considerable name, who have asserted that the velocity of a
twenty-four pound bullet was really greater with eight pounds of
powder than with any large quantity, founding their opinion on the
ridiculous persuasion, that whatever quantity was put in, no more than
eight pounds of it took fire; but this supposition is destroyed by
their own experiments, and their own reasonings and later experiments,
with greater attention, put it beyond all doubt, that to the larger
charge (at least as far as twenty pounds of powder) there corresponds
a greater velocity.
Footnote 4:
It is necessary to observe in this place, that Mr. Muller, whose
opinion herein has been confirmed by various experiments, has, with
little variation, adopted the sentiments of the above proposal, and
strongly recommended them as a scheme of public utility.
Footnote 5:
——Yon tall anchoring bark
Diminish’d to her cock; her cock a buoy, &c.
SHAKESPEARE.
Footnote 6:
The wires of which the needle has hitherto been generally composed,
were only hardened at their ends; now if those ends are not equally
hard, or if one end be hardened up higher than the other, when they
come to be put together, in fixing them to the card, that end which is
hardest will destroy much of the virtue of the other; by which means
the hardest end will have the greatest power in directing the card,
and consequently make it vary towards its own direction; and, as the
wires are disposed in the form of a lozenge, these cards can have but
little force; so that they will often, when drawn aside, stand at the
distance of several degrees on either side the point from whence they
are drawn; for all magnetical bodies receive an additional strength by
being placed in the direction of the earth’s magnetism, and act
proportionably less vigorously when turned out of it. Therefore when
these kind of needles are drawn aside from their true point, two of
the parallel sides of the lozenge will conspire more directly than
before with the earth’s magnetism, and the other two will be less in
that direction: by this means the two former sides will very much
impede its return, and the two latter will have that impediment to
overcome, as well as the friction, by their own force alone.
Footnote 7:
It is necessary to observe here, that the principal, and indeed the
only circumstance in which Knight’s compasses are superior to those
which have hitherto obtained, is, that their needles being tempered
much higher than usual, are thereby enabled to contain a much greater
quantity of the magnetical stream, which is certainly a real
advantage. But, on the other hand, experience sufficiently proves, and
truth obliges us to remark, that the methods he has taken to ballance
the card with more accuracy than had been formerly attempted, have
rendered it by far too delicate to encounter the shocks of a
tempestuous sea.
Footnote 8:
“At Java, in the streights of Sunda, when the monsoons blow from the
west, viz. in the month of May, the currents set to the eastward,
contrary to the general motion.
“Also between the island of Celebes and Madura, when the western
monsoons set, viz. in December, January, and February, or when the
winds blow from the N W. or between the north and west, the currents
set to the S E. or between the south and east.
“At Ceylon, from the middle of March to October, the currents set to
the southward, and in the other parts of the year to the northward;
because at this time the southern monsoons blow, and at the other, the
northern.
“Between Cochin-China and Malacca, when the western monsoons blow,
viz. from April to August, the currents set eastward against the
general motion, but the rest of the year set westward; the monsoon
conspiring with the general motion. They run so wrongly in these seas,
that unexperienced sailors mistake them for waves that beat upon the
rocks known by the name of breakers.
“So for some months after the fifteenth of February the currents set
from the Maldivies towards India on the east, against the general
motion of the sea.
“On the shore of China and Cambodia, in the months of October,
November, and December, the currents set to the N W. and from January
to the S W. when they run with such a rapidity of motion about the
shoals of Parcel, that it seems swifter than that of an arrow.
“At Pulo Condore, upon the coast of Cambodia, though the monsoons are
shifting, yet the currents set strongly towards the east, even when
they blow to a contrary point.
“Along the coasts of the bay of Bengal, as far as the cape Romania, at
the extreme point of Malacca the current runs southward in November
and December.
“When the monsoons blow from China to Malacca, the sea runs swiftly
from Pulo Cambi to Pulo Condore, on the coast of Cambodia.
“In the bay of Sans Bras, not far from the Cape of Good Hope, there is
a current particularly remarkable, where the sea runs from east to
west to the landward; and this more vehemently as it becomes opposed
by the winds from a contrary direction. The cause is undoubtedly owing
to some adjacent shore, which is higher than this.” _Varenius._
These currents constantly follow the winds, and set to the same point
with the monsoon, or trade-wind, at sea. See MONSOON.
