Evening star., 1898-12-26
YACHTS OF ANTIQUITY.
Queer and Costly Pleasure Craft of
Classical Times.

From the London Pail Mall Gazette.
Most historical records dealing with the
sport of yachting commence with the we'll
known quotations In Evelyn and Pepys Ref
erence to Thucyddes and Poiybius, how
ever, proves beyond doubt that small craft
built for pleasure purposes only were COM
mon enough with the wealthy HelleneS as
far back as five centuries ago.
The early decades of this century are but
dimly lit up. while the previous centuries
are enveIoped in almost total darkness.
Here and there we come across occasional
data, in old prints and books, but a con-
nected history does not exist, and plenty
of scope is left for the imagination.
Suetonius is our authority for the state-
ment that the luxurious Romans well knew
and appreciated the pleasure to be derived
from roaming about the seas This writer de-
scribes at some length the display of luxury
on board the Emperor Caligula'S yachts.
Along the upper decks there We're built what
would correspond with the modern deck
houses which were fitted most sumptuous-
ly with paintings, statues and mosaics in
the principal apartments, while the bath
rooms contained baths of bronze and mar
bic, and even a library of books was car
ried on board. Covered walks along
side these deck houses, with fruit trees and
rows of vines planted in flower pots which
leads one to surmse that the Romans were
fair weather sailors rather than daring nav
igatOrs of choppy seas.
Of the earlier Grecian yachts, however,
our knowledge is more scanty. All the ey-
isting evidence from written sources sup
plemented in few isolated cases by evil
dence from material sources, still leaves
ample room for deduction and conjecture.
The sails used on Grecian ships were
sometimes made Of linen, but more often
of the fiber of the papyrus and various other
rushes. Thus even the American invention
of ramie cloth would appear to have been
forestalled. The edges of the Grecian sails
md nit - I;al,
adopted nowadays, though perhaps not con-
duciye to speed, would insure vessel sail
ing with sails of the same dimensions as
given in the Yacht Racing Association GER
tihcate. The skins of the hyena and the
seal were in particular request, since sail
ors considered these a SOY ereign means for
keeping off lightning. Topsails as part of
the ordinary rig, apparently came into use
about 80 A. ID. The ancient mariner, who
knew that he increased the ships speed by
carrying sail as high as possible, attained
his object by hoistine up the yard, but
seemingly did not understand the cause of
this phenomenon.
The style of rigging used on the earliest
Greek vessels can be CLEANED fairly accu-
rately from the Homeric poems. The mast
Chistos) was supported at its foot by prop
fhistopede) and held by two forestays (pro-
tonoD and a backStay (epitonos1 The mast
carried a yard (epkron), by means Of
which the sail was hoisted. When the mast
was lowered the histopede was obviously
kind of tabernacle-it lay In rest STYLED
histodoke. The presence of halyar5s and
brailing ropes is implied while different
terms are used for the running gear, though
no definite information is given as to its
nature. The mast and yards were generally
made of fir and occasionally of pine.
The outer planking of the hull was COW
cred with mixture of tar and wax some
paint being usually melted with the latter
Sometimes eathing of lead covered the
outer planking, layers of tarred sailcloth
being placed between the wood and the
metal. Wooden pegs and bronze nails We're
used for holding together the timbers of a
zontally round the ship, were frequently
used to strengthen the hull externally. Mt
the bottom of the hold gravel or stone bal
last usually carried, while the bige-
water was emptied out by means of an
Archimedean screw, which was worked by
kind of treadmill.
Students of VirgiFs "Aeneid" will re-
member a particularly spirited account of
d race between four Trojan men-of-war off
corded yacht race. in the modern sense of
the word, was one in which Charles II
took part. The Merry Monarch had pleas
ure boat built for him after a Dutch model
(the word yacht or jaght seems to be of
Dutch origin), but with improvements, and
the little vessel earned the appreciation of
Samuel Pepys, the diarist, Who as secre-
tary to the admiralty, may be supposed to
have been a keen judge, and who described
her as very pretty and as lone of the
finest things that ever l saw for neatness
and room.
On October /. 1861 the king sailed her
against his brother, the Duke of York's
yacht, for 100 guineas, from Greenwich to
Gravesend and back and won his wager