14

The two lights in a line bearing N. E. will lead throughhe best water between the five-fathom bank and the foul ground to the northwestward.

NOTICE TO MASTERS AND OWNERS.-PROCEEDINGS TO BE ADOPTED ON BOARD VESSELS ENTERING THE PORT OF BORDEAUX. The subjoined copy of a despatch from her Majesty's Consul at Bordeaux, containing regulations recently published for the proceedings to be adopted by vessels entering that port, is printed for the information and guidance of masters and owners of vessels concerned.

THOMAS GRAY.

Bordeaux, January 27th, 1871. "SIR,-I have been requested by the Commissary of Marine of this port to make known to masters of British vessels the following regulation, recently published for the proceedings to be adopted on board of vessels entering the port; neglect of which may expose them to be treated as enemies' ships by the river forts. After clearance at Trompeloup, the quarantine flag is to be replaced by the ensign. At night, a light is to be carried at the peak besides the ordinary lights as far up as Trompeloup, and beyond it at the mainmast head. In approaching tho forts, steamers must blow their whistles and stop and blow off steam before passing. In reply to the Commissary's letter, I have informed him that I have communicated these regulations to her Majesty's Government, but I have begged him to make the pilots put on board ships entering the river responsible for their execution, as far as it is dependent on them. "I am, etc.,

"The Assistant Secretary,

"Marine Department,

"THOMAS CAREW HUNT.

"Board of Trade."

CHARTS, ETC., PUBLISHED BY THE HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE, ADMIRALTY, IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1871.

No.

SCALE.

S. d.

966

m= various China Sea: Anchorages in Balambangan and

Balubac Islands

2 0

GENERAL.

SIR WILLIAM HARRISON WALKER.-Captain Walker, H.C.S., the Senior professional officer of the Board of Trade, has received at the hands of her most gracious Majesty the honour of Knighthood. Sir William Harrison Walker is one of the original members of the Marine Department of the Board of Trade, and there is no doubt that his great experience as a seaman, his sound judgment, and his business habits have been of the utmost assistance to that young and thriving department.

When the Mercantile Marine Act of 1850 became law, the then President of the Board of Trade appointed Mr. T. H. Farrer as Secretary, and Captain Walker and the late Admiral, then Captain, Beechey, R.N., as professional members. Mr. Williams was accountant, and Mr. Thomas Gray was subsequently appointed as a clerk. Captain Walker had been an officer in the East India Company's Service, and remained with them until the expiration of their Charter in 1833, when he became part owner of the Madagascar, Agincourt, and Monarch, some of the finest and largest ships trading to India. He did not lead an idle life, but commanded each of these ships in succession. Sir Frederick Arrow, the present Deputy Master of the Trinity House, succeeded Sir W. H. Walker in command of the Monarch. By the year 1847, Captain Walker had retired from the sea. On his entering into official life he at once took up the position he has maintained to this day, and on several occasions have his services been specially of value. He especially received the thanks of Lord Taunton when his Lordship retired on a change of ministry, and the professional skill and wide experience which he possesses, greatly contributed to the success of the scheme for the examination of masters and mates, and in the popularity as well as the success of the scheme for the Royal Naval Reserve.

Sir W. H. Walker was offered an appointment by Sir James Graham at the Admiralty on the formation of the Transport Department, but he declined, preferring to remain in the Board of Trade, where he was known and where his services, unostentatious and unobtrusive, were fully appreciated. As a public officer his experience has already been at the service of several administrations, and we are confident that we are echoing the sentiments of those officers who have had to do with him in his official capacity, when we express our hope that Sir William may long be spared to enjoy his honours, and to give to successive governments the benefit of his ripe experience.

ROYAL NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITUTION.-On Thursday, the 2nd February, a meeting of this institution was held at its house, John Street, Adelphi-Mr. Thomas Chapman, F.R.S., V.P., in the chair. The silver medal of the institution and a copy of its vote inscribed on vellum were ordered to be presented to Mr. William Grant, coxswain of the Margate lifeboat Quiver, together with £8 18s. to himself and the crew of the boat, in testimony of their recent gallant services in saving from the rigging of the sunken brig Sarah, of Sunderland, the crew of six men. Rewards to the amount of £356 were also granted to the crews of other lifeboats for recent services. The Robin Hood of Nottingham lifeboat, at Boulmer, on the coast of Northumberland, rescued the crew of the wrecked schooner Oxalis, of Macduff; the Civil Service lifeboat at Wexford, Ireland, saved the crew of the barque Paquita, of Santander, and also saved two men from the smack Lark, of Wexford. The Ramsgate, Kingsdown, and North Deal Lifeboats have done good service to vessels in distress on the Goodwin Sands-the barque Sea, of Montrose, the American ship Joseph Fish, and the Italian brig Sori, being rescued from destruction and taken safely into harbour. The Cahore lifeboat saved five men from the schooner Handy, of Wexford; and the Wicklow lifeboat rendered valuable service to the barque Mexican, of St. John's, N.B., which was in distress off that coast. The Montrose lifeboat Mincing Lane took off three men from the galliot Friendship, of Goole, and five men from the distressed Danish schooner Dania. This valuable lifeboat not long since was also the means of saving twenty-four fishermen, whose boats had been overtaken by an unusually heavy sea. The Dungarvan lifeboat brought ashore the crew of the brigantine Cornhill, of Dungarvan. The Ramsey, Yarmouth, Winchelsea, and Bacton lifeboats were respectively the means of saving the crews from the wrecked brigantine Lady Huntly, of Maryport, the brig Flora, of Hull, the brig Elizabeth and Cicely, of Guernsey, and the stranded ship Maria, of Dunedin. These lifeboat services represent the saving of upwards of 100 persons from various shipwrecks during the storms of the past few weeks. £5 were also granted to the crew, numbering six men, of the Filey fishing yawl Refuge, for saving six men from the brig Kirtons, of Sunderland, wrecked on Filey Brigg. Various liberal contributions to the institution were announced as having been received.