Footnote 9:
Lucan.
Footnote 10:
Vegetius.
Footnote 11:
A ponderous mace, with studs of iron crown’d,
Full twenty cubits long he swings around. POPE.
Footnote 12:
See the note on the following page.
Footnote 13:
Potter’s Archaeologia Graeca. De Morogues Tactique Navale.
Footnote 14:
_Ut primum rostris crepuerunt obvia rostra,
In puppim rediere rates, emissaque tela
Aera texerant, vacuumque cadentia pontum._ LUCAN.
Which we may thus translate:
The beaks encounter with a thundering sound,
Then reeling, from the mutual shock rebound.
The javelins fly! an iron tempest sweeps
The darken’d air, and covers all the deeps!
Footnote 15:
_Seque tenent remis toto stetit æquore bellum.
Jam non excussis torquentur tela lacertis
Nec longinqua cadunt jaculato vulnera ferro;
Miscenturque manus, navali plurima bello;
Ensis agit; stat quisque suæ de robore puppis
Pronus in adversos ictus._—— LUCAN.
Thus translated by ROWE.
——Others by the tangling oars are held.
The seas are hid beneath the closing war,
Nor need they cast the javelins now from far;
With hardy strokes the combatants engage,
And with keen faulchions deal their deadly rage:
Man against man, and board by board, they lie.
“The famous machine called the Corvus, was framed after the following
manner: They erected on the prow of their vessels a round piece of
timber, of about a foot and a half diameter, and about twelve foot
long; on the top whereof they had a block or pulley. Round this piece
of timber, they laid a stage or platform of boards, four foot broad,
and about eighteen foot long, which was well framed, and fastened with
iron. The entrance was long-ways, and it moved about the aforesaid
upright piece of timber, as on a spindle, and could be hoisted up
within six foot of the top: about this was a sort of a parapet, knee
high, which was defended with upright bars of iron, sharpened at the
end; towards the top whereof there was a ring: through this ring,
fastening a rope, by the help of the pulley, they hoisted or lowered
the engine at pleasure; and so with it attacked the enemy’s vessels,
sometimes on their bow, and sometimes on their broad-side, as occasion
best served. When they had grappled the enemy with those iron spikes,
if they happen’d to swing broad-side to broad-side, then they entered
from all parts; but in case they attacked them on the bow, they
entered two and two by the help of this machine, the foremost
defending the fore-part, and those that followed the flanks, keeping
the boss of their bucklers level with the top of the parapet.
“To this purpose Polybius gives us an account of the first warlike
preparations which the Romans made by sea. We may add, in short, the
order, which they observed in drawing up their fleet for battle, taken
from the same author. The two consuls were in the two admiral galleys,
in the front of their two distinct squadrons, each of them just a-head
of their own divisions, and a-breast of each other; the first fleet
being posted on the right, the second on the left, making two long
files or lines of battle. And, whereas it was necessary to give a due
space between each galley, to ply their oars, and keep clear one of
another, and to have their heads or prows looking somewhat outwards;
this manner of drawing up did therefore naturally form an angle, the
point whereof was at the two admiral galleys, which were near
together; and as their two lines were prolonged, so the distance grew
consequently wider and wider towards the rear. But, because the naval
as well as the land army consisted of four legions, and accordingly
the ships made four divisions; two of these were yet behind: Of which
the third fleet, or the third legion, was drawn up front-ways in the
rear of the first and second, and so stretching along from point to
point composed a triangle, whereof the third line was the base. Their
vessels of burden, that carried their horses and baggage, were in the
rear of these; and were, by the help of small boats provided for that
purpose, towed or drawn after them. In the rear of all, was the fourth
fleet, called the Triarians, drawn up likewise in rank or front-ways,
parallel to the third: but these made a longer line, by which means
the extremities stretched out, and extended beyond the two angles at
the base. The several divisions of the army, being thus disposed,
formed, as is said, a triangle; the area within was void, but the base
was thick and solid, and the whole body quick, active, and very
difficult to be broken.” _Kennett Antiq. Rome._
Footnote 16:
De Morogues Tact. Navale.
