A Lecture, Or Essay On the most efficacious means of Preserving The Lives Of Shipwrecked Sailors And The Shipwreck

13 top, into a hollow sphere, securing it with boiling lead, or by drilling a hole through a solid ball, and passing through it an iron with an eye at the top, taking care it is well riveted at the bottom ; the other, a barbed shot, intended to give relief by hooking in some part of the wreck, and securely holding to whatever it affixes, for hauling off a boat. The connecting a rope with a shot, and preventing it from being burnt by the powerful inflammation of gunpowder, may be deemed the principal merit of the service, and stout strips of hide, plaited extremely close at the eye, effect this important object. The hide should be kept pliant by moisture, and be at least two feet beyond the muzzle of the mortar, and the greatest care taken that the rope is firmly secured in the loop, at the end of the connecting medium. Before I leave the subject of shots for this service, I must observe, the powers of a small mortar may be increased by giving additional weight to a shot either in an oblong' or pear-shaped form, having found by experiment, that, by an increased weight, the momentum of the shot over the line does considerably augment its range. The rope for the service should possess pliancy, strength, and durability. The first is required that it may obey, without obstrue-