Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-02-23
Price Four Cents.

take the rough edge from storm. The appE-
cation of oil to this purpose is of very ancient
date, Phny stating that in his time divers in
erder to discern objects more clearly at the
bottom of the sea, were in the habit of pour
ing oil on the water So as to lessen the rough
ness of the waves. The Shetlanders, also,
have long been familiar with this simple ex-
pedient. When caught, as they often are,
by sudden gales, they hastily draw in their
lines and with all speed make for the land.
Their greatest danger lies in the tideways
which run like rivers between the islands
and it is in cutting the ''string of the tide"
as the Shetlanders call these tideways, during
severe storms, that the islanders have re-
course to oil. Taking any cod or ling they
may have caught. they crush the GEers of
these fishes In their hands and keep throw
ing them round their tempest-tossed boat.
The effect, says writer in CIdmbers' Jour
nal, who was eyewitness of the opera
ton, ''is magical; the waves are not les
sened in size, but they no longer break, and
it is only from their breaking close to the
boat, and so being dashed in upon her and
breaking her, that there is danger" The
Shetlanders attribute the ssfety of many
boats crew to the smoothing of the sea
caused by their casting out the hvers. I'm
pending shipwrecks have, there Is good rea-
son to believe, been syerted By the timely
use of oil. Instances extending over peri
cd of more than a century are on record, the
best authenticated of which are to be fU1nd
In the pages of the journal already referred
to, whose editor deserves great credit for the
earnest persistence with which for many
years past he has advocated, amid prevailing
incredulity, the use for this purpose of ell at
sea- 1t is recorded that in ITO Dutch
East Indiaman was saved from ship
wreck by the pouring of jar
of olive oil in the sea. A master
stated in the New York Shipping Lit for
1867 that he had twice saved his shin by oil
ing the sea- On one of these occasions both
rudder and sails we're gone, and shipwreck
seemed inevitable, when, BY the iudiciozs
use of four gallons of oil, he obtained smooth
though heaving water, in the midst of which
his ship rode till the storm abated In
another well authenticated instance during 3
storm of four days duration, tive canvas
bags, each containing two gallons of pine oil.
were first punctured and then hung-one
over each quarter of the ship. The oil in
these kept slowly trickhng for two days dur
ing which it prevented the breaking Of great
waves on the vessel, and enabled necessary
repairs to be made 1t vas the. unanimous
opinion of those on board that they owed
their safety to the use of the oil. The Brit
ish Vice Consul at Wilmington lately sent
DR.. W. Chambers an account he had taken
down from the captain of q bri0an
tine which, on its voyage from Bris-
toll had encountered a terrific gale
In this case the captain. as q last e1pedient
determined to try oil, and putting three
quarts of kerosene into canvas bag he had
it kept trailing to windward The oil he
says, broke the topping sea- and made mat
tiers so much more favorable for the ship
that she succeeded In weathering the gale.
Exactly year ago the crew Of the screw
steamer Diamond had occasion to land on the
island OF Anholt. The sea was so rough,
even to launch the Hfeboat; nevertheless
two boats crews we're safely landed feat
attributed to the fact that i've gallons of oil
had been placed in the stern of the boat and
man told OF to pour it overheard The most
recent instance of the efficacy of oil Is that
told by the crew of the Loeb Axe-a
Dundee steamer caught in the gale Of the 9Th
inst. The crew took to their last boat Of
the coast of Norway when the gale was at its
height, and into it the captain placed large
jar of oil. By using this upon the water the
boat was able to defy the waves which for
five hours beat around but were unable og-
ng to the oily film to break over her.
striking circumstance in these and other
cases is the small quantity of oil necessary to
produce SO salutary an effect but the ca
pscity of oil for spreading out in thin film
is equally extraordinary. DIR. Franklin. who
was believer In the calming effect of oil on
water, found that a single teaspoonful of oil
poured on the Iindward side of a pond on
Chaplain Common spread until, as he saws. il
made all that quarter of the pond perhaps
half an acre, as smooth as a looking glass =