Chapter L: L, the deck-transom (3)

Whirlwinds generally rise after calms and great heats: the same is observed of water-spouts, which are therefore most frequent in the warm latitudes.

The wind blows every way from a large surrounding space to a whirlwind. Three vessels employed in the whale-fishery, happening to be _becalmed_, lay in sight of each other, at about a league distance, and in the form of a triangle. After some time a water-spout appeared near the middle of the triangle; when a brisk gale arose, and every vessel made sail. It then appeared to them all by the _trimming_ of their sails, and the course of each vessel, that the spout was to leeward of every one of them; and this observation was farther confirmed by the comparing of accounts, when the different observers afterwards conferred about the subject. Hence whirlwinds and water-spouts agree in this particular likewise.

But if the same meteor which appears a water-spout at sea, should, in its progressive motion, encounter and pass over land, and there produce all the phenomena and effects of a whirlwind, it would afford a stronger conviction that a whirlwind and a water-spout are the same thing. An ingenious correspondent of Dr. Franklin gives one instance of this that fell within his own observation[57].

A fluid moving from all points horizontally towards a center, must, at that center, either mount or descend. If a hole be opened in the middle of the bottom of a tub filled with water, the water will flow from all sides to the center, and there descend in a whirl. But air flowing on or near the surface of land or water, from all sides towards a center, must at that center ascend; because the land or water will hinder its descent.

If these concentring currents of air be in the upper region, they may indeed descend in the spout or whirlwind; but then, when the united current reached the earth or water, it would spread, and probably blow every way from the center. There may be whirlwinds of both kinds; but from the effects commonly observed, Dr. Franklin suspects the rising one to be most frequent: when the upper air descends, it is perhaps in a greater body extending wider, as in thunder-gusts, and without much whirling; and when air descends in a spout or whirlwind, he conceives that it would rather press the roof of a house _inwards_, or force in the tiles, shingles, or thatch, and force a boat down into the water, or a piece of timber into the earth, than snatch them upwards, and carry them away.

The whirlwinds and spouts are not always, though most frequently, in the day-time. The terrible whirlwind which damaged a great part of _Rome_, June 11. 1749. happened in the night; and was supposed to have been previously a water-spout, it being asserted as an undoubted fact, that it gathered in the neighbouring sea, because it could be traced from Ostia to Rome.

The whirlwind is said to have appeared as a very black, long, and lofty cloud, discoverable, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, by its continually lightening, or emitting flashes on all sides, pushing along with a surprising swiftness, and within three or four feet of the ground. Its general effects on houses were, stripping off the roofs, blowing away chimnies, breaking doors and windows, _forcing up the floors, and unpaving the rooms_, (some of these effects seem to agree well with a supposed vacuum in the center of the whirlwind) and the very rafters of the houses were broke and dispersed, and even hurled against houses at a considerable distance, &c.

The Doctor, in proceeding to explain his conceptions, begs to be allowed two or three positions, as a foundation for his hypothesis. 1. That the lower region of air is often more heated, and so more rarified, than the upper; and by consequence specifically lighter. The coldness of the upper region is manifested by the hail, which sometimes falls from it in warm weather. 2. That heated air may be very moist, and yet the moisture so equally diffused and rarified as not to be visible till colder air mixes with it, at which time it condenses and becomes visible. Thus our breath, although invisible in summer, becomes visible in winter.

These circumstances being granted, he presupposes a tract of land or sea, of about sixty miles in extent, unsheltered by clouds and unrefreshed by the wind, during a summer’s day, or perhaps for several days without intermission, till it becomes violently heated, together with the lower region of the air in contact with it, so that the latter becomes specifically lighter than the superincumbent higher region of the atmosphere, wherein the clouds are usually floated: he supposes also that the air surrounding this tract has not been so much heated during those days, and therefore remains heavier. The consequence of this, he conceives, should be, that the heated lighter air should ascend, and the heavier descend; and as this rising cannot operate throughout the whole tract at once, because that would leave too extensive a vacuum, the rising will begin precisely in that column which happens to be lighted, or most rarified; and the warm air will flow horizontally from all parts to this column, where the several currents meeting, and joining to rise, a whirl is naturally formed, in the same manner as a whirl is formed in a tub of water, by the descending fluid receding from all sides of the tub towards the hole in the center.

And as the several currents arrive at this central rising column, with a considerable degree of horizontal motion, they cannot suddenly change it to a vertical motion; therefore, as they gradually, in approaching the whirl, decline from right to curve or circular lines, so, having joined the whirl, they ascend by a spiral motion; in the same manner as the water descends spirally through the hole in the tub before mentioned.

