Length of keel 52 feet Length between perpendiculars 59 " Breadth, extreme 15.3 " Draft aft 10 " Forward 5.6 " Mast from stem 23 " Length of mast 56 " Boom 53 " Bowsprit 32 " Lead outside 3 tons Lead in all 23 to 24 tons Meanwhile in matters of equipment steady progress was being made. Wire rope was rapidly ousting hemp for all standing rigging. Sailmaking, in the hands of Messrs. Lapthorn and of Charles Ratsey, was rapidly becoming a science. Machine-spun and woven flax canvas was in universal use, even cotton canvas was fitfully tried, and from the first strongly upheld by Charles Ratsey, of Cowes; but prejudice was too strong as yet for this material, and flax held the day for many a year to come. It is gratifying that Mr. Ratsey should have lived to see his favourite material triumphant, and to have looked, as he might have done in 1893, at the finest fleet of racing yachts the world has seen, clothed, from the Prince of Wales's majestic 'Britannia' to the tiny half-rater, entirely with cotton. [Illustration: 'LETHE' _163 tons, showing lead keel and construction. Designed by G. L. Watson. Built by Fay & Co., 1889._] A considerable factor in modifying form was the gradual abolition of shifting ballast; this, though not yet actually illegal, was being more and more looked upon with disfavour, and as the use of outside lead increased, it was found that depth was a more than sufficient substitute for weather ballast, especially as beam was being squeezed down by the tonnage rule, and a long lever in this direction rendered impossible. Timber was still the favourite material for building ('Mosquito,' 'Torpid,' and one or two others being the sole exceptions to this rule); but about 1860 a new system of construction was tried in which an iron framework was combined with a wooden skin or planking. This system came rapidly into vogue on the Clyde, and was adopted by several firms there in the building of those beautiful creations, the China clipper ships. The annual race home with the season's teas was the subject of discussion in the great Clyde shipyards, and I can well remember the highest ambition of every spirited lad in the drawing office was to live to design a China clipper. The Suez Canal closed for ever this avenue to fame.