Mr. Hughes visited Stockholm on his way home, with all he saw there, particularly the charming Mamselles, and the Dalecarlian boat girls' red stockings he seems to have been intensely pleased, so much so, that he left his gallant little Pet there as a good excuse for going back, and to be ready at hand, to enable her master to take part in the great doings of next summer. If anything is done, which we very much doubt, may Mr. Hughes be there to chronicle it, and Messrs Smith and Elder give the result to the world in a similar elegant guise to that in which the present volume appears.

In conclusion, we do not hesitate to express our conviction that the Log of the Pet is the best Yachting narrative the literary world has yet seen; we do not know that we ever spent a half-a-guinea to better purpose, than on its purchase, and we strongly recommend a similar investment to our readers.

CLIFFORD'S PLAN FOR LOWERING SHIPS' BOATS.

ON Monday December 23rd a preliminary trial of this plan was made from the Aurora, in the West India Docks, before Captain Laen. R.N., the emigration officer for the city of London, and other nautical authorities, and fully answered the expectations formed of it. So simple is the apparatus, that when the blocks and roller are supplied, any ordinary ship's carpenter can adapt everything in a day. In this instance the boat was slung at the ordinary davits, firmly lashed to the ship's side with six or eight men in her, and on the word being given "to lower away," the hand line, a piece of 1 inch (circumference) rope, that held all, was slacked off, and the lashings gently slid down the prongs by which they are held, and the boat was free, and lowered as easily as a bucket into a well. Unless seen, no idea can be formed of the ease with which the lowering is effected. The vessel cleared out of the docks the next day for Southampton, where further and more severe tests are to be applied, but the trial on the 23rd showed that Mr. Clifford is on the right track, and that a remedy has at last been found, for what was really a national evil.

feeling of the officers of the fleet. We had a merry run back to the roadstead with the boats in tow, the men regaling themselves with grog to the health of the Pet' and the destruction of the 'Rooshins'; and when we sailed through the fleet, every ship had a kind greeting or a word of good will for us as we passed,

"The result of our reconnaissance was, that we were convinced that not only the outside island, Gustafsvaerd and Vargo, were gutted by the fire, but East Svarto also, which stands further back, was mourning in dust and ashes; and several hundred acres of streets, barracks. and stores were burnt and shattered into blacked and ragged fragments.

"Our view was much intercepted by the smoke of the guns, but we had no difficulty in making out a goodly scene of destruction.

"On the other hand we could not fail to observe that the enemy mounted more guns at that moment than he did before the bombardment.""

NO. 1.-VOL. v.

F

THE BLACK MARIA.*

THIS is the celebrated yacht of which our American friends have so long boasted, but however magnificent a vessel she may appear, or whatever fame she may have acquired, she is still, with all their vaunting, with all their pride, one of those skimming dishes with a centre-board, and therefore a true yachtsman's abomination. She is not likely ever to exhibit in British waters, and if she did come, its very certain that whatever benefit builders derived from Mr. Steven's celebrated America in construction of the present race of yachts, no man would attempt to follow the centre-board system of the Black Maria. Mr. Murray says

THE Black Maria is a vessel so unique in every respect, that the most detailed description of her cannot but be most interesting to all yachting men; and so far from apologising for the length of my observations, I would rather crave indulgence for the scanty information which this chapter will afford; but as it must prove pre-eminently dull to those who are ignorant of such matters, I would entreat them to pass it over, lest, getting through the first page, their ideas become bewildered, and, voting me a bore, they throw down the book, subjoining a malediction upon my poor innocent head.

The following notes were furnished me by Commodore Stevens and his brother, who were the designers and builders of this extraordinary yacht, and I therefore can vouch for their accuracy.

In case the term centre-board should be unknown to my readers, it may be as well to explain that it means a board passing longitudinally through the keel, above which a strong water-tight case is fixed for its reception; it is raised and lowered by hand or machinery, according to its weight. The advantages proposed by the centre-board are-the stability it gives to a vessel on a wind when let down; the resistance it removes, if, when running before the wind, it be raised; the small draught of water which the vessel requires, thereby enabling her to keep close inshore out of the influence of strong tides, &c.; and, lastly, the facility for getting afloat again, by merely raising the centre-board should she take the ground. To proceed with the

notes:

Displacement, 145 tons.

