BOAT SERVICE.

Particulars Concerning Boats.

Boats used on board yachts are known as gigs, cutters, life-boats, and dingeys.

Boats are built in three different ways, namely: The carval-built, the planks fore and aft, the edges meeting but not overlapping. The clinker-built, the planks fore and aft, the edges overlapping. The diagonal-built, the planking running diagonally, the inside planks running in a contrary direction to the outside planks, their edges meeting.

Boats are called single or double-banked, according as they have one or two rowers to a thwart.

Thwarts are the seats on which the crew sit; the space abaft the after thwart is called the stern-sheets.

The spaces for the oars in the wash streak of boats are called rowlocks.

Oars are made of ash or spruce; that part of the oar which is dipped in the water is called the blade; the round part which is inboard, the loom; the extremity of the loom, which is grasped by the rower’s hand, the handle.

Oars are called double-banked when two men pull one oar.

Feathering is known as turning the blades nearly flat to the water after the stroke, with the upper edge turned forward.

Boat-falls are purchases made with two blocks and a length of rope, used for hoisting a boat to the davits.

The painter is a length of line made fast into a ring-bolt in the stem of boats, used for making the boat fast, to tow by, etc.

The gunwale of a boat is the upper rail.

The yoke is a piece of wood or metal fitted across the head of a boat’s rudder.

Yoke lines are pieces of rope made fast to the yoke by which the rudder is turned and the boat steered.

Boat-davits are pieces of timber or iron projecting over a vessel’s sides or stern to hoist boats up to.

A plug is the wooden stopper fitted into a hole in the bottom of the boat to let in or keep out water.

Flooring is the bottom boards of the boat.

Boat booms are the booms on either side of a vessel to which the boats ride when the ship is at anchor.

A boat-breaker is a small keg used for carrying fresh water.

A boat-recall is an understood signal made from the ship to summon a boat to return.

Gripes are long strips of canvas leading from the davit ends, and passing under a boat to secure it. They are set taut by lanyards.

Boat-fenders are small shapes of canvas or leather stuffed and hung over a boat’s side to prevent it from being chafed and from chafing the sides of the yacht.

Back Board is a board in the stern of the boat on which is often printed the name of the yacht to which she belongs.

Boat Ceremony and Discipline.

The lading of the gig should be arranged so that juniors in rank and in official importance should enter the boat first, and the one highest in rank and importance should immediately precede the Captain, who should always be the last to enter the boat and the first to disembark. The disembarking should take place in the reverse order to the embarking, so that the junior in rank should be the last to leave the boat.

Boat Orders.

In the following the gig is supposed to be manned, and lying alongside the gangway.

After the gig is reported ready to the Captain, he will direct his guests to enter the boat, and after they are all seated he will receive and return the Sailing-Master’s salute, then take his place in the gig—care having been observed to leave the stern-sheets clear for him, and the yoke lines ready to hand.

The Captain will observe that his private signal is stepped in the bows, that the seating of his guests does not interfere with the stroke oarsman, and will then call:

“Shove off Forward!”

When this order is given, the man in the bows shoves the boat’s head away from the ship’s side, stows his boat-hook, and lays his hands on his oar.

The next order is: “Up Oars!” “Oars Apeak” is sometimes wrongfully employed.

The crew will simultaneously seize and raise their proper oars briskly to the vertical (keeping their eyes on the stroke oarsman), and hold them thus directly in front of them, the blades being fore-and-aft, the ends of the oars held clear of the boat’s bottom; the oarsmen sitting on the port side of the boat holding the oars with right hands down, and those sitting on the starboard side holding the oars with left hands down. The oarsmen sitting on the port side of the boat pull the starboard oars, and the oarsmen sitting on the starboard side of the boat pull the port oars.

The next command is: “Let Fall!”

The oars must be dropped into the rowlocks together, care being taken to prevent the blades from striking the water—blades flat to the water and leveled.

Next give the order: “Give Way!”

The boat is now underway, the crew taking the style of pulling from the stroke oarsman.

In running alongside of a vessel or float-stage, give the boat sufficient impetus to “reach”; then call, while the blades are in the water: “Way Enough!”

The men will finish the stroke and then raise their oars simultaneously to a vertical position, and lay them with as little noise as possible amidships in the boat in a line with the keel, the blades pointing forward. The stroke and bow oarsmen seize their boat-hooks, and as the boat runs alongside they stop its way and hold it.

