438 
FOREST AND STREAM 
r |Nov. 25, 1905, 
problem, may by the expenditure of a comparatively 
small sum on a houseboat, have a home which will last 
him year after year, where he has no taxes to pay, no 
lawns to mow, no establishment to keep up. He can 
move from point to point, though his moving may be 
very deliberate. Best of all, he has pure air and healthy 
surroundings, and he and his family may be by them- 
selves or may mingle with others as they please. 
There are many men who are debarred from enjoying 
a life on the water by the very reasonable objections of 
their wives and families to the cramped quarters of all 
except the largest yachts. Such objections, however, do 
not apply to the houseboat, where at a cost which is tri- 
fling compared, with the cost of a yacht, one may have as 
much room as could be had in an ordinary summer cot- 
tage, together with a multitude of conveniences and a 
multitude of attractions that the summer cottage would 
never yield. _ 
While we are disposed to think of the houseboat as 
being especially for the sportsman, it is a fact that the 
women and children of the family take more pleasure 
in this life than do the men. They throw themselves 
into the delights of life on the ocean wave; they fish 
and travel about on the water; they have their beds of 
flowers, and the time never seems to hang heavy on 
their hands. 
“Houseboats and Houseboating” is full of novel and 
interesting matters, and may frankly be recommended. 
(Price $3 net; postage 34 cents.) 
A Wholesome Boys* Book. 
The “Scientific American Boy” is a capital book of 
somewhat unusual type, but one that is extremely like- 
ly to have a wide popularity at first with parents, but 
afterward with the boys, who, in perusing it, will be- 
come, if not scientific, at least well informed on a num- 
ber of extremely useful subjects. 
All boys are fond of nature, thou^i probably most of. 
them who haVe not had some special training or asso- 
ciation would vehemently deny this. Nothing appeals 
to them more strongly than a life out of doors, and 
the study of wild things, whether they be quadrupeds, 
birds, plants or stones. They only insist tha.t the things 
told them about these natural objects shall be inter- 
esting; and certainly this does not seem to be asking 
very much. 
The author of the present volume, Mr. A. Russell Bond, 
takes his boys into a camp at Willow Clump Island 
and keeps them there for the better part of the year. 
Incidentally they do some shooting and fishing, but most 
of the time is spent in manufacturing tools or imple- 
ments, or more pretentious constructions, which shall 
be useful to them, either by making them more com- 
fortable, or by serving them in their various pursuits. 
A perusal of the headings of some of the chapters 
suggests what they did when they were preparing to 
go to the Island. They learned how to make and use 
skates, sails, snow-shoes, skis and swamp shoes; they 
made their tents and then prepared for the expedition. 
Arrived at the Island they made surveying instruments, 
and . mapped it. They made a bridge, canvas canoes, 
houses; they had trouble with tramps, during which their 
boat was stolen, and they invented a tramp proof moor- 
ing. They learned signalling by wigwagging and helio- 
graphing; made ice-boats, sledges, toboggans and scoot- 
ers, and later took a long winter tramp. When spring 
came again, they put up some waterworks, built a log- 
cabin and finally a gravity railway' and a cantilever 
bridge. Every thing described in the book is most 
fully illustrated by diagrams, so that the dullest boy 
should not find it difficult to work out any construc- 
tion that is shown. Besides these very numerous draw- 
ings, there are mang capital halftone pictures. 
There is quite enough of story in the first part of the 
book to carry along very easily the instructive part, 
and toward the end, after the boys are thoroughly in- 
terested in their various constructions, there is less of 
the story and more of the building, an entirely natural 
and proper arrangement. 
For any boy or for any group of boys that have the 
slightest mechanical bent, this is a book of the great- 
est value. The outdoor pastimes of shooting and fish- 
ing and most active sports, athletic or otherwise, have 
been very fully treated in many books, but it is a long 
time since' v-e have seen a volume so practical, so use- 
ful and withal so interesting as the one in hand. It 
can be commended to all readers. Munn & Co., Price 
$2. 
