17. “The use of powder was not established in battle, till the long wars of Francis I. and Charles V. From its invention to this period, both the machines in use before that discovery, and those which that discovery introduced, were used in war at the same time; and even some time after this period, both sorts of machines were continued in use.” Le Blond’s Elements of War.
18. De Morogues Tact. Navale.
19. “The carabine is a sort of musketoon, the barrel of which is riffled spirally from the breech, so that when the ball, which is forced into it, is again driven out by the strength of the powder, it is lengthened about the breadth of a finger, and marked with the riffle of the bore. This piece has an iron rammer.
“The barrel of the carabine is three foot long, including the stock. It has a much greater range than the fusil or musket, because the riffle of the barrel impedes the ball, which thereby makes the greater resistance at the first inflammation of the powder, and, giving time for the whole charge to take fire before it goes out of the bore, it is at length thrown out with greater force than from the common musket.” Le Blond’s Elements of War.
The coehorn is a sort of small mortar, fixed on a swivel, and particularly used to discharge grenadoes, or cast bullets from close quarters in merchant vessels when boarded.
The fire-arrow, dard à feu, is a small iron dart furnished with springs and bars, together with a match, impregnated with powder and sulphur, which is wound about its shaft. It is intended to fire the sails of the enemy, and is for this purpose discharged from a musketoon or swivel-gun. The match being kindled by the explosion, communicates the flame to the sail against which it is directed, where the arrow is fastened by means of its bars and springs. As this is peculiar to hot climates, particularly the West-Indies, the sails being extremely dry, are instantly inflamed, and of course convey the fire to the masts and rigging, and finally to the vessel itself.
The powder-flask and stink pot are described in the article Boarding: and the organ is no other than a machine consisting of six or seven musket barrels fixed upon one stock, so as to be fired all at once.
20. M. De Morogues.
21. The Gauls, says Vegetius, had the advantage of the Romans in their numbers: The Germans have their stature; the Spaniards their strength and numbers united; the Africans their artifice and opulence; the Greeks their policy and prudence; but the Romans have triumphed over all by their discipline.
22. M. De Morogues.
23. As a number of technical terms are introduced in these instructions, the land-reader who wishes to understand the subject, should refer to the several articles, all of which are inserted in this work.
24. The iron chambers are ten inches long, and 3.5 in diameter. They are breeched against a piece of wood fixed across the ports, and let into another a little higher. When loaded, they are almost filled with corn-powder, and have a wooden tompion well driven into their muzzles. They are primed with a small piece of quick-match thrust through their vents into the powder, with a part of it hanging out. When the ports are blown open by means of the iron chambers, the port-lids either fall downward, or are carried away by the explosion.
25. The fire-barrels ought to be of a cylindrical form, as most suitable to contain the reeds with which they are filled, and more convenient for stowing them between the troughs in the fire-room. Their inside diameters should not be less than twenty-one inches, and thirty inches is sufficient for their length. The bottom parts are first well stored with short double dipped reeds placed upright; and the remaining vacancy is filled with fire-barrel composition, well mixed and melted, and then poured over them. The composition used for this purpose is a mass of sulphur, pitch, tar, and tallow.
There are five holes of ¾ inch in diameter, and three inches deep, formed in the top of the composition while it is yet warm; one being in the center, and the other four at equal distances round the sides of the barrel. When the composition is cold and hard, the barrel is primed by filling those holes with fuse-composition, which is firmly driven into them, so as to leave a little vacancy at the top to admit a strand of quick match twice doubled. The center hole contains two strands at their whole length, and every strand must be driven home with mealed powder. The loose ends of the quick-match being then laid within the barrel, the whole is covered with a dipped curtain, fastened on with a hoop that slips over the head of the barrel, to which it is nailed.
The barrels should be made very strong, not only to support the weight of the composition before firing, when they are moved or carried from place to place, but to keep them together whilst burning: for if the staves are too light and thin, so as to burn very soon, the remaining composition will tumble out and be dissipated, and the intention of the barrels, to carry the flame aloft, will accordingly be frustrated.
The curtain is a piece of coarse canvas, nearly a yard in breadth and length, thickened with melted composition, and covered with saw-dust on both sides.
26. The reeds are made up in small bundles of about a foot in circumference, cut even at both ends, and tied together in two places. They are distinguished into two kinds, viz. the long and short; the former of which are four feet, and the latter two feet five inches in length. One part of them are singly dipped, i. e. at one end; the rest are dipped at both ends in a kettle of melted composition. After being immersed about seven or eight inches in this preparation, and then drained, they are sprinkled over with pulverised sulphur upon a tanned hide.
