Sailing cutter

“ CUTTER-BRIG. A vessel with square sails, a fore-and-aft main-sail, and a jigger-mast with a smaller one. (See Ketch.)
CUTTERS of a ship are broader for their length, deeper and shorter in proportion than the barge or pinnace; are fitter for sailing, and commonly employed in carrying light stores, passengers, &c., to and from the ships; some are clench-built. They generally row ten oars; others of similar build only four, which last are termed jolly-boats. The cutters for ships of the line are carvel-built of 25 feet, and fit for anchor work. ”

“ In short, although similar in general outline, a cutter-yacht bears the same relation to a trading-sloop that a racer does to a cart-horse. Their sails, also, are larger in proportion, and they are fast-sailing vessels ”

“ The gallant fellows had mustered in what they called "good sailing trim," and were just on the point of departure when a cutter was seen urging her wild and headlong course towards the rocks, and from the manner of her approach, a nautical eye could easily detect that either her rudder was gone, or had sustained so much injury as to defy all control from the helm—her sails were blown to ribands—her topmast and bowsprit were carried away—and it was evident to all that she was hurrying to destruction. ”

“ It is a common error to suppose that this rig was derived direct from the cutter by merely adding another mast and sail of the same shape as the mainsail. Such a statement is pure guess-work, and entirely contrary to fact. The schooner originated quite independently of the cutter and much later, though the shape of her mainsail and foresail was obtained from the former. About the beginning of the seventeenth century a craft far from uncommon among the Dutch was the sloop. ”

“ The sail on the mizzen mast now called a driver or spanker was chiefly used when on a wind, being usually stowed when running. The boom will be found to project very far over the stern, even to an almost incredible extent, yet this is quite accurate for the period. As is still the custom, the gaff was kept up when the sail was not in use, contrary to the practice on a modern cutter-rigged vessel. The origin of this sail we have seen develop from the old lateen, and modified in its transition by Dutch influence. ”

“ Double-ended, they are now usually rigged cutter fashion and used as pleasure boats. Clinker-built, they have a very fine entrance and a clean run, and sometimes measure 50 feet in length and 10 feet beam. They used to carry three lug-sails and jib owing to French influence. In the days when sailing ships were more frequent than to-day, Yarmouth Roads were usually a crowded anchorage, and these yawls would be launched almost every day during the winter to assist a vessel that had been picked up by the shoals. ”

“ Iron blocks should never be used in a small yacht. They [52] are only necessary on large craft, where chain halyards are employed.
Where a tackle is used, as in the backstay runners, it is advisable that one of the blocks should have a swivel hook. In this way, all turns will be taken out of the tackle, and jamming will be prevented.
Fig. 40.
The difference between a cutter and a yawl is that the latter has not so big a mainsail as the cutter; the main boom does not project over the stern, but is all inboard, thus permitting of a small mizzen-mast being stepped right aft. ”

“ During that affray the Revenue cruiser received about twenty shot in her sails, about a dozen in her boat, and half as many in her fore-and main-mast. She also had her mizzen halyards shot away. From these details it would seem that she was dandy-rigged, that is to say, she had a mizzen or jigger in addition to her cutter rig, and on this jigger would be set a small lugsail as was the old custom. ”

“ Live with your friends, and don’t make a fool of yourself.
I would not have condescended to have noticed this place, had it not been that I wish you to observe a vessel which is lying along the pier-wharf, with a plank from the shore to her gunwale. It is low water, and she is aground, and the plank dips down at such an angle that it is a work of danger to go either in or out of her. You observe that there is nothing very remarkable in her. She is a cutter, and a good sea-boat, and sails well before the wind. She is short for her breadth of beam, and is not armed. ”

“ A cutter-rigged craft is more powerful than any other, but it is open to the objection that the mainsail—the cutter’s most important sail—is an awkward sail to handle in a sudden emergency, if the craft happens to be short-handed, as we should be. ”

