iGV 835 
 
 ■G7 
 
 Copy ^ ,. FROM 
 
 Novice to Pilot 
 
 How to Run a Motor Boat 
 
 By GEORGE S. GOLDIE 
 
 'I 
 
 Copyright 1908 by George S. G oldie. 
 Copyright 1909 by George S. Goldie. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Boating 
 
 Tke National Magazine of Motor Boating 
 New York 
 
-\ 
 
 Table of Contents 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 I. — How To Choose a Boat 5 
 
 II. — Necessary Equipment 12 
 
 III. — Installation of Motor, Jank and 
 
 Wiring 20 
 
 IV. — Operation of the Motor 29 
 
 V. — Navigation Rules and Require- 
 ments .41 
 
 VI. — Aids To Navigation, x 51 
 
 VII.— How To Navigate . . .65 
 
 VIII. — Problems in Navigation 78 
 
 IX. — Examination for Licenses 87 
 
 X. — Hints and Helps . .92 
 
 Index 
 
 W^ 
 
 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 Two Cooies deceived 
 
 i(JN 15 IbU^ 
 
 Copyrignt Entr 
 

 :rroin Novice to Pilot. 
 
 ^ INTRODUCTION. 
 
 if I f O own a boat! To be its master, and, through it, 
 
 I to be a master of the sea ! To roam, with con- 
 fidence, over its expanse, in all its varying moods, 
 whether it be laughing and seductive in the summer sun- 
 shine, with a gentle breeze rippling its smooth surface, or 
 threatening in the lowering grayness which accompanies 
 the hoarse roar of its wind-lashed waters ! 
 
 To have such knowledge that I could guide myself with 
 safety during the darkness of the night ! To be able to 
 continue my course though the veil of its fogs closed 
 about me ! To see the many and varied sights of the 
 sea! To enjoy the fierce combat with the forces of 
 Nature ! To visit without restraint the mysterious shores 
 which, though lying near to us, are seldom trodden by the 
 foot of man ! To explore their coves, their crags, their 
 glens, their beaches ! And, above all, to come in contact 
 with and experience the great good-fellowship, the open- 
 heartedness, that pertains to, and seems to be a part of, 
 the men who love the sea. 
 
 These, and kindred thoughts, fill the minds of the ma- 
 jority of men as they gaze over the water and see the 
 various craft gliding, or driving, as the case may be, from 
 out the dimness, and on, into the dimness beyond. 
 
 Yet to acquire the necessary knowledge without going 
 through long years of experience has been, up to the 
 present time, impossible to the amateur boat owner, ex- 
 cepting the few who have had the leisure and the means 
 to place themselves in the hands of instructors. To over- 
 come that deficiency, this work will present to you the 
 experience gained by over thirty years of active boating, 
 observation and study. 
 
Starting with the veriest novice, who has not yet bought 
 his boat nor even knows what type of boat he should 
 purchase, the amateur will be taught, step by step, all that 
 he requires to know to obtain the mastery of the sea; 
 and when the course is finished, if he has carefully studied 
 the teaching and as carefully put it in practice, he will 
 be able to handle his boat under any conditions of weather 
 as expertly as the most experienced professional navigator. 
 He will be able to take his boat into any waters or harbors, 
 whether they be familiar or strange, and whether it be night 
 or day. Neither should fog be any .hindrance, if there 
 are any fog signals to guide by. There may be some ex- 
 cuse for not running in fog at night, but all yachtmen 
 should be able to navigate their boats during fog in the 
 daytime. It made me wonder a little, the first time that 
 I entered Nantucket harbor, to find that two yachts, one 
 motor and one steam, had been fogbound there for ten 
 days and six days, respectively. Our boat had encountered 
 the same fogs and had run every day and at night, when 
 
 wanted. ^ r • i ^- ^ 
 
 Knowledge and confidence ensure safety m boating, ana 
 it will be my endeavor in these articles to impart the 
 knowledge by means of which confidence is inspired and 
 safety assured. 
 
Ckapter I — Ho^v to Ckoose a Boat. 
 
 FIRST of all comes the choice of a boat, and for this 
 It is necessary to settle in one's mind to what kind 
 of service he will put his boat. If one desires 
 merely to ramble in quiet waters at a slow pace, and to 
 be able to put the boat's bow against the shore and step 
 out when desired, a motor sharpie will furnish a very 
 safe and comfortable craft. To do the same thing with a 
 little less safety and still a fair degree of speed, the 
 motor canoe offers itself. Either of these boats will stand 
 a moderate amount of sea. The sharpie is safe even 
 in the hands of a novice, but the canoe would require a 
 person thoroughly familiar with wave and wind action, 
 for wind takes a strong hold on a canoe, though but little 
 on a sharpie. In any small boat the stronger the breeze 
 and the sea, the lower the weight should be carried. 
 If the boat shows an inclination to capsize, sit, not on 
 the seats, but on the bottom or floor of the boat. If that 
 does not make her stable enough, lie as flat as possible 
 on the bottom. It would be a queer wind or sea that could 
 upset a small boat under the latter condition. 
 
 TYPES OF LAUNCHES. 
 
 Next we come to the regular launch. Some want a boat 
 for river and small lake work, where the waves, though 
 they may throw spray freely, do not attain a size that 
 suggests the danger of swamping or of capsizing. Others 
 want a boat for harbor and bay work. Then comes the 
 semi-cruiser, for flitting from port to port as the weather 
 permits. Last, and most important of all, is the cruiser — 
 a boat in which, while en route, and the murk begins to 
 gather in the sky and the depressing low moaning of the 
 
yet unrisen sea betokens the coming of a storm, that 
 blows itself out, not in a few hours, but in one, two or 
 three days, the occupants will button closer their oilers 
 and, with a little hardening of the features and a trifle 
 less formality of manner, prepare themselves and the 
 boat in which their reliance is placed for the continuance 
 of the journey and the battle royal that is sure to come. 
 The possession of such a boat is a joy almost beyond 
 description. 
 
 A GOOD BOAT INSPIRES CONFIDENCE. 
 
 I wish I could convey to you the supreme confidence 
 some men have in their vessel with a good crew aboard. 
 On December 30, 1907, I was aboard Lucania, one of 
 Gloucester's crack fishermen. We were nearly 500 miles 
 to the eastward, out upon the Atlantic. The last dory 
 was taken aboard at 2.30 P. M. and, with a rising south- 
 erly gale, the boat was headed for Boston. By four o'clock 
 the breeze was 50 miles, and we were tearing through 
 the trough of the seas like a vessel possessed of the devil; 
 under full four lowers with no reefs we were, and "mak- 
 ing a passage." About dark a sea and the breeze com- 
 bined at the same tim.e, and down we went until the main 
 boom lay flat in the water and nearly all of the mainsail. 
 Snap ! went the iron band that encircled the mast, and the 
 boom dragged aft, unshipping. When we righted, forward 
 it went, with all the power its 79 feet of length could give 
 it, parting the peak halyards and threatening destruction 
 to everything around it. A double set of tackle, and a 
 hard fight by twenty-four men, brought it back into place. 
 The gale increasing, it was riding sail, foresail and jumbo 
 (forestaysail) for the rest of the night, with all hands 
 "standing by." 
 
 At eight in the morning, and we from 80 to 100 miles 
 southeast of Cape Sable, the wind whipped into the west, 
 jumping to 70 miles, which it maintained for four hours. 
 Soon the foresail bolt rope parted, then the sail went. 
 Quickly the slapping canvas was hauled down and was 
 sewn up, a preventer bolt rope sewed on, and up went the 
 
 6 
 
sail again. With a reef, did you say? No; not a reef. 
 But we could no longer carry the jumbo, because the ship 
 would not steer ; too much head sail ; so down it came. 
 During this operation one man was washed and jammed 
 in under the windlass, another under the dories, while 
 a third was slammed against them. 
 
 "Ain't skipper goin' to heave to?" asked one man of 
 another. 
 
 "What! An' go to loo'ard? No man! Keep the sail 
 to her an' drive her !" 
 
 And "drive her" they did, for two days more, straight 
 into the teeth of a roaring gale from the west, and never 
 a foot t6 "loo'ard" did she go, but always surging, driving 
 and gaining to "wind'ard." 
 
 Such is the confidence of the Gloucester fisherman in 
 his schooner. And, if your boat is to be a cruiser, have 
 her of a -type that, such will be your confidence in her, 
 you will believe, as the Gloucestermen express it, "noth- 
 ing but rocks or collision can hurt her." 
 
 WIDTH SHOULD BE ONE-FIFTH OF LENGTH. 
 
 Speaking generally, a launch should be, on her water- 
 line width, one-fifth of her waterline length. For sea- 
 going, or heavy weather in any water, her waterline width 
 should be one-fourth of her waterline length. To be fast, 
 she must of necessity be narrow in comparison to her 
 length, and shoal. The extreme ratio of speed compared 
 to power is reached in the "gliding boat," which is not a 
 boat at all — merely a large shingle, of no use except for 
 the purpose of furnishing an intensely exhilarating sport. 
 
 FLARE IS DESIRABLE. 
 
 The more any boat flares outward from the waterline 
 to her sheer, whether it be at sides or bow, the dryer she 
 will be ; but this, of course, retards speed, as it takes power 
 to throw water outboard, and all flare forward of the 
 beam counts against a boat's speed in heavy water. Yet 
 the loss of speed is so inconsiderable that it is more than 
 made up for in the comfort gained. Another factor in 
 
favor of flare is added safety gained by the buoyancy 
 and lifting power it imparts, this being particularly grate- 
 ful in a choppy sea. 'Tis a pleasing thing to watch a 
 foaming, angry wave rush at the boat and have it fail 
 utterly to send any of its green water over the rail. 
 
 For a speed boat, the keel, timbers, planking and all 
 fittings must, of necessity, be light, including the motor. 
 That type of boat is expensive, as it will last in good form 
 only from one to three years, and is apt to leak like a sieve 
 shortly after being put to racing use. 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF PLANKING. 
 
 For boats under 20 feet over all, planking five-eighths 
 to three-quarters of an inch thick will do, if the boat is 
 to be used in heavy water ; seven-eighths planking for 
 boats up to 26 or 28 feet, and thicker for any greater 
 length, as the strain increases rapidly with the length of 
 the boat. In the matter of strength of ribs and spacing, 
 it is safe to request that they present 25 per cent more 
 strength than the designer or builder says is "fit for an 
 ocean voyage." 
 
 A WEDGE-SHAPED BOTTOM IS BEST. 
 
 A broad, flat bottom causes a boat in a seaway to fall 
 from a wave with a pounding motion that is hard on the 
 bottom of the boat and its occupants, besides throwing its 
 contents around promiscuously. A wedge-shape bottom 
 of good draft and fair amount of bilge will seldom 
 fall off a sea, but will travel with very much the rolling 
 motion of a dolphin, slicing the seas rather than smash- 
 ing them, giving that good, comfortable, reliable feeling 
 under the feet. As a skipper of one of the McManus 
 models of Gloucester craft said to me after a day's outing, 
 in a blow, on one of the flat-floored kind, "By the lord 
 Harry, I was scared! I thought she'd throw me out 
 of her afore we'd get home." 
 
 OPEN BOATS SHOULD HAVE SOME DECK. 
 
 Open launches should have a fair amount of deck, both 
 forward and aft ; forward, because boats will dive in a 
 
 8 
 
sharp sea; and aft, because a sharp following sea will 
 climb over the stern. A fair proportion of forward deck 
 would be one-fifth of the boat's length over all; and for 
 the afterdeck one-eighth of the length; more deck would, 
 of course, make the boat more seaworthy. These decks 
 also add to the stowing capacity of the boat and more 
 than make up for the shortening of the cockpit, by the 
 added comfort of being able to keep batteries, clothing 
 apd other things dry. The decks should run the length 
 of the boat on either side, the width being according to 
 the owner's taste for appearances, but should not be 
 narrow, as that spoils the looks of the boat and makes 
 it easy for a wave to topple it. 
 
 The coaming, or washboard, should be as high as will 
 look well ; the higher it is, the more comfortable to rest 
 against and the better it will keep the spray or wave top 
 out. 
 
 SHEER IS DESIRABLE. 
 
 A fair amount of sheer or rise, in bow and stern, is 
 a desirable feature in all boats that are for use in waves 
 of any size; the rise to the bow is naturally greater than 
 that to the stern. It adds greatly to the lifting power of 
 the boat and helps her over the seas, whereas a straight 
 bow, particularly if without flare, will cause her to cut in 
 and bring the seas aboard. 
 
 SEMI-CRUISERS REQUIRE COCKPIT PROTECTION. 
 
 Cruisers, semi and full, differ; mostly in the length of 
 the cabin and the fittings. Semi-cruisers are apt to have 
 a short cabin and large cockpit; in this case, for stormy 
 weather, they should be provided jwith strong canvas 
 spray wings, which will reach from the center of the cabin 
 at the top, down the side of the cabin nearly to the deck, 
 along the coaming, near its base, to the side of the stern 
 and from there to the center of the cabin roof or house. 
 This may be modified by starting a little to one side of 
 the center of the cabin top. A short stretch of canvas 
 which would hook on to the washboard around the stern 
 arwi- Gotne up St few feet onto the spray wings, would 
 
 9 
 
make the cockpit free from the danger of a following 
 sea. These spray wings serve a variety of purposes and 
 can be carried in weather which would put awnings out 
 of the. question. 
 
 CRUISERS. 
 
 The cruiser has, of course, no need for any such pro- 
 tection; her cockpit should be small enough to allow it 
 to be flooded without putting her in peril. Self-bailing 
 cockpits are very nearly an impossibility in a small launch, 
 but any launch used for cruising should be so provided, 
 and, let me say that the many so-styled "self-bailing" 
 boats that are built with the cockpit floor ofily 5 or 6 
 inches above the waterline, when the boat is at rest, are 
 far from being self-bailing. They are merely self-drain- 
 ing and will not do ^at, when under way, with any 
 motion to the water. Quite the reverse. I have been in 
 finely built and elegantly equipped boats, built for self- 
 bailers, which would sink the whole outfit with the scupper 
 plugs unscrewed, and we were obliged to pump or bail, 
 for otherwise the cockpits would let go of no water that 
 they once got possession of. 
 
 SELF-BAILING COCKPITS. 
 
 To be self-bailing the floor of the cockpit should be 12 
 inches above the waterline and the scuppers or drainage 
 pipes should be 2 inches inside diameter, instead of the 
 one inch affairs so frequently put in. I have seen, dur- 
 ing a thunder storm, whirlpools, formed by the rain alone, 
 above these small pipes, they being unable to carry off 
 the rain as fast as it fell. Of what use are such scuppers 
 in a breaking sea? 
 
 TRUNK CABINS. 
 
 Cabins of cruisers are of the trunk, type, or, the sides 
 of the boat are brought up flush and the top of the cabin 
 is formed by the deck, which is rounded slightly. This 
 style of top is frequently called a "turtle back." There 
 are many qualities in favor of either type. 
 
 The trunk cabin is attractive in appearance and affords 
 
 10 
 
a convenient lounging place in pleasant weather. The 
 sheep path or gangway beside it affords an easy passage 
 to the bow, but in a tide-rip or short sea it is apt to get 
 smashed unmercifully. 
 
 The flush deck forming the cabin top can hardly be 
 made so handsome to the eye, but it carries a wonderfully 
 business, sea-like air, which compels admiration. With 
 this type of cabin there is more room inside ; and because 
 of its top going clear to the point of the bow, there is 
 much larger space for the galley and for storage. It 
 throws off a sea much easier and by having less joinings 
 and angles is much less liable to leaks. 
 
 GLASS CABINS. 
 
 Many persons extol the merits of the half or full glass 
 cabin cruiser for rough water passages. Many such pas- 
 sages have undoubtedly been made in them, but let those 
 boats come into such general use, as are the other types, for 
 open waters, and it would not be long before that im- 
 pression would fade away. It is nothing unusual for 
 windows, as heavy ancj thick as are in those boats, to be 
 broken by spray alone. The undesirability of the large 
 wind surface they present, need hardly be mentioned. In 
 my neighborhood a severe squall once overturned a boat 
 which was lying at anchor in smooth water. That was a rare 
 happening, but if you want a glass cabin boat, have the 
 keel deep and the ballast well down, or the cabin top low. 
 
 I J 
 
Ckapter II. — Necessary Equipment. 
 
 RUDDER AND TILLER. 
 
 COMING to the parts which are necessary in all boats 
 and that should receive careful attention, we will 
 consider first the rudder. Do not hang it on pintles 
 which are simply set down through eyebolts, if you can 
 fasten it by any other more certain method. If not con- 
 venient to set it, have the aperture through which the 
 tiller passes so close down that the tiller cannot rise, 
 should the rudder try to lift because of buoyancy, the force 
 of a wave or the passing over an obstruction; for it is 
 a serious matter to have a rudder unship. 
 
 When the rudder post comes up through the stern, 
 it is a good plan to make the hole large enough to set in a 
 piece of galvanized piping threaded at the ends to take 
 a nut, put plenty of white lead around the ends of the 
 pipe and into the holes, then set down firmly on the nuts 
 at either end. Once, inside of Riker's Island, we had the 
 rudder post sent up an inch by the riding iron being bent 
 as we slid over a rock. If the rudder post had a lock 
 nut or shoulder on it, when it entered the pipe, that 
 might have been prevented. 
 
 The rudder head, if of wood, should be of extra tough 
 material. A tiller should be carried on all boats for use 
 if the steering gear gives out. It should be of generous 
 length, as a short one does not give enough leverage, and 
 also be strong. At midnight, in Nantucket Sound, I once 
 cracked a two-inch diameter oak tiller square across 
 in my efforts at clearing the breakers on one of the 
 shoals. 
 
 12 
 
TILLER ROPES. 
 
 Have the lines from the tiller or quadrant pass through 
 pulleys, at the bends they may take on the way to the 
 wheel, that will have a diameter large enough to obviate 
 any sharp angle. The majority of pulleys used in this 
 work are so small that an acute angle is formed, causing 
 frequent partings of the lines, and, like other happenings, 
 they part usually when most needed, for it is then that 
 the sudden strain is put on them. Wire rope is good 
 only in the straight leads along the sides of the boat; 
 being more brittle than, hemp or cotton, it strands quicker 
 if used over the pulleys, yet it has the advantage of not 
 shrinking in damp weather and stretching in dry, as the 
 others will do. It is also a good plan to have set in the 
 long leads of the tiller lines a long turn buckle; this will 
 permit of the easy adjustment of the lines when they 
 stretch or shrink. Make the wheel a little larger and 
 everything from it to the rudder a full one-half stronger 
 than you think is necessary and you will have comfort 
 and safety in the steering. Avoid sharp angles or any 
 possibility of chafing. 
 
 See that the chocks on the bows are fully large for 
 the ropes, or cables, ^and that their surfaces are perfectly 
 smooth and without anything having the appearance of 
 an angle, so there will be no chafing there. 
 
 The towing bitts or posts in both bow and stern should 
 be much stronger than seems necessary and they should 
 have tough cross pieces or pins and be well stayed where 
 they pass through the decks and at their butts. 
 
 USE STRONG HATCH FASTENINGS. 
 
 There is an odd idea, among the majority of boat- 
 men, that the hatch covers in the forward part of a boat 
 can be made fast on the inside with good strong screw- 
 hooks and eyes. They little appreciate the power of 
 water. For heavy weather a bar across the top, which 
 will fasten to eyebolts going through the deck, is none too 
 good. Water pouring through an open hatch or broken 
 cover would soon remove all doubts as to the hereafter. 
 
 13 
 
Should you ever be caught that way put the boat before 
 the wind until temporary provision can be made or a 
 harbor reached. Screwplate hatches or manholes are near- 
 ly perfect affairs, but they also have troubles in the way 
 of sticking tight. 
 
 The most perfect covering for decks and trunks is 
 canvas, well put on, carefully painted and having plenty 
 of white lead below and above it, wherever angles occur. 
 It may wear , out fairly fast, but leaks are more easily 
 found and cared for than in th^ bare wood. 
 
 HAVE PLENTY OF i'ORTS. 
 
