THE MARINER.
1. The business of the mariner consists in navigating ships and other vessels from one port to another. This is an employment that requires much decisive resolution; and Horace has well said, that "his breast must have been bound with oak and triple brass, who first committed his frail bark to the tempestuous sea." There is certainly nothing which speaks louder in praise of human ingenuity, than that art by which man is able to forsake the land, contend successfully with winds and waves, and reach, with unerring certainty, his destined port in some distant part of the world.
2. Nor are the skill and intrepidity exhibited in this arduous employment, more worthy of our admiration, than the wonderful advantages resulting from it; for, we are indebted to the exercise of this art, for those improvements in our condition, which arise from the exchange of the superfluities of one country for those of another, and, above all, for the interchange of sentiments, which renders human knowledge coextensive with the world.
3. Ship-building is so intimately connected with the art of navigation, that the historical part of the former subject is equally applicable to the latter. It is, therefore, unnecessary to be particular on this point. We shall merely supply some omissions in the preceding article.
4. The sailors of antiquity confined their navigation chiefly to the rivers, lakes, and inland seas, seldom venturing out of sight of land, unless, from their knowledge of the coasts ahead, they were certain to meet with it again in a short time. When they thus ventured from the land, or were driven from it by tempests, the stars and planets were their only guides.
5. The qualifications of a skilful pilot or master, even for the Mediterranean seas, in those days, required more study and more practical information, than are necessary to render a mariner a complete general navigator, in the present improved state of the science of navigation; for then he must needs be acquainted, not only with the general management of the ship, but also with all the ports, land-marks, rocks, quicksands, and other dangers, which lay in the track of his course. Besides this, he was required to be familiar with the course of the winds, and the indications that preceded them, together with the movements of the heavenly bodies, and the influence which they were supposed to exert on the weather. Nor was the ability to read the various omens which were gathered from the sighing of the wind in the trees, the murmurs of the waters, and their dash upon the shore, the flight of birds, and the gambol of fishes, a qualification to be dispensed with.
6. A voyage, in ancient times, was a momentous undertaking, and was usually preceded by sacrifices to those gods who were supposed to preside over the winds and the waves. All omens were carefully regarded; and a very small matter, such as the perching of swallows on the ship, or an accidental sneeze to the left, was sufficient to delay departure. When, under proper auspices, a vessel or fleet had set sail, and had advanced some distance, it was customary to release a number of doves, which had been brought from home. The safe arrival of these birds at the houses of the voyagers, was considered an auspicious omen of the return of the fleet.
7. Having escaped the multiplied dangers of the sea, the sailors, on their return, fulfilled the vows which they had made before their departure, or in seasons of peril, offering thanks to Neptune, and sacrifices to Jupiter, or some other of their gods, to whose protection they may have committed themselves. Those who had suffered shipwreck, felt themselves under greater obligations of gratitude; and, in addition to the usual sacrifices, they commonly offered the garment in which they had been saved, together with a pictorial representation of the disaster. If the individual escaped only with life, his clothing having been totally lost, his hair was shorn from the head, and consecrated to the tutelar deity.
8. There is much that is beautiful in these simple acts of piety; and similar customs, with regard to shipwrecked mariners, are still in existence in the Catholic countries of the Mediterranean; but the worship of the heathen deities having been discontinued, a favourite saint, or perchance the true God, is substituted for them. Although such acts of piety may not avail to avert impending danger, yet their natural tendency doubtless is to inspire courage to meet it, when it may arise.
9. The Carthaginians, for several centuries, were more extensively engaged in commerce, than any other people of antiquity; and, as they carried on their lucrative trade with other nations and their own colonies, by means of ships, they exceeded all others in the art of navigation. Not content with exploring every nook and corner of the Mediterranean, they passed the Pillars of Hercules, as the promontories of the Straits of Gibraltar were then called, and visited the Atlantic coasts of Europe, as far north as the Scilly Islands, then denominated the Cassorides. It is asserted by Pliny, that Hanno even circumnavigated Africa.
10. The destruction of Carthage by the Romans, in the year before Christ 146, interfered with improvements in the art of navigation; and the invasion of the northern barbarians, several centuries afterwards, extinguished nearly all the knowledge which had been previously acquired; nor was it again revived, and brought to the state in which it existed in the most flourishing era of antiquity, until about the middle of the fourteenth century.
11. After the period just mentioned, improvements in this art followed each other in close succession. The chief cause of this rapid advance was the discovery of the polarity of the magnet, and the consequent invention of the mariner's compass. The power of the loadstone to attract iron, was early known to the Greeks and Chinese; but its property of pointing in a particular direction, when suspended, and left to move freely, was not suspected until about the year 1200 of our era.
12. At first, mariners were accustomed to place the magnetic needle on a floating straw, whenever they needed its guidance; but, in 1302, one Flavio Giaio, an obscure individual of the kingdom of Naples, placed it on a permanent pivot, and added a circular card. Still, it was nearly half a century after this, before navigators properly appreciated, and implicitly relied on this new guide. The compass did not reach its present improved state, until the middle of the sixteenth century.
13. As soon as the reputation of this instrument had become well established, navigation assumed a bolder character; and the capacity of vessels having been enlarged to meet this adventurous spirit, oars were laid aside as inapplicable, and sails alone were relied upon, as means of propulsion.
14. Navigation, in the early days of its revival, was indebted to the Portuguese for many valuable improvements. To them, also, is the world under obligation for many splendid discoveries, among which was that of a passage by sea to India. This long-desired discovery was made in 1497, by Vasco de Gama, who had been sent out for the purpose by Emanuel, king of Portugal.
