Thomas, (under the equator) which is above 500 leagues, the southerly
and south-west winds blow perpetually: for the S. E. trade-wind having
passed the equator, and approaching the Guinea coast within 80 or 100
leagues, inclines towards the shore, and becomes south, then S. E. and
by degrees, as it approaches the land, it veers about to south, S. S. W.
and when very near the land it is S. W. and sometimes W. S. W. This
tract is troubled with frequent calms, violent sudden gusts of wind,
called tornadoes, blowing from all points of the horizon.
The reason of the wind setting in west on the coast of Guinea, is in all
probability owing to the nature of the coast, which being greatly heated
by the sun, rarefies the air exceedingly, and consequently the cool air
from off the sea will keep rushing in to restore the equilibrium.
9th. Between the 4th and 10th degrees of north latitude, and between the
longitude of Cape Verd, and the eastermost of the Cape Verd isles, there
is a track of sea which seems to be condemned to perpetual calms,
attended with terrible thunder and lightnings, and such frequent rains,
that this part of the sea is called the _rains_. In sailing through
these six degrees, ships are said to have been sometimes detained whole
months.
The cause of this is apparently, that the westerly winds setting in on
this coast, and meeting the general easterly wind in this track, balance
each other, and so produce the calms; and the vapours carried thither by
each wind meeting and condensing, occasion the almost constant rains.
The last three observations shew the reason of two things which mariners
experience in sailing from Europe to India, and in the Guinea trade.
And first. The difficulty which ships in going to the southward,
especially in the months of July and August, find in passing between the
coast of Guinea and Brasil, notwithstanding the width of this sea is
more than 500 leagues. This happens, because the S. E. winds at that
time of the year commonly extend some degrees beyond the ordinary limits
of 4° N. latitude; and besides coming so much southerly, as to be
sometimes south, sometimes a point or two to the west; it then only
remains to ply to windward: And if, on the one side, they steer W. S. W.
they get a wind more and more easterly; but then there is danger of
falling in with the Brasilian coast, or shoals: and if they steer E. S.
E. they fall into the neighbourhood of the coast of Guinea, from whence
they cannot depart without running easterly as far as the island of St.
Thomas; and this is the constant practice of all the Guinea ships.
Secondly. All ships departing from Guinea for Europe, their direct
course is northward; but on this course they cannot proceed, because the
coast bending nearly east and west, the land is to the northward.
Therefore, as the winds on this coast are generally between the S. and
W. S. W. they are obliged to steer S. S. E. or south, and with these
courses they run off the shore; but in so doing they always find the
winds more and more contrary; so that when near the shore, they can lie
south; but at a greater distance they can make no better than S. E. and
afterwards E. S. E.; with which courses they commonly fetch the island
of St. Thomas and Cape Lopez, where finding the winds to the eastward of
the south, they sail westerly with it, till coming to the latitude of
four degrees south, where they find the S. E. wind blowing perpetually.
On account of these general winds, all those that use the West India
trade, and even those bound to Virginia, reckon it their best course to
get as soon as they can to the southward, that so they may be certain of
a fair and fresh gale to run before it to the westward: And for the same
reason those homeward-bound from America endeavour to gain the latitude
of 30 degrees, where they first find the winds begin to be variable;
though the most ordinary winds in the north Atlantic ocean come from
between the south and west.
10th. Between the southern latitudes of 10 and 30 degrees in the Indian
ocean, the general trade-wind about the S. E. _by_ S. is found to blow
all the year long in the same manner as in the like latitudes in the
Ethiopic ocean: and during the six months from May to December, these
winds reach to within two degrees of the equator; but during the other
six months, from November to June, a N. W. wind blows in the tract lying
between the 3d and 10th degrees of southern latitude, in the meridian of
the north-end of Madagascar; and between the 2d and 12th degree of south
latitude, near the longitude of Sumatra and Java.
11th. In the tract between Sumatra and the African coast, and from three
degrees of south latitude quite northward to the Asiatic coasts,
including the Arabian sea and the Gulf of Bengal, the Monsoons blow from
September to April on the N. E.; and from March to October on the S. W.
In the former half-year the wind is more steddy and gentle, and the
weather clearer, than in the latter six months: and the wind is more
strong and steddy in the Arabian sea than in the Gulf of Bengal.
