376 
Sailing Hoiise Boats» 
BY FRANK H. BALL. 
Among those who turn to the water for recreation and 
'rest are found several distinct classes. Some care only 
for yachting of the most strenuous kind, and live on the 
'excitement of speed contests, or of battle royal with the 
'ocean when the odds are all on the side of old Neptune. 
'Others prefer to take their water in less heroic doses, and 
•to them the hardships incident to fighting out a storm at 
sea more than offset the pleasure to be derived from such 
an experience. This is the class who seek the more pro- 
tected waters of bays and rivers, where, with comfortable 
quarters from which to radiate, they take to the water as 
much or as little as suits their mood, and when the game 
is not to their liking they are not compelled to play. . 
With this second class the summer cottage is the usual 
thing, or the anchored house boat for those who find a 
special chann in life afloat. The house boat is well 
adapted to this kind of life, because it furnishes a mov- 
able base from which to make day excursions in the 
smaller craft, but the moving of a house boat from one 
anchorage to another, if accomplished by a tug, is or- 
dinarily a rather monotonous experience, depending some- 
what on the power and speed of the tug, and such trips 
are undertaken merely for the sake of reaching the ob- 
jective point. The latest plan, and one which seems to 
be growing in favor, is to equip the house boat with sails 
of moderate size, with which it may be comfortably navi- 
gated, thus adding something of the pleasure of yachting 
without sacrificing anything of the comfortable roominess 
of the house boat. One of the pioneers among this class 
of sailing house boats is the Sommerheim, which appeared 
on Great South Bay in 1S97. The Sommerheim is a flat 
bottomed boat with a large house and a sail plan of mod- 
.erate size. " ^ 
Prior to the advent of the Sommerheim it had not been 
new for sailing vessels to be provided with roomy quar- 
ters of the house boat kind, but in all these craft the first 
idea was to build a sailing vessel, and next to plan a 
cabin and other conveniences adapted to the vessel ; while 
in the Sommerheim the subject was approached from the 
house boat end, and after the cabin had been planned, a 
vessel was designed to carry this cabin and lend itself 
in every respect to the conveniences and comforts which 
are desirable in a boat w^hich is to be used as a summer 
home. The Sommerheim was the result of this idea of 
building a hull to suit a cabin, and a description of her 
may be interesting. 
First a few words in regard to the method of designing. 
It has already been stated that the -cabin was the first sub- 
ject to be considered. Referring, to the plan view, the ar- 
rangement will be easily understood. The main cabin 
was made on each side. The two staterooms next for- 
ward must be 6^ feet each in length athwart ship to 
provide for the berths, and, in order to make a suitable 
passage fore and aft between these rooms, it is necessary 
that the cabin, or house, shall be 16 feet wide, and this 
determines the minimum beam of the middle section of 
the boat at the bottom. A roomy kitchen forward of the 
port stateroom makes the house long enough for a single 
stateroom for the cook and a light and airy toilet room 
cn the starboard side, and the dimensions of the house are 
fixed at 32 feet in length and 16 feet in width. 
Having decided on the house, a hull must be designed 
to carry it. A flat bottomed boat is the best adapted to 
shallow waters, and a scow stern makes a cheap con- 
struction and furnishes a roomy after deck. The breadth 
of the bottom amidship is fixed by the house at 16 feet, 
and, inasmuch as an outside passage fore and aft on deck 
is desirable, the sides are given a flare of two feet each 
to provide such a passage, and the beam is thus fixed at 
20 feet on deck. The length over all must be determined 
with a view to reasonably good lines for moving through 
the water, and the depth made sufficient to insure the 
necessary strength of the structure. In the Sommerheim 
70 feet was selected as a desirable length, with 15 feet of 
deck aft of the house and 23 feet forward, and a depth of 
hull amidship of 4 feet. By placing the cabin floor on 
the floor frames of the boat, the head room may be made 
75/4 feet in the clear, without causing the house to rise 
above the main deck more than is necessary for desirable 
window room, and a house of this kind does not inter- 
fere with sails, nor seriously affect the windward sailing 
of the boat. The roomy bow may be used for water tank, 
ice box, general storage and quarters for the boy or man 
who constitutes the ship's crew. In the Sommerheim a 
large water tank in the bow and another in the stern, hav- 
ing a capacity for two weeks' supply, are piped to the 
kitchen, toilet room and staterooms. A stationary ice box 
with a two weeks' capacity makes it unnecessary to renew 
these supplies except at .convenient intervals. 