 Plenty of ports, very strong and securely put in, are a 
 necessity and an electric fan or one driven from the motor, 
 adds greatly to the comfort of cruising. So will a canvas 
 funnel. These funnels are made by sewing canvas to- 
 gether and forming a pipe of 12 or 15 inches in diameter 
 and 4 to 5 feet long. Sew in a circular piece to fill in one 
 end. 5 inches below the closed end cut the pipe half way 
 across. 14 to 16 inches below that make a similar cut, 
 slit the canvas from one cut to the other, at a point mid- 
 way from the ends of the cuts, open out the wings thus 
 formed and sew extensions of canvas, the same width 
 and 15 inches long, to them, wing these out and suspend 
 the funnel with the open end down through a hatch or 
 skylight, and, if any air is stirring, you will get it below. 
 
 CARRY A MAST. 
 
 Any boat which goes off shore, should either have a 
 mast rigged permanently or carry one, which can be 
 stepped, and have provision for stepping it, if occasion 
 requires. The mast, if temporary, could not of necessity 
 be very long; it should therefore have a long gaff which 
 would peak well up; so as to get as large a spread of 
 canvas as possible. If inconvenient to carry a boom, 
 have a good, solid bolt rope along the foot and the leech 
 of the sail. The occasion for the use of a sail may come 
 at any time and if there is a harbor under your lee, it 
 is a good thing to be able to buck a current and not be 
 
 14 
 
obliged to anchor and wait until you have fixed up or a 
 good Samaritan comes along. 
 
 PUMPS ARE A NECESSITY 
 
 Pumps are a necessity and in them we have the common 
 plunger tin pump, the small hand bilge pump and the bilge 
 pump worked by the motor. The latter may be a rotary 
 or a plunger action. These are fine affairs and save a 
 lot of work. The hand bilge pump is carried by most 
 boats to get into small places, but the tin pipe pump, the 
 good old reliable, should be carried by all. Like the 
 "white ash breeze," it seldom fail's. To help the water 
 to run to the pumps freely it is a good plan to pass a 
 length of coarse brass chain through the limbers (holes) 
 alongside the keelson (inside keel), so that by hauling 
 it back and forth the holes can be kept free of dirt and the 
 bilge water permitted to keep flowing. A bucket is crude 
 but sure in bailing operations. 
 
 TOILET FACILITIES. 
 
 The toilet is a troublesome question. The most sani- 
 tary and most perfect one is the simplest, and consists 
 merely of a bucket half filled with water and a closet 
 cover. Next comes the dirt closet, a box-like affair which 
 works nearly to perfection but it is a little harder to take 
 care of. Third and most scientific of all is the regular 
 yacht's closet. This needs care but will work nicely, if 
 given proper attention. Like the steam heater in winter, 
 the more comfort one gets, the more intellect he will have 
 to use. 
 
 LOCKERS IN THE COCKPIT. 
 
 Lockers are generally placed around the sides of the 
 cockpit, forming a continuous settee, but they may be 
 simply boxes, either opening at the tops or the sides or 
 closed, and attached to the sides of the boat. In this 
 way a person can sit on them and face in any direction 
 excepting square outboard. It is customary to line one 
 of the lockers with zinc and to lead a drainage pipe from 
 it to the bilge. This makes of it a good ice-box, 
 
 15 
 
If not a great deal of locker room is desired, a fine 
 form of seat and one which leaves room for fishing or 
 for the more pretentious arm chair, v^^hen desired, is the 
 drop seat, such as is used behind the counters in dry 
 goods stores. These are fastened to the sides and fold 
 back, out of the way, when not in use. 
 
 AWNINGS. 
 
 The best awnings that I have seen are those stretched 
 over pipe stanchions. They can be lashed, so as to cover 
 completely over the top and down both sides, or only on 
 one side, or over the top alone. This is done by means 
 of drilling holes through the piping and driving in pins that 
 project one-half of an inch on either side, the awning 
 being lashed to the stanchions at the pins. 
 
 SPRAY-HOODS. 
 
 Spray-hoods, of a half melon shape, are a desirable and 
 sometimes necessary attachment to cover in the forward 
 half of the cockpit of open boats, for the purpose of keep- 
 ing out spray and even solid water. They are perfectly 
 safe when going to windward, but with the wind aft 
 of the beam it is well to watch if the wind and sea are 
 strong, and the moment a topplish feeling is felt in the boat 
 to lower the hood, for under those circumstances the hood 
 acts as a sail, and would tend to capsize her in the same 
 manner, particularly when the boat was lurching to lee- 
 ward on the crest of a sea. 
 
 To provide against the swamping of small open boats 
 it is well to carry a light canvas or cotton drilling cover 
 that can be hooked on around the sides and cover the 
 boat in, there being uprights under the center of the 
 cover to raise it so the water will drain outboard. A 
 light cover is sufficient, for the buoyancy of a small 
 boat jprevents a wave getting 'the chance to strike a 
 heavy blow. 
 
 ANCHORS. 
 
 In the matter of anchors, a boat should be well found, 
 for on the quality and power of the ground tackle, many 
 
 i6 
 
a time, will depend the safety of the boat and the lives 
 of her crew. If other resources fail, you want neither 
 to be blown away from the coast nor on it, because of 
 lack of proper ground tackle. For use in rough water 
 a boat of about 20 feet should have an anchor of 25 to 
 30 pounds, according to her beam, for the more her beam, 
 the more she will pull on the anchor. A 30-foot boat 
 should have an anchor of about 40 pounds and a 40-foot 
 boat should have a pair of 50-pound anchors; and if one 
 of them should be 60 pounds, so much the better. In 
 addition all boats should have an anchor of half the weight 
 of the riding ones, for all sorts of light work, and very 
 often, in calm, enclosed waters, a moderately good sized 
 grappling (5 or 6 pronged anchor) is useful to run out 
 a stern line by. 
 
 The cables should be an inch and an eighth in diameter 
 for the 50-pound, one inch for the 40-pound, arid seven- 
 eighths for the 25 or 30-pound anchors. They should 
 not be smaller than three-quarters of an inch in diameter 
 for any anchors, as anything less cuts the hands in haul- 
 ing. In length the cables should be, generally speaking, 
 three times longer than the depth of the deepest water 
 that you will be apt to anchor in. Cruising boats general- 
 ly carry cables for each anchor of 40 or 50 fathoms in 
 length. A fathom is 6 feet. To prevent the cable from 
 chafing, when riding out a blow, it is best to parcel 
 (wrap) it with bagging or strips of canvas where it goes 
 through the chocks in the bow. 
 
 Of anchors there are many styles, but the stockless an- 
 chor will give the greatest holding power for the weight, 
 as both of its flukes drop down and take hold. 
 
 MOORINGS. 
 
 We now come to the matter of moorings. Moor your 
 boat in a manner which will leave you free from anxiety 
 when you are at business; or when you awake in the 
 night and hear the wind whistling. Imagine to yourself 
 the size and weight of a stone that you believe would hold 
 the boat just about: right; then, if it can be had con- 
 
 17 
 
veniently, get a stone three times the size you have im- 
 agined would do and drill a hole through it that will 
 take a ring bolt of twice the diameter that you are sure 
 is plenty strong enough; put the bolt through and screw 
 it through the nut on the other side, the nut having been 
 countersunk into the stone. 
 
 If a proper sized and shaped stone is not to be had, 
 get a wooden box or case which will be to your liking for 
 shape. Be sure and get it too large. Mix in it, to the 
 consistency of mortar, one-third Portland cement and two- 
 thirds sand. Do not use beach sand, for it has been 
 churned and rubbed together until there are no sharp 
 corners on it. On account of its smoothness it will not 
 adhere and the mass is liable to crack. While soft put 
 a good, long bolt, with the nut on its end, well down 
 into the mixture, then leave it for a week or two to 
 harden and you will have a stone such as the United 
 States Government is using for mooring buoys of all 
 descriptions and which are taking the strain of all the 
 storms that blow. 
 
 To the ringbolt attach a heavy chain, in length ac- 
 cording to the depth of water in which the boat will be 
 moored and have it reach a foot or more higher than 
 the surface at low tide. To the end of this chain attach 
 a weight of 25 pounds, if your boat is about twenty feet 
 long, or of thirty-five pounds if she is nearly 30 feet 
 long, and heavier, according to the boat's length and 
 width; but it must not be so heavy that a boat cannot 
 lift it as it surges back on a sea. This is a riding weight 
 and answers the same purpose as a spring cable or the 
 steam drum on vessels that pays out and takes in the 
 slack, according to the strain. The latter are used on 
 light vessels and ocean towboats. 
 
 As a wave surges the boat back,- the weight is lifted 
 and as the push of the wave passes under, the weight 
 sinks and pulls the boat forward ; in that way she is saved 
 from the jerking of a cable with no spring to it. When 
 riding it out in the open, a vessel will need to have out sev- 
 eral times more cable than there is depth of water; the 
 
 18 
 
great length of the cable serves, in a measure, as a spring. 
 
 Also to the end of the chain, attach with great strength 
 a strong hemp cable, of a sufficient scope to make the 
 entire length from the mooring stone to the bow of the 
 boat about three times the depth of the water; from 
 mooring to weight being a large one-third of the length. 
 Lead the mooring line through a bow chock and make 
 it fast to the bitt. Snap-hooks cannot be trusted. To the 
 end of the mooring cable make fast a small line, having 
 at its end, a float of wood or cork. This is to pick up the 
 mooring cable by and is taken aboard when the boat 
 is at the mooring. 
 
 These directions relate to waters that are more or 
 less exposed ; but even for still waters the mooring stone 
 should be heavy. Its weight will cause it to bury itself and 
 become very firmly fixed. 
 
 The best way of covering in an open launch, while 
 at its moorings, seems to be the regulation canvas cover 
 over a line stretched from bow to stern and raised by 
 two stanchions, with padded tops to prevent the chafing 
 of the cover, the cover being drawn over the line and 
 fastened to small galvanized ring-screws set into the 
 sides close to the rubstreak or molding. 
 
 19 
 
Chapter IIL — Installation of Motor, Tank 
 and ^iViring. 
 
 LOCATION OF THE MOTOR. 
 
 AS regards the location of the motor, the cabin is 
 an unfortunate place for it. There it is apt to 
 be the sole occupant, on account of escaping gases, 
 .burnt oil and heat. The advantage of putting the motor 
 in the cabin is that it is well protected, is convenient, 
 heats the cabin in cold weather, and by being so far 
 forward gives a fairly level line for the shaft and pro- 
 peller. 
 
 When placed in an open cockpit, the motor should 
 always be housed in. The most convenient place in a 
 small boat is just aft of the cabin, so that by removing 
 the companionway steps the wheel can be cranked. When 
 placed there, the cabin can be kept free from its odors by 
 a light wooden or a canvas partition, the odors escaping 
 by way of a slightly raised hatch over the motor, which 
 can be left cocked up at night. 
 
 The bulkhead at the rear of cabin can be made water- 
 tight and the oil and gasoline prevented from getting 
 under the cabin floor. The hatch can be made water- 
 tight, and the wood or canvas partition can be made to 
 fit snugly. I have slept in such a cabin freely, and it was 
 without a particle of odor. 
 
 MAKE THE MOTOR BED LONG ENOUGH. 
 
 The bed provided for the motor is frequently a huge 
 (or diminutive, rather) mistake. Within a few weeks 
 a builder, who had never before installed a motor, showed 
 me a bed for a 4^-hp. motor with fore-and-aft timbers 
 only 20 inches long, the length being according to in- 
 structions from the selling agent, a man who "knew what 
 
 20 
 
he was talking about, and wouldn't misrepresent anything." 
 Now, at least 4 to 6 feet of fore-and-aft bearing should 
 be provided for motors of 4 to 10 hp. In fact, if the fore- 
 and-aft timbers for the motor were the whole length 
 of the boat and notched to set down on each timber, it 
 would not be too much ; the boat would be stiffer and the 
 vibration nearly done away with. To carry the athwart- 
 ship motor head frames to the first bilge stringers is only 
 justice to the owner and the motor. The less power used 
 in vibration, the more power delivered to the wheel. 
 
 Having the shaft out of alignment is a frequent cause 
 of trouble. To be sure that it is in true line, open 
 the pet cocks of the cylinder and crank the wheel. It 
 should turn easily. If it does not, and the entire motor 
 is well oiled, you may be fairly certain that the shaft 
 and motor are out of line. This test should be made 
 after the boat is in the water, as the boat may lie dif- 
 ferently then than when braced up on the shore. 
 
 GIVE THE GASOLINE TANK CAREFUL ATTENTION. 
 
 Give the gasoline tank careful attention. From it comes 
 many of the mysterious stoppings of the motor. Set it 
 in its place firmly and with good support at botttom, 
 sides and top, for the gasoline inside strikes incessant 
 blows while in a seaway. Have it well cut up inside with 
 baffle plates, to ease the strain on its walls made by the 
 moving contents. 
 
 Have it arranged so that ,the very last drop can be 
 drawn from it and before it is put to use flush it thor- 
 oughly with gasoline, leaving the lowest outlet open and 
 in this way get rid of every little grain of deposit or 
 anything that may have gotten into it. Some prefer to 
 have the outlet pipe to the motor a half inch above the 
 bottom of the tank, for the purpose of avoiding sediment. 
 If that plan is used, put in a drainage cock at the tank\s 
 lowest point or you will not be able to run off any dirt 
 or water that may get in. 
 
 Have below the tank a drip pan and have the drip 
 pan reach well up the sides, even beyond the top would 
 
 21 
 
be best; then, if gasoline slops over in the filling of the 
 tanks, it will go into the drip pan instead of the bilge. 
 From the lowest point of the drip pan should lead a 
 pipe that will conduct any loose gasoline overboard. 
 
 From the time the tank has been flushed, allow no 
 gasoline to go into it, except through a funnel that has 
 a strainer in it and a piece of chamois skin thrown over 
 the mouth of the funnel. The chamois skin will allow 
 gasoline to go through freely but neither water nor dirt. 
 The blowing of dust into the gasoline tank is very apt 
 to happen while the tanks are being filled, and one grain 
 of dust can stop the vaporizer or carbureter. 
 
 HAVE THE TANK VENTED. 
 
 All tanks should be vented because, as the gasoline 
 is used, there is formed a vacuum in the tank and at 
 times this is strong enough to stop the flow of the fuel. 
 The vent may be a tiny hole drilled through the screw 
 cap of the tank, just under the flanged top of the cap, 
 or a small tube soldered on to the top of the tank and 
 having its upper end curved over downward until its 
 opening faces the tank. 
 
 To be secure against leakage from vibration or shock 
 to the boat, the best installation of piping is made by 
 having the main pipe connected to a small coil of copper 
 pipe and the end of the coil connected to the tank. The 
 coil takes up the vibration. Do the same where the main 
 pipe comes to the carbureter. Another safeguard against 
 water or dirt in the gasoline, is to have a short pipe drop- 
 ping from the bottom of the main pipe. As the gasoline 
 flows along all water and almost any formi of dirt will 
 fall into this opening. The drop pipe could have a sec- 
 tion made of glass, if carefully guarded, and then either 
 water or dirt would be seen at once. If having a sec- 
 tion of glass, a cock should be placed between the glass 
 and the main pipe for use in case of breakage, and what- 
 ever the drop pipe is made of, its lower end should have 
 a drainage cock, the same as the water glass of a steam 
 boiler. 
 
 22 
 
USE A GAUGE GLASS. 
 
 This same instrument, the water glass, if attached to 
 the tanks with the bottom of the glass level with the 
 bottom of the tank, will save many a worry and many a 
 disappointment. In the Marblehead race of 1907 the fear 
 suddenly arose that the gasoline was running low and we 
 with 44 miles to run straight across Massachusetts Bay 
 and the afternoon drawing to a close. All openings to the 
 tanks were outside the coamings. As skipper I would 
 not permit the tanks to be opened and the gasoline 
 measured with a stick, on account of the liability of the 
 strong sea that was running sending water into the tanks ; 
 so we stood across the bay, away from safety and into the 
 oncoming night the minds of those who were not case- 
 hardened being filled with apprehension. What wouldn't 
 have been given for a gauge glass at that time ? We 
 arrived in Marblehead with between 20 and 30 gallons in 
 the tanks. On another occasion we stopped between Ex- 
 ecution and Sands Point lights, plump in front of that 
 great procession of Sound steamers coming out of New 
 York; we, full of confidence in our supply, but the tank — 
 empty. 
 
 Do not have the gasoline run through the glass on 
 its way to the motor; if the glass were broken you might 
 as well have no gasoline. Set it to one side; then, if the 
 glass gets broken, you have but to shut off the cocks 
 between it and the tank. 
 
 Remember that gasoline vapor is heavier than air, and un- 
 less a strong wind is blowing and the boat well ventilated, 
 all the gasoline that is dripping into the boat from what- 
 ever source is evaporating and forming a vapor that is 
 sinking into the bottom of the boat and under the floor- 
 ing, and if enough drip occurs, the vapor will rise above 
 the floor. This is going on in exactly the same manner 
 as if water were flowing into the boat. The gas thus 
 formed is ready for explosion a year later, just as readily 
 as it is an hour after it was formed ; to get rid of it, open 
 up the boat on a very windy day and it will be driven out. 
 
 23 
 
N 
 
 -O: 
 
 Diagram showing 
 
 "make and break" 
 
 or 
 
 "low tension" 
 
 system of ignition. 
 
 A-^Cam which turns at half of crankshaft speed in four cycle 
 motor and at crankshaft speed in two cycle motor to "time" the 
 spark; B — Cam follower , with roller; C — Spring for holding fol- 
 lower on cam; D — Vertical rod actuating the moving arm H to 
 which the arm I is secured, I being within, the cylinder; ]E,, G — Ad- 
 justment nuts;' F — Spring for taking thrust of rod D; O — 
 ''Grounded" plate carrying insulated member K and moving arms H 
 and I; L — Low tension coil; M — Switch; N — Battery; O — Designat- 
 ing ground corinections. 
 
 The circuit. is as follows: From the battery through the switch 
 to the coil and thence to tlie center of the insulated sparking point 
 K and, when K and I are in contact, through I to the plate O 
 which is ''grounded," through the metal parts of the motor back to 
 the battefy. As arm I is stiapped away from K under the influ- 
 ence of the spring C when the cam A is turned into the proper 
 position, the spark occurs. 
 
A circulating fan or a wind funnel will drive it out nicely. 
 In placing the tanks their lowest point must be higher 
 than the carbureter, or air pressure wil have to be used. 
 To have the gasoline fed to the carbureter by gravity 
 is the better method. Two tanks placed one on either 
 side of the boat, the supply pipes leading from them 
 coming together in a single pipe which leads to the car- 
 bureter, will give the most regular supply of fuel to the 
 carbureter, on account of there being less motion to the 
 boat at the sides than at either bow or stern. Rolling 
 is compensated for by the two tanks being piped to a 
 single pipe which supplies the motor. 
 
 PLACE FOR THE BATTERIES. 
 
 Find a place for the batteries where water cannot get 
 at them, either by dripping or by swashing up from the 
 bilge. Mau}^ boat owners use liquid cells ; they are fine, 
 if not broken. Others use storage batteries; they are 
 also splendid affairs, but expensive. The great majority 
 use dry cells, and use a double set. These are cheap 
 and reliable, if properly cared for. Pack them in a box, 
 having below and between them sawdust, and over them 
 a waterproof covering. A more perfect way is to stand 
 them in a box, elevated a trifle from its bottom, and 
 fill the box with molten pitch or parafiine, not too hot. 
 
 WIRING FOR MAKE-AND-BREAK IGNITION. 
 
 Six cells are used for a battery by some and eight cells 
 by others. Connect the binding post of zinc on one cell 
 to the binding post of carbon on the next cell, and so 
 on until all the cells are connected. Then from the last 
 zinc lead a wire to the switch, and a wire ffom the 
 switch to the spark coil, and another wire from the 
 spark coil to the spark plug; then a wire from the base 
 of the motor to the binding post on the carbon of the 
 first cell. This method is for "make-and-break" ignition. 
 
 WIRING FOR JUMP SPARK. 
 
 For the jump-spark system connect the cells as be- 
 fore, lead a wire to the switch, another wire from the 
 
 2i, 
 
Diagram 
 showing 
 
 "jump-spark" 
 or 
 
 'high tension" 
 system of 
 ignition. 
 
 Q- 
 
 oneiates to in^^ indicated, a magnetic vibrator (not shown) 
 
 f^et.)\^?^T.J^^ 'P^*'"8 P°'"'« ^ithi^- he Cylinder 1>n^' he 
 Thi hilfH °^-*^^ '"°'°''' =?'.^ K™""-! connection, baek to the coH 
 The high tension current induced in the secondary circuit bv^h^ 
 
 raTId stietof-sp'a'jL.^^'™^^^ '"'"'' ^"-"^ '"^ ««P ^rfor^t^'l 
 
 20 
 
switch to the first binding post on the primary, another 
 from the second binding post of the primary to the timer, 
 and another from the ground nut or screw on the motor 
 frame back to the farther end of the battery. Then run 
 a wire from a terminal, or binding post, of the secondary 
 to one of the terminals on the ignition plug, and a wire 
 from the other terminal of the plug back to the other 
 terminal of the secondary. For a jump-spark plug with 
 a single binding post, lead a wire from one binding post 
 on the secondary to the plug, then a wire from the ground 
 nut on the frame of the motor back to the other binding 
 post of the secondary circuit. 
 
 If a magneto is used, wire from it to the switch, and 
 from the magneto to the ground wire leading from the 
 motor, thereby making a complete circuit. 
 
 If using dry cell batteries, it is better to have two 
 sets and switch from one to the other every hour. This 
 method will double the life of the batteries. 
 
 Place the electric outfit as near the motor as is con- 
 venient, so as to have the smallest possible amount of 
 wiring; but never have the electric outfit anywhere near 
 a compass, or the compass will not work. Of that we 
 will speak later. 
 
 KEEP THE WIRING DRY. 
 
 Do not run wires where they can get wet or damp. 
 The strong current needed for a jump-spark seems to 
 be able to short-circuit through the best of insulation 
 if the latter is wet. I have seen buckets of water poured 
 over ignition plugs and wiring while the motor was 
 running in the shop, apparently giving a perfect demonstra- 
 tion of the inability of moisture to affect them. In actual 
 service, with the spray flying over us, I have seen the 
 same outfit stopped by short-circuiting every few minutes, 
 and the short-circuiting stopped by simply throwing oilers 
 or rubber coats over the motor and the wires, thereby 
 protecting them from spray. Box in the motor, or pro- 
 tect it and the wires in some manner from spray or 
 rain. 
 
 2^7 
 
Under floors is a bad place to put wires; have them 
 where they can be easily got at. Have them all heavily 
 insulated, and use porcelain holders or other insulators 
 for putting them up. Don't bend them sharply. 
 
 Have all joints very bright and firm. If you cannot 
 have them soldered, wrap them tightly with tin-foil and 
 then with tape. This will keep a joint bright for years. 
 
 Set the nuts on binding posts and igniters down fairly 
 hard with pliers; don't trust to the strength of your 
 fingers; the nuts may loosen with the vibration. 
 
 SUN THE BATTERIES. 
 
 Put the batteries out in the sun occasionally. Sun is 
 a great dryer and renewer for them. Test your cells, 
 each of them, with an ammeter, and don't use cells which 
 test below 12 amperes ; they drag down the strength of 
 the whole battery. Wire a few such poor cells together 
 and break the circuit with a switch and an incandescent 
 lamp J/^ to I candle-power, and you will have a fine, safe 
 and very convenient outfit for lighting the cuddy, dark 
 corners, or seeing the drip of oil cups at night. This 
 frees you from the liability to explode loose gasoline vapor. 
 
 Fill all the oil and grease cups each time you start out. 
 
 28 
 
Ckapter IV. — Operation of the Motor. 
 
 BEFORE attempting to start the motor, make sure 
 that the ignition system is in working order. Try 
 the spark at the igniter by closing the electric cir- 
 cuit. That is, bring the piston up to the firing point, and 
 having loosened the wire from the igniter, draw the wire 
 across the igniter plug. If the spark is pale, the current 
 is weak; it should be large and inclined to be red, giv- 
 ing a sharp, vicious snap. Of course, if too strong, it 
 will wear out the points faster; but sparks are seldom 
 too strong. 
 
 Put the circuit out of contact by turning the wheel a 
 little. There should now be no spark given when the 
 loose wire is drawn across the top of the igniter plug. 
 If there is a spark given when the wheel has turned 
 the points out of contact, the plug is either oil-soaked or 
 its insulation destroyed, and it will need to be dried 
 out or repacked. 
 
 The tearing of insulation on the spark plugs is gen- 
 erally done when the wrench is used on the plug to take 
 it out. If the wrong nut is twisted, the mica wrapping 
 is apt to be broken. To dry oil out of the plug, pour 
 on a trifle of gasoline and fire it, repeating the operation 
 a few times. 
 
 If there is no spark when in contact, draw the loose 
 end of the wire quickly across another part of the cylinder ; 
 if a good spark is given, the trouble is in the igniter 
 plug. Take it out and clean it with gasoline. If jump- 
 spark, clean by using a camel's hair brush wet with gas- 
 oline. If a *^make-and-break," use the same, or very 
 fine sand-paper. 
 
 29 
 
If cleaning does not produce a spark, the points may- 
 be too far apart. Jump-spark points should be one-fourth 
 of the distance apart that the power of your coil can 
 throw a spark. If a spark can be thrown across a gap 
 of ^ inch, 1/16 inch apart will be the working distance. 
 Generally a scant 1/16 inch is the proper distance- This 
 can be tried by taking out the plug, putting paper between 
 the points and connecting the switch. The spark should 
 burn through the paper. 
 
 Make-and-break contacts must come together, for the 
 exploding spark is the one given when they separate. 
 If the points do not come together, reset the movable 
 part. Do not allow the fixed part to become pitted; 
 replace it. 
 
 If the plug is all right and there is no spark, do the 
 following things : Attach a loose wire to the further 
 end of the batteries, then touch it to the wire, in a 
 bare spot, between the battery and the switch. Then be- 
 tween the switch and the coil. Then between the coil 
 and the igniter plug. This should enable you to quickly 
 locate the place of trouble, as a spark should be given 
 in each place. 
 
 The cause may be any of the following : First, one 
 or more weak cells. They weaken unaccountably fast at 
 times; sometimes in a few hours. Try them with an 
 ammeter. Second, a loose conection. Connections must 
 be bright and firm. Third, a break in the wire. The 
 wire may be broken and the insulation left whole. Feel 
 all along it carefully; the fingers will find a break easier 
 than the eye. Fourth, it may be a loose or corroded 
 vibrator on the spark coil. Scrape this clean with a 
 knife, or tighten it. The vibrator should be lightly ad- 
 justed. Fifth, it may be a loose or corroded switch. 
 Sixth, It may be a short circuit, caused by a tool or other 
 good conductor laying across two wires ; by dampness 
 reaching from one w^ire to the other; by a wire touching 
 wet wood or other wet substance, or by two wires being 
 too close together in some place where the insulation 
 is weak. 
 
 30 
 
Should you be using a commutator, and the fault not 
 be found in the other parts, look to it. If it has been 
 needing oil, the brass particles worn off may be causing 
 a short circuit ; or oil may have caked, giving a poor 
 contact; or the commutator may be worn in spots and 
 making poor contacts ; or you may have taken it off and 
 not put it back in the exact position from which it came. 
 
 I have had the questionable pleasure of drifting in 
 the open ocean through all of the small hours of the 
 night, caused by the ever-ready screw-driver and Stilson 
 wrench of semi-expert gasoline engineers. The best en- 
 gineers are the men who rely upon leaving their motors 
 clean and in good order every time they put their boats 
 up. They are, moreover, men who have trained their 
 ears to know what the different sounds given out by 
 a motor indicate. They are not free with the use of the 
 wrench and screw-driver. 
 
 Before taking anything apart, make a scratch where 
 it joins something else, so it will surely go back in 
 place. 
 
 If you are getting a good spark when the points are in 
 contact, and no spark when the points are out of contact, 
 look for trouble elsewhere than in the electrical circuit. 
 
 TO TRY THE COMPRESSION. 
 
 To try the compression, keep the pet cocks closed ; put 
 oil on any joints, whether packed, ground or screwed 
 in, and turn up the wheel to full compression. If air 
 is escaping, you may detect it by the oil bubbling where 
 it is smeared on the joints; there may be a hissing 
 sound of air escaping, or the wheel may turn completely 
 over in a manner that is too comfortable altogether; that 
 will take place if the piston rings are loose. If *so, get 
 new ones; and possibly the cylinder may need to be 
 rebored. 
 
 If the packing on the joints leak, renew them with 
 wire-lined asbestos. Some use plain asbestos paper, coat- 
 ing it on either side with shellac. Thick brown paper 
 smeared with oil will make a temporary packing. To 
 
 31 
 
cut the packing, lay the asbestos on the cylinder head, 
 for instance ; hold it firmly in place 3nd rap all around 
 the edges of the cylinder opening and the bolt holes 
 with the round end of a hammer, or the bolt holes may 
 be marked around on the asbestos with a pencil, and then 
 cut out quickly by means of a proper sized punch, which 
 may be bought cheaply. The hammer is slower, but will 
 cut accurately. For parts with straight edges use the 
 flat end of the hammer. 
 
 If the compression is all right, when you bring the 
 wheel up to the firing point, hold ' it there for a minute, 
 then let it go quickly. It should bound back as from a 
 rubber cushion. 
 
 With the alignment of shaft, the spark and the com- 
 pression all right, let us start the motor. 
 
 TO START THE MOTOR. 
 
 Open up the sea cock, that the motor may surely have 
 water. Turn on the gasoline, put the timer for the spark 
 a little late/ press the plunger of the carbureter a few 
 times, have the feed of gasoline a trifle less than for 
 full speed, and connect the switch. If the weather is 
 cold, prime the cylinder with a teaspoonf ui of gasoline. 
 
 If you have opened the pet cock, throw the wheel 
 completely over in the direction it is going to revolve. 
 If the pet cock has been left closed, rock the wheel 
 gently two or three times, then quickly throw the wheel 
 up to compression in the opposite way to that in which 
 it will revolve, and as soon as it strikes hard compression, 
 let go instantly, so it may bound back; as it bounds 
 back the break spark occurs and the motor starts. 
 
 In the latter method of starting the letting go of the 
 handle quickly is important, for the motor moves like 
 a flash, and if a firm grip is held the arm will be wrenched. 
 Keep a soft grip, yet fairly firm, as one would hold a 
 foil. 
 
 The other method, that of throwing the wheel clear 
 over, is the safer, provided the pet cock has surely been 
 left open. As soon as the motor takes up its cycles 
 
 32 
 
quickly shut the pet cock, open up fairly fast on the 
 throttle or carbureter, and advance the spark. 
 
 Now turn down the grease cups and turn on the oil. 
 If the motor is new, give twenty drops a minute to the 
 cylinders, and fifteen drops a minute after it gets worn 
 down a little. 
 
 Try the water at the outlet and see that it comes from 
 the motor a little hotter than lukewarm. If too cold, 
 shut down on the supply. If too warm, increase the 
 supply. If the supply is interfered with, a gentle tapping 
 on the valves on either side of the pump will generally 
 free them if the trouble is there. 
 
 If the water does not come, then lean over the side 
 and with a long stick scrape the strainer over the in- 
 let pipe in the bottom of the boat. Another way to 
 clear the sea cock strainer after having run through weeds 
 or foul water is to reverse the motor and back the boat 
 a short distance. If the water does not come then, stop 
 the motor, or the cylinder and piston may be badly 
 hurt. Then examine the valves and the plunger of the 
 pump and remedy the trouble. 
 
 If the pump cannot be repaired and you are situated 
 so you must keep going, bring out the Stilson wrench, 
 disconnect the water pipe between the pump and the 
 cylinder, connect on a piece of hose to the cylinder end, 
 hold the end of the hose a little higher than the top of 
 the cylinder, insert a funnel in the hose and pour in the 
 water. Gravity will force it through the water-jacket 
 and outboard. It should be poured in freely enough to go 
 outboard a little more than lukewarm. If, from lack of 
 water or oil, the cylinder or the piston have become hot 
 and stopped the motor, let them cool off before putting 
 water through, or the sudden shrinking may crack them. 
 
 It is well to shut off the sea cock and drain the water- 
 jacket when leaving the boat after each trip. It takes 
 but a minute, and may save the boat from sinking at 
 the moorings. It also draws any sediment out of the 
 water-jacket, and may save a burst water-jacket some 
 unexpectedly cold night. 
 
 33 
 
PROPER MIXTURE. 
 
 Next in importance comes the question of the proper 
 mixture. The motor may be running in a fitful, fretting 
 manner. Open a pet cock and watch the color of the 
 flame. It should be a nice violet. If reddish, there is 
 too much gasoline, and if pale blue, there is too little. 
 Should the light be too strong to see the color of this 
 flame, watch the color of the exhaust. If it is smoky, 
 and the cylinder oil is not dripping too fast (fifteen to 
 twenty drops per minute), you may be sure of too much 
 gasoline. The mixture may be so rich that the motor 
 will slow down and stop. The motor is now "flooded." 
 
 FLOODING. 
 
 Should that happen, try the spark; if it is rich and 
 snappy, shut oflf the gasoline, open the pet cock and turn 
 the fly-wheel. If there is a strong smell of gasoline at 
 the pet cock, leave the switch connected and turn the 
 wheel a number of times. As long as the smell of gas- 
 oline comes strong from the pet cock your labor is not in 
 vain, and in frOm three to ten turns you should begin 
 to get explosions, and the motor will probably begin to 
 run and go until all of the gasoline in the crank chamber 
 is used up. When these explosions have become sharp 
 and clear you may gently turn on the gasoline, adjusting 
 it according to the sharpness of the report and the rythm 
 of the motor. 
 
 Oil and gasoline sometimes collect so freely in the 
 crank chamber that the motor cannot get a proper mix- 
 ture. Drain out the chamber, and, if very dirty, flush 
 it with gasoline. 
 
 Flooding may be caused by dirt in the needle valve, 
 by a weak spring in a vaporizer, or by a poorly working 
 float valve. 
 
 Every motor-boat owner should train his ear to the 
 sound of his motor. It will not be long before he can 
 tell, almost without looking, just what the motor, car- 
 bureter or spark is doing. 
 
 34 
 
Another reason for the motor slowing down and finally 
 stopping may be the giving out of the batteries. Try 
 them with an ammeter. Or it may be a short supply of 
 gasoline. This will be indicated by knocking or back- 
 firing. 
 
 PRIMING MAY BE NECESSARY. 
 
 In cold weather it is sometimes necessary to keep prim- 
 ing a motor until the cylinder gets warmed, or to keep 
 cranking until several explosions have w^armed the cylin- 
 der. A very cold cylinder is hard to start. Cold, frosty 
 air will also condense the gasoline vapor so fast that 
 the motor will stop. Lead a pipe from the carbureter, 
 or the vaporizer, to some part of the exhaust. 
 
 Sometimes, even in fairly moderate weather, ice will 
 form in the vaporizers to such an extent that it will 
 fill the intake and shut off the supply, causing the motor 
 to slow down and stop. The remedy is a pipe from the 
 vaporizer to a warm part of the exhaust pipe. Some 
 enclose a portion of the exhaust with sheet iron, leaving 
 a 2-inch space between the two ; then lead a pipe to the 
 drum thus formed and perforate the drum on the opposite 
 side from the pipe, making the holes large enough to allow 
 a free supply of air. 
 
 Some makers heat the gas suppply by leading the water 
 from the water-jacket to the carbureters. The air should 
 not be too hot, or the gas will be so expanded that there 
 will be a lack of force to its explosion. 
 
 A hot bearing will slow down and stop a motor. 
 
 A frequent cause of trouble is the passing of cotton 
 waste or other light substances before the opening of 
 the intake pipe. They wall be drawn in almost too 
 quickly for the eye to detect. Should this happen, stop 
 the motor at once and take the particles out. 
 
 WHEN THE MOTOR POUNDS. 
 
 When the motor pounds, try giving a little more gas- 
 oline, make the spark a little later, see if the fly-wheel 
 is keyed firmly, or if the shaft is out of true, or if there 
 
 35 
 
is lost motion anywhe^ (loose parts), or premature ex- 
 plosions. I 
 
 Smoke coming from below the cylinder indicates a' 
 leaky piston. 
 
 Explosions in the exhaust pipes indicate leaky valves. 
 Grind them in with line emery, and be sure that none 
 of the emery gets into the cylinder. 
 
 Too rich a mixture may cause a misfire ; then thej 
 mixture is driven into the exhaust by the incoming gas, 
 the new charge gets fired, and it is apt to fire the old! 
 charge in the exhaust. 
 
 PREMATURE EXPLOSIONS. ; 
 
 Premature explosions may be caused by too small ig- 
 niter points. These may become incandescent and fire the 
 charge prematurely. A small projection of iron on the 
 inside of the cylinder may become hot; so also may a 
 point of carbon deposit. 
 
 I have seen a motor run after the spark was cut off 
 in merry style, and there was no stopping it until the 
 gasoline was shut off. The cause was an incandescent 
 point of carbon, deposited by giving too much cylinder 
 oil. I have also seen a driving wheel rock back and forth 
 in furious manner, never getting by the center, and the 
 cylinder giving explosions every turn. The cause was 
 a carbon deposit, and the remedy, washing the cylinder out 
 with gasoline. 
 
 Back-firing always startles a person. It may be caused 
 by too late a spark, and very frequently is caused by a 
 weak mixture. 
 
 Explosions in the crank chamber may be caused by 
 too late a spark or by leaky piston rings. 
 
 MISFIRING. 
 
 A misfiring may be caused by too rich a mixture, by 
 the mixture being weak, by the two ends of a wire making 
 a hit-and-miss connection, by a loose and rattling con- 
 nection at the sparking ping, at switch, at the binding 
 posts, at the vibrator of the coil, or at any joining i!' 
 
 36 
 
the wiring, by soot on the spark points, by worn spark 
 points, by water in the gasoline, by a weak battery, by a 
 slipping drive wheel on a magneto, or by spray being 
 drawn into the intake pipe with the air. 
 
 We once had a fine example of a motor skipping in 
 a driving southwester because of spray entering the wind- 
 ward cabin ports and falling across the motor, which 
 was m the cabin. The windward ports were closed and 
 the skipping stopped. Fine rain may have the same effect. 
 Most insidious of all causes are the innocent-looking 
 beads of water that condense on the cold, refrigerator- 
 like carbureters and vaporizers. The inrush of air will, 
 at times, draw in so much of that water that I have 
 seen a tablespoonful of it drawn every half-hour from the 
 bottom of a carbureter. And I have read of people doing 
 a great deal of fretting when, from their description, the 
 water was accumulated in the same way. 
 
 Our remedy, and it was complete, was to screw onto 
 tlie intake opening a piece of pipe about 12 inches long. 
 Not another drop of water was found in the bottom of 
 the carbureter. 
 
 If using a vaporizer, it is better practice to stop the 
 motor by shuting off, first the gasoline, then the switch. 
 That saves flooding the motor. If using a carbureter, 
 it IS safe to stop by using the switch, as the float in 
 the carbureter is supposed to shut off the gasoline. Shut 
 off the cylinder oil just before stopping the motor That 
 saves gumming the piston rings. 
 
 Once in a while pour kerosene into the cylinder and 
 crank the wheel. The kerosene will clean the carbon 
 and gum from the inside of the cylinder and from the 
 rings. 
 
 For oil, use the regular gas-engine cylinder oil; it gives 
 the best results. 
 
 WATER IN THE GASOLINE. 
 
 Water in the gasoline is a hard thing to manage It 
 may be kept from going into the tank with the gas- 
 oline, but the air in the tank may have the water in it 
 
 Z7 
 
condensed and dropped into the body of gasoline. A 
 drop pipe from the feed-pipe will take care of that water. 
 
 To ascertain if there is water in the gasoline, draw 
 it off from the carbureter, vaporizer or any shut-off; 
 empty the receptacle into which it has been drawn slowly 
 onto a board or a piece of paper, and if any water is 
 in the gasoline it will show on the paper in beads or 
 blotches. 
 
 Should there be water in the gasoline, draw it all 
 off into pails, flush the tank with gasoline and pour the 
 gasoline back, being careful not to empty the cans it has 
 been held in, for the water will be lying at the bottom 
 and will be the last thing to come out. 
 
 Extreme changes of temperature call for a change of 
 the gasoline supply. Warm air calls for less gasoline. 
 Cold air calls for more. 
 
 An unvented tank will stop the motor, because, as the 
 gasoline is used and the tank empties, there is a vacuum 
 formed, which gradually becomes able to sustain the 
 weight of the gasoline and prevents its flowing. 
 
 If without a gauge to tell how much gasoline is in the 
 tank, let the tank become empty. Then possess yourself 
 of a nicely finished stick. As you pour in each separate 
 gallon of gasoline — and it wall pay you to pour them 
 in separately this time — put in the stick and notch it 
 where each gallon wets it. Keep that stick by you ; it 
 is a friend. 
 
 HOW TO GAUGE FUEL CONSUMPTION. 
 
 To know how far the fuel in the tank will take you, 
 time the boat accurately with and against the tide in 
 water that is moderately rough. The sipeed will, of 
 course, be less than in smooth water; but if off on a 
 trip, rough water must be expected. Then find the amount 
 of fuel used in an hour. Tf a boat can make 6 miles an 
 hour in rough water, and uses a gallon and a half of fuel 
 an hour, 12 gallons of fuel will represent 8 hours of 
 running, or 48 miles. The ordinary way of figuring it 
 is that the boat will make 8 miles an hour in smooth 
 
 38 
 
^ater; we. will call our motor a 6-hp., rated as using 
 VA pints per hp. per hour. That equals 71^ quarts per 
 each 8 miles, and, therefore, 15 gallons would run the 
 boat 8 hours. This is theoretical; the first way is prac- 
 tical. 
 
 Many boating people know that there are times dur- 
 ing which a motor boat will make poor headway. I have 
 been in them when we were glad to make from i to 2 
 miles an hour, and have squinted seriously at bearings 
 when I could see that we were making no headway at 
 all, but leeway. When in a bad situation and the boat 
 getting a trouncing, the motor is apt to be disturbed, too, 
 and show it. Then comes your time for self-control. 
 While the motor runs, protect it in every way possible 
 from the spray. Keep the wires as dry as possible. At- 
 tend to the gasoline supply, but keep away from the 
 monkey-wrench and the screw-driver. 
 
 When on a trip, carry an extra spark plug, a complete 
 reserve battery, an extra carbureter (they seem to get 
 out of order as easily as anything else), and a fair supply 
 of small parts and springs. As a protection from fire, 
 carry one or two good fire extinguishers. Plenty of flour 
 will smother a gasoline fire— so will a coat, or a blanket, 
 or a cap, if the blaze is small. 
 
 To stop or prevent leaks, set the threads of joints in 
 brown soap. Brown soap and shellac are good for any 
 gasoline leaks. 
 
 CONTROL BY THE SWITCH. 
 
 It is a pleasing thing to watch an apt person control 
 his boat by the use of the switch. The switch will be 
 thrown out; then as the motor slows down and the 
 wheel is just coming up to compression, but so slowly 
 that it has not the power to go by, the engineer will throw 
 m the switch, an explosion occurs, and the motor is off 
 full-speed astern; then it is caught the other way and 
 drives ahead. 
 
 All this is done without even looking around at the 
 
 39 
 
motor. An expert can judge by its sound. Almost anybody 
 can acquire this control with a little practice. 
 
 Exhaust pipes are apt to give trouble after they are 
 two or three years old by becoming clogged with rust 
 and sediment, thereby causing enough of back pressure 
 to materially reduce the power of the motor. Be sure 
 and have clean exhaust pipes, and the larger they are, 
 the better service the motor will give. Put in the ex- 
 haust pipes as straight as possible, for every fairly sharp 
 bend is equal to the friction of the exhaust that would 
 be caused by making it travel through 15 feet of pipe. 
 
 40 
 
Ckapter v.— Navigation Rules and Requirements. 
 
 WE now come to the handling of the boat. Before 
 starting on a trip, let us learn the "Rules of the 
 Road" and the government requirements, which 
 now are rigidly enforced. 
 
 STEAM VESSELS. 
 
 The government classes all vessels propelled by ma- 
 chinery as "steam vessels." An auxiliary using sails only 
 IS under the rules of a sailing vessel ; but the moment 
 the^ motor is started the vessel is under the rules gov- 
 erning a steam vessel, then using sails or not. All motor 
 boats, regardless of size, are classed as steamers. 
 
 UNDER WAY. 
 
 A vessel is "under way'* when not at anchor, made 
 fast to the shore, or aground. 
 
 LIGHTS. 
 
 Lights are to be shown in all weathers from sunset 
 to sunrise. Steamers when "under way" are required 
 to show: First, a white light in the bow which can be 
 seen from straight ahead to ten points on either side, 
 thus showing through an arc of twenty points of the 
 compass. Second, a green light on the starboard side, 
 so screened that it can be seen from dead ahead to two 
 points aft of the beam, showing through an arc of ten 
 points of the compass. Third, a red light on the port 
 side, which can be seen from dead ahead to two points 
 aft of the beam. The starboard light must not be seen 
 from the port side of the bow, nor the port light from 
 
 41 
 
the starboard side of the bow. They should carry also 
 an after white light, which will show all around the 
 horizon, and be elevated directly above the keel and higher 
 than the bow light, so that it will show clear and distinct 
 from the bow light and be in perfect line with it when 
 the vessel is seen coming bow on. 
 
 When standing facing the bow, starboard is the entire 
 right-hand side of the vessel from the point of the bow 
 to the stern. Port is the entire left side. Beam is meant, 
 when used in relation to the lights, to be a line drawn at 
 right angles to a line from the center of the bow to the 
 center of the stern. 
 
 EXCEPTION. 
 
 When, in a boat of less than lo tons and through stress 
 of weather, the green and red lights cannot be fixed, they 
 shall be kept ready to be shown in the proper manner in 
 sufficient time to prevent collision. These pcTrtable lights 
 shall be properly screened and painted their respective 
 colors. 
 
 ANCHOR LIGHTS. 
 
 At anchor, a white light showing clear around the 
 horizon and elevated well above the deck, will be shown 
 from sunset to sunrise. A vessel of under 150 feet shows 
 one white light forward while at anchor. If over 150 
 feet long, it shows also an after light — white — and not 
 less than 15 feet lower than the forward light. 
 
 A ferryboat carries, in addition to the starboard and 
 port side lights, two central range lights — white — high 
 up, in line with the keel and level with each other. 
 
 TOWING LIGHTS. 
 
 A steamer towing, on the s.eaboard, carries, in addition 
 to the side lights, two white lights forward, one above 
 the other, and not less than 3 feet apart. If the tow is 
 over 600 feet long, the towing boat will carry 'three white 
 lights forward, the same distance, 3 feet or more, apart, 
 and vertically one above the other. A towing steamer 
 
 42 
 
may carry, aft of the funnel or mast, a small white light 
 for the tow to steer by; but such light must not be seen 
 forward of the beam. 
 
 LIGHTS ON BARGES. 
 
 Now comes something which should be borne well 
 in mind, if running in the night on the waters of the 
 Hudson River or its tributaries, New York Bay inside of 
 Sandy Hook, the East River, Long Island Sound and 
 adjacent waters, Narragansett Bay and tributaries, or 
 Lake Champlain : The barges behind a towboat in these 
 waters each carry a white light forward and a white light 
 at the stern. If the tow is long, you will see the first 
 and second vessels' lights easily enough ; then look sharp 
 to see if there is a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and even a 
 seventh and eighth, barge astern. As long as you can 
 see white lights with any degree of regularity about them 
 astern of a towboat, keep clear, and do not attempt to pass 
 astern, for the hawsers connecting the vessels descend 
 almost immediately to the water from both sterns and 
 bows. It is almost impossible to clear them, and they will 
 wreck your boat in an instant, as was shown by the loss 
 of the naval launch which was cut down by a hawser in 
 the night at Hampton Roads. Of the twelve or fourteen 
 cadets, ofificers and seamen aboard, not one escaped. On 
 other waters than those mentioned the vessels towed carry 
 the green and red lights. But keep a sharp lookout for 
 anything behind a towboat in any waters. 
 
 Rafts and barges towed abreast show a white light from 
 each corner, and if the light on either side of the towing 
 steamer be shut out by a barge, that light will be shown 
 from the barge. 
 
 On waters governed by the rules for the Great Lakes, 
 a towing steamer carries, besides the red and the green 
 lights, an extra white light, 6 feet above or below the 
 forward white light. If the tow be a raft, the towboat 
 will carry the two forward wh^'te lights athwartship, and 
 not less than 8 feet apart, and a sjnall white light aft 
 for the tow to steer by. 
 
 43 
 
LIGHTS FOR SAILBOATS AND ROWBOATS. 
 
 Sailing vessels carry the starboard and the port lights, 
 and many carry a white light hung over the stern, or 
 use a flare light to warn off approaching vessels. Pilot 
 vessels on duty show a white light at the mast-head, and 
 exhibit a flare-up light at intervals of not more than 15 
 minutes. 
 
 Rowing boats shall have lighted, and ready to show 
 in time to prevent collision, a lantern having a white 
 light. 
 
 BRILLIANCY OF LIGHTS. 
 
 White headlights are to be bright enough to be seen 
 5 miles, and side lights 2 miles. The globes for the 
 lanterns are to be not less than 5 inches high and 6 inches 
 wide, inside measures, and no other lights may be carried 
 which can be mistaken for these. 
 
 Lights are used in many other ways on vessels engaged 
 in cable-laying, fishing, dredging, etc. ; but whenever seen, 
 are to be avoided, as such lights generally indicate a "right 
 of way." 
 
 FOG SIGNALS. 
 
 Fog signals shall be given by "steam vessels" on the 
 whistle or siren, and by "sailing vessels," or "vessels tow- 
 ed," on the fog-horn. A "long blast" is from four to 
 six seconds. A short blast is of about one second in 
 duration. 
 
 A motor boat, no matter how small, must be provided 
 with a whistle or siren, sounded by steam, or a sub- 
 stitute for steam, so placed that its sound will not be 
 obstructed; also with a fog-horn (in a small boat a 
 mouth-horn is accepted), and with a bell. The size of 
 the bell is not specified. These instruments are to be 
 used whenever the weather is thick from any cause, and 
 the following signals are to be given : 
 
 By a steamer under way, one long blast each minute. 
 By a steam vessel towing another vessel, one long blast,' 
 
 44 
 
followed quickly by two short ones, each minute. A 
 vessel towed may give the same. 
 
 A sailing vessel must give on the fog-horn, once a min- 
 ute, one blast, if on the starboard tack ; two blasts if 
 on the .port tack; three blasts, if with the wind abaft 
 the beamx. A sailing vessel is on the "starboard tack" 
 when it is sailing into the wind and pointed toward its 
 own left (port) hand. It is on the 'port tack" when 
 sailing into the wind and pointed toward its own right 
 (starboard) hand. 
 
 Rafts, etc., while under way, must give one blast each 
 mmute on a fog-horn or its equivalent. 
 
 FOG SIGNALS FOR BOATS AT ANCHOR. 
 
 If at anchor, the bell is to be rung rapidly for five or 
 six seconds each minute. 
 
 FOG SIGNALS ON THE GREAT LAKES. 
 
 On the Great Lakes and waters governed by their rules, 
 a steam vessel sounds, once a minute, three regular blasts, 
 and a vessel being towed sounds, once a minute, two 
 bells, followed quickly by two more. A steamer towing 
 a raft sounds, once a minute, a screeching or Modoc 
 whistle. On waters running into the Gulf of Mexico 
 a towing steamer sounds, in thick weather, three blasts 
 in quick succession ; and vessels lying-to, upon hearing 
 the whistle of an approaching vessel, shall, if on the right 
 bank, give one stroke on the bell ; if on the left bank, two 
 strokes on the bell. That means the right and left bank 
 when looking down the river. 
 
 SPEED IN THICK WEATHER. 
 
 Every vessel shall go at moderate speed. If you cannot 
 locate an approaching fog signal which is forward of the 
 beam, slow down, or stop, as the case seems to require. 
 If the signal keeps sounding from the same compass 
 direction, you may be fairly sure the other boat is com- 
 ing head-on. 
 
 45 
 
:IGHT OF 
 
 When meeting another steam vessel head-on, give one 
 blast and swing to starboard, and leave it on your port 
 hand. You have the right of way over any approaching 
 steam vessel, excepting one which can be seen over your 
 own starboard hand from the bow to two points aft 
 of the beam : and, when having the right of way, you 
 should hold your course and speed, and indicate your 
 intention by blowing the proper signal ; one blast if you 
 intend to leave the other steamer on your port hand ; two 
 blasts if you intend to pass it on your starboard hand. 
 
 Right of Way Diagram. 
 
 Standing amidships where the circle is, you have the right of way 
 over all steamers seen over the inner dotted line, while steamers 
 seen over the inner solid line have the right of way over you. 
 
 When you have not the right of way, you shall keep 
 out of the way of the other vessel, and, if circum- 
 stances require it, shall slacken speed, or stop, or reverse. 
 
 Any vessel .which is overtaking another from any point 
 behind two points aft of the other vessel's beam has not 
 the right of way, and is considered an overtaking vessel 
 until it is clear and by. A steam vessel has no right 
 of way over a sailing vessel. 
 
 WHISTLE SIGNALS. 
 
 One whistle riieans, "I am going to swing to starboard 
 md leave you on my port hand." Two whistles mean, 
 T am going to leave you on my starboard hand." Three 
 
 46 
 
 I 
 
whistles mean, "My engine is reversed and going full 
 speed astern." A succession of four or more rapid blasts 
 is the danger signal. When it is given, both steamers 
 shall stop and reverse their engines, nor shall they go 
 ahead until all danger of collision is over. 
 
 A steamer overtaking another and wishing to pass 
 to the starboard side, shall give one blast. . If wishing 
 to pass to the port side, give two blasts. If the over- 
 taken boat replies with the same signal, go ahead; but 
 not until it does. If it replies with four or more blasts, 
 you cannot go, and must stay astern until all chance 
 of danger that might be created by your passing is over; 
 then give the proper signals and go ahead. 
 
 In narrow channels the steamer nearest the bank on 
 the starboard hand has the right of way, and the other 
 steamer shall drop astern three lengths or more. In 
 all such narrow channels, if circumstances permit, all 
 steamers shall keep to the starboard side of the channel. 
 
 If, not having the right of way, you can with safety 
 cross ahead of another steamer, you may do so; but if 
 the other steamer gives the danger signal, you must stop 
 or go astern. 
 
 WHISTLE WHEN LEAVING A SLIP. 
 
 When approaching a bend in the channel which does 
 not permit of an approaching vessel being seen for a 
 distance of half a mile, one long blast shall be sounded ; 
 if there is no answering signal, you may assume that 
 the road is clear. When proceeding from a slip or a 
 dock, give the same signal. 
 
 On waters governed by the rules of the Great Lakes 
 and on rivers with a rapid current, the descending steamer 
 has the right of way, and by signal shall indicate on which 
 side it desires to pass. 
 
 WHEN SIGNALS MUST BE GIVEN. 
 
 Signals must be given when within half a mile of 
 the other vessel, and, whenever given, must be answered 
 with the same signal. If it is deemed unsafe to comply, 
 
 47 
 
}• the signal is not understood, the danger signal — of 
 four or more rapid blasts — must be given, in which case 
 both vessels must stop and reverse until th.e danger is 
 over. Answering one whistle with two, or two whistles 
 with one, is not allowed. This is known as cross signals. 
 When, by reason of thick weather, vessels or their lights 
 cannot be seen at a distance of half a mile, the fog sig- i 
 nals only can be used. ' 
 
 Finally, remember that the rules say: "In obeying 
 and construing these rules, due regard must be had to 
 all dangers of navigation and collision, and to any special 
 circumstances which may render a departure from them 
 necessary in order to avoid immediate danger." 
 
 POSTING OF PILOT RULES. 
 
 Even the smallest motor boar must have on board two 
 copies of /the PiLot Rules and Regulation^, and they 
 must be in the placard form. In vessels of less than 
 25 tons that have no space large enough to tack a set 
 up, they may be kept aboard in the best manner possible, 
 preferably rolled up and in a tin case. Rules may be had 
 of tiie inspectors. 
 
 REGISTRATION AND LICENSING. 
 
 Boats of 5 tons or over are to be registered in the Custom 
 House. If your boat is 15 tons or over and you carry 
 passengers for hire, you must have licensed officers. If 
 under 15 tons, and carrying passengers for hire, you must 
 have a license. It can be had without an examination. 
 Apply to the United States inspectors. You will then 
 be required to have a life preserver for each person aboard. 
 
 If not ever carrying passengers for hire, a motor boat 
 is not required to be inspected, nor to have a licensed 
 man, nor to carry life preservers. Life preservers should 
 always be carried, and within reach of the hand, for when 
 required the demand is generally instantaneous ; like a 
 flash may come the need of a buoyant support, and, if 
 it is not ready to throw, the boat quickly glides away 
 from the person requiring assistance. 
 
 48 
 
 m 
 
NAME AND HAILING PORT. 
 
 The name should be on either side of the bow,^ or of 
 the pilot house, if there is one. The name and hailing 
 port should also be on the stern or other conspicuous place, 
 but this is not obligatory in the case of boats of less than 
 5 tons. 
 
 49 
 
. * 
 
 Plain and striped spar buoys 
 
 Nun buoy 
 
 Can buoy 
 
 Gas and whistling Dolphin 
 
 SO 
 
Chapter VI — Aids to Navigation. 
 
 BUOYS, BEACONS AND CHANNEL MARKS. 
 
 BUOYS comprise spar buoys, nun buoys, can buoys, 
 bell buoys, whistling buoys and gas buoys. These 
 are all afloat. There are also spindles and beacons. 
 These are solid and rest on the land, most frequently 
 on a submerged rock or shoal. All of these are guides 
 for sailing, and should be thoroughly understood by any 
 person who steers a boat; for, whether it so occurs to 
 him or not, his position is important, and lives are en- 
 trusted to him and depend upon his knowledge. 
 
 The various buoys and marks have distinctive markings 
 and colors, as does everything connected with guiding the 
 mariner; in fact, by finding a buoy in a fog after he has 
 lost his position, a skipper should, by the aid of a lead 
 line and sounding, be able to place his position. 
 
 Floating marks are painted : red, to be left on your star- 
 board hand when entering a harbor, or black, to be left 
 on your port hand when entering. Red and black hori- 
 zontal stripes (rings) rnean : 'T am on a dangerous spot; 
 pass on either side of me, but give me a good berth." 
 Black and white perpendicular stripes mean : *T am in 
 the middle of the channncl ; pass on either side of me 
 and keep close.'' 
 
 These colorings mean the same thing whether seen 
 on one kind of floating buoy or another. 
 
 All buoys mark channels, shoals or fairways (good 
 water), and their colors indicate the hand on which they 
 are to be left when entering from seaward. The plain 
 red buoys will be numbered with even figures, as 2, or 
 
 SI 
 
Double cone spindle 
 
 Whistling Buoy 
 
 Single cone spindle 
 
 3 
 
 Bell buoy 
 
 Gas buoy New type nun 
 
 52 
 
4, or 6, etc. The black ones will have odd numbers, as i. 
 or 3, or 5, etc. 
 
 Spar buoys are placed where the water is least dis- 
 turbed and they can be most readily seen. Nun buoys, 
 which are steel cylinders with conical tops, and can buoys, 
 which are flat-top steel cylinders, are placed in more 
 disturbed waters. Nun buoys are used for starboard 
 sides of channels, and obstructions, and mid channels, 
 and are colored accordingly. Can buoys are used for port 
 sides of channel and obstructions and mid channel, and 
 are colored for , them. 
 
 Gas buoys, bell buoys, whistlers, and the grand affairs 
 in the shape of the combined whistling and gas buoys, 
 rising 2"^ to 30 feet above the surface, are all used in 
 the several capacities of the other floating marks, and 
 are colored; if used for starboard or port channel marks, 
 they are numbered. If in the ocean, they are apt to be 
 marked with the name of the place they guard. 
 
 A spindle is generally on a rock or shoal which is 
 submerged. It consists of an iron shaft surmounted by 
 a cask, a cone inverted, a double cone, a square cage, or 
 other distinguishing mark, and is colored. 
 
 Beacons are built on shoals or prominent land-marks, 
 and are of stone. Sometimes they are surmounted by 
 a spindle. They also have distinguishing colors. 
 
 On the chart, red buoys will be marked R. and the 
 number. Black buoys will be marked B. and the number. 
 Red and black buoys will be marked H. S., meaning 
 ''Horizontal Stripes." Black and white buoys will be 
 marked P. S., meaning "Perpendicular Stripes."' 
 
 It confuses many when they come across, in the same 
 body of water, several buoys having the same color and 
 number. A little study will show them that, though in 
 the same body of water, they always indicate different 
 channels. 
 
 NUMBERS AND COLORS OF BUOYS. 
 
