SEA

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SEA

exploring its bottom, discover a vast number of interesting parti-culars. Unfortunately, in the greater part of the ocean, this hashitherto been impossible. Part, however, has been examined ;and the discoveries which this examination has produced mayenable us to form some idea of the whole. The bottom of the sea-bears a great resemblance to the surface of the dry land, being,like it, full of plains, rocks, caverns, and mountains; some ofwhich are abrupt, and almost perpendicular, while others rise•with a gentle declivity, and sometimes tower above the water andform islands. Neither do the materials differ which compose thebottom of the sen, and the basis of the dry land. If we dig to aconsiderable depth in any part of the earth, we uniformly meetwith rock ; the same thing holds in the sea. The strata, too, are ofthe same kind, disposed in the same manner, and form indeed but-one whole. The same kind of mineral and bituminous substancesare also found interspersed with these strata ; and it is to them pro-bably that the sea is indebted for its bitter taste. Over these natu-ral and original strata, an artificial bed has pretty generally beenformed, composed of different materials in different places. Itconsists frequently of muddy tartareous substances /irmly cement-ed together, sometimes of shells or coral reduced to powder, andnear the mouths of rivers, it is generally composed of fine sand orgravel. The bottom of the sea resembles the land likewise in ano-ther particular; many fresh springs, and even rivers, rise out of it,which, displacing the salt-water, render the lower part of the sea ,wherever they abound, quite fresh. An instance of this kindoccurs near Goa , on the western coast of Hindostan, and another inthe Mediterranean sea , not far from Marseilles.

Sea-Chart. See Chart, and Navigation.

SEAFORD, a borough and sea-port-town of England, one ofthe Cinque Ports, 8 miles S. S. E. of Lewis, and 59 S. by E. ofLondon . Lon. 0. 10. E. Lat. 50. 50. N.

SEA-GAGE. See Gage.

Sea-Horse, in ichthyology, (he English name of the Ilippo-eampus. See Tkichecus.

Sea Horse Island, an island of North America , in Hudson’sBay. Lon. 92. 40 W. Lat. 62. 0. N.

SEAL, a puncheon, piece of metal, or other matter, usuallycither round or oval: whereon are engraven the arms, device, &c.of some prince, state, community,1 magistrate, or private person,often with a legend or inscription ; the impression whereof in waxserves to make acts, instruments, &c. authentic. T he use of seals,as a mark of authenticity to letters and other instruments in writ-ing, is extremely ancient. We read of it amon" the Jews andPersians in the earliest and most sacred records of history. Andin the book of Jeremiah there is a very remarkable instance, notonly of an attestation by seal, but also of the other usual formalitiesattending a Jewish purchase. In the civil law also, seals were theevidence of truth, and were required, on the part of the witnesses atleast, at the attestation of every testament.

Seal is also used for the wax or lead, and the impression thereonaffixed to the thing sealed.

Seal Island an island of the United States , near the coast ofthe Maine. Lon. 68. 40. W. Lat. 43. 50. N.

Seal Islands, a cluster of Islands in the Atlantic, near (lie coastof Maine . Lon. 67. 46. W. Lat. 44. 45. N.

Seal, King’s Great, is that whereby all patents, commissions,warrants, &c. coming down from the king are sealed ; the keepingwhereof is in the hands of the lord chancellor.

SEALER is an officer in chancery appointed by the lord chan-cellor, or keeper of the great seal, to seal the writs and instrumentsthere made in his presence.

SEALING, in architecture, the fixing of a piece of wood or ironin a wall with plaster, mortar, cement, lead, or other solid binding.For staples, hinges, and joints, plaster is very proper.

Sealing-Wax, is a composition of gum-lac, melted and incor-porated with resins, and afterwards coloured with some pigment,such as vermilion, verditer, ivory-black, &c.

SEAM, in mines, is the same with a vein or stratum of metal.

Seam or Glass, is 1201b. weighing 24 stones, each 51b.

weight.

A Seam of Wood -is a horse-load.

