388 
ODESSA. 
chap, dangerous 1 . Shallows, hitherto unnoticed in 
— j any chart, occur frequently when vessels are 
out of sight of land; dreadful storms take place 
so suddenly, and with such fury, that every 
mast is carried overboard almost as soon as the 
first symptom of a change of weather is noticed. 
Perhaps more skilful sailors might guard against 
danger from the winds : it has more than once 
happened, when the Russian fleet put to sea, 
that the ships commanded by Admirals Prieslman 
and Wilson were the only vessels that escaped 
being dismasted : yet even those experienced 
officers described the Black Sea as being some- 
times agitated by tempests more fearful than 
any thing they had encountered in the Ocean. 
Many vessels were lost during the year when 
(l) This truth, founded on the experience of ages, and admitted by 
the ablest writers of antiquity, might seem sufficiently well established. 
But modern authors, instigated by the example of Tourncfort, are 
determined to set aside testimony so respectable. That a very conside- 
rable part of the danger encountered in navigating the Black Sea is 
owing to the want of proper charts and able mariners, cannot be 
disputed; yet, from its very nature, and the heights around, it is 
necessarily liable to dark fogs and violent squalls ; consequently, the 
proximity of a lee shore and shallows cannot be destitute of peril. Vet 
we are told, “It is a notion received from the Turks, that the Black 
Sea is dangerous. To them, indeed, it is truly black ; and it would 
even be so to British sailors, in such vessels as the Turks use, and 
which are peculiar to that sea : they cannot lie to, and are conse- 
quently obliged to run before the wind, and, if they miss a port, go 
ou shore. It is not more stormy than other seas.” Survey oj Ike 
Turkish Empire, Fourth edit. Introd, Chap. Lond. 1809. 
