?64 S C H A 
bodies of water, are the habitations of the gods, and not 
themselves animated. They have, however, a great variety 
of subordinate deities, whom they invoke for different pur¬ 
poses, viz., one for health, another for their cattle, another 
when they travel, another for the women, another for their 
children, another for their reindeer, &c. &c. &c.; thinking 
that particular spirits preside over, and have the care of them. 
But though they have goddesses, as well as gods, they do 
not believe that they are married. These spirits they suppose 
appear to their priests in the form of bears, serpents, or owls ; 
and on this account they have a particular respect for those 
animals. 
SCHAMBECK. See Sambok. 
SCHAMHE, a river of West Florida, which runs into the 
Pensacola bay. Lat. 30. 28. N. long. 87. 12. W. 
SCHAMS, or Schamserthal, one of the principal val¬ 
leys of the Grison country. It about 6 miles in length, but is 
narrow, and surrounded by lofty mountains. It contains 
3000 inhabitants, and is highly romantic. 
SCHANCK, Cape, a cliffy head, with three rocks lying 
off it, on the south coast of New' Holland, and the west point 
of the principal entrance into Western Fort. Lat. 38. 30. S. 
long. 144. 53. E. 
SCHANCK (John), Admiral of the Blue, was born about 
the year 1746, went to sea early in life, and was for some 
time in the merchant service. In the year 1757, he served 
in a man-of-war, the Elizabeth, of 74 guns, commanded by 
Sir Hugh Palliser. This officer was appointed at this time 
to cruize between Cape Clear and Cape Finisterre; and 
when he afterwards removed to another ship, Mr. Schanck 
accompanied him in the capacity of master’s mate. We 
next find Mr. Schanck in the Emerald frigate. Captain (af¬ 
terwards Sir Charles) Douglas, with whom he went to the 
North Cape of Lapland, in order to observe the transit of 
Venus; an intention, however, which the prevailing gloomi¬ 
ness of the weather prevented. 
About the year 1771, our officer joined the Princess Ame¬ 
lia, of 80 guns, fitting for the flag of Sir George B. Rodney, 
'who had recently been appointed to the command on the 
Jamaica station. In the month of June, 1776, after a labo¬ 
rious service of eighteen years’ continuance, Mr. Schanck 
was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and appointed to 
the Canceaux, an armed schooner, employed on the river 
St. Lawrence. This command he nominally retained for a 
considerable time; we say nominally, for almost immedi¬ 
ately after the commencement of the war in Canada, the 
late Admiral Vandeput, with whom he had served as a mid¬ 
shipman in India, and who had conceived a just idea of his 
talents, recommended him as a proper person to fit out a 
flotilla, to act against the revolted colonists on the Lakes; 
in consequence of which he was appointed superintendent 
of the naval department of St. John’s, and in the year fol¬ 
lowing received a second commission, nominating him to 
the elevated station of senior officer of the naval department 
in that quarter. In fact, he might have been truly called 
the civil commander-in-chief, all the conjunct duties of the 
Admiralty and Navy Board being vested in him. The force 
under his direction was considerable; no less than four dif¬ 
ferent flotillas, or squadrons of small vessels, being at one 
time subject to his direction in the civil line. His exertions 
and merit were so conspicuous, as to draw forth the highest 
encomiums from the admiral commanding on the station, 
particularly on account of the celerity and expedition with 
which he constructed a ship of above 300 tons, called the 
Inflexible, the presence of which on the Lakes struck with 
terror the American fleet. The Inflexible was originally put 
on the stocks at Quebec; her floors were all laid, and some 
timbers in; the whole, namely, the floor's, keel, stem, and 
stern, were then taken down, and carried up the St Law¬ 
rence to Chamblais, and thence to St. John’s. Her keel was 
laid, for the second time, on the morning of the 2d Septem¬ 
ber; and by sunset, not only the above-mentioned parts 
were laid and fixed, but a considerable quantity of fresh 
timber was, in the course of the same day, cut out, and 
formed into futtocks, top-timbers, beams, planks, &c. On 
N C K. 