“ You can just see the flare when it lifts on a wave.... Ah! That's better!"
The dazzling white beam from a search-light on the fore-bridge leaped suddenly into the night. "Now we can see the cutter—" the beam wavered a moment and finally steadied. "Yes, there they are.... I say, there's a devil of a sea running."
"Ripping sea-boats our Service cutters are," said another, staring through his glasses. "They'll live in almost anything; but this isn't a dangerous sea. The skipper 'll turn in a minute and make a lee for them."
"Think old Shortie reached the buoy?" ”

“ Of those three varieties of fore-and-aft rig, the cutter—the racing rig par excellence—is of an appearance the most imposing, from the fact that practically all her canvas is in one piece. The enormous mainsail of a cutter, as she draws slowly past a point of land or the end of a jetty under your admiring gaze, invests her with an air of lofty and silent majesty. At anchor a schooner looks better; she has an aspect of greater efficiency and a better balance to the eye, with her two masts distributed over the hull with a swaggering rake aft. The yawl rig one comes in time to love. ”

“ On deck we heard the bos'n's mate pipe, "Away, second cutter!" a voice yelled down the hoist, "Any second cutters down below there?" A couple of men belonging to that boat scrambled hastily up, there was silence again, and we could do nothing but wait and wonder what was happening.
"If we sit here much longer I'm blowed if we sha'n't miss our first dog-watch," said one of the stokers cheerfully, and unbending his cramped legs.
"'Tis a hill wind that don't blow nobody no good," added the other reflectively, and they both spat into a dark corner behind the fire-hose. ”

“ On the size of these vessels, however, it is necessary to remark, that a cutter under one hundred tons is sufficiently handy; but, when the size is equal to that of the larger yachts, a strong crew is necessary, as the spars are very heavy, and a number of men requisite to set or shorten sail. As a single-masted vessel, in the event of springing a spar, becomes helpless, even large cutters are used only in short voyages, or on the coast; for, in case of accident, they can always manage to reach some harbour or anchorage to repair any damage they may [107] sustain. ”

“ Cutbill tried to walk and look as though he were sensible that death lay under his feet and that the shadow of a dreadful event hung dark upon the yacht, but scarce was he abreast of the galley when his spirits proved too much for him, and he measured the rest of the deck in several gleesome, floundering jumps, pounding the scuttle with a capstan bar that he snatched up, and roaring out, ‘All hands trim sail for home!’ The men came tumbling up as though the yacht’s forecastle were vomiting sailors, and in a breath the lustrous decks of the ‘Bride’ were full of life, colour, and movement. ”

“ The second cutter having the start, kept the distance open between her and her competitor (now extended a full length) , which pulled up steadily in her wake; the coxswain of the leading boat dexterously anticipating all his pursuer's efforts to pass, and keeping him dead in his wake until they had shot over half the distance between the ship and the stake boat, when, by a desperate effort, the [169] third cutter appeared to leap bodily out of the water, her oars quivering like the wings of a bird, from the impulse given by those muscular arms. ”

“ Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century the only difference between a cutter and a sloop in England was that, while a cutter carried a running bowsprit and her jib was set flying, a sloop had a standing bowsprit and her jib was set on a stay. The evolution of the cutter rig in England we shall deal with later. ”

“ Not a man upon the fish-cutter had time to throw out a rope. Warrisden saw the cutter's bulwarks dip, the sailor falling in the boat, and the boat upon the deck of the cutter in so swift a succession that he had not yet realised disaster was inevitable before disaster was avoided. ”

“ Under the vigorous pulling of eight stalwart men, the cutter leaped forward at a speed that would have won an ordinary boat race, and in ten minutes more, the sloop could be distinctly made out, the cutter running across her bow. She was close-hauled, with the wind from the south-west, and very little of it. On board of her were at least ten men, as the quartermaster counted them, and there might have been more in her cuddy under the hail-deck forward. ”

“ A shot from the cutter had struck the mizzen mast, a few feet above the deck, and the mast and sail fell over to leeward. There was a cry of rage and dismay.
"Luck's against us," the skipper said bitterly. "Down with the sail, lads. This time it is all up with us."
The sail was lowered, and the lugger lay motionless in the water, until the cutter came up and lay within fifty yards of her. ”

