512 MACHETECHNICS. 



position, or watch the time, for raking the other; that is, for firing 

 lengthwise of the antagonist ship, especially as she turns in tacking 

 or wearing ; such fires being very effective. It often happens, that 

 one of the two ships is so disabled, as to be obliged to haul down its 

 colors, in token of surrender, without coming in contact with the 

 other : if not, the last resort is boarding ; by running one ship afoul 

 of the other ; when the men fight hand to hand, with boarding pikes, 

 cutlasses, and small arms ; and headlong valor, oftener than numbers, 

 decides the contest. 



3. The Manoeuvres of Fleets, consist in the arranging of several 

 vessels in prescribed order ; and much resemble the evolutions of 

 artillery batteries, or of large bodies of troops. When several ves- 

 sels of war are to act in concert, it is of course necessary that they 

 should all be placed under one commander, who in foreign services 

 has the title of admiral, or, if commanding a squadron, that of com- 

 modore. The ship in which he sails, has a separate captain, like the 

 others ; and is called the flag ship, because it bears the flag of the 

 chief commander. His orders are conveyed to the other vessels, by 

 preconcerted signals ; which are usually small flags, pennons, or 

 streamers, of different colors, or in different positions of the rigging ; 

 and, in the night, lights, or rockets, or the firing of guns at prescribed 

 intervals of time. Fleets are often attended by transports, or store 

 ships ; and they sometimes act as convoys to merchantmen, when 

 their cargoes are of national value. 



Fleets often manceuvre in one or more columns ; all the ships 

 tacking, or making sail, or taking in sail at the same time : and the 

 distance between the ships may vary, from a cable's length, to a 

 third of the same, that is, from 120 to 40 fathoms, according to cir- 

 cumstances. When there are two or more columns, they should 

 be so far apart that a line drawn from the ship at one end of one 

 column, to the ship at the opposite end of the next, would make an angle 

 of two points, or 22, with the direction of either column. Gene- 

 rally, the van-guard forms the weather, or windward column; and 

 the rear-guard, the leeward column: but this order is sometimes 

 changed. Among the other orders of sailing, besides in line, the 

 triangular order, of the ancients, is perhaps the most important. The 

 particular evolutions by which the different ships preserve their pre- 

 scribed place, in these orders, we have no room here to describe. 



In the order of battle, the ships are generally drawn up in line ; 

 under easy sail, and on parallel courses. Here, as in the case of 

 single ships, it is deemed an advantage to have the weather-gage ; 

 though this is sometimes lost, even at the moment of engaging, by 

 an unforeseen change of the wind. The two fleets usually come 

 into action with the wind oblique, or nearly abeam ; and they formerly 

 arranged themselves in two parallel lines ; each ship exchanging 

 broadsides with those she passed, and perhaps finally engaging with 

 a single adversary. The more approved method is, as in Strategy, 

 to concentrate if possible an overwhelming force against one portion 

 of the enemy, and thus vanquish him peacemeal. A favorite manceu- 

 vre for this object, recommended, if not invented, by Mr. Clerk, is to 



