Ballast.--Useful Knots.--To anchor in a Gale of Wind.--Getting the
Anchor, and Casting.--Anchoring for Fishing.--Grounding and
Floating.--Warping by Means of an Anchor.--To make a Running Moor.
Having learned the names of all the important spars, sails, and ropes,
and their uses, it becomes necessary to study the other appurtenances of
a boat to acquire a thorough knowledge of boat-sailing; and for that
purpose we will pass briefly in review the following.
BALLAST.
Nearly all yachts are made of such a model as to need some heavy
material placed within them to enable them to carry sail, and stand up
against sudden squalls and flaws of wind. This material is called
_ballast_, and, as a self-evident rule, yachts that are shallow, and of
great breadth of beam, need less than those of a deep and narrow model.
Many articles may be used for ballast, and a yacht ballasted in many
different ways; but the following-named are those that are most
commonly used. Pig-iron, in pieces that can be handled, is a favorite
kind of ballast: sometimes each piece is painted, so as to preserve it
from rusting, and discoloring the inside of the boat. Iron in the form
of fifty-six-pound weights is also used; whilst a cheaper and very
common ballast is found in the small clean pebbles of the seashore.
Water contained in movable tanks has been at times, with some, a
well-praised ballast; and in yachts where it can be used, and that are
fitted for it, it is of great practical value, as, like no other, it can
be discharged and renewed by means of a pump, according to the will and
weather.
The slag from smelted copper and iron is extensively used, as are also
broken pieces of iron-casting. But perhaps the ballast as commonly in
use as any other in medium-sized yachts and small boats, or, at least, a
part of the ballast, consists of common sea-sand enclosed in canvas
sacks of a not too unwieldy size, that are movable about the bottom of
the boat by means of canvas handles, and can, in emergency, be dumped
bodily over into the sea, thus relieving the yacht of so much dead
weight.
Nearly all yachts that are ballasted, when filled with water, will sink;
and there have been many ingenious ways devised to prevent this, so
that, in case a yacht should be swamped, i.e., completely filled with
water, she would yet float, and make a sort of life-preserver to the
occupants, and not go to the bottom, and leave them struggling on the
surface.
A very ingenious and yet cheap way of obtaining this result is to have
built into the wings of the yacht, under the floorings, and in every
conceivable place that is out of the way, empty tin or iron six-pound
powder-canisters, that seal hermetically, sufficient in number to
overcome, by the air they contain and the natural buoyancy of the wood
composing the yacht, the weight of the ballast, or the tendency of the
same to sink the yacht when filled with water. It will not take a great
number of these canisters in quite a large yacht of medium model; for,
although the yacht will sink without them, it does not take very much of
this confined air to turn the scale, and make it float.
Some yachts are ballasted with lead; and this, if it were not for its
cost, is a prime ballast, taking up less space than any other. And some
care not for the first cost; for, as is truly said, it is a marketable
article, which does not vary much in price: and, even if it should cost
quite a sum to ballast one's yacht with lead, it is so much cash on
hand, and can always be taken out and sold at a moment's notice. Besides
the different kinds of ballast that have been enumerated, there is also
the living ballast, that is to say, human beings, whom one can place in
different parts of the yacht to trim her in different situations. But
this kind of ballast is mostly used in racing, and even then is
sometimes apt to "get out of order", and not "work well"; and the writer
would advise one to stick to iron, lead, gravel, or sand as superior.
Perhaps for bay and harbor sailing and short cruises from port to port,
there is nothing better than the canvas bags of sand, which can be
emptied, if necessary, when one gets aground, or in any other case of
emergency, and filled again at the very next shore upon which one lands
in the little tender.
As a rule, sailing-boats and small yachts are "trimmed by the stern;"
that is, the bow is slightly elevated from the water, the boat being
pressed, by the position of its ballast, deeper into the water at the
stern than at the bow. But every yacht is a law to itself; and no rule
will do for all. The position of the ballast has also much to do with
the steering qualities, as well as affecting speed: if it be placed too
far forward, the yacht will "yaw," and at times, before the wind, be
almost unmanageable. In "going about," also, if the ballast be too far
forward, the boat will often "miss stays;" that is, fail to perform the
evolution of getting upon the other tack.
Misplaced ballast will also cause the yacht to carry the helm in a bad
position, stopping her speed. Bringing a yacht "by the head" with too
much ballast is a serious, nay, at times, a dangerous fault. Bringing
her too much by the stern, by means of ballast, is not so grave a
matter: the yacht may lose in speed, and not be in her best trim; but
she is not as dangerous or unmanageable. It is always better to have too
much ballast than too little. It is very easy to ballast a boat with
sand or pebbles before one starts; but they cannot be obtained after
having once gotten under way; and from this simple cause have arisen so
many disasters that need never have occurred! One's natural pride, and
the desire to sail fast, prevent often the taking on board of the
necessary amount; and then, when it suddenly comes on to blow, the yacht
is found to be crank, perhaps dangerously so. How much better would it
be to have a little too much ballast, which, when homeward bound,--if
there is need of haste, and the weather be settled,--can be discharged
over the side, increasing her speed!