With four or more oared boat, just before the order “Way Enough” is given, the order “In Bow” should be given to allow the man forward to get in his oar and take his boat-hook in hand ready to fend off when the boat comes alongside the landing.

Boat Salutes.

Flag officers should display their pennants in the bows of boats when underway, Captains their private signals, and members the club burgee.

Salutes shall only be made to boats displaying flags as above.

Junior flag officers, captains, and members in command of boats should lie on their oars to the Commodore’s boat in passing, and at the same time should raise their caps in salute.

Sailing-Masters, under-officers and coxswains should order their crews to lie on their oars to boats passing that display flag officers’ pennants, and the one in charge of the boat should raise his cap in salute.

Seniors in rank acknowledge salutes by simply raising the cap, and do not cease rowing.

Captains and junior flag officers passing should salute each other by raising the cap—the junior saluting first—but the crews will not lie on their oars.

The salutes from all boats under sail, being towed, or laden, should be made by the one in charge raising his cap, and the way of such boats should not be checked.

When approaching your own or another yacht for the purpose of going alongside, on being hailed, answer by giving the name of your yacht, if a Captain, but if a Commodore, the reply should be “Flag.”

If it is desired to cease rowing temporarily, give the order: “Oars!” The crew will then lift the blades of their oars from the water, holding the blades horizontally, and at right angles to the keel.

When it is desired to continue rowing, simply call: “Give Way!”

When rowing, if passing so close to another boat that a collision of oars seems probable, call: “Trail!” The men will keep their oars in the rowlocks, but permit the blades to trail aft and alongside. When the danger is past, call: “Oars!”—this brings the crew to attention, with the oars in position to receive the order: “Give Way!”

Never allow a boat’s crew to splash the water with the blades of their oars when the order to “Let Fall” is executed.

Talking among a boat’s crew, or turning the head to observe any object, while the boat is underway, should never be allowed.

The starboard after oar is called the “stroke oar,” and gives the stroke, the remainder of the crew taking the style from it; consequently it should be manned by the best man in the boat—the coxswain of a gig pulls the stroke oar when the Captain is in the boat.

In rowing, the blade of each oar should be lifted as high as the gunwale after it leaves the water, then feathered by dropping the wrist. A short pause should then be made, and the oar next thrown well forward, and dropped edgewise into the water, taking care to avoid splashing. Now, rip the oar through the water with a hearty swing, and then repeat as above.

If it is required to turn a boat suddenly, or short round to starboard, then give the order to “Give Way Port; Back Starboard.” If it is required to turn short to port, then “Give Way Starboard; Back Port.” When the boat is pointed aright, then, “Give Way Together!”

In backing, as in pulling, the crew should always keep stroke with the after oar of their respective sides.

Never send a boat away from a ship at night without being provided with a lantern, as many a boat has been run down through inability to make its presence known.

Remember, in running alongside a ship or landing, that the deeper the boat is freighted, the longer she will carry her way in the water.

In leaving a ship in foggy weather, provide the boat with a fog-horn and compass, and judge as nearly as possible the bearing of the landing you wish to make. Take the opposite of this bearing to return to the ship, making in both cases due allowance for tide.

The boats should always be kept in perfect condition, and, unless the crew are required to shift themselves, not more than three minutes should elapse between the time the boat is called away and its arrival at the gangway, manned and ready.

Never send away a gig’s crew unless they are dressed alike, and look “spick and span”; hat ribbons should always be worn by a boat’s crew, unless racing hoods are used.

Nothing shows the good discipline of a yacht more than efficient boat service; and it is worthy of all pains and consideration.

The ranking officer should always be the last to enter a boat, and the first to leave it. He will, also, command the boat.

To ride out a gale of wind in an open boat, lash the oars and bottom boards together and weight them if possible. Span them with the boat’s painter and pitch them overboard. This will keep the boat head to the sea and prevent it from drifting fast.

Assist the boat to keep head to the sea by the use of a steering oar.

When crossing the bar of a river, if the water is much troubled, a steering oar should be used and the rudder unshipped.

In the case of a boat being unable to pull up to the ship against a strong wind or tide, veer a line out from the ship with the end made fast to a buoy or any floating material sufficient to sustain the bight, and when this reaches the boat the crew can make the end of the line fast to the ring in the stem, and the boat can then be hauled up. Another way is to drop a boat astern with a line secured to its painter and then haul them both up together.

When two boats are approaching the same gangway, or landing stage, the junior officer in rank should always give way to the senior.