| Show OIL UPON THE TSE TROUBLED WATERS POURING oil 01 I 1 0 on n t the he troubled I 1 ed waters is a saying that has been long in common use as a figure of speech but it is not generally known that it has a literal practical signification yet old sailors have stoutly main talked that oil poured upon the angry waves in dangerous storms has had the effect of calming the seas sufficiently to prevent damage and to enable a vessel to ride upon the billows in comparative safety but thia this has been considered only the fanciful imagining of old salts or one of those yarns which tars tan are supposed to be in the habit of spinning recently however there have been several trials of the oleaginous method upon the roaring waters with alleged complete success Wha lemen in the northern pacific claim that they have frequently saved themselves from the violence of the fuves ina in a temp estby empty ing oil upon the ea ship owners are advised to place on board their vessels a few barrels of whale oil or lard oil as an adjunct to ilfe eife lifo saving apparatus all this may seem ridiculous to those who have not inquired into the probable causes of the alleged effects of oil on the troubled watery walterp but there seems to be some reason reasa in the rule it is a known fact that in storms at bea sea the most furious blasts sometimes have a cont contrary effect to that expected the force of the wind being so great as to smooth the surface of the waves wavey the pres prea sure keeping down the billows from foaming up and breaking over the vessel US oil I 1 la Is said to have a similar effect the violence of the lofty foam capped waves that beat against a boat or break over a ship ig is caused by air bubbles which heave up the waters the application of oil serves to press down the pur Fur surface oace face and reduce the loam and floating to a distance preserve the vessel surrounded bur eur rounded with the oll oli oily olly diffusion from the violence of the ashing breakers the plan of pouring oil on the troubled waters then is efficacious in a double sense arid and those who do not go down to the tho sea in ships and thus have no occasion to test the virtue of the plan upon the waves of the tempestuous ocean will find it of much more advantage in a domestic political or other storm in which temper plays the pant part pint of the hurricane than any attempt to quell the waters of passion by adding breaker to bre breaker aker axer or blast to blast |
