DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHIPS. 83 



resist the ice. They are well supplied with spare boats as a provision 

 against the numerous casualties to which they are exposed. 



Large three-masters, called ^w^es, are built in Holland and Hamburg for 

 the whale fishery, round at stem and stern, and very flat throughout. The 

 masts are short in proportion, and the ships sail too slow for merchantmen. 

 In the South Sea, as it is a great distance to the fisheries, fast-sailing vessels 

 are used, carrying presses and kettles, in order to press out the blubber on 

 the spot. For the herring fishery a kind of vessel is used called a huss, 

 which has a main-mast with a main-sail, a top-sail, a stay-sail, and a mizen- 

 mast with a half mizen-sail. The nets for taking the herring are dragged 

 by the ship, and when filled are brought in by the windlass. 



Coasting vessels are used for the coast fisheries as well as for the coast- 

 ing trade, for which latter purpose they are built lighter, and rigged for 

 rapid sailing. For the fisheries they are built heavier, in order to stand 

 a rough sea. PL 15, Jig. 4, is a French coaster fitted out as a fisherman. 

 Smaller vessels are caWed Jishing-smacks. Fig. 2 is a Havre de Grace vessel 

 of this kind. Fig. 3 is a vessel used in the Mediterranean as a coaster, 

 and sometimes for longer freighting voyages, as they are of a good size and 

 are well rigged. PL 11, Jig. 2, is the forward part of a Normandy fishing- 

 smack. PL 15, Jig. 1, is a Newfoundland fisherman. 



Slave ships (Jig. 11) are vessels which purchase slaves on the coast of 

 Africa in order to sell them again in other parts of the world, especially in 

 the West Indies and South America. They are usually brigs and schooners ; 

 they must be fast sailers, and therefore have large masts and sails. They 

 must also be of a broad build, for the sake of room in the hold. As much 

 has been done by the English to prevent the slave trade, recourse is often 

 had to the most cruel measures in order to carry as many slaves as possible 

 in one vessel, and at the same time to conceal the real character of the 

 freight. The forward and after part of the hold is consequently used for 

 the stowage of goods, while the slaves are packed together amidships in 

 crowded masses. The decks are divided by planks at half their height into 

 two layers, so that two tiers of slaves can sit and lie over each other in the 

 same part of the deck, for standing is impossible. The French brig Vigilante 

 was captured, in 1822, with 345 slaves in the middle hold, part of them lying 

 down and a part sitting, like the Turks, with their legs folded under them. 

 They were all chained together in couples, and also chained to the ship in 

 rows, the chain passing through a ring in their iron collars. 



Emigrant ships (pL 16, Jig. 5) are merchantmen which, with the recent 

 increase of emigration, are arranged with special reference to this object. 

 They are for the most part three-deckers. The principal object being to 

 transport passengers, and the carrying of freight being incidental whenever 

 the number of emigrants leaves any spare room, the between-deck is divided 

 into small berths, and the cabin fitted up with more or less comfortable 

 state rooms, for which the richer class of passengers are willing to pay 

 a higher fare. 



735 