Draught of water on straight keel, 5 feet 2 inches.

Length of straight keel 60 feet, then running away in a curving line upwards till at the bow it draws 10 inches.

Length of centre-board 24 feet.

Total depth of ditto 15 feet; weight 7 tons.

Foremest end of ditto about 8 feet abaft the foremost end of straight keel. When let down it descends 10 feet at the after end, and 8 feet at the

The Land of the Slave and the Free. By the Hon. H A. Murray.Parker and Son, London.

foremost. It is made of oak, with sufficient lead let in to make it sink. By an ingenious mechanical contrivance one man is enabled to raise and lower it with perfect facility.

There is another centre-board abaft, about 10 feet from the stern, which is 8 feet long, with a total depth of 9 feet, and, when down, extending 5 feet below the keel.

Length over all 113 feet.

The extreme beam is 26 feet at 40 feet from the rudder-post, running aft to about 19 feet at taffrail; forward, it decreases about 20 inches when abreast of mast, thence runs away sharp to about 4 feet at the bow.

The main-mast is placed about 5 feet abaft the end of straight keel; it is 92 feet long, housing 8 feet: the diameter in the partners is 32 inches, tapering off to 23 inches at the hounds. The mast is made of white pine, the centre of it is bored out, for the lowest twenty feet about 12 inches diameter-the next twenty feet 10 inches diameter-the next twenty feet 8 inches, and the remainder 7 inches. This was done to make the mast lighter, and, by the circulation of air, enable it to season itself.

The main boom is 95 feet long, and made like a cask. The staves are 31 in number, of white pine, 24 inches thick; the staves are of different lengths, so as to vary the points at which they respectively abut. The extreme length of boom is obtained by two lengths of the staves; small cogs of wood are let in at intervals, half in one stave and half in its neighbour, so as to keep them from drawing, the whole bound together with strong hoops fitted with screws. The extreme diameter of the boom is 26 inches where the sheets are fixed, tapering off at the jaws, and 13 inches at the boom end. To give additional support to the boom, an iron outrigger, extending about three feet on each side thereof, is fixed where the boom sheets are placed, and a strong iron brace extends from the jaws through the outrigger to the boom end. The gaff is of spruce, 61 feet long, and 9 inches diameter.

The bowsprit is of white pine, 38 feet long, 18 of which is outboard, the remainder comes under the deck, is let into each beam and abuts against the bitts; it is 24 inches diameter, and bored out like the mast, from 10 inches diameter at the heel to 7 at the end. The jib-boom is made of two pieces of yellow pine, grooved out and hooped together; it is about 70 feet long and about 8 inches in diameter; the foot of the jib is laced to this spar on hooks (when required).

The main-sail is made with the seams horizontal, to avoid the resistance perpendicular seams in so large a sail would offer to the wind. It has been calculated that the resistance of perpendicular seams, in a sail of this size, is equal to that of a plank 10 inches broad and 60 feet long, placed on end broadside to the wind; the luff of the sail is 66 feet: the foot 93; the head 50; the head and foot of the sail are laced to battens under gaff and on boom; the luff is brought to the mast by a contrivance as original as it is perfect; two battens are fixed on after part of the mast, about an inch and a half apart, the inner parts shod with iron, and rather broader than the exterior opening. To each eyelet-hole of the sail a strong brass plate is fixed, having

four rollers traversing fore and aft, and two transversely; these plates, as the sail goes up, are slipped into the grooves of the battens, the rollers preventing friction, and the battens keeping the luff fixed to the after centre line of the mast-without this ingenious arrangement the huge mast would, if on a wind, becalm at least three feet of the sail—three lazy-jacks are fitted to support the huge mass of canvas when lowering the sail.

The jib is 69 feet in the hoist, and 70 in the foot.

