CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



wind becomes too powerful, certain sails are taken 

 in altogether, and others partly reefed, or fastened 

 up to their respective yards, so as to reduce the 

 area of canvas exposed. Bracing the yards and 

 reefing the sails are among the nicest points of 

 seamanship. 



When there are neither currents to be taken 

 advantage of nor land to be kept away from, the 

 captain's aim is to navigate his ship in the line 

 which is the shortest distance between the port 

 from which he departs and that to which he is 

 going. Unfavourable winds, however, and other 

 causes generally compel him to deviate from the 

 straight track. In order to make the best use of 

 the wind, it is often necessary to sail in a zigzag 

 direction, alternately to right and left ; this is called 

 tacking. When the ship is tacking towards the 

 left, and the wind consequently on the right, she 

 is said to be on the starboard tack ; and when she 

 is tacking towards the right, on the larboard m 

 fort tack. A ship, except when the wind is dead 

 astern, does not sail exactly in the direction of her 

 keel, but deviates a little towards the side which 

 is opposite to the wind. The angle contained be- 

 tween the real and apparent direction is called lee- 

 way. We may here mention that the right-hand 

 side of a ship, looking forward, is called the star- 

 board side ; and the left hand the port, or larboard 

 side. The weather-side is that next the wind, 

 and the lee-side that furthest from it. 



The manoeuvring of a ship, tacking, shortening 

 sail, &c. is comparatively easy work in fine 

 weather, but in a storm calls out all the skill of the 

 captain, and all the energies of his crew, and 

 often requires great personal daring. Ropes 

 called footlines hang underneath each of the yards 

 of the larger sails. The sailors, when the order 

 is given to reef the sail, station themselves on 

 these, holding on by the yard, and leaning over it, 

 and gradually haul up the sail and make it fast to 

 the yard. It is an operation demanding steadi- 

 ness and nerve, when the ship is merely sailing on 

 smooth water ; but when she is plunging headlong 

 into every wave, or heeling over until the tip of 

 the yard almost touches the water, reefing topsails 

 is work which one does not care to watch, and at 

 which many lives have been lost. Many patents 

 have been taken out for reefing the sails from the 

 deck without the necessity of going aloft at all, 

 and some of these have come largely into use. 

 The highest and smallest sails are those which, 

 when it becomes necessary to shorten sail, are 

 taken in first, and as the wind increases, the lower 

 ones are also reefed or taken in. The after-sails 

 too, for various reasons, are taken in before the 

 forward ones. In very heavy gales, it is some- 

 times necessary to take in the whole from stem to 

 stern, leaving nothing but the bare poles exposed 

 to the wind. 



The most important instrument for the guid- 

 ance of the mariner is unquestionably the compass. 

 The one most generally in use on shipboard is 

 of the following construction : a magnetised bar of 

 steel, called the needle, is supported horizontally 

 on a central pivot, round which it is free to move 

 and point in any direction. A circular card (fig. 

 n), like the dial of a clock, is fixed to the needle 

 so as always to move along with it, and round this 

 card are marked 32 equidistant points. The four 

 cardinal points, north, south, east, and west, are 

 indicated by their initials respectively; while the 



460 



subordinate ones are marked by various letters, 

 as NbE for north-by-east, NNE for north-north- 

 east ; and so on. To recite the thirty-two points 

 is called ' boxing the compass.' 



The card and needle are fixed in a round box 

 with a glass face, both to secure them from the 



Fig. ii. 



agitation of the atmosphere, and to exclude dust, 

 moisture, and other things which might interfere 

 with the correctness of the indications. The 

 whole is enclosed in another box suspended by 

 two concentric brass circles, or gimbals, in such 

 a manner that the compass hangs on points like 

 a swivel, so that no matter how the ship moves, 

 the needle and card remain in the horizontal 

 plane. The compass thus incased is placed 

 upon deck in a covered brass stand called the 

 binnacle, in front of the man at the helm, so that 

 he can constantly see in what direction his ship 

 is going. 



The magnetic needle does not point (at most 

 places on the surface of the globe) due north. 

 The direction in which it does point varies in 

 different latitudes, and varies also from year to 

 year, and even (to a very small extent) at differ- 

 ent hours of the day. In this country the needle 

 points about 25 to the west of north. 



As the needle is liable to be affected by the 

 proximity of iron, no piece of that metal is used 

 in the construction of the binnacle, or allowed to 

 be near it when it can be avoided. In iron vessels, 

 very great care has to be taken in adjusting the 

 compasses, so that their indication may not be 

 rendered unreliable. 



Provided with a compass, the next object of 

 importance is the log, an instrument for measuring 

 the rate at which the vessel moves through the 

 water in a given space of time. The log is a very 

 simple contrivance, consisting of a long piece of 

 cord, to Avhich bits of coloured cloth called knots 

 are attached at intervals, and having at one end 

 a triangular piece of wood called the chip. The 

 chip is loaded with lead, so as to make it 

 float upright in the water. A sand-glass, running 

 out in 15 or 30 seconds, is used along with the 