The after deck of the Sommerheim, 15 feet long by an 
average width of 17 feet, contains a large cockpit in 
which the wheel is located. • When riding at anchor the 
house protects this cockpit from the wind for those who 
are seated, but does not obstruct the view forward for 
those who are standing, and the man at the wheel has a 
clear view of the water in all directions. This cockpit 
is large enough for two hammocks and several steamer 
chairs, without interfering with the handling of the boat. 
An awning covers this deck, and is set so that the sails 
clear it under all conditions. It is on this deck that the 
house boat party spend most of the time, and in fine 
weather meals are served under this awning. 
The interior arrangement of the several rooms of the 
cabin is clearly shown in the plan view. In the main 
cabin sliding curtains at each side shut off the berths 
from the center of the room, with space enough before 
the berths for convenient dressing. It will be seen that 
sleeping accommodations are provided for eight persons 
besides the cook. The berths are all single beds hinged 
at the back like the upper berths of sleeping cars, and 
underneath each berth is a full sized box for clothing. 
Hair mattresses on woven wire springs make sleeping 
accommodations that do not suggest anything of the 
hardships that are often incident to life on the water, 
while wire screens in all the windows insure freedom 
from flies or mosquitoes, for it is very essential to a full 
enjoyment of this sort of life that petty annoyances and 
inconveniences be reduced to a minimum. If a person i 
Spending but a few weeks on the water be dpes not min^k 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
sleeping on a hard bed, but it is quite another thing if 
he plans to spend a whole summer afloat, and expects to 
go back to the same thing year after year with keen en- 
joyment. The general arrangement of the Sommerheim 
will be recognized as a comfortable one, and in no respect 
has anything of comfort been sacrificed for the sake of 
adapting her to the use of sails. 
In the matter of sails, simplicity of rig and convenience 
of handling were the first consideration. The yawl rig 
was selected for the Sommerheim because it is more con- 
venient to handle than either the sloop or schooner, and 
is surer in stays, a matter of some importance, particu- 
larly in shallow waters. The sails best adapted to this 
service are what is known as the "leg o' mutton" type, 
with its single halliard and without gaffs to hoist aloft! 
For the mainsail a jig attached to one end of the halliard 
provides for stretching the canvas after it has been 
hoisted with the single purchase end, thus making the 
hoisting of this large sail an operation that may be easily 
performed by a boy. The mainsail is sheeted to the after 
end of the cabin within reach of the man at the wheel, 
and the jib sheets lead to the cockpit, making the boat 
a '.'single hander" and more comfortably so than the or- 
dinary catboat. Three shallow keels and a small center- 
board forward of the mainmast finish the necessary 
lateral resistance for windward work. It must be remem- 
bered that the Sommerheim is not a racing machine, and 
the center of effort of her sails is so low that there is 
never any question in a gale except as to the ability of the 
sails to survive, so that reefing is an unknown operation. It 
is true that this condition is only to be obtained by a sac- 
rifice of possible speed in light airs, but when one has 
his house with him there is no need of great haste, and, 
as the breeze freshens and the yachts are busy tying reefs, 
the Sommerheim may be seen romping ahead at an ever 
increasing speed, until, owing to her superior size, when 
the smaller craft get down to two or three reefs, she be- 
gins to show them a clean pair of heels. One of the pic- 
tures which accompany this article shows the Sommer- 
heim in a breeze, and it is easy to believe that she is do- 
ing better than ten miles an hour. Even in these strong 
breezes she handles so easily that the house boat family 
look upon her as a sort of family horse to be driven by 
anybody, and it is a fact that much of the sailing of this 
boat is done by the ladies of the party during the absence 
of the men, and with no other assistance than that ren- 
dered by the ship's boy, who hoists the sails and gets up 
the anchor; so that the frequenters of Great South Bay 
have become accustomed to meet the Sommerheim in 
fresh breezes with a smother of foarn under her bow and 
a girl at the wheel, and with the prospective man on the 
forward deck the only representative of the sterner sex 
aboard. 