Fof Maine Campets. 
“Where the Sportsman Loves to Linger” is a de- 
scriptive narrative of the most popular canoe trips in 
Maine, by G. Smith Stanton, son of Mrs. Elizabeth 
Cady Stanton. It is a pleasant exposition of the routfes, 
the happenings and the needs of the camper who in- 
tends to journey on the Allagash and the east and west 
branches of the Penobscot. 
Mr. Stanton has made many canoe and hunting trips 
through the woods of Maine, and is thoroughly familiar 
with the incidents and the needs of such excursions. 
He writes in a pleasant light vein, with much humor, and 
the book is well worth reading. It is noteworthy for 
the multitude of illustrations which it contains, most 
of them, we may presume, from the author’s, camera, 
and many ©f them of much interest. There are several 
pictures of wild moose and wild deer, besides other 
photographs of camps, picturesque spots and others. 
Price, $1. 
How a 90-Footer Behaves in an 
Ocean Race. 
Being a Short Account of the Performacce of the Yawl 
Ailsa in the Race for the Kaiser's Cap Across 
the Atlantic in 1905, 
BY PAUL EVE STEVENSON. 
A paper read at the thirteenth general meeting of the Society of 
Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in New York city 
on Nov. 16 and 17, 1905. 
The British-built yawl Ailsa was, with one exception, 
the smallest vessel that took part in this great race, her 
dimensions being 89ft. load waterline, 131ft. over all, 26ft. 
beam and 17ft. draft, her gross tonnage amounting to 116. 
She was designed by William Fife and built in Scotland 
in 1895. When she was first spoken of as a possible en- 
trant for the race, there were many whO' considered it a 
preposterous conception and one that was worth hardly 
more than a passing thought. 
“What, enter this ‘crazy-eyed racing machine,’ this 
‘composite basket’ in a race across the North Atlantic ! 
Even if she was a Scotch-built boat, she came over 
originally in a slow canter ; not under skittering racing 
sticks that she’ll have to carry now to make any showing 
at all.” 
In this manner these maritime Solons expelled their 
weighty views and shook, their salty locks. Gradually, 
though, interest in the undertaking gathered energy, and 
when the fine performances were recalled of the Vigilant 
and Navahoe in their ocean passages in fast time and 
without mishap, popular opinion among yachtsmen ex- 
perienced a change of sentiment to a great degree ; and a 
lively interest was kindled among them when Ailsa was 
definitely entered in the great contest. 
This interest continued to grow when the insignificant 
size of the boat, compared with some of her big competi- 
tors was appreciated ; and the experts reached the same 
conclusion, namely, that her only chance of winning lay 
under but one condition of weather, to wit, smooth seas 
and a head wind, or at least a close reach. Ailsa had 
left a very creditable record behind her after a long series 
of races with the Prince of Wales’ Britannia; and if it 
should happen that we could find for her conditions 
favorable to her type, she stood a very good chance of 
finishing among the first three. No one thought of her 
as a possible winner in any other sort of weather, for in 
strong, fair winds her large anagonists would overpower 
her and in the event of heavy rveather they would sim- 
ply drown her out. 
Immediately prior to the start, Ail.sa was overhauled as 
completely as possible alow and aloft; she was entirely 
replanked in many places, and generally strengthened so 
as to withstand the severe tests of a deep-water race. 
Among other preparations, 5ft. were clipped from her 
bowsprit, short as it was, till it seemed no more than the 
pointed end of a cigar jutting out of the stem, while the 
mizzen or jigger had been cut down to nothing but the 
pockethandkerchief of ancient tradition. She carried, 
however, her racing mainmast and the mainsail itself 
was of the exact size for smooth-water xacing. She also 
carried an extra stout triangular storm trysail — the riding 
sail of the Grand Bankers — made of Irish flax, which 
was bent to the mast with toggles when reqnired. A 
hooded slide was built over the forecastle hatchway and 
another one over the skipper’s hatch immediately for- 
ward of the wheel ; while woeden battens and strong 
canvas covers were fitted for the skylights fore and aft. 