 Buoys are numbered and colored according to the order 
 in which they will be met by a vessel coming in from' the 
 
 ^Z 
 
sea; and in leaving the ocean and entering a harbor the 
 various channels a vessel will sail in may be compared to 
 the trunk of a tree and its branches. As, probably, more 
 yachtsmen are familiar with Long Island Sound and the 
 adjacent waters than with any other body of water, we 
 will take its buoyage system as an illustration. The same 
 system applies to all waters under Government supervision. 
 
 Let us suppose we are coming in from the ocean and 
 bound up the Sound. Off Montauk Point we pass the 
 large, black can buoy guarding Great Eastern Rock; it 
 is numbered i. Then we proceed to Long Island Sound 
 and there find guarding Little Gull Reef another black . 
 can buoy, it also being numbered i; but it is for a 
 different body of water. The wind being strong from the 
 northwest, we cross the Sound to seek the lee of the 
 north shore, and, upon nearing it, we make out a spar — 
 black, and 'numbered i. The two other black buoys 
 marked i we have left on our port hand, but this one we 
 leave well off on our starboard hand. Why? Because 
 it is numbered for New London harbor, and is for it a port 
 buoy ; but in proceeding up the Sound it is a starboard 
 buoy. This example shows that the person at the wheel 
 should know not only what the color of the buoy means, 
 but also what channel it is marking. 
 
 Now we have left two black buoys to port and one to 
 starboard. The next one we see is a red spar, guarding 
 Bartlett's reef. The skipper tells us to leave this one on 
 our starboard, which we do. This shows clearly that we 
 need to know what each buoy is for, and that we do 
 not leave all red buoys to starboard, nor all black ones 
 to port. 
 
 Next we will enter Long Island Sound with fair wea- 
 ther. If, coming in from Montauk, we sight the black 
 can No. i at Little Gull, across the mouth of the Sound 
 at Race Point on Fisher's Island we see a red spar 
 numbered 2, then the red spar numbered 4 at Bartlett's 
 Reef. We proceed up the Sound, passing buoys, some 
 of which are meant to mark the outer edges of the good 
 water in the Sound and some which are meant to mark 
 
 54 
 
channels leading from the Sound. All the buoys that 
 are meant to mark the limit of the good water on the 
 southern shore of the Sound will be colored black, as 
 port buoys, and numbered consecutively clear up to the 
 head of the Sound, a distance of nearly 90 miles. The 
 buoys on the north shore, which are Sound buoys, will be 
 colored red, and also numbered consecutively as far as 
 the Sound extends. 
 
 Where a channel leads from the Sound its first star- 
 board buoy will be red and numbered 2. Its first port 
 buoy will be black and numbered i. So also if a channel 
 branches from the main channel, the first starboard buoy 
 in the branch channel will be numbered 2, and the first 
 port buoy will be numbered i. That is, the buoys for a 
 main channel will be numbered consecutively, beginning 
 with I and 2, and each branch will begin with buoys 
 numbered i and 2. 
 
 If a buoy is planted between two that are already 
 numbered it will be apt to be numbered with the number 
 of the preceding one and one-half added, or where ad- 
 ditional buoys are planted, they may have added to the 
 number the letter A or B, etc. 
 
 Buoys may be placed near to, within a few feet, or 
 far off, a half-mile or more, from the danger they guard 
 against, according to whether they are in confined waters, 
 such as narrow channels, or in the open sea. 
 
 CHARTS. 
 
 The government charts are the product of painstak- 
 ing and continuous labor and are wonderfully accurate. 
 The writer always will rely upon them in enter- 
 ing a strange harbor in preference to the word of 
 local boatmen. Charts are made on various scales, some 
 being drawn 1/80,000, some 1/40,000, while local charts 
 are often drawn 1/10,000, or to an even larger scale. 
 The latter are the best to use when entering a strange 
 place. When you once get used to them it is like looking 
 through a window, they make everything so plain. 
 
 The latest editions and newly corrected charts should 
 
 55 
 
be used, for the changes are frequent; a new buoy being 
 planted here, a post h'ght being established there or the 
 channels dredged. Fog signals and lights are steadily 
 being improved ; the knowledge of them can be had from 
 the yearly Buoy Book and the weekly Notice to Mariners, 
 issued by the government. 
 
 On the charts also is a list giving the abbreviations 
 for the lights and for the materials to be found on the 
 bottom.. Beside a light indication will be found letters 
 telling its character : F. W., meaning fixed white ; Rev. W., 
 revolving white; Fig. R. W., flashing red and white, etc. 
 In a list on the chart will be found all the lights on it, 
 with a description of each. Another list gives an ex-, 
 planation of the abbreviations, indicating the nature of 
 the bottom, such as: bu. m., blue mud; crs. gr., coarse 
 gravel ; brk. sh., broken shells ; wht. s., white sand, etc. 
 
 Rocks awash (covered ^t times) are indicated by a 
 small +. Rocks always showing, by a spot. 
 
 On the shore line a flat shore is lightly shaded, a 
 rock shore has ragged, irregular markings, and a high, 
 steep shore or bluff has heavy black shadings. Marshes 
 are indicated by lines and creeks, and trees by dots or 
 little circles in light shading. Hills are plainly shown 
 by the contour lines ; each of these lines indicates, on most 
 charts, a rise of 20 feet in height. The closer the lines 
 the steeper the hill, and the more the lines spread the 
 gentler the slope. 
 
 UNBUOYED HARBORS. 
 
 To enter a place without buoys the markings of the 
 shore are useful. Lay off on the chart, by marking with 
 a pencil, the courses through the best water as far in as 
 you wish to go. Then observe whether these courses 
 head toward hillsides or crests, toward trees or marsh. 
 Proceed slowly, keep the compass direction carefully, and 
 almost any place can be entered in safety. 
 
 DEPTHS ON CHARTS. 
 
 Depths are given on 'the charts in feet on the shaded 
 portions ; the first or heaviest shaded portion from the 
 
 S6 
 
shore takes in everything for 6 feet or less ; the next 
 lighter shading extends to the 12- foot depths, and the last 
 or slightest shading extends to the limit of the r8-foot 
 depths. All isolated spots of 18 feet or less are shaded. The 
 depths are usually given on the local or large-scale charts 
 in feet all over them, whether shaded or not; but in 
 the smaller scale, 1/40,000 or 1/80,000, the figures on the 
 white parts are in fathoms (6 feet), so the figure 10 will 
 mean 60 feet. Then there are lines drawn along the white 
 portions ; these lines may include all depths up to 6 fathoms 
 or 10 fathoms ; if not marked on the line you may readily 
 find out by observing the largest figure to be seen within 
 the line. The lines are called the 6-fathom or the 10- 
 fathom curves. All depths given are for the ordinary 
 low-water stage. 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 In connection with the depths on charts it must be 
 borne in mind that strong off-shore winds will cause low 
 tides and that strong winds from seaward cause high 
 tides ; sometimes the levels vary 2 feet or more from the 
 normal. Also at times a strong wind may prevent the 
 tide from rising or falling. The full moon also causes 
 unusually high and unusually low tides. So also does the 
 low *or opposite to the full moon. 
 
 When these conditions are in conjunction with strong, 
 continuous winds, we get the extreme cases of high and 
 low water. Extra tides also cause the currents to be 
 swifter than normal and allowance must be made for all 
 these conditions when sailing. 
 
 A phenomenon not generally understood is that there 
 are three waves or swellings to each tide, and that dur- 
 ing the interval between each swelling the water may for 
 a few moments go backward, enough to cause a buoy 
 to point the wrong way. To avoid being confused by 
 this it is well to know, when cruising, the time of actual 
 high water. 
 
 Neither is the direction of current to be relied upon 
 as telling whether the tide is rising or falling, for in 
 
 57 
 
The Mariner's Compass 
 
 tl 
 
 POINTS OF THE COMPASS. 
 
 N 
 N X 
 
 N N 
 
 N 
 N 
 
 E 
 E 
 
 E 
 E 
 
 X N 
 
 X E 
 
 E 
 
 N 
 
 E 
 E 
 E 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 S 
 
 S 
 E 
 
 X E 
 
 X 
 
 S 
 
 E 
 
 E 
 
 E X S 
 
 S E 
 
 X W 
 S W 
 W X 
 W 
 W X 
 
 W 
 
 W S W 
 W X S 
 
 W 
 
 W X N 
 W N W 
 N W X W 
 
 N W 
 N W xN 
 N N W 
 N X W 
 
 58 
 
?ome places the water may have been falling for an hour 
 when the current turns ; and in other places for two or 
 three hours. In Plum Gut, Long Island Sound, for ex- 
 ample, we have the curious phenomenon of an 8-hour 
 ebb and a 4- hour flood. 
 
 Along the shore the tide and current generally change 
 together ; the lagging of the current being generally in 
 channels which are narrow compared to the large bodies 
 of water within. The tide may be high in one place while 
 in another, perhaps only a few miles away, it may be 
 an hour later in reaching its height. 
 
 The knowledge of tidal currents is of the greatest im- 
 portance. They will help you in many ways, both in journey- 
 ing and in avoiding rough water, for the tide against the 
 wind creates a sharp sea. When cruising along any coast 
 having a deep indentation one may be fairly sure of being 
 set inshore during flood tide and offshore during the ebb. 
 
 THE COMPASS. 
 
 Learn to box it forward and backward, beginning at 
 North, and backward and forward for four points, begin- 
 ning from any one point, and to be able to name the 
 opposite of any point ; North-east is the opposite of 
 South-west. There are 32 points in the compass. 
 
 The compass printed on every chart gives the true north 
 and the magnetic north; the difference between the two 
 is the variation. For convenience the magnetic north is 
 used on the coast-wise charts, and all courses agree with it. 
 
 HOW TO INSTAL THE COMPASS. 
 
 To instal a compass in your boat, draw a small line 
 taut from the forward staff to the one in the stern, being 
 sure that the two staffs are in the center at both places. 
 Place the compass directly beneath the line with the N. 
 and S. of compass cut perfectly by the line. If the com- 
 pass is not to be kept there permanently, draw a line 
 nicely around the box and make the marking permanent. 
 If the compass is to be carried to one side of the center, 
 measure off to one side of the taut line and place the 
 compass. 
 
 50 
 
KEEP THE COMPASS AWAY FROM ELECTRICAL DEVICES. 
 
 When installing the batteries, coil, and wires, place 
 them as far from the compass as possible; the farther 
 the better. Here are two illustration of what they will 
 do if placed near the compass. 
 
 With a new launch, costing thousands of dollars, we 
 started on a run of about sixty miles, on a day as bright 
 and fair as could greet the eye. The compass was given 
 little heed, for we had not had time as yet to attend to 
 it. 
 
 Fifty miles of the run were behind us, and we were 
 passing through about seven miles of reefs and shoals, 
 when, as if by magic, from fair, bright weather we were 
 enveloped in fog. So quickly did it surround us that no 
 sights were obtained. 
 
 The compass was in its proper pface on the cabin 
 house, but the spark coil was just below it and glue could 
 not have held the needle more fixed than did that coil. 
 I had only the W. S. W. ripples on the water to steer 
 by. The next day the coil was placed well forward in the 
 cabin. 
 
 On July Fourth last a couple of us started early in the 
 morning from New London to Newport, forty miles, in 
 an open 22-foot launch. A blanket fog greeted us when 
 half way down the harbor. Out came the compass ; both 
 it and the boat were new to me. Placing the compass 
 in front of me on the locker I guessed at the right-angle 
 of the boat. The needle remained fixed. Upon inquiring 
 I was informed : "Yes, the spark coil is in that locker." 
 
 The compass was moved to the top of the little cabin 
 trunk, where it danced joyously with the vibration of 
 the motor. Next it was placed on the locker opposite; 
 there it seemed to behave well But how was it pointing? 
 There was nothing to do but to find the shore, follow 
 it down to the lighthouse, take our departure from there, 
 and on the result of the first run decide as to the compass. 
 
 Putting the quickly fading lighthouse square over the 
 stern we ran S. E. ^4 S. for one mile and made the 
 
 60 
 
buoy close to our port bow. Away we went for nearly 30 
 miles past rocks, through reefs, and by points; sailing this, 
 that and the other course, until, as we were preparing 
 to take a few soundings to find Point Judith, the fog 
 cleared and showed it about a mile and a half away 
 about two points off the port bow. 
 
 During this time I was steering, not by the lubber 
 line on the front of the box, but by the one on the side. 
 From where I was sitting at the wheel the front one 
 could not be seen. If E. ]/^ S. was wanted on the front 
 lubber line, S. J^ W. should be on the side lubber line. 
 If S. E. was wanted on the front line, S. W. should be 
 oh the side line, etc. 
 
 ADJUSTING THE COMPASS. 
 
 There is no confidence or pleasure in running with a 
 compass the deviation of which is not known. If you 
 do not care to employ a compass adjuster, take your boat 
 out to where you can find a spindle in line with another 
 spindle, or a beacon in line with a lighthouse. Use fixed 
 marks, not floating ones. Place your boat far enough 
 away from the nearest mark to get a sharp, clear sight 
 when the two marks range. Anchor the boat by anchors 
 at both bow and stern ; if you put three anchors out, so 
 much the better. Now you can swing the boat so that the 
 bow will point in any direction. 
 
 The Government Buoy Book for your district will give 
 you the exact bearing of the one mark from the other; 
 if it does not, choose two marks of which the bearings 
 are given. We will assume the bearing to be east; and 
 that you have w^ritten on a card the points of the com- 
 pass : 
 
 Swing the boat until the bow points exactly north, as 
 shown .by the lubber line and the N of the compass 
 coming together. Sight carefully over the compass; if 
 it is correct, west and east of the compass will be directly 
 in line with the marks you have in range. Probably it 
 will be so, as a compass is apt to be correct when the boat 
 heads either N or S, and to give its greatest deviation 
 
 61 
 
when the boat is headed either E or W. You will under- 
 stand that the E on the compass should point directly 
 with the range, no matter which way the boat's bow is 
 headed. 
 
 Now swing the boat to E by the compass, we find that 
 E X N is pointing in line with the range, showing that 
 something is pulling the compass one point out of true, 
 and that to have the boat head E she must be pointed 
 E X N on the compass ; so we write E x N against E on 
 the card. Similarly, when we swing the boat to N E we 
 find that E ^ N is in line with the range, and that to , 
 steer N E we must head N E 5^ N by our compass ; so we t 
 set N E J^ N against N E on the card. 
 
 Next we put the boat's head N N E and find that E % 
 N on the compass is in line with the range and that we have 1 
 to steer ]4 point to the N of N N E to be on a N N E 
 course, so we set N x E }i E against N N E on the 
 card. Also when the boat's head is swung W by the com- 
 pass, we find E % N in line with the range, showing that 
 to steer correctly W we will have to point the boat the 
 opposite of E ^4 N, which is W ^ S, so we write that 
 down against W on the card. And so we keep on until 
 we have tried the boat on the 32 points of the compass. 
 
 Now to be sure that the card remains correct it is 
 necessary to note the position of all attracting metal, and 
 keep them in the same positions when running. 
 
 Also during the swinging of the boat it is necessary 
 that the two marks selected for a range have been kept 
 exactly in line. ♦ 
 
 Should you find the compass to be out ^ point or ^ 
 point all the way around, the easiest way of correcting 
 it is to swing the box. or binnacle, thereby putting the lub- 
 ber line to one side the amount necessary to balance the 
 deviation. 
 
 MEANS OF TELLING DIRECTION. 
 
 If cruising with a compass which is not altogether re- 
 liable, the direction headed by steamers or tows, not sail- 
 ing vessels, will give a correct idea of one's compass, 
 provided one 'knows the course of the steamers. 
 
 62 
 
Card compasses swing erratically in a seaway, at times 
 revolving like a whirligig. When acting that way put a 
 finger on them when the course to be steered is opposite 
 the lubber line ; if it remains steady a moment, and then 
 begin to oscillate evenly a half point or a full point either 
 side of the lubber line, you are steering the course ; if it 
 does not do this, alter your steering until it does. 
 
 While in fog I have seen a card compass become fixed, 
 so it remained stationary ofT the course ; the altered bear- 
 ing of the waves showed me that something was wrong. 
 
 Many things besides the compass will guide one and 
 help to keep a course. The wind, sun, a cloud, anything 
 helps. In the recent Marblehead Race (1908), I was try- 
 ing for a long time to keep the course with the compass 
 light out and in darknesss so dense that no water could 
 be seen, simply by the feeling of how the boat plunged 
 in the waves. The storm was from the southwest, our 
 course from Shovelful light vessel to Handkerchief light 
 vessel was S W x W >^ W ; if the boat plunged straight in 
 she was off the course to the S. W. ; if she rolled too 
 much she was ofif the course to the west ; if pitching with 
 a slight rolling motion she was about right; and that 
 there was some sea on you may imagine when I tell you 
 that the waves put out our bow and side lights and tore 
 the racing fiag off the stafif. 
 
 A binnacle exposed to the weather is hard to keep 
 lighted in a breeze. Have ready a sheet of brass, bent in 
 funnel shape, not quite closing,, so the compass can be 
 seen. Stand it up around the binnacle when in a blow, 
 and you will save trouble, and anxiety. 
 
 If a piece of tinted glasss, blue or green, is placed 
 over the compass, it will save the eyes from the glare 
 of the card, night or day. This method is used on many 
 of the Sound steamers. Numerous devices and methods 
 are used to ease the strain on the eyes, but this is the 
 simplest and best. 
 
 Practice steadily the use of the compass when running 
 in the- daytime in waters with which you are familiar. 
 That will soon train a^ou for night or fog running. 
 
 63 
 
You will learn the use of the compass rapidly by using 
 it when crossing a strong current. Note the compass 
 bearing of the place you wish to reach, then keep it bear- 
 ing the same by the compass, no matter which way you 
 are obliged to head the boat. This will not be easy to 
 do at first, but you will soon get the idea, and it will 
 give you a clear understanding of the strength and the 
 vagaries of the currents in the various parts of a sup- 
 posedly steady-flowing stream. It will also show at once 
 the amount of allowance to be made for the varying 
 strength of the current. The average of the steering will 
 be the amount to allow for crossing the current. 
 
 Use this method in clear weather, whether day or night, 
 and it will quickly prepare you for the more serious work 
 of running in thick weather or fog. 
 
 THE LEAD. 
 
 The object of the lead is to tell the depth of water 
 and the character of the bottom. It should weigh 7 
 pounds for taking soundings up to 25 fathoms, and 15 
 pounds for depths from 25 to 50 fathoms. The bottom 
 should be hollow to hold a piece of tallow or grease, 
 which will bring up a sample of the bottom. It should 
 be thrown ahead of a moving boat, so as to reach bottom 
 as it comes alongside the boat and so obtain the correct 
 depth. 
 
 The lead line should be marked as follows : At 2 fathoms, 
 tie in two strips of leather; at 3 fathoms, tie in three 
 strips of leather ; at 5 fathoms, tie in a white cotton rag ; 
 at 7 fathoms, a red rag, preferably of wool, so that it 
 can be distinguished by the feeling in the dark; at 10 
 fathoms, a round piece of leather with a hole in it ; at 
 13 fathoms, the same as at three; at 15 fathoms, the same 
 as at 5 ; at 17 fathoms, the same as at 7; at 20 fathoms, 
 splice in a piece of small line with two knots tied in; at 25 
 fathoms, a line with one knot ; at 30 fathoms, a line with 
 three knots; at 35 fathoms, a line with one knot; at 40 
 fathoms, a line with four knots, and so on up to 100 
 fathoms. 
 
 64 . 
 
 I 
 
Ckapter VII. - Hoav to Navigate. 
 
 BEFORE casting off from moorings or dock try the 
 motor to see that it is working well. If starting 
 from a mooring, after having tried the motor, cast 
 off and let the boat's head fall away a little before starting ; 
 or, cast the mooring buoy well clear and do not put the 
 wheel hard over, lest the propeller pick up the mooring 
 line. In like manner when leaving a float, or a dock, 
 do not sheer off from it too sharply, for the boat does not 
 swing on' the rudder; the stern always swings well to the 
 outer edge of the curve made when the wheel is put over 
 sharp, and will in that case, fetch up heavily against the 
 float or dock. 
 
 In making a landing, come up to the place with your 
 bow against the tide, except when the wind is stronger 
 than the tide. In that case come up against the wind. 
 It is fine practice and will quickly make one a good judge 
 of distance, to toss into the water a billet of wood and 
 then try and bring the boat to a standstill with the bow 
 up to it. Try this when the boat is running down the 
 wind ; up the wind ; and with the wind on either beam. 
 But let us cast off and ring in the 
 
 SIGNALS TO THE ENGINEER. 
 