12th. Between the island of Madagascar and the coast of Africa, and
thence northward as far as the equator, there is a tract, wherein from
April to October there is a constant fresh S. S. W. wind; which to the
northward changes into the W. S. W. wind, blowing at times in the
Arabian sea.
13th. To the eastward of Sumatra and Malacca on the north of the
equator, and along the coasts of Cambodia and China, quite through the
Philippines as far as Japan, the Monsoons blow northerly and southerly;
the northern one setting in about October or November, and the southern
about May. The winds are not quite so certain as those in the Arabian
seas.
14th. Between Sumatra and Java to the west, and New Guinea to the east,
the same northerly and southerly winds are observed; but the first half
year Monsoon inclines to the N. W. and the latter to the S. E. These
winds begin a month or six weeks after those in the Chinese seas set in,
and are quite as variable.
15th. These contrary winds do not shift from one point to its opposite
all at once; and in some places the time of the change is attended with
calms, in others by variable winds: and it often happens on the shores
of Coromandel and China, towards the end of the Monsoons, that there are
most violent storms, greatly resembling the hurricanes in the West
Indies; wherein the wind is so excessively strong, that hardly any thing
can resist its force.
All navigation in the Indian ocean must necessarily be regulated by
these winds; for if mariners should delay their voyages till the
contrary Monsoon begins, they must either sail back, or go into harbour,
and wait for the return of the trade-wind.
The relative force of the wind upon a ship’s sails, and the epithets by
which it is distinguished, as _fair_, _large_, &c. according to the
angle which it makes with her course, are explained in the article
SAILING.
_Reigning_ WIND. See REIGNING WIND.
_To_ WIND _a ship or boat_, is to change her position, by bringing the
stern to lie in the situation of the head; or directly opposite to its
former situation.
_To_ WINDWARD, towards that part of the horizon from whence the wind
bloweth.
WINDAGE, the difference between the diameter of a piece of artillery,
and the diameter of the shot or shell corresponding thereto. See CANNON
and MORTAR.
WINDING _a Call_, the act of blowing or piping upon a boatswain’s
whistle, so as to communicate the necessary orders of _hoisting_,
_heaving_, _belaying_, _slackening_, &c. See the article CALL.
WINDING-TACKLE, a name usually given to a tackle formed of three fixed
and two or three moveable sheaves. It is principally employed to hoist
up any weighty materials into or out of a ship, in the exercises of
lading and delivering. See TACKLE.
WINDLASS, _vindas_, a machine used in merchant-ships to heave up the
anchors from the bottom, &c.
The windlass is a large cylindrical piece of timber, fig. 15. plate XII.
formed on the principles of the _axis in peritrochio_. It is supported
at the two ends by two frames of wood, _a_, _b_, placed on the opposite
sides of the deck near the fore-mast, called _knight-heads_, and is
turned about in this position as upon an axis, by levers called
handspecs, which are for this purpose thrust into holes bored through
the body of the machine. See the article HEAVING.
The lower part of the windlass is usually about a foot above the deck.
It is, like the _capstern_, furnished with strong _pauls_, _c_, _d_, to
prevent it from turning backwards by the effort of the cable, when
charged with the weight of the anchor, or strained by the violent
jerking of the ship in a tempestuous sea. The pauls, which are formed of
wood or iron, fall into notches, cut in the surface of the _windlass_,
and lined with plates of iron. Each of the pauls being accordingly hung
over a particular part of the windlass, falls eight times into the
notches at every revolution of the machine, because there are eight
notches placed on its circumference under the pauls. So if the windlass
is twenty inches in diameter, and purchases five feet of the cable at
every revolution, it will be prevented from turning back, or losing any
part thereof, at every seven inches nearly, which is heaved in upon its
surface.
As this machine is heaved about in a vertical direction, it is evident
that the effort of an equal number of men acting upon it will be much
more powerful than on the capstern; because their whole weight and
strength are applied more readily to the end of the lever employed to
turn it about. Whereas, in the horizontal movement of the capstern, the
exertion of their force is considerably diminished. It requires,
however, some dexterity and address to manage the handspec to the
greatest advantage; and to perform this the sailors must all rise at
once upon the windlass, and, fixing their bars therein, give a sudden
jerk at the same instant, in which movement they are regulated by a sort
of song or howl pronounced by one of their number.
