upon discharging, are found to be completely flattened, and take some
time to regain their original shape. This screwing, however, is
resorted to principally with a view of obtaining more room in the
hold; for in a full load of any such commodities as flour or tobacco,
there can be no danger of any shifting whatever, at least none from
which inconvenience can result. There have been instances, indeed,
where this method of screwing has resulted in the most lamentable
consequences, arising from a cause altogether distinct from the
danger attendant upon a shifting of cargo. A load of cotton, for
example, tightly screwed while in certain conditions, has been known,
through the expansion of its bulk, to rend a vessel asunder at sea.
There can be no doubt either that the same result would ensue in the
case of tobacco, while undergoing its usual course of fermentation,
were it not for the interstices consequent upon the rotundity of the
hogsheads.

It is when a partial cargo is received that danger is chiefly to
be apprehended from shifting, and that precautions should be always
taken to guard against such misfortune. Only those who have
encountered a violent gale of wind, or rather who have experienced
the rolling of a vessel in a sudden calm after the gale, can form an
idea of the tremendous force of the plunges, and of the consequent
terrible impetus given to all loose articles in the vessel. It is
then that the necessity of a cautious stowage, when there is a
partial cargo, becomes obvious. When lying-to (especially with a
small bead sail), a vessel which is not properly modelled in the bows
is frequently thrown upon her beam-ends; this occurring even every
fifteen or twenty minutes upon an average, yet without any serious
consequences resulting, provided there be a proper stowage. If this,
however, has not been strictly attended to, in the first of these