iaS Ohf creations on the Property of Ott 



faw an old failor, by this method, fave a fliip which was Oil 

 the point of foundering. One Day was indebted for hi» 

 own fafety, and that of his fliip, to half a ton of oil. Lin- 

 naeus* learned from Gronovius, that the Dutch captains who 

 frequented Greenland, and who were reproached with con- 

 cealing this property of oil, always carried fome cafks of it 

 with them when they went to (he whale-fifliery. The fiiher- 

 men of the Tcxcl caiTy oil with them for the like purpofe. 

 There is an inftance of a herrlng-bufs being faved by pouring 

 out oil ; while another, at the diftance of two or three hun- 

 dred fathoms, went to the bottom. Not only oil, under 

 which is to be undcrftood fat oil, fuch as olive oil, oil of 

 rape-feed, and linfced oil, may be employed for this pur- 

 pofe } but alfo fat animal fluids, fuch as train-oil, &;c. 

 Ethereal oils do not polTcfs the fame property : a (hip, for 

 example, laden with oil of turpentine, which fliould employ 

 it with the like view, w^ould certainly fail in its end. This 

 oil, however, diffufes itfelf very fpcedily over the furface of 

 the water ; but the covering it forms is fo thin that it is fe- 

 parated by the fmallcft external force. 



At Yarmouth the failors are unaninioufly of opinion, that 

 fat fubftances thrown into the fea prevent the agitation of 

 the waves. Pennant f mentions an cbfervation made re-. 

 fpefting feals by the fUliermen in Scotland. When thefe 

 animals eat any fat fifli, tlie fea in their neighbourhood is 

 uncomrhonly Itill; a circumllance which induces them to 

 fearch for them in fuch places. Sir John Pringle learned in 

 Scotland, that the fifliermen could difcover at a great dillance 

 places much frequented by herrings, as the fea, by the oily 

 fatnefs which thefe i\{[\ emit, has no apparent movement. 

 It is obferved at Rhode Iflaud, that the water in the harbour 

 of Newport is always calm and fiill as long as the Greenland 

 iliips remain there at anchor. The caufe of this is afcribed 



* Relfe durch W^eft^othland, p. 304.. 

 t BritiHi ZoQiogv, Vol. IV. 



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