In laying multiple cable, the course of the vessel invariably should be against the current. Rather than lay cable with the current it is advisable to postpone laying the cable until a change of the tide causes a favorable direction of current. In the end, time will be saved by waiting. Cable should pay off on the upstream side of the vessel if any cross current is running. All care should be taken that the cable does not get caught in the vessel’s propellers. This is of the greatest importance.
As the cable pays out over a chock near the bow of the vessel a man should stand by with a 3-inch strap in readiness to stop the cable should it be necessary, and two men should manipulate brakes to prevent the cable from paying out too rapidly. This is especially necessary if the water is deeper than 50 feet.
Especial care is necessary in planting mines to avoid: (a) Colliding with yawl or distribution box boat; (b) picking up cable in the propeller; (c) getting the mine cable tangled; (d) drifting over the mine after it is dropped.
APPENDIX NO. 7.
MANUAL FOR SMALL BOATS.
The left-hand side of a boat or ship, looking toward the bow, is the port side, and the other is the starboard side. The men who row on the port side are called the port oars and those rowing on the starboard side are called the starboard oars.
Boats are called single or double banked, according as they have one or two oarsmen to a thwart.
Thwarts are the seats on which the crew sits; the space abaft the after thwart is called the stern sheet.
Floorings and gratings are the bottom boards of a boat. They prevent the weight from bearing directly upon the planking.
The gunwale of a boat is the upper rail.
The yoke is an athwartship piece of wood or metal fitting over the rudderhead.