![Chubasco photo D Ramey Logan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Chubasco_photo_D_Ramey_Logan.jpg)
A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put.
As a rig, a yawl is a two masted,
fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast positioned abaft (behind) the rudder stock, or in some instances, very close to the rudder stock. This is different from a
ketch
A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...
, where the mizzen mast is forward of the rudder stock. The sail area of the mizzen on a yawl is consequentially proportionately smaller than the same sail on a ketch.
![26 ft Yawl RMG J0921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/26_ft_Yawl_RMG_J0921.png)
As a hull type, yawl may refer to many types of open,
clinker-built
Clinker built (also known as lapstrake) is a method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank. The techni ...
, double-ended, traditional working craft that operated from the beaches of Britain and Ireland. These boats are considered to be linked to the
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
or
Nordic design tradition. Most of these types are now extinct, but they include the Norfolk and Sussex Beach Yawls (called "yols" by the men who crewed them), which were probably the fastest-sailing open boats ever built.
A yawl is also a type of
ship's boat
A ship's boat is a utility boat carried by a larger vessel. Ship's boats have always provided communication with the shore and with other ships. Other work done by such boats has varied over time, as marine technology has changed. In the age o ...
. The definition, size, number of oars and sailing rig varied over time. This was one of the normal working boats carried by a ship in the age of sail.
In local usage, the term yawl was sometimes applied to working craft which did not fit any of the definitions given above. An example of this is the
Whitstable
Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...
yawl, a decked gaff-cutter-rigged
fishing smack
A smack was a traditional fishing boat used off the coast of Britain and the Atlantic coast of America for most of the 19th century and, in small numbers, up to the Second World War. Many larger smacks were originally cutter-rigged sailing bo ...
that dredged for
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...
s.
The etymology of "yawl" is obscure - especially considering the different meanings of the word.
The sailing rig
Origins
Yawl rig appears to have originated in the early 19th century. Working craft of this type include the later versions of the
Falmouth Quay Punt
The Falmouth Quay Punt was a type of working sailing vessel in the port of Falmouth, Cornwall in the 19th and early 20th century. They would be hired by merchant ships anchored in Carrick Roads – to carry stores, mail and passengers. Falmouth ...
- and interest in this local type were taken by
Dixon Kemp
Dixon Kemp (1839 – 21 November 1899), a British naval architect, was a founder of the Yacht Racing Association (now the Royal Yachting Association) and at one time its secretary. He was a founder of Lloyd's Register of Yachts.
Kemp was born in R ...
, an authority on yacht racing, in 1875. Yachts were rigged as yawls as early as 1814.
John MacGregor had his 1867-built ''Rob Roy'' designed as a yawl. (MacGregor had a number of boats, all of the same name.) British and European racing yachts were rigged as yawls from the second half of the 1870s, with a resurgence in popularity from 1896, when a change to the handicap rating system gave advantages to yawls. They remained prominent in
handicap classes through the 1920s - with yachts like ''Rendezvous'' (built 1913) measuring and setting of sail.
Rig characteristics
![Drascombe Lugger sailboat 3912](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Drascombe_Lugger_sailboat_3912.jpg)
A yawl is often considered a suitable rig for a short handed or single handed sailor. This is because the mainsail is not quite so big to handle and the
mizzen
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation l ...
(before the days of modern
self steering gear) could allow the sails to be trimmed to keep a boat on the same course. Also, handing (taking down) the mizzen is a quick and easy way of reducing sail, often thought of as the equivalent of the first reef in a
cutter or
sloop. Less well known are the advantages of setting a mizzen staysail when reaching, which can give a considerable amount of extra drive - which is clearly not available to a single-masted rig.
Alec Rose
Sir Alec Rose (13 July 1908 – 11 January 1991) was a nursery owner and fruit merchant in England who, after serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, developed a passion for amateur single-handed sailing. He took part in the second single-h ...
