CHAPTER IV. 



OILING THE WAVES. 



THE recent gales have shown that if " Britannia rules the 

 waves" her subjects are very turbulent and costly. Our ship- 

 ping interests are now of enormous magnitude, and they are 

 growing year by year. We are, in fact, becoming the world's 

 carriers on the ocean, and are thus ruling the waves in a far 

 better sense than in the old one. Our present mercantile rule 

 adds to the wealth of our neighbors, instead of destroying it, 

 as under the old warlike rule. 



Everything concerning these waves is thus of great national 

 interest, the loss of life and sacrifice of wealth by marine 

 casualties being so great. Some curious old stories are extant, 

 describing the exploits of ancient mariners in stilling the waves 

 by pouring oil upon them. Both Plutarch and Pliny speak of 

 it as a regular practice. Much later than this, in a letter dated 

 Batavia, January 5th, 1770, written by M. Tengragel, and 

 addressed to Count Bentinck, the following passage occurs : 

 ** Near the islands Paul and Amsterdam we met with a storm, 

 which had nothing particular in it worthy of being communi- 

 cated to you, except that the captain found himself obliged, 

 for greater safety in wearing the ship, to pour oil into the sea 

 to prevent the waves breaking over her, which had an excellent 

 effect, and succeeded in preserving us. As he poured out but 

 a little at a time, the East India Company owes, perhaps, its 

 ship to only six demi-aumes of olive oil. I was present on 

 deck when this was done, and should not have mentioned this 

 circumstance to you, but that we have found people here so 

 prejudiced against the experiment as to make it necessary for 

 the officers on board and myself to give a certificate of the 

 truth on this head, of which we made no difficulty." 



The idea was regarded with similar prejudice by scientific 

 men until Benjamin Franklin had his attention called to it, as 

 he thus narrates : "In 1757, being at sea in a fleet of ninety- 

 six sail, bound for Louisburg, I observed the wakes of two of 

 the ships to be remarkably smooth, while all the others were 

 ruffled by the wind, which blew fresh. Being puzzled with 