Lastly, as the lower air nearest the surface is more rarified by the heat of the sun, it is more impressed by the current of the surrounding cold and heavy air which is to assume its place, and consequently its motion towards the whirl is swiftest, and so the force of the lower part of the whirl strongest, and the centrifugal force of its particles greatest. Hence the vacuum which encloses the axis of the whirl should be greatest near the earth or sea, and diminish gradually as it approaches the region of the clouds, till it ends in a point.

This circle is of various diameters, sometimes very large.

If the vacuum passes over water, the water may rise in a body or column therein to the height of about thirty-two feet. This whirl of air may be as invisible as the air itself, though reaching in reality from the water to the region of cool air, in which our low summer thunder-clouds commonly float; but it will soon become visible at its extremities. The agitation of the water under the whirling of the circle, and the swelling and rising of the water in the commencement of the vacuum, renders it visible below. It is perceived above by the warm air being brought up to the cooler region, where its moisture begins to be condensed by the cold into thick vapour; and is then first discovered at the highest part; which being now cooled, condenses what rises behind it, and this latter acts in the same manner on the succeeding body; where, by the contact of the vapours, the cold operates faster in a right line downwards, than the vapours themselves can climb in a spiral line upwards; they climb, however, and as by continual addition they grow denser, and by consequence increase their centrifugal force, and being risen above the concentrating currents that compose the whirl, they fly off, and form a cloud.

It seems easy to conceive, how, by this successive condensation from above, the spout appears to drop or descend from the cloud, although the materials of which it is composed are all the while ascending. The condensation of the moisture contained in so great a quantity of warm air as may be supposed to rise in a short time in this prodigiously rapid whirl, is perhaps sufficient to form a great extent of cloud: and the friction of the whirling air on the sides of the column may detach great quantities of its water, disperse them into drops, and carry them up in the spiral whirl mixed with the air. The heavier drops may indeed fly off, and fall into a shower about the spout; but much of it will be broken into vapour, and yet remain visible.

As the whirl weakens, the tube may apparently separate in the middle; the column of water subsiding, the superior condensed part drawing up to the cloud. The tube or whirl of air may nevertheless remain entire, the middle only becoming invisible, as not containing any visible matter.

Dr. Stuart, in the _Philosophical Transactions_, says, “It was observable of all the spouts he saw, but more perceptible of a large one, that towards the end it began to appear like a hollow canal, only black in the borders, but white in the middle; and though it was at first altogether black and opaque, yet the sea-water could very soon after be perceived to fly up along the middle of this canal like smoke in a chimney.”

When Dr. Stuart’s spouts were full charged, that is, when the whirling pipe of air was filled with quantities of drops and vapour torn off from the column, the whole was rendered so dark that it could not be seen through, nor the spiral ascending motion discovered; but when the quantity ascending lessened, the pipe became more transparent, and the ascending motion visible. The spiral motion of the vapours, whose lines intersect each other on the nearest and farthest side of this transparent part, appeared therefore to Stuart like smoke ascending in a chimney; for the quantity being still too great in the line of sight through the sides of the tube, the motion could not be discovered there, and so they represented the solid sides of the chimney.

Dr. Franklin concludes by supposing a whirlwind or spout to be stationary, when the concurring winds are equal but if unequal, the whirl acquires a progressive motion in the direction of the strongest pressure. When the wind that communicates this progression becomes stronger above than below, or below than above, the spout will be bent or inclined. Hence the horizontal process and obliquity of water-spouts are derived.

WATER-WAY, _gouttiere_, a long piece of timber serving to connect the sides of a ship to her decks, and form a sort of channel to carry off the water from the latter by means of scuppers. See that article.

The convexity of the decks, represented by N, M, N, in the MIDSHIP-FRAME, plate VII. necessarily carries the water towards the sides, where this piece is fixed, which is principally designed to prevent the water from lodging in the seams, so as to rot the wood and oakum contained therein. The water-ways N N are therefore hollowed in the middle lengthways, so as to form a kind of gutter or channel, one side of which lies almost horizontally, making part of the deck, whilst the other rises upwards, and corresponds with the side, of which it likewise makes a part. They are scored down about an inch and a half, or two inches, upon the beams, and rest upon lodging-knees or carlings. They are secured by bolts driven from without through the planks, timbers, and water-ways, and clinched upon rings on the inside of the latter.

The scuppers, which are holes by which the water escapes from off the deck, are accordingly cut through the water-ways.

WAVE, a volume of water elevated by the action of the wind upon its surface, into a state of fluctuation.

