Part I.
The writer has freely employed information with regard to coast life-boats, derived from the publications of the U.S. Life-Saving Service; the Royal Life-Boat Institution of Great Britain; "Life-Boats, Projectiles, and other means for Saving Life," by the late R.B. Forbes; "The Life Boat," by Captain J.R. Ward, Chief Inspector of Royal Life-Boat Institution; "History of the Life-Boat and its Work," by Richard Lewis; and "Specifications for U.S. Life-Saving Stations and Surf Boats."
With regard to the use of life-boats aboard ship little has been written, and that by either landsmen or those unacquainted with the peculiar needs of a man-of-war. Still, the writer can claim to have developed but little that is new. It has been his effort to state the case plainly and justly, to form an unprejudiced opinion, and to bring out points of practical and direct application aboard ship. The temptation to touch on the general features of policy and organization has been irresistible; but once committed, their criticism has been actuated by a sincere desire for improvement. Since the need of change has been recognized by the appointment of a "Board of Reorganization," many of these points will have already received attention.
It was only the other day that one of the editorials of a great engineering journal, in speaking of technical education, said: "Men, especially young men of the student's age, are not machines; they want some living interest to give them a zest for their work." In the same way, some fragment of discretionary action must be left every man aboard ship. The mind of a "blue-jacket," to make him fit for his place, must be made to work, as well as his muscles. The "points of isolated responsibility" aboard ship are far less responsible in drill than they will be in action—far less isolated than when it may cost one's life to go from one to another.
Give the young officer, the seaman, the apprentice, a chance to try himself; let him learn how to wield responsibility, not under the direction of his superior with all the authority of the ship at his back, but alone, when he must gain his point through the force of his own individuality, correct his own mistakes, and, in general terms, make a man of himself.
It is believed that there is no surer way to cultivate self-reliance and resolution in a modern man-of-war's crew than by boat drills at sea and frequent landing through the surf.
There is no space on a modern man-of-war allotted to sentiment; qualities must be limited by existing essentials rather than precedents, no matter how honorable and efficient they may have been in another day and generation. Changes based on necessity must continue to be made so long as there is a navy; they are not a reflection on the customs of the past. Each generation has its own advance to make.
Apart from sails and spars, there is, perhaps, no adjunct of the old time man-of-war around which tradition lingers more fondly or about which a sailor's proper pride is more exacting than the boats. It may be said that the service would be anything but pleased by the substitution of new and safer types lacking some of the features that have characterized men-of-war boats for the past hundred years. They are swift and handsome. No one has watched them threading their way among the mongrel craft of a foreign port but he has felt a patriotic glow of satisfaction in their trim appearance. Their speed and grace is an old story the world around; not a ship in the navy but has its pet boat, not a blue-jacket but has reminiscences of racing triumphs. And yet how many ships dare lower a boat in rough weather? How many wrecked crews have been saved by navy boats? That there have been such instances make them all the more remarkable for skill and courage. Instead of the exultation at their victory in the more peaceful contests, would it not be a nobler thing, more consistent with the purpose of a navy, if they were less feeble in their struggles with relentless winds and sea?
Is the present state of affairs to continue, when hundreds of lives have been lost in a few years past, in wrecks on coasts where the stress of sea and surf yet permitted a few stray men to swim ashore. The officer is lucky indeed who has not in some way been closely associated with or present at a fatal boat accident. The list of navy dead from this cause is growing stealthily but surely. On every coast, in the smooth harbor waters and in the booming surf, good men's lives have been paid as the price of an assumed military appearance and smooth-water speed in ship's boats.
There are those who will deny this: some minds leap to a stern judgment of all connected with disaster, no matter how defective experience, strength, and facilities may be. The truth is that the sphere of usefulness of navy boats has been so long and inflexibly limited by their defects, that many do not understand that there is a wider field for them. And here it may be said that in no other department of the respective experiences that go to make up the efficiency of different naval officers, is there a greater variety than in that of the handling of boats. The duty of "boat officer" is generally assigned to certain grades, and to some extent it is fair to suppose that the practical experience gained is proportional to the time spent in these grades. Of course there are many brilliant exceptions; boat duty is a very different thing on different stations and ships. For an entire cruise, it may be sometimes said that the boat officers are no more than sentries guarding the boat's crew against the enticing dangers of the beach, rather than from those of the harbor. No disparagement of this duty is intended; its necessity is lamented, but most junior officers will declare it to be one of the most instructive, if most unpleasant, lessons in the control of their men. Not much, however, is learned of the management of boats.
In bad weather, boat service is limited to the necessities of the occasion, not only because it is not desired to inflict hardship on officers and crew, but because the boats are known to be unfit for such work. So, however valuable the experience might become, the actual danger involved forbids the attempt to gain it.
Of all the branches of this encyclopedic profession, seamanship lies closest to the heart. It requires self-reliance, decision, and courage to deal with the grand forces of nature. The exhibition of ignorance or error in its practice, no matter how meager the experience or scant the opportunities of learning, is guarded against by many a young officer with anxious dread.
There is too much of this, for, in consequence, many stand in danger of blame for lacking practical knowledge which it has never been their opportunity to gain.
Before deciding that navy boats are of necessity fit only for smooth weather and light loads, the qualities essential to all-around seaworthiness should be analyzed, and the attempt made to combine their essentials in a boat able to perform routine work and be carried at a cruiser's davits.
No higher degree of seaworthiness can be found than in the heavier life-boats employed along some parts of our coast, and especially that of Norfolk and Suffolk in England, where it is necessary to go off under sail to reach outlying wrecks. Many of these boats are improved variations of the celebrated Beeching life-boat, the first self-righting boat ever built, and which won the prize of 100 guineas offered by the Duke of Northumberland in 1849, for the best model of a life-boat. This fact did not make them entirely safe, however, for two were lost through the shifting of water ballast while under great press of sail. The water ballast had leaked out of its well into the air compartments.
The report made by this committee of award is undoubtedly the best original publication on the subject of life-boats suited to the coasts of Great Britain. It has been largely drawn upon in this article. It must be borne in mind, however, that the coast with which this committee dealt is thickly peopled, and many willing hands may be found for manning and launching heavy boats. There are frequent harbors or shelters from which the boat can be pulled out to sea without launching through the surf, and in some parts it is even possible for a powerful tug to tow the life-boat to the vicinity of the wreck. Another point with regard to this report is that while the coast presents a great variety of aspects, and the duty of the life-boat will vary in character almost as much, the committee could give but one prize—to the best all-around competitor. This, of course, makes it more interesting to naval people, though the use of the boat from the shore as a base was alone considered. There were 280 models and plans submitted; the Beaching boat received a mark of 84 out of a possible 100; the next two competitors, 78 and 77. Only 36 received over 60. It is apparent, therefore, how damaging this method of determining relative standing was to special or local merit, especially when it is known that many of the boats were built for localities where they are still used.
The values assigned the various qualities by this committee are as follows:
Qualities as a rowing boat in all weathers, 20
Qualities as a sailing boat, 18
Qualities as a sea-boat as to stability, safety, buoyancy forward for launching through a surf, etc., 10
Small internal capacity for water up to thwarts, 9
Means of freeing boat of water readily, 8
Extra buoyancy; its nature, amount, distribution, and mode of application, 7
Power of self-righting, 6
Suitableness for beaching, 4
Room for, and power of carrying, passengers, 3
Moderate weight for transport along shore, 3
Protection from injury to the bottom, 3
Ballast, as iron 1, water 2, cork 3, 3
Access to stem and stern, 3
Timber heads for securing warps to, 2
Fenders, life-lines, etc., 1
Had the committee also been obliged to mark according to merit as a ship's boat, it is easy to see that no boat could be built apparently as efficient as the Beeching boat, through the introduction of limiting qualities of size and weight, and the high values assigned to them.
The late R. B. Forbes, an authority on the various appliances for life-saving, published a small volume in 1872 on life-boats.
He pointed out that, however fine a boat that of the R. L. Institution's was for the English coast, it was entirely too heavy and costly for the long uninhabited reaches of our open coast. Again, he notes that local customs must be respected if anything is to be accomplished; "seamen brought up on the coast have their own ideas as to the kind of vehicle they require when they are to risk their lives to save life and property." For the New Jersey coast he recommends "a flat bottom, broad stern, sloping sided, cedar, or light corrugated iron boat, with considerable sheer. To possess detachable end air tanks, and a solid cork fender, fastened half way between the gunwale and the load-line. The latter will help when water has been shipped, will make capsizing difficult, and righting almost as much so. . .
"If built of light wood, thirty feet long, eight feet wide, and three feet deep, it need not weigh over 1000 pounds. The chances are that a boat of this weight can be got off and on through a surf, the men being supplied with life-belts, when no boat called a life-boat, and deserving the name, could be manned and got off on the Jersey coast by Jersey beach men. . .
"The same may be said of the coast of Long Island. . . .
"At Nantucket, where the surf is heavy and the beaches frequently steep, the surf men prefer light wooden clincher-built boats with large beam and considerable sheer, pulling long oars, single bank, and steering like whale-boats. . . . With end air cases and stout cork fenders, these boats will stand up with considerable water in them, and in case of being stove in they can be got ashore with some risk and difficulty. . . .
"Near Chatham and Orleans on the Cape shore, the surf men use for their fishing and wrecking purposes full-built, flat, round-bottomed cedar-built boats, both ends alike.
"They naturally feel confidence in them, and will risk their lives in them when nothing would induce them to attempt to launch a life-boat weighing a ton only. . . .
"At Provincetown they have boats more like whale-boats, only with more beam, fair sheer, and very much shoaler than the Orleans boats—very light-built boats that pull five oars, and that can be picked up bodily by five or six men and run off to meet the rollers. It requires considerable urging to induce them to admit any extra buoyancy, or even to put on their belts. ... At Cape Ann the seamen have nearly all been long accustomed to handling dories pulling short cross-handled oars, the largest pulling four and the rest two oars. A well managed dory will get off a rough beach dry when no other boat can. They are useful for saving life at times by carrying off a line, etc., but they are worthless for landing numbers of clumsy passengers."
Mr. Forbes further suggested a boat that would not antagonize the prejudices of the coast men, and for which he claimed durability, economy in the long run, and ability to command the confidence of the men who are to use them.
It is a "light corrugated iron boat, 25' x 6 ½' x 30", with 15" sheer; flat midship section, not very fine ends, centerboard, and to pull, at Nantucket, five oars single banked, elsewhere, six short oars double banked and one single at the bow thwart. The standing room should be, from sternpost becket to after thwart, about 8'. Much depends upon the steering oar, and it is important to have plenty of room to operate it freely. [Allowing 3' between centers of 12" thwarts, this would give foresheets of 4' at Nantucket, and elsewhere, 7' 6".] Cork fenders along sides below oars, yet clear of water; on each side, under thwarts and close out to side, a cork float 12' long, 12" to 15" in diameter, to assist in trimming and floating the boat if stove or filled; in the ends, air tanks or a mass of cork to assist in righting the boat. If the attempt is made to add any more extra buoyancy, the boat will be too heavy to launch and transport. Everything should be made detachable, so that if the boat be found too heavy, a part or all can be temporarily removed."
A sufficient abstract has been given to show that the basis of a combination of qualities desirable in a ship's boat has long been in existence.
Before attempting any original design it will be well to analyze these valuable qualities in the light of naval requirements and experience. It appears that all that has been written with regard to life-boats, except the circulars of a few interested inventors, assumes the shore to be the base of operations. Writers on seamanship apparently consider their task limited to instructions how to avoid being wrecked, for none of them attempt to discuss that last terrible evolution.
Other points being the same, a boat's seaworthiness increases with its size; however much, therefore, that of the ship may be deranged by considerations of speed and battery, the boat already has the odds against it, and if it is intended as a last refuge of safety, the seaworthiness should be considered above all other qualities.
From the report of the Life-Boat Committee appointed by the Duke of Northumberland, it appears that the most desirable proportions of a coast life-boat are:
"Length, 100; beam, 30, or for tideways, 25 ; sheer, 8 1/3, i.e. 1" for each 1' of length; weight, 1 cwt. for each 1' of length; extra buoyancy, 1 ton for each 10' of length. The internal capacity for water up to level of thwarts to equal the extra buoyancy.
Area of delivery valves to be one square inch to each cubic foot of internal capacity."
From other sources it is learned that the best stability of a parallelepiped is obtained when the draft equals one-fifth the beam. The height of sides above water should be one-fourth the beam. The best combination, therefore, for stability would be: draft = three-twentieths beam; freeboard = four-twentieths beam. That cross section of the immersed body which offers the least resistance to side motion, and this is very important when broached to, is elliptical.
These general features of satisfactory life-boats are interesting, if for no other reason than to show how much they differ from navy boats.
Navy boat-builders, well informed of the prejudices of the service, have generally preferred, in their so-called life and surf boats, to graft a few qualities on the service boat rather than make a radical change. This position seems to be taken in deference to the vanity that places smooth-water speed and trim appearance above seaworthiness.
Fault is not found with the quality of speed, but the method of obtaining it which limits it to smooth water. A good life-boat, but little slower than a whale-boat in the harbor, would easily pass the latter outside. The reason is obvious: speed is improved by rounding off all angles under water. Cambering the keel and raking the Stem increase the speed directly. Of all midship sections the semicircle is the fastest; the sharper the bows the better; for the same beam, equal increments of length nearly equally increase the speed.
If these features are developed beyond a certain point, the boat will of necessity have very little stability, being very fine, round bottomed, and so lively that the weight of one man can dip the gunwale. All the weights must then be carried low; so low that less freeboard can be allowed than is usual in any but light harbor boats. For fear of top-heaviness, the sheer is made less than one-half what it should be, or is a counterfeit, a mere extension of the sternpost and quick upward turn of the gunwale, with very little benefit to buoyancy. On the other hand, the very feature of a low rail, however dangerous at sea, is of advantage to speed in smooth water, for long-bladed oars, with little slip, can then be used. These, lying low, permit the oarsmen to exert all their strength in propelling rather than in lifting the boat.
To obtain speed, the lines of flotation of navy boats are made fine, and thus in an instant much buoyancy is lost. The area of the water section being small, a comparatively slight addition of weight, of either cargo or water, largely diminishes the freeboard and renders the boat more liable to ship water than before.
Of course all navy boats must be expected to work in strong currents, and this requirement should be met, in some at least, by increased length, to permit finer lines and more oars, rather than by decreased beam and consequent loss of power. The size of such a boat, however, would frighten the builder, who would plead for a reduction of beam; and, if beam is reduced, away go depth and sheer, for the boat, standing high out of water, with cambered keel and flaring bow and stern, would be crank.
This then is the trouble with navy boats; they will all stand some increase of freeboard, but if given enough, and in addition the proposed allowance of gunwale sheer, their stability is gone, unless the beam is also increased and the bottom flattened. Such a change, however, would indicate a desertion of traditional lines and loss of speed, especially in currents.
As a rule, while life-boats resemble cutters amidships, their bottoms are flatter, and the midship section carried over a larger body. Heavy life-boats almost always have the keel slightly cambered; if too much so, the boat becomes too lively, pitches, loses speed, and is less steady under sail.
Speed is absolutely essential for surf boats; without it all the other good qualities of the most perfect boat would be as useless as Saul's armor was to David. It can be obtained in them, without too great loss of stability, by sharp curves at the bow, shallow bearing, and moderate beam. Weight is the only constant element in the persistence of the force that drives the boat against wind and sea. As the resistance increases, the velocity decreases; weight is, therefore, to a limited extent, an advantage. The bows should not oppose too bluff a surface to the sea, and the end air-cases, if high, should be rounded to offer the least direct resistance to the wind. The crew, too, should be one of power, firmly seated, with sufficient room between the thwarts to permit the independence of action made necessary by the impossibility of precision of stroke.
Speed under sail.— Most navy boats will sail well only with a number of the crew on the weather gunwale and steady bailing by the rest. They should sail well even in rough weather without going to this hazardous extreme. One difficulty generally encountered is that the authorities, aware of the crankiness of the boat, cut the sails down until they are "safe" for the most inexperienced coxswain. This, of course, destroys in a great measure the usefulness of the boats under sail, neutralizes available skill and experience, and is a great bar to improvement. It may be truly held by those who, with hand on tiller, feel the boat spring and worm her way onward under all the sail she can stand, now courtesying to a sea, now coquettishly flinging back a veil of spray, that here is opportunity for much careful concentration of mind and sympathy of eye and touch. Cultivate this, and keep full sail power.
Wherever the bearing of the boat can be increased, whether by a wider beam or flatter floor, without much decreasing speed under oars, it should be done; stability will be increased, and greater stability means power to carry more sail.
Stability varies nearly as the cube of the beam, and, less accurately, directly as the length. The greater the beam, the better chance a boat has to ride a breaker safely when broached to, as it is not only more buoyant, but the couple to resist capsizing is greater. Stability is therefore more necessary to life-boats than any other quality. It is better obtained by increased beam, especially in sailing vessels, than by lowering the center of gravity. "The beam of some sea fishing boats is as great as W the length. The greatest beam in birds is 2/5 the length."
Stability is also helped by ballast. "The boats of the National Life-Saving Institution of Great Britain get it with the aid of an iron keel, flatness, and length of floor, and only moderate beam." With regard to a ship's boat, there should be either a heavy keel, sideboard or centerboard, or considerable ballast. The keel would make it difficult to land on a flat beach, or to turn quickly to meet a breaking sea. The centerboard, if used, must be considered in all operations, but its value in connection with the associated qualities of flat bottom, great beam, and light draft makes it seem the best choice. The sideboard is best in that type in which it is desired to keep the weight of a boat down to the lowest point, to permit a small crew to handle it on the beach. As for ballast, the kind having in this case the least objectionable features is water. Its weight need not be transported, and, if confined securely to a reservoir, fitted to fill or be pumped out at will, it has many advantages. The ballast tank should have several compartments to prevent the water shifting in case some leaks out.
"Some of the English sailing life-boats are too heavy to be handled by oars alone in bad weather, on account of the large amount of ballast and draft of water required to enable them to stand up under sail. The ballast is generally water filling every unoccupied space up to the water-line. At first this shifting water seems dangerous, but there is so much that the boat cannot be lively, especially as it is cut off (by the air tanks) from access to the ends or sides of the boat. If these boats were more lightly ballasted, they would answer every impulse of the waves, and the water would continually emphasize this by running toward the lowest point. But heavily weighted and propelled by powerful sails, they cut through every sea instead of rising to it. They are frequently completely submerged and the crew hurled about, but they are stable. . . . One was once upset running for the shore; most of the water having been pumped out, she ran her bow into the hollow, which tilted the remainder of the water to that end, when she broached to, turned over, and broke oft "her masts, remaining keel up, not being self-righting. Had she been properly ballasted, the sea would have broken over her harmlessly. Since that time she has been ballasted with wood."—(Captain Richard Lewis, "Life Boats.")
It is thus seen how the important quality of speed can be assured only by stability, giving certainty to and room for oar action, and ability to carry considerable sail. Further, it has been seen that stability in the lighter designs is obtained by large shallow bearing surface and increased beam, the latter undoubtedly somewhat at the expense of speed, through increased resistance to wind and sea. In the heavier design, the beam is about one-fourth the length, the lost stability being made up by the addition of ballast in the shape of a metal keel, water, or cork. This increases the whole weight—within limits an advantage—and is also a step towards self-righting.
Buoyancy.—While ships are divided into numerous compartments provided with double bottoms and the most powerful pumps, the only boats having extra buoyancy are the steam launches, which cannot be lowered or managed at sea in bad weather. Extra buoyancy has been defined as that buoyancy which the boat possesses after the materials composing it are floated. The more that can be obtained of it, after providing space for the crew and passengers, the better. Not only is the supporting power of the boat increased so much, but its capacity for water is diminished. The manner of its creation and its location are the most difficult problems in designing a life-boat. If too much is placed in the end air tanks, their weight makes the boat unsteady, a large surface is exposed to the wind, the ends of the boat cannot be approached without climbing on them, and finally this buoyancy does not act until the boat is very deep in the water.
If placed on the sides, it becomes almost impossible to capsize the boat, but should this occur, it would be almost as difficult to right her. If placed on the bottom, there is a danger of raising crew and cargo so high as to make the boat unstable. In the Beeching and other life-boats, types of which are in use in many countries, the distribution and amount of this buoyancy is such that while the boat can be capsized only with difficulty by means of a parbuckle, it will quickly right itself when released. This is owing to the turning action of end air tanks, ballast, and iron keel. The false bottom of these boats is placed above the water-line, to afford drainage of water shipped. The space beneath is occupied by ballast and buoyancy tanks, usually filled with cork. A reserve of buoyancy is obtained from a large cork fender running all around the boat just above the load water-line. This adds to the weight, but helps materially when the boat is temporarily swamped and until the water is drained off.
One point must be remembered—with every increase of buoyancy, once having settled its disposition and nature, the weight is increased. Generally speaking, buoyancy is best obtained by detachable air tanks in the upper and cork ballast in the lower parts, thus avoiding the danger of a loss of buoyancy or shifting ballast from a leaky bottom. Some of these tanks, when filling in the space between the under side of the thwarts and the false bottom, are doubly valuable, as they serve to break up and distribute the weight of a sea that may be shipped.
The detachable air tank is of course far heavier than the one built in and forming a part of the skin of the boat. The latter is objectionable—indeed, as bad as none as soon as the boat is stove or becomes leaky; but, until that time, it has all the advantages of the other with the additional one of lightness. Several of the boats, including the first two, most highly spoken of by the committee quoted above, had built-in air cases. They should not, therefore, be rejected without consideration, if it should appear that in no other way can the weight be kept down to that allowed a ship's boat. Most of the life-boats of ocean steamers have built-in end tanks; a few have, in addition, detachable cylinders about 7 inches in diameter under the thwarts near the sides. Built-in cases should be made very strong and with subdivisions, as a rent in the outside skin from rocks or jagged wreckage, or even a leak permitting the compartment to gradually fill, brings as much pressure to bear on its walls as if it were the outside of the boat itself. "At Winterton, Norfolk, 1829, a life-boat, having great camber of keel, was sent off to a wreck. When filled with people, their weight sunk the boat so low that the pressure of the water caused the false bottom to 'blow up.' Whence we may suppose that the outer bottom was leaky and the inner one flimsy yet air-tight.
Self-bailing.—If the boat is not made self-bailing, then precautions to keep the water out are all the more important; these will be discussed under the head of Freeboard and Sheer.
Self-bailing is commonly effected by closing off all the submerged part of the boat into air or ballast spaces by a false bottom. Above this bottom, ports or scuppers are cut into the side, letting the water run off as fast as it is shipped. Another and more convenient way, as the boat may be kept dry in ordinary rolling and pitching, is to run drainage tubes down through both bottoms between every pair of thwarts. These tubes are furnished with automatic valves opening downward with the weight of water above. They may also be locked or plugged, should it be desirable to increase the ballast when under sail. Some designs employ both methods. With regard to the second method, there are instances noted of the loss of boats through having grounded and choked the drain tubes on shoals and flat beaches.
Self-bailing should be very rapid in order to permit the boat to free herself of one sea and get way on before being struck by another. This can be accomplished only by keeping down the internal capacity of the boat for water, making the freeing ports or valves large, and by raising the floor as high as stability permits, so as to increase the head of flow.
The buoyancy of the submerged portion of the boat must be very great for little draft, in order to hold up boat, crew, and additional weight of water without decreasing too much the head of out flowing water. The required buoyancy can best be obtained without increase of draft by wide beam and long, "flat-round" floor with little camber. It would also appear that, other things being equal, the light, broad-beamed boat would bail faster than the heavier and finer boat, and admittedly that it need not go to extremes in freeboard and sheer to keep the water out.
Self-bailing has its advantages and disadvantages; with it, stability is diminished; without it, the boat is sooner or later certain to be filled by breaking seas or the surf. The shipping of a single sea may, by raising the center of gravity and cumbering the boat until it is unmanageable, bring about a capsize. The Ranger's navy whale-boats were too heavy and low to be pulled through the surf under oars alone, but they sometimes made the passage of moderate surf, where there was no current, by hauling out with a line. With the bow held always to the surf, a capsize was never feared until successive breakers had tumbled considerable water into the boat. Then, when the water was nearly up to the thwarts, the bow dipped under every swell, and the boat seemed viciously undecided as to the side over which it would roll. Had these boats been self-bailing there would have been no difficulty; though, for that matter, that change would have necessitated an entire change of design.
Self-righting.—This quality requires the center of gravity to be kept low, and that of buoyancy high, so that when capsized, the couple formed by gravity and buoyancy will be sufficient to right the boat.
The length of the arm of this couple is increased by concentrating ballast in an iron keel, sometimes weighing over a ton, and raising the end tanks up to and even above a well-sheered gunwale. Opposed to this couple will be two moments, that of a part of the half beam into the buoyancy of the side that is to go under in righting, and that of a part of the half beam into the weight of the side that is to go up. These are reduced to insure self-righting, by narrowing the beam and diminishing the side buoyancy.
The heavy keel neutralizes some of the buoyancy, but it gives back the stability jeopardized by a sacrifice of almost all side buoyancy. The increased weight is certainly of advantage wherever momentum is desirable. Its inertia, however, renders the boat more sluggish with the same power; more liable to be caught in a dangerous position; less likely to benefit by a sudden smooth time in the breakers.
The narrowed beam makes the iron keel a necessity; in fact, makes self-righting a more important quality; but it permits greater speed, and with it, the heavy self-righter holds the palm of power. It is faster at all times in currents.
