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"TO MAKE A TEMPORARY LOWER YARD.-When a lower yard is entirely carried away at sea, it is not uncommon to make a yard with the spare spars supplied to the ship. This is frequently done by bringing two studdingsail booms end to end, which together makes up the length of the yard; then to scarf them by bringing the spare topsail and topgallant-yard in the middle, and other small spars, as topgallant studdingsail-booms, &c., to make up the form of the yard. When the different spars are so placed as to overrun each other in the best possible way, they are well woolded together, and the yard is formed.

The rolling of the ship makes it frequently difficult to keep the spars together till woolded, in which case it is better to lay any inferior pieces. on the deck as skids, and fix the lower ends guyed to the side of the ship; by this means the different spars may be kept safe."

TOPMAST-STAY CARRIED AWAY.-If obliged to run a hawser up to secure a topmast, the hawser should be taken round the topmast-head, then made fast so as to leave a collar for the topgallantmast to go up or down through. A bowline knot is considered a very good way of making the collar of your temporary stay, securing the end well on the side of the collar on which it is bent.

CUTTING MASTS AWAY.-Always cut the lee rigging away first, then the stays, and afterwards the weathor rigging. If riding head to wind, cut away all the rigging on both sides, except the two foremast shrouds, then cut the stays and foremast shrouds together, and stand by for a run forward as the mast falls on either quarter.

TAKEN IN A SQUALL.-A vigilant look-out will usually prevent you being taken by a squall in an unprepared state.

If taken in a squall with the wind on the beam, before it, or closehauled, keep your luff, and lower away and clew up all as fast as you In doing so the ship will be relieved, and the canvas got in better than if the helm had been put up.

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But if taken in a squall with the wind abaft the beam, putting the helm up and running away from it, as well as shortening sail, will then be the readiest mode of easing a ship.

If caught in a squall with studdingsails set, the best plan is to let fly studdingsail-tacks and outer lower halyards, and get the spanker in, if set. By this means you will get command over the vessel, to keep her before the wind if requisite. In letting go royal and topgallant halyards in a squall, never start a sheet; even the topsailhalyards may be let go, and the yard will come down without the topgallant sheets being slacked. Many a sail is split by attempting to clew it up in a squall; whereas if the halyards only are let go, and the

yards clewed down till the first burst of the squall is over, there would be little danger of losing anything.

NOTE.-Letting go the halyards of square sails, of course, refers to a time when no studdingsails are set, as the studdingsail-halyards would prevent a yard from coming down; but if the squall is very severe, then the studdingsail-halyards should be let go, that the yard may come down, as it is better to lose a studdingsail than a topmast, and the studdingsails, after the squall is over, will generally be picked up across the stays.

ON BEAM ENDS.-A vessel is usually thrown upon her beam ends by a sudden squall taking her when under a press of sail, and shifting the ballast. She must be righted, if possible, without cutting away the mast; for, besides sacrificing them, the object can seldom be accomplished in that way if the ballast and cargo have shifted. Carry a hawser from the lee quarter, with spars and other good stopwaters bent As the ships drifts well to leeward, the hawser will bring her stern to the wind; but it may not cast her on the other side. If a spring can be got upon the hawser from the lee bow and hauled upon, and the stern-fast let go, this will bring the wind to act upon the flat part of the deck, and pay her stern off, and assist the spring, when the sails may be trimmed to help her in righting. If she can be brought head to the wind, and the sails be taken aback, she may cast on the other tack. When there is anchoring ground, the practice is to let go. the lee anchor, which may take the sails aback and cast her. Then the ballast and cargo may be righted.

If there is no anchoring ground, a vessel may still be kept head to the wind by paying a chain cable out of the lee hawse-pipe; or by bending a hawser to a large spar, which may be kept broadside to by a span, to the centre of which the hawser is bent. The same operation may be applied to a vessel overset, and is preferable to wearing by a hawser. Make fast the hawser forward to the lee bow, carry the other end aft to windward, and bend it to the spar, and launch the spar overboard. By this means, or by letting go an anchor though there be no bottom to be reached, a vessel may often be recovered.

