Morning journal and courier., 1885-11-21
Tne anur11aI aud Gn1trier.
Saturday, November 2I, 1885.
WHAT A LITTLE OIL WILL DO.

WHAT LITTLE OIL WILL DO. It has long been known that oil would smooth troubled waters. Captain Bartlett, the chief of the hydrographic office of the United States, has been trying to find out
 how useful oil has been and may be in re- ducing the dangers of the sea. He issued a
 circular to ship captains asking them to make
 such experiments as they could and report
 the results to him. Many reports have been
 made and every captain who has tried to sub
 due the sea with oil testifes to the success of
 the experiment, and in many cases it is
 claimed that vessels and crews have been
 saved from destruction in this manner when
 they must otherwise have gone to the bot
 tom. This testimony goes to show that ami nal or vegetable oils are much better than re-
 fined petroleum, although the latter has been used with good results. Crude petroleum is better than refined, but lard, cocoanut, col ga, whale, linseed and other heavier oils are more effective.
 In describing his experience Captain Kuhne of the steamer Polynesia says that in April last he was caught in gale which he feared his vessel could not survive. The waves were raking the decks from fore to aft, the steering gear became disabled, and he was absolutely helpless. He filled the closets and wash bowls with oakum and poured ordinary raw inseed oil kept in store for painting purposes, upon it. The oil was allowed to drip slowly through the pipes into the sea, and it's effect was felt at once. The waves DO longer came with broken crests, but in long swells the vessels at once gained steerageway and rode as comfortably as pos sible under the circumstances. Captain Kuhne- states that he never before expert enced such 8 heavy sea, and is now fully as- sured of the value of the use of oil during gales.
 Oil has been used successfully also by be- ing hung over the gunwales of vessels in or dinary sailors bags, gunny sacks. When bags have not been convenient ordinary woolen stockings have been used with won derful success. Captain Black of the British ship Lord Kinnard was caught in @ severe gale in the Baltic. He filled two woolen socks and hung them to the bumkins. The drippings from the ssocks soon reduced heavy cross sea to smooth swell, the sea no longer breaking. Chief Officer J. P. Vene- ment of the British bark Algeria reports that he encountered a gale of hurricane force which threw the vessel on her beam ends The heavy seas washed a portion of the deck load away. Some oil put in a stocking and lowed to windward with few fathoms of line was found very useful in preventing the 1 seas from breaking.
 And there is much more similar testimony. l The matter is very interesting and impor- | tant one, and Captain Bartlett has done good | service in investigating it. He considers l that the results of the experiment so far re- ported justify him in recommending in his l annual report that all vessels of the navy be required to carry supply of oil for this pur pose, and that a law be passed by Congress requiring merchant vessels to do the same, and to use this means az precaution for the l safety of cargoes and human lives in rough | weather