The Scientific American Boy | Page 6

half square. This was folded on itself, making a
parallelogram seven feet six inches long and three feet nine inches wide.
The sheets we had were all rather worn and some were badly torn, so
that we had to make our sails of double thickness, sewing patches over
the weak spots. A broad hem was turned down at each end, and heavy
tape was sewed on, leaving loops as before, to attach them to the spars.
This reduced the length of our sail to seven feet three inches. The end
spars were spaced apart by a light pole about ten feet long, to which
they were tied at the points of intersection. The spars were also braced
by halyards looped over the ends of the pole in the manner indicated in
the drawing (Fig. 7). It took a crew of two boys to manipulate this sail.
In use, the pole of the rig was carried on the shoulders, and the sail was
guided by means of ropes attached to the lower corners of the vertical

spars. These ropes in nautical language are called "sheets." The boy at
the rear was the pilot and did the steering, because his position behind
the sail gave him an unobstructed view in all directions. When
changing tack the sail was lifted overhead to the other side of the crew.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Dimensions of Double Swedish Sail. N. B.--The
mark (') means feet and (") means inches.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Halyards Looped onto Pole.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8. The Double Swedish Sail.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9 Changing Tack.]

The Single Swedish Sail.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. The Single Swedish Sail.]
Another sail of similar form, but for use of one boy only, is shown in
Fig. 10. This had a height of six and one-half feet at the forward end
and three feet at the rear; and its length was five feet. This sail was very
satisfactory in light winds, owing to its great area. In use we found that
it was very important to keep the lower edge against the leg, as
indicated by the arrow. The rig was manipulated just like the double
Swedish sail, lifting it over the head when it was desired to change
tack.

The Lanteen Sail.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. The Lanteen Sail.]
The lanteen sail we found to be a very good rig. It was made in the
form of a triangle, measuring eight feet on one side, seven and one-half
feet on another side and six and one-half feet on the third. The six and
one-half foot side was secured to a boom, and the seven and one-half
foot side to a yard. The yard and boom were hinged together by a

leather strap nailed on as shown in Fig. 12, and to this hinge a rope was
attached, which served as a sheet. These spars were secured to a mast
erected perpendicularly to the boom and intersecting the yard a little
above its center. We had had some trouble with the first sails we made
in keeping the base of the sail against the body, and to overcome this
difficulty Bill proposed tying the bottom of the mast to the leg. This
was a rather risky thing to do, as we learned later, for in case of
accident it would be difficult to get clear of the sail. It was Reddy who
finally solved the problem by rigging up a step for the mast. It
consisted of a leather tag tied to the leg, and provided with a hole into
which the bottom of the mast was fitted. To prevent the mast from
slipping too far into the step the lower portion of it was whittled down,
leaving a shoulder which rested on the leather. Bill later devised
another step, which consisted of a wooden block (Fig. 14) strapped to
the leg and formed with a shallow socket to receive the end of the mast.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Hinge for Spars.]
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Leather Mast Step.]
[Illustration: Fig. 14. Wooden Mast Step.]

The Danish Sail.
[Illustration: Fig. 15. The Danish Sail.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16. Topsail of the Danish Rig.]
But the most satisfactory sail we found to be the Danish sail, though it
was not until we had served quite a long apprenticeship and sustained
many pretty bad falls that we mastered the art of manipulating these
sails properly. Our ideas on this sail were obtained from a French
illustrated paper which Dutchy Van Syckel picked up in his father's
library. This sail was formed with a topsail so arranged that it could be
lowered when the wind was too strong. The dimensions of the sail as
we made it are given in the drawing (Fig. 15). The top of the sail was
lashed to a spar,