not that similar accidents are frequent. A ship in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, had her windlass upset in this way; the cable ran out end for end, and she drifted ashore, before another anchor, which was let go, could bring her up.

In 1806, in the ship Orion of Philadelphia, I was coming to anchor in Simon's Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, the wind blowing nearly a gale, and a heavy sea running, although both ends of the cables were clenched, if I had not used this precaution, the cables would have run out to the bitter end, and the ship would have drifted athwart hawse of the Adamant fifty gun ship.

Pall-bits are often defective in the wake of the deck, when their defects cannot be perceived.

On Cross Bearings.

After a vessel has anchored in a road, three cross bearings should be taken, the more readily to find the anchor, if the cable should be parted. If the weather permit, these bearings should be taken from over the anchor. A land mark should also be set, by which you may know if the vessel drifts.

On lying at Anchor in a Roadstead, among a Crowd of Ships.

There is sometimes more danger, in roadsteads, from other vessels drifting athwart your hawse, than from your own vessel's drifting. For instance, in such a roadstead as the Downs, where vessels from all parts are hourly coming to anchor, more particularly those from the East and West Indies, with their cables dry rotten, which are liable to break with the least blow, and drift foul of other vessels. In 1809, I laid six weeks in the Downs, in the brig Sylph, during which time we had several blows; and all the damage which was done was occasioned by vessels, having bad cables, drifting foul of others.

On Anchoring in Places where you are not acquainted.

In anchoring in such places, the time of tide ought to be calculated and allowed for, particularly where there is a considerable rise and fall of tide.

In the brig Tryphena, of Philadelphia, in 1800, from Philadelphia bound to Amsterdam, having the wind from the eastward, I anchored to the westward of Dungeness. Shortly af

terwards a ship anchored there, a little in shore of me. came to anchor at nearly high water, and at nearly low water she struck the ground, and was obliged to carry out an anchor, and heave off. The rise and fall of tide at this place is 24 feet.

On the Great Fall of Water in the Java and China Seas.

I have been informed by several captains of country ships, that the tides in the Java and China seas often fall below their common level at least four fathoms. If this be the case, it would be dangerous to anchor in those seas where there is but little more water than the ship draws; and the truth of this would account for rocks and breakers which have been seen by some, and not by others, sailing in the same track through them.

Diurnal and Extraordinary Tides.

If a place communicate with two oceans, or two ways with the same ocean, one of which is a readier passage than the other, two tides may arrive at that place at different times, which, ipterfering with each other, may produce a variety of phenomena. At Batsha, a port in the kingdom of Tonquin, on a river in the gulf of its name, on the coast of China, in latitude about 20° 47' N. and long. 1069 55′ E., the day in which the moon passes the equator, the water stagnates without any motion: as the moon removes from the equator, the water begins to rise and fall once in 24 hours, and it is high water at the setting of the moon, and low water at her rising. This daily or diurnal tide, increases for about seven or eight days, and decreases by the same degrees for the same time till the motion ceases, at the moon's return to the equator. When she has passed the equator, and declines southward, the water rises and falls again as before; but it is high water now at the rising, and low at the setting of the

moon.

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Sir Isaac Newton thus accounts for this phenomenon. Batsha there are two inlets, one from the Chinese ocean, between the continent and the Manillas; the other from the Indian ocean, between the continent and Berneo; and he supposes that a tide may arrive at Batsha, through one of these inlets, at the third hour of the moon, and the other through the other inlet, six hours after. For while these tides are equal, the one flowing out as the other flows in, the water must stagnate. Now they are equal when the moon is on the equator; but when the moon gets on the same side of the equator with

Batsha, the daily tide exceeds the nightly, so that two greater and two less tides must arrive at Batsha by turns. The difference of these will produce an agitation of water, which will rise to its greatest height at the mean time between the two greatest tides, and fall lowest at the mean time between the two least tides; so that it will be high water the sixth hour at the setting of the moon, and low water at her rising. When the moon gets on the equator, the nightly tides will exceed the daily, and therefore the high tides will be at rising, and the low tides at the setting of the moon. The same principles will account for those extraordinary tides which are observed in the Java and the China seas, as well as in many other places. These diurnal tides I remarked when I was in Batavia in May 1812.

When going through the straights of Banca, in the big Sylph, of Philadelphia, bound to Canton in June, 1811, I found but four fathoms water where eight was laid down in the chart, which astonished me. Being at the approach of night, I had the vessel brought to an anchor, and sounded with the boat at least three miles each way in four directions; but not finding more water, I concluded there was at that place an extraordinary low tide, the same which I have been informed of by some of the captains of the country ships. I entered the south part of the streights of Banca that same afternoon, and found the usual depth of water at that place, as laid down in the charts.

On Kedging or Drifting in a Tide's way in moderate Weather.