Seams of a Shir, are places where the planks meet and join to-gether. There is also a kind of peculiar seam in the sowing ofsails, which they call monk-»ea»i; the other seam of a sail is the

round seam, so called from its being round like the commonseams.

SEA-MEN, such as are reserved to serve the king, or otherpt rsons, at sea, who may not depart without license, Sic. Sea-menfighting, quarrelling, or making any disturbance, may be punishedby the commissioners of the navy, with fine and imprisonment.Registered sea men are exempted from serving in any parish-office, &c. and are allowed bounty-money besides their pay. Bythe law of merchants, the sea-men of a vessel are accountable tothe master or commander, and the master to the owners, and theowners to the merchants, for damage sustained either by negli-gence or otherwise. Where a sea-man is hired for a voyage, and.he deserts it before it is ended, he shall lose his wages; and in casea ship be lost by a tempest, or in a storm, the sea-men lose theirwages, as well as the owners their freight.

SEAMANSHIP, the art of working a ship; including thescience, knowledge, qualifications, and experience, which enablea man to exercise this noble art. A seaman, in the language of theprofession, is not merely a mariner or labourer on board a ship,hut a man who understands the structure of this machine, andevery subordinate part of its mechanism, so as to enable him toemploy it to the best advantage for pushing her forward in a par-ticular direction, and for avoiding the numberless dangers to whichshe is exposed by the violence of the winds and waves. He alsoknows what courses can be held by the ship, according to the windthat blows, and what cannot, and which of these is most conduciveto her progress in her intended voyage: and he must be able toperform every part of the necessary operation with his own hands.As the seamen express it, he must be able “ to hand, reef, andsteer.” See Navigation, and NavalTactics.

SEA ONION, or SQUILL. See Scilla.

Sea Otter Sound, a bay of the North Pacific Ocean, on theN. W. coast of North America ; S. E. of Hazy Islands. Lon.135. 55. W. Lat. 55. 40. N.

Sea-Plants are those vegetables that grow in salt-water withinthe shores of the sea.

SEAPOYS, or SEPOYS, natives of Hindostan serving in a mili-tary capacity under the European powers, and disciplined after theEuropean manner. The seapoys of the English East-India com-pany compose perhaps the most numerous, regular, and best dis-ciplined body of black troops in the world. They are raised fromamong the natives of the country, and consist of Moors or Moham-medans, llaja-poots, Hindoos, Parias, besides many intermediatecasts peculiar to themselves; the whole modelled in all corres-ponding particulars, and disciplined in every respect as the armyof Great Britain. The military establishments of Bengal, Madras,and Bombay, have each their respective numbers, that of Bengalbeing largest.

SEA PYES KEYS, a cluster of islands, in the Gulf of Mexico .Lou. 89. 5. W. Lat. 29. 56. N.

SEARCHER, an officer in the customs, whose business it is tosearch and examine ships outward bound, if they have any prohi-bited goods on board, &c. (12 Car. II.) There are also searchersof leather, .Ire. See Alnager.

Searcher, in ordnance, is an iron-socket with branches, fromfour to eight in number, a little bent outwards, with small points attheir ends; to this socket is fixed a wooden angle, from eight totwelve feet long, of about an inch and a quarter diameter. Afterthe gun has been fired, this searcher is introduced into it, andturned round, in order to discover the cavities w ithin.

Search-warrant, in law, a kind of general warrant issued by 1justices of the peace or magistrates of towns for searching all suspect-ed places for stolen goods.

SEARCLOTH, or CERECLOTH, in surgery, a form of ex-ternal remedy somewhat harder than an unguent, yet softer thanan emplaster, though it is frequently used both for the one andthe other.

SEA-SICKNESS, a disorder incident to most persons on theirfirst going to sea, occasioned by the agitation of the vessel. Invoyages, sea-sickness, though it continues in general only for thefirst day or two, is extremely harassing to some people at inter-vals, especially on any increased motion of the vessel. Sometimes,by long continuance, it causes fever, headacb, quick pulse, thirst,while tongue, and a total deprivation of the retention of the sto-mach ; evils which are always difficult to remove, and frequently

terminate