you are all safe. On entering the lock you will have to contend against the strength of the water, which, in issuing out of the lock gates, has a tendency to turn the boat round the moment her nose shows inside the gates. Ship your oars and be ready with the boat-hook; and if you have outriggers, be particularly careful they do not hit or get jammed against anything. When inside the lock and the gates closed, you may either keep in the middle of the lock with the sculls out, or be alongside, holding fast to the sides, but looking out that the boat's gunwale or outriggers are clear of any projection. The boat must be kept as close as possible to the lower gates-the one which has just been passed-as the drawing of the upper sluices, in order to fill the lock, will cause an eddy, out of which it is better to keep. When the water has risen to its proper height, the upper gates are opened, through which it is easy enough to pass. Passing a lock down stream is much more simple. The water outside it is quiet; the principal thing to be avoided is not to go in too fast. When inside, keep by the upper gates, as the water which is being let out of the lock always sucks the boat towards the lower gates. Inside a lock strict command should be kept over the boat, otherwise she will either hitch against the side, or be thrown athwart the lock and inevitably be filled.

RULES OF BOAT-RACING.

1. All boat-races shall be started in the following manner :-The starter on being satisfied that the competitors are ready, shall give the signal to

start.

2. If the starter considers the start false, he shall at once recall the boats to their stations; and any boat refusing to start again shall be disqualified.

3. Any boat not at its post at the time specified shall be liable to be disqualified by the umpire.

4. The umpire may act as starter, as he thinks fit; where he does not so act, the starter shall be subject to the control of the umpire.

5. Each boat shall keep its own water throughout the race, and any boat departing from its own water will do so at its peril.

6. A boat's own water is its straight course, parallel with those of the other competing boats, from the station assigned to it at starting, to the finish.

7. The umpire shall be sole judge of a boat's own water and proper course during the race.

8. No fouling whatever shall be allowed; the boat committing a foul shall be disqualified.

9. It shall be considered a foul when, after the race has commenced, any competitor by his oar, boat, or person, comes in contact with the oar, boat, or person of another competitor; unless in the opinion of the umpire, such contact is so slight as not to influence the race.

10. The umpire may, during the race, caution any competitor when in danger of committing a foul.

11. The umpire, when appealed to, shall decide all questions as to a foul. 12. A claim of foul must be made to the judge or the umpire by the competitor himself before getting out of his boat.

13. În case of a foul, the umpire shall have the power :--(a) to place the boats-except the boat committing the foul, which is disqualified -- in the order in which they come in; (b) to order the boats engaged in the race, other than the boat committing the foul, to row over again on

the same or another day; (c) to re-start the qualified boats from the place where the foul was committed.

14. Every boat shall abide by its accidents.

15. No boat shall be allowed to accompany a competitor for the purpose of directing his course or affording him other assistance. The boat receiving such direction or assistance shall be disqualified at the discretion of the umpire.

16. The jurisdiction of the umpire extends over the race and all matters connected with it, from the time the race is specified to start until its final termination; and his decision in all cases shall be final and without appeal.

17. Any competitor refusing to abide by the decision, or to follow the directions of the umpire, shall be disqualified.

18. The umpire, if he thinks proper, may reserve his decision, provided that in every case such decision be given on the day of the race.

THE RULE OF THE ROAD AFLOAT.

1. A row-boat going against the stream or tide should take the shore or bank—which bank is immaterial—and should keep inside all boats meeting it.

2. A row-boat going with stream or tide should take a course in mid-river, and should keep outside all boats meeting it.

3. A row-boat overtaking another boat proceeding in the same direction. should keep clear of the boat it overtakes, which should maintain its

course.

4. A row-boat meeting another end-on in still or open waters or lakes, should keep to the right, as in walking, leaving the boat passed on the port or left side.

5. A row-boat with a coxswain should give way to a boat without a coxswain, subject to the foregoing rules in so far as they apply.

6. A boat towing with stream or tide should give way to a boat towing against it, and if it becomes necessary to unship or drop a tow-line, the former should give way to the latter; but when a barge towing is passed by a pleasure boat towing, the latter should give way and go outside, as a small boat is the easier of the two to manage, in addition to which the river is the barge's highway.

