I give here dimensions, drawings, and diagrams of two typical yachts'
sailing boats, well suited for knocking about in all sorts of weather,
one belonging to the writer, the other to Colonel Gamble of the
'Aline.' The former, the 'Black Pearl's' cutter, is a 25-ft. lifeboat,
with copper air-tanks, built by Messrs. Fay & Co., from a design of T.
Soper's, with a centreboard, and sloop-rigged. She has a high side,
and a good deal of shear, while her forefoot is somewhat cut away. She
is fairly fast, and weatherly, fairly stiff, and a beautiful sea-boat.
She carries usually 11 cwt. of ballast, occasionally as much as 14
cwt.
[Illustration: s.s. 'Aline's' lifeboat (Colonel Gamble, C.B.)]
Colonel Gamble's boat is a 22-ft. lifeboat, with wooden air-tight
compartments, of the Lamb & White pattern, built by Hansen & Sons. She
has no centreboard, but a 9-in. wooden false keel, deepest in the
middle, and tapering to nothing at the ends, is screwed on to her
keel. She carries a standing lug mainsail, and a foresail. The peak of
her lugsail is cut very high, and her mast, yard, and boom are very
light and workmanlike. Her side and ends are less high out of the
water, and she is in every way a smaller boat than the 'Black Pearl's'
cutter, and probably less of a boat in a sea-way: but she can sail
round the latter in a light wind, and in a strong one is very nearly
as fast, and stands up like a stake. The reader will please to notice
the flatness of her floor in the drawing of her midship section on p.
207. She has been, I believe, very successful in races against boats
of her class, showing that speed and stability are not quite so
incompatible as they are sometimes supposed to be. She carries usually
about 9 cwt. of ballast in shot-bags, and when full of water will
float 4 in. clear of the sea, with that ballast and four men on board.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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