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SEAMANSHIP

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 545 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEAMANSHIP , the See also:

general See also:term for the See also:art by which vessels of all classes and sizes are handled in all conditions of See also:weather. It is commonly distinguished from " boatmanship," but the distinction is arbitrary. In See also:ordinary speech it is frequently used as meaning the same thing as See also:navigation (q.v.). But the two subjects are essentially different. Navigation is a See also:science based on observation of the See also:sun and stars in their apparent movements, on their See also:bearings to one another, and the See also:earth, and on See also:time. It may be acquired from the study of books, and by a student who has never been in sight of the See also:sea. Seamanship is an art. Its principles may be stated in See also:literary See also:form, but a mastery of it can only be acquired by actual practice on the sea. The art is far older than the science, but because of its See also:practical See also:character its See also:history is much more difficult to trace. Navigation, being one form of the study of See also:mathematics and See also:astronomy, has been written about from the beginning. Seamanship has been practised in perfection by men who were perfectly illiterate for thousands of years before any See also:treatise on it appeared. Sea-men have at all times been, as See also:Clarendon noted, a See also:people, apart.

Till recently they have believed in practice only, and being. jealous of, and hostile to, landsmen, have generally endeavoured to preserve their knowledge as an " art and See also:

mystery " to be handed down by oral instruction from See also:master to apprentice. See also:Sir See also:Henry Manwayring, whose See also:Seaman's See also:Dictionary appeared in 1644, claimed that it was the first treatise on seamanship ever written. After explaining that a writer who had not acquired the art by practice could not expound it, he goes on: " And as for the professed See also:Seamen, they either want ability and dexterity to See also:express themselves, or (as they do generally) will, to instruct any See also:Gentleman. If any will tell me why the vulgar sort, of Seamen hate landmen so much, either he or I may give the See also:reason why they are so unwilling to instruct them in their, art, whence it is that so many gentlemen go See also:long voyages, and return (in a manner) as ignorant and as unable to do their See also:country service as when they went out." Though the Seaman's Dictionary did not appear in See also:print till 1644, it is described on the See also:title-See also:page as having been presented to See also:George See also:Villiers, See also:duke of See also:Buckingham, the See also:lord high See also:admiral of See also:Charles I., who was murdered in 1628. Manwayring's See also:book is therefore probably, if not the first treatise on seamanship written in See also:English, at least as old as its only See also:rival the Accidences, or the pathway to experience necessary for all See also:young seamen, published in 1626, by the famous See also:Captain See also:John See also:Smith, of See also:Virginia. On the See also:continent of See also:Europe, as in See also:England, while See also:works on navigation and gunnery were See also:common, See also:treatises on practical seamanship date from the 17th See also:century. The books of Manwayring and Smith are rather glossaries of terms than expositions of principles. We are therefore See also:left with very few documents from which to learn what the seamanship of antiquity and the See also:middle ages was. But such testimony as we have confirms the conclusion" to be See also:drawn from our general knowledge of the construction of their See also:ships, and of the scientific learning of their times. The old seamen were coasters, who acted on the fisherman's adage— " If you cannot See also:steer by the See also:compass, steer by the See also:land," because they had no choice. See also:War See also:ship and See also:merchant ship alike clung to the See also:coast—or if they ventured out to sea, they did so for a voyage to be counted by the See also:hour, as, for instance, from the See also:south-See also:west of See also:Sicily to the opposite coast of See also:Africa—or they relied on See also:regular See also:trade winds, like the seamen who sailed from the Red Sea to the coast of See also:Malabar going and coming with the monsoons. In spite of exceptions, more apparent perhaps than real, such as the voyages of Irish anchorites to See also:Iceland, and of the Norsemen to that See also:island, and to See also:Greenland, seamanship continued to be the art of the coaster till the See also:close of the middle ages.

See also:

Chaucer's sailor has hardly lost sight of the coast. Such treatises as were written for seamen were books of pilotage. Examples will be found at the end of the See also:Hakluyt Society's edition of Hues Tractatus de globis. The warships, Phoenician, See also:Greek, See also:Roman, Norse, See also:Byzantine and See also:Italian throughout the middle ages, used sails only when not in See also:action. They were rowed in See also:battle, and the See also:mast was lowered, or left on See also:shore. Whenever they could they avoided passing the See also:night at sea. Their galleys were beached or anchored close to the shore and the men landed. We know from See also:Thucydides' narrative of the expedition to See also:Syracuse, that the crews were landed even for their meals; from the See also:chronicle of Ramon de See also:Muntaner, we know that this was also the See also:case with the best Mediterranean squadrons at the end of the 13th century. The Athenians, clinging to the coast, spent two months in going from See also:Athens to Syracuse. See also:Roger di See also:Lauria, the admiral of See also:Aragon, when coming from Sicily in circumstances of See also:great urgency to See also:Catalonia, went See also:round by the coast of Africa and See also:Spain. When under See also:sail the ships of war and of See also:commerce alike had, at the outside, very few sails, and generally only one great course (see SAILS) square and slung by the middle of the yard. It could be trained fore and aft by bowlines, so as to enable the See also:vessel to sail on the See also:wind.