The most dextrous managers of the handspec in heaving at the windlass
are generally supposed the colliers of Northumberland: and of all
European mariners, the Dutch are certainly the most aukward and sluggish
in this manœuvre.
WINDSAIL, a sort of wide tube or funnel of canvas, employed to convey a
stream of fresh air downward into the lower apartments of a ship.
This machine is usually extended by large hoops situated in different
parts of its height. It is let down perpendicularly through the
_hatches_, being expanded at the lower end like the base of a cone; and
having its upper part open on the side which is placed to windward, so
as to receive the full current of the wind; which, entering the cavity,
fills the tube, and rushes downwards into the lower regions of the ship.
There are generally three or four of these in our capital ships of war,
which, together with the ventilators, contribute greatly to preserve the
health of the crew.
WINGS, a name given to those parts of a ship’s _hold_ which are nearest
to the sides, or farthest removed from the middle of her breadth.
This term is particularly used in the stowage of the several materials
contained in the hold; as, Stow the large casks _amidships_, and the
smaller barrels in the wings. See TRIM and STOWAGE.
WINGS are also the skirts or extremities of a fleet when it is ranged
into a line a-breast, or when bearing away upon two sides of an angle.
Thus the ships a, b. fig. 10. & 11. plate V. are in the wings of their
fleet or squadron.
It is usual to extend the wings of a fleet in the day-time, in order to
discover any enemy which may fall into their track. To prevent
separation, however, they are commonly summoned to draw nearer to the
center of the squadron before night, by a signal from the commander in
chief, which is afterwards repeated by ships in the intervals.
WOOLDING, _surlier_, (_woelen_, Dut.) the act of winding a piece of rope
about a mast or yard, to support it in a place where it may have been
_fished_ or _scarfed_; or when it is composed of several pieces united
into one solid. See MAST.
WOOLDING is also the rope employed in this service. Those which are
fixed on the lower masts, are represented in _a_, fig. 1, 2, & 3. plate
VI.
TO WORK, _manœuvrer_, to direct the movements of a ship, by adapting the
sails to the force and direction of the wind.
A ship is also said to work, when she strains and labours heavily in a
tempestuous sea, so as to loosen her joints or timbers. See PITCHING and
ROLLING.
WORKING _to windward_, the operation by which a ship endeavours to make
a progress against the wind. See BEATING, PLYING, TURNING, and TACKING.
WORMING, _emieller_, the act of winding a rope spirally about a cable,
so as to lie close along the interval between every two strands. It is
generally designed to support and strengthen the cable, that it may be
enabled to sustain a greater effort when the ship rides at anchor; and
also to preserve the surface of the cable, where it lies flat upon the
ground, near the station of the anchor: particularly in moderate
weather.
WRECK, the ruins of a ship which has been stranded or dashed to pieces
on a shelf, rock, or lee-shore, by tempestuous weather.
_Conclusion of the article_ _PUMP_.
As we wish to pay all possible attention in this work to every
improvement in the marine, we have exhibited in plate VIII. a section of
this machine at large, as fixed in a frigate of war, fig. 2. wherein A
is the keel, and V the floor timbers, and X the kelson, _a a a_ the
several links of the chain, _b b_ the valves, C the upper wheels, D the
lower wheels, _c c_ the cavities upon the surface of the wheels to
receive the valves as they pass round thereon, _d d_ the bolts fixed
across the surface of the wheels, to fall in the interval between every
two links, to prevent the chain from sliding back.
The links of the chain, which are no other than two long plates of iron
with a hole at each end, and fixed together by two bolts serving as
axles, are represented on a larger scale as _a a_. The valves are two
circular plates of iron with a piece of leather between them: these are
also exhibited at large by _b b_.
Upon a trial of this machine with the old chain-pump aboard the seaford
frigate, it appears, in a report signed by rear admiral Sir John Moore,
12 captains, and 11 lieutenants of his majesty’s navy, that its effects,
when compared with the latter, were as follow.
