It is usual to pay the master of a yacht by the yacht by the year, and the wages vary according to the size of the yacht and the qualifications sought. Thus, the master of a 10-tonner may only have 50l. a year, whilst one in charge of a 100-tonner may have 1007., and one in charge of a 300-tonner as much as 2001. Again, if a master for a racing yacht is required, very nearly as much will have to be paid for one to take charge of a 40-tonner as for one of 200-tons. Again, sometimes a master is paid 21. or 2l. 108. a week whilst the yacht is in commission, and 108. per week whilst she is laid up; when such is the rule the master does not always keep charge of the yacht whilst she is laid up, but the owner pays a trifling sum per week-ranging from 58. to 108.-to a shipkeeper who may be an agent who undertakes such work, or a yacht sailor; but the most satisfactory plan would appear to be to pay the master by the year, and make him live near the place where the yacht is laid up. The remainder of the crew will be paid as follows-from the time they are engaged commencing to fit out the yacht until she is laid up : The master, mate, cook and steward, usually live at the expense of the owner, and if a table is not kept for them they are paid board wages of 128. each per week. The seamen find their own provisions. Often 1s. per week is kept back from the seamen's wages as conduct money, and if either commits an offence during the week the 1s. is stopped; the fine however is seldom inflicted, as few masters have the courage to enforce it. The coxswain of the gig is usually given 1s. per week more than the other men, as before stated. The "dinghy man" whose duty it is to row the steward ashore, &c., for marketing, and to fetch letters off, and generally to do the carrying to and fro, also has 1s. per week extra. In racing yachts the masthead man is sometimes paid 1s. per week extra. The steward and cook sometimes have more than the wages given above, and sometimes less. In large yachts where a second steward is carried, the wages given to a good steward are perhaps as much as 21. The second steward's wages will vary from 17. to 17. 10s. according to whether he is a man or a boy, and to his efficiency. We have known a professed cook to receive as much as 5l. per week, but generally a sufficiently good cook can be obtained for 11. 10s. or 11. 158. It is a common practice in yachts of 70 tons and under to have a steward who can cook as well; in which case the "cook is dispensed with. One of the fore deck hands acts as cook for the forecastle, and assists the steward at times in the caboose. The clothes given to the crews are usually as follows: * 2 blue cloth suits 2 6 8 19 6 0 10 6 2 pairs of white duck trousers 0 10 6 0 5 0 1 serge frock 0 10 0 1 2 Sometimes the master is given only one suit of blue cloth. 4 7 6 If white duck suits are not given to the men, it is usual to give them a dongaree suit of blue linen to do their rough work in, and an extra pair of pilot trousers. Very frequently, especially in small yachts, only one suit is given all round, with one pair of shoes. Thus the crew's outfit largely depends upon what the owner considers it necessary to give them. It has been established over and over again in law courts, that the clothes are a livery and belong to the owner, but it is the custom to allow the men to take them away when the yacht is paid off. If a seaman is discharged for misconduct his clothes are retained. If he takes them away he can be sued for the value of them in the County Court. It would of course be impossible to estimate what the exact expenses of yachting would be apart from those enumerated, as so much depends upon the owner himself and how he likes the yacht "kept up." Also a great deal depends upon the sailing master, as no doubt the custom of ship chandlers to pay commissions greatly influences unscrupulous masters in The number of hands carried by yachts of different tonnages will be found set forth in a table in the succeeding chapter on Yacht Racing. "making bills." Roughly the expenses, exclusive of those incidental to the crew as already enumerated, can be set down at 61. per ton, assuming the yacht to be five months in commission from the day she commenced to fit out to the day she laid up. These expenses would be (applied to a yacht of 60 tons) made up as follows: Interest on £2000 Insurance Annual depreciation £ 8. d. 100 0 0 50 0 0 60 0 0 Repairs and renewal of hull, taking an annual average of 5 years 70 0 0 ...... 