Under these restrictions seamanship was necessarily a limited art. From Marco See also:

Polo we learn that the seamen of the See also:China Sea and of the See also:Indian Ocean were coasters hike their See also:European contemporaries. Though the art of seamanship is distinct both from the art of See also:shipbuilding and the science of navigation, it has naturally See also:developed with them. The See also:discovery of the mariner's compass, the advance of astronomical knowledge, the invention of the See also:rude See also:early See also:instruments of navigation, the See also:astrolabe, the back 'See also:staff, the See also:quarter staff, loosened the dependence of the sailor on the shore. Thence came the need for larger ships, and they demanded a more developed See also:rigging (q.v.). See also:Modern seamanship begins with the voyage of See also:Columbus. The previous and See also:con-temporary voyages of the Portuguese were See also:coasting voyages round Africa. But Columbus struck across the ocean, and within See also:thirty years See also:Sebastian de Elcano, who accompanied See also:Magellan, had sailed round the See also:world. Many of the seamen wrote treatises for the benefit of their See also:fellow-seamen, but, like the Brief Compendium of the Spaniard See also:Martin See also:Cortes, or the Seaman's .Secrets of the Englishman John See also:Davis, and the so-called " Waggoners " (a corruption of the name of the Dutch author Waggenaer), they were devoted to navigation, or were " rutters," i.e. route books and sailing directions. A curious little See also:volume named Six Dialogues about Sea Service between a High Admiral and a Captain at Sea, published in See also:London in 1685, and written by Nathaniel Boteler, contains interesting details of the seamanship of the time, but is mainly concerned with See also:naval organization. Such a well-known See also:text-book as The Mariners' See also:Magazine, of Captain See also:Samuel Sturmy, reprinted in the 17th century, from which See also:Swift took the sea phrases used in Gulliver's Travels, is de-voted to " the See also:doctrine of Triangles, " " Navigation," " Dialling," " Gunnery," &c. Little See also:attention is paid to pure seamanship, and the author practically confesses that his See also:brother seamen regarded all book knowledge as superfluous if not actually injurious.

The art continued in See also:

short to be purely empirical till the middle of the 18th century, and it suffered from adherence to See also:rule of thumb and want of study of principles. The first writer on seamanship who went beyond a glossary, and who looked at the way of a ship on the sea scientifically, was a Frenchman who was not a seaman—See also:Pierre See also:Bouguer, royal hydrographer for the ports of La Croisic and of See also:Havre, member of the Academie Royale See also:des Sciences, and of the See also:British Royal Society. In 1757 he published his book Dc la manauvre des vaissaux, ou traite de mechanique a de dynamique, dans lequel on reduit d dessolutions Irks simples See also:les problemes de marine les plus difficiles qui ont pour objet le mouvement du navire. It is to be observed that Bouguer, even at this See also:late date, notes the lack of treatises on seamanship as compared to the abundance of books on navigation. His treatment of the theme was too scientific to be intelligible by the See also:average sea-faring See also:man, but his See also:influence was gradually spread by his pupils, See also:French and See also:foreign. He is quoted as the dominant authority in the edition of See also:Falconer's Dictionary issued by 'Dr See also:Burney in 1830. Bouguer had an English follower—See also:William See also:Hutchinson—a merchant skipper and See also:privateer captain, who was for some time See also:dock master of See also:Liverpool. In 1777 he printed, probably at Liverpool, A Treatise on Practical Seamanship; with Hints and Remarks See also:relating thereto: designed to contribute something towards fixing Rules upon Philosophical and Rational Principles; to make ships, and the Management of them; and also Navigation in general more perfect, and consequently less dangerous and destructive to See also:Health, Lives, and See also:Property. See also:Darcy See also:Lever, whose Young See also:Officers' See also:Sheet See also:Anchor, or a See also:Key to the leading of Rigging and to Practical Seamanship appeared in 1835, says that Hutchinson's was then the best treatise which had appeared in English; but it suffers from a defect to which the writer confesses with perfect candour—his want of See also:education. His early training as " See also:cook, See also:cabin boy, and See also:beer drawer for the men " had not prepared him to write clearly. Darcy Lever was the See also:standard authority of the middle of the 19th century, when the art of seamanship in sailing ships had reached its fullest development. What that art was can now be learnt only by the study of books.

