The Schooner is the most elegant, and, for small craft, the most manageable vessel that floats. Its proportions are more agreeable to the eye than those of any other species of craft, and its rig is in favour with owners of yachts, especially with those whose yachts are large. The schooner's distinctive peculiarities are, that it carries two masts, which usually "rake aft," or lean back a good deal; and its rig is chiefly fore-and-aft, like the sloop. Of the two masts the after one is the main-mast. other is termed the fore-mast. The sails of a schooner are-the main-sail and the gaff on the main-mast; the fore-sail, fore-top-sail, and fore-top-gallant-sail (the two last being square sails), on the fore-mast. In front of the The fore-mast are the stay-sail, the jib, and the flying-jib; these last are triangular sails. If a schooner were cut in two in the middle, crosswise, the front portion would be in all respects a sloop with a square top-sail; the stern part would also be a sloop, minus the bowsprit and the triangular sails before the mast. Schooners sometimes carry a large squaresail, which is spread when the wind is "dead aft." They are much used in the coasting trade, and one of their great advantages is that they can be worked with fewer "hands" than sloops of the same size. THE BRIGANTINE. A specimen of this vessel is given in our engraving. Its rig is a mixture of that of the sloop and brig, which latter vessel shall be described hereafter. The Brigantine is square rigged on the fore-mast, and sloop-rigged on its after or mizzen mast. Of its two masts the front mast is the larger, and, therefore, is the main-mast. In short a brigantine is a mixed vessel, being a brig forward, and a sloop aft. |