People inclined to be skeptical are, of course, at liberty to doubt the efficacy of oil to lessen the dangerous effect of heavy seas, but the examples I have quoted are simply a few culled from several hundred well authenticated cases.
PLAN OF OIL DISTRIBUTOR.
The lesson learned from the Shipwash lightship ever so many years ago, has not been without profit and benefit to naval architects. Let me spin you the yarn. The Shipwash lightship is moored in one of the most exposed places on the east coast of England, and is thus continually encountering particularly heavy seas. It came to pass that the old lightship was replaced by a new and scientific vessel. The new-fangled craft was, however, so remarkably unsteady and rolled so heavily that to the storm-tossed mariner beating up the coast her light appeared to be of crescent shape. Her crew got scared. They were afraid she would turn turtle. A surveyor from the Trinity House was sent aboard, and he made a report which was submitted to her designer, who eventually said the fault complained of could be easily remedied by the addition of extra ballast. Accordingly this was done, and the next gale she rode out her rolling was worse than ever, and produced quite a panic among her crew, who were afraid to go below while the storm lasted. Another report was made to headquarters. Other students of naval architecture were consulted, who not only advised that the extra ballast be taken out, but that four tons of lead be attached to the frame or cage supporting the light. These instructions were carried out, and the result was the steadiest lightship on the east coast.
A vessel will carry herself full of coal and behave herself in heavy weather. But when she comes to be laden with copper ore or lead, a certain amount of ingenuity has to be used in the storage of such heavy cargo to make her seaworthy at all. If it were all stowed in the bottom of the vessel she would roll so heavily in a seaway as to get dismasted, and would probably become a total wreck. It is now that the experienced art of the stevedore comes in. The man who follows the proper authorities would construct a bin or compartment in which to stow this dangerous freight thus:
Fig. 1
The result would be highly satisfactory. The vessel's center of gravity would be the same as though she were laden with coal, and her movements in a seaway would therefore be quite as easy.
Another man might construct his compartment thus:
