boat Mr. Crane followed the pro- 
portions of length and sail area then common in the 
15ft. class, the waterline being between 1:4 and 15ft. 
and the sail area from 240 to 250sq.ft, but the beam 
was reduced, the freeboard cut down, especially at the 
ends, and the boat was specially designed to sail at an 
excessive angle. The bilge was rounded, instead of be- 
ing square as in Question, and when the boat was heeled 
FIG. 1. ETItliLWYNN, WITH INCLINED WAT I2RLINES. 
FIG. 4. EL HEIRIE, 15-FOOTER, 1896. 
ordinary smooth water the theoretic conditions are not 
quite realized. There is a vertical and downward com- 
ponent of the driving- force which actually tends to in- 
crease the displacement (to an appreciable extent in a 
15 or a 20-footer, with a big sail plan and a heavy 
crew to windward), and the inevitable disturbance of 
the water, resulting in a bow and a quarter wave with 
a hollow amidships, tends to settle the vessel deeper in 
the water, and to make the actual inclined plane of 
flotation a curved surface following up and along the 
fore and aft overhangs, instead of a perfect plane. 
Thus in practice both overhangs, but especially the 
aft owe, are utilized to a- greater degree than the 
geometrical intersections and projections of the design 
would indicate. 
The subject of long overhangs, which has been before 
the yachting world since the advent of Gloriana in 1891, 
is probably more thoroughly misunderstood and over- 
estimated than any .otihtT known to yachting. This is 
especially true as applied! to the fore overhang. 
The small yachts of 4895 were all of the conventional 
V type, with one exception, the Huntington boat Ques- 
tion. This craft was a decided novelty, more or less 
of the sharpie type in a way, but still with features 
peculiar to herself for which due credit must be given 
to her designer. She was launched very early in the 
season, and showed great speed in the strong spring 
winds, and she was sailed through until the last races 
of the fall. With about the same designed length as the 
rest of the class, 15ft., she had a small sail plan, and 
her strong point was in a heavy breeze and sea, she 
making a excellent record under these conditions along- 
side^ of very much larger yachts. She was not success- 
ful in the trial races for the cup, sailed in light weather, 
but . when the conditions of wind and sea were to her 
liking she was far and away the fastest of the class. 
These performances of Question were widely com- 
mented on in the papers, and attracted general atten- 
tion to her and to the "scow" type, as it was termed at 
the time. Her general form is shown in the accompany- 
ing cut, the over all length being 24ft.. l.w.l. 14ft. 5in., 
beam 5ft., draft about 3m., and freeboard about 91'n. 
The sides were vertical, the sections showed a round of 
about 2in. across the bottom, and about the same amount 
of crown, the floor had a long easy sweep fore and • 
aft, which was almost duplicated in the deck, the sheer 
line being nearly straight. The sides were nearly parallel 
to about 20 degrees, or with the deck just awash to 
leeward, and the keel at the surface of the water to 
windward, this immersed bilge assumed the form of a 
canoe, with an effective length of 16 to 17ft., and a 
beam of but 3ft., instead of the length of 15ft. and the 
1. w.l. beam of 5ft., which she showed when upright. 
In issuing a challenge to the Seawanhaka Corinthian 
Y. C. after the first races in 1895. the Royal St. Law- 
rence Y. C. placed its main reliance in the skill, both as 
a designer and boat handler, of Mr. G. H. Duggan, one 
of the founders of the club, and the designer of a num- 
ber of small yachts well known in Canadian waters. Of 
the fleet of sixteen yachts built for the challenger's 
trial races of 1896, seven were designed by Mr. Dug- 
gan, the others being designed by other amateurs or by 
professional builders of skiffs and canoes. In beginning 
the work of designing a trial fleet, Mr. Duggan natural- 
ly started with Sorceress and the Ethelwynn type, work- 
ing out several preliminary designs. The general dis- 
cussion of Question and her peculiarities had already 
gone far enough to attract attention to the gain in 
effective length by excessive heeling, and Mr. Duggan 
from the first devoted much attention to the inclined 
lines. When the problem of designing is taken up from 
this new point of view, the inclined lines being the 
primary instead of the secondary consideration, the way 
is clear to an extensive range of experiment and develop- 
ment, as shown this year in the production of Dominion. 
When studied in this way, the lines of any of the yachts 
of the old type, those of Ethelwynn for instance". Fig. 
2, show at the outset a most unsymmetrical outline to 
the inclined plane of flotation, and, what is of much 
more importance,' a decided shortening of the length as 
the upright position is departed from. In going over 
this part of the design with his associate, Mr. Shear- 
wood, who has assisted in the designing as well as the 
sailing of all the Duggan boats, both became con- 
vinced of the material gain both by a reduction of 
nominal measurement and an increase of effective sail- 
ing length, which must follow from an alteration of the 
form of the inclined plane, cutting away at the points 
a and ,b. and adding at c and d, especially at c. A new 
plane of flotation was roughly sketched in, as shown in 
the broken lines, embodying the three ideas of a sym- 
metrical form, a reduction of length about the point of 
measurement (the longitudinal axis), and an increase of 
length at some other point. 
