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Ten Commandments For Boat Owners - 1. Check your boat ·thoroughly and never leave your mooring until you have done so.

2. Never over-load your boa† and at all times be especially careful about non-swimmers and children.

3. Carry a life preserver for every person on board. Be sure they're worn when doing deck duty in rough weather.

4. Carry filled fire extinguishers, according to Taw.

01. Names + Terms - Landsmen's terms grate hard sometimes on the ear of one trained to speak the language of the sea, who thinks naturally in nautical terms. When the guest who unnecessarily remarks that he doesn't know "the front from the back" of the boat, goes "downstairs" into what he is pleased to call the "kitchen" and adds insult to injury by calling the chart a "map," the boatman's reaction must be akin to that of the well-bred English professor who must listen to "ain'ts" and "he don'ts" hurled with reckless abandon into his learned conversation.

02. Knots + Bends - The real problem in advising the boatman as to the knots he should learn to tie and use is to select the few that are of real utility on the average vessel and exclude the numerous knots which, although serving a special purpose excellently, are of little practical use to the average boatman.

03. Equipment - A Comprehensive knowledge of seamanship embraces many subjects. Perhaps the first and most important is an understanding of what constitutes the proper equipment of a boat. This includes not only the equipment required by the Motor Boat Act, which specifies what equipment must be carried, but also a consideration of other equipment without which the boat cannot be safely, properly and efficiently operated.

04. Rules - Allof us on land have had the experience upon walking down the street of meeting another pedestrian, turning to the right and having him turn to his left, then turning to the left and having him turn to his right and finally bumping him. To the pedestrian on the sidewalk, such action and such a collision is comical but between two boats on the water, it is serious, yet boats often behave like human beings and do that very thing.

05. Lights Vessels - Allof us on land have had the experience upon walking down the street of meeting another pedestrian, turning to the right and having him turn to his left, then turning to the left and having him turn to his right and finally bumping him. To the pedestrian on the sidewalk, such action and such a collision is comical but between two boats on the water, it is serious, yet boats often behave like human beings and do that very thing.

06. Lighthouses - Lighthouses are the signal stations by means of which mariners determine their exact position. Mariners had once to be satisfied with natural landmarks, from which to obtain their bearings. These often being lacking at points where most needed, towers were built, and eventually lights were placed in many of them. The modern lighthouse represents the scientific development of this same idea, the signalling equipment being the culmination of many years of striving to overcome the limitations of visibility and audibility.

07. Anchoring - The anchor is the seaman's oldest, simplest and most efficient instrument. How it works can best be illustrated by the laborer's pick. Take an ordinary pickax, drive, it down to the head in the earth and attach a fifty-foot line to the handle. No pull on that line will ever move the pick. On the other hand, if you place yourself above the pick and pull the line straight up, as is the case when you are raising an anchor, the pick, like the anchor, is broken out with small effort. That is the action of the anchor.

08. Charts - The anchor is the seaman's oldest, simplest and most efficient instrument. How it works can best be illustrated by the laborer's pick. Take an ordinary pickax, drive, it down to the head in the earth and attach a fifty-foot line to the handle. No pull on that line will ever move the pick. On the other hand, if you place yourself above the pick and pull the line straight up, as is the case when you are raising an anchor, the pick, like the anchor, is broken out with small effort. That is the action of the anchor.

09. Compass - As An introductory remark we should like to advise everyone to *^- believe in his compass. Many more disasters have occurred on account of one's disbelief in his compass than to the contrary. It is true that the compass has errors but these errors are easily determined and after they have been determined make the compass as accurate as a watch. Therefore, believe what your compass tells you and it will always guide you to safety provided you are careful not to let any magnetic substance cause any unknown error.

10. Compass Errors - Chapter Ix was devoted to the preliminary study of the compass, the learning of the various names for the thirty-two points of the compass and the names of all of the quarter points. We now come to a further consideration of the compass, and principally to its many errors and the application of variation and deviation as applying to small boat practice.

11. Steering - Propeller Working Ahead (Right Hand Propeller)

The water which is drawn into the propeller from forward of it in a line parallel to the keel has no appreciable effect upon steering. However, water is thrown out from the after side of the propeller, more or less radially from the blades. This rotary current set up strikes against the rudder to a greater or less extent (depending upon the position of the rudder and amount of rudder given it) and tends to throw the stern sideways.

12. Boat Handling - Seamanship is a rather elusive term to define. Webster gets around it by saying that it means the skill of a seaman, but that doesn't get us any closer to an understanding of what it's all about. Seamanship as it applies to ships and as it refers to our small pleasure craft are two distinct subjects. A man proficient in either one would probably find that he had much to learn if he were suddenly confronted with the problems of the other.

