WHY A FILM OF OIL CAN CALM THE SEA. 495 



small canvas bag with, oakum, saturated with the same kind of 

 oil, and towed it by a line from the weather bow of the vessel so 

 that it would drift several fathoms to windward. The vessel now 

 rode much more easily and could be kept head to sea. Moreover, 

 no water came on board, and the sea was without breaking crests 

 for thirty yards to windward of her. I feel no hesitancy in stat- 

 ing that, with the proper use of oil, I shall be perfectly willing to 

 encounter the hardest gale that ever blew ; and intend at the first 

 opportunity, to stop the engines, place several oil bags to wind- 

 ward, and let the vessel drift as she will. I feel sure that the 

 vessel will be safe under these conditions." 



Captain Bower, while on a voyage from New York to the Medi- 

 terranean last December in the steamship Ponca, encountered a 

 strong gale with very high seas. He says: "The vessel was 

 deeply laden with grain and became unmanageable. We were 

 running before the seas and shipping large quantities of water, 

 until two small bags filled with colza oil were put over on each 

 side of the bridge. This oil was found to be too light and of little 

 use ; but after olive oil was put in the bags no more water was 

 shipped and the decks became almost as dry as in fine weather, 

 although the gale continued for two days. The vessel was draw- 

 ing twenty-six and a half feet of water, and, if we had not used 

 oil, I do not think she could have withstood the storm." 



Captain William Peake, master of the schooner J. F. Krantz, 

 while making a passage from Port Spain, Trinidad, to Boston, met 

 a terrific gale off Cape Hatteras and had the following experience : 

 " The sails were blown away, men washed from the pumps, and 

 boats and other things above the deck wrecked by the heavy seas. 

 I was compelled to head southward and scud under bare poles. 

 Then I thought of oil, and determined to see what effect it would 

 have on the sea. Two wooden, ten-gallon kegs, containing boiled 

 linseed oil, were lashed to the quarters of the vessel. The oil was 

 allowed to ooze out through two small holes in the heads of the 

 kegs. The effect was all that could be desired. After the oil had 

 spread, no water came on board, the men returned to the pumps, 

 the vessel was pumped out, and the decks were cleaned up. Dur- 

 ing the sixteen hours in which oil was used eight gallons were 

 expended." 



An examination of thousands of reports like the preceding 

 ones demonstrates that a small quantity, say two quarts per hour, 

 of the thick and heavy oils, especially those of animal and vege- 

 table origin, when allowed to drop into the sea soon spreads over 

 its surface, forming an oily layer within the area of which the 

 waves, instead of breaking, become huge rollers upon which the 

 vessels rise and fall without shocks and without shipping any 

 water. 



