Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/470

* SAIL. 430 SAILINGS. up to the jards for reefing by reef-tackles. Square sails are "bent to iron rods (called bending jack- stuys) on the yards with rope-yarn stops called robands; fore-and-aft sails are bent to travelers or hanks sliding up and down stays or railways (on masts), or to hoops sliding up and down the masts. Fore-and-aft sails are either lowered when furled or pulled in and furled up and down the mast. In tlie latter case they are pulled in by the brails. .Jibs and staysails are hauled down by down-hauls. When the force of the wind reaches a certain point, the light sails are furled and the other sails reefed by tying up parts of each to its yard or boom by means of small, short ropes called reef-points. In severe storms, heavy sails of small area called storm sails are bent in place of certain of the ordinary sails, which are used except in very strong winds. In the severest hurricanes no sail can be carried — except, possibly, a tarpaulin laid against the mizzen rigging, which serves to keep the vessel partly up to the seas. The action of the wind upon the sails is best shown by a diagram. Let AB represent a ship moving in the direction BA ; CD one of her sails ; EF the apparent direction of the wind. Then if EF represents in length the force of the wind, C4F will be the resolved component at right angles to the sail, and HF the effective resolution of this component applied to pushing the ship ahead. The component GH will tend to push the ship sideways (give her leeway) or heel her over. It is evident that, as the wind draws aft, less of its power is lost, but with the wind aft is not usually the best point of sailing, as the sails will not all draw in this position. Most ships sail best with the wind between the quarter and the beam. Some fore-and-aft sails are in two parts — a broad strip along the foot being laced to the upper part. To reduce the area of the sail, instead of reefing by drawing up the foot and tying it with reef-points, the broad strip mentioned — which is called a bonnet — is removed. SAILER, zl'ler. Johann Michael ( 1751- 1832). A Roman Catholic theologian, born at Aresing, in Upper Bavaria. He entered the priesthood and in 1780 was made professor of dogmatics at Dillingen. In 1794 he was re- moved from his chair because of his mysticism, and in 1709 was appointed professor at the seminary of Ingolstadt, which removed in 1800 to Landshut, where he remained until 1821. when he became prebendary of Regensburg. In 1829 he became bishop of the same see. His influence was very great throughout Germany in behalf of renewed spiritual activity within the Roman Catholic Church. His complete works were edited by Widmer (18.30-42). Consult the bi- ography by Mcssmer (Mannheim, 1876). SAILFISH (so called from the shape of the dorsal fin). (1) A fish (Isiiophorus nigricans) of the warmer waters of the Atlantic, especially about the West Indies, where it is called 'spike- fish,' 'boohoo,' and liy various Spanish names. It is very similar in character and habits to the swordfishes (q.v.), but has a shorter and less flat- tened sword and the skin is rougher. Several other species are known in Eastern waters. See Plate of Spearfish and Swordflsii. (2) A carp-sucker. See Skimback. SAILING'S. The term applied in navigation (q.v.) to the different methods of conducting a ship from one point to another and the solution of problems connected with these methods. They are (a) plane sailing; (b) traverse sailing; (c) parallel sailing; (d) middle latitude sailing; (e) Mercator sailing; (f) great circle sailing. So far as the track of the ship is concerned, the first five of these are identical, for in all of them the ship's track is along the rhiunb-line or lo.xo- dromic curve; these sailings, therefore, are merely different methods of computation of the same problem. In great circle sailing, however, an attempt is made to follow the great circle of the earth which passes through the points of de- parture and arrival. In plane sailing the small portion of the earth under consideration is regarded as a plane. In the figure let W be the point of departure and A the point of arrival. Then if NS is a north and south line (part of the meridian through W), the angle NWA is the course. Draw WE perpendicular to NS and AE parallel to NS. If we regard as a plane the portion of the earth's surface under consideration, the vessel in moving from W to A will have changed her latitude by an amount equal to AE and her longitude by an amount equal to WE. If we designate WA (the distance sailed) by d^ AE (the change in lati- tide) by I, and WE (the distance gained in the direction in which longitude is measured) by p. If ^l^^^"""'^ xO ^^.---'^ 1 p B 3 Fio, 1. we shall have I ^ <7cosC and p = rfsinC. AE, or I, is called the 'difl'erence in latitude;' AW. or d, the 'distance;' and WE, or p, the 'departure.' If d is expressed in nautical miles and C in de- grees, I will be given in minutes of latituile. (This is not exact, but the error is inappreciable in practice.) The departure, or p, will also be given in nautical miles. The method of determin- ing the relation between the departure (p) and the difference of longitude (D) is given under 'traverse sailing.' Traverse sailing consists in computing the total