27. The bavins are made of birch, heath, or other brush-wood, which is tough and readily kindled. They are usually two or three feet in length, and have all their bush-ends lying one way, the other ends being tied together with small cords. They are dipped in composition at the bush-ends, whose branches are afterwards confined by the hand, to prevent them from breaking off by moving about; and also to make them burn more fiercely. After being dipped, in the same manner as the reeds, they also are sprinkled with sulphur.
28. Quick match is formed of three cotton strands drawn into length, and dipped in a boiling composition of white-wine vinegar, salt-petre, and mealed powder. After this immersion it is taken out hot, and laid in a trough where some mealed powder, moistened with spirits of wine, is thoroughly incorporated into the twists of the cotton, by rolling it about therein. Thus prepared they are taken out separately, and drawn through mealed powder, then hung upon a line till dried, by which they are fit for immediate service.
29. Port-fires are frequently used by the artillery people in preference to matches, to set fire to the powder or compositions. They are distinguished into wet and dry port-fires. The composition of the former is salt-petre four, sulphur one, and mealed powder four. When these materials are thoroughly mixed and sifted, the whole is to be moistened with a little linseed oil, and rubbed between the hands till all the oil is imbibed by the composition. The preparation for dry port fires is salt-petre four, sulphur one, mealed powder two, and antimony one. These compositions are driven into small paper cases, to be used whenever necessary.
30. De Morogues Tact. Navale,
31. Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
32. Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
33. Beugner, Traité de la Manœuvre de Vaisseaux. Bourdé. Manœuvrier.
34. Saverien Dict. Marine.
35. Aubin. Saverien.
36. The cut-water is called taille-mer by the French.
37. Milton alludes to this situation, in his second book of Paradise Lost: where,
38. De Morogues. Tactique Navale.
39. Muller’s Artillery.
40. Le Blond’s Elements of War.
“Happening to mention, before the governor and commodore Edgecumbe, that, in case of Gibraltar being attacked by sea, howitzers would be of great service, as I did not imagine any ship’s side proof against a 10 inch shell, fired point-blank, or at a small elevation, with a full charge of powder; which being thought impossible by most present, it was agreed to try the experiment: accordingly a target, of about 6 feet square, of an equal strength and resistance with the strongest part of our largest men of war’s sides, was made, and was just 3 feet thick of solid fir-timber: we fired at it out of a sea-service 10 inch howitzer, at 150 yards distance, and with 10 lb. of powder.”
“The first shell just touched the top of the object, and lodged in the bank of sand behind it; the second grazed short three yards, and went through the lower corner of the object; but the third shell gave full satisfaction, going through the very centre of the object, and entering 5 feet into a solid bank of sand behind it.”
41. The regulations, with regard to pilots in the royal navy, are as follow: The commanders of the king’s ships, in order to give all reasonable encouragement to so useful a body of men as pilots, and to remove all their objections to his majesty’s service, are strictly charged to treat them with good usage, and in equal respect with warrant-officers.
“The purser of the ship is always to have a set of bedding provided on board for the pilots, and the captain is to order the boatswain to supply them with hammocs, and a convenient place to lie in, near their duty, and apart from the common men; which bedding and hammocs are to be returned when the pilots leave the ship.
“A pilot, when conducting one of his majesty’s ship’s in pilot-water, shall have the sole charge and command of the ship, and may give orders for steering; setting, trimming, or furling the sails; tacking the ship; or whatever concerns the navigation: and the captain is to take care that all the officers and crew obey his orders. But the captain is diligently to observe the conduct of the pilot, and if he judges him to behave so ill as to bring the ship into danger, he may remove him from the command and charge of the ship, and take such methods for her preservation as shall be judged necessary; remarking upon the log-book the exact hour and time when the pilot was removed from his office, and the reasons assigned for it.
“Captains of the king’s ships, employing pilots in foreign parts of his majesty’s dominions, shall, after performance of the service, give a certificate thereof to the pilot, which being produced to the proper naval-officer, he shall cause the same to be immediately paid; but if there be no naval-officer there, the captain of his majesty’s ship shall pay him, and send the proper vouchers, with his bill, to the navy-board, in order to be paid as bills of exchange.
“Captains of his majesty’s ships, employing foreign pilots, to carry the ships they command into, or out of foreign ports, shall pay them the rates due by the establishment or custom of the country, before they discharge them; whose receipts being duly vouched, and sent with a certificate of the service performed, to the navy-board, they shall cause them to be paid with the same exactness as they do bills of exchange.” Regulations and Instructions of the Sea-service, &c.
42. Hist. Denmark, by Saxo Grammaticus.
43. Saverien Dict. Marine.
44. The regulations with regard to prizes in the royal navy are as follow:
“I. When any ship or vessel is taken from the enemy, the hatches are to be immediately spiked up, and her lading and furniture secured from embezzlement, till sentence is passed upon her in some court of admiralty, empowered to take cognizance of causes of that nature.