It is only by careful study that one can ascertain just the amount of
ballast that is needed; but, once found, do not change it for light or
heavy weather, but keep it intact, and you and your boat will soon
understand each other much better than will be the case if it be
continually changed. A happy medium is what must be sought for in the
question of ballast; for, of course, in different weathers different
amounts would be in order. But be advised, and be on the safe side: have
plenty of ballast, if the speed is not the very fastest that the boat
is capable of making.
Professional boatmen, lobstermen, and fishermen are never eternally
shifting and changing their ballast: having found the "happy medium,"
they let it alone for the season. It is only the amateur that is
continually sailing his yacht upon her "beam-ends," or watching with the
utmost anxiety the fast approaching squall, for which the professional
cares naught.
KNOTS.
We cannot get along on board of a yacht without knowing how to make a
few useful knots.
The great beauty of a knot, in a sailor's estimation, is not only to
hold well, but to be easily _untied or cast off_ after having been
subjected to a great strain. Of all knots the bowline is, perhaps, the
king, because it can be submitted to a strain that will part the rope,
before slipping or giving in the least (and this holds true of the
largest hawser, as well as the smallest line); and, after this strain is
removed, it can be untied as easily as a knot in one's summer neck-tie.
It can be very quickly made, and is useful in more situations than any
other, and can be used to replace many others. It is used to fasten a
rope in a hurry to the ring of an anchor, or to make fast the painter of
a tender through a ring-bolt securely for towing, and yet so as to be
easily cast off; fastening sinkers upon fish-lines, or the end of any
rope in a position where it will bear strain. Flags may be bent on with
this knot, although sailors have a signal-halliard knot, as they also
have a peculiar bent for fastening a hawser to an anchor; but no knot
can be used in an emergency, in place of all these, like the bowline;
and, if one can have knowledge of but a few, let the bowline be the
first acquired. It will be useful also on shore, and throughout one's
life, making as a matter of past record, to be eternally sunk in
oblivion, those awful knots that never would come undone again. Next to
the bowline in importance is, perhaps, the bend called _two
half-hitches_, or the _clove hitch_, by means of which one can secure
with the end of a rope almost any thing. This hitch is called two
half-hitches when it is made upon its own standing part, and a clove
hitch when made around any other thing, such as a spar; but both are the
same in principle.
The third knot that must be acquired is what is called the _square
knot_, or reef knot, and is used in reefing the sails. The reef-points
being tied in square knots can be easily untied when needed: if
improperly tied in a _granny knot_, they either jam or fly open in the
height of the gale,--when one desires them most to hold on.
With these three knots one can get along nicely, and it is advisable to
obtain a knowledge of how to make them without delay.
TO MAKE A BOWLINE KNOT.
Take the end of the rope in your right hand, and the standing part in
your left; lay the end over the standing part; then with your left hand
turn the bight of the standing part from you, and over the end part, by
a peculiar turn of the wrists, which comes only by practice, forming
what is called a goose-neck on the standing part; then lead the end,
which is already enclosed in the goose-neck, under and around the
standing part, and down through the same goose-neck; and haul the parts
taut.
[Illustration: _Bowline Knot._]
[Illustration: _Two half Hitches._ _Clove Hitch._]
TO MAKE TWO HALF-HITCHES.
Pass the end of the rope around the standing part, and up through the
bight (this is one half-hitch); pass the end again around the standing
part, and up through its own bight, which makes the second half-hitch,
and completes the knot. (See diagram.) Then, if this knot is used to
bend on a hawser to an anchor, it is customary to stop the end of the
rope down upon the standing part by means of a rope-yarn, so as to
prevent all chance of its coming apart whilst chafing about at the
bottom of the sea. _A clove hitch_ is this same knot made around a spar
or other article, instead of on its own standing part. (See diagram.)
TO MAKE A SQUARE OR REEF KNOT.
[Illustration: _Square or Reef Knot._]
First make a common overhand knot around a spar, or any thing that may
suit; then make exactly the same knot again, taking care to cross the
ends so that they will each come out on the same side of the bight as
they did in the first knot. If on either side of what may be called the
right or left side of the knot, as seen in the cut, the ends do not come
out in the same relative place as in the first knot, it is called a
"granny knot," and will not hold. And one who makes a "granny" becomes
the laughing-stock of all on board, and is at once pronounced a
"land-lubber," if he cannot make this simple and useful knot correctly.
