The origin of the term “snow” (from “snau” in Germanic 和 Sc和inavian languages) to describe a small sailing vessel with the appearance of a square-rigged brig is uncertain, 但到了17世纪，它已被普遍使用. 尽管水手们经常用“雪”这个词,”“brigantine,和“brig”可以互换来描述类似类型的帆船, 一场雪与它的索具的一个具体细节利记手机官网在一起.

正如约翰·博伊特在他的画中明确指出的 乔治, 一场雪有了一个小, supplementary mast stepped closely abaft (behind) the mainmast to which a fore-和-aft trysail or “spanker” was attached. The small mast solved problems caused by carrying both square 和 fore-和-aft sails on the mainmast. 真正的禁闭室, 方帆和前后帆都装在主桅上, 克服了这个困难，并在18世纪70年代开始出现.

“青春冒险的黎明”

约翰·博伊特出生于1774年10月15日，是波士顿的约翰和莎拉·布朗·博伊特的儿子. 老约翰·博伊特. was a prominent merchant in Boston before the Revolution 和 his business 和 family connections made it possible for John Jr. 1790年，在他16岁生日前不久，他踏上了航海之路. 他出航时是船上的第五副(副) 哥伦比亚 on that ship’s second voyage to China by way of the Northwest Coast 和 a second circumnavigation.

年轻的博伊特在 哥伦比亚’s three-year voyage 和 left the only eyewitness account of entering the 哥伦比亚 River on 12 May 1792—an event that later would have important diplomatic consequences in the Northwest boundary dispute between the United States 和 Great Britain.

约翰·博伊特还不到19岁 哥伦比亚 他回到波士顿，但不久又以大副的身份出航 伊丽莎 在去弗吉尼亚和爱尔兰的航行中. In the summer of 1794, still not 20, Boit was placed in comm和 of the small (65-foot, 98-ton) sloop 联盟 和 embarked on a two-year voyage from Newport to China (“Adieu to the pretty girls of Newport,他在联盟的航海日志中写道。), a voyage that maritime historian Samuel Eliot Morison described as “the most remarkable youthful exploit in this bright dawn of youthful adventure, 我注意到了这一点.”

漫长的，漏水的航行 乔治

1796年7月，约翰·博伊特的船刚到达波士顿 联盟 任命他为队长 乔治, a British storeship that had been captured by a French privateer 和 sold in Boston together with its cargo of casks of peas, 土豆, 和牛肉. 新主人 乔治 其中一位是博伊特的姐夫克罗威尔·哈奇(Crowell Hatch)，他是该公司的部分所有者和投资者 哥伦比亚 和 联盟 voyages) gave him no time to l和 the snow的货物 or repair the leaking hull of the vessel before setting sail for Isle de France (Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean in September.

尽管他在扉页画了一幅生动的画像 乔治, Boit’s logbook reveals that the snow sailed “too dull for comfort” 和 leaked so badly during the voyage around Africa that it took the aid of the French garrison of Isle de France to work 这艘船 into port when it arrived—和 then the snow “leaked just as bad in the harbor as she did when at sea” 和 threatened to sink at anchor.

港口的乐趣

事实证明，约翰·博伊特既能当船长，也能当商业代理人. 他卖掉了 乔治的货物, 尽管泄漏造成了损坏，并试图在海上修理他的船, for an enormous profit 和 even received “a good price” for the snow itself—smartly repainted 和 then sold for local trade with Madagascar. 博伊特在日志中对“老雪乔治”号的评论以这样的愿望结束, “上帝保佑，我可能再也坐不上这艘船了.”

Boit went ashore at Isle de France 和 “kept Bachelor’s hall—和 the gay life that is generally pursued by young men of this isl和,在几个月的时间里，他过得很愉快，虽然放荡不羁.” He noted that he was attended, as he had been at sea, by his “faithful servant Chou (a Chinese).”

周曼德林，一个土生土长的中国人

“周”(有时拼写为“Chow”)加入了“周”号的船员 联盟 在约翰·博伊特早期的航行中. 年轻的少年, he travelled to Boston as Boit’s servant 和 then almost at once went to sea again with him in the 乔治. 他们在法兰西岛逗留之后, 1797年，博伊特和周作为乘客回到了美国 广州. 不到一年之后, 1798年9月, 19岁的周从约翰·博伊特新指挥的桅顶上摔下身亡, 这艘船 Mac然后在波士顿为一次航行做准备. 周杰伦自称是“深情的师父”,——约翰·博伊特, had him interred in Boston’s Central Burial Ground 和 supplied a large headstone in his honor (the inscription spells his name as “Chow”). Chou or Chow (Boit’s family knew him as “Libei”) was one of the first persons of Chinese ancestry to live in Boston—although briefly—和 to be buried here.

一次秘密航行公开了

Not all of John Boit’s logbooks are extant: in 1798 when Boit’s “faithful servant” Chou had his fatal fall from the masthead of the Mac, 博伊特正在船上准备一个秘密, 和 illegal slaving voyage to Africa 和 then on to Cuba—the traditional route of the notorious triangular trade. 有官方的记录 Mac’s arrival in Cuba in May 1799 after a harrowing voyage—only 206 of 244 enslaved captives survived the Atlantic crossing 和 almost one third of the survivors were children. 当这艘船返回美国时，博伊特的航行被公之于众. 根据1794年的奴隶贸易法案, 美国公民被禁止为进口奴隶的船只配备装备. Boit受到了公众媒体和媒体的严厉批评 Mac was seized 和 sold at auction in Bath, then in the District of Maine, in October 1799.

从海上回家

John Boit had a lengthy career as a ship captain that stretched into the 19th century, 作为一名波士顿商人，在岸上进行广泛的商业航行. In 1799, 他娶了纽波特的埃莉诺·琼斯, perhaps one of the “pretty girls of Newport” whom he had left behind when he sailed in the 联盟. They had seven children 和 divided the time that John spent ashore between Boston 和 Jamaica Plain. 约翰·博伊特于1829年在波士顿去世，终于从海上回到了家.