SHIP ON SHORE-TO TAKE BOWER ANCHOR AND SIXTY FATHOMS OF CHAIN OUT.-Run a kedge and a good hawser away, making a guess warp of it; get the long boat under the bows, and lower away the anchor by the cat-fall. Pass a slip-rope round the shanks of the anchor, having the standing part fast round the thwarts and through the ring; then get as much chain in the boat as she can conveniently carry, and haul out the long-boat by the hawser, veering out chain from the ship until enough; then veer away, and let go.

NOTE. Precaution will, of course, be taken to have a good buoy-rope fast to the anchor flukes, in case it should be required to trip the anchor.

THE QUICKEST WAY TO TRIP AN ANCHOR.-The quickest way to trip an anchor is by means of the buoy-rope, and, when the anchor is off the ground, heave the cable in by the ship. In case the buoy-rope should break, put luff-tackles on the cable in the boat.

TO TAKE OUT A BOWER ANCHOR BETWEEN Two BOATS.-If the longboat is not capable of carrying the bower anchor and cable out, proceed as follows:

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Buoy a kedge and lay it out, with the whole warp attached, in the direction it is intended to haul the vessel off, and whilst this is being done, get as much of a bower cable as may be required payed from the vessel's quarter into the long-boat, leaving two or three fathoms in the bows of the boat to shackle to the anchor; the rest may be stowed in the middle of the boat. Have a piece of spar laid across the stern of the boat, and lashed for the chain to run over, or an old mat nailed over will do as well; fit good stoppers to the ring-bolt in the stern and after-thwart, that there may be no possibility of the chain running out of the long-boat faster than required.

Now, if the vessel has two quarter-boats, the bower anchor may be taken out between the two boats, thus:

The sterns of the two boats should be as nearly square with each other as possible; a good strong spar (with its flat side down, and rounded at the upper part) should be laid across the gunwales of each boat before their centre; the spar should be well lashed to the nearest standing thwart and fore-and-aft rings, leaving sufficient room between the boats to admit of the flukes of the anchor going well between them, and the spar so lashed that neither boat could close or separate. The anchor should be lowered between the boats with the flukes perpendicular and the stock horizontal, thus dipping the flukes between the boats, and securing the upper arm under the spar, each boat at the same time keeping her side of the anchor-stock square at her stern; the standing parts of the parbuckles or slip ropes being made fast to the bottom rings, and the running parts rove through separate ones, if possible, and secured with several round turns round the after-standing thwarts. Shackle the ends of the chain in the bows of the long-boat to the anchor, which must be well buoyed, and proceed to haul the two quarter-boats out by the warp, which can be done by hands in either boat, the long-boat following, and the cable being payed out as required. When the whole of the chain is laid out, hang the bight of the chain outside the long-boat by a slip-rope to the ring-bolt in the stern, and

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immediately the anchor is cut adrift from the small boats let go the slip-rope. In this way an anchor may be carried out with the greatest ease. The plan is extremely simple, and can do no injury to the boats, if common precaution be taken to have the stoppers in the long-boat fitted in such a way that the cable cannot go by the run; and as the cable should pass over the after-thwart, the stopper there will be found more useful, but it will be prudent to have two.

Provided the vessel has only one quarter-boat the same plan may be adopted, substituting the long-boat for the other quarter-boat, and placing, if necessary, a sufficient weight (in addition to the cable) to bring her gunwale on a level with the quarter-boat.

A MAN OVERBOARD AT SEA.-If the ship be going free, and particularly if fast through the water, it is recommended to bring-to with the head yards aback; for it is obvious, if the main-yard be left square, the ship will be longer coming-to, will shoot further, increase the distance from the man, and add materially to the delay of succour.

