Captain Hall’s Remarks on the Utility of Chain-Cables. 319 
small vessels, with complements under 60 men, are supplied 
wholly with iron-cables. 
The method of using chain-cables in place of hempen ones, is 
daily better understood ; and their great value generally acknow- 
ledged, even by those who have not acquired a thorough know- 
ledge of all their merits. No ship,now-a-days, would be considered 
safe without at least one such cable. They are exceedingly 
convenient in practice, and are applicable, with certain modifica- 
tions, to almost every variety of circumstance. If once duly put 
to the proof, they may be relied upon, ever afterwards, with 
confidence ; and in this property consists their chief excellence 
over hemp. The value of an ordinary cable decreases with its 
age, even supposing it not to be in use. But if it be used at all, 
even in the least destructive cases, in fine weather, and in good 
anchoring ground, still it infallibly deteriorates ; — the mere wet- 
ting and drying, — the necessary wearing in the hause-hole, — the 
friction of the messenger and nippers, are all inevitable sources 
of destruction, which no care can exempt it from. Against 
all these evils, the chain is by its nature entirely free. This 
being the case, the method of estimating the relative strength 
of the two, by fixing a new cable to a new chain, and straining 
them till one or the other breaks is unfair. Let an old chain 
and an old hempen-cable be tried together, and what will be the 
result ? In point of fact, no such trials can ever afford a fair com- 
parison ; because the wear and tear of no two hempen-cables is 
alike. One may be in use six weeks, and be scarcely the worse ; 
while another may be rendered useless in six days, or in six 
hours ; under circumstances which no degree of professional 
skill can foresee, or guard against. While under the very same 
circumstances, the chain, if it stand the trial at all, may fairly 
be described as being better after the experiment than before ; 
inasmuch as the discipline it has undergone shews its powers. 
To ships cruizing in the Channel, within a few hours sail of 
a dock-yard, this consideration may be of little consequence ; 
for as soon as a cable is chafed, a new one may be procured. 
But on foreign stations, especially those without dock-yards, or 
where, as in South America, the stores required are not to be 
procured at any cost, the question becomes a vital one. There 
are many enterprises of the greatest pith and moment, which 
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