The Scientific American Boy; Or, The Camp at Willow Clump Island

of every meeting, and accurate detailed descriptions of all work accomplished. Therefore, while the rest of the society was busy cutting up old sheets, levie

le Swedi

e type described in the first chapter. One was a double sail–"the kind

ions of Double

alf square. This was folded on itself, making a parallelogram seven feet six inches long and three feet nine inches wide. The she

as sewed on, leaving loops as before, to attach them to the spars. This reduced the length of our sail to se

ipulate this sail. In use, the pole of the rig was carried on the shoulders, and the sail was guided by means of ropes attached to the lower corners of the vertical spars. These ropes in nautical language are called "sheets

Changi

le Swedi

e Single Sw

r; and its length was five feet. This sail was very satisfactory in light winds, owing to its great area. In use we found that it was very important to keep the lower

antee

The Lant

o a boom, and the seven and one-half foot side to a yard. The yard and boom were hinged together by a leather strap nailed on as shown in Fig. 12, and to this hinge a rope was attached, which served as a sheet. These spars were secured to a mast

his was a rather risky thing to do, as we learned later, f

y rigging up a step for the mast. It consisted of a leather tag tied to the leg, an

own, leaving a shoulder which rested on the leather. Bill later devised another step, which consisted of a

anish

e the Danish sail, though it was not until w

from a French illustrated paper which Dutchy Van Syckel picked up in his father's library. This sail was formed with a topsail so arranged that it could be lo

g stick, or topmast we may call it, was hinged to the lower spar by means of a short piece of leather strap, which was passed round the spar in the form of a loop and its two ends nailed to the bottom of the topmast. The topmast extended above the upper spar a short distance, an

psail Lowered. Fig. 19. Skating again

roportion as the wind blew fresher. By inclining the sail in one direction or the other, the skater could tack to port or starboard. When moving against the

s Wi

he head, and the two corners to the wrists, while the lower portion was tied to the ankles. This converted him into a huge white-winged bat. Bill had to try it at once, even though the rest of the sails were not finished, and a ver

nocked him flat on his back before he could disentangle himself from the stick and lower sail. It took us some time to bring him back to consciousness, and a very scared lot of boys we were for a while. H

re all completed, but then there was scarcely any wind blo