SHIP. 



233 



feet from it, and extending from the stem as far 

 below the stern as can be reached at low water. 

 In this position they are carefully and firmly blocked 

 and supported throughout their length. This dou- 

 ble platform is called the ways. Upon it a second 

 system of timber is loosely laid, and well greased 

 between. The space from these last to the ship's 

 bottom is every where filled with wedges of soft 

 wood fashioned to its curves. The whole is called 

 the cradle. The extremities of the cradle at the 

 bow and stern are bound tightly across the keel 

 with chains or ropes, and it is further kept from 

 spreading by stout mouldings, which overlap the 

 outer edges of the ways. When the rising tide 

 has reached well up the ways, the wedges are simul- 

 taneously driven on every side, and the ship is 

 raised from the blocks on which she has hitherto 

 rested, and made to repose entirely on the cradle. 

 The shores are all removed except the two spurs 

 planted against the counters, and when the proper 

 moment has arrived, these are also knocked away. 

 The vessel, now abandoned to her weight, and en- 

 couraged by the yielding of the grease, begins 

 slowly falling along the inclined plane ; her motion 

 becomes at each moment more and more rapid; the 

 ways smoke and ignite with the pressure and velo- 

 city of the moving mass ; and, in a twinkling, the 

 noble fabric has abandoned for ever its union with 

 the land, and entered, careering and joyous, upon 

 its destined element. Among the ancients, a launch 

 was ever an occasion of great festivity. The mari- 

 ners were crowned with wreaths, and the ship be- 

 decked with streamers and garlands. Safely afloat, 

 she was purified with a lighted torch, an egg, and 

 brimstone, and solemnly consecrated to the god 

 whose image she bore. In our less poetic times, 

 there is no lack of feasting and merriment, though, 

 instead of the torch, the egg, and the brimstone, 

 the oldest sailor breaks a bottle of rum (unless, in- 

 deed, he may have slily substituted water as more 

 appropriate to a christening) over the head of the 

 emblem still, perchance, the image of father Nepi- 

 tune or Apollo. 



The moment the ship leaves the land, the build- 

 ers cease to be competent to her control, and she 

 passes at once to the hands of the seamen. Before 

 launching, the sailors stationed on deck hasten to 

 attach a small cable to some object on shore, and 

 have it clear on deck for veering out ; a small an- 

 chor, with a second cable, is also prepared to drop 

 on the bottom. By means of this apparatus, when 

 the velocity gained in descending the ways has de- 

 clined, the ship is gradually checked, and at length 

 drawn alongside of the wharf, which is to be the 

 scene of her equipment. And now, while she is 

 yet light and high out of water, is the most favour- 

 able time for shipping the rudder. The rudder is 

 a machine placed at the stern of the ship, by means 

 of which she is steered and turned about at plea- 

 sure; for by inclining it to one side, the passage of 

 the water is there strongly opposed, which, check- 

 ing the advance of that side, gives the other a ro- 

 tatory motion around it. It consists of two or 

 more pieces of timber, of the thickness of the 

 sternpost, of which, when not inclined, it seems a 

 continuation. Narrow at the water's edge, where 

 it might be endangered by the shock of a sea, and 

 with it the very existence of the ship, it gradually 

 increases in width towards the keel, where, from 

 the nearly straight line in which the water reaches 

 it, it exerts a more direct power to turn the ship. 

 From forty to forty-five degrees is the most favour- 



able angle for it to make with the keel, a greater 

 serving rather to retard velocity than to cause ro- 

 tation. To ship the rudder, it is only necessary to 

 attach weights of iron to the heel, so that they 

 may be loosed afterwards, and then sink it behind 

 the stcrnpost, guiding it with ropes to the rudder 

 port, through which it is hoisted by means of sheers 

 and tackle placed above. The pintals having 

 caught the hinges or gudgeons on the sternpost, it 

 is abandoned to their support, while a chock, placed 

 above the upper pintal, prevents it from being un- 

 hung. A tiller, with ropes and a wheel, to turn 

 the rudder, completes the steering apparatus. Be- 

 fore raising the masts, it will now be well to take 

 in ballast, especially if the ship be sharp. In every 

 merchant vessel, it is a good rule never to be with- 

 out a small quantity of copper dross or shingle. 

 And next, the sheers are got ready. They are 

 two stout spars, having the large ends at the sides 

 of the ship, the small ones being lashed firmly to- 

 gether, and overhanging the middle of the deck. 

 They are lashed and rigged with guys and gantlings 

 before being raised; the ends rest on the tafierel, 

 and the tackle to be used in hoisting in the mast, 

 being taken forward to the windlass, serves to 

 raise them. If it be necessary, a small pair of 

 sheers are used to lift the ends until the angle be 

 sufficiently open to give power to the purchase.* 

 When erect, they are first placed over the hole for 

 the mizzen-mast, and, if the ship be large, the deck 

 should be shored up, to relieve it of the weight of 

 the sheers and mast. Overhauling your tackle 

 down to where the mast is on the wharf, or in the 

 water, you lash the lower block securely to the 

 front of the mast, just above the centre of gravity. 

 With this, and a smaller tackle or gantling to the 

 mast-head, the mast is taken up abaft the sheers, 

 until high enough, then lowered to its place, the 

 step being tarred, and a piece of money thrown in 

 for luck. The sheers are easily moved forward by 

 their guys and tackles, the shoes in which their 

 heels rest being greased, to slip over the deck. In 

 this way the main and fore-masts are likewise taken 

 in, and, the sheers being drooped over the bows, 

 lastly, the bow-sprit. 



There are various rules for sparring ships, all 

 founded upon their length and breadth, which are 

 the main elements of stability. It may be suffi- 

 cient to name one simple rule for the length of the 

 main-mast, this being the prime mover : Add the 

 length at the load water-line to the main breadth, 

 and take the half sum as the length of the mast. 

 The top-mast may be three fifths of the lower 

 mast, the main yard seven eighths of the same, and 

 so on upwards. The fore-mast may equal seven 

 eighths of the main, with upper masts and yards in 

 proportion. The mizzen-mast, if stepped on the 

 kelson, is five sixths of the main-mast. The best 

 rules on this subject are, perhaps, found in tables 

 accurately prepared, in which the lengths of the 

 masts are given in fractions of the ship's breadth, 

 and those of the yards in fractions of the length. 

 For the rest, it will be, in most cases, necessary to 

 modify any given rule, in all instances, with imme- 

 diate reference to the particular model of the ship, 

 and to the uses for which she is destined. A ves- 

 sel of war will have spars to spread sail to the full 

 extent of her stability, while a merchantman will 

 be sparred with reference to the limited force of 



* There is a variety of forma of rigging ships, brigs, brip- 

 antines, schooners, sloops, but we shall only notice the most 

 esteemed form, called the ship par excellence. 