“II. The captain is to cause the officers of the prize to be examined; three or more of the company, who can give best evidence, to be brought to the said court of admiralty, together with the charter-parties, bills of lading, and other ship’s papers found on board.
“V. When a privateer is taken, great care is to be had to secure all the ship’s papers, especially the commission; but if there be no legal commission found on board, then all the prisoners are to be carried before some magistrate, in order to their being examined and committed as pirates.”
N. B. The third and fourth articles relate to the finding any of the king’s subjects in the prizes; and appear unnecessary in this place.
45. Ricoche signifies duck and drake, a name given to the bounding of a flat stone thrown almost horizontally into the water.
46. Muller’s Artillery.
47. Le Blond’s Elements of War.
48. Belidor. Bigot de Morogues.
49. Weight, or gravity, always operates equally on a falling body; for as it always subsists in an equal degree, it must perpetually act with equal force, or produce always the same effect in the same time. So if, in the first instant of falling, it communicates to a body a certain force sufficient to move a certain space, it must, in every following instant, communicate a force capable of moving it the like space, and by this means the velocity of a falling body is every moment accelerated; for if it has one degree the first instant, it will have two the second, three the third, and so on. Hence it must move different spaces every instant, and by that means describe the curve-line above mentioned.
50. Le Blond’s Elements of War.
51. The same gentleman observes, that a ship of two decks, such as are generally all those of the third and fourth rates, cannot be so strongly connected as one that is furnished with three: a vessel pierced for 15 guns on one side of her deck must necessarily be very long, and is sometimes apt to droop at the two ends; or, in the sea-phrase, to break her back under the enormous weight of her artillery.
52. The reader, who wishes to be expert in this manœuvre, will find it copiously described by several ingenious French writers, particularly L’Hôte, Saverien, Morogues, Bourdé, and Ozane; who have given accurate instructions, deduced from experience, for putting it in practice when occasion requires. As it is not properly a term of the British marine, a more circumstantial account of it might be considered foreign to our plan. It has been observed in another part of this work[53], that the French have generally exhibited greater proofs of taste and judgment in the sculpture, with which their ships are decorated, than the English; the same candour and impartiality obliges us to confess their superior dexterity in this movement.
53. See the article Head.
54. Le Blond’s Elements of War.
55. Mr. Robertson, librarian of the Royal Society, favoured the author with an inspection of several curious remarks concerning the history of modern navigation; in which it appears, that the most early discoveries with regard to the magnetical variation were made about the year 1570. Mr. Robert Norman, from a variety of observations made by him nearly at that time, ascertains it to have been 11° 15´ easterly, or one point of the compass.
56. Euler. De la Lande.
57. I had often seen water-spouts at a distance, and heard many strange stories of them, but never knew any thing satisfactory of their nature or cause, until that which I saw at Antigua; which convinced me that a water-spout is a whirlwind, which becomes visible in all its dimensions by the water it carries up with it.
There appeared, not far from the mouth of the harbour of St. John’s, two or three water-spouts, one of which took its course up the harbour. Its progressive motion was slow and unequal, not in a strait line, but as it were by jerks or starts. When just by the wharf, I stood about 100 yards from it. There appeared in the water a circle of about twenty yards diameter, which to me had a dreadful though pleasing appearance. The water in this circle was violently agitated, being whisked about, and carried up into the air with great rapidity and noise, and reflected a lustre, as if the sun shined bright on that spot, which was more conspicuous, as there appeared a dark circle around it. When it made the shore, it carried up with the same violence shingles, staves, large pieces of the roofs of houses, &c. and one small wooden house it lifted entirely from the foundation on which it stood, and carried it to the distance of fourteen feet, where it settled without breaking or oversetting; and, what is remarkable, tho’ the whirlwind moved from west to east, the house moved from east to west. Two or three negroes and a white woman were killed by the fall of timber, which it carried up into the air, and dropt again. After passing through the town, I believe it was soon dissipated; for, except tearing a large limb from a tree, and part of the cover of a sugar-work near the town, I do not remember any farther damage done by it. I conclude, wishing you success in your enquiry, and am, &c.
58. The swiftness of the wind in a great storm is not more than 50 or 60 miles in an hour; and a common brisk gale is about 15 miles an hour. Robertson’s Navigation.
59. This manœuvre, according to the best of my information, is entirely unknown to our mariners; it is performed by lining, or doubling, the flukes of an anchor, with two pieces of plank, to strengthen them, and prevent their turning in a bad anchoring-ground.
60. According to the arrangement of the French navy, this class comprehends all vessels of war from 50 to 20 guns.
61. M. Saverien defines this to be a wind perpendicular to the ship’s course, and, consequently, a wind upon the beam; but I have ventured to correct this explanation, by the authority of M. Aubin, who is certainly right in his description.