This sort of thing would not be practicable except 
under certain conditions. It is of the utmost importance 
that the boat must be so designed that constant alertness 
i.^ not required to adapt the spread of canvas to the force 
of the wind and the carrying power of the boat, but, on 
the contrary, there should be nothing to do when under 
way but to steer and hum the refrain, "The harder it 
blows, the faster she goes." Then, too, the summer cruis- 
ing should be limited to protected waters like the great 
bay on the south shore of Long Island, with its hundreds 
of square miles of shallow water swept by ocean breezes, 
and with good anchorage everywhere for a craft of this 
kind; so that it is only necessary to round up and let 
go the anchor at any time to be in a comfortable harbor. 
Vessels of the Sommerheim type seem destined to grow 
in populariti^, and particularly so because the pleasure to 
be derived from them is so large a return on the compara- 
tively small first cost and the cost of keeping them in 
commission. 
YACHTING NEWS NOTES. 
For advertising relating to this department see pages ii and iii. 
Mr. Charles G. Davis entered upon his duties as 
manager of Captain "Tom" Webber's yacht building 
plant at New Rochelle on May i. Mr. Davis brings 
to the business a ripe and valuable experience acquired 
elsewhere, having been superintendent of construction 
at the Electric Launch Works, Bayonne, N. J., and 
manager of the Metropolitan Boat & I^aunch Co., 
Astoria, L. I. Webber's yard is one of the best known 
about New York City, many famous racing and cruis- 
ing yachts having been built there, and under Mr. 
Davis' manageinent the business is sure to thrive. 
9t 9t n 
Mr. H. C. Baxter, of Brunswick, Maine, has sold 
his steam yacht Venezia, through Manning's yacht 
agency, to Mr. J. H. Morris. 
■t « ft 
Mr. Charles E. Graham, of New Haven, Conn., has 
sold his schooner Adrienne to Colonel Austin, of New 
York City, through the agency of Messrs. Macconnell 
Bros. These brokers have also sold the 21ft. knock- 
about Widgeon for L. H. Dyer to H. I. Whiteside, of 
Bayonne, N. J., power launch to W. B. Smith 
Whaley, of Newton; sloop Nayade, for F. E. Heath 
to C. L. Angell, of New York; 40ft. cabin launch Fire- 
{\y, for F. H. Adriance to G. P. Granbury, of New 
York; 22ft. raceabout Dixie for Mr. Agassiz to H. B. 
Dexter, M- Y. R. A.; 21-footer Zaza to W. S. Fair- 
child, of Newark, N. J.; 36ft. speed launch for Edward 
Oswald to C. E. Laidlaw, Jr., and knockabout Raduga 
for F. S. Schussell to Richard H. Swartwout. 
K ft K 
Ex-Commodore Lewis Cass Ledyard has sold his 
schooner Corona, through the agency of Mr. Frank 
Bowne Jones to Mr. Arthur F. Luke, of Pittsburgh. 
ft ft ft 
Arcturus, the English built auxiliary, owned by Mr. 
Rutherford Stuyvesant, New York Y. C, arrived in 
New York on April 28. She sailed from Southampton 
on April 6 and left Fayal on April 14. Arcturus en- 
coimtered heavy weather after leaving the Azores. She 
Was designed by Mr. St. Claire J. Byrne and built by 
Raraage & Ferguson, Ltd., at Leith, in 1895. She is 
built of steel, and is 169ft. over all, 148ft. waterline, 
27ft. 2in. breadth and 13ft. draft. 
ft ft ft 
Mr. Stanley M. Seaman has made the following 
sales: Launch Helen for Messrs. Ulrichs, Brooklyn, 
to the commission on additional water supply for New 
York City; Lawley raceabout Nirvana, for Mr. E. C. 
Grifhn, to Mr. Charles A. Morss, of I5oston; catboat 
Pete, for Mr. Ferdinand Starbuck, to Mr. I. C. Eaton, 
of Jersey City. 
ft ft ft 
Mr. Clarkson Cowl, of New York City, has sold his 
steam yacht Ardca, through the agency of Messrs. 
Gardner & Cox, to Mrs. Maude Sherman. 
ft ft ft 
Mr. Hollis Burgess has made the following sales: 
The steam yacht Hanniel (in conjunction with Messrs. 
