168 On a ncic method of lieshipp'my a Builder al Sea. 



Let us now suppose the ship's rudder to be carried away. 

 In general, the rudder is only unshipped, and can be reco- 

 vered by means of the rudder chains ; when this is the case 

 bring the rudder upon deck. But if the rudder is totally 

 lost, make use of a spare one, which can be easily carried in 

 separate pieces ; or in default of this, rig up a rudder of 

 spars and ropes on Captain Pakenham's, or on any other 

 easier plan. Having your rudder upon deck, let a hole be 

 bored through the heel, and in such a part as will corres- 

 pond with the hole in the stern post when the rudder is in its 

 proper position. Through the hole in the rudder work a 

 grommet, either of rope or whe, but very strong, for this 

 grommet must traverse freely in the hole. Now bring in 

 over the quarter an end of each rope, rove through the stern 

 post, and make both fast to the grommet in the heel of the 

 rudder. Then drop a guy rope through the rudder case, and 

 bring the end in over the quarter, and make it fast to the 

 head of the rudder. All is now prepared. Heave your rud- 

 der overboard, haul upon the guy made fast to the rudder- 

 head (this will lead it to the rudder-case), and rouse in the 

 slack of the rudder heel-ropes. Bring the rudder-head up 

 the rudder-case, and, when high enough, haul taut and belay 

 your heel-ropes. The I'udder-head guy-rope, which should 

 be a strong one, may be now made fast to a spar going across 

 the deck, or a frame-work may be made above the rudder- 

 head, to which the head-rope may be fixed ; this is to support 

 the weight of the rudder, and thus take off the strain from 

 the heel-ropes. But in a two-decked ship, as in a ship of war, 

 the head rope may be fixed to a carline between the beams 

 of the deck, immediately above the rudder-head. Every 

 thing is now in its place, and the rudder is quite as secure, 

 if not more so, than when the ship left her port. 



Those gentlemen in this Society who are seamen will im- 

 mediately perceive the advantages of my plan ; but to those 

 who are not, I may as well state that the great objection to 

 all plans before suggested for reshipping a rudder is the diffi- 

 culty of keeping the heel of the rudder down ; this arises from 

 several causes, viz., its own buoyancy, the ship's forward 

 motion, and the action of the waves. All these causes combine 



