West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-06-18
OIL UPON THE WAVES.
DIR. Franklin a Pioneer in Greasing
Troubled Waters.

Two ships in one gale of wind were
saved from wreck in February last by
little oil poured upon the tumultuous
waters. The first case reported was
that oi the British steamer Acton.
| bound from Baltimore to Livcrpool
! An enormous wave, at ten O'Clock i'm
the evening broke upon the vessels
deck, sweeping into the sea two of the
crew, carrying away the wheel-house.
and destroying the steering apparatus
| During many of the hours of the night
the steamer was a helpless mass at the
| mercy of the waves, since the violence
OF the storm frustrated all attempts To-
| get tillcr inserted in the ruddrr. and
came near killing the captain and mate
W hen things We're at their worst the
| captain rcsOrted to the cNpcdirnt of
| pouring oil upon the waters, which
| produced an immediate and astonish-
| me effect i'm quicting them, and the
| crew were soon enabled to get control
of the ruddcr and steer the vessel out
of the vortex of the storm The other
instance was nearer home. A bark.
bound from Brazil to New York, was
ovcrtakcn by the same gale of Cane
Hatteras, and for many hours had to
drive before the wind with her deck
under water. A sea broke over her
and rushed into the cabins. Her cap
tain, who had heard of the efficiency
| OF OIL I'm smoothing a rough sea. though
he had never tried the experiment.
| now re>orted to il a. last hope. He
had one barrel of linsccd oil on board
| and this he caused to drop
| slowly into the sea by means of large
pieces of oakum saturated with the oil.
Small as the quantity was the captain
described the effect as perfectly marvel
Gus. The waves were SO far auicted
that the crew were enabled to clear the
ship of the water and put her upon her
course. The captain attributes the
preservation Of the vessel chiefly To the
effect Of the oil When his barrel of
oil was exhausted he tried varnish. but
| this did not answer the purpose
he true wonder l.. not that these
two vessel, should have been saved by
the use of oil, but that the simple eNpc-
di"nt has not saved from wreck thou
sands of other vessels that now he at
the bottom Of the ocean. 4 hundred
and twenty-five years have passed since
Benjamin Franklin discovered and
explained the process. He explained
II with such clearncSs and supported il
by such facts and experiments az ought
TO have been convincing TO all who had
/ business ON the sea. In 7j7 DR. Frank
Z lip sailed for Europe from The port of
New York. in company with the great
fleet Of ninety six vessels bound against
Louisburg, in Cape Breton One day
he noticed that the wakes of two Of the
ships were remarkably smooth. while
ail the others were rufllcd bv the fresh
breeze that was blowing. He pointed
this out TO the captain, and asked him
why IL was. That officer replied. with
an air of contempt for the ignorance of
a landlubbcr:
The cooks have. I suppose. bcbn iust cmp
iyihR thclr greasy water through the soup
pcr@ which has creased the sides Of those
ships a little
This solution seemed TO tho land
lubbGr insufficient, but hc could not. az
the moment, think of better eN-
planatiou. Upon further reflection he
recalled TO mind remark OF the elder
Pliny. that every thing is soothed by
oil, and that this is the reason why
divers send out small quantities Of il
from their mouths. becau~e 10 smooth.
amy part which is rough, aud trans
mits the light 20 them. This passage
I
the cook s grease may have had some
thing To- do with smoothing the wakes
Of thc two ships The subject pas sed
from hi, mind. however. until 1852.
when, being again at -ca. Boz observed
the remarkable Uuictncss of OH ON
surface of agitatcd water in the swing
ing glas. lamp Of the hip cabin Re
was continually looking at this smooth
surface Of oil, ana was again unable TO
think of an explanation that satisfied
his mind. Hc moltoucd Che dinicmty
10 an old sea captain q fcllow-pas-
scugcr. who saw ioJhing mysterious in
it Hc said tina BIO was m effect of
the same kind as that which the fisher
men of Bermuda produce when they
are about tO strike fish with spear.
and pour little oil upon tho'wav to
smooth them and enable thorn 10 SEQ
the fish, The -lmc captain told him
that Che Portuguese fishermen some
times cmpticd "a bottle or fwo of oil
upon the sea at the mouth of river to-
smooth the breakers upon tbc bar
From another Informant hc learned
that the pcarI-dvcrs in the Modtcr-
uncau -tilI prac iced thcmethOd men
TONED boy Pliny eighteen hundred years
ago Of going Co ho bottom with their
mDlths hilcd with oil, and letting