Suppression of breakers in stormy seas by an oil film

Abstract

The mechanism by which an oil film is able to still stormy seas has remained mysterious. Accounts by shipmasters of the effective use of oil collected by the US Hydrographic Office in the 1880s contain little quantitative information. In only one episode was the time of response to a sudden application of oil recorded. In this case, storm breakers were annulled by use of fish oil to enable a small open boat to rescue the crew of a sinking vessel. The cessation of breaking seas occurred only after the oil had spread over a large area to windward of the ships. It appears that wave growth stopped in this oiled region. The reaction of regulatory bodies and public responses to the rescue illustrate features of the political and social contexts in which shipping and trading activity was conducted in the late nineteenth century.