┌───────────────────────┬───────────────────────┐
│ New Pump. │ Old Pump. │
├───────┬───────┬───────┼───────┬───────┬───────┤
│Number │Tuns of│Seconds│Number │Tuns of│Seconds│
│of Men.│Water. │ of │of Men.│Water. │ of │
│ │ │ Time. │ │ │ Time. │
├───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┼───────┤
│ 4 │ 1 │ 43½ │ 7 │ 1 │ 76 │
│ 2 │ 1 │ 55 │ 4 │ 1 │ 81 │
└───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┘
The subscribers further certify, that the chain of the new pump was
dropped into the well, and afterwards taken up and repaired and set at
work again in two minutes and a half; and that they have seen the lower
wheel of the said pump taken up to show how readily it might be cleared
and refitted for action, after being choaked with sand or gravel; which
they are of opinion may be performed in four or five minutes.
X.
XEBEC, a small three-masted vessel, navigated in the Mediterranean sea,
and on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and Barbary. See fig. 8. plate
XII.
The sails of the xebec are in general similar to those of the polacre,
but the hull is extremely different from that and almost every other
vessel. It is furnished with a strong _prow_, and the extremity of the
stern, which is nothing more than a sort of railed platform or gallery,
projects farther behind the counter and buttock than that of any
European ship.
Being generally equipped as a corsair, the xebec is constructed with a
narrow floor, to be more swift in pursuit of the enemy; and of a great
breadth, to enable her to carry a great force of sail for this purpose,
without danger of overturning. As these vessels are usually very
low-built, their decks are formed with a great convexity from the middle
of their breadth towards the sides, in order to carry off the water,
which falls aboard, more readily by their scuppers. But as this extreme
convexity would render it very difficult to walk thereon at sea,
particularly when the vessel rocks by the agitation of the waves, there
is a platform of grating extending along the deck from the sides of the
vessel towards the middle, whereon the crew may walk dry-footed, whilst
the water is conveyed through the grating to the scuppers.
When a xebec is equipped for war, she is occasionally navigated in three
different methods, according to the force or direction of the wind.
Thus, when the wind is _fair_, and nearly astern, it is usual to extend
_square_ sails upon the main-mast; and indeed frequently on the
fore-mast: and as those sails are rarely used in a scant wind, they are
of an extraordinary breadth.
When the wind is unfavourable to the course, and yet continues moderate,
the square yards and sails are removed from the masts, and laid by, in
order to make way for the large lateen yards and sails, which soon after
assume their place: but if the foul wind increases to a storm, these
latter are also lowered down and displaced; and small lateen yards with
proportional sails are extended on all the masts.
The xebecs, which are generally armed as vessels of war by the
Algerines, mount from sixteen to twenty-four cannon, and carry from 300
to 450 men, two thirds of whom are generally soldiers.
By the very complicated and inconvenient method of working these
vessels, it will be readily believed, what one of their captains of
Algiers acquainted the author, viz. That the crew of every xebec has at
least the labour of three _square-rigged_ ships, wherein the standing
sails are calculated to answer every situation of the wind.
Y.
YACHT, a vessel of state, usually employed to convey princes,
ambassadors, or other great personages from one kingdom to another.
As the principal design of a yacht is to accommodate the passengers, it
is usually fitted with a variety of convenient apartments, with suitable
furniture, according to the quality or number of the persons contained
therein.
The royal yachts are commonly rigged as ketches, except the principal
one reserved for the sovereign, which is equipped with three masts like
a ship. They are in general elegantly furnished, and richly ornamented
with sculpture; and always commanded by captains in his majesty’s navy.
Besides these, there are many other yachts of a smaller kind, employed
by the commissioners of the excise, navy, and customs; or used as
pleasure-boats by private gentlemen.
YARD, _vergue_, a long piece of timber suspended upon the masts of a
ship, to extend the sails to the wind. See MAST and SAIL.
All yards are either square or lateen; the former of which are suspended
across the mast at right angles, and the latter obliquely.
The square-yards, fig. 1. plate IX. are nearly of a cylindrical surface.
They taper from the middle, which is called the _slings_, towards the
extremities which are termed the _yard-arms_; and the distance between
the slings and the yard-arms on each side, is, by the artificers,
divided into quarters, which are distinguished into the first, second,
third quarters, and yard-arms. The middle quarters are formed into eight
squares, and each of the end parts is figured like the frustrum of a
cone. All the yards of a ship are square except that of the mizen.
The proportions for the length of yards, according to the different
classes of ships in the British navy, are as follows:
│ │ │ Guns.
