Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-11-17
THE SPEED OF A SHIP
METHODS BY WHICH ITS KNOTS PER
HOUR ARE MEASURED.

An interesting Description of the
Mechanism and Use of the Log, with
a Truthful Red Sea shark story At
tnchment.
How do you ascertain the speed Of
a vesseI?' is question frequently adj
dressed to naval men, and an expIana-
tion will therefore probably be of inter-
est to many readers. There are several
methods, the commonest and most an
cient being by the use of the clog.
This instrument consists of three parts
THE logship. the line and the marks.
The logship is piece of wood about
half an inch thick and shaped like a
quadrant, with piece of lead let in
round the circular edge to make it float
perpendicularly-in the water. 1t slung
by lines at each angle, the three lines
being joined together about two feet
from the logship. Two of the lines are
securely fixed to the ship and the other
has bone peg at the end, which, being
pushed into hole in the ship, tempo
rarily fastens it there.
From the point Of juncture Of the three
lines sufficient length is measured,
generally about 100 feet. to take the
logship we'll clear of the ships wash
This is called the 'stray line'' and is
marked with piece of bunting. From
the bunting is measured AZ feet 3
inches, and the line marked here with
piece of leather Then another AZ feet
8 inches is measured off and marked
with two knots, then another space
the same length, and marked with
three knots and so on as far as seven
knots. Halfway between each batch of
knots one single kuot is made. The log
line is then ready for use.
The space between the knots is found
from the simple little rule of three sum
AS 8, 600 seconds (number of seconds in
an hour, 20 seconds (length of sand
glass;, $3.50 feet (nqmber of feet in a
nautical mile); length of line required
which works out to AZ feet inches
To use the log four persons are re-
quired-two men to hold the reel on
which the line is wound; the quarter
master, to hold the glass, and the mid
shipman of the watch, to heave the log
The last named puts the peg firmly in
the logship and then gathers three or
four coils of line in his hand, sufficient
to admit of the logship being thrown
we'll clear of the ship He asks, "Clear
glass, quartermaster?
"Clear glass, sirl" comes the reply,
and overheard go the logship and line,
the reel rapidly revolving. Presently
the MILDLY feels the piece of bunting
passing through his hand, and he gives
the order "Turn. The quartermaster
turns the glass and watches the sand
while one ''reeler" holds the reel we'll
over his head, so as to give the line fair
play. When the sand has run out.
"Stopl" cries the quartermaster.
The midshipman grasps the line. as
sisted by the other reeler, and looks for
the nearest knot, finding a single one
close to his hand. Then the line is haul
ed in, and four knots appear, which
signify that the ship is going four and
q half knots through the water. The
jerk of the line draws the peg from the
logship, which now floats on its fat
side and is easily hauled in. When a
ship is going over four knots. IA sec
ond glass is used, the speed being double
that shown by the knots on the line.
Another method in use is the patent
log. This is altogether mechanical and
consists of long cylinder with clock
work inside it and four fins ON the out
side. 1t is towed astern of the ship by a
line made fast to swivel III the head
of it. AS it is dragged through the wa
ter the four fins make it revolve, actu-
ating the clockwork inside, which regis
tiers on series of dials the number of
knots run. This log has to be hauled in
every time one wants to read it, but
there is another kind where the fan is
towed astern and the dial is fixture
in the ship. This is called ''cherub. !"
These logs are not always accurate,
and are constantly verified when near
land by cross bearings-that is, the
bearings of two we'll known points are
taken, and the position SO obtained is
marked on the chart, the time of obser-
walton being noted and the reading on
the patent log. After an interval has
elapsed the position of the ship is again
taken by cross bearings, when the
straight line joining the two places on
the chart will show the direction of the
course steered and it's length the distance
run. A comparison with the readings
by patent log will give the error of the
machine.
10 finish here is patent log yarn,
as told by an old messmate. Igive it in
his own words: sWhen in the Crocodile
in the Red sea, just after taking the
reading one night at O'Clock, the
quartermaster reported, Shark taken
the patent log, sirr l got another one
over at once At 80 next morning we
stopped for half an hour To amuse the
ladies tried for and caught shark.
On opening him we found our patent
log, and, +" he added gravely, strange
to say, it registered the same as the one
in use. The line had damned between
his teeth, the fan working all the time
he followed the ship. He had swum
just 1879 ITO miles Navy and Army
| Illustrated.