From the dictionary already quoted and published at Antwerp, 1599, we find Sloepe, Sloepken,—a little ship, skiff, or boat. It therefore seems probable that at this early period the term Sloepe was applied more to the type of vessel than to the rig. By degrees, as rigs multiplied among small craft, a single-masted vessel in Holland became known as a Sloepe—the germ of the American sloop and British cutter-rig. Along diverging lines these developed until they became quite distinct in every essential detail of hull, spars, sails and rigging.
It will be noticed that all of the yachts whose portraits are here given, with the exception of the ship, carry lee-boards. The Dictionaire de Marine (1702), gives the following description of the leeboard:"The lee-board is made of three boards laid over one another, and cut in the shape of the sole of a shoe, or of a half oval. The bylanders and hookers use them for sailing close-hauled, and generally these vessels have two lee-boards hanging on either of their sides. If one wishes to sail close hauled, the lee-board, which is on the lee side, is lowered into the water, and thus prevents the vessel from falling off; the other lee-board remains hanging against the weather-side. Lee-boards are of very general use in navigation on inland waters, but at sea they are now—1702—seldom seen unless on a few square boeiers, some light galeots, or small fishing-boats."
When the lee-board was first used or by whom it was invented, is not known. It is probable that the idea was introduced into Holland during the