THE Board of Trade have issued instructions to superintendents of Mercantile Marine Offices to take every opportunity of making masters, owners, and seamen acquainted with the fact, that small

pox patients are not admitted into the Dreadnought Hospital Ship. In connection with this subject we extract the following from the Pall Mall Gazette, which certainly points to an unsatisfactory state of things. "On the 8th of last month a vessel called the Star, bound for London from West Hartlepool, put into Grimsby, and the captain landed a seaman suffering from small-pox. He was, however, ordered by the authorities (whoever they may be) to take the man on board again immediately, and was informed that this line of conduct subjected him to a severe penalty. Be that as it may, the wretched man was put on board again, and was of course compelled to inflict his disagreeable presence upon the rest of the crew in that most wretched of all ill-ventilated sleeping-places, a coasting ship's forecastle. The Star has probably by this time sown the seeds of the disease far and wide."

THE SUEZ CANAL.-We hear through various sources that a new company is about to be formed, for the purpose of taking over and working the Suez Canal. A statement has recently been published in the Journal de Port Said to the effect, that the receipts of the present company for the past year had amounted to £202,812, and that the working expenses of dredging and keeping the canal free, were about £12,000 a month, leaving a balance for the year of about £58,000, or but little more than one-half per cent. on the Capital and Debenture Stock, and that not including the £3,500,000 representing the sum invested by the Pacha of Egypt on which interest is not payable for nearly thirty years. This is not a cheering state of affairs, and on what terms a new company would take such a property, remains to be seen. No doubt the traffic returns will increase, but to any one acquainted with the canal as it is at present, it is evident that considerable improvement and enlargement will be necessary for any great increase, even if a large outlay may not in time be found requisite to keep the approaches at Port Said sufficiently deep for large ships. With such a deferred prospect, a new company would have to be prepared for a great extension of the capital account, and that in the face of a Debenture loan of four millions and other obligations of one and a quarter millions. As a mercantile transaction, the prospect is gloomy indeed, but we do not deem it hopeless when we consider its importance both commercially and politically to England. It would seem that of all nations Great Britain is clearly the most deeply interested in keeping the canal open, for when once our trade with the east by that route becomes established, and ships are designed and built for the purpose, a sudden closing of the

canal would cause a very considerable amount of inconvenience to us. The condition of the canal and its company at the present time is not satisfactory, and it is to be hoped it will be established on a better and sounder footing.

IN 1863 a "floating anchor" consisting of the spare spars with the trawl beam and net of the trawler, or the square sail, was proposed by Rear-Admiral Bullock as a safe floating anchor by which a small vessel could ride out a gale of wind in safety, and we now hear that the Marine drag has been invented in the United States for the same purpose, and is said to answer extremely well. The success is so great that orders have been given for the construction of several, and the Revenue vessels of that country are to be supplied with them. We shall be glad to hear more of an invention which, if it at all answers to the description given, will prove a blessing to the thousands of fishing boats who take the open sea from our shores, the annual loss of which, with lives, is great.

SHOULD England unfortunately ever be involved in another China war, she must be prepared for a very different style of thing to the wars she has hitherto had. John Chinaman has taken a lesson from the experience of his wars with Europeans, and although he may deem the latter barbarians and devils, he by no means disdains to take a leaf out of the devils' books, and has quite come to the conclusion that paper forts, hideous faces on shields, beating tom toms, and such rubbish are not the proper materials to withstand sixty-eight pounders, or a charge of the bayonet, and that if they be devils' implements, he must fight with devils' implements also, and likewise have some of the Satanic brethren to help to make them. In regard to Naval matters, we hear from our Consul at Foochow-foo that the Chinese Government arsenal for ship-building and the school of navigation and navy drill continue to thrive under the able directors and professors who have been engaged. In the year 1869 they turned out two steam gunboats. New works and engine-rooms on a vast scale were being built in a most substantial manner when the consul reported in 1870. It was intended to purchase a training ship for the pupils. The English and French languages are taught, besides geometry, naval drawing, and architecture. The whole establishment, however, was planned on too expensive a footing. Like true Chinese, who buy watches by the pair for fear one should not keep time, the authorities have provided themselves at this arsenal with a pair of directors, each at a salary of about £5,000 a year. It may be looked upon altogether