Sailing vessel

“ Always remember that a sailing vessel on the starboard tack has the right of way over a vessel on the port tack, and that a vessel sailing close hauled or against the wind has the right of way over a vessel running free or on the wind regardless of their size, the direction in which they are moving or anything else. ”

“ The superiority of sailing, which a ship fitted for war possesses over one employed in commerce, proceeds from a variety of causes. The first is in the construction of the hull, which in the one is as justly fitted, as the art of naval architecture will allow, to the double purposes of speed and buoyancy; while in the other, the desire of gain induces great sacrifices of these important objects, in order that the vessel may be burthensome. ”

“ All sailors are familiar with the appearance of a vessel high in the air, sailing, as it were, through the sky with her keel in the clouds, and the tops of her masts pointing downward. In these regions the refractive powers are even terrible to accustomed eyes, so wonderful are the sights presented to them. ”

“ Among the nautical rules applicable to the navigation of sailing vessels are the following, viz.:-A vessel that has the wind free, or sailing before or with the wind, must get out of the way of the vessel that is close-hauled, or sailing by or against it; and the vessel on the starboard tack has a right to keep her course, and the one on the larboard tack must give way, or be answerable for the consequences. ”

“ And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about;
But when I'm a little older, I shall find the secret out
How to send my vessel sailing on beyond.
For I mean to grow as little as the dolly at the helm,
[110] And the dolly I intend to come alive;
And with him beside to help me, it's a-sailing I shall go,
It's a-sailing on the water, when the jolly breezes blow
And the vessel goes a divie-divie dive. ”

“ If one should fairly add up the comparative discomforts of ship and shore, would life at sea prove to have the most of them? I came to the conclusion that a good sailing-ship, with agreeable company, is as near a perfect state of rest and peace as ever falls to our lot.
TARRING DOWN.
“Tarring down,” already mentioned, and now repeated because the operation is renewed as the vessel is coming near to port, is to a landsman an animating sight. Every rope in the standing rigging, beginning aloft, feels the smearing process, which is carried on without gloves. ”

“ For this purpose the mizen top-sail is generally used; a hawser should be kept ready to wind her, and if the wind falls she must be hove apeak.—To back and fill. To get to windward in very narrow channels, by a series of [66] smart alternate boards and backing, with weather tides.—To back a sail. To brace its yard so that the wind may blow directly on the front of the sail, and thus retard the ship's course. A sailing vessel is backed by means of the sails, a steamer by reversing the paddles or screw-propeller.—To back astern. ”

“ As every sailor knows, no two ships are alike, even when built from the same moulds; and though this is the case with every water-borne vessel, it is specially noticeable with that almost living thing—the sailing ship. ”

“ A small amount of clumsiness in tacking a vessel will cause her to miss stays and get in irons, that is, she will lie up in the wind, all her sails shaking, and refuse to fill on either tack. She has now lost all headway, and commences to go astern. In order to get way on again, haul the head sheets to windward, which we will suppose is the port side. Put the tiller to starboard. As the vessel is going astern, the rudder will now produce the reverse effect of what it would were the vessel going ahead; so putting the tiller to starboard turns the vessel’s head to starboard. ”

“ Sailing vessels are so infinitely more beautiful and more poetical than steam vessels. On board the latter one never hears the song of the wind or the billows, because of the noise caused by the machinery, and one can enjoy no sea-air which is free from the fumes of the chimney or the kitchen. ”

“ All of these matters must be considered in working out a position by dead reckoning and the course of a sailing vessel when thus pricked out on a chart often looks like the track made by a drunken man, as it zigzags hither and thither, swings about, and varies widely from one side or the other of its true course. ”

“ We do truly make [Pg 101] the ship our home; we have no other thoughts of professional duty or of happiness but what are connected with the vessel in which we swim; we take a pride in her very looks, as we might in those of a daughter; and bring up her crew to honourable deeds, as we should wish to instruct our sons. The rate of sailing of each ship in a fleet, is a subject of never-ending discussion amongst all classes of the officers, midshipmen, and crews, every one of whom considers his own individual honour involved in all that his ship does, or is capable of doing. ”

