SHIP. 



237 



cs the wind increases, the energy which it exerts in 

 a forward direction upon the masts, tends, with a 

 powerful lever, to depress the bow and raise the 

 stern; hence the latter drifts more easily to lee- 

 ward, thereby bringing the bow towards the wind ; 

 this effort is also promoted by the action of the 

 sails passing farther to leeward, and by the ship 

 ceasing to sail on an even keel. From all these 

 reasons, the more the wind increases, the more she 

 tends to come to; so, to avoid a constant recur- 

 rence to the action of the rudder, it becomes ne- 

 cessary to shorten sail faster aft than forward; tak- 

 ing in the mizzen-top-gallant-sail, and even the 

 spanker, before the fore and main-top-gallant-sails : 

 for the same reason, when it becomes necessary to 

 reef, it is not unusual to begin with the mizzen- 

 top-sail. Reefing consists in binding a portion of 

 the sails to their respective yards, so as to reduce 

 the surface. To reef the top-sails, we clew the 

 yards down, haul up the sides of the sails by means 

 of reef-tackles, and brace the yards to the wind, 

 until the sails shiver and spill ; then the men go 

 out on the yard, and, by means of the earings and 

 reef-points, securely bind the requisite portion. 

 When the top-sails are double-reefed, it is time for 

 the jib to come in to relieve the jib-boom and fore- 

 top-mast of the pressure: to counterbalance the 

 loss of this head sail, the mizzen-top-sail may be 

 furled. When the top-sails are close-reefed, the 

 main-sail is either reefed or furled. As the gale 

 increases, furl the fore-top-sail; taking care to 

 draw up the weather clew first, that the sail may 

 not be in danger of shaking and blowing away. 

 Our ship is now under reefed fore-sail, main-top- 

 sail close-reefed, fore-top-mast-stay-sail, and storm 

 stay-sails ; these are stout triangular sails, running 

 in the direction of the fore, main, and mizzen-stays ; 

 they are often advantageously replaced by gaff- 

 sails, which are similar to the spanker. Should it 

 blow still harder, it may be necessary to take in 

 the fore sail, replace the fore-top-mast by the storm 

 stay-sail, and even furl the main-top-sail. The ship 

 now drifts much, and, tending to fall off, from her' 

 greater draught abaft, and consequent resistance 

 of the water, will require the reefed spanker, 

 and even the continued assistance of the rudder, 

 to keep her to: the helm being kept constant- 

 ly hard down, she is said to lie to. This is 

 the way in which most ships make the best wea- 

 ther; some, however, tend so much to fall off 

 into the trough of the sea, as to be in perpetual 

 risk of being boarded by the waves (which wash 

 the boats and other movables loose, sweep the crew 

 overboard, to creep up the sides again by the chan- 

 nels, or find a watery grave), and, if the hatches 

 be not well secured, of having her existence fatally 

 endangered. In this case, it may become necessary 

 to bear up and scud. To do this with least risk, it 

 is necessary to show the head of the fore-top-mast- 

 stay-sail, or part of the fore-sail or fore-top-sail ; tak- 

 ing ad vantage of a momentary lull and smoothness of 

 the sea to bear away. The after sails are taken in 

 on putting up the helm, and it may even be neces- 

 sary to cut away the mizzen-mast. When before 

 the wind, sufficient sail must be spread to keep the 

 ship before the waves, that they may not overtake 

 and strike her with too much force ; the main-top- 

 sail, from its height, is never becalmed by the sea, 

 and is therefore a good sail to scud under. At such 

 a season, special care must be taken to provide for 

 the security of guns, boats, and other moveables, 

 liable to tear themselves loose ; also that the pump- 



well be sounded at short intervals, to have timely 

 notice of a leak. Too often the ship yields to the 

 fury of the elements, disappearing for ever, with all 

 her treasures of property and of life; oftener, how- 

 ever, the elements become weary with their own 

 violence, and man remains triumphant; the gale 

 abates; the mariners, all alacrity, send up the 

 masts and yards which they had housed and taken 

 down on the approach of the tempest; the reefs 

 are all shaken out, and sail is added, to keep the 

 ship from labouring in the still raging waves. Hope 

 mounts with the ascending canvass: and now the 

 wind, become less wayward, again permits us to 

 turn the prow towards the haven whither we would 

 arrive : the wings, whose spreading and furling are 

 ever the signal to the mariner of joy or of sorrow, 

 are once more wide extended ; every spot is white 

 with the bellying canvass, the sea foams beneath the 

 bow, and we bound merrily towards the land. 



And are we not justified in expressing our admira- 

 tion at this great achievement of man the produc- 

 tion of this wonderful machine the most compli- 

 cated, most perfect, sublimest of all the works of art? 

 If it be well said that man is the noblest work of 

 God, it may with equal truth be asserted that the 

 ship is the noblest work of man. Our language has in- 

 deed done well in awarding to her the honours of per- 

 sonification.* It were a vain task to attempt enum- 

 erating the various geometrical problems involved in 

 her design, or the multiplied mechanical principles 

 combined in her construction. Let us only, for- 

 getting all we know, endeavour for a moment to 

 realize the immeasurable distance and difficulties 

 between the trees growing in the forest, the iron 

 and copper buried deep in the bowels of the earth, 

 the hemp waving in the fields, the tar sealed up in 

 its timber, and the actual achievement of the sail- 

 ing ship? Yet a very short time a single month 

 suffices to transform these rude productions into 

 the magnificent machine, which, notwithstanding 

 its mountain form, obeys each command of the 

 mariner ; goes from the wind, towards it, halts, or 

 redoubles its velocity, obedient to his voice; in 

 which he launches boldly forth amid the horrors of 

 a troubled ocean; braves them successfully, con- 

 ducted by the inspirations of a sublime philosophy; 

 attains the most distant shores; accomplishes his 

 purpose, and returns, enriched, enlightened and 

 triumphant, to his home. For the sequel of this 

 subject, see Navigation, and Navy. 



In plate LXXXII, will be found representations 

 of various kinds of vessels a man of war, a frigate, 

 a merchantman, a brig, a schooner, a lugger, a sloop, 

 a xebec, a wherry and a galley. Some of these are 

 described under their proper heads. A man of war 

 belongs to the largest class of war vessels; & frigate 

 to the secondary class. A merchantman represents 



* It is a peculiarity of the English language to apply the 

 feminine pronouns to a vessel ; in fact the illiterate in England 

 have a peculiar inclination to give the feminine gender to in- 

 animate objects. Carpenters, moving a large piece of timber, 

 will say, Here she comes ; a sailor calls his watch she. The 

 navy, in England, being a subject of universal interest and 



Eride, peculiarities in the language of seamen would be more 

 kely to come into general use, than the cant phrases of other 

 ObMM*. The mower calls his scythe the; but this was never 

 admitted into good language. Mr Cobbett, in his Grammar of 

 the English Language, Letter V, says ' It is curious to ob- 

 serve that country labourers give the feminine appellations to 

 those things only which are more closely identified with them- 

 selves, and by the qualities and condition of which their own 

 efforts and their character as workmen are effected. The 

 mower calls his scythe the; the ploughman calls his plough she; 

 but a prong, or a shovel, or a harrow, which passes promiscu- 

 ously from hand to hand, and which is appropriated to no par- 

 ticular labourer, is called he," &c. The Scotch Highlanders 

 even use the feminine pronoun for male persons, as our readers 

 Know from Scott's novels. 



