THE YOUNG SCIENTIST, 
17 
loss of the rudder, which was twisted off, 
but the captain was of course provided with 
a second one. The voyage was, however, 
far from pleasant; no reading or amusement 
of any kind. The only excitement that was 
•experienced was when, upon two or three 
massed aft of the centre of length. The 
well-known yacht "America," now owned 
by Gen. B. F. Butler, had all her centres 
massed at three-fifths of her total length 
from the bow, and her behavior at sea is 
very much the same as that of the ''New 
Fig. 3. — LONGITUDINAL SECTION. 
occasions, they found themselves sur- 
rounded by a shoal of whales, that spouted 
and blustered a good deal. Mrs. Crapo 
was specially afraid of the whales. When 
Fig. 4.— CROSS SECTION. 
favoTable winds prevailed, the helm could 
not be left for a moment. 
The experience of Captain Crapo tends to 
show that a life-boat should be provided 
with a large surplus of buoyancy forward, 
and that all her various centres should be 
Bedford," particularly in the feature of 
rising over a wave, instead of cutting 
through it, though not in nearly so marked 
a degree. But then the * 'America " is very 
sharp forward, and her greatest breadth of 
beam is at the same point as all her other 
centres, while the "New Bedford" is quite 
blunt forward, and her greatest beam is for- 
ward of the centre of her length, about the 
same distance that all her other centres are 
aft. 
The "New Bedford" sailed from the 
town after which she was named on the 28th 
day of May, 1877, at half an hour after 
noon. The real start for the voyage across 
the Atlantic was, however, made from Chat- 
ham, Mass., at two o'clock on the afternoon 
of June 2d. She reached Penzance, Corn- 
wall, Eng., on Sunday, July 22d, after a 
passage of fifty days from shore to shore. 
