Over 150 years ago, the skills needed to operate a merchant sailing vessel were many and varied. While not nearly as much in demand today as they were in the days of the Yankee clippers, these skills nevertheless remain important and necessary to today's yachtsmen and owners of smaller pleasure boats.In this excellent handbook on basic shipboard skills, marine expert Hervey Garrett Smith offers boating and yachting enthusiasts a complete course in rigging, working, and maintaining a ship. More than 100 illustrations help the reader grasp the fundamentals and fine points of handling a ship while the author describes in detail a sailor's tools, basic knots, and useful hitches as well as the arts of splicing, handsewing, and canvas work.Other topics equally important to safe, economical, and efficient boat maintenance and management include belaying, coiling, and stowing; towing procedures; how to make a chafing gear; and much more. Easy-to-follow instructions for fashioning decorative knots, ornamental coverings, and nettings, and even how to make a proper bucket round out this engaging and informative guide.Packed with useful "hands-on" information conveyed in a chatty, humorous style, The Arts of the Sailor is the perfect book to keep aboard ship for study and for ready reference when the need arises. It also makes delightful reading for armchair sailors and the legions of landlubbers with an interest in the sea.

I. The Anatomy of Rope and CordageII. Sailor's VernacularIII. Some Sailor's Tools and Their UseIV. Basic KnotsV. Useful HitchesVI. The Art of SplicingVII. WhippingsVIII. SeizingsIX. "Belaying, Coiling and Stowing"X. The Service of Wire and RopeXI. Hand Sewing and CanvasworkXII. Decorative KnotsXIII. Ornamental Coverings and NettingsXIV. Sennit MakingXV. Chafing GearXVI. The Technique of ReefingXVII. Towing ProcedureXVIII. Some Notes on Cleats and Belaying PinsXIX. The Boatswain's ChairXX. Rope-Strapped BlocksXXI. On the Making of Rope MatsXXII. How to Make a Proper BucketXXIII. How to Make and Use a Heaving LineXXIV. The Sailor's Ditty BagXXV. How to Rig Deadeyes and LanyardsXXVI. Keeping Ahead of Trouble Index