Journal of a Voyage, &c. continued.
| Dates | Latit. N. | Long. W. | Therm. A.M. | Therm. P.M. | Winds | Course | Distance | Variation of the Needle | Therm. Noon | |||
| Air | Water | Air | Water | A. | W. | |||||||
| Aug 20 | 37 38 | 38 6 | 78 | 76 | omitted | West | N ¼ W | 62 | 77 | 75 | ||
| 21 | 36 15 | 38 26 | 73 | 74 | 78 | 76 | W N W | S b W | 82 | 77 | 75 | |
| 22 | 35 40 | 38 44 | 77 | 76 | 80 | 77 | W b S | S S W | 38 | 80 | 77 | |
| 23 | 35 35 | 40 52 | 79 | 77 | 78 | 75 | North | W ¼ S | 100 | omitted. | ||
| 24 | 35 12 | 41 31 | 75 | 73 | 75 | 74 | W N W | S W b W | 41 | 75 | 74 | |
| 25 | 35 40 | 42 33 | 79 | 76 | 79 | 76 | W b N | W N W ¾ N | 60 | 80 | 76 | |
| 26 | 35 30 | 42 44 | 79 | 76 | 80 | 76 | S W b W | S W ½ S | 14 | 80 | 76 | |
| 27 | 35 14 | 43 23 | 79 | 77 | 81 | 79 | West | W S W ¼ S | 38 | 81 | 78 | |
| 28 | 34 23 | 44 0 | 78 | 76 | 78 | 78 | N N E | S W b S | 60 | 78 | 78 | |
| 29 | 34 12 | 45 52 | 77 | 78 | 78 | 78 | N E | W ¼ S | 94 | 8 0 | 79 | 78 |
| 30 | 34 5 | 48 31 | 78 | 78 | 78 | 78 | East | W ½ S | 134 | 78 | 78 | |
| 31 | 34 20 | 51 4 | 80 | 79 | 81 | 79 | East | W ¾ S | 129 | 80 | 80 | |
| Sept 1 | 34 20 | 52 47 | 81 | 78 | omitted | S S W | W ¼ N | 86 | 83 | 80 | ||
| 2 | 34 55 | 55 12 | 81 | 80 | 83 | 80 | S W | W b N ½ W | 125 | 83 | 80 | |
| 3 | 35 30 | 57 24 | 83 | 80 | 83 | 80 | S W b S | W b N ½ N | 114 | 6 0 | 84 | 81 |
| 4 | 35 50 | 59 1 | 82 | 80 | 83 | 80 | S W ½ W | W b N ¼ N | 82 | 83 | 81 | |
| 5 | 35 55 | 61 0 | 81 | 80 | 82 | 81 | S S W | W ¼ N | 96 | 82 | 81 | |
| 6 | 36 20 | 62 30 | 80 | 81 | 79 | 80 | N W b N | W b N | 75 | 78 | 80 | |
| 7 | 34 50 | 63 10 | 87 | 80 | 78 | 81 | N W b N | S S W | 86 | 78 | 81 | |
| 8 | 34 45 | 64 40 | 75 | 79 | 75 | 79 | North | W ¼ S | 74 | 75 | 79 | |
| 9 | 35 43 | 66 42 | 75 | 79 | 77 | 73 | N E | W N W | 108 | 78 | 80 | |
| 10 | 37 20 | 68 40 | 77 | 73 | 77 | 70 | E N E | N W | 126 | 78 | 72 | |
N.B. Longitude is reckoned from London, and the Thermometer is according to Fahrenheit.
OBSERVATIONS.
July 31. At one P.M. the Start bore WNW. distant six leagues.
August 1. The water appears luminous in the ship's wake.
---- 2. The temperature of the water is taken at eight in the morning and at eight in the evening.
---- 6. The water appears less luminous.
---- 7. Formegas SW. dist 32½ deg. St. Mary's SW½S. 33 leagues.
---- 8. From this date the temperature of the water is taken at eight in the morning and at six in the evening.
---- 10. Moonlight, which prevents the luminous appearance of the water.
---- 11. A strong southerly current.
---- 12. Ditto. From this date the temperature of the air and water was taken at noon, as well as morning and evening.
---- 16. Northerly current.
---- 19. First saw gulph weed.
---- 21. Southerly current.
---- 22. Again saw gulph weed.
---- 24. The water appeared luminous in a small degree before the moon rose.
---- 29. No moon, yet very little light in the water.
