In Alliance
The Swallows and the Amazons went together to the harbour at the southern end of the island. The path was now well trodden, though they had to stoop under boughs and step over brambles and push branches out of the way. In the little basin the two ships lay together with their noses drawn up on the beach. The Amazon was a fine little ship, with varnished pine planking. She was a much newer boat than the Swallow , of the same length, but not quite so roomy. Close by the foot of the mast, between the mast and the centreboard case, there was a small barrel of polished oak.
The centreboard case puzzled Roger.
“What’s that big thing sticking up all down the middle of the boat?” he asked.
“That’s the case for the centreboard,” said Peggy.
“But what is the centreboard?”
“It’s an iron keel that we can lower into the water when we are beating against the wind. When we are running before the wind or when we are in shallow water we can haul the keel up into that case,” said Nancy. “How do you manage to sail against the wind without one?”
“ Swallow sails very well to windward,” said Captain John. “She has a keel about six inches deep, but it’s there all the time, so that we don’t have to have any centreboard case to get in the way inside her.”
“Uncle Jim—Captain Flint—says you can’t do anything to windward without a centreboard,” said Nancy.