Footnote 17:
“The use of powder was not established in battle, till the long wars
of Francis I. and Charles V. From its invention to this period, both
the machines in use before that discovery, and those which that
discovery introduced, were used in war at the same time; and even some
time after this period, both sorts of machines were continued in use.”
_Le Blond’s Elements of War._
Footnote 18:
De Morogues Tact. Navale.
Footnote 19:
“The carabine is a sort of musketoon, the barrel of which is riffled
spirally from the breech, so that when the ball, which is forced into
it, is again driven out by the strength of the powder, it is
lengthened about the breadth of a finger, and marked with the riffle
of the bore. This piece has an iron rammer.
“The barrel of the carabine is three foot long, including the stock.
It has a much greater _range_ than the fusil or musket, because the
riffle of the barrel impedes the ball, which thereby makes the greater
resistance at the first inflammation of the powder, and, giving time
for the whole charge to take fire before it goes out of the bore, it
is at length thrown out with greater force than from the common
musket.” _Le Blond’s Elements of War._
The coehorn is a sort of small mortar, fixed on a swivel, and
particularly used to discharge grenadoes, or cast bullets from close
quarters in merchant vessels when boarded.
The fire-arrow, _dard à feu_, is a small iron dart furnished with
springs and bars, together with a match, impregnated with powder and
sulphur, which is wound about its shaft. It is intended to fire the
sails of the enemy, and is for this purpose discharged from a
musketoon or swivel-gun. The match being kindled by the explosion,
communicates the flame to the sail against which it is directed, where
the arrow is fastened by means of its bars and springs. As this is
peculiar to hot climates, particularly the West-Indies, the sails
being extremely dry, are instantly inflamed, and of course convey the
fire to the masts and rigging, and finally to the vessel itself.
The powder-flask and stink pot are described in the article BOARDING:
and the organ is no other than a machine consisting of six or seven
musket barrels fixed upon one stock, so as to be fired all at once.
Footnote 20:
M. De Morogues.
Footnote 21:
The Gauls, says Vegetius, had the advantage of the Romans in their
numbers: The Germans have their stature; the Spaniards their strength
and numbers united; the Africans their artifice and opulence; the
Greeks their policy and prudence; but the Romans have triumphed over
all by their discipline.
Footnote 22:
M. De Morogues.
Footnote 23:
As a number of technical terms are introduced in these instructions,
the land-reader who wishes to understand the subject, should refer to
the several articles, all of which are inserted in this work.
Footnote 24:
The iron chambers are ten inches long, and 3.5 in diameter. They are
breeched against a piece of wood fixed across the ports, and let into
another a little higher. When loaded, they are almost filled with
corn-powder, and have a wooden tompion well driven into their muzzles.
They are primed with a small piece of _quick-match_ thrust through
their vents into the powder, with a part of it hanging out. When the
ports are blown open by means of the iron chambers, the port-lids
either fall downward, or are carried away by the explosion.
Footnote 25:
The fire-barrels ought to be of a cylindrical form, as most suitable
to contain the _reeds_ with which they are filled, and more convenient
for stowing them between the troughs in the fire-room. Their inside
diameters should not be less than twenty-one inches, and thirty inches
is sufficient for their length. The bottom parts are first well stored
with short double dipped reeds placed upright; and the remaining
vacancy is filled with fire-barrel composition, well mixed and melted,
and then poured over them. The composition used for this purpose is a
mass of sulphur, pitch, tar, and tallow.
There are five holes of ¾ inch in diameter, and three inches deep,
formed in the top of the composition while it is yet warm; one being
in the center, and the other four at equal distances round the sides
of the barrel. When the composition is cold and hard, the barrel is
primed by filling those holes with fuse-composition, which is firmly
driven into them, so as to leave a little vacancy at the top to admit
a strand of quick match twice doubled. The center hole contains two
strands at their whole length, and every strand must be driven home
with mealed powder. The loose ends of the quick-match being then laid
within the barrel, the whole is covered with a dipped _curtain_,
fastened on with a hoop that slips over the head of the barrel, to
which it is nailed.