---- 30. Much gulph weed to-day.
---- 31. Ditto.
Sept. 1. Ditto.
---- 2. A little more light in the water.
---- 4. No gulph weed to-day. More light in the water.
---- 5. Some gulph weed again.
---- 6. Little light in the water. A very hard thunder-gust in the night.
---- 7. Little gulph weed.
---- 8. More light in the water. Little gulph weed.
---- 9. Little gulph weed. Little light in the water last evening.
---- 10. Saw some beds of rock-weed; and we were surprised to observe the water six degrees colder by the thermometer than the preceding noon.
This day (10th) the thermometer still kept descending, and at five in the morning of the 11th, it was in water as low as 70, when we struck soundings. The same evening the pilot came on board, and we found our ship about five degrees of longitude a-head of the reckoning, which our captain accounted for by supposing our course to have been near the edge of the gulph stream, and thus an eddy-current always in our favour. By the distance we ran from Sept. 9, in the evening, till we struck soundings, we must have then been at the western edge of the gulph stream, and the change in the temperature of the water was probably owing to our suddenly passing from that current, into the waters of our own climate.
On the 14th of August the following experiment was made. The weather being perfectly calm, an empty bottle, corked very tight, was sent down 20 fathoms, and it was drawn up still empty. It was then sent down again 35 fathoms, when the weight of the water having forced in the cork, it was drawn up full; the water it contained was immediately tried by the thermometer, and found to be 70, which was six degrees colder than at the surface: the lead and bottle were visible, but not very distinctly so, at the depth of 12 fathoms, but when only 7 fathoms deep, they were perfectly seen from the ship. This experiment was thus repeated Sept. 11, when we were in soundings of 18 fathoms. A keg was previously prepared with a valve at each end, one opening inward, the other outward; this was sent to the bottom in expectation that by the valves being both open when going down, and both shut when coming up, it would keep within it the water received at bottom. The upper valve performed its office well, but the under one did not shut quite close, so that much of the water was lost in hauling it up the ship's side. As the water in the keg's passage upwards could not enter at the top, it was concluded that what water remained in it was of that near the ground, and on trying this by the thermometer, it was found to be at 58, which was 12 degrees colder than at the surface.
This last Journal was obligingly kept for me by Mr. J. Williams, my fellow-passenger in the London Packet, who made all the experiments with great exactness.
TO MR. O. N[36].
[No date.]
Dear Sir,
I cannot be of opinion with you that it is too late in life for you to learn to swim. The river near the bottom of your garden affords a most convenient place for the purpose. And as your new employment requires your being often on the water, of which you have such a dread, I think you would do well to make the trial; nothing being so likely to remove those apprehensions as the consciousness of an ability to swim to the shore, in case of an accident, or of supporting yourself in the water till a boat could come to take you up.
I do not know how far corks or bladders may be useful in learning to swim, having never seen much trial of them. Possibly they may be of service in supporting the body while you are learning what is called the stroke, or that manner of drawing in and striking out the hands and feet that is necessary to produce progressive motion. But you will be no swimmer till you can place some confidence in the power of the water to support you; I would therefore advise the acquiring that confidence in the first place; especially as I have known several who, by a little of the practice necessary for that purpose, have insensibly acquired the stroke, taught as it were by nature.
The practice I mean is this. Chusing a place where the water deepens gradually, walk coolly into it till it is up to your breast, then turn round, your face to the shore, and throw an egg into the water between you and the shore. It will sink to the bottom, and be easily seen there, as your water is clear. It must lie in water so deep as that you cannot reach it to take it up but by diving for it. To encourage yourself in order to do this, reflect that your progress will be from deeper to shallower water, and that at any time you may, by bringing your legs under you and standing on the bottom, raise your head far above the water. Then plunge under it with your eyes open, throwing yourself towards the egg, and endeavouring by the action of your hands and feet against the water to get forward till within reach of it. In this attempt you will find, that the water buoys you up against your inclination; that it is not so easy a thing to sink as you imagined; that you cannot but by active force get down to the egg. Thus you feel the power of the water to support you, and learn to confide in that power; while your endeavours to overcome it, and to reach the egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with your feet and hands, which action is afterwards used in swimming to support your head higher above water, or to go forward through it.
