Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/881

 SHIMONOSEKI The remainder of Buell's command crossed during the night, raising the Union force to about 45,000. Grant opened the action early on the morning of the 7th, by an artillery fire, before which the confederates fell back. This was followed by a general assault, which was obstinately resisted. The action con- tinued till 4 P. M., when the confederates re- treated. The Union loss, as officially reported, was 1,700 killed, 7,495 wounded, and 3,022 prisoners; in all, 12,217. The confederate loss, as reported by Beauregard, was 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 959 missing; in all, 10,699. (See OOEINTH.) SHIMONOSEKI, a seaport of Japan, in the province of Nagato (Choshiu), on the S. W. point of the main island ; pop. about 10,000. It commands the strait of Shimonoseki, which connects the Inland sea and the sea of Japan. The town consists chiefly of one long street. A famous naval battle between the fleets of the Taira and Minamoto families, in which 1,200 junks were engaged, was fought near it in 1185. In 1864 the forts near Shimonoseki were bombarded and destroyed by a combined fleet of one United States, five British, three French, and four Dutch men-of-war, in retali- ation for the act of the daimio of Choshiu in firing on the vessels of those nations while they were passing through the strait. Besides $420,000 demanded as a compensation for in- juries, the Japanese government was obliged to pay an indemnity of $3,000,000, of which the United States received $750,000. In 1873 Shimonoseki was nearly destroyed by fire. SHINER. See DACE. SHINKING, or Liaotnng, a province of south- ern Mantchooria, sometimes included in China proper, bounded N. W. and W. by Mongolia, from which it is separated by a palisade bar- rier, E. by Corea, S. by the bay of Corea and the gulf of Liaotung, and S. W. by the great wall ; pop. according to the census of 1812, 2,167,286. It is mountainous and traversed by the Liau-ho, Shin-orn, and other rivers. The products include timber, iron, coal, horses, cattle, sheep, various cereals, silk, ginseng, and rhubarb, the last two a government mo- nopoly. The chief town is Mukden or Shin- yang. (See MANTCHOORIA.) SHINTO, or Sinto. See JAPAN, vol. ix., pp. 537 and 562. SHIP, a term applied in general to all ves- sels navigating the sea, and in particular to sailing vessels with at least three masts carry- ing square sails. The masts are known as fore, main, and mizzen. The mizzen is sometimes merely fore-and-aft rigged, carrying no yard ; the vessel is then known as a bark. Brigs have two masts rigged with square sails, and are generally smaller than ships ; they are con- venient for handling with few men, and were formerly very popular, especially in the "West India trade. Hermaphrodite brigs (partly brig and partly schooner) carry on the mainmast only fore-and-aft sails; they are usually of SHIP 855 inferior size to full-rigged brigs. Schooners are two-masted and fore-and-aft rigged, car- rying jib and flying jib, foresail and mainsail, with a gaff topsail over each of the latter, and a long square sail for the foremast, only brought out for use when the wind blows steadily from astern. The topsail schooner has a square topsail and sometimes a topgallant sail on the foremast, but the lower sail is the usual fore-and-aft foresail. These are light and easy to navigate, and excellent sea boats. Cutters used for revenue service were formerly topsail schooners; steamers have now taken their place. "When it is desired to increase the capacity of schooners without increasing their draught, they are considerably lengthened, and a third mast is added to them, when they are known as three-masted schooners. Pink stern schooners, or those with high-pointed sterns, were once favorites in the cod and mackerel fishery of New England ; they carried no jib, but only a foresail and mainsail. Sloops are small, generally less than 125 tons, with one mast. They carry a jib and mainsail ; the lat- ter by the great length of the mast and boom is very large. They commonly have a gaff top- sail, and sometimes a square topsail, and a long square sail occasionally set. They are adapted only for rivers and comparatively smooth wa- ters. A vessel is sometimes seen in our har- bors with three masts, the foremast rigged like that of a ship and the others schooner-rigged without topsails ; this is known as a barkan- tine. The nations of antiquity inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean and Red seas, and foremost among them the Phoenicians, attained considerable skill in the construction of ves- sels, and made long voyages. The Bible con- tains the description of an antediluvian vessel, Noah's ark ; and it is remarkable that its pro- portions of length, breadth, and depth are al- most precisely the same as those considered by our most eminent architects the best for com- bining the elements of strength, capacity, and stability. According to Gen. vi. 15, the ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 80 cubits high ; i. e., six times the breadth for the length, and three fifths of the breadth for the depth. The ships represented upon ancient Egyptian tombs were long galleys with one mast and a large square sail, which was some- times of linen colored or white, and sometimes of papyrus with one, and in the later periods with two yards. These were of great size and length, so that men could walk out upon the lower one, holding on by the ropes by which it was suspended from the top. The vessels were made of planks of pine, fir, or cedar, each end rising up out of the water by a long slope, well adapted in shape for easy propulsion, and were furnished with oars, upon which the war vessels were wholly dependent when in action, and all of them indeed except when the wind was favorable. The ships of war alone wer decked wholly or in part, and upon the larger ones the deck was high, and in some instances