So be advised, and learn it at once.
THE ANCHOR AND GEAR.
Nothing on board the yacht, after the sails and ropes, should receive
such attention as the "ground tackle," as it is called. On the anchor
and its appurtenances rests the safety, often, of all on board; and yet
there is nothing so often neglected, or left carelessly out of order, or
the cable in a snarl, as the anchoring gear in a small yacht.
[Illustration]
Every yacht over twenty-five feet in length should be fitted with three
anchors, or, at the very least, two. If three in number, two of them
should be nearly of the same size, and one quite small and handy, which
is called the "kedge-anchor." We will suppose that the yacht is fitted
with three, and, if so, their uses will be as hereinafter described.
In the olden times hemp cables were wholly used, even for vessels of
large size and men-of-war; but in these latter days they have been
replaced by iron cables in large ships, and by manila hawsers in small
yachts. To be sure there are some advantages in favor of a chain-cable
for even small yachts; but as a rule the pliable, soft but strong manila
rope is the favorite. Small iron cables are, for some reason or other,
distrusted; and they are also heavy to get back again, even if of small
size, when the yacht is anchored in many fathoms of water. They are
useful when the yacht is likely to lie at anchor in a sea-way for a long
time, for then they would not chafe; whilst a manila cable might become
seriously injured. Some use a few fathoms of iron chain, and then manila
above that, so as to keep the end near the anchor from fraying on rocky
bottoms. It is to be remembered, then, in a long piece of chain cable,
that the _one imperfect link_, or one that is weak in any way,
_determines the utmost strength of the cable_. In other words, the
strain necessary to part the weakest link makes the stronger ones
useless. Perhaps it is the fear of this weakness lurking in some unknown
link that deters yachtsmen, as a class, from using chain-cables, and
makes them prefer the clean, handsome manila rope, that they know is
just as strong at one part as another throughout its entire length.
_Wire cables_ have commenced to be talked of, made in the same shape as
wire rigging, only more pliable; and these, perhaps, will, in time, come
into use, as they are of uniform strength, and take up less room than
the cumbersome manila rope cables.
If the anchors are stowed below deck, always get them up, and bent on
to their respective cables, long before the time when it becomes
necessary to use them. One never knows, near a coast-line, when an
anchor may be needed.
Always have good long cables, and not nasty little pieces of short rope:
on this depends often the safety of all concerned. Every thing else
being equal, the length of the cables is what will determine, in a gale
of wind, whether the yacht goes on shore a wreck, or gallantly and
safely weathers the storm.
TO ANCHOR IN A GALE OF WIND.
If caught in a gale of wind on a lee-shore, and with no chance of
escape,--the sea being too heavy to "claw off" to windward, and no
harbor to leeward,--the only safety is to anchor; and always do this
before it is too late, and before the yacht has been driven too near the
shore or breakers to lie quietly. Procrastination at such a time is
often highly dangerous; and a yacht may go ashore because she is
anchored in a line of heavy breakers, when just outside she would lie
almost with ease.
It will be found, also, that it _always_ takes longer to get an anchor
down than was estimated, and whilst it is being done the yacht sets
heavily in towards the shore with each sea: therefore anchor _early_.
When every thing is ready, bring the yacht to the wind, and let the
sails shake in the wind's eye; and, so soon as she gets stem-way, let
go the best bower anchor, taking care not to snub her too quickly, but
to let considerable of the cable run out before checking her; then take
a turn or two around the knight-heads, long before there is any strain,
and be ready to give her cable gradually as she needs it. One must be
very careful to get this turn around the knight-heads long before there
is any strain; for the strength of the yacht drifting before the gale
will be under-estimated, except by a sailor; and if one has neglected to
take the necessary turn in time, and a strain once commences upon the
cable, it will then be too late, and the mortification will be
experienced of seeing the whole cable go overboard, unless the yacht be
brought up by its being fastened below; and even then the chances are,
that it will be snapped asunder by the momentum that the drifting yacht
has acquired.
Just so soon as the first anchor bites, and the yacht seems to come head
to wind, and hold, let go the second anchor, and pay out plenty of cable
on both, keeping the strain as nearly equal on each as possible. In
grave circumstances like these of anchoring in a gale of wind on a
lee-shore, it is always well to put down both anchors. Too often one
anchor is used, because the weather does not look very bad, and, as it
increases, the cable is paid out upon; and when, at last, it is
ascertained that the gale has increased, and another anchor is needed,
it is found, after it is cast, that the cable cannot be paid out upon
it, because the end of the cable of the first anchor is close at hand,
and has been nearly all paid out, making the second anchor useless.