Before Darcy Lever's book appeared, See also:

steam and the use of See also:metal for the construction of ships had already been introduced. Since 1835 a revolution has been carried out in shipbuilding and seaman-ship greater than had taken See also:place in all the previous centuries. Even as, regards the sailing ship the See also:change from See also:wood and See also:hemp to soft-See also:steel and See also:wire, together with the employment of small engines to help in hauling the yards in the larger vessels, has made a vast difference. As between the steamer and the sailing ship, the difference can hardly be said to be one of degree at all. A comparison of two incidents in the history of the British See also:navy in the 19th century will serve to illustrate the unlikeness better than any generalities. They are the similar perils, and the very dissimilar escapes of the 74-See also:gun ship " Magnificent " on the 16th of See also:December 1812 in the Basque roads on the French coast, and of the cruiser " See also:Calliope " at Apia in See also:Samoa on the 16th of See also:March 1888. Both were in danger of being driven on shore by storms of extreme violence. The " Magnificent " was saved by the resource of her captain, John See also:Hayes, who, by making an unprecedented use of his masts and sails, tacked the ship when within her own breadth of a See also:reef. Everything was done by his See also:order and under his See also:eye (see Naval Chronicle, vol. See also:xxix. p. 19). Captain See also:Kane of the " Calliope " steamed to sea by the See also:power of the See also:machines of his ship, which were out of his sight, below the See also:water-See also:line, and were handled by the See also:engineers. The old seamanship was concerned not only with directing the course of the vessel, but with the actual See also:control of the machinery of her See also:motive power, for masts and sails are, after all, machines.

The new seamanship directs the course. The motive power is exercised below, out of sight, and by men whose See also:

function is radically different from that of the members of the See also:crew who are on See also:deck. The old seamanship did not retire before the new without a long resistance. Until very recently it continued to be an See also:article of faith both in navies and in the merchant service, that the sailor could only be trained in a sailing vessel. See also:Special vessels were maintained in navies to give the desired training to young seamen and officers. But the navies of the world have found that the brief See also:period which can be spent by young men in a special masted ship did not give an See also:equivalent for the old training. This was inevitable, if only because these ships were also provided with engines, and recourse was had to the machinery at all times of difficulty or peril—when entering and leaving See also:harbour, when rounding awkward headlands or working off a See also:lee-shore. The name of " seamanship " still continues to be applied to the art of handling ships under sail, and has never been made the subject of a treatise in so far as it means the management of a steamer. Perhaps it never can be. The art of constructing and managing machines is really " See also:engineering." It is by " navigation " that the course of a ship is laid. The modern seaman who steers and guides a steamer frcm the upper deck, or the See also:bridge, must be able to navigate, and must have such a knowledge of engineering as will tell him what he may expect from the machinery and what he must not ask it to do. But he cannot see his engines, and must perforce leave to the engineers the responsibility of handling them and the initiative in the See also:face of sudden peril.

There remain to the captain, and the officers who See also:

direct the course, the See also:superior command and the functions of the See also:pilot. In addition to the books already mentioned see R. H. See also:Dana, agreements must be transmitted to the See also:Board of Trade. A copy of every agreement with the crew must be posted in some See also:part of the ship accessible to the crew. In a.ny British See also:possession abroad other than that in which the ship is registered, a seaman must be engaged before a See also:superintendent or officer of customs, and at any See also:port abroad where there is a British consular officer, before such officer. Before a seaman can be discharged at any place abroad, the master must obtain the See also:sanction, endorsed on the agreement with the crew, of the like officials or, in their See also:absence, of merchants there See also:resident. A seaman discharged in a foreign country is entitled to be provided with adequate employment on some other British ship See also:bound to the port in His See also:Majesty's dominions at which he was originally shipped, or to a port in the See also:United See also:Kingdom agreed to by the sea-man, or to be furnished with the means of returning to such port or of a passage See also:home. The See also:consul is charged with the See also:duty of attending to the seamen's interests. It is a See also:misdemeanour wrongfully to force a seaman on shore, or otherwise wrongfully leave him in any place before the completion of the voyage for which he was engaged, or the return of the ship to the United Kingdom. The only persons by whom seamen may be engaged or supplied in the United Kingdom are a superintendent, the master, the See also:mate, a servant See also:bona fide in the See also:constant employ of the owner, and any See also:person holding a See also:licence from the Board of Trade. At common See also:law there was no See also:obligation of the owner to provide a seaworthy ship, but by the See also:act of 1876, now superseded by the act of 1894, part v., every person who sends or attempts to send, or is party to sending or attempting to send, a British ship to sea in such unseaworthy See also:state that the See also:life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered is guilty of a misdemeanour, unless he proves that he used all reasonable means to ensure her being sent to sea in a seaworthy state, or that her going to sea in such unseaworthy state was under the circumstances reasonable and justifiable.

