The sails are seldom reefed, and they are made with only one reef band. When it is necessary to shorten sail, the mizen is shifted forward and a smaller mizen set; and this shifting goes on until the small "watch" mizen (used when riding to the nets with foremast unshipped) is reached. The boats are usually provided with the large fore lug, and three wizens besides the watch mizen. They cannot very well be hove to, and have to be kept " trying " by the wind or scudding before it ; however, it must be a heavy gale that causes them to " up-helm," and then no craft of similar size afloat can excel them in running for the land.
The sail is hoisted by a chain halyard called a tye and a tackle or purchase, consisting of two double blocks, the fall leading from the lower block. The sheave hole at the masthead for the tye has only a "dead sheave," that is, a half sheave fitted in the hole. The mast traveller is two half hoops jointed together by eyes, and they are said never to jam (see " Traveller " in the Appendix). The tack of the fore lug is hooked to the short bumpkin outside the stem head, but when the other mizen lugs are shifted forward the tack is hooked to the stem head. The fore sheet tackle is hooked to an outrigger outside on the wales just abreast of the mizen mast.
The mizen stay tackle is hooked to a ring bolt in the centre of the deck.
The mizen sheet is fitted in this way (see Fig. 107) : on the bumpkin* is an iron traveller, to the underside of which the chain sheet is fast ; the sheet is rove up through a sheave hole at the end of the bumpkin and hooked to the clew of the mizen. A block is hooked to the traveller, through which a rope is rove, one end being made fast on board. There are no stays to the bumpkin.
In tacking, the sheet is unhooked from the sail as the helm is put down; as the boat comes head to wind, the halyards are eased up and the after-leach of the sail hauled down upon until the after-end of the yard or peak can be shifted round by the fore-side of the mast ; the tack is never started. The sail is gathered in by the foot and leech, and passed round the fore-side of the mast. By not letting go the tack the fore-part of the sail acts as a jib, and assists in paying the boat's head off. If the boat does not pay off readily, the foreyard is kept
into the mast so that only the fore-part of the sail can fill, and the mizen sheet is let fly.
In the mackerel season, from February to July, they carry about one and a quarter mile of nets on the S.W. coast of Ireland. In the herring season, from October to January, they carry from half to three quarters of a mile of nets on the S.W. coast of England.
When hauling or shooting the nets, rollers are fixed on the warnings of the hatchways and on the rail of the bulwarks, to enable the nets to run well and to prevent their being damaged. Before the net is shot over the side, a shoot rope is bent to the head of the net by stops. The stops are long enough to allow the shoot rope to lie about hall way down the net. The use of this rope is to save the nets, should a vessel sail through and cut them. The boats ride to the nets by this rope.
The boats are usually maimed by six men and a boy, who are employed as follows : Two at the capstan getting in the net; one forward to cast off the stops of the shoot rope; two at the net-room hatchway. to shake out the fish, and stow the net; one at the helm, and the boy to coil away the shoot rope.
It will be noticed upon reference to the Body Plan and Sheer Plan that the top of the keel, and not the load water-line, is the base line from which all heights are measured. All the sections shown in the Sheer Plan are therefore perpendicular to the base line or keel, and not to the load water-line. The curved lines shown in the Body Plan are water-lines ; they are set off in this way : in the Sheer Plan (Plate XXXI.) at No. 3 section, measure the distance from h to i; set off this distance on the middle line (o) of the Body Plan as at j, measured from the base line ; then draw the ticked line t at right angles to o, and where this line cuts No. 3 section at v will be the spot for the water-line on that section. The points in the other sections will be similarly found, and, when complete, a line drawn through the spots will represent the water-line, and will be more or less curved.