 One bell, when the boat is not in motion, means "start 
 ahead slowly"; then pull the jingle bell for "full speed 
 ahead." One bell while going at full speed ahead means 
 "slow down." One bell while slowed down means "stop." 
 One bell while going astern means "stop." 
 
 Two bells while at rest means "go astern slowly"; then 
 
 65 
 
the jingle would mean "fulJ speed astern,'* but it is 
 seldom used. 
 
 We give the engineer one bell and he starts ahead 
 slowly. When we get into open water, with all clear 
 ahead, we pull the jingle bell and the engineer gives full 
 speed ahead. The pilot turns his head for a moment to 
 answer a friend and when he looks ahead again, there, 
 straight over the bow, and coming from the Lord knows 
 where, is a vessel. It is too close for him to clear while 
 going at full speed, and he doubts if he can clear it by 
 slowing down, so he rings the emergency signal of four 
 bells, meaning "stop the engine and reverse at full speed" ; 
 and quickly blows three blasts on the whistle, telling the | 
 vessel ahead that the engine is going full speed astern. ■ 
 When satisfied that the danger is over, the pilot rings 
 one bell and the engine is stopped. 
 
 This illustration shows the importance of abstaining from 
 talking to the man at the wheel when there is any possible 
 chance of danger. The British Admiralty have concluded 
 that about 80 per cent, of marine accidents are avoidable. 
 
 FOUL WATER. 
 
 We start the boat ahead again, and for the sake of the 
 experience take it into foul water. We are speaking now 
 of boats of less than 5 feet draft. Do not use the eye for 
 any deeper draft unless there are means for going aloft. 
 The higher one can go the deeper he can look down into 
 the water. 
 
 Upon approaching the foul water, if the shoal be of 
 sand, it will reflect, giving the water a light green, or a 
 whitish green, appearance. If a mud bottom, there will 
 be a distinct darkening of the water. A rock bottom with 
 bare boulders will be apt to leave the water its natural color, 
 and the boulders will show gray, or flash white. A rocky 
 bottom, or boulders, covered with weed, will show from a 
 dark brown to a reddish brown, and the color will be 
 quite distinct. We are speaking now of going into "color" 
 from good water of 18 or 20 feet in depth. If we are in 
 water of 48 to 60 feet in depth, and approach water of 
 
 66 
 
12 to 20 feet in depth, a difference of color will be noticed. 
 These color indications do not hold where water is gen- 
 erally discolored, with no clear water anywhere, such as 
 is seen close to cities, or in muddy rivers ; though even 
 in these waters a shoal spot will generally show more or 
 less by surface indications, such as eddies, unusual ripples, 
 and odd-appearing slick, or a broken jumble of wavelets. 
 
 WIND INDICATIONS ON THE WATER. 
 
 In sheltered places, where the wind does not raise waves 
 of any size, the deeper parts of the water can generally 
 be threaded by a boat by following the ripples or wave- 
 lets. These are heavier and darker where the water is 
 deep, the shoal places having a v/hitish, slick-appearing 
 surface. 
 
 Out in open water the action of the wind on the sur- 
 face speaks eloquently to the practiced eye. A darkening 
 of the water to windward rneans a squall coming down. 
 If violent, it will be mixed with foam and be accompanied 
 by a roaring sound, and if very violent it is apt to show 
 on its edge a white line of foam. A cyclone is apt to 
 lift water from the surface and carry it with fearful 
 rapidity for a considerable distance before letting it fall. 
 A white squall from off the land can always be seen by the 
 dust it creates. A cyclonic center can at times be dodged, 
 as it travels in a fairly straight line and can be seen a 
 long way off. One is seldom met, but when it is, do not 
 be ashamed to put on life preservers. 
 
 HOW A GALE GROWS. 
 
 Head into a sudden, heavy breeze until its force can be 
 felt. In a growing gale the water first will begin to 
 swell up and the wave crests will be driven faster than 
 the body of the waves, causing them to break into white- 
 caps ; the wind is then blowing at the rate of 15 to 20 
 miles an hour. Then the water becomes dark and the 
 waves take on a forward, sweeping appearance ; the vel- 
 ocity of the wind is then about 25 miles. When straight 
 lines of foam 2 or 3 feet apart begin to appear, which 
 
 67 
 
are quite distinct from the white-caps, the wind is blowing 
 about 30 or 35 miles and it is time to be starting for 
 shelter or to keep under a lee. 
 
 Next the streaks of foam become only 6 or 8 inches 
 apart and their line formation is more strongly marked; 
 there is a perceptible throw of the boat as it rises on the 
 crests, and one instinctively grasps something to steady 
 one's self. Do your best now, for the wind is blowing 
 from 40 to 50 miles an hour. Make all snug; lash well 
 the anchors and boats, or any heavy, movable thing ; look 
 particularly to the hatches and secure them well. Make 
 harbor if you can, or if land is to windward, get under 
 its lee. 4 
 
 AVOID A BAR HARBOR. 
 
 If the land is to the leeward and there is no harbor, 
 or a bar harbor, don't go near it. The breakers of a bar 
 harbor would roll you over. You have stayed out too 
 long and must weather the blow. Work off shore as 
 fast as possible. If the boat dives, take the waves about 
 two or three points off the bow and it will lift better. Get 
 the drag ready, and the oil bags ; the motor has, of course, 
 been slowed down as soon as handling of the boat in the 
 waves become necessary. 
 
 The force of the wind is now showing on the water in 
 furious serpentine streaks and is able to lift the tops off 
 from the waves and send them hurtling throug«h the air 
 like hail. The breeze is now blowing from a full gale 
 to a hurricane, 60 miles or better, and the time for force 
 has passed. Lay-to by means of the drag, or an anchor 
 hung over the bow. Use the oil bags over each bow, and 
 amidship if needed. Parcel (wrap) well the hawser where 
 it passes over the bov/, with bagging or canvas to prevent 
 chafing. 
 
 After a time the tops of the waves lose the forward 
 driving motion and you may breathe easier, for it is a 
 dying storm. Later, a few whitish or glassy patches may 
 be seen in the turmoil, and a lull, or possibly a calm, is 
 at hand. 
 
 68 
 
FLAGS INDICATE THE WIND S VELOCITY. 
 
 Another indicator of the wind's velocity is the lift of 
 a flag; with' a light breeze it will not hold out to a hori- 
 zontal position, but with a 15 to 20-mile breeze it 'will 
 stand out straight. At 30 miles the flag will have an 
 upward slant, and at higher velocities the upward tendency- 
 is very marked. It is then time to make a lee, or a 
 harbor. 
 
 HANDLING IN A STORM. 
 
 During a blow when the waves have risen so that hand- 
 ling of the boat becomes necessary, watch the waves care- 
 fully. A wave with a regular surface is not to be dreaded 
 nor taken account of, no matter what its height ; but, let 
 a wave be of only 3 or 4 feet in height, and the freeboard 
 of the boat only 18 or 20 inches, and the face of the wave 
 steep, or its top crested, danger is present. A small launch 
 may be tripped, or over-run and filled by such a sea. 
 
 You will soon learn to recognize the difference between 
 the sure, steady motion of the boat when it is traveling 
 in water where it is perfectly able, and the peculiar, 
 toppish feeling, as if your weight was not resting on any- 
 thing in particular, that is experienced when the wave is 
 too sharp for the buoyancy of the boat. When waves 
 of that style are met, swing the boat into them, not quite 
 head-on, but nearly so. By not meeting them squarely 
 head-on the boat presents more surface and therefore 
 a better lifting power; and, after it rises over the crest, 
 it will not fall with a hard smash into the trough behind. 
 
 A breaker, or wave, with a straight or hollow front, must 
 be met bow on, as otherwise, if large enough, it may roll 
 the boat over. 
 
 RUNNING WITH SEAS ABEAM. ' 
 
 If running with the seas directly abeam, swing into 
 or away from the sharp ones as occasion requires. These 
 waves are not frequent, except in strong currents or over 
 shoals. Should you be obliged to pass through a long 
 
 69 
 
stretch of them, and they are large enough to make your 
 boat dive or pound badly, tack through them the same as 
 if beating into a head wind with a sail boat. 
 
 In running before seas that make the boat shoot swift- 
 ly down their faces there is danger of the bow burying 
 so deep that the boat will run under, or take a sidelong 
 sheer, broach-to and roll over. The tendency to broach 
 may be overcome by a careful use of the helm. An in- 
 describable feeling in the tiller or the wheel will warn 
 one that the sheer is coming; be on the alert to see which 
 way the head is going to swing ; the instant the swing 
 starts use the helm, for it is at this moment the most 
 effective work is done and the least strength required. 
 The operation is, in a large measure, instinctive. Give the 
 boat the helm easily at first; if the sheer continues to 
 develop, check it with all the strength at your command, 
 for if well developed no amount of strength will stop 
 its completion. ■ 
 
 TRAILING A STERN DRAG. | 
 
 When the run of the sea indicates that the danger of 
 broaching is at hand, it will save a lot of anxiety and 
 do away with the possibility of such, a happening if a 
 drag is trailed astern, thereby preventing the shoot ofJ 
 the boat before the sea. The drag may be constructed* 
 of canvas, nailed to crossed sticks and weighted so as to 
 stand perpendicularly in the water, with lines leading from! 
 each corner to the towing line. Or, an easier one to" 
 handle is a canvas cone towed mouth-to ; the mouth being 
 from i8 inches to s^ inches across, according to the size 
 of the boat. A good-sized bucket makes a fair drag. 
 
 HOW TO LAND ON A LEE SHORE. 
 
 If obliged to land on a lee shore in a row boat, go toj 
 the outer edge of the breakers, wait there until you get 
 a wave to pass under your boat which will break just 
 after passing; commence to pull with all the strength you 
 have the moment the crest reaches the bow and ride in 
 on its back. If the movement has been well executed 
 and your boat has driven into shallow water, the instant 
 
 70 
 
she touches bottom or meets the backward rush of water, 
 leap out and grabbing your boat by the gunwales rush it 
 up the beach, or run without it if necessary. 
 
 ANCHORING. 
 
 If anchoring to ride out a blow, the best style of cable 
 is one that has 40 or 50 feet of chain leading from the 
 anchor, the rest of the cable may be chain or hemp. The 
 chain bears the brunt of the chafing on the bottom. If 
 a weight which can be lifted by the backward surge of the 
 boat is attached to the chain 30 or 40 feet from the 
 anchor, it will act as a spring and greatly assist the boat 
 in riding the waves and will also help the anchor in hold- 
 ing bottom. When a boat is to be anchored in the open 
 for several days or longer, drop two anchors, connected 
 by a strong cable with a loop in its center, placing the 
 anchors 30 feet or more apart, and from the loop have 
 a line lead up to a mooring buoy or float. For lying broad- 
 side-to in a tideway or seaway when fishing, bend on to 
 the anchor warp at a distance of from 20 to 40 feet from 
 the boat a small line that will lead from the stern; pull 
 in or let out on it until the boat lies to suit. 
 
 TO BREAK OUT AN ANCHOR. 
 
 To break out an anchor which is too firmly bedded 
 to be started by ordinary means, start up the motor and 
 sail around in a circle, keeping a hard strain on the 
 anchor warp. This method releases the anchor when 
 nothing else will. When anchoring on a rocky bottom 
 fasten the anchor warp to the crown, or the part of the 
 anchor where the shank joins the spreader, and with a 
 piece of twine fasten the warp to the ring. Then if 
 the anchor is caught in the rocks, a hard strain breaks 
 the twine and trips the anchor. 
 
 FOG RUNNING. 
 
 Many skippers who will face a blow willingly, hesitate 
 to run in a fog, but if the Long Island Sound steamers 
 were to hold up on account of fog, their trips would be 
 
 71 
 
very uncertain during the spring and summer months. 
 Every boat owner should get thoroughly familiar with the 
 compass and with the art of being able to hold the boat 
 on a compass course. However, as many boats do not 
 carry a compass, and as any boat on the seaboard is liable 
 to be caught in a fog, a few methods of finding one's way 
 : without a compass will be given. 
 
 Before the fog shuts in thick about you, head the boat 
 ,for the place you wish to go, tie a long fish line to the 
 forward staff high enough up so the line as it trails astern 
 will not touch the after end of the boat; then by so 
 steering that the line will remain directly over the center 
 of the stern, you may be sure the boat is running a straight 
 course, and not a circle, as so frequently happens. 
 
 TO FIND DIRECTION BY CURRENT. 
 
 If caught in a fog and able, if you know the direction 
 of the current, to steer for your destination, find the 
 direction of the current by stopping the boat and dropping 
 a line with a weight attached to the bottom. When the 
 weight rests on the bottom, pay out considerable line, 
 the boat will drift away from the weight and the direction 
 the line leads will be the direction the current is from. 
 
 Fasten another line to the forward staff as before, or 
 use a compass if you have one ; then if the current is away 
 from your destination, run toward the current or if you 
 need to cut across the current to reach the place you 
 are bound for, get the boat headed right and under way 
 before hauling in the line used for finding the current. 
 
 TO FIND DIRECTION BY RIPPLES. 
 
 If running without a compass and caught in a fog, 
 whether day or night, another method to find one's way 
 is by the wind ripples on the water. Note the direction 
 of the wind and steer with tke ripples, against or across 
 them, as the occasion requires. At night the ripples can 
 be seen easier by putting out the bow light, or any other 
 light that casts its gleam ahead. 
 
 Anchoring and ringing the bell rapidly once a minute 
 
 7Z 
 
is all right if one has plenty of time but there should 
 be no need for any experienced navigator to resort to 
 that. 
 
 TO CROSS A CURRENT IN FOG. 
 
 If a current is to be crossed in a fog and the steering 
 is being done by compass, use the following method, in 
 which the run from Race Rock light to Bartlett's Reef 
 light vessel is taken as an illustration: (See page 72). 
 
 Our boat's speed is 8 miles ; the course is N. W. by W. 
 ^ W. 4 miles; and the current has an average strength 
 of 2^ miles, its average direction being from the W. by 
 N. With the aid of a compass card, draw a course line 
 to represent N. W. by W. Ys W., then draw a W. by N. 
 line. Use a scale of i inch to the mile and from where 
 the course and the current lines meet mark off, against 
 the current on the current line, 2% inches. From the 2^- 
 inch mark draw a line parallel to the course line. Since 
 the speed of the boat is 8 miles, place the end of your 
 measure on the junction of course and current lines, and 
 let the 8-inch mark rest on the line parallel to the course 
 line. Now draw a line along the edge of the stick and you 
 have the course to be steered ; being N. W. by W 5^ W. 
 
 To find the length of time this course should be steered, 
 mark off 4 inches on the line representing the course to 
 be made, and from the 4-inch mark draw a line parallel 
 to the current line. Where this line intersects the "course 
 to be steered line" is the distance to be run to make good 
 the 4 miles to Bartlett's Reef light vessel. This shows 
 that the course to be steered should be held for as long a 
 time as it will take an 8-mile boat to run s% miles. Draw 
 this diagram a few times and it will come readily to you. 
 
 The great factor of safety and surety in fog-running 
 is to know the speed of your boat. Not the speed that 
 you like to make yourself think it is capable of, but its 
 actual speed. The boat's speed, and the watch, and a 
 true comoass, and a little figuring are all required in 
 running from mark to mark in a fog. Also, if you are^ 
 doubtful of your position, the lead comes into play — 
 
 74 
 
also a knowledge of the kind of water which should be 
 encountered where you are. 
 
 FOG RUNNING BY COMPASS AND LEAD. 
 
 We will suppose you are familiar with reading the chart 
 or you would not attempt to make a passage in a fog. 
 To ilustrate, let us use chart ''114, Point Judith to Plum 
 Island," and suppose that while bound from the eastward 
 a fog shuts in when you are yet 2 miles from the Watch 
 Hill entrance to Fisher's Island Sound, and you determine 
 to enter the Sound in spite of the fog. 
 
 The tide is flood, running into the Sound, the entrance 
 to which has a strong current, and 3 miles of very bad 
 reefs reaching the surface in spots. The time for reach- 
 ing spar 2 has run out and the spar has not been raised. 
 The boat is slowed down and a cast of the lead is made. 
 It gives 25 feet, and this depth shows you to be in a very 
 bad position, close on to the reefs, with the tide running 
 through them, and nothing to be seen, the current run- 
 ning in at from 2 to 3 knots. 
 
 For safety you swing the boat from your course of 
 W. ]4> N. and head it due S. ; slowed down to perhaps 3 
 knots, and cast the lead constantly. You don't care what 
 the bottom is composed of just now, all you want is 
 deeper water. In two casts you get 40 feet, then 50 feet, 
 and you begin to breathe easier, for the reefs are cleared. 
 You have had enough of the Watch Hill passage and will 
 run for New London Harbor by way of "The Race"; 
 for there one has two fog signals for guides and water 
 free from reefs. So the boat is kept going south until 
 20 fathoms is reached ; then the course is altered to 
 W. s/^S. 
 
 HOW TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN FOG SIGNALS. 
 
 In time the sound of a horn is heard; is it a steamer, 
 a tow, or on a light house? The watch is consulted and 
 the time between the blasts found to be one minute, ap- 
 proximately, apart : that tells us it is a steamer. The 
 quick increase in the volume of sound tells us that it 
 
 75 
 
is approaching, and the fact that the sound comes con- 11 
 stantly from the same compass direction tells us that the ■' 
 steamer is coming head-on. We feel uncomfortable and 
 alter our course three points to the southward ; quickly 
 the sound of the approaching horn grows in volume, but 
 each time it is a little further aft. Finally it sounds square 
 abeam, and we swing back onto our course. 
 
 The nervous tension of dodging that steamer being over, 
 we become aware of the whizzing boom of another horn, 
 apparently quite distant, out comes the watch again and 
 we soon note that the blasts are shorter than those of the 
 steamer just passed. These have a duration of 3 seconds 
 each, and there are groups of three blasts each, the blasts 
 being 3 seconds apart and the interval between the groups 
 being 45 seconds. It is the Race Rock fog signal. While 
 counting its time we become aware of another horn, the 
 watch gives it a blast of 3 seconds and an interval of 27 
 seconds, showing it to be the Little Gull horn. That makes 
 the running easy, for Race Rock is found to bear W. ^ N. 
 and Little Gull W. M S. 
 
 LOOK OUT FOR ECHOES. 
 
 We now shape our course W. ^ N. for Race Rock. 
 While listening to its signals we become aware that the J 
 same signal is being given from, some point off our port * 
 bow, and there soon becomes very little difference in the 
 clearness of either signal. This does not confuse us, for 
 we have encountered the phenomenon before. The second 
 signal is an echo from off the sails of a passing vessel, and 
 as the real signal sounds first, we guide by it. A number 
 of vessels have been lured to destruction by this echo from 
 off a sail, a steamer's hull, or from off the side of Mount 
 Prospect on Fisher's Island ; therefore it is well to listen 
 intently to any fog signal. 
 
 Having arrived abreast the sound of Race Rock horn, 
 we will, for a little practice, lay the course N. W. by 
 W. Vi W. 4 miles for Bartlett's Reef light vessel. The 
 speed of our boat is 8 miles and we are going against a j 
 tide of an average speed of about 2}^ miles, and the current 
 
 76 
 
 ji 
 
is a little on our port bow c©ming from W. by N., so by 
 our previous method we figure that we should steer N. W. 
 by W. ^ W. for ^gYz minutes nearly, and ought then to 
 be close enough to pick up the sound of the bell on 
 Bartlett's Reef light vessel. 
 
 The time for reaching it having been run out and no 
 sound of the bell being heard, the motor is stopped and 
 a sounding taken ; it gives 60 feet of water and shows that 
 wc are well to the south of the reefs. The faint note of 
 the two strokes on the bell sounding to starboard reaches 
 us and we steer to it. From there we head N. E. by E. 
 ^/s E. for Sarah's Ledge bell buoy, and as the ebb current 
 here is only i mile or a little more and is less than a 
 point to eastward, we steer only a good ^ point to the 
 north of the course to be mad«. The bell is picked up 
 handily; the course changed to N. by E. ^ E. until we 
 are square abreast the New London horn, which has been 
 giving us its 3-second blast with 30 seconds interval for 
 some time. The course is now changed to N. yi E., and 
 after a half mile of careful running the anchor is dropped. 
 
 77 
 
Chapter VIII. — Problems in Navigation. 
 