The barrels should be made very strong, not only to support the weight
of the composition before firing, when they are moved or carried from
place to place, but to keep them together whilst burning: for if the
staves are too light and thin, so as to burn very soon, the remaining
composition will tumble out and be dissipated, and the intention of
the barrels, to carry the flame aloft, will accordingly be frustrated.
The curtain is a piece of coarse canvas, nearly a yard in breadth and
length, thickened with melted composition, and covered with saw-dust
on both sides.
Footnote 26:
The reeds are made up in small bundles of about a foot in
circumference, cut even at both ends, and tied together in two places.
They are distinguished into two kinds, viz. the long and short; the
former of which are four feet, and the latter two feet five inches in
length. One part of them are singly dipped, i. e. at one end; the rest
are dipped at both ends in a kettle of melted composition. After being
immersed about seven or eight inches in this preparation, and then
drained, they are sprinkled over with pulverised sulphur upon a tanned
hide.
Footnote 27:
The bavins are made of birch, heath, or other brush-wood, which is
tough and readily kindled. They are usually two or three feet in
length, and have all their bush-ends lying one way, the other ends
being tied together with small cords. They are dipped in composition
at the bush-ends, whose branches are afterwards confined by the hand,
to prevent them from breaking off by moving about; and also to make
them burn more fiercely. After being dipped, in the same manner as the
reeds, they also are sprinkled with sulphur.
Footnote 28:
Quick match is formed of three cotton strands drawn into length, and
dipped in a boiling composition of white-wine vinegar, salt-petre, and
mealed powder. After this immersion it is taken out hot, and laid in a
trough where some mealed powder, moistened with spirits of wine, is
thoroughly incorporated into the twists of the cotton, by rolling it
about therein. Thus prepared they are taken out separately, and drawn
through mealed powder, then hung upon a line till dried, by which they
are fit for immediate service.
Footnote 29:
Port-fires are frequently used by the artillery people in preference
to matches, to set fire to the powder or compositions. They are
distinguished into wet and dry port-fires. The composition of the
former is salt-petre four, sulphur one, and mealed powder four. When
these materials are thoroughly mixed and sifted, the whole is to be
moistened with a little linseed oil, and rubbed between the hands till
all the oil is imbibed by the composition. The preparation for dry
port fires is salt-petre four, sulphur one, mealed powder two, and
antimony one. These compositions are driven into small paper cases, to
be used whenever necessary.
Footnote 30:
De Morogues Tact. Navale,
Footnote 31:
Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
Footnote 32:
Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
Footnote 33:
Beugner, Traité de la Manœuvre de Vaisseaux. Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
Footnote 34:
Saverien Dict. Marine.
Footnote 35:
Aubin. Saverien.
Footnote 36:
The cut-water is called _taille-mer_ by the French.
Footnote 37:
Milton alludes to this situation, in his second book of _Paradise
Lost_: where,
“The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiff,
“With fixed anchor——
“Moors by his side, under the lee.”——
Footnote 38:
De Morogues. Tactique Navale.
Footnote 39:
Muller’s Artillery.
Footnote 40:
Le Blond’s Elements of War.
_Extract of a letter from the commanding-officer of the artillery at
Gibraltar, May 10, 1756._
“Happening to mention, before the governor and commodore Edgecumbe,
that, in case of Gibraltar being attacked by sea, howitzers would be
of great service, as I did not imagine any ship’s side proof against a
10 inch shell, fired point-blank, or at a small elevation, with a full
charge of powder; which being thought impossible by most present, it
was agreed to try the experiment: accordingly a target, of about 6
feet square, of an equal strength and resistance with the strongest
part of our largest men of war’s sides, was made, and was just 3 feet
thick of solid fir-timber: we fired at it out of a sea-service 10 inch
howitzer, at 150 yards distance, and with 10 lb. of powder.”
“The first shell just touched the top of the object, and lodged in the
bank of sand behind it; the second grazed short three yards, and went
through the lower corner of the object; but the third shell gave full
satisfaction, going through the very centre of the object, and
entering 5 feet into a solid bank of sand behind it.”
