" The tiller should be formed as if double, i.e., one part leading aft, and used as mizen boomkin, and the other on fore side of rudder with a U bend in it, to allow it to clear mizenmast. Thus fitted when working ship, on putting the helm down the mizen sheet is brought to wind, and main sheet is off, consequently she would turn like a bicycle ; or when the helm is put up, mizen sheet is thereby eased, and off she must go.
" A battened sail can easily be reefed ' in stays,' i.e., while going about, without even checking the boat's way, for the battens do not require the reef points to be tied, except for neatness, unless it is a very deep reef.
" A boat thus rigged can be hove-to in bad weather at sea, or, when waiting for tide into harbour, thus : take the mainsail off the mast, bunch yard and boom together, and span it with a rope : to the centre of the span fasten your boat's hawser, let the sail and battens hang loose, heave it overboard, and pay out the hawser ; lower the mainmast, and haul mizen sheet fore and aft. Thus she will ride head to wind, and the sail will break much of the sea. The storm main lug may then be got ready, in case you have to cut and run." Mr. Powell found, in canoe sailing that with battens he could carry much more sail (in the ratio 5 to 7) and the canoe would lie closer to wind. Also in running the canoe was much steadier, and did not roll so much as with the sail without battens. In gaff sails, where the peak halyards assist in keeping the sail flat, or in any sail that is well cut and can be kept flat, the advantage of battens will not be great. However, lug sails are very difficult if ill cut to keep flat, and battens in these may be found of service.
The regular " Chinese lug " was thus described by " Mercator," a writer in the Field in 1871.
" Almost every district in China has a distinctive type of sail, some highly peaked, others with little or no peak, some with the leech greatly rounded at the peak, others with it cut almost or quite straight, some very narrow at the head and wide at the foot, others wide at the head and much the same width all the way down, some rigged on the starboard side, and others on the port side of the mast, some with sheets leading from all the battens, others with sheets from the lower ones only ; in fact, the changes are rung in almost every conceivable way, but all are provided with a brail, but which more resembles in its uses a topping-lift. As to the material of which the sails are made ; matting is that most usually employed in native craft of any size, this article being extremely cheap in China, and when dry comparatively light ; but for small boats, twenty to twenty-five feet gigs, and the like, a stoutish duck is the best, both for wear and look.
" The battens, it will be seen (see Fig. 72), are so arranged that the top and bottom ones do duty for yard (or gaff) and boom respectively, the intermediate ones radiating more or less sharply, according to the shape of the sail. The number for a gig would be five or six, to be increased with the size of the sail. To each batten is fastened a loop or parcel, if one may so call it, generally of rattan, but occasionally (in very small boats) of rope. The shape and position of these loops are indicated in the following sketch, X Y being the batten, the dotted line the loop, and Z the position of the mast, looking down from above. From this it is apparent that these loops do duty as parrels ; and the battens being made of bamboo, there is nothing to prevent the sail being easily hoisted and lowered, even when to windward of the mast. There is no tack proper, but the lower batten is made fast to the mast at the point where they intersect. The halyard (M) exactly resembles the simplest form used with lug sails, and is made fast to the forward portion of the upper batten, the exact place being regulated by the shape and sit of the sail. The luff projects 1 ft. or 15in. (or even more, according to the size of the sail) forward of the mast. The sheets generally lead from several of the lower battens, one from each, and by a little mechanical arrangement are united into one sheet in such a way that the pull is everywhere equal. In some boats, where the sail projects some distance over the stern, two sets of sheets are required, one on each side. The sail when set is trimmed so that the lower batten is parallel to the keel. The brail or toppinglift is fitted in a very simple and efficient manner. A line leads from the masthead down the inside of the sail (i.e., the side on which the battens are), through an eye 1 ft. or 2ft. from the after end of the lower batten, up again on the outside of the sail through another eye rove in the end of a short pendant from the masthead, and down again to the point where the lower batten and mast intersect, where it is made fast ready for use. The sail thus hangs in the bight of the brail as in a sling. The following sketch (Fig. 72) illustrate the sail described.