NOTE. The decimetre, centimetre, and millimetre, are respectively formed by dividing the metre by 10,000, and 1000; and the decametre, hectometre, kilometre, and myriametre, by *The Are a square decimetre. multiplying the metre by 10, 100, 1000, and 10,000; the other measures and weights of the decimal system are formed in a like manner from their respective units. RELATIVE VALUE OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN MEASURES OF LENGTH. LEAD LINES. The hand leads are from about 7 to 14 pounds weight. The lines are marked thus: black leather at two fathoms with a hole in it; at three, the same; at five, white; at seven, red; at ten, black leather; at thirteen, blue; at fifteen, white; at seventeen, red; and two knots at twenty. The deep sea lead line is marked in the same way up to twenty fathoms, then one knot at twenty-five fathoms, three at thirty, &c. LOG LINE. The first part of the log line is stray line, its object being to permit the "log ship" to get well clear of the influence of the eddy water in the ship's wake. No account of it is taken; but at the first mark, the divisions for the measurement of the ship's pace commences: this mark is a piece of white bunting. The divisions are denoted by knots which are at distances from each other, bearing the same proportion to a nautical mile that the time run by a sand-glass does to an hour. If one of these knots pass in the interval, the ship is sailing at the rate of one mile an hour; if two knots pass, two miles an hour; and so on. In this operation, a 28-second glass is generally used; in which case the knot should be 47 feet 3 inches, which bears the same proportion to 6075.5 (the feet contained in a mean nautical mile) that 28 seconds do to 3600, the seconds contained in an hour. When a 14-second glass is used, the knots must be doubled, or a log-line having half-knots used. The length of the knot is frequently taken as little as 44 or 45 feet, by which means the sailing of the ship is overrated. This is done with a view that the reckoning of the ship may be on the safe side in making land. This space of 47 feet 3 inches is considered as made up of tenths." * MEASURING DISTANCE BY SOUND. Sound flies at the rate of 1142 feet in a second, or about a mile in 4 seconds; or a league in 14 seconds; or 13 miles in a Inman's Navigation. minute; but sea miles are to land miles nearly as 7 to 6, therefore sound moves over a sea mile in 53 seconds, nearly, or a sea league in 16 seconds. Sound can be heard nearly twice as far on the water as on the land. Thus, by observing with a watch or otherwise, the time which passes between the flash of a gun and the sound of the discharge, the distance from the place of the discharge may be reckoned. The same with lightning. The banks of rivers sometimes echo any sharp noise produced upon the water, and this in a dark night on a broad river may be useful; for by striking the water a smart blow with the flat of an oar, and observing the time between it and the echo, the distance from the bank may be guessed at. Time may be counted by the pulsations of the blood, which, for a man in health, are usually 75 in a minute.* CHAP. XX. ORGANISATION. BERTHING. As there can be no discipline established until the hammocks and bags are marked and issued, and the berthing list completed, the earliest attention should be given to these matters. Hammock cloths take a long time in drying, and should be drawn and fitted as soon as possible. The forecastle cloths stand all the better for being sewn with the seam athwart ships. In berthing, the lower deck guns must be run in and howsed, as at sea. Boatswain's mates are berthed at the hatchways, other petty officers next the sides; thus they get a little more space, and protect the mess traps. The guard and quarter-masters are best disposed of in the wings, or any where out of the gangways; so that should the deck be cleared early, these men who have had night watches may not be disturbed. *What to observe. HAMMOCKS. Hammocks should be fitted with three bottom and two head-' stops, made of good nettle stuff and whipped. They are usually marked on the head, and when hung on the gantlines must be stopped on with the numbers downwards and inwards. The trouble of fitting hammocks so as to lace up, is well bestowed ; they are not so readily soiled or worn out as those which are daily dragged to pieces with seven turns of a greasy tarry lashing. Moreover, they scrub clean in half the time, and are more quickly laced up. The spare suit should always be taken in, ready slung and stowed away. A shift can thus be made without disturbing bags, they cannot be used for deck cloths or wrappers, and the men have more space in their bags for their clothes. In large ships, hammocks should be piped down by watches, and in bad weather the mate of the watch should look out for a clearing off so as to get them down dry. The only way to air bedding effectually and tidily, is to stop the blankets on the gantlines by the station bill for scrubbed hammocks. BAGS. The best way to mark bags is with a round piece of hide sewn on the bottom with a grummet round it, and having the number cut on the hide. Bags should bear the owner's number on the ship's books, and thus go with him wherever stationed. What a cabin is to an officer, a resting-place for his bag and diddy box is to a man. The fitments on a lower or orlop deck ought to be very important that interfere with a place for the permament stowage of bags. If we take into consideration the time spent in getting bags up and down, and in chase of the owner of a stray one, who perhaps has spent the best part of his meal hour in search of it, amidst the confusion of the transit; the time spent in vexatious inquiries into pilferings occurring in consequence; the discomfort to a man arising from his inability to shift his wet clothes, or put on old or new ones, and the positive worry that all this occasions we will think seriously before we "routine" bags twice a day up and down hatchways. Bags, as affecting the comfort or discomfort of the men, are matters Y |