I would the more earnestly press you to the trial of this method, because, though I think I satisfied you that your body is lighter than water, and that you might float in it a long time with your mouth free for breathing, if you would put yourself in a proper posture, and would be still and forbear struggling; yet till you have obtained this experimental confidence in the water, I cannot depend on your having the necessary presence of mind to recollect that posture and the directions I gave you relating to it. The surprize may put all out of your mind. For though we value ourselves on being reasonable knowing creatures, reason and knowledge seem on such occasions to be of little use to us; and the brutes to whom we allow scarce a glimmering of either, appear to have the advantage of us.
I will, however, take this opportunity of repeating, those particulars to you, which I mentioned in our last conversation, as, by perusing them at your leisure, you may possibly imprint them so in your memory as on occasion to be of some use to you.
1. That though the legs, arms, and head, of a human body, being solid parts, are specifically something heavier than fresh water, yet the trunk, particularly the upper part, from its hollowness, is so much lighter than water, as that the whole of the body taken together is too light to sink wholly under water, but some part will remain above, until the lungs become filled with water, which happens from drawing water into them instead of air, when a person in the fright attempts breathing while the mouth and nostrils are under water.
2. That the legs and arms are specifically lighter than salt water, and will be supported by it, so that a human body would not sink in salt-water, though the lungs were filled as above, but from the greater specific gravity of the head.
3. That therefore a person throwing himself on his back in salt water, and extending his arms, may easily lie so as to keep his mouth and nostrils free for breathing; and by a small motion of his hands may prevent turning, if he should perceive any tendency to it.
4. That in fresh water, if a man throws himself on his back, near the surface, he cannot long continue in that situation but by proper action of his hands on the water. If he uses no such action, the legs and lower part of the body will gradually sink till he comes into an upright position, in which he will continue suspended, the hollow of the breast keeping the head uppermost.
5. But if, in this erect position, the head is kept upright above the shoulders, as when we stand on the ground, the immersion will, by the weight of that part of the head that is out of water, reach above the mouth and nostrils, perhaps a little above the eyes, so that a man cannot long remain suspended in water with his head in that position.
6. The body continuing suspended as before, and upright, if the head be leaned quite back, so that the face looks upwards, all the back part of the head being then under water, and its weight consequently in a great measure supported by it, the face will remain above water quite free for breathing, will rise an inch higher every inspiration, and sink as much every expiration, but never so low as that the water may come over the mouth.
7. If therefore a person unacquainted with swimming and falling accidentally into the water, could have presence of mind sufficient to avoid struggling and plunging, and to let the body take this natural position, he might continue long safe from drowning till perhaps help would come. For as to the cloaths, their additional weight while immersed is very inconsiderable, the water supporting it though, when he comes out of the water, he would find them very heavy indeed.
But, as I said before, I would not advise you or any one to depend on having this presence of mind on such an occasion, but learn fairly to swim; as I wish all men were taught to do in their youth; they would, on many occurrences, be the safer for having that skill, and on many more the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful and wholesome an exercise. Soldiers particularly should, methinks, all be taught to swim; it might be of frequent use either in surprising an enemy, or saving themselves. And if I had now boys to educate, I should prefer those schools (other things being equal) where an opportunity was afforded for acquiring so advantageous an art, which once learned is never forgotten.
I am, Sir, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
[36] Oliver Neale. Editor.
ON THE SAME SUBJECT,
**** I am apprehensive that I shall not be able to find leisure for making all the disquisitions and experiments which would be desirable on this subject. I must, therefore, content myself with a few remarks.
The specific gravity of some human bodies, in comparison to that of water, has been examined by Mr. Robinson, in our Philosophical Transactions, volume 50, page 30, for the year 1757. He asserts, that fat persons with small bones float most easily upon the water.
The diving-bell is accurately described in our Transactions.
When I was a boy, I made two oval pallets, each about ten inches long, and six broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it fast in the palm of my hand. They much resembled a painter's pallets. In swimming I pushed the edges of these forward, and I struck the water with their flat surfaces as I drew them back. I remember I swam faster by means of these pallets, but they fatigued my wrists. I also fitted to the soles of my feet a kind of sandals; but I was not satisfied with them, because I observed that the stroke is partly given by the inside of the feet and the ancles, and not entirely with the soles of the feet.
We have here waistcoats for swimming, which are made of double sail-cloth, with small pieces of cork quilted in between them.
I know nothing of the scaphandre of M. de la Chapelle.
I know by experience, that it is a great comfort to a swimmer, who has a considerable distance to go, to turn himself sometimes on his back, and to vary in other respects the means of procuring a progressive motion.
