MANAGEMENT OF SHIPS. 95 



are lei down to close up any such holes, and to put in a fresh caulking. If the 

 ship draws so much water that it cannot be controlled by the piimps, it is the 

 duty of the chief caulker to give private notice of the fact to the commander. 



B. Manning of Merchant Vessels. 



In merchant vessels the discipline is by no means as strict as in men-of- 

 w^ar, as there is no military organization to be preserved, nor is there such 

 a large number of men to be kept in order. The captain has the chief 

 authority. Everything is governed by his orders, and he possesses the full 

 power of punishment. The first mate takes his place in all cases when the 

 captain is prevented from being at his post. It is his duty to communicate 

 the orders of the captain and see that they are obeyed. There is also a 

 second mate and a third mate, who strictly oversee the men, take charge 

 of the boats on landing, superintend weighing and casting the anchor, and, 

 in short, provide for the exact performance of all the duties of the vessel. 

 The sailors, owing to their limited number, which in merchant vessels is 

 always reduced to the lowest figure, perform in common the various duties 

 which are required at sea, since they would be too weak were they divided 

 into separate classes with special duties. 



Management of Ships. 



A. Management of Separate Ships. 



1. Navigation in General. The ocean is not everywhere the same, nor 

 is it the wind alone which changes its aspect. The different portions of the 

 sea, the sky which is reflected in it, its natural qualities and phenomena, 

 have their peculiar characteristics, which are not without influence on the 

 navigation in different seas. The icebergs which float in the polar latitudes 

 prevent us from reaching the poles. In those regions, calms and storms, fine 

 weather and tempests, alternate with each other in a single day. During 

 the summer, as it appears in these ungenial climates, the atmosphere is 

 warm and pleasant in a calm ; but the north wind rises, and an icy coldness 

 takes the place of the mild air. The moving ice stretches its long furrows 

 through the waves, and stares in strange and grotesque forms towards the 

 sky. When these mountains of ice approach each other, they form a circle, 

 within which the sea is quiet as in a harbor, while on the outside the waves 

 are raging with increased violence. A ship inclosed in such a basin of ice 

 {pi. '2Q,Jig. 3) lies as securely as in the best harbor, but woe to it when the 

 circle suddenly breaks up ! 



In the temperate climates the sea is kept in constant motion by the 

 chano-jncr winds. The waves from the north-west in the Atlantic Ocean 

 exercise their uniform rocking influence on ships sailing towards the Azores 

 until they come into the latitude of the trade winds between the tropics. 

 These are disturbed only by the equatorial currents, which separate the 

 north-east trade winds of our hemisphere from the south-east trade w^nds 

 of the southern hemisphere. Long days pass by without the surface of the 



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