15. Five years before Vasco de Gama had found his way to India, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus made his discovery of the New World. This great man had conceived or adopted the idea, that the form of our earth was spherical, in opposition to the generally received opinion, that it was an extended plane; and learning that India stretched to an unknown distance eastward, he supposed, that, by sailing in an opposite direction, the navigator would meet with its eastern extremity.
16. Pursuing this idea, he applied successively to the governments of several states and kingdoms for patronage to enable him to test its correctness; and having, at length, succeeded in obtaining three small vessels, with the necessary equipments, from Ferdinand and Isabella, sovereigns of Arragon and Castile, he proceeded on his proposed voyage, which resulted in the discovery of the American continent.
17. These two great discoveries gave another powerful impulse to navigation; and inventions and improvements multiplied in rapid succession. The learned and ingenious, who at different times have turned their attention to the subject of navigation, have supplied the mariner with various means, by which he can direct his course on the deep with accuracy and certainty.
18. The instruments now employed in navigation, are the mariner's compass, the azimuth compass, the quadrant, the sextant, the chronometer, the half minute-glass, the log, and the sounding-line. In addition to these, the general navigator needs accurate maps and charts, lists of the latitude and longitude of every part of the world, the time of high water at every port, and a book of navigation, containing tables, to aid him in performing various calculations with facility; and, with a view to calculate the longitude by observation, he should be furnished with the Nautical Almanac, containing the places and declinations of the fixed stars and planets, and especially the distances of the moon from the sun and other heavenly bodies.
19. The mariner's compass, as has been before observed, is employed to indicate the various points of the horizon; but the magnetic needle varying more or less from the exact northern and southern direction, the azimuth compass is used, to show the degree of that variation. The quadrant and sextant are employed to ascertain the altitude and relative position of the heavenly bodies, that the mariner may determine the latitude and longitude in which his vessel may be. The chronometer is nothing more than a watch, designed to measure time with great accuracy. This instrument is used to determine the longitude.
20. The log is used for ascertaining the velocity of the ship on the water. It consists of a quadrangular piece of wood, eight or nine inches long, to which is attached a small cord, having knots in it, at proper distances from each other. In the application, the log is thrown upon the water, where it will not be disturbed by the wake of the ship; and the cord, being wound upon a reel, passes from it as fast as the vessel moves in the water. The number of knots, which pass off every half minute, indicates the number of miles which the ship sails per hour; hence, in nautical language, knots and miles are synonymous terms. The sounding-line is a small cord, with several pounds of lead of a conical figure attached to it; and is employed in trying the depth of the water, and the quality of the bottom.
21. Navigation is either common or proper. The former is usually called coasting, as the vessel is either on the same or neighboring coast, and is seldom far from land, or out of sounding. The latter is applied to long voyages upon the main ocean, when considerable skill in mathematics and astronomy, together with an aptness in the use of instruments for celestial observations, are required in the captain or master.
22. The application of steam to the purposes of navigation, is one of the greatest achievements of modern science and art. The great utility of this agent is particularly conspicuous in our vast country, where large rivers and bays and mighty lakes are numerous, and where an energetic people and an active commerce require a rapid intercommunication. Steamboats are but little used on the great oceans; as merchandise can there be more cheaply and safely transported in vessels propelled by sails. Since the year 1839, two lines of steam packets have been running regularly between this country and Great Britain. They commonly occupy, in crossing the Atlantic, between twelve and fifteen days.
23. The chief obstacle to the employment of steam, in long voyages, arises from the difficulty of generating a sufficient quantity of this agent, with the fuel which could be carried without overburdening the vessel; but a remedy for this inconvenience will probably be found, in improvements in the construction of steam-generators.
24. The power of confined steam acting by its expansive force, was discovered by the celebrated Marquis of Worcester, about the middle of the seventeenth century; but the first working steam-engine was constructed in 1705, by Thomas Newcomen, a blacksmith of Dartmouth, Devonshire, England. About the year 1769, James Watt, a native of Glasgow, added a great number of improvements of his own invention.
25. Steam navigation was first suggested in England, in 1736, by Jonathan Hulls. It was first tried in practice in France, in 1782, by the Marquis de Jouffroy, and nearly at the same time by James Rumsey, of Virginia, and John Fitch, of Philadelphia; but it was first rendered completely successful at New-York, in 1807, by Robert Fulton.
26. The sailors employed by the captain, to aid him in navigating his ship, are called a crew; and the individuals composing it are responsible to the captain, the captain to the owners, and the owners to the merchants, for all damages to goods, arising from negligence or bad management.
27. In England, ample provisions are made at Greenwich Hospital or by pensions, for seamen disabled by age or otherwise. These benefits, however, are extended only to those who have been engaged in the national service. This noble and politic institution is supported partly by public bounty, and in part by private donations, and a tax of sixpence per month, deducted from the wages of all the seamen of the nation. Marine Hospitals, for the temporary accommodation of seamen, suffering from disease, have been established in several cities of the continent of Europe, as well as of the United States.
28. Mariners have ever been a distinct class of men, and, in their general characters, very similar in every age of the world. Their superstitious regard of the many signs of good and bad luck, is nearly the same now, that it was two or three thousand years ago. In ancient times, they had their lucky and unlucky days; and now, very few sailors are willing to leave port on Friday, lest the circumstance bring upon them some disaster, before the conclusion of the proposed voyage.
29. Superstitions of this nature, however, are not confined to the navigators of the deep. Even in this country, where the inhabitants enjoy superior intellectual advantages, and boast a high degree of intelligence, thousands of persons who have never been on board of a ship, are still under the influence of such heathen notions, notwithstanding their pretended belief in Christianity, which, in all cases, when properly understood, would prevent the forebodings of evil, or expectations of good, from unimportant prognostics.