When he is seized with the cramp in the leg, the method of driving it away is to give to the parts affected a sudden, vigorous and violent shock; which he may do in the air as he swims on his back.
During the great heats of summer there is no danger in bathing, however warm we may be, in rivers which have been thoroughly warmed by the sun. But to throw oneself into cold spring water, when the body has been heated by exercise in the sun, is an imprudence which may prove fatal. I once knew an instance of four young men, who, having worked at harvest in the heat of the day, with a view of refreshing themselves plunged into a spring of cold water: two died upon the spot, a third the next morning, and the fourth recovered with great difficulty. A copious draught of cold water, in similar circumstances, is frequently attended with the same effect in North America.
The exercise of swimming is one of the most healthy and agreeable in the world. After having swam for an hour or two in the evening, one sleeps coolly the whole night, even during the most ardent heat of summer. Perhaps the pores being cleansed, the insensible perspiration increases and occasions this coolness. It is certain that much swimming is the means of stopping a diarrhœa, and even of producing a constipation. With respect to those who do not know how to swim, or who are affected with a diarrhœa at a season which does not permit them to use that exercise, a warm bath, by cleansing and purifying the skin, is found very salutary, and often effects a radical cure. I speak from my own experience, frequently repeated, and that of others to whom I have recommended this.
You will not be displeased if I conclude these hasty remarks by informing you, that as the ordinary method of swimming is reduced to the act of rowing with the arms and legs, and is consequently a laborious and fatiguing operation when the space of water to be crossed is considerable; there is a method in which a swimmer may pass to great distances with much facility, by means of a sail. This discovery I fortunately made by accident, and in the following manner.
When I was a boy I amused myself one day with flying a paper kite; and approaching the bank of a pond, which was near a mile broad, I tied the string to a stake, and the kite ascended to a very considerable height above the pond, while I was swimming. In a little time, being desirous of amusing myself with my kite, and enjoying at the same time the pleasure of swimming, I returned; and loosing from the stake the string with the little stick which was fastened to it, went again into the water, where I found, that, lying on my back and holding the stick in my hands, I was drawn along the surface of the water in a very agreeable manner. Having then engaged another boy to carry my clothes round the pond, to a place which I pointed out to him on the other side, I began to cross the pond with my kite, which carried me quite over without the least fatigue, and with the greatest pleasure imaginable. I was only obliged occasionally to halt a little in my course, and resist its progress, when it appeared that, by following too quick, I lowered the kite too much; by doing which occasionally I made it rise again. I have never since that time practised this singular mode of swimming, though I think it not impossible to cross in this manner from Dover to Calais. The packet-boat, however, is still preferable. ****
B. FRANKLIN.
[37] This and the four following extracts of letters to M. Dubourg, are re-translated from the French edition of Dr. Franklin's works. Editor.
TO M. DUBOURG.
London, July 28, 1760.
**** I greatly approve the epithet which you give, in your letter of the 8th of June, to the new method of treating the small-pox, which you call the tonic or bracing method; I will take occasion, from it, to mention a practice to which I have accustomed myself. You know the cold bath has long been in vogue here as a tonic; but the shock of the cold water has always appeared to me, generally speaking, as too violent, and I have found it much more agreeable to my constitution to bathe in another element, I mean cold air. With this view I rise almost every morning, and sit in my chamber without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing. This practice is not in the least painful, but, on the contrary, agreeable; and if I return to bed afterwards, before I dress myself, as sometimes happens, I make a supplement to my night's rest of one or two hours of the most pleasing sleep that can be imagined. I find no ill consequences whatever resulting from it, and that at least it does not injure my health, if it does not in fact contribute much to its preservation. I shall therefore call it for the future a bracing or tonic bath. ****
B. FRANKLIN.
March 10, 1773.
**** I shall not attempt to explain why damp clothes occasion colds, rather than wet ones, because I doubt the fact; I imagine that neither the one nor the other contribute to this effect, and that the causes of colds are totally independent of wet and even of cold. I propose writing a short paper on this subject, the first moment of leisure I have at my disposal. In the mean time I can only say, that having some suspicions that the common notion, which attributes to cold the property of stopping the pores and obstructing perspiration, was ill founded, I engaged a young physician, who is making some experiments with Sanctorius's balance, to estimate the different proportions of his perspiration, when remaining one hour quite naked, and another warmly clothed. He pursued the experiment in this alternate manner for eight hours successively, and found his perspiration almost double during those hours in which he was naked. ****
B. FRANKLIN.