The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-04

inaccessible by ordinary means of communi-
cation, builds himself a stout and convenient
Yacht and uses it as his private conveyance
to far distant Iceland or the stormy shores
of Norway. In this he acts no differently
from any traveller who prefers to be his own
master as to times and seasons of departure
or arrival. The yacht is his vehicle, aud he
constructs it in accordance with the best
known rules of speed and safety com
bined. He is not, in the full sense OF the
word. a yachtsman-only a gentleman on
his travels, and travelling as a gentleman
should do if he has the means. Another may
adopt the yacht as his summer residence,
employing it as a portable yet comfortable
home, and as a rest from the cares of bust
ness, or a relief from the heats of the city.
Such a man is likely to be a member of the
best yacht club in his vicinity, and to par
ticipate in its annual regatta, though without
much expectation of winning the cup. We
may describe him as half a yachtsman, hav-
ing q mild interest in the enthusiasm of his
fellow.members, and considering his work
lone when be has paid his dues and attended
the annual meeting. Then there are others
who make a short annual excursion, or an oc-
casional long.shore cruise, the excuse for a
temporary relaxation from work. Perhaps
none enjoy the water more than these, but
they do not contribute essentially to the
AAAlhl ODISSNs IN OAAOOo hANA NAAANJ
which is the soul of yachting.
Besides these there is a class necessarily
very limited in numbers, because only per-
sons of large means can afford the luxury,
who look upon yachting as one of the most
effective means of improving naval architec-
ture. 1t has been truthfully said hat no great
improvement in the models of ships can be
expected either from our Government navy
yards, or the ship yards Of private builders
for the commercial marine. As to the navy
yards, the melancholy experience of the last
ten years is enough. Whether it be that the
Bureau of Construction is overburdened by
theory, and so bothered with logarithms, the
equilateral h%yperbola, and its asymptotes,
that it has forgotten the shape of a ship or
the use of the power which is to propel it; or
whether it be that ''red tape" and the con-
slant ''relief" of one engineer by another
who supposes that he can improve upon his
predecessor, be the reason, certain it is
that the navy, which ought to be
a grand school of construction, is looked
upon with much of suspicion. if not of con-
tempt, in that regard. Once during the war
a really fast ship was built to chase blockade
runners. but she had such an unstable equi-
librium," such an incomprehensible disparity
between enginesand hold, that she was put
in ordinary. Even in monitor iron-clads, our
one ewe-lamb so far as inventive naval con-
s~truction goes, we have been compelled to
look at the British Monarch, and admit that
it far surpasses our finest iron-clads, albeit it
is adapted from the American invention.
The Government devotes too little attention
to experiment., and allows too much Difference
to abstract science. 1t ought to be the
teacher to il struct us in the whole method of
construction and rigging, but it is nothing
of the kind.
In the merchant marine. although its
achievements have been brilliant, they have
been in a measure accidental. No builder
can afford experiments. He is a mechanic,
and must please his custo ner, and the latter
is ordinarily satisfied to follow what he be-
lieves to be the best existing model. The
necessity with both is to build a ship, for
freight or passengers, which will pay in the
peculiar trade for which it is designed. The
income to be derived from voyages is the
main consideration, and one vessel is built
after the model of another, Improvements
creeping in gradually, developed only by sloa
degrees.
Who, then, shall be the instructor in naval
construction The Government declines
perhaps wisely, considering the results in the
navy yards-to intervene. The ordinary
shipyards of cannot do the work,
except in a way exceedingly slow, and attended
with commercial hazards such as ought not
to be incurred. The yacht seems to afford
the solution. Experiments on these lesser
models of great ships can be made without
ruinous cost to those who are rich enough tc
indulge in any satisfactory form of ocean
yachting. Their efforts for success are moi
embarrassed by the supervision and conflict
ing orders of a host of officials. Their fail
ures are only a personal disappointment,
and do not involve the reputation of a great
manufacturing shipyard. Their success
brings with it the highest form of eva / il
the personal esteem of others and the dis
tinction which success carries with it. AND
from this class of men-limited as it must b,
we may expect that pure sense of PROFIT.
dependent upon personal honor and not OF
professional pride or speculative ambition
which gives a high value to the tests t,
which they submit. In this particula
American yachtsmen may be quite satisfied
to be represented by the owner of tn
Dauntless.