MARITIME OBSERVATIONS. 305 
which are oppofed to each other perfectly parallel, though 
the other fides are formed as in common thus, figure ro. 
The building of a double fhip would indeed be more 
expenfive in proportion to her burthen; and that perhaps 
is fufficient to difcourage the method. _ 
The accident of fire is generally well guarded againft 
by the prudent captain’s ftrict orders again{t {moking be- 
tween decks, or carrying a candle there out of a lanthorn. 
But there is one dangerous practice which frequent terrible 
accidents have not yet been fufficient to abolith ; that of 
carrying ftore-fpirits to fea in cafks. Two large fhips, the 
Seraphis and the Duke of Athol, one an Eaft-Indiaman, 
the other a frigate, have been burnt within thefe two laft 
years, and many lives miferably deftroyed, by drawing 
fpirits out of a cafk nearacandle. It is high time to make 
it a general rule, that all the fhip’s ftore of fpirits fhould: 
be carried in bottles. 
The misfortune by a ftroke of lightning I have in my 
former writings endeavoured to fhow a method of guard= 
ing againft, by a chain and pointed rod, extending, when 
run up, from above the top of the maft to the fea. Thefe 
inftruments are now made and fold at a reafonable price 
by Nazrne and Co. in London, and there are feveral in- 
ftances of fuccefs attending the ufe of them. They are 
kept in a box, and may be run up and fixed in about five: 
minutes, on the apparent approach of a thunder guft. 
Of the meeting and fhocking with other fhips in the 
night, I have known two inftances in voyages between 
London and America. In one both fhips arrived though 
much damaged, each reporting their belief that the other 
muft have gone to the bottom. In the other, only one 
got to port; the other was never afterwards heard of. 
Thefe inftances happened many years ago, when the com- 
merce between Europe and America was not a tenth part 
of what it is at prefent, fhips of courfe thinner fcattered, 
and the chance of meeting proportionably lefs. It has long 
been, 
