THE

MARITIME LAW.

OF EUROPE.

PART FIRST.

Of the Sea, and of the Rights which may be exercised on that Element.

§ 1.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE EMPIRE OF THE SEA.

ART. I.

Of the High Sea.

THERE is not a nobler object, nor one more capable of arresting the attention of man, than a ship under full sail, pursuing her peaceful course over the vast expanse of ocean. At the same time, nothing can more excite apprehension and wonder, than the sight of a ship attacked by tempest, contending against the impetuosity of winds and the violence of waves; yet surmounting, by unshaken courage and skilful manœuvres, all the obstacles which angry nature had opposed to her progress: escaping at last from every danger, the eye is gratified with seeing her enter triumphantly into port. Antiquity, which has enveloped the origin of navigation in darkness and fable, can throw no light on a period so very in

Origin of navigation obscure.-First view of the sea.

teresting fo.naval history. The expedients that nature furnishes to man at every step, and the progress of the human mind, which, in every age, has been able to draw forth the secrets contained in her bosom, will supply conjectures to guide us in our researches on this subject. They will lead to satisfactory conclusions, in support of the fundamental right, equally possessed by all men, to maritime navigation, and to a common participation of the advantages which the free exertions of their faculties may enable them to enjoy.*

2. The roaring of the surge must have been heard by the first inhabitants of the earth, with a mingled sensation of admiration and dread. They must have approached the sea with distrust and with awe. In proportion as the waves became tranquil, their terrors would subside, till, at length, amidst numberless dangers, and, at the risque of a watery tomb, they ventured to brave an element, terrible only at intervals, but presenting in its wide extent, and capacious bosom, vast resources, new productions and new enjoyments.(1)

* The invention of the means of navigation is given to many distinguished characters in antiquity: popular opinion refers it to Minerva, who invented so many other things. The idea of the poet Gessner, who, in his First Navigator, ascribes it to Venus, is not the least pleasing. This fiction has been happily introduced into the poem of Esmenard, entitled, La Navigation, Chant I. published at Paris, 1805......T.

(1) The history of every age proves, that when men find it difficult to procure the necessaries and comforts of life, nature offers

Origin of the art of navigation.

3. The first who exposed himself to the fury of the sea, and the endless inconstancy of its waves, of whom Horace elegantly says, robur et as triplex circa pectus erat,(2) must have been impelled by want and cupidity.(3) Becoming, at length, familiarised with the rapidity of currents, the violence of winds and storms, the temerity of man knew no bounds. Canoes, made of the trunk of a tree, observed by chance floating on the waves, known among the ancients, under the name of Monoxylum,(4) must have been the first means of crossing rivers, and of passing from

them abundant resources in the productions of lakes, rivers, and seas. It may be said also, that the inhabitants of warm climates, enjoy a species of luxury in their pursuits on this element, whose agreeable coolness is so refreshing, under the influence of a burning sun. It is common to see, says TAYLOR, in his Letters on India, a savage islander, half plunged in water, his head sheltered with large leaves, and almost without any other covering, encounter alone the dangers of the ocean, in search of that sustenance which the earth refuses to yield.

(2) Illi robur et as triplex

Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem iruci
Commisit pelago ratem

Primus, nec timuit præcipitem Africum

Decertantem Aquilonibus,

Nec tristes Hyadas, nec rabiem Noti.

Horat. lib. i. Od. 3.

(3) Navigandi studium et cursus maritimos in vitam introduxit avaritia; nam ut navigare vellent, ad hoc adegit homines cupiditas adquirendi plura. Lybanius in progym.

(4) Plato de legibus, lib. 12. Pliny Nat. Hist. lib. 7, c. 56. Isidor. Orig. lib. 19, c. 1.

Progress of the art of navigation.

one island to another.(5) This first essay naturally led to a further imitation of this sort of natural boat, and to the discovery of the art of constructing others of different pieces of wood, fastened together with strings, made of skins, and with pegs, and arranged in the form of rafts, sufficiently solid and capacious for the purpose of transportation.(6) Emboldened by

(5) Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas :

Virgil. Georgic. lib. 1, v. 36.

It appears that the ancients made great use of canoes, constructed of the trunks of single trees. Sanchoniathon says, that Ousous, one of the first heroes of Phoenicia, took a tree, half burnt, cut off its branches, and was the first who dared to expose himself upon the water: Arbore cujus ante ramos amputaverat, navigii loco usus primus sese ausus mari committere. Vide Euseb. in preparat. Evangel. lib. 1, p. 3. A. Vitruvius, de origine art, lib. 2, cap. 5. who endeavours to ascend to the first principles of the arts, attributes the birth of navigation to the fact mentioned by Sanchoniathon.

(6) It appeared highly probable, that its structure might be discovered in the raft of Ulysses, mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey, lib. 5, v. 244. and, in fact, it is there described in the most striking manner. Speaking of the raft made by Ulysses in the island of Calypso, he says,

Trees on trees o'erthrown

Fall crackling round him, and the forests groan :
Sudden, full twenty on the plain are strowed,
And lopp'd and lighten'd of their branchy load.

At equal angles these disposed to join,

He smooth'd and squar'd 'em by the rule and line..
(The wimbles for the work Calypso found)

With those he pierc'd them, and with clinchers bound.

Long and capacious as a shipwright forms

Some bark's broad bottom to outride the storms,

Progress of the art of navigation.

experience, the simple ideas acquired of floating bodies, whose specific gravity was less than that of water,(7) having enlarged the understanding of men, they were necessarily led to the construction of larger vessels; rafts were converted into gallies, with many ranks of oars,(8) and at last they ventured to trust themselves to the open sea. These gallies, in the progress of time, were transformed into vessels with lofty sides; in them, men braved the ocean, and from peaceful and timid fishermen, they finally be

So large he built the raft; then ribb'd it strong
From space to space, and nail'd the planks along ;
These form'd the sides: the deck he fashion'd last,
Then o'er the vessel rais'd the taper mast,
With crossing sail-yards dancing in the wind,
And to the helm the guiding rudder join❜d.
Thy loom, Calypso! for the future sails
Supply'd the cloth, capacious of the gales.
With stays and cordage last he rigg'd the ship,
And roll❜d on levers, launch'd her to the deep.*

Pope's Translation.

(7) Such is the nature of pine, fir, and alder, which the ancients employed in the construction of their marine.

(8) The Greeks gave to these gallies the name of Decateperes, Decapenteres, and Decaexeres, that is, having fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen ranks of rowers on a side. See the excellent work of M. Le Roi, on the marine of the ancients.

This raft, according to the poet, was finished in four days, a fact, which, though somewhat improbable, proves Ulysses to have been no less remarkable for his skill and industry as a shipwright, than for his political wisdom.....T.