Landsmen
entertain little notion of the power of the waters, when driven before a
tempest, and are often surprised, in reading of naval catastrophes, at the
description of the injuries done. But experience shows that boats,
hurricane-houses, guns, anchors of enormous weight, bulwarks and planks,
are even swept off into the ocean, in this manner, or are ripped up from
their fastenings.
The process of lying-to has a double advantage, so long as it can be
maintained, since it offers the strongest portion of the vessel to the
shock of the seas, and has the merit of keeping her as near as possible to
the desired direction. But it is a middle course, being often adopted as
an expedient of safety when a ship cannot scud; and then, again, it is
abandoned for scudding when the gale is so intensely severe that it
becomes in itself dangerous. In nothing are the high qualities of ships so
thoroughly tried as in their manner of behaving, as it is termed, in these
moments of difficulty; nor is the seamanship of the accomplished officer
so triumphantly established in any other part of his professional
knowledge, as when he has had an opportunity of showing that he knows how
to dispose of the vast weight his vessel is to carry, so as to enable her
mould to exhibit its perfection, and on occasion to turn both to the
best account.
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