“ Our vessel being now moored or anchored, we neatly stow our sails, fasten the tyers round them, belay all halyards and sheets, and coil the mainsheet and the other falls. If the ropes are dry, belay them slack, for a shower would shrink them, and if they were belayed taut all the life would be stretched out of them. ”

“ Spill—To throw the wind out of a sail by putting the helm down or by easing the sheet.
Spring—To spring a spar is to crack it.
Spring—A rope used to cast or turn a vessel.
Stand on—To keep a course—to proceed in the same direction.
Stand-by—To be ready for action, as stand-by to let go the anchor.
Starboard—The right-hand side looking forward. Designating color, green.
Steer—To direct a vessel by employing the helm.
Stow—To furl. Properly speaking, a boom sail or any sail that lowers down is stowed. Square sails are furled. ”

“ To cast a vessel is to turn her head from an anchorage or mooring so as to make her go off on a chosen tack. This is sometimes necessary when anchored between other vessels or close to shore. Supposing it is necessary in order to clear to take the port tack: Haul your mainsail over to starboard, putting your helm the same way. This wall cause her to make a sternboard and her bow will fall off to port. A surer way if at a mooring is to pass a light line to the buoy; carry this aft outside of the rigging to the starboard quarter, then let go the mooring warp and haul in on the spring line. ”

“ Remain only crawling cargo tanks, dirty tramps, greyhound liners, and a sombre, sordid type of sailing ship. The only records broken to-day by sailing vessels are those for slowness. They are no longer built for speed, nor are they manned before the mast by as sturdy a sailor stock, nor aft the mast are they officered by sail- carrying captains and driving mates.
Speed is left to the liners, who run the silk, and tea, and spices. ”

“ Their ships were propelled by the oars of rowers and by the wind in the sails when the wind was in their favour—that is to say, was blowing in the direction in which they wanted to go. The sails of modern sailing vessels are so arranged that our ships can sail up into the wind, as it is called. ”

“ SAIL BURTON. A purchase extending from topmast-head to deck, for sending sails aloft ready for bending; it usually consists of two single blocks, having thimbles and a hook; a leading block on the slings through which the fall leads to bear the top-sail clear of the top-rim.
SAIL HO! The exclamation used when a strange ship is first discerned at sea—either from the deck or from the mast-head. [589]
SAIL-HOOK. A small hook used for holding the seams of a sail while in the act of sewing.
SAILING. The movement of a vessel by means of her sails along the surface of the water. ”

“ On deck Egyptian darkness, driving rain, and salt spray, the ship staggering under a press of sail, or, as happened in her last cruise, the topsail sheets were parted, and the great sails flapping and slatting out to leeward like a thunder-cloud, orders given in quick succession, then rally of men at the clew-lines, then a rush aloft and out on the straining yard, every movement of the vessel intensified, your feet sliding on the slippery foot-rope, with nothing to hold on to but the flapping sail, which threatens to knock you overboard every moment. ”

“ In the desolate regions where it lives the sailors hail its appearance with delight, as it comes sailing around the ship with majestic, careless flight, rising, sinking, now swooping down to seize some cast-off mouthful of food, now poising high above the mast-head, moving with the ship at the most rapid speed, and yet with scarcely a perceptible movement of its gigantic wings. ”

“ The situation of a course when the buntlines and lee-clue are hauled up, and the weather-clue down. The clues, or lower corners of a ship's main-sail or fore-sail, when the middle part is furled or tied up to the yard. The term is also applied to the fore and main sails of a schooner or other two-masted fore-and-aft vessel; when running before the wind she has these sails set on opposite sides. ”

