decks if loading all Timber or Deals. Brown Sugar to be kept separate from White Sugar, and both kept from direct contact with saltpetre. 7. Pot and Pearl ASHES, TOBACCO, BARK, INDIGO, MADDERS, GUM, &c., whether in casks, cases or bales, to be dunnaged in the bottom, and to the upper part of the bilges, at least 9 inches, and 2 inches at the sides. 8. MISCELLANEOUS GOODS, such as boxes of CHEESE, kegs and tubs of LARD, or other small or slight-made packages not intended for broken stowage, should be stowed by themselves, and dunnaged as other goods. 9 BARRELS of PROVISIONS and TALLOW casks, allowed to stow six heights. All METALS should be stowed under, and separated from, goods liable to be damaged by contact. 10. All MANUFACTURED GOODS, also DRY HIDES, bales of SILK, or other valuable articles, should have 2 inches of dunnage against the side, to preserve a water course. Bundles of SHEET IRON, RODS, PIGS of COPPER or IRON, or any rough hard substance, should not be allowed to come in contact with bales or bags, or any soft Packages liable to be chafed. When mats can be procured, they should be used at the sides for Silk, Tea, &c. 11. TAR, TURPENTINE, ROSIN, &c., to have flat beds of wood under the quarters, of an inch thick, and allowed to stow six heights. 12. Very frequent and serious loss falls on Merchants on the upper part of cargoes, particularly in vessels that bring Wheat, Corn, Tobacco, Oil Cake, &c., arising from vapourdamage imbibed by Wheat, Flour, or other goods, stowed in the same vessel with Turpentine, or other strong-scented articles the shippers are to blame for such negligence, for not making due inquiry before shipping, 13. Ships laden with full cargoes of Coal, bound round Cape Horn, or Cape of Good Hope, to be provided with approved ventilators, as a preventive against ignition, 14. No vessels bound on any over-sea voyage, should, on any account, be loaded beyond that point of immersion which will present a clear side out of water, when upright, of three inches to every foot depth of hold, measured amidships, from height of the deck at the side, to the water, Note. Shippers abroad, when they know that their cargoes will be stowed properly, will give a preference and at higher rates, to such commanders of ships as will undertake to guarantee the dunnage. The American ship-owners, in the stowage of mixed cargoes in large ships, have, from experience, discovered what "pressure" flour barrels, provision casks, &c., will bear, and so avoid reclamations for damage, if otherwise properly stowed: hence, in large ships above 600 tons, with dimensions exceeding in length 4 times the beam, and 21 feet depth of hold, orlop decks will come into general use so as to relieve the pressure, by dividing a ship's hold, like a warehouse, in stories. A large ship, called the "Liverpool," which left New York with an entire cargo of flour, has never since been heard of; it is supposed the lower tiers of barrels give way under the pressure, and the cargo having got loose, shifted in a gale of wind, and capsized the vessel. Ship's cargoes, for Insurance, will also become a matter of special agreement between merchant and Ship-owner, and merchant underwriters, and the premium vary according to the dunnage agreement. The stowage and dunnage must stand A 1, and is often of more importance than the class of the vessel, as experience has proved. When ships are chartered for a lump sum, the draft of water should be limited, as it not unfrequently happens, that brokers insert a clause that coals are not to be considered as dead weight, in order to fill the ship up in case of goods falling short to make up the chartered freight. All packages, bales, and cases, not weighing are de more than 25 cwt. to the cubic ton measurement, signated light freight. Bale Goods should be stowed on their flats in midships, on their edges in the wings. In a general cargo, the Dry Goods should be stowed in the after-part of the ship. Bar Iron should be stowed diagonally (or grating-fashion) bringing it up like a pyramid FROM THE ENDS, stowed in this way it is not such a dead weight in the ship.-See last edition of Mrs. Taylor's "Seamanship." LEADING LIGHTS OF THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. |