To equal it, the lighter, shallower boat must put more men on its oars; however, the advantages of quickness and handiness go far towards equalizing its efficiency in a seaway through other means.
The loss of side buoyancy is a great blow to sail power; it can be made up only by such a great addition of ballast as to eliminate at once these boats from consideration as ship's boats.
Raised end air-tanks are of use, not only when the boat is capsized, but when it penetrates a breaker, for then its whole buoyancy is felt in lifting the boat; water ordinarily will not break over the bow or stern into the boat. They are also valuable in keeping the weight of crew and water out of the extremities when the boat is swept by a sea. These high ends of course affect the weatherliness of the boat in a strong wind, but it is claimed that this defect has never, of itself alone, prevented the accomplishment of any undertaking of the British life-boats. "Again, it was foretold that, once thrown out of them, the crew could not regain them, since, being so high out of water, they would be speedily carried to leeward out of their reach. In only one of thirty-five upsets has this been the case. Even when under sail, with sheets fast, they have righted and the crew regained them without loss. The one exception was when a boat was turned end-over-end and carried off by the same wave. In other instances, when broached to, one or more men always stayed by the boat, the others being tumbled out to leeward."— (Capt. Lewis, "Life Boats.")
In spite of these strong statements, it would seem that there is not much hope for the success of the particular trip or undertaking if a capsize occurs in rough weather outside. The certain demoralization, however slight, of the crew must leave the boat in a less manageable condition after they have climbed back than it was before the capsize. The advantage would therefore seem to be all in favor of the boat least likely to capsize in the first place, unless the circumstances causing the accident are exceptional and not likely to recur.
It is clear that if the boat is not made self-righting, every precaution taken to prevent capsizing becomes more important.
Depth, Freeboard, and Sheer.—The real advantage of stability of form over that of a low center of gravity is, that with a light draft it is possible to carry plenty of freeboard and sheer. By these the water is kept out, the end buoyancy is increased, and space given for clean pulling, or considerable heel when under sail.
The relative advantages of the same freeboard and sheer are much greater in a light boat than they would be in a heavy one.
Waves vary greatly in size and abruptness; a boat will be moved sometimes on a large wave, while a smaller one would tumble over the rail. In other words, the greater the inertia of a boat of constant freeboard, the more certain it is that the same wave will come aboard.
With regard to sheer, if the rail is straight, there is less surface at the bow for the buoyant action of the coming wave. The rail is low, and before the weight of the forward half of the boat can be transferred and lifted, the crest falls into the boat. The more abrupt the transition from hollow to wave, the more certain this is to occur, making great sheer very valuable in surf boats. For the same waves, the greater the sheer, the more certain it is that the boat will rise to the sea before it tumbles in. If, then, the weights be spaced about the center, the gunwale well sheered, and the bottom slightly cambered, she will lift grandly to almost any sea. The stern must also be sheered and its upper strakes flared, or it will be driven under water.
Sheer is best obtained in combination with rail and end tanks. If the latter are raised above the rail and pointed forward like a whaleback, the same effect is produced as if a much greater rail sheer had been given without these tanks. This method is better for stability and weatherliness under sail; by its adoption, the principle of the conversion of a deep-sea sailing lifeboat into a surf boat becomes apparent, the whale-backs being removed in the former case.
Attention is called to the difference in actual benefit derived from the sheers of different boats, all apparently the same on the sheer plan. On the body plan of a lean-bowed boat like all navy whaleboats, the sheer is projected as a small isosceles triangle above the dead flat; in another, as the cutter, the triangle is lower but much broader. The comparative areas of these triangles represent very well the resistance to a topping breaker, and what may be called the emergency lifting power—mechanical and hydrostatic when the bows flare—hydrostatic only when they do not flare.
Thus, suppose a heavily laden cutter and whale-boat side by side. The sheer of the latter is somewhat the higher, and, for light surface waves, not sufficiently deep to lift the boat until well under it, might keep out more water. It is so fine and short, however, that it has but little lifting power, and therefore might take aboard a wave that lifts the well-flared, slower rising bow of the cutter. This explains why African surf men, when employed aboard ship, occasionally prefer cutters for their work in narrow surf.
Fittings.—It is customary for life-boats to have a norm an post in the bow for towing, and one on each quarter for an after-line when lying alongside. A life line with floats is stopped up every 18" around the boat, except the two bights in the waist, which are narrow and long, to serve as stirrups in getting into the boat from the water. In some cases, lines are stopped along the bilges to give the crew a hold should the boat capsize. These are always a drag, liable to damage when landing on the beach, and are not required on self-righting boats. A much better scheme is to fit the boat with wrought-iron bilge guards, set up an inch and a half from the bottom, to give a grip. Their ends should be bedded in malleable-iron plates, riveted on the bottom in such a manner as to avoid catching lines, kelp, etc. These bars if made 1 1/8" thick might save the boat from considerable injury when landing on a rocky beach.
All ship's boats intended for use in rough weather should have a fender. It should be of cork sewed in canvas or leather, and securely fastened every few inches in a slightly hollowed batten running all around the boat. The fender should vary in size and firmness with the weight of the boat; for the heaviest boats, oak must be substituted for the cork; the latter should ordinarily be 4"x 7", and lie just above and touching the deep-load water-line amidships; the former may be 2"x 6" wide in the same location.
The stem and stern posts should have rollers at the bottom of grooves 4" deep, and wide enough to pay out a good-sized hawser in warping.
Boat-hooks should always have a point, not very sharp, but sufficiently so to prevent slipping and scratching the paint-work. The hook should be very open and rather sharp, so that it can be made to engage in the clothes of people in the water, or by a blow be sent into an object that otherwise presents no holding surface. If bowmen are accustomed to splinter up the gangway and scratch the ship's sides, they should be watched, and even made to use the handle of the boat-hook instead of the point. Their carelessness should not be countenanced by destroying the efficiency of so important an implement. The ball at the point of service boat-hooks frequently toggles itself in gratings or guard-rails. Boat officers have sometimes been obliged to shove off quickly from a gangway, leaving, to their chagrin, one or two boat-hooks hanging to the ship's side.
The oars should be light, reasonably stiff, and not too long; balanced on the rail, which tumbles home slightly amidships, for greater strength. Oars, like masts, should be strong enough for all ordinary strains; beyond that, strength is injurious, as it might occasion the capsize of the boat. The oarlocks should be swivel, or tholepin and grommet, high enough above water and thwarts to permit a high rolling stroke. In most life-boats and New Bedford whale-boats the thwarts are eight inches below the rail. Dovetailed swivel oarlocks are nearly as bad as inserted rowlocks in case the oar is jammed. They should never be used in the surf or at sea.
There is much diversity of opinion about elastic oars. Doubtless this quality causes the oar to act as an accumulator of force, which it imparts to the water uniformly, producing an even pressure throughout the stroke. It will return all the force put on it when the stroke is not broken by the motion of the boat or sinking away of the water. The bending should not, however, be so great that power is lost by the oar kicking in the air at the end of the stroke. A limited amount of elasticity eases both oar and man, but for quick work, oars should be rather stiff. The blades should be nearly six inches wide; otherwise, with boats moved slowly against a head sea, there will be much loss from slip. It may also be noted that in pulling against strong currents long oars should be used; the speed of the blade being greater, the stroke need not be so fast to keep the strain on the oar. There is a narrow limit to these considerations, however, depending on the ability of the crew to handle heavy oars, and the roughness of the sea. The readiness of handling, the smaller exposure to baffling wave points, and the decrease of work in swinging them, makes the short oar preferable whenever broken water is encountered. There should be two steering oars in the life-boat, one pointed forward, the other aft, so as to be ready to pull either way without shifting either oar or coxswain. It is apparent that with a heavy turning boat, the best result will be obtained from the coxswain's strength when the oar is dipped closer than in the case of an easy turning boat. The loom of the steering oar should be oval, with the larger axis at right angles to the blade, so that it will naturally lie, in a wide crutch, in the position for immediate action—an important quality at times. There should be a steering crutch socket in each bow and quarter, for the convenience of a single steersman coming up on either side of the ship; also a crutch in both stem and stern posts, for use when two men are at the oar in heavy work.
Trailing lines should have a close-worked grommet or metal ring sliding on the loom between neat stops so spaced as to permit the oars to be trailed, boated, and handled without repeated adjustment.
The rudder, for sailing and ordinary work, should be of a design easily fitted when in motion. As it is heavy and there is space for but one man to work, this can never be accomplished if the nice adjustment of several points at the same time is necessary. It is better to have a single very stout pintle rove through the several gudgeons and then hasped in at top. The rudder is certain to be exposed to much rough usage in landing, crossing shoals, etc. White yoke ropes, touched up with a rosette or two, will not soil the gloves and will look very pretty on dress occasions. For rougher work, however, a curved metal tiller is preferable. It should have a long bearing in a metal socket firmly stayed by straps to the rudder.
The stretchers should be at least six inches wide and canted to give a solid bearing to the sole of the foot. Narrow stretchers, whether they cramp the foot or not after long pulling, are certain to get men in the habit of pulling from their hips rather than from the point of support. Their position depends on that of the thwart with regard to the gunwale, the freeboard, length of oars, and size of oarsman. The best results, therefore, will only be obtained by having a separate stretcher for each oarsman. Once adjusted, it should be securely lashed or buttoned down.
Thwarts.—For communication with the shore through moderately heavy surf and with vessels at sea, for picking up a man overboard, and for ordinary harbor work when it is not desirable to employ a steam launch, a light single-banked surf-boat may be employed. The thwarts in most single-banked navy boats are 32" from center to center. In most double-banked life-boats this distance is 36"; the thwarts being so spaced that, with the crew alone in the boat, the weight and stowage room are nearly equally distributed about the center of buoyancy. The center of gravity should be very slightly in rear of the center of length, to facilitate quick rise to a sea. All navy boats should have the thwarts arranged in this manner at sea; in port it would be very easy to shift them into any position required by the duty, the rail being furnished with additional sockets for oarlocks.
So long as the stern sheets form the only stowage space of navy boats, it will be impossible to adjust their lines to all circumstances of cargo and weather. Many a young boat officer in coming along side light has been surprised and mortified to find that his rudder is all in the air, and, unless his efforts are ably seconded by a sympathetic boat's crew, may carry away the gangway. This need happen to him but once, but the same boat used at sea to communicate with other vessels, to save life, or to pass the surf, is always jeopardized and apt to broach to, through being down at the head.
The collection of gratings and bottom boards that lumber up navy boats should never be left in them at sea. They conceal and form receptacles for the dirt. They float about when water is shipped, and bruise and incommode the crew; or if lashed down, they must be frequently raised in order to bail. Navy boats have so little buoyancy that a great difference is felt in their management, even before the water is up to the stern sheet gratings. It is no exaggeration to say that there are boats in the service containing a weight of unnecessary rubbish, which, if turned into metallic end and bottom tanks, would make them non-sinkable and perhaps self-bailing.
The weight of footlings and risers, floor pieces and gratings, in bow and stern would be no more than that of a false bottom of wood or sheet copper, which would really make a much stronger boat. The weight of the keel and unnecessary dead wood at forefoot and run could be worked into a centerboard well large enough to serve both as a ballast tank and subdivision of the bottom tank. With the weight of the stanchions, boat box, and boat stove case, at least three water-tight lockers may be built under the midship thwarts, thus increasing both buoyancy and stowage space without changing the weight. Finally, if the boat, instead of being carvel-built, had been metallic, or, better still, diagonal-built, sufficient weight would have been saved to increase the freeboard amidships 6", the sheer 12", fit a proper ballast tank with automatic valves, fit draining valves, and increase the subdivision of the buoyancy tanks.
These statements are acknowledged to be founded on very rough calculations; nevertheless it must be apparent that if proper precautions are taken to keep down the weight, a good self-bailing life-boat need be but very little, if any, heavier than the average navy boat of the same size.
Material and Construction.—The first boats of the Royal Life-Saving Institution were clinker-built of oak. The new ones are diagonal built of mahogany, which gives great strength and elasticity. Tredgold, comparing various woods with cast-iron as unity, found for Oak, good English, sp. gr., .83, strength, 0.25; extensibility, 2.8; stiffness, .093. Mahogany, Honduras, sp.gr., .56; strength, 0.24; extensibility, 2.9; stiffness, .487.
Thus it would appear that a boat built of mahogany, weighing one-third less than a similar one of oak, and possessing practically the same strength and extensibility of parts, would be actually much stronger, through the mahogany being five times stiffer than the oak. In addition there would be less working, etc., so detrimental to the tightness of built-in air and water tanks. Haswell makes the sp. gr. of cedar, .561; of white pine, .554; of mahogany, .56.
A few boat-builders will declare the carvel-built boat to be the strongest, possibly because they put in great frames that will stand rough usage. But then the whole strength of the boat depends upon these frames; if one is cracked, as frequently happens in landing in the surf it is a serious matter, at once throwing additional strain on those adjacent.
