POURING OIL ON THE TROUBLED WATER.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3042, 28 December 1882, Page 3

POURING OIL ON THE TROUBLED WATER.

CRUISE op THE TUG TITAN AND LIFE BOAT PRACTICE.

About, one o’clock to-day, the weather being suitable f»r the purpose, Captain Bascand, the Harbormaster, determined to give the lifeboat crew an hour or two’s practice and at the same time to make the promised experiment of pouring oil on the waves. Very shortly after the appointed hour, the lifeboat was launched at the landing service, and manned by the following Messrs Collis and Graham, (coxswains), J Eeidj (bowman), F. Duncan, (stroke), and Messrs B. Bolson, Brown, Crokum, McKenzie and Moore. The tug Titan was turned to the south-east and kept ahead of the lifeboat. The sea was sharp, stout and rough, and the wind tolerably strong, and a good opportunity was afforded of seeing what the tug would do in a very heavy sea. She behaved admirably. The lifeboat is not roomy enough, nor has she anything like the beam and stiffness in the water that are desirable in a lifeboat. She is too narrow for rescuing purposes, and though she rises well she is in constant danger of capsizing, and her coxwaina are dangerously close to each other. Her crew, however, is composed of splendid oarsmen whom it would be difficult to beat, and their pulling is a model of regularity and power. In fact the crew deserves a better boat. The uniform of the crew is a very neat one, though the cork jackets are somewhat cumbersome, homely-looking affairs. After she had pulled out about a mile and a half she was taken in tow by the lug,and the oil experiment tried for the first time. Salad and colza wero used alternately, and the oil was poured throngh a yard Or so of ordinary spouting. The effect was magical and very interesting to observe. There was a rough sharp sea which kept the boat in very lively motion indeed, and the spreading ol the oil was marked by a smooth patch of water, in which a boat mightlie almost at rest. After one ortwo experiments of this kind, the lifeboat parted company with the tug. and turned homeward. The Titan stood by her until she was again under the lee of the breakwater, and then Captain Bascand, not feeling satisfied with the trial he had already made with the ril, stood out to the south-east again, and got into some very strong sharp and broken water in the vicinity of a reef. Here, while the little Titan was jumping about in very animated style, the experiments were freely repeated, the oil being ponred in tarn over each counter and also through the hawse pipe. The result now was really convincing. The oil spread remarkably fast, and although only about half a gallon was used on eich occasion, about an acre of smooth expanse became visible, into which a boat might have been lowered with ease and safety. The success of the experiment was undeniable, and in no instance was it more apparent than in one long roller which came down upon the Titan’s quarter. The portion of the wave to which the oil had not extended was threatening in appearance, as usual, hut where it entered the region of the oil’s influence its force was quite subdued, and its threatening appearance quite smoothed away, After two or three repetitions of the experiment the Titan’s nose was turned for home,