Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-02-26
HEAVING THE LEAD.
How Masters Of Big Vessels Fee
Their Way in Thick and
Foggy Weather.

There are two leads on every big ship,
the hand lead of from Z to il pounds in
weight, and the deep sea pronounced
dipSey) lead, weighing from 40 to 100
pounds; a hemp line some twenty-five
fathoms long and Of the size of a small
clothes line is attached to the hand
lead; to the other a larger line is made
fast and its length is usually from 100
to $50 fathoms. Both lines are marked
as follows:
Two fdtho,ms from the lead with two
strips of leather.
Three fathOmS from the lead with three
strips Of leather.
Five fathoms from the lead with a white
rag.
Seven fathoms from the lead with a red
rag.
Ten fathoms from the lead with piece of
! leather having hole in it.
Thirteen fathoms from the lead, same as
three fathoms.
Fifteen fathoms from the lead, same as at
i've fathOmS.
Seventeen fathoms from the lead, same as
at seven fathOmS
Twenty fathOmS from the lead, piece
of yarn with two knots in it.
twenty-five fathOmS from the lead, a piece
of yarn with one knot in it.
Thirty fathOmS from the lead a piece Of
yarn with three knots in it.
Thirty-five fathoms from the lead, piece
of yarn with one knot in it.
And so on up to one hundred.
The depths, three, five, seven, and so
on are called marks, and the intermedi-
ate ones deepS. For example, in OBJ
tanning fathoms, the leadsman cries out:
by the mark, ten" In nine fathoms,
he cries out: by the deep, nine" The
only fractions Of fathom used are
half and a quarter. Thus, seven and
half fathOms are called, and half
sevenn' Seven and three-Quarters faith
oms are called, "A quarter less eighth
At night the FIVE and fifteen marks,
and the seven and seventeen can be
fO1E l,vrtG fOo h,
made out of a bit of cotton rag, while
the red marks are of bunting. Whether
the mark at night be for the less or the
greater depth can be told only by the
amount of line out. Also at night the
leadsman must, since he can't see well,
subtract the length of line from his hand
to the waters edge before reporting the
sounding
To use the hard lead, the leadman
stands out at the vessels side, his body
usually slung in a canvas apron, so that
he leans we'll out, clear of the ship and
over the water. In enc hand he holds
the coil of the lead line, the end being
securely fastened SO that the line cannot
get adrift. In the other hand he holds
a small tOggle between the fore and mid
die fingers. This toggle is attached to
the lead line. fifteen or eighteen feet
swings his lead backward and forward
couple of times to get it well started,
then over his head, his arm stiff and
straight, a couple of times, when away
he let's it fly, far forward and straight,
about six or eight feet above the water,
paying out from the coil of line in his
other hand. AS the lead sinks the man
gathers in the slack line, so as to keep
the lead in touch and to have q taut,
straight line. with the lead on the bot
tom the instant the ship, by her progress,
places him directly over it. An "up and
down" cast this is called A good leads
man can stretch out at a cast at least
100 feet of line. and can get bottom in
fourteen or fifteen fathoms of water,
when the ships speed is six or eight
knots. He then hauls in his line, grasps
his toggle. and heayes again. Taking
his time, he can easily get a cast once
every five minutes In shoaler wafer he
can heave much Oftener, especially if he
has some one to haul in his line for him
after he reports the depth.
To heaye the deeD-sea lead the ship
should be stopped and the line led from
att outside to the forward part of the
vessel; there the lead is attached to it
and thrown overheard, the soundings
beng observed by an experienced sea-
man stationed aft. Nov adays sound
ing machine, with piano wire on a drum,
is used III place of the deep sea lead
and registering wheel indicates on
the drum how much wire is out; reg
lister on the lead also gives the depth of
the vertical cast.
When standing in toward the land,
begin sounding with the deep-sea appa-
ratus; sound at least every fifteen min
utes until bottom is found, then oftener
if the water be shoaling. AS soon as
fifteen fathoms are reported, start the
hand leads-two of them, one on each
side of the ship. Keep them going con-
stantly and keep the speed of the ship
so that she will be barely going ahead
t1fhOn1S
your ship is drawing over twenty-five
or thirty feet of water, and either come
to anchor or turn aeound and head off,
or else lead your way along, going as
slowly as possible and never getting
inside the ten fathom line, unless YOU
can see distinctly precisely where you
are and know just what you should do
to make your port.-New York Herald.
Oyster and Gull.