In the clinker-built boat this is also true, but to a much less extent; the planks depend on the frames, such as they are, for their shape, but on each other for support.
The diagonal-built boat, however, cannot be injured except locally; it is the strongest, most elastic, and lightest. Its chief objection appears to be its cost.
With regard to metallic boats. It is claimed for the Francis metallic corrugated boats that they are stronger and lighter than any others; that they cannot become "nail-sick," worm-eaten, or water-soaked; they are unaffected by heat of sun or fire; there is no shrinkage to open seams, and they are not liable to be broken in landing; they are always tight and not liable to damage by concussion or blast of cannon in the vicinity; there is no danger to the crew from flying splinters, nuts, or rivets in action. Their first cost is greater than that of wooden boats, but afterward it costs nothing to keep them in order.
There is undoubtedly an aversion in the service to metallic boats. How much the talent on hand in our navy yards for building wooden boats has to do with this can only be surmised.
If a metallic boat is worn out or rusted through, it will go to pieces when least expected, like the famous one-horse shay; some day a member of the crew will step down off the rail through both bottoms. The experience of many officers in the service with worn-out iron Steam launches would furnish an interesting corroboration. If this is the only objection, however, it is not sufficient. Pulling boats are out of the water four-fifths of the time and their condition can be easily examined. Their fitness for a cruise must be determined at the navy yard before being assigned to the ship, just as in the case of wooden boats. Like all other parts of the ship's equipment, they have a life, the length of which depends almost entirely upon the way in which they are treated; and their failure need not occur in service unless they have been employed long after their condition indicates the advisability of retirement.
Sails.—Almost all writers on life-boats and deep-sea fishing boats praise the split lug sail above all others. It is not so pretty as the "sliding gunter," but it is less complicated, and certain to set better, especially if the latter has been lowered by cutting off the foot to make it "safe."
The lower lug sail, when reefed down, may become becalmed in the trough of the sea, but it is more stable and easier to handle. Of course a boat may be endangered by carrying too little sail to be easily managed.
In any weather, such extreme caution is but one form of bad seamanship. A coxswain may sometimes be censured for carrying too much sail in rough weather when the very safety of the boat requires her to have way enough to cross the hollows; if necessary, to luff promptly, to fill away as quickly, and to keep up headway with wind abeam when the sheets have been eased freely or let go altogether. The sail that a good coxswain would carry in a steady strong breeze might be censurable if carried in a lighter but squally or shifting wind. In fact, a precaution may not be needed sometimes, which, with less vigilance, would fail to save the boat.
Navy boats, to be properly handled under sail, require the concerted action of several people. Neither good results nor mishaps can be ascribed wholly to the skill or ignorance of one man, be he coxswain or boat officer. It is hardly a fair thing to select the time to brail up foresail and jib, and then blame the coxswain for failing to reach the gangway with rudder and mainsail.
Boat drill under sail in a light sea would be excellent training in nerve and seamanship. So long as the present type of navy boats are employed, the crew will be obliged to get up on the weather rail and bail continually. Every man in the boat should wear a life-belt. Many will object, through a foolish pride in their strength, but as soon as the novelty of the drill wears off, they will take a practical common-sense view of the matter and put the belts on without a murmur. It is desirable to have a steam launch cruising near at hand, until the crew has obtained some skill and confidence, and a knowledge of what the boat will stand.
Whatever gear is put in a boat intended to risk a capsize, to accomplish something where the most sanguine can hardly hope for success, should not only be really necessary, but it should be of the simplest description. Tackles, with their "dips" and "thorough foots," are an abomination where it is possible to accomplish as much by "swinging off." Wire shrouds and stays, if used at all, should have a rope pendant worked in at a point accessible when the boat is capsized.
In case of a capsize, the boat should be at once cleared of its masts and sails, cutting freely to hasten matters if the water is at all cold; then, riding by the wreckage, right the boat, and rock it on the wave crests until considerable water has been thrown out. After this, with one or two men bailing, she will soon become habitable. Everything must be done with the utmost quickness, for the buffeting of the waves, and especially the chill of the water, make the men lose strength rapidly. Once they feel themselves at all weakened, few will have nerve enough to do more than to hold on.
Crews should be taught to regard a capsize as a not improbable or even rare occurrence; the resulting condition of things should be pointed out, and the men encouraged to think of the most expeditious way of clearing and righting the boat. While not making the crew in any way reckless, or permitting any laxity of discipline, it may teach it to look on a capsize, not with horror and despair, but as a difficulty, great indeed, but still one that can be surmounted.
Weight—It will have been seen that in the discussion of the various contradictory qualities of life-boats, the pros and cons crystallize most thickly on two types as different in design as the American centerboard schooner and the English cutter.
Where weight need not be limited, or the boat landed on a shoal beach, all arguments must narrow down to a decided approval of the heavy life-boat. Its weight and narrow beam form the powerful combination of great momentum and small resistance, enabling it to penetrate and struggle through a sea that would hurl back a lighter boat. The completeness and value of its automatic functions are proven by the fact that a much smaller percentage of people have been lost from capsized self-righters than from non-righting boats. Yet these boats appear to the seaman very artificial—their power to resist capsizing is kept down to permit them to right when capsized; for the same reason stability is impaired by great sheer and high end tanks. All this is adjusted and ameliorated by a massive iron keel and cork or water ballast. These boats are frequently swept by seas, and yet the crews lash themselves to their thwarts with full confidence that the boat will shake herself free. And if it fails if it is driven back and capsized—still with its wonderful powers it takes better care of its fettered crew than they could themselves if free.
There must be strong reasons for selecting a less perfect boat when the importance of the stake is considered. The main reason is the necessity of limiting the boat's weight.
Aboard ship the greatest difficulty in using the boats in rough weather, or when wrecked, will be in getting away from the ship. This difficulty increases many-fold with the boat's weight, both on account of its requiring more men to handle it, and because the shock of its weight on water or ship is more destructive. Aboard ship heavy boats are a nuisance, however buoyant and valuable when once clear of her; every precaution must be taken to secure them rigidly, and it is a rare thing to find a boat so secured that the lashings may be eased at sea without danger. Heavy boats require a large crew to act as one man; the weight on the davits year in and out is not only a source of deterioration, but increases the ship's top weight and renders her more vulnerable to the onslaughts of wind and sea. To hoist them every member of the ship's company is frequently called to man the boat's falls, and so impossible is it to handle this scattered strength with the required nicety that often the effort dare not be made at all.
Occasion may arise when it is necessary to land in terrible surf, passable by none but the best and largest boats, but ordinarily the choice of the boat will be determined by the ability of the crew to return unaided. In addition, few ships will be able to preserve intact the trained crew required for a large life-boat. It is customary in very heavy weather to double bank each oar, thus making, with a hand at the bow heaving line, another at the quarter, and two men on the steering oar, a crew of twenty-four men for a ten-oared lifeboat. What a magnificent barge such a boat would make!
The advantages and disadvantages of the less perfect though more natural type, which has outlined itself in contrast to the forced design of the heavy boat, may now be considered.
The stability necessary for freeboard, sheer, and clean pulling back stroke is obtained by a small increase of beam and a flat floor, no metal keel being employed. By this change, self-righting is given up (with a saving of one-third the weight), momentum is lost, and speed slightly diminished against head-seas or currents. On the other hand, the lightness and shallow draft makes the boat lively, and it evades or mounts over seas into which the heavier boat would burrow. Recognizing the fact that the proportions of the latter are fixed within certain narrow limits by the variety and contradictory nature of its requirements, while there is great range allowed in the former, it would seem possible to design a faster boat of the lighter pattern, better for every purpose except when the sea is extremely high and rough. To investigate: height of freeboard and sheer need not be so great, as there is less chance of the water coming in or a sea swamping the lighter boat. Also, as the end tanks are not built especially for self-righting, they may be made much smaller and lower. In this way stability is improved, and the internal capacity for water being diminished, a much smaller demand will be made on it when the boat is swept by a sea, especially as the side-fenders increase the actual submerged beam as soon as water is shipped. It is thus apparent that the stability of the light, unballasted, flat-bottomed boat may be just as great as that of the heavy-keel boat of the same beam, under like circumstances. It is only because the non-righting boat must not capsize that the beam is at all increased.
Again, with a large, shallow bearing surface, small internal capacity, and great buoyancy, the light boat will keep herself dry, while the heavy boat, with finer lines, will ship much more water, and sinking deeper, drain sluggishly. A condition of the waves may therefore be imagined in which the light boat is always light, dry, and fast, while the heavy boat, ramming every sea and burdened by the constant shipping of water, labors along in the rear.
Let the force of wind and sea increase. The heavy boat crawls on, more slowly but as persistently as ever, for the force of its crew, stored in its weight, is sending it ahead despite the impact of the waves. The light boat, however, is plainly beginning to be distressed; the crew spends more and more power in rowing up the moving seas, only to be checked by the driving gale when balanced on their crests.
It has been shown that with almost every desirable quality of a good sea life-boat there are corresponding disadvantages. Experience has taught surf men what qualities of boats are most important in their locality, and how much other features may be sacrificed to the advantage of these. In the numberless ways in which disaster or need may come to those at sea, still other qualities take precedence.
It is more important that a ship's company should be able to get away from a sinking ship and keep afloat, than it is necessary that they should have at their command the ultimate excellence in boats for landing. Yet one and the other may be identical in case of a wreck on the coast, and such is our respect for even a moderate surf that we cannot permit the sacrifice of any qualities essential there. It is certain that if a boat can live in the surf it can in the sea outside, and so the question narrows down to limiting the weight of a surf boat to that which can be handled and carried aboard ship. It is confessed that the mere presentation of a design, believed to be the type of a man-of-war life-boat, but states the problem; the solution is in the hands of the service. If such a boat is wanted, mature deliberation must remodel all that criticism demolishes.
Detaching Apparatus.—It must be said that the service exhibits but languid interest in the many designs of detaching apparatus, and the reason is simply that no such device can in itself ensure the safe departure of the boat. There are numbers of bad ones, liable to all sorts of eccentricities, and a few really good ones, with all their parts in sight.
All, however, halt at a half-way point; they cause the boat to part company with the falls, but not with the rolling, wave-beaten ship. A few designs recognize this difficulty, and attempt to overcome it with longer, or extensible, davit heads; one device has bearing-off levers hinged at the water's edge. It is surprising that so much attention has been paid to detaching apparatus and so little to means for hoisting. Generally, the anxious moment with heavy boats comes when the falls are first hooked. With care and plenty of tackle, or better still, as it is unlikely to foul or twist, a long pendant and whip, the falls may be permitted to unreeve; or hooking on may be easily accomplished at an oar's length from the ship's side. The seas are indifferent to swiftering lines; they batter the boat against the side, lift it, and, despite quick work on the falls, let it drop. A misgiving may sometimes cross the mind of the supervising officer as to whether it would not be considered better seamanship by some to let the boat go adrift or swamp astern than lose it in hoisting.
In no boat is simultaneous detaching more necessary, in any weather, than in the heavy ones carrying large crews. Yet it is an exceedingly rare thing to find one of these boats fitted with detaching apparatus. It seems to be decided on shore that these boats shall not be lowered except in smooth water, though they are the only ones that can be expected to make headway against a wind and sea.
On modern ships, the yards, less used for sail now, are still used as derricks in lifting boom -boats and other heavy weights. The main yard in particular, smoke-begrimed, collecting soot during a cruise to distribute it at leisure until the awful cleaning day comes, must still be straddled every day to rig a "water-whip" or "yard and stay." Many boats now-a-days must still be hoisted out by the ponderous "triatic," the rigging of which requires generally a comprehensive derangement of crew and tackle. Matters are improved on some ships by the lighter boats being stowed amidships, and the heavy ones in cradles immediately under their swinging davits. Still it requires considerable time and method to get all the boats out. Some of them, though the most important in case of shipwreck, are so stowed as to be necessarily the last lifted.
With regard to davits, there appears to have been no advance over those on the first ships built, other than the graceful curves and smaller thickness permitted by the substitution of iron for wood. They still project in an ungainly manner, offering greater resistance to wind and sea than is at all necessary, while their rigidity and permanence compels a general dismantling before coming alongside a dock or other steamer. In fact, people have become so accustomed to this type that many consider them as natural as trees, or, for that matter, think that by their removal men-of-war would be robbed of a most striking characteristic. Yet they are an unnecessary and unsightly encumbrance. Most of the difficulties with boats in rough weather are due to their inefficiency. They are in the way of the battery and a clear all-around view; they increase the top-hamper and gear; invite the destruction of the boats by every heavy sea, and may make ramming seem even more desperate and suicidal than it is.
On several of the new ships a number of the boats are stowed in two rows athwart ships, lying in cradles on a superstructure just abaft the forward bridge. On some armor-clad cruising battle-ships they are placed well back from the rail, on a superstructure. These are excellent places for them, as they are out of the way, easily secured, and permit vessels to go alongside of each other, or the wharf, with nothing to look out for but the guns. The old davits are still retained, however, only, as in the case of monitors, they present new complications and are less efficient than ever.
