Trans RINA, Vol 152, Part A4, Intl J Maritime Eng, Oct-Dec 2010
“While shoreward now the bounding vessel flies, Full in her van St. George’s cliffs arise; High o’er the rest a pointed crag is seen, That hung projecting o’er a mossy green. Nearer and nearer now the danger grows, And all their skill relentless fates oppose. For, while more eastward they direct the prow, Enormous waves the quiv’ring deck o’erflow. While, as she wheels, unable to subdue Her sallies, still they dread her broaching-to: Alarming thought! For now no more a-lee Her riven side could bear th’ invading sea And if the following surge she scuds before, Headlong she runs upon the frightful shore;”
A painting of 1810 by Nicholas Pocock depicts the final moment, with the Cape Colonne on sight (Figure 1). A footnote in Anderson’s edition of the poem offers the following remarkable definition [15]:
“Broaching-to is a sudden and involuntary movement in navigation, wherein a ship, whilst scudding or sailing before the wind, unexpectedly turns her side
to
windward. It is generally occasioned by the difficulty of steering her,
machinery of the helm.”
Broaching (without -to) is mentioned also earlier in the poem referring to the placing of the ship obliquely to the weather and seemingly alluding to a voluntary change of heading. As for the condition of “scudding” referred-to in the above definition, this is well explained in another of Falconer’s publications:
3.2 FALCONER'S MARINE DICTIONARY
Falconer's name is better known to mariners from his "Dictionary of the Marine" firstly published in 1769, the year of his bereavement.5 In there he describes "broach- to" as follows [19]:
"To BROACH-TO, in navigation, to incline suddenly to windward of the ship's course when she sails with a large wind; or, when she sails directly before the wind, to deviate from the line of her course, either to the right or lest, with such rapidity as to bring the ship's side unexpectedly to windward, and expose her to the danger of oversetting.
It is easy to conceive that a ship will carry much more sail before the wind than when she makes a progress with her side to it's direction; because when the current of wind as nearly endways on her hull, the pressure of it on the masts must be considerably diminished as she yields to it's impulse and flies before it; and that if she carries a
5 Unable to steer clear off his destiny, William Falconer disappeared, possibly in the Mozambique Chanel, with the frigate Aurora in the winter of 1769.
©2010: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects A-165 or by some disaster happening to the
great sail at this time, it can only press her fore-part lower down in the water. But if, when she carries a great extension of sail, her side is suddenly brought to the wind, it may be attended
with the most fatal
consequences, as the whole force of it then pours like a torrent into the cavities of the sails. The masts therefore unavoidably yield to this strong impression, acting like levers on the ship sideways, so as nearly to overturn her, unless she is relieved by some other event, which may be also extremely pernicious, such as the sails rending to pieces, or the masts being carried away.
It is generally occasioned by the difficulty of steering the ship; by the negligence or incapacity of the helmsman; or by some disaster happening to the helm or its machinery, which
renders it incapable of governing the ship's course.”
At this point he explains “broaching-to” and “bringing
the difference between by the
clarification is often cited in later publications [20]):
“Suppose a ship with a great sail set is steering south, having the wind N.N.W. then is west the weather, and east the lee-side. If by some deficiency in the steerage her head turns round to the westward, so as that her sails are all taken aback on the weather-side before she can be made to return to the course
from which she has
deviated, she is said to broach-to. If otherwise her head, from the same cause, has declined so far eastward as to lay her sails aback on that side which was the lee-side, it is called bringing her by the lee."
One can thus deduce that, broaching-to is attributed to the unfavourable placement of the ship to the wind as regards the arrangement of her sails, with the effect of waves neglected (possibly considered as secondary). In Falconer’s dictionary definition for “scudding”:
we find also
with a sail extended on her fore-mast, or, if the storm is excessive, without any sail, which in the sea phrase is called scudding
under bare poles. In sloops and
schooners, and other small vessels, the sail employed for this purpose is called the square-sail. In large ships, it is either the foresail, at large, reefed, or with its goose- wings extended, according to the degree of the tempest; or it is the fore-top-sail close reefed, and lowered on the cap: which last is particularly used when the sea runs so
high as to becalm the foresail
circumstance which exposes the ship to the danger of broaching-to. The principal hazards
occasionally; a incident to
scudding are generally, a pooping sea; the difficulty of steering, which exposes the vessel perpetually to the risk of broaching-to;”
lee” (this
the following
“Scudding, the movement by which a ship is carried precipitately before a tempest. ...
A ship either scuds
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