“ At every plunge of the vessel, as she sinks into the trough of the sea, you might read a volume fluently by that mild radiance; and beautiful indeed is the view from the fore stay-sail nettings, looking down upon the curling wreaths on either side of the cut-water, and the long lines of foam thrown off by the swell as the vessel gracefully breasts the coming wave, all glowing like molten silver intermingled with a thousand diamonds! ”

“ Still there remain many sailing ships, particularly in the fishing fleets and the coasting trade, and occasionally, but with less and less frequency, one sees a fine old square-rigged ship driving through the great green swells of mid-ocean, but they are few—and for the person who is drawn by the drama and adventure of the sea, painfully few. ”

“ Soon the water rushes out of the scupper-holes like a whale spouting, the vessel gives a last groan, spins round and round, and disappears, forming a vast whirlpool in the ocean, and then all is over, so that in five minutes nothing but the eye of God can see the vessel where she lies at the bottom of the sea. ”

“ Passenger steamers are seen flitting about with well-filled decks, noisy tug-boats puff and whistle while towing heavily laden barges, naval cutters propelled by dozens of white-clad oarsmen and steered by officers in dazzling uniforms, small sailing-yachts containing merry parties of both sexes glance hither and thither, all giving animation to the scene. ”

“ The commanders of square-rigged vessels always bear this in mind. They heave to under a close-reefed maintopsail, never under a lower course, and the ship when in the trough of the sea has enough sail exposed to keep her steady. ”

“ CLOSE-HAULED, in navigation, au plus pres, the general arrangement or trim of a ship’s sails, when she endeavours to make a progress in the nearest direction possible towards that point of the compass from which the wind bloweth.
In this manner of sailing the keel commonly makes an angle of six points with the line of the wind; but sloops, and some other small vessels, are said to sail almost a point nearer. All vessels, however, are supposed to make nearly a point of lee-way, when close-hauled, even when they have the advantage of a good sailing-breeze and smooth water. ”

“ Wyse!" "'Bout ship!" "Down with the helm!" "Helm a-lee!" Up comes the schooner's head to the wind, the sails flapping with the noise of thunder—blocks rattling against the deck, as if they wanted to knock their brains out—ropes dancing about in galvanised coils, like mad serpents—and everything to an inexperienced eye in inextricable confusion; till gradually she pays off on the other tack—the sails stiffen into deal-boards—the staysail sheet is let go—and heeling over on the opposite side. Again she darts forward over the sea like an arrow from the bow. "Stand by to make sail!" ”

“ If they have Ships, they must have Sails and Anchors, Ropes, Pullies, and Rudders, which are of particular Use in directing a Ship’s Course against the Wind, and in sailing different Ways with the same Gale. ”

“ Every minute that is possible they are on their way across the oceans, and a year or more ahead their sailing dates are scheduled. These are the ships that sail the great sea lanes almost as regularly as the great express trains pass along their tracks. And these are the ships that visit the most important ports of earth. But important though they are, we can give them no more time. ”

“ This was a true portent; for the wind freshened during the first watch, causing us to take in all of our stu’n’sails before midnight. Then followed the royals and topgallants in quick succession, the main-sail and inner and outer jibs being next furled and the foresail reefed, the vessel at “four bells” being only under topsails and fore-topgallant staysail and reefed foresail. ”

“ A full-rigged ship never looks more majestic I think than when she is hove to under all plain sail, that is, when all canvas but stun'sails is piled upon her and her main topsail is to the mast, with the great main course hauled up to the yard and windily swaying in festoons. ”

“ At length the man who holds the log throws it over into the water, and the ship, sailing onward all the time, leaves it there, floating edge upwards. The man who holds the reel lifts it up high, so that the line can run off easily as the ship moves on. ”

“ The sailing ship has had many centuries of usefulness as a fighting ship and a cargo carrier, and if she is being gradually killed by the mechanical ship she is dying hard. Apparently in neither capacity has she quite finished her fascinating and illustrious history. ”