QUEER TOPSAILS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 190, 11 August 1921, Page 8

QUEER TOPSAILS.

LCHOOTTER'S QUAINT RIG. NEW IHKAS OX COU'.MIIIA IMVKU. tXOOMMON l.l'MßF.l* ('AKI'IF.IS. Those, -ir, are double top-ail- mi one .Mini. Wliai iin- thrv culled': Well, 1 can t say that tliev liavp an\ put l iciliir name, but ,|„. ,-"„ 'i s ,- : , Ut-.l {lie " Miii'clii--nn rig," utter tho "old man.' It U 1.11 invention nf his own. Ilan.!*. . Well. ! guess that is just what it is':" And its iv- gave this information t,, ilie im|iiisi'ive "Star" iiiu'ti tin- mate oi ihe lolumblii River gazed aloft at tin- object of curiosity witli evident admiral inn. When the bio American lumber schooner dropped into purl from Newcastle with a cargo of hardwood poles it was obvious even to the man witli only half a nautical eye that she was dilTi-ri-ul Irom the usual type of tivc-uu-ti-i liial comes down this way.

A yard on tin- ioiviiiu-t is (jilili- common, but this stranger has yards on tour masts, and its tlti'.v have :t good spread and tin- musts arc nf the [ml variety, this gives her a -.pint appearance. She does not look :i beauty, but hc-r skipper takes a considerable pride in his craft, and when she is not in such n dirty trade as currying cotil she is pretty spic and span. Looking ruefully round his littered decks, the mate, when asked if she was a "tioogee-moogoi'" ship — v craft whore the crew have to keep tilings clean — .smiled, and "guessed she was some." adding that he had some holystones ill frames ready for use when they got to sea again, flu- crew seemed to appreciate the joke.

The Ooiunibhi River i- uncommon ill more ways itliau «>w. Slio is unique as far a.s rig is concerned, anil -In' is ap-(raa-eiitly that rare craft, a happy ship. Although tho Aiiu'riran "hell-Ahips" arc now few and far between—all these picturesque old customs are being pushed out hy >teaiu and the disappearance nf the "limejuiccr"—there are e-niougli of the old school of skippers and mates. whose idea of an argument generally has a revolver or a belaying pin in it. And it is just as well tlie Columbia River isn't -a ship of that sort, as her belaying; pins would make very weighty argument?, being of galvanised iron iuhl lengthy. Although "Oild Glory" floats from the flag-pole at the ste.rn, it is interesting to know that the skipper, Captain Murrchisorn, is a Britisher, hailing from that 'home of suitors. Prince Edward Island. NOVEL PLAN. As a rule the topsails of a fore and aft sehopner are of tho jib-headed kind, that is to say they are three-cornered, one corner being hauled up to the top of the mast, the other hauled out to the end of the gaff, and the third corner led down to the deck—the sail filling in the triangle made by the gaff and the mast. This sail has its disadvantages. When a vessel is beating or on a course that necessitates a gibe, it means that every time she goes about it has to he lowered and the sheet has to be passed over the spring stay—the stay which runs from one masthead to the next, the lengthways of the vessel. On the Columbia River an entirely novel plan is adopted. On each yard there are two topsails. Both are triangular. In the upper topsail the apex is hauled lo the truck, and in tlie lower the apex is pointed deckwards, so that it becomes the sheet. The appearance from for'ard when sail is set, is that of a huge diamond of canvas on each of j the first four masts, reaching from almost, the truck down to about a third of the length of the mast. In order to dear the spring stays the upper topsail is bifurcated for half its depth, and up aloft somewhat resembles a pair of Turkish trousers. Naturally for this sail there are two halliards, one "for each half of the head. The effect of this double triangle is to fill in the gaps that are usually left in fore and aft schooners between the gaff and the mast, and in addition there is n duplicate spread of canvas out to windward. The driving power of this type of topsail has been abundantly proved on the schooner. A SPINNAKER. The upper topsail on the foremast is set somewhat differently. It is in two distinct halves, and each is shacked on the lift (the rope which runs from the end of the yard to the truck) just as a jib or staysail „ ; set. On this mast the Columbia River also carries a square sail which is a bit of an oddity. It is really halt a "course" or square sail, and ,s set after the style of a spinnaker On each .bow there is a boom about thnty feet long, which for handiness can be shipped and unshipped just like a spinnaker boom on a yacht. When the sail is not set it is brailcd up to the mast like a spanker. Jt can he hauled out on tlie yard on either side, and of course, is always set to windward The sheet is hauled out to the end of the boom on the bow. At one time the schooner also carried a ringtail, a sort of jib upside down which js set on the jigger, or last mast of all. and spreads from the truck down to the end of the jigger boom—the jigger of course being a leg of mutton sail, and not set on a gaff like the rest of the fore and aft sails. On one ocasion, so they tell on board, a sail was set on the" dolphin, striker, which must have given her something of the look of an old-time galleon which used to carry sail on the bowsprit but that was only a jell d'esprit, or rather de bowsprit.

