i *88 ] 
Rtceived February r, 1770, 
XVII. A Letter to Dr . Benjamin Franklin, 
F. R. S. giving an Account of the Ap- 
pearance of Lightning on a Conduclor fxed 
from the Summit of the Mainmafl of a Ship , 
down to the Water : By Capt . J. L. Winn. 
S I R, 
Read March 29, T is a common, and, I am afraid, juft 
1 "°’ complaint, that feamen are exceed- - 
ingly backward in availing themfelves of the dif- 
coveries which men of fcience have made, and the 
directions which they have given for their benefit 
and fafety. Notwithftanding the pains feveral emi- 
nent philofophers have taken, to bring conductors 
into general ufe, as well in (hips as houles ; it is too 
true that very few veflels are furnithed with them, 
though fcarce a year paffes, that does not afford us 
inftances (fome of them terrible ones), of (hips being 
(truck by lightening : for my part, I am never with- 
out a conductor in my (hip. I have had them of 
various conftruCtions : that which I now ufe, is a 
chain of copper wire, as defcribed in the annexed 
plate. That fuch a chain, fo diipofed, may conduCt the 
lightening, and prevent a firoke that might deffroy a 
(hip, has often been demonftrated ; but a circum- 
(tance 
