the helm up of its own accord, and the boat would fall away from the wind at the very time you would wish her to luff up. Even if you let go the mizen sheet the difficulty was not entirely obviated, for the jerk of the loose sheet upon it affected it greatly. A line from the gunwale to hitch on the tiller, and so fix it, has been suggested, but we cannot think that any pinning of the tiller in a small boat can be safe.

With this

We think the best plan would be to have the mizen bumpkin made to unship, and when alone it could be shifted from the tiller head and stuck into the transom or stern piece. We have not yet tried this plan, but we have no doubt it would be efficacious, and we recommend it with confidence. interchangeable mizen the boat-sailer will be secure against the occurrence of the accidents indicated when he is alone, and when he has a friend to assist him he can reap the benefit of Mr. Powell's plan.

Many boat sailers use battens with their lug sails. This is the Chinese plan; the object is to obtain flat sails; the flatter they are the more effective is the wind pressure. Mr. Powell is a great advocate of them for small boats, and in his drawing, as published in the Field, the battens are shown across the sail. They are pieces of pine about 1in. in diameter, passed through band seams on the sail. We have seen several boats with battens, but their owners have discarded them after a time, saying that the weight and hamper of the battens more than counterbalanced the advantage they were. A much more scientific way of applying battens is that shown in the drawing of the Shanghai yacht, Charm, published in the Field, and afterwards in Mr. Dixon Kemp's admirable work, "A Manual of Yacht and Boat Sailing." In this the simple lug sail had battens all the way up, and from each of these battens were sheets, in the form of bowlines and bridles, leading ultimately

to one sheet, passing through a block at the end of a very long bumpkin out astern, so that a pull on this single sheet came equally upon all the battens. We were greatly struck with this, and intended to apply it to a centre-board yacht we owned, but finally discarded it in favour of a modification of the Una rig, which we shall give afterwards. The great bumpkin was unsightly.

Like most yachtsmen, we are fond of trying experiments, and we have made models of many rigs, and also fitted up boats of different sizes with such rigs. One we mean to try some day is a very beamy boat, of light draught, with one large lug sail and battens, with two sets of sheets leading from the battens on each side of the sail to outriggers on each gunwale. By this means the yard would be trimmed at the same angle as the boom, and the whole sail be as flat as a board.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SLOOP RIG.

THE ALERT

NORFOLK

CENTRE-BOARD BOATS.

THE Sloop rig is undoubtedly the most handsome of all rigs. Fig. 20 delineates it, and is drawn to scale. It will be seen that there is a bowsprit at the stem, or an iron bumpkin where the foresail is small. The mainsail is hoisted by two halyards, the

FIG. 20. THE SLOOP.

main halyard and the peak, though why the Una style of halyard, afterwards mentioned, should not be adopted, we never could see. In hoisting the sail the throat (or main) and the peak halyards are hauled in at the same time, so that the gaff goes up at right angles to the mast until the sail is up as far as the hoist will allow. Then

the peak halyard is belayed while the other is swigged on, and made as taut as possible and belayed. Then swig on the peak until there is a wrinkle in the sail at the throat, when it may be belayed. Then the topping lift, whose office is to top or

lift up the boom, is slacked a little, so that the sail bears the weight of the boom. It will be seen that the boom end fits into a gooseneck, or movable joint, at the mast, so as to allow it free play. Sometimes jaws are used like those on the gaff, but these are not so convenient. The gaff has jaws which half encircle the mast, and a parrel, or cord, with perforated wooden balls strung on to it, prevents the gaff from being blown away from the mast, and at the same time permits it to run freely up and down. The luff of the sail is fastened at intervals to rings or hoops which are round the mast, and the latter should be greased in case the hoops stick, as they often do. The main sheet may be arranged in many ways. For an open boat, such as we are now considering, the best way is to have a horse, which is an iron bar fitted across the counter or on the transom, passing over the rudder-head, with a ring work

To this

FIG. 21. THE HORSE.

ing loosely along it (Fig. 21). ring is secured a double block. Another is on the boom, and the sheet passes through these with the fall leading down to the hand of the steersman, and belaying to a cleat. If the wind is light, the sheet need not be rove through all the sheaves of the blocks.

The jib or foresail is hoisted by a halyard, which in general passes through a block on the mast, then through a loose block with a hook, one end being fast to the upper block and the fall leading down on deck. The bowsprit has a bobstay, and in large boats bowsprit shrouds as well. These are always useful, because a line can be bent across and across, so as to form a sort of network, into which the sail can be lowered without, fear of its falling into the water. Upon the bowsprit is an iron ring, called a traveller, which is hauled out to the end by the jib outhaul passing through a sheave at the end of the bowsprit, and belayed to the bowsprit bitts.

D

The clue of the jib is hooked on a hook on the traveller and the sail is hauled out as far as it will go. Next the hook of the halyard block is fastened to the throat of the jib, and the sail is rapidly hoisted and sweated up as taut as ever it will go.

The jib has two sheets. At the lower corner of the jib next the mast, there are two single blocks. One end of each sheet is fast to an eye in the deck, between the mast and the gunwale; the sheet passes through one of the blocks outwards, back through either a large eye fastened on the shroud, which is a good and simple plan, or through another block fastened to an eye on the gunwale or in the water-ways; if the boat is halfdecked, then it leads aft to the hand, and in a small boat there had better be no cleat to fasten it to. The sheets should go outside the shrouds.

In sailing a sloop the jib has to be worked with more care and judgment than the mizen in the last mentioned rig. The manipulation of the mainsail will be readily understood without any further instruction. When running dead before the wind the jib will take care of itself, and is practically of little use, as it cannot be kept drawing. With the wind on any other point it must be kept just full and drawing. If it shakes it must be sheeted flatter, or if you are too close to the wind she must be kept away a little. In fact, the jib is a good index to the helmsman whether he is too close or too full. In tacking when the helm is put down and the boat comes up to the wind, the jib will shake and flap about. The sheet that was the lee sheet, and is to be the weather one, is to be slacked off and the lee sheet to be hauled in as the boat's head pays off on the other tack. If the boat should not come about quickly enough the jib can be backed by holding the sheet aweather, and this will force her round fast enough. In fact, this is the great