The small boats carried in case of accident were fisher- 
men’s dories, lashed three in a nest just aft of amidships, 
the most wretched type of small in case 
of a quick exit, except in the hands of fishermen born 
and bred in them and who know every detestable humor 
of these craft. The writer’s opinion on this subject may 
not be of monumental worth, but he has had a good deal 
of experience in them with the fishermen out of Marble- 
head and the Kennebec ; and while it is true that on the 
Banks a dory carries a ton of fish and two men in a 
heavy jumble of sea, these men know what they are about 
and are not asked to jump unaccustomed into them, three 
or four men to a dory, in a heavy,' breaking sea. If it 
should come to abandoning the ship, this purpose being 
the only excuse for their presence on board, the result 
would be much too painful to contemplate. It is true 
that two large, strong boats secured amidships would 
have occupied more deck space than. the nests of dories; 
but they would have possessed the incalculable advantage 
of usefulness in a disaster. That the Yankee dory, strictly 
indigenous to New England, is the finest sea boat of its 
size known to sailors when properly handled, is a fact 
beyond dispute ; but one has to know them from the cradle 
upward to understand all their madness in a seaway. Sev- 
eral of the other racers also carried dories as well as 
Ailsa; and only a providential immunity from an occas- 
sion to utilize them in heavy weather prevented what 
must have been a miserable loss of life. The notion of 
five or six men living in one of these little 14ft. boats in 
a breaking sea until picked up is unthinkable. 
Because of our handiness as a racing “machine” we 
were enabled to get away first across the line at the start, 
followed immediately by f-lildegarde, Atlantic, Endymion 
and Fiamburg, the latter being the only other pure racer 
in the fleet besides ourselves, though much larger and 
more powerful. On board of us there were 28 persons 
all told, three of us aft in the cabin, while the ship’s com- 
pany included a skipper, two mates, steward, mess boy, 
two cooks, and 18 men before, the mast — precisely the 
complement that handles a modern 2,000-ton sailing ship 
with 3,500 tons of cargo aboard. Our cabin had been 
cleared of all unnccessar}' furniture and decorations and 
a large ice-box had been built into the floor; and as a 
vasty hummock of storm canvas occupied the rest of it, 
locomotion below -was not accomplished by the customary^ 
methods. No carpets were down to hold, any water that 
might be shipped, though this was a vain precaution, for 
the only salt water that found its way^ below* in the whole 
fortnight w'as a bucketful through the inadvertently 
opened comparhonway. From the beginning of the pas- 
sage till w'c let go in Southampton Water. Ailsa leaked 
no more than could be pumped out in five minutes each 
watch, even in heaty weather that we ran into in mid- 
Atlantic — a very dift'erent fulfilment of the dark prophe - 
cies that sprang- from certain quarters before the start, 
-..lien a kasicet rvas too sound an article for comparison 
wdth Ai Isa’s hull. It is also not unworthy of comment 
that only during the first six hours of the voyage did 
we have a head tvind ; after dusk fell that first night at 
sea we held the Jersey coast aboard, while most of the 
others split lacks and went away along the Fire Island 
beach. About 10 P. M. the wind shifted into the south- 
ward from E.N.E., and never again headed us during the 
3,000 miles — a first hand illustration of the “brave west 
winds” of the Atlantic. 
