The safety and comfort of one's ship's company, too, is a double
source of anxiety when some or the whole are not seafaring by
profession. For it must not be forgotten even in the finest weather
that there is no such thing as 'playing at sailors' when at sea. The
risk involved is not appreciably increased by manning the vessel with
amateurs, if the officer in command will take certain precautions; and
this view was endorsed by the insurance companies, who in no instance
increased the premium on the 'Hornet.' The owner must insist on
shipping a due proportion of old hands in each crew, and take care to
train them as helmsmen and leadsmen. He should relieve the 'wheel' and
'look-out' as often as practicable. Above all, he should be careful to
shorten sail in good time, and always at dusk, until he can depend
upon his crew. Active and courageous as the amateur seaman invariably
is, he has not the practice aloft of the professional, he cannot
shorten sail so rapidly, nor does his knowledge of the lead of the
ropes enable him to identify them so readily in the dark. The services
of a good professional boatswain, with an enthusiastic love for his
profession and a cheery sympathetic manner as an instructor, are
absolutely essential for the proper working of a Corinthian ship. A
minute and careful observation of the barometer, and constant
verifying of position by reckoning and by observation, are the duties
of the officer rather than the crew. Unless the yacht-owner be an
enthusiastic navigator, delighting in his sextant and mathematical
formulæ as well as a keen sailor-man, he had better not attempt this
exacting if fascinating method of sailing his ship.
On the other hand, the Corinthian crew is a cheery one, well mannered
and enthusiastic, grateful for any instruction which is given them,
and happy in an exceptional and delightful holiday.
As a Corinthian crew is in general more numerous than one composed of
professional sailors, when they have learnt their stations and become
accustomed to the work, the vessel may be handled with that
old-fashioned man-of-war smartness which is so attractive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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