The constitution of man : considered in relation to external objects / by George Combe.
- George Combe
- Date:
- 1844
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The constitution of man : considered in relation to external objects / by George Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.
58/460 page 50
![charge ; nay, if these faculties had been sufficiently' alive to see the danger to which he exposed his own life, and the happiness of his own wife and children, —he never could have followed the precipitate course which consigned himself, and so many brave men, to a watery grave, within a few hours after his resolution was formed. Very lately the Ogle Castle East Indiamen was offer- ed a pilot coming up Channel, but the captain refused assistance, professing his own skill to be sufficient/ In a few hours the ship ran aground on a sand-bank, and everv human being perished in the waves. This also arose from the physical law, but the unfavourable oper- ation of'it sprung from Self-esteem, pretending to know- edge which the intellect did not possess ; and, as it is only by the latter that obedience can be yielded to the physical laws, the destruction of the ship was indirectly the consequence of infringement of the moral and in- tellectual laws. An old sailor, whom I lately met on the Queensferry passage, told me, that he had been nearly fifty years at sea, and once was in a fifty gun ship in the West Indies. The captain, he said, was a 'fine man ;' he knew the climate, and foresaw a hurricane coming, by its natural signs ; and, on one occasion, in particular, he struck the topmasts, lowered the yards, lashed the guns, made each man supply himself with food for thirty-six hours, and scarcely was this done when the hurricane came ; ihe ship lay for four hours on her beam-ends in the water ; but all was prepared ; the men were kept in vigour during the storm, and fit for every exertion ; the ship at last, righted, suffered little damage, and proceed- ed on her voyage. The fleet which she convoyed was dispersed, and a great number of the ships foundered. Here we see the supremacy of the moral and intellectual faculties, and discover to what a surprising extent they present a guarantee, even against the fury of the phy- sical elements in their highest state of agitation. One of the most instructive illustrations of the con- nexion between the different natural laws is presented in Captain Lyon's brief narrative of an unsuccessful at- tempt to reach Repulse Bay, in his Majesty's ship Gri- oer. in the year 1824. Captain Lyon mentions, that he sailed in the Griper on 13th June, 1824, in company with his Majesty's surveying vessel Snap, as a store-tender. The Griper was 180 tons burden, and 'drew 16 feet 1 inch abaft, and 15 feet 10 inches forward.'—p. 2. On the 26th, he * was sorry to observe that the Griper, from her great depth and sharpness forward, pitched very deeply.'—p. 3. She sailed so ill, that ' in a stiff breeze and with studding-sails set, he was unable to get above four knots an hour out of her, and she was twice whirled round in an eddy in the Pentland Frith, from which she could not escape.'—p. 6. On the 3d July, ' beingnow fairly at sea, I caused the Snap to take us in tow, which I had declined doing as we passed up the east coast of England, although our little companion had much difficulty in keeping under sufficiently low sail for us, and by noon we had passed the Stack Back.' 1 The Snap was of the greatest assistance, the Griper frequently towing at the rate of five knots, in cases where she would not have gone three.'—p. 10. ' On the forenoon of the 16th, the Snap came and took us in tow ; but at noon on the 17th, strong breezes and a heavy swell obliged us again to cast off. We scudded while able, but our depth on the water caused us to ship io many heavy seas, that 1 most reluctantly brought to under storm stay-sails. This was rendered exceeding mortifying, by observing that our companion was per- fectly dry, and not affected by the sea.' p. 13. ' When our stores were all on board, we found our narrow decks completely crowded by them. The gang-ways, fore- castle, and abaft the mizen-mast, were filled with casks hawsers, whale-lines, and stream-cables, while on our straitened lower decks we were obliged to place casks and other stores, in every part but that allotted to the ship's company's mess-tables ; and even my cabin had a quantity of things stowed away in it.'—p. 21. ' It may be proper to mention, that the Fury and Hecla, which were enabled to stow three years' provisions, were each exactly double the size of the Griper, and the Griper carried two years' and a half s provisions,—pp 22, 23. Arrived in the Polar Seas, they were visited by a storm, of which Captain Lyon gives the following de- scription : We soon, however, came to fifteen fathoms, and I kept right away, but had then only ten ; when, being unable to see far around us, and observing, from the whiteness of the water, that we were on a bank, I rounded to at 7 a. m., and tried to bring up with the starboard anchor, and seventy fathoms chain, but the stiff breeze and heavy sea caused this to part in half an hour, and we again made sail to the north-eastward: but finding that we came suddenly to seven fathoms and that the ship could not possibly work out ao-ain, as she would not face the sea, or keep steerage-way on her, I most reluctantly brought her up with three bow- ers and a stream in succession, yet not before we had shoaled to five and a half. This was between 8 and 9 a. m., the ship pitching bows under, and a tremendous sea running. At noon, the starboard-bower anchor parted, but the others held. ' As there was every reason to fear the falling of the tide, which we knew to be from twelve to fifteen feet on this coast, and in that case the total destruction of the ship, I caused the long-boat to be hoisted out, and with the four smaller ones to be stored to a certain ex- tent, with arms and provisions. The officers drew lots for their respective boats, and the ship's company were stationed to them. The long-boat having been filled full of stores, which could not be put below, it became re- quisite to throw them overboard, as there was no room for them on our very small and crowded decks, over uhich heavy seas ivere constantly sweeping. In making these preparations for taking to the boats, it was evi- dent to all, that the long-boat was the only one that had the slightest chance of living under the lee of the ship, should she be wrecked, but every officer and man drew his lot with the greatest composure, though two of our boats would have swamped the instant they were low- ered. Yet, such was the noble feeling of those around me, that it was evident, that, had I ordered the boats in question to be manned, their crews would have en- tered them without a murmur. In the afternoon, on the weather clearing a little, we discovered a low beach all around astern of us, on which the surf was running to an awful height, and it appeared evident that no human powers could save us. At 3 p. m. the tide had fallen to twenty-two feet, (only six feet more than we drew,) and the ship, having been lifted by a tremendous sea, struck with great violence the length o] her keel. This we naturally conceived was the fore- runner of her total wreck, and we stood in readiness to take the boats, and endeavour to hang under her lee. She continued to strike with sufficient force to lave burst any less fortified vessel, at intervals of a few aiin- utes, whenever an unusual heavy sea passed us. And, as the water was so shallow, these might almost be called breakers rather than waves, for each in passing burst with great force over our gangways, and as every sea ' topped,' our decks were continually, and fre- quently deeply, flooded. All hands took a little re- freshment, for some had scarcely been below for twenty four hours, and I had not been in bed for three nights. Although few, or none of us, had any idea that we should survive the gale, we did not think that our com- forts should be entirely neglected, and an order was therefore given to the men to put on their best and warmest clothing, to enable them to support life as long as possible. Every man, therefore, brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21029131_0058.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
