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FIRESHIP

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 420 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FIRESHIP , a See also:

vessel laden with combustibles, floated down on an enemy to set him on See also:fire. Fireships were used in antiquity, and in the See also:middle ages. The highly successful employment of one by the defenders of See also:Antwerp when besieged by the See also:prince of See also:Parma in 1585 brought them into prominent See also:notice, and they were used to drive the See also:Armada from its anchorage at See also:Gravelines in 1588. They continued to be used, sometimes with See also:great effect, as See also:late as the first See also:quarter of the loth See also:century. Thus in 1809 fireships designed by See also:Lord Cochrane (See also:earl of See also:Dundonald) were employed against the See also:French See also:ships at See also:anchor in the Basque Roads; and in the See also:War of See also:Greek See also:Independence the successes of the Greek fireships against the See also:Ottoman See also:navy, and the consequent demoralization of the See also:ill-disciplined See also:Turkish crews, largely contributed to secure for the insurgents the command of the See also:sea. In See also:general, however, it was found that fireships hampered the movements of a See also:fleet, were easily sunk by an enemy's fire, or towed aside by his boats, while a premature See also:explosion was frequently fatal to the men who had to See also:place them in position. They were made by See also:building " a fire chamber " between the decks from the forecastle to a bulkhead constructed abaft the See also:main-See also:mast. This space was filled with See also:resin, See also:pitch, See also:tallow and See also:tar, together with See also:gunpowder in See also:iron vessels. The gunpowder and combustibles were connected by trains of See also:powder, and by bundles of brushwood called " bavins." When a fireship was to be used, a See also:body of picked men steered her down on the enemy, and when See also:close enough set her alight, and escaped in a See also:boat which was towed astern. As the service was peculiarly dangerous a See also:reward of £roo, or in lieu of it a See also:gold See also:chain with a See also:medal to be worn as a See also:mark of See also:honour, was granted in the See also:British navy to the successful See also:captain of a fireship. A See also:rank of capita:4e de bri See also:lot existed in the French navy of See also:Louis XIV., and was next to the full captain—or capitaine de vaisseau. FIRE-WALKING, a religious ceremony See also:common to many races.

The origin and meaning of the See also:

custom is very obscure, but it is shown to have been widespread in all ages. It still survives in See also:Bulgaria, See also:Trinidad, See also:Fiji Islands, See also:Tahiti, See also:India, the Straits Settlements, See also:Mauritius, and it is said See also:Japan. The details of its See also:ritual and its See also:objects vary in different lands, but the essential feature of the rite, the passing of priests, fakirs, and devotees barefoot over heated stones or smouldering ashes is always the same. Fire-walking was usually associated with the See also:spring festivals and was believed to ensure a bountiful See also:harvest. Such was the See also:Chinese vernal festival of fire. In the See also:time of Kublai See also:Khan the Taoist Buddhists held great festivals to the " High See also:Emperor of the Sombre Heavens " and walked through a great fire barefoot, preceded by their priests bearing images of their gods in their arms. Though they were severely burned, these devotees held that they would pass unscathed if they had faith. J. G. Frazer (See also:Golden Bough, vol. iii. p. 307) describes the ceremony in the Chinese See also:province of Fo-kien. The See also:chief performers are labourers who must fast for three days and observe chastity for a See also:week.

During this time they are taught in the See also:

temple how they are to perform their task. On the See also:eve of the festival a huge See also:brazier of See also:charcoal, often twenty feet wide, is prepared in front of the temple of the great See also:god. At sunrise the next See also:morning the brazier is lighted. A Taoist See also:priest throws a mixture of See also:salt and See also:rice into the flames. The two exorcists, barefooted and followed by two peasants, See also:traverse the fire again and again till it is somewhat beaten down. The trained performers then pass through with the See also:image of the god. Frazer suggests that, as the essential feature of the rite is the carrying of the deity through the flames, the whole thing is sympathetic magic designed to give to the coming spring See also:sun-shine (the supposed divine See also:emanation), that degree of See also:heat which the image experiences. Frazer quotes See also:Indian fire-walks, notably that of the Dosadhs, a See also:low Indian See also:caste in See also:Behar and See also:Chota See also:Nagpur. On the fifth, tenth, and full See also:moon days of three months in the See also:year, the priest walks over a narrow See also:trench filled with smouldering See also:wood ashes. The Bhuiyas, a See also:Dravidian tribe of See also:Mirzapur, See also:worship their tribal See also:hero Bir by a like performance, and they declare that the See also:walker who is really " possessed " by the hero feels no See also:pain. For fire-walking as observed in the See also:Madras See also:presidency see Indian See also:Antiquary, vii. (1878) p.

126; iii. (1874) pp. 6-8; ii. (1873) p. 190 seq. In Fiji the ceremony is called vilavilarevo, and according to an eyewitness a number of natives walk unharmed across and among See also:

white-hot stones which See also:form the See also:pavement of a huge native See also:oven. In Tahiti priests perform the rite. In See also:April 1899 an Englishman saw a fire-walk in Tokio (see The See also:Field, May loth, 1899). The fire was six yards See also:long by six wide. .The rite was in honour of a See also:mountain god. The fire-walkers in Bulgaria are called Nistinares and the See also:faculty is regarded as hereditary. They .See also:dance in the fire on the 21st of May, the feast of SS.

See also:

Helena and See also:Constantine. Huge fires of faggots are made, and when these See also:burn down the Nistinares (who turn See also:blue in the See also:face) dance on the red-hotembers and utter prophecies, afterwards placing their feet in the muddy ground where libations of See also:water have been poured. The interesting See also:part of fire-walking is the alleged See also:immunity of the performers from See also:burns. On this point authorities and eyewitnesses differ greatly. In a See also:case in Fiji a handkerchief was thrown on to the stones when the first See also:man leapt into the oven, and what remained of it snatched up as the last See also:left the stones. Every See also:fold that touched the See also:stone was charred! In some countries a thick ointment is rubbed on the feet, but this is not usual, and the bulk of the reports certainly leave an impression that there is something still to be explained in the See also:escape of the performers from shocking injuries. S. P. See also:Langley, who witnessed a fire-walk in Tahiti, declares, however, that the whole rite as there practised is a See also:mere symbolic See also:farce (Nature for See also:August 22nd, 1901). For a full discussion of the subject with many eyewitnesses' reports in extenso, see A. See also:Lang, Magic and See also:Religion (1901).

See also Dr Gustav See also:

Oppert, See also:Original Inhabitants of India, p. 48o; W. Crooke, Introd. to Popular Religion and See also:Folklore of See also:Northern India, p. to (1896); Folklore See also:Journal for See also:September 1895 and for 1903, vol. xiv. p. 87.

End of Article: FIRESHIP

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