the 30th September, being twenty-eight days from the period 
when the keel was laid, the Inflexible was launched; and 
on the evening of the 1st October she actually sailed, com¬ 
pletely manned, victualled, and equipped for service. In 
ten days afterwards this vessel was engaged with the enemy; 
so that it may be said, without the smallest -exaggeration of 
Lieutenant Schanck’s merits, that he built, rigged, and com¬ 
pleted a ship, which fought and beat her enemy, in less than 
six weeks from the commencement of her construction. 
Exclusively of the armament's which he had fitted out and 
equipped for service on the Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and 
Michigan, Lieutenant Schanck had the direction of four dif¬ 
ferent dock-yards at the same time, situated at St. John’s, 
Quebec, Carleton Island, and Detroit. In all these multifa¬ 
rious branches and divisions of public duty, his diligence and 
zeal were equalled only by the strict attention which he paid, 
on all occasions, to the economical expenditure of the public 
money ; a rare and highly honourable example, particularly 
at that time of day, when peculation and plunder were 
charges by no means uncommon, and when the opportuni¬ 
ties which he possessed of enriching himself, without danger 
of incurring complaint, or risking discovery, were perhaps 
unprecedented. His services on this occasion were not solely 
confined to the naval department. When General Burgoyne 
arrived from England, and placed himself at the head of a 
formidable army, by means of which, in co-operation with 
other assistance, it was expected that America would be 
completely subdued, Lieutenant Schanck’s talents were again 
called into exertion. In a country so frequently intersected 
by creeks, rivulets, streams, and rapid rivers, the progress of 
troops was liable to an endless variety of obstructions. It is 
usual in Europe to make use of pontoons on similar occa¬ 
sions; but these were not always to be obtained in America, 
and even when procured became cumbersome and inconve¬ 
nient in a forest, as they were to be carried through swamps 
and woods, sometimes impervious to waggons. To obviate 
the inconvenience to which General Burgoyne was subjected 
on this account. Lieutenant Schanck became not only the 
inventor, but the constructor of several floating bridges, by 
which the progress of the army was materially aided, and 
without which it would have been, in all probability, totally 
impeded much sooner than it really was. They were so 
constructed as to be capable of navigating themselves; and 
were not only equipped with masts and sails for that purpose, 
but, having been built at the distance of seventy miles from 
Crown-Point, were actually conveyed thither without diffi¬ 
culty, for the purpose of forming a bridge at that place. 
The glorious defeat of General Burgoyne’s attempt at the 
subjugation of the colonies is well known; and it is almost 
unnecessary to remark, that the floating bridges, like the 
army destined to pass over them, were soon in the power of 
the enemy. 
Schanck’s services, however, could not but be followed 
by correspondent rewards; and we accordingly find him 
promoted, first to the rank of commander, and then to that 
of post-captain: the latter event occurred, Aug. 15, 1783. 
It might naturally have been expected, that the interval 
of public tranquillity that ensued after the contest, which 
ended in the complete emancipation of our trans-atlantic 
colonies, would prove some bar, if not to the expansion, at 
least to the display of Captain Schanck’s ingenuity and nau¬ 
tical abilities; this, however, was by no means the case. 
He invented, or, it may rather be said, he improved, a for¬ 
mer invention of his own, relative to the construction of 
vessels, peculiarly adapted for navigating in shallow water. 
These were fitted with sliding keels, worked by mechanism. 
While in America, our officer became known, to Earl 
Percy, the late Duke of Northumberland; and it was during 
a conversation with that nobleman, that the idea.of this new 
construction appears to have' been first elicited. His lord- 
ship, who discovered a taste for naval architecture, amidst 
the devastations of civil war, and the various operations of a 
land army, happened one day to observe, “ That if cutters 
were built flatter, so as to go on the surface, and not draw 
much water, they would; sail much faster, and might still be 
enabled 
