Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/52

 plating below water of manganese bronze and the topsides of aluminum, while I think it will be well to deck her, too, with that lightest of metals, as good yellow pine will soon be seen only in a museum. For ballast, of course we should have nothing but platinum, unless the owner grudged the expense, when we might put the top tier of gold.

"But by that date I hope we won't care for sailing in such a sluggish element as the water. I firmly believe that some day the air will become as easily traversed as the earth or ocean."

Now, in 1881, Mr. Watson's fame as a naval architect was quite firmly established, but as a prophet he was without honor in his own and every other country. It is therefore remarkable that his prediction, made presumably in playful jest, was, in a great measure, fulfilled not very long after. A torpedo boat of manganese bronze was actually built in England for the French Government in 1891. Then followed the construction in France of the yacht Vendenesse, built almost altogether of aluminum, in 1892, and a series of French torpedo boats of aluminum in 1895-6. The Yankee Vigilant was constructed of Tobin bronze below the water-line and of steel above. She had a hollow bronze centerboard and a solid bronze rudder. The latest development of Mr. Watson's fanciful idea was introduced in Defender in 1895. This celebrated yacht has topside plating, deck beams, deck-strapping