Always let go both anchors, one shortly after the other; and if the
weather be very bad indeed, then, when about half the cable is paid out
on the second anchor, lash to the cable the small kedge-anchor, by
fastening it by small ropes, passed around the shank and through the
ring, to the cable of the large anchor, and cast it over the bows. This
is called "backing an anchor" (see diagram below), and strengthens the
hold of the first anchor in a marked degree, especially if the
holding-ground be poor. It is supposed, of course, that, as the yacht
comes head to wind, the jib is hauled down; and now the next thing is to
down mainsail, and furl every thing snug. If the yacht holds well, keep
part of the cables still on board, to pay out, if necessary; and, to be
sure that she is not dragging, cast a hand-lead over the side, and let
it rest on the bottom. Make it fast, leaving enough slack so that the
yacht may sheer without moving it. By trying this once in a while, it
will be instantly seen, from its relative position between the yacht and
the bottom, whether the vessel has dragged. For instance, if the
lead-line should be left up and down, and the next time it was tested
should be found resting on the bottom, toward the bow of the yacht, she
would have dragged just that distance, and needs more cable at once. It
is well always to give a good scope in such emergencies, and allow the
anchors to become embedded at a good angle, and not be played with by
just holding, and then dragging a little, and then paying out a little:
that is dangerous sport. After all is furled snug, nothing else can be
done for safety, except in case of extreme emergency, when, as a last
recourse, the mainmast may be cut away if the yacht is dragging on
shore. But with two good anchors down in, say, six fathoms of water, and
one of those backed, and forty or fifty fathoms of cable out, it will
take a terrific sea and wind to make a yacht budge an inch.
[Illustration: _An Anchor backed_]
GETTING THE ANCHOR, AND CASTING.
[Illustration: _Casting_]
Hoist the mainsail, and take the gaskets off the jib, and see that the
down-haul is cast off, and is clear for hoisting; then heave away on the
cable, either by hand, or by windlass, if the yacht be large enough to
need one, till the anchor is almost broken out of the ground, or what
sailors call, the cable, "up and down;" then, by means of the rudder, if
in a tide-way, cast the head of the yacht in the direction you wish to
proceed upon; trip the anchor; and run up the jib as soon as it will
draw. If there is no tide-way to act upon the rudder, then, before
breaking out the anchor, hoist the jib; and, if it is desired to cast
the boat upon the port tack, trim down the jib-sheet to port, and shove
the main-boom well out over the starboard quarter, and, when the boat
has a good sheer, trip the anchor; and, when she has paid off enough,
let go the port jib-sheet, and trim down on the starboard-sheet, and
haul aft the main-boom, and proceed on your way.
ANCHORING FOR FISHING.
It is often needful to drop an anchor so as just to hold the yacht
stationary for a short time in some known place, for the purpose of
fishing; and these places are almost always ledges of rock, which foul
and entangle the anchor, and it is often difficult to weigh it again. To
avoid this (if there is not too much wind, and the yacht will lie
easily), instead of making the cable fast to the ring of the anchor,
make it fast with a clove hitch around both arms at the crown, and lead
it along the shank of the anchor to the ring, to which attach it by
means of a small piece of spun yarn or twine that will hold some strain,
but which can be broken in case of necessity. Then, when it is desired
to get under way again, and the anchor is found to be fouled, bring
enough strain, by means of the windlass or otherwise, upon the cable to
part the twine at the ring; when the strain will come directly upon the
crown and flukes, and the anchor will almost always be cleared. If it
should not be, pay out plenty of cable, and sail around or beyond it,
and all at once it will be found that it is cleared, and can be weighed.
In anchoring in this manner, it is not, in light weather, necessary to
lower the mainsail, but simply to trim down the main-sheet flat, or
place the boom in a crotch made for that purpose. The jib can be
lowered; and hoisted again when under way.
GROUNDING AND FLOATING.
If the yacht takes the ground on any shoal, and is left by the tide, it
is always proper to get out an anchor in the direction of the wind,
before the tide returns; then, when the water begins to make, the yacht
will not be blown higher and higher upon the shoal as she commences to
float, but will be held by her anchor, and soon ride head to wind or
tide.
WARPING BY MEANS OF AN ANCHOR.
There are times when it is desirable to get a yacht into a certain
position, and there is no wind. To do this, run out a light anchor to
the spot you desire to reach, by means of a small tender; cast it
overboard; and warp the yacht up to it: repeat this till the desired
position is reached.
A RUNNING MOOR
Is sometimes made by casting an anchor, with plenty of scope of cable,
whilst a yacht is running free, or before the wind, and bringing her
with a long sweep, up to and heading the wind, when another anchor is
let go also, and part of the cable of the first anchor hauled in so that
she will lie to one anchor on the flood-tide, and the other on the
ebb-tide.