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Number of points be-
tween the direction of the
wind, and the direction of
the other ship.

it be put in force, should a reasonable scheme to obviate it be adopted; and that fact should be stated in any accompanying proclamation.

It appears so obvious that-whatever plan be put in force as a substitute for impressment, it should be widely promulgated long before the time arrives for its fulfilment, for the purpose of quieting the minds of the seamen, and preventing their quitting the sea-service, or stealing away in foreign vessels from the country, under the impression that the old system will be adopted: I shall not dwell on that point here.

The rough scheme here submitted appears to me so reasonable, and free from serious objections that, I cheerfully offer it as a pendant to the preliminary paper, and have only farther to remark that

To be in all prepared to meet your foe,

Is half the battle won without a blow.

TRIAL CRUIZES OF TRINCOMALEE AND AMPHITRITE.

34, Montague Place, Dec. 4th.

Sir. The unsatisfactory way in which newspaper reports of trial cruizes are usually written, induces me to send you the accompanying table, in the hope that those who write those documents will make use of it, and thus give the public a clear notion of the merits of the respective ships when working to windward.

To the Editor N.M.

Your obedient servant,

L. G. HEATH, Commander, R.N.

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RULE.

Multiply the observed distance by the decimal in the middle column, the result will be the required distance.

If the number of points between the direction of the wind, and that of the other ship be less than 8 she is to windward of you, but if it be greater, then she is to leeward, (and would pass astern of you, if on opposite tacks.)

EXAMPLE.

Oct. 10th, at 8h. 30m. A.M., observations were taken on board the Amphitrite

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Therefore, at 8h. 30m. A.M., Trincomalee was 622 yards to windward of

Amphitrite.

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Therefore, at noon Trincomalee was 360 yards to leeward of the Amphitrite, and thus we see that in the course of the trial the Amphitrite gained 982 yards to windward.

REMARKS ON A COURT MARTIAL.

We have received a curious and interesting paper detailing the proceedings of a Court Matrial on "Mr. First Mate Pilot, W. H. Harrison," for the loss of the " ship Stalkart" on Saugor Island, but which we regret is too long for insertion in our pages.

It is not, perhaps, generally known, except to those commanders who have frequented the port of Calcutta, that the whole pilotage of the river and sandheads which requires a large and expensive establishment, is

a government service, and the officers of it (warranted servants of the East India Company) appointed at home, and entitled to pensions, &c., after their term of service, like the Civil and Military Officers, of our great Indian Empire. A few years ago some very serious complaints were made before the Shipping Committee of the House of Commons of abuses said to exist in the pilotage of the Hooghly. The Court of Directors, as we learn, most creditably sent out strict orders, not only, that the special matters complained of should be enquired into; but, that means should be taken to establish a court, which, while it would give full protection to the great trade of the port, would also afford the Pilots due and fair protection against the complaints of those who, without any deliberate ill intentions might unfairly attribute to the fault of the pilot what was in fact, unavoidable, in such a river; which is in truth the most dangerous one in the world, when its great length, tremendous tides, and bores, shifting sand, and singular sudden formations of new lumps in the oldest and clearest channels, which rise up like the swelling of a moving bog or a quicksand are considered.

[It is to be hoped that Courts of Enquiry for every loss, or even serious accident on complaint may be established in all foreign ports, since we conceive that much public advantage may be derived from them. The trial ended in the acquital of the Pilot, and the remarks of the court in explanation of the finding, go to show that the ship appears to have been mest wretchedly found, that her crew were in a most inefficient state; and as far as relates to the carrying into effect the orders of the Pilot, unaccountable delay, and slackness appears to have prevailed throughout. These we much fear are but too often the cause of such frequent losses and their melancholy results, we cannot fancy that in that highly useful branch of the Company's service, their pilot establishment, any but men of undoubted experience, established after a severe examination, should be placed in charge of the lives and property of individuals, and we heartily concur in the result of the present enquiry. Our correspondent at Calcutta has our best thanks for his attention.-ED. N.M.]

TIDAL HARBOUR COMMISSION.

[A correspondent in the Nautical Standard in pointing out some of the principle causes of so frequent shipwrecks among Merchant Ships, mentions the following important one, that of overloading them, a practice as disgraceful as it is dangerous, we think his observations worthy of record, and heartily lend our aid in exposing the evil.]

My letter in your number of the 11th instant, bore upon the nonexamination of captains of merchantmen, and their consequent incapacity. I pointed out in it, the remedial measures to be taken to remove one of the principal causes of the daily shipwrecks which occur on our coasts, by the practical and theoretical education of our seamen. Until this is done, very little good indeed can be expected; but there are also many other things to be looked into as causes of disaster;-one, which seems to have escaped the attention of everybody, and is never mentioned

in any report that I have seen, is, the overloading of ships; yet this is one of the greatest and most important features in any act that would tend to the improvement and safety of navigation: it is indeed an indispensable condition—a “ sine quâ non,"—so much so, that if we do not attend to it, all our efforts will be vain and fruitless.

