A man may perhaps desire to act as his own surveyor; if he does, he will act very unwisely, as it is only by long experience, and a perfect knowledge of the construction of vessels and of the strains they are subject to, that a man can become competent for such surveys. Nevertheless, as the yachtsman who takes to the sport enthusiastically, and with a resolve to be "thorough," will necessarily want to know in a general kind of way the "marks" to distinguish a good vessel from a bad one, some instruction must be given him.

In the first place as to age. Speaking generally, a yacht should not be more than twenty years old; we do not mean that all yachts upwards of that age should be broken up or sold into the coasting, or fishing, or piloting trade; but that yachts so old as twenty years should be put through a very searching survey. Yachts seldom are broken up, and their fate is to lie year after year in mud docks for sale, and till they are far on the shady side of thirty. Do not be tempted by cheapness into buying one of these; it would certainly end in mortification and disappointment. If the vessel were merely patched up with oakum and paint, she would be a perpetual trouble and expense; and if repaired or renewed as she ought to be, a new vessel had much better be built, as it would be cheaper in the end.

Therefore do not buy a thirty-year old vessel, and one so old as twenty years should only be selected with very great caution; the condition of such an old craft will depend upon the way she has been used and "kept up," and upon the amount of repairs and "renewing" she has undergone. For instance, some vessels at the end of fifteen years are stripped, newly planked, and decked, and all doubtful timbers and beams replaced by new; such a craft would be good for another ten years without further outlay, and she might be bought with as much confidence as a perfectly new vessel. Or if the yacht was originally well built in the best manner by one of the best builders she may at the end of fifteen years require neither new plank nor new frames, but if she has seen much service she is almost certain to require new decks. The condition of a yacht at the end of fifteen years will very greatly depend upon the quality of the materials used in her construction, upon the sizes of the timbers and their disposition, and upon the thickness of the planking, and upon the strength of the fastenings. Some idea of what these should be can be gleaned from the tables (given farther on)* compiled from the practice of the best builders of yachts. The timbers (called also frames, and first, second, and third futtocks, where the lengths of the frames are in two, three, or more pieces) will be "double," that is, two timbers will be

* See also Lloyd's Rules in the Appendix.

placed close together, or nearly close together, and act as one frame. Then there will be a space, and hence "timber and space means the distance from the centre of one double frame to the centre of another. Some builders do not place the timbers of a double frame quite close together, as some ventilation is considered a good thing; but greater strength is obtained if the timbers of each double frame are close together, and the general practice is to so place them close together.

Occasionally a single-framed vessel is to be met with-that is, instead of two timbers being worked closed together to form one almost solid frame, one single timber forms each frame, placed at regular intervals. These vessels, unless the timbers are of superior size and placed very close together, should be regarded with great suspicion; the space from centre to centre of the timbers should be at least 25 per cent. less than in a doubleframed vessel, and the sizes should be 15 per cent. greater; and if the timbers are too long to be all in one piece, the "shifts" or lengthening pieces of the timbers should be so arranged that two shifts never come on the same horizontal line in adjoining timbers. In almost all vessels the frames of the bow forward of the mast are single, and in some old vessels these bow frames might be found to be of fir; these frames will require a great deal of inspection and pricking. Some 20-tonners which we have met with have had single frames 12in. from centre to centre in the middle of the vessel, these frames extending over a distance equal to half the length of the vessel; similar frames were used in the bow and stern, but the spacing was increased to 16in. There does not appear to be any objection to this plan, and it has a slight advantage in weight of timber. A plan adopted by Mr. Alex. Richardson in framing the 10-tonner Lily was as follows: Sawn frames (4țin. by 2in. under platform, tapering to 24in. by 2in. under deck) were spaced 3ft. apart, and between each pair of these were three steamed timbers 2in. by lin.; this framing has stood fairly well, and for lightness could be recommended. The Harvey Ship and Yacht Building Company use alternate sawn and steamed frames, with a double skin. This plan has now had a fair trial, and, so far as the experience of five years goes, it appears likely to be very durable, and has an advantage in lightness. In regard to "materials," all the frames should be of oak and so should be the stem piece, stern post, dead woods, knight heads, apron, beams, shelf, bilge strakes, and keelson; the keel will generally be found to be either English or American elm. The garboard strakes are generally of American elm, and it is best that the planking above should be of American elm or oak to the load water-line, and teak above to the covering board or deck edge. Very frequently, however, only the garboard strake is of American elm, and the remainder red pine or pitch

pine, with a top strake of oak. Again, sometimes the first four strakes above the garboard are of American elm, and the first four strakes below the deck of oak or teak, and the remainder pine. Occasionally oak plank is used at the bilge, with a wale or "bend" of oak above the water-line; and, again, sometimes the plank is all oak from keel to plank sheer, and nothing in the way of wood material can exceed the strength or durability of a vessel so planked.

The floors and keel fastenings of yachts are now variously contrived. Twenty years ago a builder never thought of constructing a vessel without grown floors and a keelson; but, owing to the increasing sharpness in the bottoms of vessels, or increasing "dead rise," it became very difficult to find suitably grown floors. The result was that iron floors were cast, and these, whilst having an advantage in strength and durability, have the additional recommendation of forming excellent ballast. In some cases (almost always in vessels of 40 tons and under) grown floors, or floors of any kind, are dispensed with entirely; the heels of the first futtocks are brought down to the keel and connected by iron V knees, which are securely bolted in the throat through a hogging piece and keel.