(single handed circumnavigator) used a mizzen staysail on his yawl ''Lively Lady'' but did not set a mizzen - he felt it was of little value (and it would interfere with the Hasler self-steering gear).
Current examples
Yawls are currently popular in cruising dinghies. The
Drascombe Lugger
The Drascombe Lugger is a British trailerable sailboat that was designed by John L. Watkinson and first built in 1968.
The Drascombe Lugger design is the basis of a large range of similar Drascombe boats with different hull, cabin and rig c ...
is a good example of this type. With the mizzen sheeted to an outrigger or boomkin and a jib set on a bowsprit, the rig extends a lot horizontally. This allows the sail area to have a lower
centre of pressure than, for example, a
Bermudan sloop. This gives a lower heeling moment.
The hull type
Before "yawl" became the name of a rig, it was a hull type. Generally, a yawl is a double-ended,
clinker built
Clinker built (also known as lapstrake) is a method of boat building where the edges of hull planks overlap each other. Where necessary in larger craft, shorter planks can be joined end to end, creating a longer strake or hull plank. The techniq ...
open boat, which can be worked under sail or oar. They are considered to have Viking or Norse influence in their design. Most were operated from a beach or a small harbour, with the boat being hauled out of the water when not in use.
Scotland: yawl/yole/yoal
In the North of Scotland, yawl is
cognate with yole or yoal. There are examples in both
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
and
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, with type and local variations in design. The Shetland boats include foureens and sixareens - the names denote the number of oars they were designed to use. Both also had sailing rigs - usually a single masted dipping lug. A sixareen was typically long overall. The foureen was around overall. Other smaller Shetland types were the
Ness Yole and the
Fair Isle
Fair Isle (; sco, Fair Isle; non, Friðarey; gd, Fara) is an island in Shetland, in northern Scotland. It lies about halfway between mainland Shetland and Orkney. It is known for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting. Th ...
Yole. Sixareens and foureens were used in the haaf fishery - catching white fish species such as
cod
Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...
and
saithe
The saithe ( or ) (''Pollachius virens'') is a species of marine fish in the Pollock genus '' Pollachius''. Together with '' P. pollachius'', it is generally referred to in the United States as pollock. Other names include the Boston blue (separ ...
with
long line fishing
Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long ''main line'' with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called ''snoods'' or ''gangions''.[Shetland Museum
The Shetland Museum and Archives is a museum in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland. The new Shetland Museum at Hay's Dock was officially opened on 31 May 2007 by Queen Sonja of Norway and the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay (Charles & Camilla).
Previous b ...]
.
The Orkney yoles had more beam than their Shetland counterparts. This allowed slightly more sail to be set, so these were two-masted with standing lug rigs.
Norfolk and Suffolk Beach Yawls
Beach Yawls could be found along a section of the
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
n coast - mainly from
Winterton on the north
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
coast down to
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...
on the
Suffolk coast. (They were called "yols" by the men who sailed in them.) Each boat was operated by a "company" that shared the profits of operations between their members, subject to strict rules. The members were entitled to serve as crew when the yawl was launched. These companies are known to have existed at the start of the 18th century and yawls operated right through the 19th century, until steam power, efficient tugs and
lifeboats
Lifeboat may refer to:
Rescue vessels
* Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape
* Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues
* Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen
A ...
put the last of them out of business by the start of the 20th century.
The yawls serviced the ships anchored in
Yarmouth Roads
Yarmouth Roads is a coastal feature in Norfolk, England that was used by merchant and naval ships as an anchorage or roadstead off Great Yarmouth.
Description
The following is a description of Yarmouth Roads that appeared in The Nautical Magazi ...
, took
pilots
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
to and from ships, carried stores and performed
salvage work. The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
often had warships anchored in Yarmouth roads, so providing a lot of work additional to that from the many merchant ships that passed along the East Anglian coast.