For tw'o or three days afterward, the breeze held true 
and fresh from the southwest, and because it was -fair 
we were able to carry all our kites, including the spin-r 
naker until it split one afternoon, after the spinnaker 
boom had soared up to the spreaders in a heavy roll and 
broke into- three pieces. We fished this boom, however, 
but lost a 20ft. section out of the middle of it, and during 
the rest of the passage we utilized the balloon jibtopsall 
as a spinnaker, as the original one rvould have been too 
large for the shortened boom. The sea had increased 
somewhat by this time and was running urtdef qs in 
swift, white ridges; and Ailsa here first indicated how 
abominably this type of vessel steers running before a 
fresh wind and sea. With no forefoot to hold her steady, 
she yawed to every sea at least five or six points in spite 
of the most skillful steering. Nearly half the time the 
spinnaker was aback and was hindered from swinging in- 
board only by heavy preventers. Indeed one of the most 
disagreeable nights of the passage occurred in this part 
of the ocean, when on one occasion the wind had let go 
to a great degree ; Ailsa minded her helm no more than 
if she had been rudderless, and teetered about on the 
crests with the big mainboom in charge of the deck, hesi- 
tating whether to gybe over or not. Later on this same 
night heavy rain squalls camp on from the southward, 
and though there was not much wind in them we lowered 
down the mainsail and set the trysail for the first time. 
Having to depend on one mast entirely (for the absurd 
little sapling in the stern was a negligible quantity nearly 
all the passage) we had to take great care of the big 
boom, not having the advantage of the two- and three- 
masted schooners that can afford to take some risks on 
their several spars. As for the trysail, it proved to be of 
almost incredible utility ; many times afterward in the 
race, when running before it, with the 80ft. boom flinging 
around and nearly ripping things asunder when brought 
up short by the traveler, we would put the gaskets on 
the mainsail, get the little trysail bent and fill away again 
in perfect comfort; indeed, quite half the race was run 
under this sturdy little sail. With more placid condi- 
tions, however, Ailsa sailed a .splendid race, and when 
laid close to the wind in a fresh breeze with no sea run- 
ning, she steered like a knockabout, her wheel like the 
balance of a watch ; and at times she sailed along for 
several minutes without a hand on the spokes. _ But as 
soon as we ran into a seaway, Ailsa went to pieces, as 
it were. If the sea was ahead she stopped almost dead 
short at every rise; if astern, she showed an. unconquer- 
able desire to look at her own wake. , 
Our best da3'’s run was 268 miles, a trifle over ii knots 
an hour, while in a single watch we did 50 miles and in 
one hour covered 13 knots; and our best day’s work was 
followed at once by the only heavy weather we found 
during the voyage. This was in 45 deg. N., 34 deg. W., 
or about 1,400 miles E.N.E. from Sandy Flook; in short, 
mid-ocean. The gale took an entire 24 hours to make up 
from the southward, with violent squalls and then, shift- 
ing into the northw'cst in a succession of furious gusts 
lasting four or five hours, it settled down at that point 
to what sailors call a heavy gale, the wind rising to force- 
9 or 10 in the Beaufort scale, or from 50 to 60 miles an 
hour. At the end of a day and a half or so, a very high 
and dangerous sea had made, before which rve ran the 
yacht up to the last moment of safety, and then hove her 
to on the port tack under the trysail only, with five oil 
bags over the weather rail. We had run her battened 
down for 30 hours and with four oil bags out ;' but at 
noon she broached heavily twice, the second time under 
the crest of a high sea ; so, bailing oil out of a bucket to 
windward to make a “smooth,” we put the wheel down, 
got the trysail sheet aft and stood by. Instead of lurch- 
ing ponderously up to the wind like a square rigger woul-d 
do under such conditions, Ailsa came to so swiftly as to 
almost throw us off our feet, and in less than a minute 
she lay hove to in perfect ease. 
As long as we ran her before it, we had two men lashed 
to the wheel — merely a precaution — as not a semblance 
of heavy water boarded the boat, although we naturally 
had no assurance as to how long this would last; but of 
solid seas there actually came none on board; no sea 
broke on deck that a man could not stand up against un- 
aided, and we had to lay her to sim.ply because she wc-_ild 
not steer. Of course, this broaching is -a very dangerous 
business, and justified the second mate’s pronouncement: 