│ │main yard expressed by │
│ │ _d_, fig. 1. plate IX. │
1000 : gun-deck :: │560 :│ _Note_, the figure │100
│ │ represents the yards │
│ │ and sails of a ship of │
│ │ 74 guns. │
│559 :│ │90 80
│570 :│ │70
│576 :│ │60
│575 :│ │50
│561 :│ │44
1000 : main-yard :: │880 :│ fore-yard │100 90 80
│874 :│ │all the rest.
To apply this rule to practice, suppose the gun-deck 144 feet. The
proportion for this length is as 1000 is to 575, so is 144 to 83; which
will be the length of the main-yard in feet, and so of all the rest.
1000 : main-yard :: │820 :│ mizen-yard │100 90 80 60
│ │ │ 44
│847 :│ │70
│840 :│ │24
1000 : main-yard :: │726 :│main topsail-yard _e_, │24
│ │ fig. 1. plate IX │
│720 :│ │all the rest.
1000 : fore-yard :: │719 :│fore topsail-yard │70
│726 :│ │24
│715 :│ │all the rest.
1000 : main topsail-y^d.│690 :│main top-gall. yard │all the
:: │ │ │ rates.
1000 : fore topsail-y^d. │696 :│fore top-gall. yard _f_, │70
:: │ │ fig. 1. plate IX. │
│690 :│ │all the rest.
1000 : fore topsail-y^d. │768 :│mizen topsail-yard │70
:: │ │ │
│750 :│ │all the rest.
Cross-jack and sprit-sail yards equal to the fore topsail yard.
Sprit topsail yard equal to the fore top-gallant-yard.
The diameters of yards are in the following proportions to their length.
The main and fore yard five sevenths of an inch to a yard. The topsail,
cross-jack, and sprit-sail yards, nine fourteenths of an inch to one
yard. The top-gallant, mizen topsail, and sprit-sail topsail yards eight
thirteenths of an inch to one yard.
The mizen yard five ninths of an inch to one yard.
All studding-sail booms and yards half an inch to one yard in length.
The lifts of the main-yard are exhibited in the above figure, by _g_;
the horses and their stirrups, by _h_, _i_; the reef-tackles and their
pendants, by _k_, _l_; and the braces and brace-pendants, by _m_, _n_.
The lateen-yards evidently derive their names from having been peculiar
to the ancient Romans. They are usually composed of several pieces
fastened together by wooldings, which also serve as steps whereby the
sailors climb to the _peek_, or upper extremity, in order to furl or
cast loose the sail.
The mizen-yard of a ship, and the main-yard of a bilander, are hung
obliquely on the mast, almost in the same manner as the lateen-yard of a
xebec, settee, or polacre. See those articles.
_To brace the_ YARDS, _brasser_, is to traverse them about the masts, so
as to form greater or lesser angles with the ship’s length. See BRACE.
_To square the_ YARDS. See LIFT and SQUARE.
_Dock_-YARD. See the article DOCK-YARD.
YAW, a name given by seamen to the movement by which a ship deviates
from the line of her course towards the right or left in steering.
YAWL, a small ship’s boat, usually rowed by four or six oars. See BOAT.
YEOMAN, an officer under the boatswain or gunner of a ship of war,
usually charged with the stowage, account, and distribution of their
respective stores.
YOKE, a name formerly given to the tiller, when communicating with two
blocks or _sheaves_ affixed to the inner end of the tiller. It is now
applied to a small board or bar which crosses the upper end of a boat’s
rudder at right angles, and having two small cords extending from its
opposite extremities to the _stern-sheets_ of the boat, whereby she is
steered as with a tiller.
THE END.
-----
Footnote 1:
In regno Saracenorum quatuor prætores statuit, qui admiralii
vocabantur. SIGEBERT.
Footnote 2:
Mr. Bigot de Morogues says from 4000 to 4500, and Mr. Hauksbee 5000.
Footnote 3:
“The change proposed here, of reducing the quantity of powder in all
ship guns to one-third of the weight of the bullet, has for some time
past been practised by the French in a much severer service, where the
encreasing the velocity of the bullet could not at any time diminish
its effect; the service I mean is battering in breach. For I learn,
that of late years all their breaches, in the different sieges they
have undertaken, have been made with this very charge, that is, their
twenty four-pounders have been loaded with eight pounds of powder, and
they have found, that though the penetration of the bullet is less
with this charge than with a larger one, yet the other conveniences
attending this smaller charge, are more than, sufficient to balance
that particular.