“ The cutter lay like a log on the water, the reef-points rattling on the main-sail like a shower of small shot; and, every time he heard the sound, the man at the helm would raise his eyes aloft, and, fixing them steadily on the gaff-topsail for a minute or two, turn round and scan the horizon ”

“ Immediately a cluster of sailors, in white frocks and trowsers and straw hats, sprang over the ship’s quarter to the davits; and then with a chirruping, surging pipe, a boat fell rapidly to the water. The falls were cast off, the cutter hauled up to the gangway, and soon an officer stepped over the side and tripped down to the boat. The white blades of the oars stood up on end in a double line, the boat pushed off, the oars fell with a single splash, and she steered for the brig. ”

“ They do not have to wait long. A luckless man—imaginary, of course—falls overboard. There is another hurry and scurry, a life buoy is thrown to the drowning man, the cutter is lowered away and under the powerful strokes of six oars sweeps [Pg 88] past the ship to the rescue. The man is saved and the cutter again hoisted on board. This ends the work of the day and all hands are piped to supper. Soon the sunset gun booms, once more the bugle sounds and the great striped flag at the stern comes down. General inspection day is over. ”

“ The first object was to draw water and extinguish the flames, which were spreading over the vessel; as soon as that was accomplished, our hero went aft to the taffrail, and looked for the cutter which had been sunk. "Gascoigne, jump into the boat with four men—I see the cutter floats a quarter of a mile astern: there may be someone alive yet. ”

“ We made all sail in chase, and they anchored close in shore, under a battery, which we did not discover until it opened fire upon us. The shot struck the frigate two or three times, for the water was smooth, and the battery nearly level with it. The captain tacked the ship, and stood out again, until the boats were hoisted out, and all ready to pull on shore and storm the battery. O'Brien, who was the officer commanding the first cutter on service, was in his boat, and I again obtained permission from him to smuggle myself into it. ”

“ The fancy of the forecastle seems to have crept aft among the officers. They, too, begin to feel something of superstitious fear—an awe of the uncanny!
Chapter Four. The Cutter’s Crew.
Manned by ten stout tars, and as many oars propelling her, the cutter continues her course with celerity. The lieutenant, seated in the stern-sheets, with the midshipman by his side, directs the movements of the boat; while the glances of both are kept constantly upon the barque. In their eyes is an earnest expression—quite different from that of ordinary interrogation.
The men may not observe it ”

“ Nowhere do we find royal yachts in England rigged as cutters during the eighteenth century, although the cutter rig was used on private yachts, smugglers, and in the Royal Navy.
There were also "customs" and "excise" cutters, known in the present century as revenue cutters, which, in the United States were all rigged as schooners until they became steamers. About the middle of the nineteenth century there was one celebrated revenue "cutter," rigged as a topsail schooner, called the Hamilton, commanded by Captain Josiah Sturgis, whose sister married Joshua Bates, of Baring Brothers, London. ”

“ When running before a breeze such a craft could set not merely all plain sail, but her squaresail, square-topsail and even stun'sls. Therefore, the smuggling vessel that was being chased must needs be pretty fleet of foot to get away.
H.M. Cutter Wickham
This shows an early Nineteenth Century King's Cutter (a) running before the wind with square sails and stuns'ls set, (b) on a wind with big jib set.ToList
Campbeltown in those days was the headquarters of no fewer than seven large Revenue cruisers, all being commanded by naval officers. ”

“ Captain Moore, the carpenter and mate, also willingly agreed to his proposal to go in the cutter.
The cutter was accordingly got over the side, and the ship lying pretty quiet, they cut the tackles, when she dropt very well into the water, and the penter brought her up. They next went to work with the long-boat, and day-light having fairly come in, gave them great spirits, as they flattered [Pg 311] themselves, should it please God Almighty to send a ship, it would be in their power to save all their lives, the weather being now much more moderate than before. ”