I will relate some two or three instances, among many that came to my knowledge on that head.

Some years ago, a brig belonging to Sunderland, came to Cardiff to take a cargo of iron. She was only eighteen months old-her measurement, per register, was 237 tons; she took 463 tons of iron, within 11 tons of double her registered tonnage. She met with bad weather in the Bristol Channel, beat about for a few days, and put into Swansea in a sinking state. She was so much strained, that all her trenails had started. She had to unload and repair, but she was never after that a sound vessel. Another case is that of a ship of 700 tons register, coming into the same harbour, at the same time, to get a cargo of coals for Aden. She took 1,300 tons, went to sea, and was never heard of afterwards.

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I could give you cases of that kind, almost ad infinitum. Let any one go out as far as Gravesend, - let him inquire on board of some hundred or more vessels moored there, the difference between the registered and the real carrying tonnage, and he will to a certainty find a difference of from 50 to 100 per cent.

A new way of measuring the tonnage of vessels should be adopted:the old and new measurements are exceedingly defective, and do not even give any approximate idea of the capacity of vessels; indeed, the new is, if possible, worse than the old system-they are only calculated to cheat pilot, tonnage, and light dues. What is the use of measuring a ship, if it is not to ascertain how much she can carry?—As it is done now, it is a farce. I could name many, very many vessels now at sea, with cargoes double their registered tonnage. Any man in his senses must know that they must be overloaded, or the measurement be defective. Now it happens, that he would be right in both cases; everybody out of Bedlam must see that a cart built to carry two tons of goods, though it may take four tons on a very smooth and good road, will break down when it comes to ups and downs and ruts; so it is with a ship; it may do very well in the London Docks, but at sea, there comes the rub, in foul weather, close reefed, or lee shore, she is in for it, and cannot get out of it, because she is overloaded.

on a

The old continental way of taking the measurement was the best after all, but, like every thing else, they have changed it for the worst; nothing was more simple, and it gave the exact power of the vessel. You had only to take the length on the deck from inside the stem to the stern post, the breadth inside amidship, the depth under deck to the floor. Multiply these three, one by the other, and divide the quotient by 94. I have tried that method in more than fifty instances, and found that it was within a ton, and often the fraction of a ton, what the

ship would carry in sorted goods, or casks; and if we put five per cent. more for heavy goods, we have the very weight she can take without being overladen. I remember the time when insurance offices would not pay for losses of vessels loaded over that ratio, and there were less wrecks then, than now.

We hear of vessels to be sold, stowing large cargoes and sailing without ballast: these very recommendations are their ruin. I maintain that a ship should have at least one-third of her tonnage in ballast— that she is not fit to go to sea and carry her canvass in safety, without; half would still be better, and there should be a regulation to this effect. Ballast-stations could easily be got in every harbour, either to take or unload the ballast. Captains should be made to conform to it, or be punished if they do not. There should be a ballast manifesto as well as a manifesto for goods, and the pernicious practice of throwing overboard ballast at the mouth of rivers and harbours, or on the roadsteads, should be visited with a heavy punishment. Much more remains to be said on the matter, but I must not encroach too much on your valuable columns.

B. J.

DESULTORY REMARKS ON THE TRADE WINDS.-By Argonaut. A Supplemental Chat.

THE Constancy of the Tropic Wind is so remarkable that it has engaged attention from the voyage of Columbus to this day. Philosophical writers have endeavoured to search out the cause, but none have afforded a more reasonable and clearer view than Dr. Halley, whose theory has generally been received as the true one.

There are, however, breaks occasionally in the regularity of these winds that are rather perplexing to account for. The Sun, or its influence, connected with the diurnal rotation, it cannot be doubted is the main cause of this grand movement of the air, of its constancy, and of its seasonal variation in direction. I would be understood not to subscribe to the theory of the earth's rotary velocity having any mechanical effect on the air; inasmuch as the diurnal motion of the earth on its axis, shifts the points of greatest rarefaction more and more westerly, it is operative and in that way alone.

Causes are secondary it is true, in any consideration of phenomena; but the mind does not rest satisfied alone with the classing of facts which are to form a registered system of the aërial currents of the ocean; the desire is active to complete what observation and experience point out, by linking cause with effect, albeit the reasoning power is often at fault.

The seasonal changes in the direction of the trade winds from being coincident with the sun's place, no doubt are attributable to that cause.

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