Undoubtedly the simplest method of all for hoisting in and out these boats or any other heavy weights, and of avoiding the use of the main yard to get aboard every barrel of provisions, is by light cranes on both sides of the ship, worked by hand and steam.
These cranes should be capable of lifting the steam launch from the water to the ship's deck, of transferring boats from one side of the ship to the other, and, at least one on each side, of swinging a lifeboat and crew at least 12' clear of the ship's side. Each boat should be fitted with its own slings and balanced with the crews on their thwarts. In the case of heavy boats, a two-legged sling and supporting band around the midship section may be used. Davits should not be used at all unless they swing inboard and land the boats, a condition that will usually interfere with the needs of the battery. The crane should be capable of high speed for rough weather work; in addition, to expedite matters, one of the parts of the hoisting whip may be run in by hand.
It may be said that a seaman should not thus be permitted to lose the special skill required in purchasing heavy weights. The answer is that there is no danger of seamanship falling into disuse through lack of difficulties requiring its special knowledge. The navy has every day more and more the need of thinking seamen. There are too many actual problems to solve in the new state of affairs to permit the continuance of any drill or work which is no longer necessary.
In justice to the writer, it must be stated that his conclusions with regard to the best type of ship's life-boat were reached and the preceding pages written before he had learned the character of the light self-bailing surf-boats recently tried in the U. S. Life Saving Service. The latest design, the Beebe-McLellan Self-Bailing Surf-Boat, has been in use but two years. It is believed by General Superintendent Kimball to be adapted to ship's use. Through his kindness it is possible to give the plans and specifications in the appendix. It will be noticed that the beam is 28 per cent of the length, the depth, 29 per cent of the beam, the sheer, 1" to each 1' of length, and the draft, about one-half the freeboard. The end air tanks do not rise above the thwart line. Some have been fitted with centerboards and a sail. Although only 25' long, their nominal load is 26 people, including crew. Of course, for ship's use larger boats would be built.
The capacity of a ship's life-boat of this description, not necessarily self- bailing, may be found by the "rules made by the [British] Board of Trade, under the 'Merchant Shipping (Life Saving Appliances) Act, 1888,' to come into force on the 31st March, 1890." Ten cubic feet of boat capacity are allowed for each adult person in a life-boat fitted with air tanks; in others without air tanks, through having more space, eight. The capacity is calculated from this formula: Length X breadth X depth X .6.
The capacity of a Beebe-McLellan boat 30' long would therefore be 30 X 8.4 X 2.516 X .6 ÷ 10 = 38. If such a boat was provided with a centerboard, and a tank on each side that might be pumped full of water for ballast when under sail, it would make a fine 12-oared ship's life-boat.
In order to give an idea of the comparative value of the U. S. Life Saving Surf-Boat and the heavier types of English life-boats, the following extracts are made from the statement of General Superintendent Kimball, of the "Organization and methods of the United States Life Saving Service. Read to the Committee on Life-Saving Systems and Devices, International Marine Conference, November 22, 1889."
"The type of boat in most general use in our service, although properly entitled to be called a life-boat, is distinctively known as the surf-boat, and this term will be applied to it in the remarks which follow. . . . Three varieties, respectively designated the Beebe, the Higgins & Gifford, and the Beebe-McLellan surf-boat, from the names of the persons who devised the modifications which characterize them, are the only ones furnished to the stations in recent years. They are all constructed of white cedar, with white-oak frames, and their dimensions are from 25 to 27 feet in length, 6 ½ to 7 feet beam, 2 feet 3 inches to 2 feet 6 inches depth amidships, and 1 foot 7 inches to 2 feet 1 inch sheer of gunwale. Their bottoms are flat, with little or no keel, and have a camber of an inch and a half or two inches in 8 feet each side of the midship section. They draw 6 or 7 inches of water, light, and weigh from 700 to 1000 pounds. They are propelled with 6 oars without sails, and are expected to carry, besides their crews, from 10 to 12 persons, although as many as 15 have been landed at a time in a bad sea. Their cost ranges from $210 to $275. There is no great difference between the Beebe and the Higgins & Gifford boat, except that the former has more sheer and is clinker-built, while the latter is of carvel construction. The Beebe-McLellan boat is the Beebe boat with the self-bailing quality incorporated. This feature has been added within the past two years, and but few of them have yet been put in service. . . . Even at those stations where the most approved self-righting and self-bailing boats are furnished, the surf-boats are generally preferred by the life-saving crews for short distances and when the number of imperiled people is not large. . . . As respects safety they will compare favorably with any other boats. In 18 years they have been launched 6730 times on actual service, and landed 6735 people from wrecked vessels. They have been capsized but 14 times. Six of these instances were attended with loss of life, of whom 27 belonged to the service and 14 were shipwrecked people. ... I learn from the annual reports of the Institution [Royal National Life-Boat Institution of Great Britain] that during the same period of i8 years, her boats (self-righting and self-bailing) capsized 21 times, attended by loss of life, 68 of the lost being life boatmen and 7 shipwrecked people. I find by the official report... in December, 1866, to Board of Trade (British) . . . that during the previous 32 years, the self-righting boats of the Institution had been launched in actual service 5000 times, . . .'the 76 life-boatmen lost represented about 1 in 850 of the men afloat in lifeboats on service, and the capsizes, 1 out of each 120 launches on service.' ... In the case of our capsized surf-boats, the 27 men lost represented 1 in 1744 of the men afloat in surf- boats on service, and the capsizes, 1 out of each 480 launches on service. . . . We find, then, 1 capsize of the surf-boat to every 464 persons saved; a difference in its favor of 172. The self-righting boat lost 1 life to every 136 saved; the surf-boat, 1 to every 158 saved; a difference of 22 in its favor. Of the life-boatmen afloat, 1 to 850 were lost by the self-righting boat, 1 to 1109 log by the surf-boat; a difference of 259 in favor of the latter. In the life-boat, one man of the crew is lost to every 157 lives saved; in the surf-boat, I for every 240 saved; a difference in favor of the surf-boat of 83. . . . Since 1876 there have been put into the United States service 37 self-righting and self-bailing life-boats of the model of a boat received from the Royal National Life-Boat Institution. . . . They are 29 feet 3 inches in length, 7 feet 7 inches beam, 3 feet 1 ½ inches deep amidships, 1 foot 10 inches sheer of gunwale, straight-bottomed, pull eight oars, and weigh about 4000 pounds each ... a heavy iron keel . . . securing the self-righting quality. . . . The boats have capsized once in each 118 trips, and once in rescuing every 146 persons, and one life has been lost from the boats to every 117 saved. There are two other varieties of self-righting and self-bailing boats in the service—the Richardson and the Dobbins. They are modifications of the life-boat just described, though considerably lighter. . . .
"Among the boats at present employed in life-saving institutions, I know of none that can be justly denominated the best life-boat. The type that is best for one locality may be ill adapted or entirely unfitted for another, and a boat that would be serviceable at one time might be worse than useless at another in the same locality. . . .The keeper steers with a long steering oar, and with the aid of his trained surf men, intent upon his every look and command, maneuvers his buoyant craft through the surf with masterly skill. He is usually able to avoid a direct encounter with the heaviest breakers, but if he is obliged to receive their onset, meets them directly 'head-on.' His practiced hand immediately perceives any excess of weight thrown against either bow, and instantly counteracts its force with his oar as instinctively and unerringly as the skilled musician presses the proper key of his instrument. He thus keeps his boat from broaching-to and avoids a threatened capsize. The self-righting boat is more unwieldy and not so quickly responsive to the coxswain's tactics, and is therefore not so well adapted to our general work. ... I have given these results in comparison ... to show that the United States has provided quite as effective means for dealing with the conditions presented to it as the most eminent organization of other countries has for its conditions. . . . May it not be a question whether these properties (self-bailing and self-righting) and the means of propulsion by sails cannot be advantageously incorporated into the surf-boat without materially increasing its weight and draft, and whether such a boat would not be found to be better adapted to perform the general services of life-boats than those which sit deeply in the water, and which on that account, and because of their great weight, are less agile in action and more difficult to transport and launch? And why, since it has been found that the self-bailing principle can be applied to a model thoroughly convenient to be carried on shipboard, may not these vessels even now be supplied with self-bailing boats, in which the liability to capsize is greatly diminished by reason of their ability to immediately free themselves of any water they may ship?"
It is believed that the best boat for ordinary ship's use would be a light whale-boat built on the lines of the Beebe-McLellan boat. If 29' long, 8' beam; depth, 2' 4"; sheer, 2' 5"; draft, 10"; freeboard, 18"; fitted with side air tanks and false bottom; draining through centerboard well, towards which bottom slopes, and carrying two lug sails, it will be a vast improvement on the 29' whale-boat now furnished the new cruisers, especially if a portion of the bottom permits water to be let in as ballast. It may be said that the 32' launches are heavy enough now. It is certain, however, that a boat of that size once shipping a sea would remain unmanageable for so long a time before being bailed out as to run the chance of being repeatedly swept and finally swamped. By adopting a less heavy construction in these boats, it may be possible to put in a false bottom for draining without increasing the weight more than five per cent. The 24' cutters should be either metallic or increased to 26', with 6' 9" beam, flatter bottom, air tanks under bow platform and thwart, around stern sheets, and in half-round tanks under the thwarts out against the side. A ballast tank, if needed, may extend from the centerboard well out to the sides.
The 28' cutters could be better replaced by very light non-sinkable surf-boats. If these are made as light as the combined strength of the diagonal system and mahogany wood will permit, they may be made self-bailing. In all of these boats, air tanks for stowage of boat still, provisions, and repair articles should be built between the bottom and thwarts; limber holes 4"x 18" may be left for passage of water.
It will be noticed that the Beebe-McLellan boat is essentially a compromise; none of the air tanks are detachable; it is clinker-built; there are no air tanks under the thwarts or above the seats in the ends. In consequence, a sea shipped over the bow will run under the thwarts and out over the stern; passengers may be taken in end on. The draining valves are large but simple rubber flaps; they are placed farther from the center than usual in order to act when the boat is rolling.
Part II.
Duties.—The requirements of the coast life-boat have been investigated with the aid of such authorities as are within reach. That phase of the problem is now encountered which can only be solved by the naval officer.
The question is, do the special duties of navy boats prohibit a radical change if a gain be made in seaworthiness and the weight increased not more than 5 per cent, or 10 per cent?
Much light will be thrown on the problem by a comparison of the crews and their duties in the past with the changed conditions of the present.
In the modern man-of-war we are at once struck by the simplicity or even absence of sails and spars, and the much greater complication of battery and adjuncts, than was the case in the ships of 1860. In some an attempt is made to retain the great sail power of thirty years ago, but generally the prime object of the ship, that of fighting under steam, has come to the front. The old-time battery was large but very simple, so simple, in fact, that detailed instructions for every move of hand in its service, ordinary and extraordinary, could be gradually mastered by the most ignorant man in a series of easy drills. The handling of sails and spars, however, was a different thing; it was the profession of a lifetime, and many a man efficient enough in gun drill never could become a real seaman, no matter what he might be rated. With all the infinite variations of sea, wind, sails, and course, peculiarities of the ship, etc., the progress of a watch was a panoramic problem which the true seaman was constantly solving. No matter how terse the orders of the watch officer, or well drilled the crew, the method of execution was as varied as the circumstances that compelled the change. In fact, a change of any sort compelled every man involved to think. This is the grand secret of the adaptability of the sailor. It is not a difficult thing to follow a rope with the eye until the cause of its jamming is determined.
When, however, this is done instinctively, or mentally, as at night; the reflective principle, so weakly illustrated, pervading the whole life, dealing with the irresistible sea, the invisible wind, gaining, in spite of them, an indirect advance where the direct is impossible when men every hour of the day and night trust unflinchingly to the skill of their own hands and brains in matters where failure would be comprehensive ruin,—then a swiftly decisive but philosophical character is formed, and men are made proud of their profession and ships, when the praise might well be given to themselves. Amid the changing circumstances of every evolution certain necessities rose paramount, and these were recognized and provided for in station-bills of an exceedingly accurate and detailed description. It is the boast even now of many an executive officer that when his crew first came aboard each man was prepared to stow his hammock in the proper netting, take his proper place at his gun, eat at his own mess table, and at sundown evolution tail on to his own boat-fall or yard-rope.
In time of storm and emergency no seaman ever failed to find his proper billet, though it was not always the one assigned him on the station bill. Despite the careful forethought and subdivision of labor, in time of trouble the artificiality of the system at once became apparent.
Seamanship was a work of precision only in the final execution; in the preparation, individual intelligence and adaptability had full sway. In the quarter-bill, a large number of men were assigned to each one of twelve or fifteen billets requiring performance of simple and exact duties. On deck, the man made his own billet,—within limits. If he was absent, his work was divided; it did not fail to be done. Hence, in spite of the apparent rigidity of the station-bill, its details were frequently ignored. From this it follows that there were a large number of men whose duties were nominal, or easily transferred and distributed. Thus, having the use of numbers of men without interfering with the routine, a pardonable pride in good appearance originated the present style of navy boat with its large crew and small carrying capacity.