Gardner & Cox), owned by Mr. C. H. W. Foster, of 
Boston, to Mr. Clarkson Cowl, of New York City; 
the 32ft. waterline cutter Vayu for Dr. Richard H. 
Ilarte, of Philadelphia, to Mr. G. H. Winans, of Kala- 
mazoo, Mich. She will be taken to Buffalo through 
the Erie Canal, and from there to Michigan. The 
2S-footer Jingo, for Mr. R. T. Paine, second, of Bos- 
ton, to Mr. George B. Doane, of Boston. The 21ft. 
knockabout Minx, for Mr. T. S. Hathaway, of New 
Bedford, Mass., to Mr. Henry F. Strout, of Brook- 
line, Mass. 
ft ft ft 
Khama, the English-built racing cutter recently pur- 
chased by Mr. Seymour J. Hyde, New York Y. C, 
sailed from the Clyde on April 25 for New York. It is 
expected that she will arrive on this side about June i. 
ft ft ft 
Inia, the steam yacht built at Morris Heights for 
Mr. Henry S. F. Davis, was launched on Saturday, 
May 2. She is 103ft. over all, 84ft. waterline, isft. 
breadth and 5ft. draft. Inia is a flush decked vessel 
and is schooner rigged. Her builders guarantee a 
speed of fifteen miles. The dining saloon is in the for- 
ward deck house and is connected with the galley by 
a dumb waiter. The crews and officers' quarters are 
forward. Aft of the machinery space are four state- 
rooms for the owner and his guests and a saloon. 
The yacht will be completed by June i. 
— • — 
Prizes fof Canoeists* 
In order to encourage canoeists and small boat sailors, who do 
their knocking about on inland waters, to keep a record of their 
trips and experiences, the publishers of Forest and Streau 
offei cash prizes for the best accounts of cruises taken during the 
season of 1903. As few restrictions as possible will be imposed, 
and those given are made only with the view of securing some 
uniformity among the competitors' stories, so that the judges will 
be able to make a fair award. 
The prizes will be as follows: 
First, $50.00. 
Second, $25.00. 
Third, $15.00. 
Fourth and Fifth, $10.00 each. 
Sixth to Eighth, $5.00 each. 
I. The cruise must be actually taken between May 1 and 
November 1, 1903. 
II. The cruise must be made on the (fresh water) inland streams 
and lakes of the United States or Canada.- 
III. The canoe or boat in which the cruise is made must not 
be more than 18ft. long over all. 
IV. An accurate log of the trip must be kept, and all incidents 
and information that would be of value to other canoeists cover* 
ing the same route should be carefully recorded. 
V. A description of the boat in which the cruise is made 
should preface the story, and a list of outfit and supplies. 
VI. Photographs of the boat and of the country passed through, 
not smaller than 4x5, should, if possible, accompany each story, 
and they will be considered in making the awards. 
VII. Stories should contain not less than five thousand words, 
written on one side of the paper only. 
VIII. An outline chart of the trip drawn on white paper in 
black ink (no coloring pigment to be used) should also be 
sent in. 
IX. Competitors should avoid the use of slang or incorrect 
nautical expressions in their stories, as it will count against them 
in awarding the prizes. 
Each manuscript to which a prize is awarded shall become the 
property of the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. All 
manuscript should reach the ofiice of the Forest and Stream 
Publishing Company, 346 Broadway, New York, N. Y., on ot~ 
before December 1, 1903. 
New Yofk C. C. Racing Events, J903. 
The following canoe regattas will be held durihgr 
season of 1903: 
Spring Regatta, Saturday, June 13. — Events: 3:00 
P. M., record sailing, decked canoes, 3 miles; 3:15 
P. M., record sailing, open canoes, 3 miles; man over- 
board race; open canoe paddling, double blades, half 
mile; open canoe paddling, single blades, half mile; 
open canoe paddling, single blades, tandem; tail end 
race. Courses and distances subject to change at 
option of committee. 
Saturdays, July 11 and 18, and Aug. i. — ^3:00 P. M., 
record sailing, decked canoes, 3 miles; 3:15 P. M., 
record sailing, open canoes, 3 miles. 
Fall Regatta, Saturday, Sept. 12. — Full list of events 
will be announced later and will include: 3:00 P. M., 
record sailing, decked canoes, 3 miles; 3:15 P. M., 