A master knowingly taking a British ship to sea in such unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered is guilty of a misdemeanour. In every See also:

contract of service between the owner and the master or any seaman, and in every See also:indenture of sea See also:apprenticeship, an obligation is implied that the owner, master and See also:agent shall use all reasonable means to ensure the seaworthiness of the ship. By the act of 1906 many of the provisions as to sea-worthiness was applied to foreign ships, and they may be detained in a proper case. A return of certain particulars, such as lists of crews and of distressed seamen sent home from abroad, reports on See also:discharge, births and deaths at sea, must be made to the registrar-general of See also:shipping and seamen, an officer of the Board of Trade. The seaman is privileged in the See also:matter of See also:wills (see WILL), and is exempt from serving in the See also:militia (42 Geo. III. c. 90, s. 43). Assaults upon seamen with See also:intent to prevent their working at their occupation are punishable summarily by the Offences against the Person Act 1861, s. 40. There are special enactments in favour of Lascars and foreign seamen on British ships, e.g. s. 125 of the act of 1894.

In addition to this legislation directly in his See also:

interest, the seaman is indirectly protected by the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts requiring the possession of certificates of competence Duties of by ships' officers, the periodical survey of ships by the Masters Board of Trade, and the enactments against deck cargoes and and overloading, as well as by other acts, such as the seamen. See also:Chain Cables and Anchors Acts, enforcing a minimum strength of cables and anchors, and the Passenger Acts, under which a proper See also:supply of life-boats and life-buoys must be provided. The duties of the seaman appear to be to obey the master in all lawful matters relating to the navigation of the ship and to resist enemies, to encourage him in which he may become entitled to See also:prize See also:money under 22 and 23 See also:Car. II. c. 11 (see PRIZE). Any services beyond these would fall under the See also:head of See also:salvage service and be recompensed accordingly. There are certain offences for which the seaman is liable to be summarily punished under the act of 1894. They comprise See also:desertion, neglect or refusal to join his ship or absence without leave, quitting the ship without leave before she is placed in See also:security, wilful disobedience to a lawful command, either, on one occasion or continued, See also:assault upon a master or mate, combining to disobey lawful commands or to neglect duty, or to impede the navigation of the ship or the progress of the voyage, wilful damage to the ship, or See also:embezzlement of or wilful damage to her stores or See also:cargo and See also:smuggling. The See also:punishment varies from See also:forfeiture of all or part of his See also:wages to twelve See also:weeks' imprisonment. Any offence committed on board is entered in the See also:official See also:log-book. See also:Personation or See also:forgery of a certificate of service or discharge is an offence punish-able by See also:summary See also:jurisdiction by the Seamen's and Soldiers' False Characters Act 1906. A master, seaman or apprentice, who by wilful See also:breach of duty, or by neglect of duty, or by reason of See also:drunkenness, does any act tending to the immediate loss, destruction .or serious damage of the ship, or to immediately endanger the life or See also:limb of any person belonging to or on hoard of the ship, or who by wilful breach of duty, &c., refuses or omits to do any lawful act proper and requisite to be done by him for preserving the ship from immediate loss, destruction, &c., is guilty of a misdemeanour.

A seaman is also punishable at common law for piracy and by See also:

statute for piracy and offences against Seaman's See also:Manual; containing a treatise on Practical Seamanship seaman must sign it in the presence of a See also:witness; copies of all such (London, 1841); B. J. Totten, Lieut. U.S.N., Naval Text-Book (See also:Boston, 1841); N. Tinmouth, Inquiry relative to various important points of Seamanship (London, 1845); A. H. See also:Alston, Lieut. R.N., Seamanship and its associated duties in the Royal Navy, with a treatise on Nautical See also:Surveying (London, 1860) ; R. See also:Maxwell, Seamanship and Navigation required for the examination of the See also:Local Marine Board (London, 1869). (D.

End of Article: SEAMANSHIP

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