WRECK, the ruins of a ship which has been stranded or dashed to pieces on a shelf, rock, or lee-shore, by tempestuous weather.
Conclusion of the article Pump.
As we wish to pay all possible attention in this work to every improvement in the marine, we have exhibited in plate [VIII]. a section of this machine at large, as fixed in a frigate of war, fig. 2. wherein A is the keel, and V the floor timbers, and X the kelson, a a a the several links of the chain, b b the valves, C the upper wheels, D the lower wheels, c c the cavities upon the surface of the wheels to receive the valves as they pass round thereon, d d the bolts fixed across the surface of the wheels, to fall in the interval between every two links, to prevent the chain from sliding back.
The links of the chain, which are no other than two long plates of iron with a hole at each end, and fixed together by two bolts serving as axles, are represented on a larger scale as a a. The valves are two circular plates of iron with a piece of leather between them: these are also exhibited at large by b b.
Upon a trial of this machine with the old chain-pump aboard the seaford frigate, it appears, in a report signed by rear admiral Sir John Moore, 12 captains, and 11 lieutenants of his majesty’s navy, that its effects, when compared with the latter, were as follow.
| New Pump. | Old Pump. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Men. | Tuns of Water. | Seconds of Time. | Number of Men. | Tuns of Water. | Seconds of Time. |
| 4 | 1 | 43½ | 7 | 1 | 76 |
| 2 | 1 | 55 | 4 | 1 | 81 |
The subscribers further certify, that the chain of the new pump was dropped into the well, and afterwards taken up and repaired and set at work again in two minutes and a half; and that they have seen the lower wheel of the said pump taken up to show how readily it might be cleared and refitted for action, after being choaked with sand or gravel; which they are of opinion may be performed in four or five minutes.
X.
XEBEC, a small three-masted vessel, navigated in the Mediterranean sea, and on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and Barbary. See fig. 8. plate [XII].
The sails of the xebec are in general similar to those of the polacre, but the hull is extremely different from that and almost every other vessel. It is furnished with a strong prow, and the extremity of the stern, which is nothing more than a sort of railed platform or gallery, projects farther behind the counter and buttock than that of any European ship.