The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-02
THE USE OF OIL AT SEA.
vrrER FROM VICE ADMIRAL
. CTOrTE OF THE FRENCE NAVY.

CLIQUE OF THE FRENCE NAVY.
c,,ra Resource for Storm-Tossed
ariners-Curious Examples in the
pos+-Methods of the Use OF Oil
exhaustive Experiments to be Made.
From the Ne0 York Star.
pans Feb. 1.-THE use of oil at sea is of
+bo remotest antiquity. Aristotle, Plutarch
~ other classics afford internal evidence
- this remarkable fact. A well-known
Cos,al verse shows that the mysterious
tue Of oil in sitting the stormy pillows
,-os already familiar upward OF eighteen
h,,ndred years ago. Indeed, the earliest
saafaring men, the Phonician traders and
4bo sprightly mariners of the Grecian Archi-
,,olago. as far back as the days of Homer,
st have been well acquainted with the
.,oouliar property which oil possesses when
lI,o,,rod on the waves-in however small a
pnantity-of suppressing the heavy seas that
break over a vessel and threaten to sub
merge it.
Vet would this singular property seem to
have been lost sight of, or remembered only
nv few stray toilers of the deep, whose in
+orest was to preserve the antique tradition
If 60 valuable a popularity. Thus, even
70 This day. as soon as the weather begins
10 look ugly the fishermen along the
coasts of Syria and those of the Persian
lnlf lose no time in piercing the oilsilins
suspended at the stern of their craft
N LET the contents run out over the
waves III the north of Scotland the Kilda
fishermen obtain a sort of calm, which
they call "tioum," by aasting into the sea
the oily livers of the fish they have caught
AtGibraltar and other parts of the Spanish
border the fishermen are accustomed to
nour a little oil on the sea in order to still
It's motion, that they may be able to see the
oysters lying at its bottom, which, it seems,
are very large and luscious. Another OBJ
servation worth attention has been made by
tbe seal catchers When seals are devour-
ing a very oily fish, which they always do
under water, the waves above are observed
to be remarkably smooth, and by this sign
the fishermen know where to look for them
This property of oil is known particularly
u divers, who make use of it in order to
have a more steady light at the bottom of
the sea. The BermudianS, when they would
strike fish, which they could not see if the
surface of the water were rutfled by the
wind, pour on the waves a little oil to
smooth them. The Indians of the Pacific
Ocean use cocoanut oil to render the water
transparent when fishing for pearl oysters
and other shells. Again, the divers in the
Mediterranean, who, when under water in
their business, need light, which the ripping
of the surface interrupts, let small guam
THY Of oil now and then out of their mouths,
which rising to the surface smoOths it, and
permits the light to come down to them.
Perhaps one of the most curious docu-
ments hitherto discovered in connection
with this subject dates back to the early
part of the eighth century. 1t is a story re-
lated by the venerable Bede. Here it is:
"A certain priest, whose name was Utta,
aman of great gravity and sincerity, and
on that account hOnOred by all men. even
the princes of the world, being ordered to
Kent to bring from thence a wife for King
0Swy-Eanfieda. the daughter of King Ed
win, who had been conveyed thither when
her father was killed-and intending to go
thther by land and return with the virgin
by sea, repaired to Bishop Aidan, entreat-
ing him to offer up his prayers to our Lord
for him and his company, who were then set
out on their journey. He, blessing
them apd recommending them to our
Lord at the same time gave them
some holy OIL, saying: L know
that when you go abroad you will meet with
storm and contrary wind; but do you re-
member to cast this oil give you into the
sea, and the wind ceaSing Immediately, you
will have pleasant, calm weather, and re-
turn home safe. All which fell out as the
Bishop had predicted. For, in the first
place, the winds raging, the sailors endeav-
ored to ride it out at anchor, but all to no
purpose, for the sea breaking on all sides,
and the ship beginning to be filed with
water, they all concluded that certain death
was Immediately at hand; the priest at last
remembering the Bishops words, laying
hold of the phial, he cast some of the oil
into the sea, which as had been foretold,
became presently calm"
The first recorded instance of an expert
ment Offering a scientific value in modern
times dates from 1851, when Dr. Benjamin
franklin, being at sea in fleet of ninety
SIX sail bound for Louisburg, observed the
wakes of two of the ships to be remarkably
smooth, while all the others were rufiied by
the wind, which blew fresh. Being puzzled,
the doctor at last pointed it out to the Cap
tain, and asked him what it might mean.
The cooks said he, have, | suppose,
been emptying their greasy water through
The Scuppers."
To an acute mind like that of Franklin,
This amounted well nigh too revelation. An
Old sea captain, then passenger with him,
thought little of it and told the doctor that
Twas practice with the fishermen of Lis
bon, when too great surf swept the bar, TO
empty bottle or two of oil into the sea,
Which would at once suppress the breakers
and allow the crew to enter the river.
Another gentleman from Rhode Island
tod the doctor that the harbor of Newport
was always smooth when the whalers were
inside it. This probably arose from the
ouhber which the vessels sometimes bring
loose IN the hold, or the leakage of the bar
iesi the oil from this source, mixing with
The water which, from time to time, the
| crew pump out to keep the vessel free,
spreads over the surface of the water In the
lafoor, and prevents the forming Of any
waves.
FRANKLIN thereupon undertook a series of
experiments which were eventually record
60 In memoir. He noticed among other
t.ihings that the water is always smoother in
sne wake OF ship that has been newly tai
foul
III letter dated at Batavia, Jan. 8, ITO,
ana addressed to Count Bentinck, a NJ.
bTehgnagel says: Near the islands of st.
raul and Amsterdam we met with storm,
1 SIch had nothing particular in it worthy
VI Delng communicated TO you, except that
'ue captain found himself obliged, for
greater sn safety in wearing the ship, to pour
", w INTO the sea to prevent the
%oSes breaking over her. which
s rau an excellent effect and succeeded in
saving US As he poured out but little at
a litlne, the East India Company owes,
PpfvI,naps, It's ship to only six demi-aumes of