 I 
 
 LAYING A COURSE. 
 
 HOW to enter a place without buoys has been told 
 and now directions will be given how to lay a 
 straight course and a course with bends. To lay a 
 straight course between two points with good water inter- 
 vening, find these two points upon the chart and place 
 one edge of the parallel rules upon them, then spread the 
 rulers until the other edge rests on the dot in the center 
 of the nearest compass rose ; then the point cut on the 
 edge of the compass rose is the course to be taken. If 
 the rulers cannot extend to the nearest compass rose, 
 spread them as far as they will go, hold firmly the ex- 
 tended arm, draw the other arm up to it, hold the second 
 arm in place and again extend them. You should always 
 know the length of the course, so place dividers, or a 
 piece of cardboard or paper, on the scale, which is always 
 found on the chart, mark ofif the scale on the paper and 
 with this you can readily measure the length of the course. 
 . For channels with bends or where obstructions prevent 
 a straight course, lay out the course with pencil on the 
 chart so as to obtain the best water, then find the bearing 
 and length of each portion in the manner described. 
 
 TO CLEAR A POINT. 
 
 A point without a light, but having a light in sight 
 several miles away from it on either side, though these 
 are not in sight of each other, may be cleared comfort- 
 ably by drawing a line from each light toward the point, 
 taking care that the lines lead through good water and 
 
 78 
 
meet well outside the point. Supposing that the land lies 
 to starboard, the line from the nearest light leads S. S. E., 
 and the line to the one around the point is S. W., we 
 simply take care not to get to the southward of the S. S. E. 
 course; or, in other words, we keep the light bearing N. 
 N. W. Soon we open out the light around the point, but 
 
 Light 
 
 Light 
 
 To clear a point 
 
 to keep in the good water we steer straight ahead until it 
 bears S. W., and then steer for it, keeping both lights on 
 the compass bearings, no matter what way the current or 
 the wind may cause the boat's bow to be pointed. In 
 that way the course is sure and safe. In thick weather 
 
 79 
 
or fog) judgment must be used in regard to allowing for 
 the drift of the boat. 
 
 At times two or more lights may be seen ahead, and 
 the course is held by keeping them two or more points 
 
 One-point bearing 
 
 open from each other. That will hold good until you 
 begin to draw up close to one of them; then you will 
 be obliged to lay another course. 
 
 ONE-POINT BEARING. 
 
 The distance of a boat from a light, or any visible 
 object, may be found by taking the bearing of the object; 
 
 80 
 
 I 
 
then run for as long a time as the boat takes to cover 
 a mile (current must be allowed for) ; then take the bear- 
 mg of the object again. Line off on the chart the two 
 bearings from the object, then on a strip of paper mark 
 a mile as given on the chart scale, and laying the edge 
 of the paper parallel to the course you have just run, 
 slide it on the two lines till it just spans from one to the 
 other. Where it touches the second line is your position 
 
 Qpofnts or 3 beam i\ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 Bow and beam bearing 
 
 % 
 
 W 
 
 when the second bearing was taken, and to find the dis- 
 tance it is only necessary to measuRe on the chart from 
 there to the object. If the w^ater is rough enough to in- 
 terfere with the regular speed of the boat, use the log and 
 allow for current. 
 
 BOW AND BEAM BEARING. 
 
 Another one-point bearing plan is the bow and beam 
 bearing. Take your time, or throw the log when the 
 
 8i 
 
object bears broad on the bow (four points), and take 
 your time or read the log when the object is abeam 
 (eight points). The distance run from the time you took 
 the bow bearing until the beam bearing was taken is the 
 distance you are from the object. 
 
 The same rule holds good if the first time is taken 
 when the object is 26^^ degrees (2 1-3 + points) off the 
 bow, and the second time is taken when the object is 
 
 Two-point bearing 
 
 45 degrees (four points) off the bow. The distance the 
 boat will be from the object when it is abeam will be 
 the same as the distance run between the two bearings. 
 
 The first example given is by far the best, as it can be 
 taken at any time, and it is easily understood. In using 
 this method, should the object be too nearly dead ahead, 
 either alter the course of the boat so the object will be 
 
 82 
 
broad-off, or run two miles instead of one ; that will spread 
 the angle of the bearings and make the measurement more 
 accurate. 
 
 TWO-POINT BEARING. 
 
 ' When two lights or other objects can be seen, take the 
 bearings of each, line off these bearings on your chart, and 
 where the two lines come together is your position. 
 
 TO PASS AN OBSTACLE IN THE DARK. 
 
 When a shoal or, what is nearly^ as bad for a launch, 
 a large iron buoy, is to be passed in the dark, draw a line 
 from a light, placing the line so it will give the danger 
 spot a good berth, then if the obstacle is to be left on 
 your port hand, be sure and not cross to the port side of 
 the bearing; or if the danger is to be left on the starboard 
 hand, do not allow the boat to get to the starboard side 
 of the bearing. 
 
 If you are to pass between two bad spots, get a bearing 
 on a light or other object, and hold to that bearing even 
 though a current may cause the boat to be headed off the 
 course; so long as the object is kept on the proper compass 
 bearing you may know the boat's actual travel is on that 
 line, though it may appear to be side-to. 
 
 OFF BEARINGS. 
 
 For finding the position when in a fog, or out of sight 
 of land, take several soundings some distance apart, ob- 
 serving carefully the depths, and what the tallow on the 
 bottom of the lead brings up. Then find on the chart 
 the place that gives the same depths and the same materials 
 on the bottom, remembering that both may vary slightly; 
 but they are not apt to. As all depths on the charts refer to 
 mean low water, the height of the tide at the time of 
 sounding should be taken into account. 
 
 There are other methods of finding one's exact posi- 
 tion, but none more accurate and none so simple as those 
 given. They apply to the waters of any country or ocean, 
 and are the methods of piloting used by seamen the world 
 over. 
 
 83 
 
TIME COURSES. 
 
 A shoal which is without warning signals may need to 
 be cleared in the dark, or in a fog, and this is the finest 
 kind of running. Lay off the courses with the parallel 
 rulers through the good water, then measure each course 
 accurately. In water with a slow current the running 
 is fairly simple. Figure how long it will take your boat 
 to run each course ; when you have run the length of 
 time necessary to complete a course, verify your position 
 by taking a sounding, and see if the depth and what 
 comes up on the tallow agree with the depth and bottom 
 given on the chart. If it does not, take two or three 
 more soundings and find on the chart the place that agrees 
 with your soundings, then steer from there to the position 
 desired, or lay new courses from where you are. Com- 
 plete each course in the same way. If there is a current 
 of much strength it must be allowed for. 
 
 Time running should always be used in a fog, and for 
 fine work in good weather. When two objects in range 
 can be used, it is preferable to using the compass. 
 
 NIGHT RUNNING. 
 
 I 
 
 Night running is puzzling to some, but running courses 
 at night is as easy, and perhaps surer, than running in 
 the daytime, for the reason that a light can be picked 
 up at twice the distance the same lighthouse or light vessel 
 can be seen by daylight. 
 
 When meeting a vessel at night, if her green light is 
 showing, see to it that your green light is showing to 
 her. If her red light is showing, swing, if necessar}^, so 
 that she will see your red light. If both her red and 
 her green lights are showing, she is coming head-on. 
 Give one blast of the whistle and swing to your own' 
 starboard. 
 
 If she is close aboard and apparently going to run 
 into you, turn your boat at a complete right angle to her, 
 bearing in mind that you have, in that position, to travel 
 only half of her width in order to escape a collision. As 
 
 84 
 
soon as either her green or her red light disappears you 
 are safe. 
 
 HOW TO DISTINGUISH LIGHTS. 
 
 When traveling at night, a light that is well down on 
 -the horizon may be made to look like a revolving light, 
 when it is not, by the swell lifting your boat high enough 
 for you to see it and then dropping you out of its range, 
 this being repeated at fairly regular intervals. Again, a 
 . light may be seen four or five miles farther than it is 
 given credit for ; this is caused by the atmosphere being 
 out of normal. In this case, look out for a hard blow, 
 shortly. 
 
 Or, what is more frequent, the air may be thick and 
 the light not seen much more than half the distance it 
 should be. Thick air may make a white light appear to 
 be red, and a red light to show but a short distance. In 
 the latter case revolving lights which flash red and then 
 white will show the white only until fairly close-to. In 
 such weather when a white light is seen flashing, look 
 up its bearing; that will help to determine what light 
 it is. 
 
 Lights are sometimes mistaken for vessels, and at times 
 a rising star may be mistaken for a light. If in doubt, 
 and the light has just been raised, get as low down in 
 the boat as you can and see if the light disappears ; if it 
 does it is a lighthouse, as a vessel's light is not powerful 
 enough to show from the edge of the horizon. The visi- 
 bility of a light is given from a height of 15 feet above 
 the water. 
 
 If revolving, a light should be timed; then by the aid 
 of the Buoy Book its location and name can be ascertained. 
 Many white lights have red sectors. Be careful that any 
 red light seen is not a red sector ; if it is, you are in a 
 danger zone and should proceed carefully at a right angle 
 with the light until it shows white. 
 
 VISION AT NIGHT. 
 
 In running near the land at night it is often difficult 
 to tell how far away it is, and there is a great difference 
 
 8s 
 
in men's eyes or judgment in regard to this'. It may be 
 taken as a rule that low land is nearer than it seems, 
 and high land, particularly bluffs, on account of their 
 deep shadow, is farther away. Moreover, long gazing 
 will tire the eye. If an object cannot be made out in a 
 few moments, look away for a while, then back to the 
 object quickly. In some things, such as the lights on an 
 approaching vessel, the first few seconds of the glance are 
 the best. 
 
 TO TELL DISTANCE BY ECHO. 
 
 When abreast a cliff, or land which will give an echo, 
 the distance may be approximated by blowing a horn or 
 a whistle. Sound will travel a mile in about six seconds, 
 and the sound must travel from your boat to the cliff and 
 back again, so you can estimate 500 feet of distance for 
 each second of time between the blast and the echo. 
 
 86 
 
Chapter IX. — Examinations for Licenses. 
 
 1WILL now give some hints to those who, after master- 
 ing the subjects treated in these articles, may wish to 
 put their knowledge to service, by qualifying as 
 licensed marine engineers for gasoline engines or as pilots. 
 
 EXAMINATION FOR ENGINEER'S LICENSE. 
 
 All examining officers do not ask the same questions; 
 but in general you would be asked, What would be the 
 first thing you would do upon taking charge of a gasoline 
 engine? The substance of your answer would be that 
 you would examine the whole plant to see that there was 
 no lost motion or poor compression ; that the pump, brasses, 
 piping, tanks, wiring, switches, batteries, etc., were in 
 good order. 
 
 Then you will be asked to tell how the gas is made, 
 how introduced to the cylinder, how ignited, and how 
 expelled — to give the various systems of generating and of 
 igniting the gas. 
 
 To explain the difference between a two-stroke and a 
 four-stroke motor. To give the construction and ingredi- 
 ents of whatever galvanic batteries you are familiar with, 
 and to tell how to wire cells in multiple and in series. 
 
 To tell what methods you would use in starting, stop- 
 ping and reversing and the functions of the piston. 
 
 How the switchboard is constructed and how applied 
 to batteries. For what purpose the spark coil is used 
 between batteries and motor. What you would do upon 
 failing to get a good spark. 
 
 What you would do if the pump did not work, or if 
 it broke so it could not be repaired. 
 
 What the consumption of gasoline is in your engine. 
 
 87 
 
How many gallons a square tank, say 48 x 24 x 24 inches, 
 will hold ; and the contents of a cylindrical tank of, say, 
 15 inches diameter by 2 feet 7 inches long in gallons. 
 
 To name the check valves and their uses. What you 
 v/ould do to prevent the engine racing in a following sea. 
 How to key up an engine and screw down a journal. What 
 you would do if the gasoline leaked badl}^ To give the 
 engine signals from the pilot house. 
 
 This examination may seem stiff to the novice; but 
 one season at a motor will teach most of it, and the rest 
 can be learned by a little study. 
 
 EXAMINATION FOR PILOT. 
 
 This is a different affair, as an unobserving man may 
 be a yachtsman all his life and learn little about it. Even 
 an observing man may be a good yachtsman for many 
 years and be only on the threshold of the information 
 necessary for the performance of a pilot's duties if he 
 has not added study to his practice. How many boatmen, 
 for example, can tell why they know a certain light? 
 
 "Know it? Why, of course, I know it; I could almost 
 tell it with my eyes shut !" one will say. 
 
 "Yes, 3^ou probably do. What kind of a light is it?" 
 
 "It is a flashing light — white." 
 
 "Good! Every how many seconds does it flash?" 
 
 "About once a minute" 
 
 "And how often does the white light down on True- 
 man's Point, about 5 miles away, flash?" 
 
 "That flashes about once a minute, too. I don't know 
 as there is much dift'erence." 
 
 "So they both flash 'about once a minute'?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 As a matter of fact, one may be flashing every 15 
 seconds and the other every 30 seconds ; and that is the 
 only means a stranger has of telling one from the other. 
 
 To pursue our friend further, he knows that during 
 a fog both of these lighthouses use a bell ; but that one 
 bell strikes a blow every 12 seconds and the other strikos 
 every 20 seconds he does not know. H the}^ were of the 
 
 88 
 
same tone and he, being lost in a fog, approached within 
 hearing of one of them, to save him he could not tell 
 which it was. 
 
 I once asked a fisherman what the interval between blasts 
 and the length of blast was of a fog-horn near his house, 
 and he did not know. 
 
 There are two H. S. whistling buoys in Block Island 
 Sound. I asked a fisherman who had sailed the Sound 
 all his life how he would know which he was at if he 
 came across one of them after being out of his reckoning 
 in a fog, and he did not know how to tell. The answer 
 from a pilot would be : to take a sounding at the spar 
 marker, for there would be a difference of 12 feet of water. 
 If the marker could not be made out, a sounding at the 
 whistler would give a difference of 6 feet. 
 
 As a preliminary to taking the examination as pilot, you 
 will be required to have had at least six seasons of yacht- 
 ing experience. Then to give a certificate signed by three 
 men — one or more pilots preferred — regarding your char- 
 acter and fitness. A quizzing talk comes next, and then 
 you are given writing materials and started on the written 
 examination. You are watched continuously to see that 
 no information is derived from or given to anyone else; 
 that you do not refer to any memoranda on your cuffs or 
 elsewhere, or put any scraps of paper in your pocket ; any 
 paper you mark on must be left in the office and on the 
 table : every scrap you touch is cared for. 
 
 All this need not worry a person, and will not if the 
 preparation has been properly made. Before going to take 
 the examination learn what will be expected of you, and 
 .aret it mastered so thoroughly that you can write it all off. 
 Write it two or three times and it will become fixed in 
 your memory. 
 
 The various examining officers ask the questions in 
 various ways, yet they are all seeking the same informa- 
 tion. They will ask you : 
 
 To box the compass. To name and describe all the 
 different kinds of buoys. To give the Rules of the Road 
 (see Pilot Rules). 
 
 89 
 
To name and describe all the lights used by all kinds 
 of vessels when under way and when anchored, and give 
 the vessel's fog signals ; the signals by bells from the pilot 
 house to the engineer, and the whistles. 
 
 All these latter come under Pilot Rules, which may be 
 had from the United States Steamboat Inspectors of your 
 district. They have also been given quite thoroughly in 
 this series. Then on the list will come these questions : 
 
 Name and describe all the lights on the route for which 
 you ask a license, giving their characteristics, meaning, 
 the strength of light, the fog signal, the color and style 
 of the structure, the distance the lights can be seen, 
 whether revolving, fixed, colored, with sectors ; if so, their 
 bearings and what they cover, the interval of fog signal, 
 and of the light, if revolving, etc. An important question is 
 the bearings and distance of the lights from each other. 
 
 Describe and name all the shoals and dangers, giving 
 their bearings from prominent objects (the examination 
 is taken for only such waters as you may wish) and the 
 depths over them. 
 
 Give the number, color, kind and location of all buoys, 
 beacons, spindles and other aids on this route. 
 
 Give the compass bearings and depths of all the channels, 
 and the distance of the various runs from mark to mark. 
 The least depth in any channel is the one required. How 
 to steer in a channel that has a current across it may be 
 required. 
 
 The "Buoy Book," to be had at the custom houses, gives 
 the information about details of lights, marks, etc. The 
 rest comes from a study of the charts and from experi- 
 ence. Study the United States Coast Pilot. 
 
 If you have successfully passed in the foregoing, you 
 will be given a box of colored yarns from which to select 
 about eight or nine shades each of green, blue, gray, red, 
 etc., to test your eyesight and knowledge of color. 
 
 Here is a method for fixing the courses, shoals, depths, 
 bearings and distances in your mind: Sit down with the 
 chart spread before you on a table ; lay the parallel rulers 
 on the course desired from one mark to the next; line 
 
 90 
 
off the course as carefully as it can be done; spread the 
 other arm of the rulers until its edge rests on the dot in 
 the center of the nearest compass rose^ and where the ruler 
 cuts the edge of the compass is your course; mark on the 
 course line the direction as found on the rose. 
 
 Next measure with dividers a nautical mile, or miles, 
 on the scale to be found on the chart; apply this to the 
 course lined off and mark on the course its length from 
 abreast (right angle) one mark to abreast the other. This 
 work cannot be done too accurately. 
 
 Note where the least depth of water is on the line; 
 note the dangers and the buoys, day marks or other aids 
 on either hand of the course. You now have the compass 
 bearing, the dangers, the depth and the distance of this 
 course. Proceed in like manner until you have laid off 
 the courses in all the channels in the waters you wish to 
 study. * 
 
 This may seem like a severe course of study; it only 
 looks so. Sit down to it as a pleasurable relaxation from 
 the cares of the day, and before you realize it you will 
 have learned so much that, license or no license, the 
 enchantment of boating will have been enhanced to a 
 degree hitherto unthought of. It is like opening a new 
 field of pleasure. 
 
 91 
 
Chapter X. — Hints and Helps. 
 
 WEATHER INDICATIONS. 
 
 IF the wind "hauls," that is, shifts around with the sun, 
 expect better weather. If the wind "backs," that is, 
 shifts around against the sun, be fairly sure of worse 
 weather. 
 
 When objects at a distance can be seen very clearly, 
 look for a hard blow by the following night or day. 
 
 A "mackerel back" sky, or mares' tails, are the fore- 
 runners of a blow, several hours away. 
 
 Flying scud seen in the upper air going in a different 
 direction from the surface wind betokens a violent change 
 of direction. Flying scud on the surface of the clouds 
 generally brings a strong breeze at once. 
 
 Small clouds, distinctly separated, appearing in the north- 
 west sky in the evening during the summer season almost 
 invariably precede a fine day. 
 
 A rainbow in the morning means bad weather ; and in 
 the evening good weather. A ring around the moon gen- 
 erally precedes wet weather; so do, in the summer, ex- 
 ceedingly bright stars. 
 
 A northwest wind, in the fall months, starting about 
 or a little after sunrise, generally means a gale by the 
 middle of the forenoon. 
 
 An easterly wind in the winter, followed by a "mall" 
 or fog, is almost surely the precursor of a snorting westerly 
 gale, sudden and violent. 
 
 When the sun is seen through, or just above, a thickness 
 that is neither cloud or fog, yet denies one a sight of the 
 horizon, and may be seen in color from gray to blue-black, 
 it is time to seek the nearest shelter. So it is when an 
 indescribable low roaring noise can be heard all over the 
 
 92 
 
water, with no apparent cause; this is at times called, ''the 
 birth pang of the storm." So suddenly may the gale arise 
 that I have been fishing in the open in a rowboat, have 
 been picked up by a large sloop and the rowboat has been 
 sent in over the sloop's counter by the rushes of the seas ; 
 all in about the space of twenty minutes. 
 
 Among many yachtsmen and sailors a heavy dew is look- 
 ed up as the precursor of a bad southwester. I have 
 watched the sign carefully and can see no connection. 
 
 All or any signs may fail. I have steered seaward in a 
 dense fog through occasional rifts in which could be seen 
 overhead a ragged, brown scud flying with dreadful rapidity 
 from the southeast, and, though we got torrents of rain, 
 not even an offshoot from the blow above penetrated to 
 the calm on the surface. 
 
 A very dark red sky in the morning means bad weather 
 and a gray morning sk}^, fine weather. 
 