If a yacht is met with that has these iron knee-floors, it should be ascertained if she has been ballasted with lead; if it turns out that her ballast has been lead, it will be necessary to have the iron knees very carefully examined, as lead very quickly destroys iron. It should also be ascertained whether or not the floor bolts and other fastenings are of iron; if they are, it is just possible that the lead ballast may have eaten off their heads.

If the yacht be twelve or thirteen years old, it will be incumbent to examine her very thoroughly inside and out, unless it is satisfactorily shown that she has recently been so examined, and all necessary repairs made. To effectively examine a yacht the copper should be stripped off, and the planking scraped clean; if, however, the copper be good it will be a pretty fair evidence that the plank underneath is sound, as the copper in such a case is not likely to have been on more than three years; and, of course, the plank and caulking would have been thoroughly examined and made good when the vessel was re-coppered.

If it is stated that the vessel does not require re-coppering nor needs. stripping, it will be well to be present when she is hauled up high and dry, or as the water is pumped out of the dry dock into which she has been placed, as the case may be; as, if there are wrinkles or folds in the copper, giving evidence of strains, it is quite possible, where the opportunity exists, that these "wrinkles" would be "dressed" out. The

wrinkles will generally appear in a longitudinal direction, under the channels and under the bilge over the floor or futtock-heads. But if the vessel has been subject to very severe racking or twisting strains, or has bumped on a rock or on very hard ground, the wrinkles may run diagonally or in half circles across the copper. Very long and deep yachts, that have not been properly strengthened longitudinally by internal bilge strakes and continuous diagonal braces across the frames, may be subject to great racking or twisting strains; if there be evidence of such strains, the yacht need not be condemned, but she will require strengthening, and should be put into the hands of a competent builder. In a case where the copper shows unmistakable signs that the vessel works or strains, she should be thoroughly examined in the vicinity of the supposed strains, and be strengthened and fastened in the manner which a builder from his experience may consider necessary. If iron fastenings have been used in the vessel, it is very likely, unless the heads have been counter sunk and well cemented, that iron rust stains will show on the copper; if such stains are met with, it will be best to have as much of the copper stripped off as the case requires, so that the fastenings may be driven out and new ones put in. The keel should be examined for strains and splits; and if the keel or false keel be worn away from the through bolt fastenings, the bolts should be cut off and re-clinched, and if necessary a new false keel should be fitted.

The stern-post, rudder-post, rudder braces, and pintles must be examined, and if the rudder-post is twisted, or braces or pintles much worn, there will be work for the shipwright.

The chain plates and chain-plate bolts and the surrounding planking and its caulking should be closely examined for flaws and strains, and so also should the stem piece and bobstay shackle plates.

Signs of straining on deck will mostly be apparent in the seam of the covering board abreast of the mast, at the stem, knightheads, bowsprit bitts, and near the mast partners. If the seams are unusually wide here, as they frequently may be in a yacht that has been much pressed with canvas, "sailed hard" in heavy seas, or that has been weakly built, some strengthening will be required by more hanging knees under the beams, and additional knees at the mast partners, or new beams, partners, and knees altogether. If the covering board shows signs of having opened badly in the seam, or lifted from the top strake, the beam ends and shelf or clamp will require very careful examination-the shelf and clamp especially at the scarphs and butts.

To examine the frames of the vessel, the ballast should be removed, and some of the ceiling and some of the outside plank should be stripped

off. Lloyd's surveyors, in examining an old ship, usually cut out listings from the plank the whole length of the ship; and they also similarly cut listings from the ceiling inside, under the deck, and over the floor heads; planks are taken off, too, at different parts of the ship, equal in the whole to her length; and the beam ends are examined either by taking out the top strake under the covering board, or by boring under the covering boards. Fastenings, such as trenails and bolts, are driven out, to further test the condition of the frames and fastenings; and the condition of the oakum and caulking is ascertained by examination in several places. If the ship or yacht be completely ceiled up inside, it is obvious that the whole of the framing cannot be examined by such means; but generally yacht is not so closely ceiled, and an application of a knife to the frames will soon determine whether they are rotten or not.

There is scarcely any limit to the number of years frames of autumncut oak will last; but occasionally a sappy piece will find its way among the frames, and it may not last a year, or the frames may decay in consequence of leakage and defective ventilation; but from whatever cause rot may arise, any frame so affected should be removed. Heels and heads of floors and frames are the most likely places to find rot; but of course it may occur in any part of a frame, and, if possible, every timber in a vessel should be thoroughly examined from heel to head.

Old decks are a great trouble to keep tight; and if there is any sign of "weeping" either under the deck at the seams, round the skylights, shelf, or mast, there will be sufficient evidence that caulking is necessary. New decks, however, frequently give trouble in this way if they have been carelessly caulked, or if the yacht has been weakly constructed, or if the caulking was done during wet weather and not under a shed. As the plank dries, it shrinks away from the caulking and paying, and leakage is the inevitable result; this condition can be somewhat ameliorated by wetting the deck two or three times a day, but wet decks are almost as bad as leaky ones, and re-caulking and stopping will be the best remedy. It is the fashion now to lay the deck plank very close together, in order that narrow seams may be obtained; narrow seams of course look very nice, but, as the seams are scarcely wide enough to receive the caulking iron, very little oakum is driven into the seams, and as the marine -glue paying or putty stopping dries, leaks are the result.

The spars will require careful inspection, and if either has cracks running transversely or diagonally, it will be pretty sure evidence that it is sprung. The longitudinal cracks or fissures are not of much consequence unless they gape very much, run deep and from one into another right round the spar; sometimes, however, if the cracks have not been stopped