The Pearl is fitted with a " roller mizen," and Mr. Tredwen says it has these advantages : " It can be reefed down to any size required to establish a proper balance of effort with the mainsail, and no sail can be reefed so easily and rapidly, for there are no halyards and tacks to be cast off or hauled in, and the operation can be performed without taking the skipper's eyes off his course ahead." This sail has two booms ; the upper one is round, on which the sail is rolled; the lower one is oval, so as to give great strength in the direction required, with a minimum of weight. A ferrule. J (Fig. 141), with an arm brazed on, is fitted to each end of the oval boom, and in the top of each arm is a hole, in which the spiles or axle pins of the upper boom revolve. Riveted on the ferrule at (Fig. 142) at the fore end of the boom, there is a brass cheek block, through which the cord A runs. The upper boom or roller is of equal diameter throughout its length. Two discs of brass (A on the upper boom), Sin. diameter, are brazed to a ferrule 1 iin. long, and make a reel, which is driven on to one end of the roller, the other end being lightly ferruled; two pins are screwed into these ends through the holes in J, and the roller is thus hung so as to revolve freely.
In cutting the sail, the angle of the lull and foot must be rather less than a right angle, otherwise the sail in rolling down will wind over the reel and get jammed. The sail is bound round its edges with strong thin tape, and two bags or pockets, open at the fore end but closed at the leech, are stitched across the sail, to take bamboo* battens about fin. or lin. diameter. These pockets are applied as in the cruising sail already described, so that the whole thickness of the battens is inter posed between the sail and the mast. The battens are of " South Cane," greenish-yellow in colour, very light weight, and tapering very slightly. The ends of these canes are ferruled lightly and plugged with wood, and the after end is neatly rounded off to prevent it cutting a hole through the end of the pocket, and a pin projecting three-quarters of an inch is driven into the fore end of each. -A small ring or eye, stitched to the luff of the sail at the mouth of each pocket, hooks over each of these pins, and prevents the battens from slipping out of their places. The sail being rolled down on the roller as far as it will go, and lashed round by the tyers P on the yard, is snugly furled, and ready to be rigged.
The mast is :first fitted with halyard blocks at its head and foot, and a double topping lift, G (Fig. 143). The sail is then placed in the bight of the topping-lift, and its fore end is supported by a line from the mast head, made fast to the lower boom at K; the same line, con tinued down to an eye on the side of the mast just above deck, makes the tack. A parrel around the mast is fixed to the yard from L to M,
and a similar one to the boom from K to N; and a block, S, is lashed to the boom at K. Some preparation must now be made for the halyard and downhaul on deck. A screw eye-bolt must be fixed in the deck at B for a double block to hook on to ; or, better still, a brass double cheek block, delineated in the diagram (Fig. 144), is slipped into a couple of catches, C 1 and which are firmly screwed to the deck at and (Fig. 143). Another screw eye-bolt (E, Fig. 144)) is then securely fixed in the side deck, about two or three feet forward of the skipper's seat, to which a single block (I) is hooked. A line (F) is made fast to E, and rove through the brass eye of a very powerful indiarubber doorspring D, back through the block I, and then to a cleat within easy reach of the skipper's hand. A single block (H) is then seized on to the other end of the spring, and everything is ready for the running gear. The line A, which is halyard and downhaul in one (a piece of No. 14 extra super flax sash line), is made fast to the yard near M (Fig. 143), and is led • through the blocks at the head and heel of the mast, around one sheave of B block, through the block H, and then back around the other sheave of B, through the block 5, along the boom, and through the cheek block at up to the reel A. The line is then cut to the right length, and the end passed thiough a hole in the disc which forms the aft side of the reel, and tied in a knot.
For hoisting (having toggled on the sheet and cast off the tyers P), a good pull on the line F is given ; the line is then fastened to the cleat, which sets the peak of the sail as shown by the dotted diagonal lines in Fig. 143. The line A now bears the same relation to the sail as the cord to a window blind ; pulling one side of the bight on deck hoists the sail, and pulling the other side of the bight lowers it. The door spring, which must be a very powerful one, is necessary to keep the tension right, for the bight of A A sometimes lengthens or shortens as the sail is hoisted or lowered. When the sail goes up, the slack of the halyard A is rolled round on the reel, and is payed out again as the sail comes down. The battens can remain in their pockets, when the sail is furled, or may be withdrawn in a moment after unhooking the rings from the spike on their fore ends.