In the future, however, the larger proportion of skilled and rated men, and the very great variety of duties required of men of ordinary capacity, will make it necessary to assign at once all intended substitutes in the battery to regular duty. The neglect of certain of these new duties would have serious consequences, though not at once apparent, as would be the case in sail and spar evolutions. It is all the more necessary that there should always be some one at hand to perform them; thus leaving but few men whose absence in boats would not be felt. At present, the difficulty is met by detailing a single boat's crew, usually that of the steam launch, to do all regular boat work while in port, in the meantime excusing them from all other duty. It is clear in consequence that little boat duty, other than that of smooth-water drills, may fall to a seaman not in the running boat's crew.
As for the operations of "cutting out" and "landing where likely to be opposed." It is not probable that a battle-ship will be permitted to risk her crew, trained with patience and care, in a landing where likely to be opposed by modern firearms. It is difficult to call to mind any place in the world where a commander would dare to risk his pulling boats in hostile rivers or harbors. On the open coast, the ship's secondary battery can drive the enemy back so that a peaceful landing can be effected, were the boats not certain to be swamped in their attempt to carry a load of passengers through the surf. In fact, operations by pulling boats in closed harbors, unsupported by the ship's powerful battery, are not to be thought of, unless boat guns are employed in sufficient force to overcome all resistance at artillery range before the attempt to land is made.
The terrible rapidity of fire, the range, and consequent power of concentration of modern firearms have compelled many changes in the attack on shore. The loss is minimized by scattering the men, at the same time permitting the largest possible number to keep up the return fire. Many tacticians claim that so long as the ammunition of the attacked holds out and they are not shattered by artillery fire, their front is invulnerable. Front attacks are generally disastrous, and rarely employed except to force the enemy to adopt or keep a certain line of battle.
In boat attacks, catastrophes must occur. Only a very small part of the force can be put in action, while the whole of it forms a target for concentrated fire. It is true that formerly in landing in smooth water—the only place where it was possible—the swifter, low-lying navy boat had the advantage of speed while exposed to the enemy's fire. This fire, however, became effective only when the boat was less than two hundred yards from the beach, while now it may be able to stop the boat at ten times that distance. Under such circumstances, the relative speeds of pulling boats are not of much importance. At any rate, the words "likely to be opposed" should be stricken out, with their cheerful indifference and lack of knowledge as to the kind of reception to be expected. The amount of preparation for a likely opposition that could be made in the boats would hardly make any difference. It should be the ship's duty to cover the boats, which in themselves would be helpless, and should be fitted out to land observation party, police, garrison, naval brigade of occupation, or naval brigade prepared to march, etc.
The day of boat operations is by no means past; rather more important now that it is proposed that the defense shall place all its eggs in one basket, all its warlike preparations in harbor-defense vessels and fortifications. The few cruisers that may escape capture for a time will be able to communicate with the beleaguered land only through boats landing on the open coast. The duty of these cruisers is undoubtedly to destroy commerce, but as we have no coaling stations or harbors of refuge, their career will be quickly terminated. Unfortunately, our own commerce is the only one likely to suffer on the seas if such a measure prevails. A cruising fleet of battle-ships would be a moving place of refuge for hunted cruisers.
In siege and blockading operations it will be found that the range of the shore artillery is so great that close observation is rendered too dangerous to be reliable. Occasional landings for the sake of gaining or imparting information will be more valuable than ever. In larger operations it is possible for the boats of a fleet to land on an open coast, fortify their position, and, with the aid of a few ships, hold it until it is made impregnable. There are such points, which, if occupied by an enemy in time, could render the vast fortifications of a port of little value. For, to dislodge the invaders, emplacements must be built for guns heavy enough to drive off the protecting ships. Otherwise the monitors and harbor-defense vessels must come out and fight at sea—if they can. The subject can only be touched upon to show the advantage that the fleet must have whose boats can select some place for landing on the enemy's shore other than that especially prepared for their repulse. In this connection it must be borne in mind that whereas old-time ships were able to run up fortified rivers and clear the woods with shells from a few slow-firing, smoothbore guns, the modern battle-ship may be said to be equivalent in rapidity and weight of fire to a whole fleet of its predecessors, while in accuracy and range it far exceeds any one of them. The U.S.S. Philadelphia or Baltimore, with less than fifty men on deck to handle the secondary battery, could keep up a fire, which, for range, weight of metal and exact pointing, would be superior to that often field batteries of six-pounders.
The best preparation for landing where likely to be opposed would be to put the boats in a condition to get over the dangerous space as rapidly as possible. A light inclined shield in the bow would be worth three times its weight of rapid-fire guns, although for this special purpose a Gatling will generally be preferred, on account of its light weight, searching qualities, and the absence of cover on the beach. A field- or boat-gun loses its value on approaching the enemy; it incommodes the crew, and makes it impossible to land except in very quiet water, or some distance from the beach.
In landing on the coast, field-guns should be sent in on balsas or catamarans, when they can be floated safely up to dry land. If placed in the boats, they may swamp or stave them in on striking bottom some distance from the water's edge.
Apart from the method, the soundness of a policy permitting the hazardous landing of the crew of a modern cruiser may be questioned. Not only must a larger part of the crew than formerly remain aboard to assist in the care-taking and manipulation of the many apparatus, but the loss of a sensible part of such a crew, though at once replaced by new men, would impair the efficiency of the ship for months to come. This is especially important when it must be acknowledged that, so long as the navy is growing and changing, it can never possess a full complement of thoroughly trained men. Few landing operations can be carried out except from the fleet, or rather from its auxiliaries; the lightly armed transports and hospital ships carrying extra men, which should always accompany it. These transports could be manned by the Naval Reserve, in which manner that valuable branch of the service would gain actual cruising experience and drill without impairing the efficiency of the more important ships through their short terms of service.
With regard to "cutting out," secrecy and despatch are the most important qualities; in case of discovery and failure, the advantage in speed that one pulling boat has over another is immaterial; the result will be equally disastrous. In. case, however, the vessel is boarded, one of the worst defects of navy boats makes itself felt; the boat cannot land more than a "corporal's guard" without weakening its crew beyond a safe limit. In landing, even in smooth harbors, few whale-boats could put more than fifteen men on the beach and leave enough to manage the boat properly.
In any case it must be seen that the demand on battle-ships and cruisers for boats able to land men and stores on the open coast will very probably be one of the features of the next war, no matter where the men are obtained or how remote the occasion. For such a purpose the present type of navy boat is useless, its chief defects being lack of seaworthiness and carrying capacity.
While power and seaworthiness are of the greatest importance, exceptional speed may in only one rare instance be more important; that of the transmission of intelligence, when neither steam launches, sails, nor signals can be used. Even then the boat must be different from the present type; it must have power, freeboard, draft, and narrow beam; something that could be best illustrated by a double-banked gig whale-boat.
For laying out anchors in shallow water or breaking seas, two life-rafts may be employed by a variation of Captain Craven's method; or, for that matter, any pair of broad-beamed, light-draft life-boats would serve better than cutters. A single life-boat may be used in the same manner as the old sailing launch, the draining valve holes or centerboard well taking the place of the bottom funnel.
In towing, warping, and hedging, the large number of men who can be put on a life-boat's oars in any kind of weather without making her loggy or heavy is most important, and may at times save the ship from serious disaster.
The occasion may arise on modern men-of-war in which it will be preferable to water by boats day after day for a considerable time, rather than expend coal for distilling. No better boat could be carried for this purpose than a life-boat fitted with end air tanks, and especially is this true when the choice of a landing place cannot be made.
Boats are also used for carrying stores in tow of a steam launch, lightening ship, and making trips when the launch is not lowered. For these purposes, handiness, large carrying capacity, and ability to keep afloat are the vital characteristics; and yet there is hardly a pulling boat in the navy that has an air tank.
Abandoning skip.—It is openly acknowledged that a man-of-war cannot carry a sufficient number of boats to take off her crew in anything but smooth water, and that a certain proportion must be detailed to life-rafts and balsas. It is also admitted that this last nondescript contingent goes far towards spoiling the drill of abandon ship, as an indication of the state of discipline and preparedness for emergency aboard ship. It is a feature of the "piping times of peace" that the outward appearance is made more important than the actual spirit and purpose of the drill. Divisional competition is a very good thing if time is sent to the rear and thoroughness is made to take its place.
The question might be asked: Which method would most benefit the actual purpose of this drill? 1st, assign only such a number of men to each boat as would not unduly increase the danger of its loss, and make temporary provision by means of bridges, deckhouses, and life-rafts for the remainder; 2d, do away with the least efficient boat and distribute its weight among all the rest in the shape of increased beam, depth, and sheer, thus increasing the total safe carrying capacity. By the substitution of either of these methods the present drill would lose much of its smoothness and precision, but it would be more practical and efficient. Many officers may have noticed that the operation of hoisting out boom-boats sometimes litters the deck up more than the drill "clear ship for action."
On noting the variety of disasters to which a ship is liable, it is evident that the drill "abandon ship" provides only for that rarest and most merciful of all shipwrecks—that of a ship gradually going down in a calm and placid sea. Instead of doubting the ability of the boats to float their quota, and making the attempt to improve their buoyancy with canvas upper works, they are still further weighted down with heavy cases of cooked meats, a large square case, said to contain a boat stove, and a Crusoe outfit in a heavy boat box that takes up the space of two or three men. This state of affairs is the accumulation of years of theoretical preparation for a variety of shipwreck that has never come. Every change in drill has introduced additional safeguards and regulations of precaution without weeding out any that may be obsolete.
There are advantages in being able to stow boat boxes and stoves in the hold, and in borrowing the provisions for the occasion. It is certain, however, that the time spent in procuring these articles, should the actual need ever arise, might cost many lives. Within twenty-four hours after the wreck, the amount of water in the breaker will be the uppermost thought in every man's mind, and if the boat stove is fitted to distill it would be regarded as a priceless treasure. As sailors, with the scuttle-butt always at hand, have no reason to deny themselves in the use of water, as is frequently the case with soldiers, they begin to suffer from thirst, or imagine that they suffer, very quickly.
It would seem advisable when at sea to clear out of the boats all unnecessary rubbish, fit a tank under one thwart as a boat-box, one under another for a boat-still, and a third for provisions. All hands could then fight a fire or leak with good heart to the bitter end. There always seems to be a chance left to call in question the judgment of a commanding officer who has to decide the moment when preparations for leaving the ship become more important than the attempt to save her. The number of abandoned vessels found at sea emphasizes this feature of a shipwreck.
With regard to life-rafts. Many are highly recommended, but few seamen have exercised with them, and their peculiarities at sea are not well understood. Their chief recommendations appear to be buoyancy and non-liability to damage from staving or capsizing alongside. An excellent feature of some is that the rubber air-cylinders are encased in canvas ones. The inner one being larger than the envelop—like a football bladder—the outside takes the shock, and if injured, the folds permit the inner case to evade puncture.
On the other hand, almost all descriptions of life-raft require time and careful preparation when all hands are working under great excitement. They are charged with being hard to pull and steer against a wind and sea. Having no freeboard, they will be constantly swept by the waves in breaking seas. It seems certain that if the small balsa furnished the navy is weighted down it will capsize like a barrel in a seaway. Nevertheless, in the majority of ships, the salvation of a portion of the crew can be assured only by a liberal supply of large life-rafts; especially since the clearing away of the largest boats will sometimes be impossible.
The catamaran, as issued at present, is a sheer waste of weight. Though designed to be very buoyant, it is made of heavy wood, of liberal scantling; it frequently leaks, and has not sufficient freeboard with the crew aboard for pulling in rough water. In a seaway it is certain to be unmanageable and repeatedly swept by the waves. A copper catamaran, with wooden fenders, would be more serviceable, more durable, and less expensive to keep in order.
The dinghy is intended to be a handy, safe, and economical boat; it, however, frequently fails in all these qualities. It seems fated to be a source of worry and trouble through its being often unfit for the duty on which it is sent. Being a miniature cutter with the scantling nearly that of the larger boat, its weight is all out of proportion to its freeboard and buoyancy, while its low rails make it a difficult boat to pull even in smooth water. In consequence, the dinghy boys almost invariably form a very unhappy quartette.
Seeing the great growth of the metal-working industries in our navy yards, it would seem not impossible to replace the old type dinghies by others of galvanized iron, with end air-tanks and 15" freeboard. An efficient 19' dinghy of this description need not weigh 350 pounds.
In connection with these opinions, it is well to consider in detail the demands likely to be made on a ship's boats for life-saving. These may be divided into two classes, with subdivisions, as follows:
I. In case of the loss of the ship, when provision must be made for the rescue of all hands.
- Loss by fire, when all hands fight the fire to the last. The loss of the Bombay is an instance where the fire was fought too long, it being impossible to get all the people off the ship.