 A rolling line of cloud across the sky is bringing a hard 
 squall and so is a very large black cloud, particularly if 
 the darkness of the cloud fades away into a grayness that 
 reaches downward toward the earth. 
 
 Rain or snow falling in the distance can always be told 
 by the softer gray below the clouds that reaches toward 
 the earth in either perpendicular, or in slanting lines. 
 
 With the wind anywhere from the eastward, a fine 
 drizzle is generally the beginning of a hard storm. 
 
 If the sun takes its first look at you from under clouds 
 that are low on the horizon, the day is apt to be fair ; but 
 if from over some clouds, bad weather is apt to follow. 
 Yet I have seen Block Islanders haul back on their 
 trawls and run for the Island because of the first men- 
 tioned indication, their fears beiHg borne out by a half 
 hour snow storm ; and our skipper's confidence by the 
 balance of the day being fine. 
 
 Soft clouds indicate soft, easy weather, and sharp, well 
 defined clouds, with decided coloring, hard weather. But, 
 when you see little clouds, ruby, purple, green or copper 
 colored, floating around under large heavy cloud-masses, 
 run for shelter. 
 
 93 
 
The barometer has not been brought into these notes 
 for the reason that but few men can read it with any de- 
 gree of certainty. I have been off shore with the fisher- 
 men in the winter season when the men w^ere made nerv- 
 ous by its antics, the weather apparently doing almost 
 anything but what the barometer indicated. The barometer 
 is valuable, not so much in whether it stands high or low ; 
 but in how much and how quickly has it varied from the 
 time the hand was last set; and what the state of the 
 weather was at that time, and is at the time of reading. 
 
 STORM SIGNALS. 
 
 Easterly winds. — A red pennant. 
 
 Westerly winds. — A white pennant. 
 
 N. E. storm. — A red pennant above a red flag with a 
 black square in the center. 
 
 S. E. winds. — The red pennant below the red flag with 
 a black center. 
 
 N. W. winds. — A white pennant above the storm flag. 
 
 S. W. winds. — The white pennant below the storm flag. 
 
 Hurricane. — Two red flags with black centers ; one flag 
 above the other. 
 
 Night signals: for 
 
 Easterly winds. — ^A red light. 
 
 Westerly winds.^A white light below a red light. 
 
 APPARENT DROWNING. 
 
 To get the water out, lay the person face down with a 
 cask, billet of wood, or any large object under the stomach; 
 or clasp your hands under the belly and lift him. 
 
 Tickle the throat with a straw or feather, then use 
 artificial respiration. 
 
 Take the clothing off the upper part of the body from the 
 waist up ; place him on his back ; roll up the clothing 
 and place under his head. Pull the tongue out of the 
 throat by means of a string or handkerchief, and keep it 
 out by tying, if you can. 
 
 Kneel at his head ; grasp his arms below the elbow ; ; 
 draw them upward and to the sides of his head to expand 
 
 94 
 
the chest; bring them down along the sides and front of 
 the chest and press hard on the chest to drive the air out. 
 
 Go through this entire operation fifteen times a minute 
 and for an hour, if necessary, applying in the meantime, 
 ammonia or smelling salts to the nostrils. 
 
 When breathing begins, wrap in warm blankets ; rub the 
 whole body briskly toward the heart. Give slightly of 
 stimulants and warm drinks. 
 
 ship's watches. 
 
 First watch is from 8 P. M. to 12 P. M. 
 Middle watch is from 12 P. M. to 4 A. M. 
 Morning watch is from 4 A. M. to 8 A. M. 
 Forenoon watch is from 8 A. M. to 12 M. 
 Afternoon watch is from 12 M. to 4 P. M. 
 First Dog watch is from 4 P. M. to 6 P. M. 
 Second Dog watch is from 6 P. M. to 8 P. M. 
 
 ship's bells. 
 
 One Bell at 4:30, 8:30 and 12:30 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Two Bells at 5:00, 9:00 and 1:00 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Three Bells at 5 130, 9 130 and 1 130 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Four Bells at 6:00, 10:00 and 2:00 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Five Bells at 6:30, 10:30 and 2:30 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Six Bells at 7:00, 11:00 and 3:00 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Seven Bells at 7:30, 11:30 and 3:30 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 Eight Bells at 8:00, 12:00 and 4:00 A. M. and P. M. 
 
 THE WATCH AS A COMPASS. 
 
 Point the hour hand directly toward the sun and half 
 way between the hour hand and 12 on the watch, is 
 south. 
 
 THE COMPASS AS A WATCH. 
 
 If the sun bears: 
 
 S., it is 12 o'clock noon. S. W., it is 3 A. M. 
 
 E., it is 6 A. M. S. S. K, it is 10:30 A. M. 
 
 W., it is 6 P. M. S. S. W., it is 1 :30 P. M., 
 
 S. E., it is 9 A. M. Etc. 
 
 95 
 
COMPASS IN DEGREES. 
 
 Each compass point is equal to iiJ4 degrees; and there 
 are 360 degrees in the circle : 
 
 From N. to N. E. is equal to 45 degrees. 
 
 Erom N. to E. is equal to 90 degrees. 
 
 From N. to S. is equal to 180 degrees. 
 
 From N. to W. is equal to 270 degrees. 
 
 Erom N. to N. is equal to 360 degrees. 
 
 An order in steering by degrees would be given : N., 80 
 
 degrees E. ; or N., 75 degrees W. ; or S., 60 E. ; or S., 
 
 55 W. 
 
 The degree system is in quite general use on seagoing 
 steamers, and the United States Government is now giving 
 the bearings of objects in degrees and their equivalent in 
 points : using the degrees of the full circle : thus : "A 
 red post-lantern light will be established and have the 
 following bearings" : 
 
 Snow Marsh Channel Range Front Light. — 45 degrees 
 .00 m. (N. E.) 
 
 Bald Head Light. — 205 degrees 15 m. (SSW. 1/4 W.) 
 New Cut Range Front Light. — 234 degrees 15 m. (SW. 
 13/16 W.) 
 
 BELL SIGNALS FOR THE GREAT LAKES. 
 
 One bell. — Go ahead. 
 
 One b*ll, when going ahead. — Stop. 
 
 Two bells. — Back. 
 
 Four bells.—rStrong. 
 
 Four bells. — All right. 
 
 Two bells, with engine going ahead. — Back strong. 
 
 Three bells. — Check. 
 
 USE OF FLAGS. 
 
 Hoist the colors at 5 A. M. and haul them down at 
 sunset. 
 
 Carry the club flag on the forw^ard staff, the owner's 
 flag on the mast or signal staff amidships and the ensign 
 on the after or stern staff. From the mast will be flown 
 the "absent" and the "at meal" pennants. 
 
 96 
 
FITTING OUT. 
 
 Start on the motor ; take it apart and clean everything 
 that has dirt of any kind on or in it, using kerosene or 
 gasoline. Put in new gaskets all around. Assemble the 
 motor; sandpaper and re-enamel it. 
 
 Clear the bilges and clean the inside of the boat thor- 
 oughly. Replace anything that is loose. Sandpaper away 
 any rust; use paint and varnish remover on all paint and 
 varnish, and sandpaper all over. Run a thin blade into 
 any suspected places in the seams, and re-caulk where 
 necessary. Then paint and varnish inside and out. Never 
 paint or varnish on .a damp surface. 
 
 Many owners launch as soon as the bottom has been 
 coated. The best results I have seen have been where the 
 bottom has thoroughly dried before launching. 
 
 LAYING UP. 
 
 Haul out the boat and clean it thoroughly inside and 
 out. Empty the water jacket, and start up the motor, 
 throttling it so it will not run too fast and cause excessive 
 vibration ; let it run until all the water is blown out and 
 the motor heats a little. Next empty the crankcase. Then 
 grease the engine liberally all over and fill the water jacket 
 with oil to prevent rust. The piston and the inside of 
 the cylinder must be liberally coated with grease. Next 
 empty the gasoline tanks and disconnect the piping. 
 
 If the boat is laid up in a place that is liable to be 
 visited by thieves, remove the propeller, batteries, oil cups, 
 carbureter, steering wheel and all fittings. 
 
 Take a last look and see that there is a solid blocking 
 under the keel below the engine bed ; and one each fore and 
 aft of it; and that there is plenty of shoring at the sides 
 to keep the boat upright. 
 
 NAUTICAL AND LAND MILES. 
 
 To convert nautical miles into land miles, multiply by 
 1.1515; to convert land miles into nautical miles, multiply 
 by .8684. 
 
 97 
 
USE OF OIL. 
 
 Use oil in such a way' that it will cause a slick on the 
 surface of the water between the vessel and the wind. 
 Wherever the waves are liable to board, use it from that 
 part. In a cross sea use it all around the vessel. In case 
 you have no oil bags, make a bundle of waste or old cloth- 
 ing and soak it in oil. 
 
 98 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accidents generally avoidable 66 
 
 Anchors 1 6 
 
 How to break out 71 
 
 Anchor lights 42 
 
 Anchoring: Different Methods of 71 
 
 Apparent drowning 94 
 
 Awnings 16 
 
 Back firing 36 
 
 Bad weather: Speed in 45 
 
 Behavior during 69 
 
 Bar harbors, avoid during storms 68 
 
 Barges: Don't go between. . . .' 43 
 
 Barometer 94 
 
 Batteries : Care of 28 
 
 Place for 25 
 
 Use for old cells 28 
 
 Vibration loosens nuts 28 
 
 Bed for motor 20 
 
 Beacons 51 
 
 Bell signals for the Great Lakes 96 
 
 Bell signals to engineer. 65 
 
 Bend being approached. 47 
 
 Binnacle: How to keep lighted 63 
 
 Bitts should be strong 13 
 
 Boat : Choice of suitable model S 
 
 Bottom for heavy weather 8 
 
 Confidence in 6 
 
 Flat bottom, effect of 8 
 
 Flare gives weather qualities 7 
 
 Planking, thickness of 8 
 
 Proportions of length and beam ^. 7 
 
 Speed launches ^. 8 
 
 Strength of 8 
 
 Type required 5 
 
 Bow and beam bearing 80 
 
 Boxing the compass 58 
 
 Buoys : Where placed 53 
 
 Colors of 51 
 
 How numbered 53 
 
 Kinds of 51 
 
 May be close to or far from the danger marked 53 
 
 Meaning of 53 
 
 System used in Long Island Sound 54 
 
 Cabins: Various types 10 
 
 Glass II 
 
 Trunk 10 
 
 Cables 17 
 
 99 
 
Canvas on decks i ; * , 14 
 
 Carbon deposits in cylinder 36 
 
 Carbureter: Warm air for 35 
 
 Waste in the intake 35 
 
 Charts 55 
 
 Chocks 13 
 
 Circulation of water, stoppage of , 33 
 
 Coaming, height of 9 
 
 Cockpits, self bailing 10 
 
 Cockpit covers for open boats 16, 19 
 
 Commutator, spark trouble in 31 
 
 Compass 58 
 
 Binnacle, how to keep lighted 63 
 
 Boxing , 59 
 
 Card compass erratic, how to use 63 
 
 Deviation, method of writing a card for, 61 
 
 Effect of electric outfit on 60 
 
 How to install 59 
 
 How to learn the use of 64 
 
 In degrees 96 
 
 . Other aids than . . t 62 
 
 Tinted glass for 63 
 
 Used as a watch 95 
 
 Use in fog , 74 
 
 Compression : If right 32 
 
 To try 31 
 
 Confidence in boat 6 
 
 Courses: How to lay 78 
 
 Bow and beam bearing 81 
 
 Drift to be allowed for 81, 84 
 
 One point bearing 80 
 
 Run by time 84 
 
 To clear a point 78 
 
 Two poiat bearing 83 
 
 Covers for launches 19 
 
 Crank chamber, oil and gasoline in 34 
 
 Crossing ahead, if you have right of way » 47 
 
 Cruisers 5,9 
 
 Currents, methods for crossing 74 
 
 Cylinder oil 37 
 
 Cylinder, to clean 37 
 
 Danger signal 47 
 
 Deck: Amount of for open launches 8 
 
 Covering for 14 
 
 Deviation of compass, method of writing card for 61 
 
 Drags, how to make and use 70 
 
 Drift to be allowed for 81, 84 
 
 Drop seats 16 
 
 Electricity, effect on compass 60 
 
 Engineers, examination for license as. 87 
 
 Examinations : For engineer's license 87 
 
 For pilot's license 88 
 
 Exhaust pipes: Clogged by rust 40 
 
 Avoid bends in 40 
 
 Explosions: In crank chamber t. . 36 
 
 In exhaust 36 
 
 TOO 
 
Explosions : Premature 36 
 
 Extra parts should be carried when cruising 39 
 
 Fill oil and grease cups 28 
 
 Fitting out 97 
 
 Flags : Rules for 96 
 
 Indicate velocity of wind 69 
 
 Flat bottom, effect of 8 
 
 Flare gives weather qualities 7 
 
 Flooding of motor 34 
 
 Fog : How to avoid steamers in 75 
 
 Method for crossing current during fog 74 
 
 Position found by sounding 83 
 
 Signals for vessels 44 
 
 Signal echoes 76 
 
 Signals for the Great Lakes 45 
 
 Signals, how to distinguish 75 
 
 Speed of boats during 45 
 
 Use of lead during 75 
 
 Fog running 71 
 
 By use of compass and lead 75 
 
 By use of ripples, waves or current 73 
 
 Without compass 73 
 
 Following seas to prevent sheering in 70 
 
 Foul water, colors and indications of 66 
 
 Funnels, canvas 14 
 
 Gasoline : Afire 39 
 
 Amount required in cold and warm weather 38 
 
 Causes of water in 38 
 
 -r Gage 23 
 
 Gravity feed 25 
 
 How far the supply will take the boat. 38 
 
 Leaks 23 
 
 Mixture, to regulate 34 
 
 Mixture too rich 34 
 
 Should be strained 22 
 
 Vapor in the bilge 23 
 
 Water in 38 
 
 Glass cabins 11 
 
 Hatches well fastened 13 
 
 High land, distance of by echo 86 
 
 How to handle the boat in a storm •. . 69 
 
 Hot bearing may stop motor 35 
 
 Ice box 15 
 
 Knocking 35 
 
 Knots into miles 97 
 
 Laying up 97 
 
 Lead line, how to mark , 64 
 
 Lee shore, landing on in storm 70 
 
 Leaving a landing 65 
 
 License for carrying passengers 48 
 
 Lights and fog signals .^ 41 
 
 For the Great Lakes and inland waters 43, 45 
 
 Lights : How to know them 85 
 
 Red sectors should be avoided 85 
 
 lOI 
 
Lights: Should be timed 85 
 
 Vagaries of 85 
 
 When to be shown [ .*.*.*.*.*.'.'.*.*.*".*.' 41 
 
 Limbers, to keep free \ , 15 
 
 Life preservers required on passenger* boats .* .* .* .* . . . .* * . ; * * .* * .* .* * 48 
 
 Lockers j e 
 
 Mast, should be carried 14 
 
 Magneto, wiring for ....,.* 25 
 
 Making a landing ............../.....,.'.. 65 
 
 Miles into knots 97 
 
 Misfiring .*.......*....,!.*.*.."..!. 36 
 
 Caused by spray ' 37 
 
 Caused by water condensing on the carbureter or the 
 
 vaporizer 37 
 
 Mixture, to regulate 34 
 
 Moorings 17 
 
 How to make them 18 
 
 Chain with riding weight .^ . 18 
 
 Lines and buoys .' 19 
 
 Motor 20, 29 
 
 Backfiring 35 
 
 Bed for 20 
 
 Carbon deposit in 36 
 
 Compression, if right 32 
 
 Compression, to try 31 
 
 Control by switch 39 
 
 Crank chamber, oil and gasoline in 34 
 
 Cylinder oil 37 
 
 Cylinder, to clean „ 37 
 
 Explosion in crank chamber 36 
 
 Explosions in exhaust 36 
 
 Explosions, premature 36 
 
 Flooding of , 34 
 
 Hot bearing 35 
 
 Knocking 35 
 
 Misfiring 36 
 
 Packing, how to cut; kinds of 31 
 
 Piston leaking 36 
 
 Piston swelled from heat. , 33 
 
 Pounding 35 
 
 Pump disabled, what to do . , 33 
 
 Place for • . . 20 
 
 • Running without spark 36 
 
 Slowing down 35 
 
 Sounds of 34 
 
 Taking apart 31 
 
 To start 32 
 
 To shut off 37 
 
 To start in cold weather. . , . . 35 
 
 Water circulation interfered with , , 33 
 
 Water temperature at outlet 33 
 
 Name and hailing port on licensed boats 49 
 
 Night running 84 
 
 No right of way over sailing vessels , 46 
 
 Nuts loosen by vibration 28 
 
 Off bearings 83 
 
 102 
 
Oil. how to use 98 
 
 Old cells, use for 28 
 
 One point bearing 80 
 
 Packing, kind of; how to cut 31 
 
 Passing in narrow channels 47 
 
 Pilot rules to be posted 48 
 
 Parceling hawsers 17 
 
 Pilot's license, examination for 88 
 
 Pilot rules, posting of 48 
 
 Piston leaking 36 
 
 ** swelled by heat 33 
 
 Place for the motor 20 
 
 Planking, thickness of . . 8 
 
 Pounding 35 
 
 Ports, plenty should be provided 14 
 
 Proportions of boats, length to beam 7 
 
 Pump disabled, what to do 33 
 
 Pumps 15 
 
 Ranges more liable than compass 61 
 
 Registering of boats over 5 tons 48 
 
 Reversing by switch 39 
 
 Right of way 46 
 
 " on Great Lakes and inland waters 47 
 
 Rudder, proper mode of hanging 12 
 
 Rules of the road 41 
 
 Shaft out of line 21 
 
 Seats for cockpit 16 
 
 Semi-cruisers S 
 
 Sheer, benefit of 9 
 
 Ship's bells 95 
 
 " watches 95 
 
 Short-circuiting by spray 37 
 
 Shutting off motor 37 
 
 Signals to engineer .65 
 
 Slowing down 35 
 
 Sounding, position found by 83 
 
 Sounds of motor 34 
 
 Signals, when to give 47 
 
 Spark 29 
 
 Trouble in commutator 31 
 
 To locate loss of, when trouble is in the wires, or the 
 
 battery 30 
 
 Spark plug, to test 29 
 
 Special circumstances, rules may be disrgarded in 47 
 
 Speed launches 8 
 
 " in thick weather 45 
 
 Spindles 5i» S3 
 
 Spray hoods 16 
 
 Spray, short-circuiting by 37 
 
 Spray wings 9 
 
 Starting motor in cold weather 35 
 
 Steamers, how to avoid them 84 
 
 Steering wheel 13 
 
 Storms 67 
 
 Bar harbors, do not enter during 68 
 
 Drags, use of 70 
 
 103 
 
Storms: Following seas, to prevent sheering in., 70 
 
 How to handle boat in 69 
 
 Lee shore, landing on 70 
 
 Oil, use of 98 
 
 Waves, kinds of 67 
 
 Storm signals 
 
 Switch, reversing by 39 
 
 Taking motor apart \ 31 
 
 Tank: Installation of 21 
 
 Should be vented 22 
 
 Tide: Against wind 57 
 
 And current not the same 57 
 
 Effect of wind on 57 
 
 Tiller: An extra one should be carried 12 
 
 Lines and pulleys 13 
 
 Time courses 84 
 
 Tinted glass for the compass 63 
 
 To clear a point 78 
 
 Toilet facilities 15 
 
 Towing bitts 13 
 
 Two point bearing 82 
 
 Unbuoyed harbors, how to enter 56 
 
 Under way 41 
 
 Vaporizer : Ice in 35 
 
 Weak spring 34 
 
 Vibration loosens nuts 28 
 
 Vision at night . 85 
 
 Vision at night, high land, distance of by echo 86 
 
 Waste in intake 35 
 
 Watch as compass 95 
 
 Water in gasoline, causes of 37 
 
 Water temperature at outlet 33 
 
 Waves, kinds of 67 
 
 Whistle signals 46 
 
 Wind: Indications of on the water. 67 
 
 Velocity, how to judge 67 
 
 ** judged by flag 69 
 
 Wiring: For jump spark ignition ,. 25 
 
 For make-and-break ignition *. 25 
 
 For magneto 27 
 
 Should be kept dry 27 
 
 Joints should be soldered 28 
 
 Water jacket, draining of, 33 
 
 Weather indications 92 
 
 CAREY PRESS, N, Y. 
 
 104 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 019 953 784 2