Footnote 41:
The regulations, with regard to pilots in the royal navy, are as
follow: The commanders of the king’s ships, in order to give all
reasonable encouragement to so useful a body of men as pilots, and to
remove all their objections to his majesty’s service, are strictly
charged to treat them with good usage, and in equal respect with
warrant-officers.
“The purser of the ship is always to have a set of bedding provided on
board for the pilots, and the captain is to order the boatswain to
supply them with hammocs, and a convenient place to lie in, near their
duty, and apart from the common men; which bedding and hammocs are to
be returned when the pilots leave the ship.
“A pilot, when conducting one of his majesty’s ship’s in pilot-water,
shall have the sole charge and command of the ship, and may give
orders for steering; setting, trimming, or furling the sails; tacking
the ship; or whatever concerns the navigation: and the captain is to
take care that all the officers and crew obey his orders. But the
captain is diligently to observe the conduct of the pilot, and if he
judges him to behave so ill as to bring the ship into danger, he may
remove him from the command and charge of the ship, and take such
methods for her preservation as shall be judged necessary; remarking
upon the log-book the exact hour and time when the pilot was removed
from his office, and the reasons assigned for it.
“Captains of the king’s ships, employing pilots in foreign parts of
his majesty’s dominions, shall, after performance of the service, give
a certificate thereof to the pilot, which being produced to the proper
naval-officer, he shall cause the same to be immediately paid; but if
there be no naval-officer there, the captain of his majesty’s ship
shall pay him, and send the proper vouchers, with his bill, to the
navy-board, in order to be paid as bills of exchange.
“Captains of his majesty’s ships, employing foreign pilots, to carry
the ships they command into, or out of foreign ports, shall pay them
the rates due by the establishment or custom of the country, before
they discharge them; whose receipts being duly vouched, and sent with
a certificate of the service performed, to the navy-board, they shall
cause them to be paid with the same exactness as they do bills of
exchange.” _Regulations and Instructions of the Sea-service, &c._
Footnote 42:
Hist. Denmark, by Saxo Grammaticus.
Footnote 43:
Saverien Dict. Marine.
Footnote 44:
The regulations with regard to prizes in the royal navy are as follow:
“I. When any ship or vessel is taken from the enemy, the hatches are
to be immediately spiked up, and her lading and furniture secured from
embezzlement, till sentence is passed upon her in some court of
admiralty, empowered to take cognizance of causes of that nature.
“II. The captain is to cause the officers of the prize to be examined;
three or more of the company, who can give best evidence, to be
brought to the said court of admiralty, together with the
charter-parties, bills of lading, and other ship’s papers found on
board.
“V. When a privateer is taken, great care is to be had to secure all
the ship’s papers, especially the commission; but if there be no legal
commission found on board, then all the prisoners are to be carried
before some magistrate, in order to their being examined and committed
as pirates.”
N. B. The third and fourth articles relate to the finding any of the
king’s subjects in the prizes; and appear unnecessary in this place.
Footnote 45:
_Ricoche_ signifies _duck_ and _drake_, a name given to the bounding
of a flat stone thrown almost horizontally into the water.
Footnote 46:
Muller’s Artillery.
Footnote 47:
Le Blond’s Elements of War.
Footnote 48:
Belidor. Bigot de Morogues.
Footnote 49:
Weight, or gravity, always operates equally on a falling body; for as
it always subsists in an equal degree, it must perpetually act with
equal force, or produce always the same effect in the same time. So
if, in the first instant of falling, it communicates to a body a
certain force sufficient to move a certain space, it must, in every
following instant, communicate a force capable of moving it the like
space, and by this means the velocity of a falling body is every
moment accelerated; for if it has one degree the first instant, it
will have two the second, three the third, and so on. Hence it must
move different spaces every instant, and by that means describe the
curve-line above mentioned.
Footnote 50:
Le Blond’s Elements of War.
Footnote 51:
The same gentleman observes, that a ship of two decks, such as are
generally all those of the third and fourth rates, cannot be so
strongly connected as one that is furnished with three: a vessel
pierced for 15 guns on one side of her deck must necessarily be very
long, and is sometimes apt to droop at the two ends; or, in the
sea-phrase, to _break her back_ under the enormous weight of her
artillery.
Footnote 52: