The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-04-11
a1ollitotpof pilot.
THURSDAY, APRIL II. 1889.
The Use of Oil to Still the Waves.

Under the above title Lieutenant W.
H. Beehler contributes TO the Century
an account of the experiments made
with oil in rough water. We quote
the following account of two rescues:
The captain Of the ship Martha Cobb,
loaded with petroleum, fell in with a
sinking vessel during a heavy gale in
the North Atlantic in December, 1886.
The signal made stated the vessel was
sinking and that all her boats had
been stove. The Martha Cobb had
lost her large boats, her bulwarks
washed out, and decks swept in the
same storm; the only boat left was a
small siXteen-foot dingey, which could
not possibly live in the sea that was
then running. The captain says he
was puzzled and lay by for some hours
hoping that the gale would moderate;
but as there was no appearance of bet
ter weather and night coming on, he
decided to make an attempt to rescue
the crew of the sinking vessel. The
Martha Cobb had cargo of petroleum,
some of which leaked, and the captain
had noticed that the sea in the wake of
the ship was much smoother when the
pumps were worked.
HE Signaled to the other vessel to
haul by the wind while he luffed to get
to windward, and at the same time
started the pumps; but the ship drifted
faster than the oil, and while the oil
made the sea comparatively smooth to
windward. it did not cover the sea lee
ward. He then ran down across the
other vessels stern, hauled up close
under her lee, and started the pumps
again; at the same time also he
empted five-gallon can of fish oil
down the scuppers. The effect was
magical. In twenty minutes the sea
between and around the vessels was
broken down. The long heavy swell
remained, but the combers and break
ing seas were all gone. The little
dingey with three men had no diff
Guilty in pulling to windward, and the
crew were saved. The boat was deep
ly loaded and did not ship any water,
although the sea was breaking fierce
ly outside of the charmed space in
which the vessels lay on oiled seas.
I'm June, 1885, the British ship
Slivemore took fire and had to be
abandoned when eight hundred miles
northeast Of the Seychelle Islands,
Indian Ocean. The people took to the
boats and made for Seychelle Islands.
The third day after leaving the vessel
a cyclone came up, and no one believed
that the boats would live through it.
Before they left the ship the boats had
been supplied with oil for just such an
emergency. Each boat got out drag
made of spars and oars dashed together,
for what is known as a sea-anchor.
Oakmn saturated with parafline was
stuffed III long stockings hung over the
bows of the boats. Before the oil was
used the boats had been several times
nearly Tiled with water and the oc-
cupants had to bail for their lives; but
when oil was applied no further
trouble was experienced. An oil-slick
formed around the boats, which rode
in perfect safety on tremendous swells
which took the place of the previously
breaking seas. Little if any water
came over the sides of the boats, and
the occupants could lie down and
sleep. The boats eventually reached
the islands, but every soul would have
persisted except for the forethought
OF Captain Comfy, the captain of the
Siiyemore.