Mr. Boyle has proved, by a variety of experiments, that the utmost force of the wind never penetrates deeper than six feet into the water; and it should seem a natural consequence of this, that the water put in motion by it can only be elevated to the same height of six feet from the level of the surface in a calm. This six feet of elevation being then added to the six of excavation, in the part whence that water was raised, should give twelve feet for the greatest elevation of a wave, when the height of it is not increased by whirlwinds, or the interruption of rocks or shoals, which always gives an additional elevation to the natural swell of the waves.

We are not to suppose, from this calculation, that no wave of the sea can rise more than six feet above its natural level in open and deep water; for some immensely higher than these are formed in violent tempests, in the great seas. These, however, are not to be accounted waves in their natural state; but they are single waves composed of many others: for in these wide plains of water, when one wave is raised by the wind, and would elevate itself up to the exact height of six feet, and no more, the motion of the water is so great, and the succession of the waves so quick, that during the time wherein this rises, it receives into it several other waves, each of which would have been of the same height with itself. These accordingly run into the first wave, one after another as it rises: by this means its rise is continued much longer than it would naturally have been, and it becomes accumulated to an enormous size. A number of these complicated waves arising together, and being continued in a long succession by the duration of the storm, make the waves so dangerous to shipping, which the sailors, in their phrase, call mountains high.

WAY _of a ship_, the course or progress which she makes on the water under sail. Thus, when she begins her motion, she is said to be under way; and when that motion increases, she is said to have fresh way through the water. Hence also she is said to have _head-way_ or _stern-way_. See those articles.

WEARING. See the article VEERING.

WEATHER is known to be the particular state of the air with regard to the degree of the wind, to heat or cold, or to driness and moisture.

WEATHER is also used as an adjective, applied by mariners to every thing lying to-windward of a particular situation. Thus a ship is said to have the weather-gage of another, when she is farther to-windward. Thus also, when, a ship under sail presents either of her sides to the wind, it is then called the weather-side; and all the rigging and furniture situated thereon are distinguished by the same epithet; as, the _weather-shrouds_, the weather-_lifts_, the weather-_braces_, &c. See the article LEE.

_To_ WEATHER, is to sail to-windward of some ship, bank, or head-land.

WEATHER-BIT, a turn of the cable of a ship about the end of the _windlass_, without the _knight-heads_. It is used to check the cable, in order to slacken it gradually out of the ship, in tempestuous weather, or when the ship rides in a strong current. See also RING-ROPE.

WEATHER-SHORE, a name given by seamen to the shore lying to the windward.

_To_ WEIGH, denotes in general to heave up the _anchor_ of a ship from the ground, in order to prepare her for sailing. See also AWEIGH.

WELL, an apartment formed in the middle of a ship’s hold to inclose the pumps, from the bottom to the lower deck. It is used as a barrier to preserve those machines from being damaged by the friction or compression of the materials contained in the hold, and particularly to prevent the entrance of ballast, &c. by which the tubes would presently be choaked, and the pumps rendered incapable of service. By means of this inclosure, the artificers may likewise more readily descend into the hold, in order to examine the state of the pumps, and repair them, as occasion requires.

WELL _of a fishing-vessel_, an apartment in the middle of the hold, which is entirely detached from the rest, being lined with lead on every side, and having the bottom thereof penetrated with a competent number of small holes, passing also through the ship’s floor, so that the salt-water running into the well is always kept as fresh as that in the sea, and yet prevented from communicating itself to the other parts of the hold.

WELL-ROOM _of a boat_, the place in the bottom where the water lies, between the ceiling and the platform of the stern-sheets, from whence it is thrown out into the sea with a scoop.

WHARF, a perpendicular building of wood or stone raised on the shore of a road or harbour, for the convenience of lading or discharging a vessel by means of cranes, _tackles_, _capsterns_, &c.

A wharf is built stronger or slighter, in proportion to the effort of the tide or sea which it is to resist, and to the weight which it is intended to support.

WHARFINGER, the person who has the charge of a wharf, and takes account of all the articles landed thereon, or removed from it, into any vessel lying alongside thereof; for which he receives a certain fee called wharfage, which becomes due to the proprietor for the use of his machines and furniture.

WHEEL _of the helm_. See HELM.

WHELPS. See the article CAPSTERN.

WHIP, a sort of small tackle, either formed by the communication of a rope with a single immoveable block, as fig. 3. plate XI. or with two blocks, one of which is fixed, and the other moveable, as fig. 5. It is generally used to hoist up light bodies, as empty casks, &c. out of a ship’s hold, which is accordingly called _whipping_ them up. See TACKLE.

_To_ WHIP, is also to tie a piece of packthread, spun-yarn, &c. about the end of a rope, to prevent it from being untwisted and loosened.