60 0 0 50 0 0 10 0 0 400 0 0 The above expenses would not vary much whether the yacht were out four months or six months. The crew expenses would be as follows: Sailing Master, per annum Mate 20 weeks... Steward ditto Four seamen ditto Clothes Board wages F s. d. 70 0 0 35 0 0 35 0 0 100 0 0 45 0 0 36 0 0 321 0 0 CHAPTER XV. YACHT RACING. ONE of the principal causes of success in yacht racing is that of being "always ready;" ready with the entry, ready with the vessel whether she requires copper scrubbed or trim altered, ready with the sails and gear, ready with the instructions, ready in getting into a berth, ready to start, ready for every shift of canvas, ready for every evolution in sailing, and ready to receive the first gun at the finish. Therefore, always be ready and never be above being prepared. The experienced racing man knows that if he is prepared with his spinnaker, and another man is not, after bearing up round a mark, that an enormous advantage will be gained. Or in hauling round a mark if he has got everything in time made snug, and sheets laid along and manned ready for rallying aft, and another man has to luff round with everything adrift on deck, and the boom off the quarter, his vessel will get a quarter of a mile out on the weather of the sloven before the latter has got his boom aboard or jib sheets in. If proper preparation is made for every shift of canvas or manœuvre in sailing, the vessel will be worked as if all the gear and sails were parts of machinery, but if no preparations are made, everything will be in confusion on board; there will be shouting and bawling and running about, sails sent up head downwards, sheets and halyards bent on foul, or fouled among the numberless coils of ropes on deck, the crew will be distracted, the sailing master hoarse and furious, and the owner mortified to see such an utter want of discipline and system on board his vessel. On the other hand, if everything is ready beforehand, the crew will understand exactly what they have to do, each man will fulfil his task with a cool head and ready hand, the sailing master will be tranquil and manage the vessel cleverly, and the owner will be delighted, and think that half the pleasure of match sailing is in seeing a good crew, who know their work, set about it in a seamanlike and systematic manner. There must be no shirking; whatever a man is set to do, he must do thoroughly, and with a will; if he does not do this he should be unshipped without compunction, as one lazy, slovenly, or half-hearted hand on board will spoil three good ones. Now everyone knows that there are various things to be done in yacht sailing at one and the same time, and it will be patent that it is desirable that each thing should be done by the same hands each time, if possible. Nothing looks worse on board a racing yacht if when such a simple order as "check the foresheet a trifle," a half a dozen men or so jump up and rush into the lee bow, when one of the crew could have quietly executed the order. On the other hand it shows a worse spirit if the men begin talking among themselves as to who shall go to do it; but if one hand is told off as the foresheet man, he will know that he has to check the sheet, and if the sheet has to be got in instead of eased, the mate will send another hand or more to help. For the more important stations men always are told off; thus one hand is always selected for masthead-man, bowspritend-man, &c.; and so far as the number of the crew will admit, there should be a just and effective division of labour. CREWS. Under the Y.R.A. rules, there is no restriction as to the number of hands a yacht may carry in a match, and this plan is found to work best, as no sailing master will carry more hands than are absolutely necessary, and if crews were limited, sails must be limited also, or a yacht would be frequently short handed. The only argument used in favour of limiting hands, is that a man with a lot of money and a disposition to spend it, would, by carrying a number of hands, get an advantage over a man with less money or differently disposed about spending it. The plain answer to this is that no sailing master ever dreams of carrying more than the necessary number of hands, and every yacht should be allowed to carry that number. Attempts have been made to lay down a rule for so many hands for so many units of a yacht's tonnage, but any such rule fails, for the reason that although one man to every 5 tons may be a good proportion for a yacht of 100 tons, yet one man would not be sufficient for a 5-tonner. For match sailing, the following table will be found to accord pretty regularly with practice. The numbers include master, mate, and boatswain, but not pilot, cook, or steward. |