It will, however, require judgment, especially if blowing fresh, to be careful to right the helm in time, or the ship will fly-to too much, gain stern-way, and risk the boat in lowering down.

The best authorities recommend that, if possible, the ship should not only be hove aback when a man falls overboard, but she ought to be brought round on the other tack*-of course, sail ought to be shortened in stays, and the mainyard kept square. This implies the ship being on a wind, or from the position of having the wind not above two points abaft the beam.

NOTE. The great merit of such a method of proceeding is, that if the evolution succeeds, the ship, when round, will drift towards the man; and although there may be some small risk in lowering the boat from the ship while in stays, having at one period stern-way, there will, in fact, be little time lost if the boat be not lowered until the ship be well round, and the stern-way at an end. There is more mischief done generally by lowering the boat too soon, than by waiting until the fittest moment arrives for doing it coolly. It cannot be too often repeated, that almost the whole depends upon the self-possession of the officer of the deck. Unfortunately, there are circumstances under which no human aid can be given to any poor fellow falling overboard, such as heavy gales of wind when a boat will not live on the water, scud

* When a man falls overboard in daylight, a hand should be sent aloft immediately to watch the spot where he is struggling, as it is in general just under the surface, which may be seen well from aloft, but found with difficulty from a boat. If going round gives a weather side for lowering a boat, do not do so, but throw all aback, Suppose her to be running with a strong breeze and studdingsails set, the tacks and outer lower-halyards should be let go, royal and topgallant-halyards, and weather head-braces; the yard will go forward as the vessel rounds-to, and the slack of the lee-braces can be taken in. Whilst this is being done, some hands will be getting the boat ready.

ding when it is too dangerous to bring the ship to the wind, &c. In a case of this distressing nature, the life-buoy or spars may be thrown overboard in the hope of supporting the man, while the utmost endeavours should be made, by making sail and wearing, if there be any chance of placing the ship to windward and dropping down upon the man. In gales of wind, and the ship lying by the wind and barely forging ahead, men have often been saved by ropes and bight of ropes well disposed along the chains and quarters, and even by ropes well astern.

ON LEAKS.—On finding a vessel is leaky, the first step to be taken is to discover as nearly as possible the situation of the leak. To effect this, many plans have been suggested. The most practical of these appears to be-first, to examine such accessible parts as are most likely to be defective, as the wooden ends forward and aft, the butts of the planks, and round the fastenings. Should no discovery of the leak be made, the ship must be tried before the wind, and on both tacks by the wind. If the leak increases before the wind, the leak is forward, probably in the wooded ends; if it decreases, it is in the stern; if the leak be greater on the starboard tack, then the leak is situated on the port side, and vice versa. A leak in the bows, or on either side, may be lessened by a thrummed sail being put over the part defective; but this mode is not applicable to the stern, as the vessel's way through the water would prevent its action. A leak situated much below the surface can only be stopped from the inside, except in the way named-of a thrummed sail; therefore the cargo in the neighbourhood of the leak must be removed, and the ceiling cut away so as to expose the part. Pieces of deal must then be made as nearly as can be of the shape of the room or rooms between the timbers, but so much less as to enable the pieces to be thickly covered with oakum, as spun for caulking; the pieces thus prepared should then be thoroughly tarred and put into the places where the leak is situated, and a piece or pieces of plank or spar bolted to the timbers to secure them in their situations. The force used in this operation must entirely depend upon the state of the outer plank and fastenings, for if from the decay of the plank or timbers, the fastenings were to give way, the plank might be partially removed from the timbers, and the consequences fatal; but caulking may be done between the timbers and the pieces and (but with more care) between the upper and lower parts of the pieces and the outer planks; by these means the leak would be much lessened, even should it be situated in the plank and timber, and, if in the room, its communication with the vessel would be entirely cut off. This mode of treating leaks is evidently one adapted to those only of comparatively small dimensions; but it is applicable to such leaks, however situated, if approachable. If, from faulty caulking, the vessel be generally leaky, the thrummed sail is the

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