- Founders slowly, from collision with other vessels, ice, injuries received in storm or battle, etc.
- Founders quickly, from various unexpected causes.
- Wrecked on the coast.
- Wrecked on outlying shoals or reefs.
And all these disasters, and others unforeseen, take on different shapes and require to be met by different treatment according as they occur by night or day, in rough or smooth weather, in the presence of friends and succor, or alone. The last two subdivisions have in addition as many peculiarities as the coasts on which ships are wrecked.
II. Saving life from the ship.
- Man overboard under way or in port.
- Assistance to a vessel in distress.
- Taking people off a wreck at sea, on a shoal, or on an island.
- Communication with the shore.
Again, all these important conditions may vary in many ways.
It thus appears that there is really a greater variety of imperative duties demanded of ship's boats for saving life than for all other duties combined. That such demands are made infrequently is hardly the case, considering the long list of minor casualties during the past few years. Even if they were rare, that is no reason why they should be ignored. It would be as sensible for a ship to go to sea with sub-caliber practice-barrels instead of her heavy guns; a much finer drill may be had with the former, perhaps, than with the latter. It is a noble thing to save life, and the qualities of men and boats necessary to success in that would compel success in all other duties. Let seaworthiness be carried to the highest point of excellence in the navy boat. Casual routine duties should have no influence in diminishing the peculiar efficiency of such a boat. Comfort will certainly be improved, but the convenience in petty things, and pride in appearance, should no more be allowed to interfere with the grand essentials of a life-boat than they do with the art of war itself.
It is asked that the presence of objections to the proposed change shall not condemn it before due weight is assigned to the related advantages, nor that an advantage shall be rejected as valueless because it is only partially obtained.
Objections to the proposed boats may be functional or materialistic, active or latent. The first at once limits efficiency; the second imposes conditions independent of use; as of cost, care, size, weight, etc.
All that is suggested is that it would be advantageous to exchange a few functional and active objections, of which navy boats have plenty, for a few materialistic and latent ones; the only ones in fact that appear in a life-boat.
There is one last view of the subject, that is, the effect of the possession of good, seaworthy boats, on the tone of the navy at large. The most stirring professional experiences of most officers, calling for all their energies of mind and heart, may be unhesitatingly declared to have occurred in their encounters with the forces of nature. It can almost be said that the exigencies of a battle cannot make as great a demand on the nerve and courage of officers and men as a great storm. Between the old sailing-master and the modern commander there is much difference. The former depended solely upon the power of his crew and his own knowledge to prevail against the storm. A life of this sort made seamen self-reliant, courageous, and persevering; sea fights were fought out to the bitter end, until one of the combatants no longer had the power to strike a blow. In modern times, with the introduction of steam and various laborsaving mechanisms, it is apparent that much of the success of a naval battle must depend upon forces to which no appeal can be made, that the slightest neglect of some principle or precaution in the engine room may throw the fate of the battle adversely, or at least seriously jeopardize success. But this is not all; under the circumstances, it is evident that with the increased range of possibilities, an increased power of adaptation is necessary in the men who fight. Evidently, therefore, it will be detrimental rather than beneficial to make many of these men specialists, and thus, by absorbing the powers of the seaman in any one direction, limit their adaptability to others. In fact, the power of adaptation of the men on deck never was more important than it is at present.
There are many points of isolated and varied responsibility on any one of the new cruisers. The enormous demand for ammunition of all calibers and description, each variety requiring its own precautions and treatment, necessitates a very large number of well trained men possessing greater intelligence and breadth of knowledge than in the past. Considering how much greater the cruiser's powers of offense are than those of defense, it cannot be hoped that an action between them will be even initiated without serious loss. For this reason the battery must be served by men of sufficient intelligence to master the duties and stations of a very flexible quarter bill—a bill that will permit either concentration or scattering of forces, to continue the fire of important guns to the last, or to distribute the crews of those disabled. In fact, every minute of action may annihilate whole gun's crews or mechanisms, and such catastrophes should be provided for in the bill. It may at any time be deemed advisable to withdraw the crews of exposed guns, or guns difficult to supply with ammunition, in order to secure a more rapid fire from others less exposed. These reasons alone seem sufficient to indicate how necessary it is that the fighting portion of the crew should be homogeneous and instructed in the essentials of the service of every part of her battery. It would also seem criminal to expose on the deck of a cruiser in action a single man more than necessary to make the best use of her fighting powers. The act of calling away from each shielded gun's crew one man for duty in connection with boats or spars must be not only at the expense of rapidity of fire but at the expense of life.
The real problems of naval warfare lie in the proper development and combination of a ship's powers of offense and defense as a whole, and not in the details of the manipulation of any of her separate mechanisms, however intricate they may be. A gun's crew may drill well in a month, yet it may be three years before the ship as a whole can make the best use of her powers.
A modern ship can give a good account of herself only when fought by an intelligent, plastic crew that will not be at a loss to know how to fight when the exigencies of battle have rendered their paper billets obsolete. To attain this state of training with young Americans, it would seem a good plan to form small groups with general instructions. As soon as battle had broken up the finished drill organizations, the groups would take their place. In this way individual experience and adaptability would not be paralyzed by too narrow restrictions. The fact is, the modern battery and its fire tactics must rely upon the unbidden help of every one on deck, in the same manner that the old sail and spar evolutions did.
With regard to the seaman. The modern battery, though requiring more precision and permitting many more combinations than that of thirty years ago, is a bad exchange, as an educator, for sails and spars. It is more intricate at first, but once mastered, the treatment of its parts is governed by simple and invariable laws. On the other hand. Nature has a myriad of phases; she is always grand and courage-provoking. A mechanism, to be satisfactory, must always be the same. At times it may be utterly unreliable, or unintelligible, until the cause of derangement is discovered. Were the navy obliged to depend on battery drills alone, or machine drills of any sort, for the training of its personnel, the result could not help but be deterioration.
By deterioration is meant simply that the mind, which in the most ordinary duties of the sailor has considerable range of judgment, is limited in the management of machines by a few narrow thumb-rules. The underlying principles will appear to the most intelligent, but beyond and back of it all there must always remain much that cannot be understood or appreciated by any but the specially educated. In fact, however complicated the machinery and ingenious the mind that devised it, only those features which are concerned in its care and manipulation will, with rare exceptions, enter the life of the enlisted man. These principles are naturally made as simple and distinct as possible, in order that they may not require more of the seaman's attention than their relative importance demands. Continual gun or machine drill for an entire cruise can do no more than turn the thinking seaman into an obedient puppet.
To many, it would seem that the days of the seaman are gone; that he should be replaced by a certain proportion of skilled mechanicians and common laborers. But with such a change the very vitality of the sea-fight is lost. A sailor may become as much of a machinist as is required, but as soon as this work takes the nature of a steady vocation, he seems to become less a seaman.
Seamanship is by no means dependent upon sails and spars; these gave only the best means of its exhibition. All that has been and always will be the best part of the seaman—that readiness of resource and instant adaptation; above all, the quick comprehension of the most pressing need—is of more value now than ever. The question is, how can it best be fostered and developed?
In no way could these qualities be better studied than in boat work—not the boat work of smooth water and a gentle breeze, when half the crew are gradually lulled asleep, but the boat work that makes each man alert for his own safety's sake; the boat work that speedily puts in the coxswain's box a man who can handle the crew as well as the boat; that makes each man there respect himself and his neighbor because their skill and nerve are so essential to the general welfare.
The writer has no thought of encouraging foolhardiness, or of stimulating men to sacrifice themselves, however heroically, where nothing can be gained. On the other hand, he would attempt to cultivate the judgment that discerns the impossible, however much it may be regretted. It is no impeachment of the courage of seamen to say that the more they know of the difficulties of a rescue at sea, the more commendable will be the act of volunteering.
When to lower a boat in rough weather at sea, just as when to attempt the passage of surf, is a question dependent upon many ever differing conditions. Among these, any one of the three most important—experience of crew' qualities of boat, and state of sea—must outweigh all the rest. To the commanding officer, one man's life should mean no more than another's, and the staking of six or eight for one could be justified only when success proved that the circumstances made the odds more favorable. For, however much sentiment may pervade the action and influence the decision, far away in cool and quiet judgment the deed will be discussed and its advisability admitted or denied in a very different spirit.
Individual heroism or esprit de corps may lead to a contempt of the judgment that would weigh the chances of success, so that it is no pleasant task to restrain them. Yet a barren sacrifice of brave men should never be permitted.
APPENDIX.
"JAMES BEECHING, BOAT-BUILDER, GREAT YARMOUTH.
Description.—The body of this boat is of the form usually given to a whale-boat—a slightly rounded floor, sides round in the fore and aft direction, upright stem and stern post, clench built, of wainscot oak, and iron fastened.
Length extreme, 36'; of keel, 31'; breadth of beam, 9 ½'; depth, 3 ½'; sheer of gunwale, 36"; rake of stem and stern post, 5"; straight keel, 8" deep. The boat has seven thwarts 27" apart, 7" below the gunwale and 18" above the floor; pulls 12 oars, double banked, with pins and grommets. A cork fender 6" wide by 8" deep runs around outside at 7" below the gunwale.
Extra buoyancy is given by air cases 20" high in the bottom of the boat under the flat; round part of the sides, 24" wide by 18" deep, up to the level of the thwarts, leaving 10' free amidships; and in the head and stern sheets, for a length of 8 ½', to the height of the gunwale; the whole divided into compartments and built into the boat; also by the cork fenders. Effective extra buoyancy 300 cubic feet, equal to Si tons. For ballast a water-tank divided into compartments, placed in the bottom amidships, 14' long by 5' wide and 15" high, containing 77 cubic feet, equal to 2 ½ tons when full, and an iron keel of 10 cwt. Internal capacity of boat under the level of the thwarts, 176 cubic feet, equal to 5 tons. Means of freeing the boat of water, tubes through the bottom, 8 of 6" in diameter and 4 of 4" in diameter; total area, 276 square inches, which is to the capacity in the proportion of 276 to 176, or as 1 to .64. Provision for righting the boat if upset, 2 ½ tons of water ballast, an iron keel, and raised air cases in the head and stern sheets. Rig, lug foresail and mizzen; to be steered by a rudder; no timber heads for securing a warp to. Draft of water with 30 persons on board, 26". Weight of boat, 50 cwt., of gear, 17 cwt.; total, 67 cwt. Would carry 70 persons. Cost, with gear, £250.
Remarks.—The form given to this boat would make her efficient either for pulling or sailing in all weathers ; she would prove a good sea boat, and in places such as Yarmouth, where there are always plenty of hands to launch a boat, her weight would cause no difficulty. By means of the raised air cases placed at the extremes, the absence of side air-cases for a length of 10' amidships, the introduction of 2 ¼ tons of water ballast into her bottom when afloat, and her iron keel, this boat would right herself in the event of being capsized; although from the form given to her it is highly improbable that such an accident should occur.
A passage should be left in the air cases to approach the stem and stern, for on many occasions the only way in which a life-boat can go near a wreck is end on, when the crew of it must be received either over the stem or the stern. The keel, 8" deep, however favorable for sailing, for steadying her in a seaway, and for aiding her in righting, would be a disadvantage in beaching and would render the boat more difficult to turn in case of wishing to place her end on to a heavy roller coming in. The area of the delivering valves is large in proportion to the internal capacity, and would rapidly free the boat of water, down to the level of her draft, which with her crew on board would not be to less than a depth of some inches above the flow. The air cases are built into the boat, which renders them liable to accidents; if this were remedied and her internal capacity reduced, a 30' or 32' boat built on similar lines, with her internal fittings slightly modified, would make an efficient life-boat, adapted for many parts of the coast."
Order of merit, 1. Mark, 84.
"GEORGE PALMER, NAZING PARK, WALTHAM ABBEY, ESSEX.
Description.—The form of the midship body of this boat is that of a whale-boat, with upright stem and stern, rising floor, sides straight in a fore and aft direction, clench built, of elm and fir, and copper fastened.
Length, extreme, 26'; length of keel, 24'; breadth, 61'; depth, 3 ¼'; sheer of gunwale, 20"; straight keel, 3" deep. The boat has 5 thwarts, 24" apart, 9" below gunwale, and 22.5" above floor; pulls 5 oars, single banked, with tholepins. A cork fender 4" wide and 4" deep extends along both sides close up to the gunwale, but does not reach within 18" of the stem or stern.
Extra buoyancy is obtained by detached air cases of wood, 18" square, along the sides up to the level of the thwarts, and in the bow and stern sheets up to the height of the gunwale, the whole divided into 12 compartments; also by the cork fenders. Effective extra buoyancy, 82 cubic feet, equal to 2 1/8 tons. No ballast. Internal capacity up to the level of the thwarts, 62 cubic feet, equivalent to 1 ¾ tons. No means of freeing the boat of water except by bailing. Provision for righting the boat if capsized, raised air vessels at each extremity. To be steered by a rudder. There are two timber heads for warps, one on each bow; wash-strakes around the head and stern sheets, and life-lines along the gunwale. Draft of water with 22 persons on board, 15". Weight of boat, 10 cwt., of gear, 5 cwt.; total, 15 cwt. Would carry 20 persons. Cost £75.