The bob-stays are of solid iron, running eight feet on each side of the keel, and going through a strong iron cap over the bowsprit end, where a strong iron washer being put on, they are securely fixed with a nut.

I regret omitting to obtain the length of the after-leech of the main-sail, and of the head of the jib, but I think I should be justified in concluding that the former is about 110 feet, and the latter about 120 fect.

Assuming these calculations to be correct-and they cannot be far wrong, the main-sail would contain about 5790 square feet, and the jib about 2100 square feet. When it is remembered that the largest sail in the British Navy only contains 5480 square feet, some conception may be formed of their gigantic proportions.

The gallant commodore was kind enough to trip his anchor and give me a short cruise. Unfortunately there was scarcely a breath of wind; but even under the influence of such scanty propelling power, the way she shot through the water, like a dolphin in full cry, was perfectly marvellous; and the ease with which she came round, and the incredible distance she shot ahead in stays, was, if possible, more astonishing still; she steered as easy as a jolly-boat; or if, when running, a puff made her refractory, by dropping the after centre-board she became as docile as a lamb. My only regret was that I could not see her under the high pressure of a good snorter. Of course any salt-water fish will have long since discovered that this wonderful yacht is a leviathan plaything, and totally unfit to withstand the most moderate gale, especially if any sea were running. What she might do if she were sparred, as other vessels of her tonnage usually are, I cannot pretend to say; but my yachting friends need never expect to see her, with her present rig, re-enacting the 'America', hurling friendly defiance at the R.Y.S., and carrying off the crown of victory in their own waters.

But if any of my Cowes friends are anxious to test the powers of the Maria', the Commodore will be happy to accommodate them, and-as he expressed it to me, will further rejoice at having an opportunity of returning some of the many hospitalities which made his short stay in England so agreeable to him. The only complaint I heard him make of the rules of the yachting at Cowes, was the want of some restriction as to vessels entering shallow water, by which omission a yacht with a light draught of water is enabled sometimes to draw ahead of her competitors by simply hugging the land out of the full swing of the tide, while others are forced, from their deeper draught of water, to struggle against its full force. As, in my humble opinion, the observation is a perfectly just one, I insert it here for the consideration of those whom it may concern.

The accommodation on board is not nearly so great as in an English yacht, partly owing to the little height between decks, consequent upon her very small draught of water, and partly owing to the great space taken up by the case for the centre-board; besides which it should be remembered that a yacht is not used as a home in America in the same way as in England. The great, and, I might almost say, the only quality, transatlantic yachtsmen care about is speed; and I think my yachting friends at Cowes must admit that they have proved that they know how to attain their end, and that Mr. Steers, the builder of the America, is second to none in his craft, unless the Black Maria some future day assume a practicable rig, and, crossing the Atlantic, earn the victor's laurels, in which case Mr. Steers will have to yield the palm to the worthy fraternity, who are at one and the same time the owners, builders, and sailers of the Black Maria.

The Hon. Mr. Murray has designated her the "Black Maria," and his authority for so doing seems to be Mr. Stevens, yet in the New York Yacht Lists which we have received from the Club, she is simply styled the Maria, and as such she is known to the Britishers; but what's in a name, did she carry that of his Satanic Majesty, and manned by his imps, we should find British yachts that would try to take the shine out of her.

Mr. Murray's work is replete with amusing incidents and scenes, and his manner of describing them must give much pleasure to his readers, of whom no doubt he will have many.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A SUMMER'S CRUISE.

BY ROBINSON CRUSOE.

On a bright and lovely morning in the month of May, we determined to proceed on a distant voyage to some remote region where we might reap a reward for our trouble, in treasuring up a rich store of information to be made available to our club during the winter meetings. This we considered far more useful than ingloriously lounging about the watering places of our native coast, either doing the amiable among the ladies, or "prospecting" through the elongated amber; the one unsettling the mind, the other unseating our intellects. So having our good barque all a-taunt-o with the blue Peter flying aloft, we summoned our sailing-master, an old weather-beaten seaman, one of the Nelson tribe,) but an excellent navigator, and a first-rate sailor; we laid our intentions before him, and sought his advice, touching the time it would