_Boatswain’s_ WHISTLE. See CALL.

WHOODING. See the article RABBIT.

WINCH, a cylindrical piece of timber, furnished with an axis, whose extremities rest in two channels placed horizontally or perpendicularly. It is turned about by means of an handle resembling that of a draw-well, grind-stone, &c. and is generally employed as a _purchase_, by which a rope may be more conveniently or more powerfully applied to any object, than when used singly, or without the assistance of mechanical powers.

WIND, _vent_, a stream or current of air which may be felt; and usually blows from one part of the horizon to its opposite part.

The horizon, besides being divided into 360 degrees, like all other circles, is by mariners supposed to be divided into four quadrants, called the north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west quarters. Each of these quarters they divided into eight equal parts, called points, and each point into four equal parts, called quarter-points. So that the horizon is divided into 32 points, which are called _rhumbs_ or _winds_; to each wind is assigned a name, which shews from what point of the horizon the wind blows. The points of north, south, east, and west, are called _cardinal points_ and are at the distance of 90 degrees, or eight points from one another.

Winds are either constant or variable, general or particular. Constant winds are such as blow the same way, at least for one or more days; and variable winds are such as frequently shift within a day. A general or _reigning_ wind is that which blows the same way, over a large tract of the earth, almost the whole year. A particular wind is what blows, in any place, sometimes one way, and sometimes another, indifferently. If the wind blows gently, it is called a breeze; if it blows harder, it is called a gale, or a stiff gale; and if it blows with violence, it is called a storm or hard gale[58].

The following observations on the wind have been made by skilful seamen: and particularly the great Dr. Halley.

1st. Between the limits of 60 degrees, namely, from 30° of north latitude to 30° of south latitude, there is a constant east wind throughout the year, blowing on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; and this is called the _trade-wind_.

For as the sun, in moving from east to west, heats the air more immediately under him, and thereby expands it; the air to the eastward is constantly rushing towards the west to restore the equilibrium, or natural state of the atmosphere; and this occasions a perpetual east wind in those limits.

2d. The trade-winds near their northern limits blow between the north and east, and near the southern limits they blow between the south and east.

For as the air is expanded by the heat of the sun near the equator; therefore the air from the northward and southward will both tend towards the equator to restore the equilibrium. Now these motions from the north and south, joined with the foregoing easterly motion, will produce the motions observed near the said limits between the north and east, and between the south and west.

3d. These general motions of the wind are disturbed on the continents, and near their coasts.

For the nature of the soil may either cause the air to be heated or cooled; and hence will arise motions that may be contrary to the foregoing general one.

4th. In some parts of the Indian ocean there are periodical winds, which are called Monsoons; that is, such as blow half the year one way, and the other half-year the contrary way.

For air that is cool and dense, will force the warm and rarefied air in a continual stream upwards, where it must spread itself to preserve the equilibrium: so that the upper course or current of the air shall be contrary to the under current; for the upper air must move from those parts where the greatest heat is; and so, by a kind of circulation, the N. E. trade-wind below will be attended with a S. W. above; and a S. E. below with a N. W. above: And this is confirmed by the experience of seamen, who, as soon as they get out of the trade-winds, generally find a wind blowing from the opposite quarter.

5th. In the Atlantic ocean, near the coasts of Africa, at about 100 leagues from shore between the latitudes of 28° and 10° north, seamen constantly meet with a fresh gale of wind blowing from the N. E.

6th. Those bound to the Caribbee islands, across the Atlantic ocean, find, as they approach the American side, that the said N. E. wind becomes easterly; or seldom blows more than a point from the east, either to the northward or southward.

These trade-winds, on the American side, are extended to 30, 31, or even to 32° of N. latitude; which is about 4° farther than what they extend to on the African side: Also, to the southward of the equator, the trade-winds extend three or four degrees farther towards the coast of Brasil on the American side, than they do near the Cape of Good Hope on the African side.

7th. Between the latitudes of 4° and 4° south, the wind always blows between south and east. On the African side the winds are nearest the south; and on the American side nearest the east. In these seas Dr. Halley observed, that when the wind was eastward, the weather was gloomy, dark, and rainy, with hard gales of wind; but when the wind veered to the southward, the weather generally became serene, with gentle breezes next to a calm.

These winds are somewhat changed by the seasons of the year; for when the sun is far northward, the Brasil S. E. wind gets to the south, and the N. E. wind to the east; and when the sun is far south, the S. E. wind gets to the east, and the N. E. winds on this side of the equator veer more to the north.

8th. Along the coast of Guinea, from Sierra Leone to the island of St. 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.

“And here I must observe, that there have not been wanting persons of
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.