The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-03
IN RACERS MAINT0P.
PERILOUS PERCH OF MASTHEAD
MAN ON A YACHT.

man of Shamrock ii Escaped Sc
rious Injury or Death by Being
Below when Accident Occurred.
Courage and n Clear Head Neces-
sary.
From the New York Mail and Express.
L4andsmen find something peculiarly fac
mating in watching the lofty work of a
Steeple Jack To their minds his is the
star acrobatic occupation of the age That
a simple thing like reeving pcsky set of
halliards should require the attention of
an expert human airship with the at
tendaut dangers doesn't appeal to the folk
ashore as being at all necessary when 1t
really is.
In the old days of sea punishments when
hard knocks went with every turn of the
wheel the sailors had to lay aloft to the
music of a capstan bar or marling spike,
one of the worst miseries was to be mast
headed Many a poor lad, almost par
alyzed with fear was sent TO his last ac-
count through being ordered aloft to the
toothpick platform near the sky, from
which he subsequently fell and was killed.
eli lIOHl dlOll was a frequent GIllIy
in the log books, and covered lot of
cases that looked like murder.
If a sailor runs any danger from going
aloft on a square rugged merchant sailing
craft, where there are sto ut ratlines to
carry him up and a broad top to stand
upon when he gets there. what must be
the danger of the masthead men on
racing yacht that has neither ratlines
nor substantial footing to rest upon?
None but the best sailor is selected for
this task. Besides the great danger in
volved, the men sent aloft during an
aquatic contest must have exceptionally
cool heads under most exciting circum-
stances, and their duties are as many as
those of small boy in kite time. Some
years ago, before innovations in sails and
running rigging made It Necessary to keep
man stationed on the spreaders or cross
| trees during a race, 1t was considered
most hazardous that any tar should go
aloft to this giddy perch in fair weather
while under way, but that he should do
so in a gale or other bit of a blow added
| immensely to the risk and the reputation
| of the man.
A Narrow Escape.
1t was the merest accident that the
| masthead men of the Shamrock H., two
in number, should have laid below when
the destructive squall struck that racer
last week. The men had been busy a few
minutes before clearing the sheet of the
| club topsail, which had jammed close TO
the spreaders, and had taken up a posi-
| ton, one standing and the other seated
| on the weather spreader, when hailed
| by the deck and ordered to lay below
| They had hardly returned to the deck
when the squall passed over the boat and
wrecked her Capt. Howard Patterson.
of the Nautical School, who is an expert
in yacht racing says that nothing in the
world would have saved these men from
sudden death had they been in their regu-
lar positions aloft when everything went
scooting over the side
"They would have been shot down to
leewerd like projectiles from a gum" said
the former admiral of the Haitian navy
| land if not struck dead by falling gear
| or bits of the spars would have been
| buried under the immense weight of can
vas and drowned. Neither of them could
have possibly escaped. There is no place
| so perilous during a yacht race as in
the top. drinking man can't take the
| job and live, because a clear head is alb
| solutely necessary. l am very fond Of
yacht racing, but you will kindly excuse
me from becoming masthead man. I'd
rather play with dynamite or go help dig
| the tunnel. / like life too well to go in
| for the sky end of the business"
When it is realized that the spreaders
of the average cup defender are light
enough for one man to pick UP and walk
off with, and that they have been made
in later years of ordinary galvanized iron
piping, with a diameter not much bigger
than the smallest part of baseball bat
trimming down to a very narrow point at
the outer end, the instability of the sail
ors footing may be appreciated. To this
is added the fact that the hight OF the
lower and upper masts of a cup defender
is such as to make 1t impossible for her
to pass under the Brooklyn bridge with
out sending down or telescoping this top
mast.
The mast of the Independence measures
10 feet from the deck to the truck, the
topmast being sixty feet from the hounds
There are two sets of spreads on the
Constitution, the main ones being just
below the head of the mainmast and the
auxiliary spreaders about one-third of
the distance below the main ones The
topmast shroudsa lead over the main
spreaders and set up on the
chain plates on each side of the
yacht. Another shroud on each side leads
/ from the masthead direct to the chain
plate. From the mainmast one shroud
on each side leads over the auxiliary
spreaders, and two masthead shrouds on
each side lead straight to the chain Plates
The auxiliary spreaders are eleven feet
long and the main spreaders are twenty
two feet. In the Constitution the spread
ers are rounded like yard on a square
rugged vessel, the outer ends being OF
small diameters.
An Acrobatic job.
The duties of a mastheadman have be-
| come manifold with improved rig. strange
as 1t may appear. The new telescope
mast demands his almost constant atten-
ton, and when being lowered or hoisted
from the deck needs a good deal of oil
ing. Thus the mastheadman must now
carry an oil can to the top with him,
in addition to his other cares His prin-
cipal work, however, consists in seeing
that nothing aloft jams. and he fire.
quently has to shin along the gaf to
free the throat or peak halyards. Under
all circumstances he must be very aero
battle to perform his maneuvers.
There have been beach stories of mast
headmen falling asleep while seated on
their tottering perch but they apply to
fiction rather than TO fact. AS a rule, the
Job is full of excitement, and there are
few of the comforts Of lethargy about
the task
The masthead men usually become more
coura geous and less cautious as they con-
tinue at the business and some of them