[PSUBS-MAILIST] Fulton's sails

[Michael Holt <mholt@richmond.edu>]

As far as I know, he wasn't a sailor.  Why, then, did he choose as the
rig for Nautilus a batwing?   My opinion is that he was indulging in 
the ancient art of the gentleman inventor: trying something new about
which he knows very little indeed.

Phil Bolger, in "100 Small Boat Rigs," calls the rig "jibheaded with 
full battens" (page 25-27).  

I think part of Fulton's logic was to keep the mast short, which he 
did.  Hoewver, the cost was a sail that is not as good as a sail as 
a triangular sail.  It seems to me that a lateen would have been a 
better choice.  

Note that in his improved version of the Nautilus, the one with a 
"boat-shaped" outer hull, Fulton chose a conventional gaff rig.    

What kind of sail does Captain Kitteridge have on his sailing
sub?  Isn't that a boomless lug-o'-mutton rig?



Mike