STANDING SHEETS.

But even this list does not conclude tlie ''stunts" to be found on board. Concerning- which one of the officers speaks in true 'blue-water fashion. ''Some of the men that come aboard this craft take a squint aloft, and reckon that these contraptions are not worth a whoop, but after they have worked them for a while I never knew a man who would go back on them." hi the ordinary schooner the fore and aft sails (which for the uninitiated it may he mentioned are the sails set on boom and Kail' like the big sail on a cutter, or the big sails on a scow) have sheets rove through blocks at the end of the boonvand other blocks made fast to a ring in the deck. By this means the angle of the boom to tlie lengthwise middle of.the vessel can be regulated accruing to whether the wind hauls S^l 01 Iv tl " 1 Columbia the for" 3 TV* d ° nt awu - v witll ' »"*- ---to irlS t l^t_t* a nf r Ct and is ™ c * see the idea of P "t ? W Sailors *"° applied C SL^" "1«t. incredulity of the!. it ? e ex press here a K aiu the S «»»* proved the idea to beTnoo, **•* h " [ig schooner the Col^u f On a would be a- heavy task, and it nn t S tainly M ve a lot of t' me * *«* ccv to have sheets to worry about.

It may be explained that these niany-m.isle-.i schooners do their best with the wind abaft the beam, say on the quarter, when, with everything* drawing, they boom along at a great pace. Even if t'u- wind happened to be dead behind them on a course, say, between North (ape mid Newcastle, they would not sail dirci-i from stalling point to destination, as a land»maii might think would be the naHir.il thing to do. When dead before the wind only the sails right aft would be lU'tually full, those for'ard being more or less blanketed, while the hcadsails w.i lid flap idly from side to side. It has b'-i'ii found I lint by zig-zngging. so as t" keep all the sails full the extra speed gained more than compensates for the somewhat longer course steered by not bending direct for the port the Vessel v\ islu-s to make. ■-.TKEttK LIKK A YACHT. Talking about steering reminds one ' : another \irtuc of this uncommon Yankee schooner Willi the British skipper v ho lias j, taste for the curious in sails. I he crey say she 'steers as sweetly as .' \mill." and n tule is told in proof. Once during the morning watch the man in the wheel was needed for pome urgent iob, uml tin- offirer of the watch put on .i l-ivkct in rope which is fastened by one cud to the deck, and has a loop at tin- other for putting ove r a spoke of the wheel to hold it in the one position) and left it. The wind held steady in the sum-' quarter, and. though the 'ship was on :i compass course, she kept to it as though the most experienced hand in the fo'c's'le had the trick at the wheel. Just

for curiosity the becket was kept on tinwheel, and no one touched a spoke until the first dog-watch, and the ship was still on her course. The schooner is an easy boat to work. as a big donkey engine gives the power for setting sail. She is also a well-lit one, us she carries her own gencruting plant driven by a kerosene engine. That the (olumbiu liiver has v pood turn of speed bus been proved on several runs. On the nay over to New Zealand from Xetvcastle during a hard blow she jogged eleven knots with only three sails set - the inner jib and two topsails. Her best performance was all average of 13 knots, which she put up during a watch when on a (rip from liivcn-argill to Australia.