When drifting in a tide's way, an anchor ought to be let go, the weight of which must be proportionable to the size of the ship, and the strength of the tide. Just as much cable or hawser must be paid out as will check the ship in part, so that part of the tide may act on the rudder, and also a part to drift the ship. By this means she can be sheered at pleasure, so that by heaving in, or veering out, the hawser or cable, she may be checked or drifted as required. In this manner I sheered my vessel clear of the ice, in the river Delaware, below Reedy Island, in a calm. At intervals, when there was no ice near me, I had the cable shortened, and by that means sheered the ship in towards the shore; and when I perceived a large cake of ice coming near the ship, I gave her cable sufficient to hold her till the cake had passed. I repeated this experiment until the ship had arrived so near the shore that little or no ice could reach her. I adopted the same measure abreast of Philadelphia. I was no sooner at anchor than the creek and fall

ice came down the river in great quantities. Perceiving that i had struck the vessel adrift, but still part of the tide acting on the rudder, I sheered her in between two wharves, out of the way of the ice. But there ought to be a sufficiency of water when a vessel is thus attempted to be sheered in shore.

On the Danger of Open Heels.

It is astonishing that so little regard is paid to fixing ship's radders so as to hang close to the sternpost. Many ships have a vacancy between it and the rudder sufficient to admit a six or seven inch buoy rope. If a buoy rope should get into the heel of a ship lying at anchor, she would tend neither to wind nor tide, and by this means be in danger of tripping her anchor, and driving on the ground, as I am informed was the case of a vessl near Liverpool. A vessel with open heels should, therefore, have a small buoy rope that will easily break; or if it can be dispensed with, it is better to have none at all. In a tide's vay, or riding to single anchor, however, a buoy is serviceable. With the vessels which I have commanded with open heels, I made it a general rule to embrace the first opportunity, when they were either hove out or put in dry dock, to have the rudder so fitted that a twine thread could not enter between the rudder and sternpost. I mention this particularly, because I have seen many vessels hove out, and in dry dock, without this fault being remedied.

To Purchase an Anchor out of Stiff Ground.

The best way to heave an anchor out of stiff ground, is to put on a collier's purchase; that is, to hook the cat-block to a strap, on the cable near the water's edge, to clap the fish tackle on the cat-fall, and bring that to the windlass. This purchase, by having no nip or friction in the hawse-hole, will bring up the anchor quite easily. This kind of purchase answers very well to heave up the anchor, when the cable is suspected to be weak or rotten, guards against its being broken by friction or nip in the hawse-hole. This precaution enabled me, in the ship Mercury, to heave up my anchor, after its having laid three months in the mud without it, my cable would have parted.

Some put on a runner purchase, inside of the hawse-hole; but this is a very bad purchase, as the friction and the short nip in the hawse act very much against it. In breaking a heavy anchor out of stiff ground, I have found putting on a fourfold tackle, in place of a single jigger, to facilitate heaving it up very much, as this purchase helps to heave round the windlass. The greater the pressure, the more, consequently, the friction

acts against it. Rollers inside as well as outside of the hawse holes, assist very much in heaving up a heavy anchor.

On starting the Anchor in a heavy Sea.

When lying to anchor in a gale of wind, when there is a heavy sea, great danger is to be apprehended from the anchor's jumping out of the ground. A good scope should, therefore, be given in time to avoid this accident; for if it jump out of the ground, particularly if the ground be stiff, the clay adhering to the fluke will prevent its taking hold afresh.

Information concerning Port Passage.

Port Passage is very difficult for strangers to find. It is very narrow, and is so completely sheltered from all winds, that during the heaviest gale, a cable's length within its entrance it is as smooth as a basin. It lies about two or three miles to the eastward of St. Sabastians.

As soon as a ship arrives at the entrance of this port, a number of large boats come off, to assist her in getting in, bringing with them hawsers, the ends of which are fastened to the rocks, and which serve as guest-warps. These they take on board the ship, taking in the slack, as you run in, to prevent her being driven back by the eddy winds.

In 1802, I was in the ship Orion, of Philadelphia, from Rochelle bound to this port; and when within 4 or 5 miles of it, it blowing a heavy gale, directly on shore, I came up with eight large ships, under close reefed topsails, foresail, reefed mizen, and main, mizen, and fore topmast staysails. They did not know the entrance of the port, but followed me, when I ran in, and all except one succeeded, and arrived safely. The other ship had arrived in the entrance, and the boats from the shore had passed a hawser on board of her; but the eddy winds from the rocks took her aback, parted the hawser, and drove her off to a considerable distance. She let go five anchors, which did not reach the bottom until 50 fathoms of cable were paid out. By these she rode all night, so near the rocks, that spray from them flew on board. The next morning, it being moderate, twenty large boats went out, towed her off shore, and brought her in. Three of her cables had been entirely cut off by the rocks, and the other two were much damaged. The captain of this ship informed me that the heaviest of the wind came off from the rocks; which deceived him for a time into the belief that the wind had shifted. But he at length found it was but the eddy wind. These were French government timber ships, about 800 tons burthen, called gabbards, flat-bottomed.

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