FISHING VESSELS AND BOATS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
17 
touch a sheet or lower the canvas. These exigencies of navigation have caused some 
modification in the schooner-rigged vessels built or used in Alaska. Captain Tanner 
has alluded to this as follows : 
Most of the sailing vessels of Alaska are schooner-rigged. The mainsail is generally triangular 
in shape, resembling the “riding” sail used by the Grand Bank fishermen. This prevents the use of 
a maingaff, however, which detracts greatly from the beauty of the rig. It is claimed by those who 
employ it that this pattern of sail is much safer in squally and otherwise rough weather, and that 
with it there is less danger of carrying away the mainboom or mainmast in jibbing. Its advantages 
are also said to be greater than those of the ordinary pattern in approaching the many dangerous bays 
and headlands on the Alaskan coast. It is possible that this style of mainsail may be better adapted 
to stormy weather, as it presents less area to the wind, but in an ordinary sailing breeze it labors 
under a great disadvantage in going to windward with schooners carrying a gaff to their mainsail. 
Furthermore, the New England fishermen enter harbors on the Atlantic Coast which are fully as 
dangerous as any in Alaska. The topmast of these schooners is a continuation of the mast above the 
eyes of the rigging. Should the topmast be carried away close to the rigging, an entirely new mast 
would have to be put in. No light sails are carried except the mainstay sail, which is set from the 
deck. A jib and a forestay sail comprise the head sails. The masts are far enough apart to admit of 
a fair-sized foresail, which is essential on account of the small size of the mainsail. These little 
schooners are excellent sea-boats, from the fact that they are very deep in proportion to their size, and 
therefore draw a good deal of water. They have a considerable dead-rise and drag-line. The wood 
chiefly used in their construction is Alaskan spruce and pine. The fastenings are of iron, galvanized 
iron having been employed during late years. The construction of these vessels, so far from ship- 
building centers and with so few facilities at hand, reflects much credit upon their designers and 
builders. (Explorations of fishing grounds of Alaska, etc., during 1888.) 
7. Sealing boats . — Hunting seals at sea has resulted in bringing into the Pacific 
fisheries a new type of boat, the sealing punt used at Toulinguet, Newfoundland. This 
boat is believed to be eminently well adapted to the needs of those who pursue the fur 
seal at sea. The first boats of this kind used on the Pacific, of which we have any 
F. C. B. 1890—2 