Remarks.—This boat would pull well, is light for transporting along a beach, could readily be manned at any station on the coast, has light draft of water, small internal capacity for holding water up to the level of the thwarts, and detached air cases, which would preserve them from the risk of being stove alongside a wreck; all of which are good points in her favor. She has timber heads forward for securing a warp to, but none on the quarter, and plenty of life-lines.
The boat would not right herself if capsized, and the raised air cases at each end would prevent any approach to either extremity within 4 ½', which might prove extremely inconvenient in case of having to receive a wrecked crew on board at the head or stern of the boat, which not uncommonly occurs. The boat is narrow for her length, and her rising floor is not favorable for taking a beach.
This model has been generally adopted by the Royal National Institution for the preservation of lives from shipwreck, and several similar boats are, it is believed, placed around the coasts, as in the Isle of Anglesey and elsewhere in Wales, which, it is said, have been the means of saving many lives."
Order of merit, 8. Mark, 70.
"JAMES PEAKE, ASSISTANT MASTER SHIPWRIGHT IN H.M.S DOCKYARD, WOOLWICH.
Description.—The form of this boat is that usually given to a whale-boat, having a long flat floor amidships, sides straight in a fore and aft direction, raking stem and stern post, diagonally built of two thicknesses of rock elm, and copper fastened.
Length extreme, 30'; length of keel, 24'; breadth of beam, 8 ¾'; depth, 3 ½'; rake of stem and stern posts, 6 ½" in a foot; straight keel 4" deep, and bilge pieces with holes in them to lay hold of on each side on the bottom. The boat has five thwarts, 7" wide, 28" apart, 7" below the gunwale and 15" above the floors, pulls 10 oars, double banked, with pins and grommets. A fender of cork, 4" wide by 2 ½" deep, extends fore and aft at 4" below the gunwale.
Extra buoyancy is obtained by cork placed the whole length of the boat under the flooring to a height of 12" above the keelson, and by light cork or detached air-cases in the head and stern sheets up to gunwale height. Effective extra buoyancy, 105 cubic feet, equal to three tons. A light water-tight deck will be placed on the cork to protect it, and above that a light grating. For ballast, the weight of the cork in the bottom and an iron keel of 5 cwt. Internal capacity for holding water up to the level of the thwarts, 140 cubic feet, equivalent to four tons. The means of freeing the boat of water are by eight tubes of 6-inch diameter through the bottom, and six scuppers through the sides at the height of the flooring, giving a total delivering area of 300 square inches, which is to capacity as 1 to .5. The provision made for righting the boat consists in the sheer given to the gunwales, raised air vessels or cork in the head and stern sheets, and the ballast arising from the weight of cork in the bottom, and the small iron keel. A passage 18" wide up to within 2' of the stem and stern is left between the raised air cases in the extremes, and the top of the cases is protected by a layer of cork. Rig, fore and mizzen lug-sail. To be steered by a sweep oar at either end. Timber heads for warps are placed at each bow and quarter, and a roller for the cable in the stem and stern post head. A locker under the flooring amidships for the anchor and cable to be secured down to the keelson, and covered with a water-tight scuttle.
A life-line fore and aft at a foot below the gunwale, and short knotted life-lines to be hung over the sides at each thwart. Draft of water with 30 men aboard, 16".
Weight of boat and fittings, 38 cwt. Would carry 60 persons. Actual cost if built in one of H.M.'s dockyards: Materials, £40; labor, £45; total, £85.
Remarks.—It is anticipated that this boat, from her form, will pull fast in all weathers, and be fully able to contend against a head sea. She would sail well, and from her flat and long floor and straight sides would have great stability and prove a good sea boat. From a slight fullness in her entrance and flaring bow aloft, she will beach well, and leave the shore through breakers in safety. It is not probable that a boat of this form could be readily upset; but should such an accident occur, the sheer of gunwale, raised air-cases in the extremes, weight of cork in the bottom, and iron keel would cause her to right herself. The area of the delivering valves is ample, and the boat would readily free herself of all water above the flooring when she has 30 persons on board. In the possible case of the tubes through the bottom being choked by the boat grounding on a bar or bank, there are sufficient scuppers provided in the side to free the boat of water.
As the greater part of the buoyancy is obtained by cork, all liability to accident is avoided. It is proposed to use light fisherman's cork (of about 12 pounds weight to the cubic foot) for the righting power in the head and stern sheets, if not found too heavy; otherwise detached air-cases, divided into compartments to be formed of a layer of gutta-percha between two thin boards. The diagonal mode employed in building gives great strength; the planks are of one length from gunwale to gunwale, and the keel brought on the bottom, so that if it were knocked away it would not damage the boat.
The builder claims no merit for his design beyond that of having selected the best points from the several models selected for competition, and having combined them in a form as shown in Plate III., which appears to him better adapted to the general purposes of a life-boat than any he has hitherto seen. It is proposed to place the boat, as soon as completed, at Cullercouts, on the coast of Northumberland, two miles north of the entrance of the Tyne, as a station well adapted for testing her capabilities."
Attention is called to the way in which the gunwale sheer is discontinued at bow and stern as soon as the ends become too fine for such sheer to be any use for buoyancy. Another interesting point is the extreme cheapness with which the boat was built at a government dockyard. In 1852, this boat was completed. It is stated in an instructive treatise on saving life at sea, issued by the Secretary of the National Life Boat Institution, that its beam was 8' instead of 81', that it was furnished with side air-tanks, and air-tanks under the thwarts; draft, 15"; with crew, 18"; iron keel of 7 cwt. (instead of 5 cwt.); and weighed 46 cwt. instead of 38 cwt. "When she was hove keel up by a crane, she righted in 5 seconds. When light, she entirely freed herself of water in 55 seconds. When running for the beach through heavy rollers, she showed great buoyancy and stability, without shipping water. She could carry 30 persons beside her crew, or 42 in all. The present boat in use has been developed from this one."
Specifications of the Beebe-McLellan Self-Bailing Surf-Boat.
Dimensions.—Length over all, 25 feet 4 inches; length between rabbets at sheer-line, 25 feet; greatest breadth outside of planks, 7 feet; depth amidships above keel, 2 feet 5 inches; sheer of gunwale, 2 feet 1 inch.
Keel or Bottom Piece.—The keel is to be of white oak, 2 inches thick, 9 ¾ inches wide amidships, and rabbeted 7/8 inch in width for planks. The ends of the keel are to be steamed and bent up to shape.
Stem and Stern Posts.—They are to be of white oak, sided 2 inches, molded 4 inches at gunwale, and 5 inches at scarf of keel, overlapping the keel 8 inches, each lap to be fastened by two galvanized ¼-inch iron bolts driven and riveted over burrs. These stems are to be cut out of timber with natural crook to suit the shape.
Frames.—The frames are to be bent out of white oak, siding 1 inch and molding 1 1/8 inches, then cut to fit to the planking. The floor timbers running across the keel are to be at least 4 feet g inches long amidships, and to be formed of knees at ends of boat; they are to be placed 12 ¾ inches from center to center amidships and closer at the ends, as per plan. Futtocks are to be placed alongside of each floor-timber, also between each of the floor-timbers amidships. Towards either end they are to be spaced, as shown on plan.
Outside Planks.—The outside planks are to be ten in number on each side of the boat, made of ½-inch thick white cedar, with 7/8-inch laps, and fastened with four-penny copper nails riveted over burrs, one through each frame, one between amidships frames, and two where the distance between futtocks increases. The hood ends are to be fastened with galvanized iron nails; the bevel-scarfs are to lap 2 inches, covered on the inside by 1 ½ by 5/8 inch white oak strips with six rivets passing through both, secured over burrs. At the bottom of each plank are battens of ½ by 7/8-inch white oak extending to within 4 feet from the ends of the boat; the one under the top strake is to be 7/8 inch square, rounded on the outside and extending the whole length of the boat. An outside molding batten at height of sheer is to be of white oak, 2 inches deep, 7/8 inch thick, and rounded on outside; the fastenings to pass through the frames and inner gunwale.
Gunwales and Breast-Hooks.—Inner gunwales to be of white oak, 2 by 5/8 inch, fastened at ends into white oak breast-hooks made of knees with 5-inch throat and 14-inch arms. The breast-hooks are to be riveted through the stems.
Thwarts.—The thwarts, four in number, 7 ½ inches below the top of gunwale, are to be of 8 by 1 ¼ inch spruce with two white oak knees on each end on top, siding 1 inch, and with arms on thwart 13 ½ inches long; each thwart to have a 7/8-inch support underneath with cleats under thwarts and steps on deck. Other supports to be placed in the hold underneath upper supports.
Seats.—Seats on ends to be of 5/8-inch white cedar, supported by 1 by 2-inch cedar carlings ; part of the forward seat to be removable; the tops or covering boards of the side air-tanks are continuations of the after-seat. All seats to be supported by 5/8-inch cedar planks. All as shown on plan.
Deck.—The deck is to be of 5/8-inch white cedar, about 5 inches wide, resting on cedar carlings 2 by 1 inch, which are let into risers of 2 by 5/8-inch cedar, all as shown on plan. The deck-planks are to be fastened by five-penny galvanized-iron nails set in and beeswaxed.
Air-Tanks.—The side-boards of the air-tanks are to be of 5/8-inch cedar, to reach from their covering-boards to the carlings of the deck, to which they are to be fastened. They are also to be nailed to the deck-planks in the spaces between the carlings, and bracing-strips of 5/8-inch cedar are to be fastened on top of each carling between the side-boards and the outside planking.
Delivery-Tubes.—The frames of the delivery-tubes are to be made of 7/8-inch white pine, jogged over frames, fastened to them and the outside planking, and provided on each side above the deck with 2 ½ by 4 1/8-inch openings. Inside of these openings are to be valves of rubber packing fastened to the inside of tubes on top by two brass screws passing through a protecting strip; on the bottom they have three to four ounces of lead clinched on by copper tacks. Around the opening on the inside of the tubes are strips of cedar running from nothing at the top to ¼-inch at bottom, put on with galvanized brads, and with paint between them and the boxes. Tops of boxes to be of 5/8-inch cedar. The tubes to taper in both directions, as shown on plan.
Bitts and Cleats.—Bitts and cleats of white oak forward and aft, as per plan.
Ring-Bolts.—Ring-bolts through both stems of 5/8-inch galvanized iron, rings of 3-inch opening—all well clinched over rings on inside of stems.
Row-Lock Beds.—The beds are to be of white oak, 15 inches long and 1 inch thick, fitted for tholepins and fastened to outer planks and inside gunwale by galvanized iron screws; they are to be partly let into the inner gunwale. The center of rowlocks to be about 10 inches abaft the after edge of thwarts, and the centers of tholepins to be 5 ½ inches apart.
Steering Oarlock.—The steering oarlock is to be of composition, shaped as marked in plan, and passing through an opening in a galvanized iron band. This band to have arms 13 inches long, 1 ½ inches deep, and 3/8 inch thick, and to be fitted around stern-post and to outer molding-batten, and to be fastened by ¼-inch iron rivets, clinched over burrs on inside of breast-hook.
Man-Hole.—The man-hole is to be 17 ½ inches in diameter, and have a flanged brass ring fitted around it ; the ring to be 1 inch deep and the flange, 1 inch wide; the flange to be on top of the deck, and secured to it by brass screws.
The cover is to be of cedar in one or two thicknesses, the top being ½ inch above the deck and extending ½ inch beyond the man-hole, so as to form a shoulder; a brass flanged ring is also to be fitted to the cover, the ring to be 7/8- inch deep and the flange, 7/8 inch wide; the flange to be underneath the cover and secured to it by brass screws.
The two rings are to screw into each other, and to be with their flanges ¼ inch thick.
On top of the cover there are to be screwed two oak battens slightly out of parallel, and to the space between them is to be fitted a tapered wrench of oak.
Pump.—There is to be in the hold of the boat a brass pump of 3-inch inside diameter, with rubber boxes and a cover screwed into the top, as shown on plan.
Ventilators.—In each of the side air-tanks is to be a brass ventilator of 1 ½ inches opening.
Calking.—The deck and air-tanks are to be carefully calked with cotton and white-leaded.
Paint.—The outside of the boat is to be painted with two coats of good oil paint, green to water-line and white from there to molding batten. The inside of boat is to be either painted or receive two coats of spar-varnish, as the superintendent may direct.
Materials.—All the materials to be of first quality; all the woodwork to be of perfectly seasoned stuff, clear and free from sap and bad or large knots, and the workmanship and finish to be first-class in every respect, all subject to the approval of the superintending officer.