SEAMANSHIP comprises the practice of the whole duties of a sailor, including all kinds of work upon rigging, making sail, taking in sail, steering, reefing, working the ship, heaving the lead, and whatever else relates to the management of a ship. Before a man can be called a seaman, he must have practised all the duties enumerated, and be capable of performing them in a satisfactory manner without supervision ; he is then called an able seaman, as distinct from an " ordinary seaman," who is a young sailor not yet versed in the practice of the seaman's art. A seaman, as generally understood, is one who is versed in the art of square rig sailing, but there are " fore and aft rig " men as well, and the instruction given in this chapter will relate to the duties of the latter alone, as the square rig, so far as yachts are concerned, may be said to have entirely disappeared.
To SET THE MAINSAIL.—Take the coats off. Hook on the peak halyards, and mouse the hooks. Overhaul some of the main sheet, and belay on both quarters. Top the boom up five or six feet clear of the crutch, taking care that the crutch is not lifted out of the sockets, and dropped overboard. When the boom is topped up,* haul the main sheet taut, and belay. Cast off the tyers or gaskets, leaving one as a " bunt gasket" amidships at present to keep the sail from blowing out. See that the purchases have been well overhauled (fleeted) ; and that the peak downhaul auil the topsail sheet are rove. Man the peak halyards, cast off the bunt tyer, and hoist the gaff end between the topping lifts, guiding it with the peak line. When the gaff shows above the lifts, hoist away on the throat halyards, and let the sail go up with the gaff as nearly as possible at right angles to the mast. If the sail is peaked before the throat is up (i.e., if the peak of the sail goes up faster than the throat), it will be hard work getting the throat up, if it can be got up at all without resorting to the purchase. Get the throat as high as possible with the halyards, and belay. Leave the peak for the present,
and pull the sail out on the foot by the outhaul. Purchase up the throat as high as required, and set the peak up, using the peak purchase until the sail begins to girt in the throat ; a few girts here will not matter, as the peak will be sure to settle down a good deal. Sometimes in small yachts, after the throat is set up hand-taut, the peak is got as high as it can be without the purchase. The sail is then set up by the main purchase, " peak and all " going up bodily. When the foot of the sail is laced to the boom the tack is always lashed down to the gooseneck, and the main purchase brings the luff of the sail taut—like a bar of iron. When the sail is not laced (it is seldom laced in a cutter), the tack-tackle is generally hooked on after the throat and peak are up, and the luff of the sail is brought taut by this tack-tackle. But the better plan for a racing yacht is to make the tack fast before hoisting by passing a lashing through the tack cringle and round the gooseneck of the boom; then pull the sail out on the boom ; it will be found that the main (throat) purchase will get the luff of the sail much tauter than the tack-tackle can. We are speaking now of setting the sail to the best advantage ; but it is quite possible that the skipper may want the tack triced up, for which purpose the tricing line will be hooked on to one of the mast hoops near the throat, and to the tack cringle of the sail.
When the sail is set, the tyers should be made up in neat bunches, and the sail coats should be folded up ready for stowing away in the sail room.
It is the practice to always have one reef earing rove, and if the weather looks at all threatening a second one should be rove. The first earing should be fast round the boom, then, if the outhaul should burst, or the clew of the sail tear out, the sail will not fly in along the boom nor get adrift. In anticipation of such accidents a common plan is to pass a tyer through the clew cringle and round the boom, three or four times.