7. A row-boat must give way to a sailing-boat.

8. When a row-boat and a steamer pass each other, their actions should, as a rule, be governed by the same principle as on two row-boats passing; but in shallow waters the greater draught of the steam vessel should be remembered, and the row-boat give way to her.

In selecting a crew for a race, great care should be taken that there is not too great a difference between the weight of the rowers. In an eight-oar the heaviest man rows No. 5, and in a four-oar No. 3. The stroke need not be the captain of the boat or the best oarsman; but he should possess an even temper, sound judgment, indomitable pluck, and, above all, a perfectly steady stroke, so that the time from one stroke to the other should not vary by a fraction. Nos. 3 and 7 in a four or eight-oar respectively are very important oars; they have no one directly in front of them, and upon them depends all the oars on the bow-side keeping time. Before going in for a race training is considered to be necessary. This may be described in a few words as get

ting up at seven and going to bed at ten o'clock; meals at stated periods; the most moderate use of liquids; no smoking; a couple of hours' sharp exercise on land, and three hours' practice on the water. The great aim in practising is to row well together. Â moderate crew which has arrived at this invaluable result is more than a match for a much more powerful crew unaccustomed to pull in the same boat. The more pair-oar rowing the men have, the more likely will they be to keep good time and pull the same kind of stroke, both as to form and strength. Practising should be easy at first; but towards the expiration of the training time, the whole course should be rowed over with a long swinging stroke; the time taken should be kept; short spurts should be attempted and good starts effected. Whenever the crew is found to be rowing wildly, an case all" should be immediately called.

66

SAILING.

As a general rule, Sailing can only be fully enjoyed upon salt water,—in the bays of our coasts or the estuaries of large rivers. Inland waters are the best for rowing; but that nobler sport which Englishmen love-are they not sprung from the Vikings of old?—seeks wider fields for its gambols. A sailing-boat on a river can rarely hold a straight course up and down, on account of the windings of the stream, which bring the wind first on the side, then on the bow, and at last dead against her. If she try to "tack," she is no sooner under way on one tack than she is into the bank, and must put about on the other, of course with the same result. Moreover, the main pleasures of sailing are absent the dancing, springy motion, the "plash, plash!" of the waves, and the sweet sea air. The river has none of these, and nothing can make up for them. Good sheltered roadsteads like Spithead, the Solent, Plymouth Sound, and a hundred other harbours on our coasts, and the mouths of rivers like the Thames, are the places for sailing.

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF SAILING.

The head or fore-part of a boat is called the bow or the bows; the other or after-end is the stern. Sitting aft in the stern-sheets, as the place for the steersman is called, and looking towards the bow, the left hand is called the port side (formerly "larboard"), and the right starboard. The sides of the boat near the stern are called respectively the port and starboard quarters. Beam means breadth: thus, "the boat has 6 ft. beam;" "great breadth of beam." On the beam means on or opposite to the side. (The beams of a ship are the transverse timbers which support the decks: their length, therefore, becomes a measure of the ship's breadth; hence the term.) (1.)

The direction in which the wind blows is called to windward; the opposite direction, to leeward. When a ship drifts sideways or backwards from the wind, she is said to be making lee-way. The weather side of anything is that against which the wind blows; the other is the lee or sheltered side. To weather an object is to pass on the windward side of it--between it and the wind, in fact. (2.)

The horizon, like the compass, is divided into thirty-two "points," the names

of which are well known. If you face the wind, that point in the heavens full on your right or left will be "eight points from the wind," and straight behind you will be sixteen points, and so on. Four points from the wind would be half-way between the point you face and the point on your side. (See Fig. 1.) In Fig. 2 the wind is said to be against the boat, or

Ahead, when blowing from A.

On the starboard bow, from anywhere between A and B.

On the starboard beam, between B and D, but especially from c.

On the starboard quarter, between D and E.

Astern or abaft, from E.

On the port quarter, between E and F.

On the port beam, between F and H, but especially from G.

On the port bow, between H and A.