13. Sea Conditions - With the advent of the motor boat as an important acquisition to our national defense, motor boating can no longer be looked upon merely as an exhilarative pastime. Its affiliation with military and naval forces guarding our extensive coast lines has placed motor boating upon a basis where responsibility and serious work go first, with sport and pleasure as a secondary consideration.

14. Seamanship Hints - Every boat, obviously, has its limitations and ordinary judgment dictates that the one designed for lake and river use should not be expected to be suitable in all weather offshore. It is a fact that just what a boat will do is governed to a great extent by the skill of the man at the helm. Thus a good seaman will bring a poor craft through a blow that a novice might not be able to weather with a larger or better vessel.

15. Theory of Sailing - Sails have been used for thousands of years to drive boats through the water—even on the simplest rafts and dugout canoes of primitive tribes. The earliest forms were square-rigged types in which the sail set thwartships across the mast. However, like the small boy's raft with a blanket sail, they had one serious limitation; they could sail only before the wind.

16. Handling in Fog - Sound is very erratic over the water, and depending upon sound alone has cost many a life at sea and many a vessel. Often there are belts and areas over which sound does not seem to carry and other phenomena also occur which change the direction that sound travels.

17. Instruments - Compass
Celluloid Course Protractor Dividers (bronze)
Pelorus or Bearing Finder Patent Log and Log Line
Lead and Lead Line
Good Timepiece
Deviation Card
Log Book

18. Simple Piloting - Piluting is the science of navigation by physical landmarks—in other words, of making use of recognizable features of the earth's surface and aids to navigation to identify position at any instant.

With clear weather and the coast in sight and identified from a chart, the following methods, given in order of frequency of use, will suffice to fix a vessel's position accurately.

19. Signaling - Various forms of signal codes have been used by manners for many years, but these have not always been international in scope. The need for such a universal system by which ships of all nations could communicate with each other without misunderstanding was brought into sharp focus during the World War of 1914-1918. At that time the International Code of Signals proved inadequate. Revisions were therefore made and a new code drafted, which has now been in general use the world over for a number of years.

20. Special Signals - (1) Replies from shore station to distress signals made by a ship: (a) Signal: By day: white smoke signal. By night: white star rocket, (b) Signification: You are seen. Assistance will be given as soon as possible.

(2) Landing signals for the guidance of small boats bringing away the crew of a wrecked ship: (a) Signal: By day: vertical motion of a white flag or the arms. By night: vertical motion of a white light or flare.

21. Radio - While radio is definitely a part of the science of navigation, it has assumed such an important role that it is somewhat a case of "the tail wagging the dog." It is not feasible here, nor in navigation texts, to include more than a general outline of the subject. With these facts in mind, we shall state the principles on which radio is based, and give hints which will serve as a guide for beginners in the yachting field.

22. Weather - Many factors enter into the problem of making successful weather forecasts from the examination of weather maps. The experienced forecaster, for example, has due regard for the area under consideration, the topography of the land, and the distribution and effect of land and water areas.

Professional forecasters, from long experience, have found however that certain general conclusions may be drawn which are of help in analyzing probable changes in the weather map.

23. Safety at Sea - It may be said with little fear of successful contradiction that the motor boat has become the safest modern form of travel. The hazard which attaches to the use of a well-found boat, properly handled by an intelligent, careful person, is negligible. Analysis shows that most accidents are avoidable. Experience has proved that even minor misfortunes rarely visit the boatman who knows that his boat is sound, equipped according to the dictates of law and experience, and is handled with reasonable judgment and prudence.

24. Flying Flags - Yachting Etiquette and customs are very exacting in regard to the proper flying of flags and colors. A yacht is known by the colors she flies. If these are incorrectly flown, then the yacht and her owner create a poor impression in yachting circles. It is, therefore, of foremost importance that the correct procedure be followed at all times.

25. Sailing Practices - 1—Luff up

2—Let go the sheets thus allowing the sails to spill the wind.

In very strong winds small boats should remain at their moorings. But there are times when a sudden and unusually strong wind or squall comes up and you are caught out on the water. How you handle yourself and the boat are of utmost importance to avoid accident to sail, rigging and possibly to yourself.

26. Outboard - You could say that buying an outboard boat and motor is something like getting married. You have to be certain the two will get along together. The purchaser of an inboard is not forced to think through this problem. The match has already been made by the builder who has installed the engine in the boat. But the purchaser of an outboard has to do his own pairing. The boat and motor come separate. Indeed, he can purchase the boat from one dealer and the motor from another.

Buy Charts - Charts, U. S. Coastal Waters—Charts of coastal waters such as the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts, the Hudson River as far north as Troy, and the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, are published by the United States Coast &' Geodetic Survey, Washington 25, D. C, and are availabe from ¿them or any of their sales agents, listed in their catalog, and quarterly in the Hydrographic Office Notice to Mariners.

Problems - On the following pages a compilation of problems based on the text of each chapter is given. ......

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