The Norfolk and Suffolk Beach Yawls were probably the fastest open boats ever built. 14 knots could be achieved in the right conditions, and 16 knots has been measured for one of these boats. Clinker-built and double-ended, the hulls were typically long with a beam of . ''Reindeer'', built in 1838 was at the top of the size range, at long (with a beam). Whilst the earlier boats had three lug-rigged masts, in common with other types of British
lugger
A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or several masts. They were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...
, from the middle of the 19th century the mainmast was usually dispensed with to give a dipping lug foresail and a standing lug mizzen. The foresail tack fastened to an iron
bumkin protruding from the stemhead. The mizzen sheeted to an outrigger (called an "outligger" by the crews of these boats). The fastest type of Beach Yawl was used for taking pilots and passengers out to ships. The slightly shorter and beamier "bullock boats" carried supplies out to ships moored in the roads and would land catches of
herrings from luggers.
Beach yawls were kept ready for launching at a moment's notice. A lookout tower was manned to spot any ship signalling for a pilot or in distress. There was competition between each company to get any potential work. The boats were run down the shingle beach on greased wooden skids laid at right angles to their route. Men ran alongside to hold the boat upright as it started to move, crew members scrambled aboard and others passed bags of ballast on board. As the boat entered the water she was given a final shove with a spar. Then each boat raced to get the work on offer.
Large crews were needed: 25 men would be common. They were fully occupied if going to windward. On tacking, the foresail would be dipped behind the mast to set on the other side, and the
halyard
In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a ladder, sail, flag or yard. The term ''halyard'' comes from the phrase "to haul yards". Halyards, like most other parts of the running rigging, were classically made of ...
(which was made fast at the
gunwale
The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat.
Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firin ...
to help support the mast) and burton (a moveable stay) would be shifted to windward and hauled taught again, whilst others would be heaving bags of shingle ballast to the new windward side of the bilge. Some would be continuously baling to rid the boat of the spray that came aboard. The most important man aboard tended the foresheet, which was never cleated, but held in hand after taking a couple of turns around the main
sampson post. If a gust was too strong, the sheet would instantly be eased to prevent a capsize. If worked under oar, a yawl would have ten or more oars a side - though the beach companies usually operated a gig in light weather if delivering or collecting a pilot, as they were faster under oars.
Ship's boat
![26 ft Yawl RMG J0796](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/26_ft_Yawl_RMG_J0796.png)
The yawl as a type of Royal Navy ship's boat appeared early in the second half of the 17th century. In early mentions, they were sometimes referred to as "Norway yawls", so showing a Scandinavian influence. Later yawls were built in
Deal
A deal, or deals may refer to:
Places United States
* Deal, New Jersey, a borough
* Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* Deal Lake, New Jersey
Elsewhere
* Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia
* Deal, Kent, a town in England
* Deal, ...
, Kent. Both were clinker built, but those from Deal had
transom sterns. When Navy dockyards started to copy the Deal-built boats, they moved to
carvel construction. The size of an individual yawl would vary depending on the size of the ship to which she belonged - though the yawl was usually the smallest of the several types of boat typically carried on each ship. In 1817, Royal Navy yawls were issued in eight different lengths between 26 ft and 16 ft. After this date, the yawl was less commonly used. The sailing rig was two-masted, typically setting identical sprit-sails. The number of oars depended on the size of the boat, eight and six being common, with some pulling just four oars.
See also
*
Concordia yawls
The Concordia yawl is a class of wooden yawl sailboats; it was designed in 1938 by the naval architect C. Raymond Hunt with input from Llewellyn and Waldo Howland, Clinton Crane, Fenwick Williams and Frank Paine.
Earlier that year, the Colin Arche ...
*
Yoal
The yoal, often referred to as the ness yoal, is a clinker-built craft used traditionally in Shetland, Scotland. It is designed primarily for rowing, but also handles well under its traditional square sail when running before the wind or on a broad ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
East Anglian Beach Companies – Sharks And Saviours*
{{Authority control
Boat types
Types of fishing vessels
Sailing rigs and rigging