In Fig. 1, wind blowing from 2 a would be called "two points on the port bow;" from 5a, "three points before the starboard beam;" from 10a, "two points abaft the port beam."

SAILING WITH THE WIND NEARLY OR QUITE ASTERN.—If a sail or anything capable of catching the wind be raised up in a boat when the wind is

astern, any one can see that she will scud, or run before the wind, so long as the rudder keeps her straight; and it is easy to understand that the rudder will be able to do this even with the wind from D or F in Fig. 2. An open umbrella has done the writer good service on the Thames, and has carried him up against stream as long as the wind kept well behind the boat.

This kind of sailing is plain enough to every one; but many people are puzzled to see how a boat can advance when the wind is "a-beam," and tending only, as they think, to blow her sideways; and how it can be possible to sail against the wind, or beat up to windward, as sailors call it, passes their comprehension altogether. At first sight it does appear strange that the very breeze which should blow us to the west is pressed into our service to take us to the east. Truly the wind is mighty and man is weak, but skill makes up for lack of strength; thus we prove mind superior to matter, and learn that in sailing, as in all things else, "knowledge is power."

SAILING WITH THE WIND ON THE BEAM-called also Sailing on a Reach or Reaching-In Fig 3 is shown a vessel with a sail represented by the thick line. The wind blows from A in the direction A B. Now, under these circumstances, if the sail were set right across the vessel (as it would be to fit her for moving before the wind), the wind would only strike it on the edge, and produce no effect beyond shaking it. On the other hand, if it were turned "fore and aft "—i.e., with its length in the direction of the length of the vessel-the wind would act upon it with great force, perhaps overturning the boat, and certainly blowing her more or less to leeward. But when the sail is held by suitable ropes in the position shown, then each particle of the stream of air which strikes the sail bounds off, after striking, right astern, or parallel with the line B D, just as a marble bounds off when thrown slantwise against a wall. Now, though this little paper is upon sailing, and not upon mathematics, it is yet necessary to point out, since "action and reaction are always equal," that the wind, in bounding off towards the stern, exerts a pressure-a kind of parting kick-upon the sail in the contrary direction. Two forces are thus at work upon the sail, one trying to drive it sideways, the other forwards. If the boat were round instead of long and pointed, it would, by the law known as the "composition of forces," be driven in the direction CB; but as the shape of the boat is such that it will easily slip bow first through the water, while it will only move sideways through it with difficulty, it follows that of the two pressures mentioned, the forward one, D B, alone produces much effect. Any little falling away to leeward caused by the pressure A B is corrected by the rudder. Thus the wind on the beam sends the boat ahead.

Taking the line A B to represent the force as well as the direction of the wind in Fig. 3, we can, by the law of " composition of forces," resolve it into the forces AC and C B, the latter representing the real pressure of the wind upon the sail. But CB, by the same law, resolves itself into C D and D B. D B (just half of A B) stands for the power finally available to drive the boat forward, while C D represents the power wasted in the fruitless attempt to drive her sideways. When the wind is on the beam about half the effect produced by it on the sail is thus wasted.

SAILING WITH THE WIND ON EITHER BOW, called also Sailing on a Wind or Sailing close-hauled.--In Fig. 4 we have the wind on the starboard bow. By setting the sail to the angle shown, and by the same process of reasoning as in the last case, we get a force resulting in the direction C B, resolvable into C D and D B as before, but with the difference that C D, the part wasted, is now very much larger than the useful force, D B. No arrangement of sail can enable the vessel to advance when the wind is dead against her, and few boats can sail when it is more unfavourable than is shown in Fig. 4. Some have done so, but to sail "within less than four points of the wind" is a rare achievement: a boat must be built expressly for sailing to do so well, since the amount of useful power then gained from the wind is too slight to move a clumsy hull through the water.

TACKING. With the wind blowing in the direction of the arrows, it is evident that the boat at A in Fig. 5 can easily reach B or C, or any point between them, by merely moving there "before the wind." As casily can she reach D or E, having the wind upon her beam in going there; and the last paragraph shows how she can reach F and G, by merely sailing there closehauled and just within four points of the wind. But how is she to approach any point between F and G-H, for instance-seeing that the wind is then