Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-01

convenience Of handling aloft, the schooner
sail-until lately-reiegated to small craft
because Of its swinging gait, which left the
upper and after corner of the sail unre-
strained by anything but the after leach
or edge. very large sail of this pattern
could not be handled with an ordinary crew
and a series of small sails, set one above
the other, could not be controlled by any
system of gearing Hence the continuance
OF the square rig in large vessels long after
seamen knew that a schooner could head
two points closer TO the wind than ship
was speedier and more easily handled in all
positions except dead before the wind. and
was much cheaper to equip and maintain.
Combination Rigs.
For this last reason, however, the
schooner rig was combined with the square
when prac ticable. Small ships became
banks, small banks became barkentines. the
brig evolved into the brigantine, which is
now adopting the better features Of the top
sail schooner-and the original topsail
schooner long ago atavistically sent down
her yards and relapsed into the parent
type.
But in spite of the advantages gained in
speed convenience and economy, the grad
ual drift toward the schooner rig has been
held in check by the undisputed necessity
OF dividing a large sail area Into parts
small enough to be handled, and perhaps
also by the one strong point of the square
rig-safety in running before heavy gale
and sea. Briggs and topsai schoonerS have
about disappeared. but ships. barks, bark
entines and brigantines are still being
launched. and It will so continue until ship
owners and builders realize the superiority
Of the one craft yet designed which can
compete with large ship In bad weather.
the multi-masted schooner, with Its Ave,
six seven short masts supporting an
aggregate sail area equal to that of ship
and but two stories high-wtthin easy reach
of the deck.
This type of vessel can be built as large
as the largest ship; 1t can be managed by
half the men required aboard the more
complicated sQuare-rigged craft; 1t can
take TO Inc high sea and keep 1t; 1T can
beat to windward In a sea that would throw
ship to leeward; 1t can go about-head to
wind-in sea that would force a ship TO
numerous points of wind contact nearly
as safely as can a ship. l say nearly as
safely, because the rig has a weak point
which asserts itself in wearing: 1t is that
the largest sail aboard is placed upon the
mast farthest aft. a weakness which has
been peculiar to the schooner rig since the
day when the large sloop developed into
the two-maSted schooner instead OF the
evenly balanced and convenient yawl.
which carries her largest mast Just abaft,
where schooner's foremost is placed and
well aft. small mast called the jigger-
mast That this method Of balancing fore
and-aft canvas 10 the best known Is evil
dsnced by the fact that tender racing
yachts adopt the rig in crossing the At
lantic
But the early builders OF schooners, for
some 1nscrutable reason, perpetuated the
large mainsail, and when the three-masted
schooner was born, instead of shifting the
two masts forward and raising a third
smaller mast aft. which would have abol-
isned the weakness they spread them apart
ana placed mast between them of a
length intermediate between the two, still
keeping the largest sail aft; and the FASH
ION, having been thus established, has been
adhered to. even in the sparring of four
nve and six-masted vessels
Evolution ON the Great Lakes.
The immense traffic on the great lakes
and the more frequent ac ton Of the law OF
notwithstanding Of the fierce gales In the
fail-which destroy whole fleets of inferior
craft. has In the century now ending.
forced the evolution of the primitive sailing
craft through all the various compromises
until 1t has finally lodged in the steam ves-
sci. In the early part of the century there
were full-rtgged ships and briggs on the
lakes. with the original two-mast schooner
and large sloop. The last two. fitted to sur
vive in shallow waters. can still be seen ;
but with lee shore all about them, the
early ship and brig disappeared. leaving
parks, barkentinss. Rrtgantinss ana III