success has attended the agricultural operations of the colonists; their wheat crops have generally been very poor. At one period this long series of mishaps had thoroughly discouraged them-so much so that they killed some of their cattle, destroyed their houses, and set out in quest of a more promising home. After some time, however, they again returned to their original settlement in the Chupat river. There they now are; and, notwithstanding all they have had to go through, they are, the dispatch informs us, "in excellent health and spirits," and "not one individual expressed a wish to leave the colony." If the difficulty of communication were once overcome, the prospects of the colony would be, on the whole, favourable. It ACCORDING to the Levant Herald, an offer has just been made to the Porte of an American ironclad, which, if accepted, will place Turkey in possession of by far the most powerful war ship in the world. She has been for more than four years in course of construction at New York, and the latest improvements have, it is said, been applied by her builders. She combines, therefore, all the best features developed in naval architecture. She is built on the monitor system, with low freeboard and one turret pierced for a couple of the heaviest modern guns. Her proportions are-length, 401 feet; extreme outside breadth, 54 feet; ditto inside, 45 feet; displacement, 13,523,865 lb. With the exception of the upper deck beams and the armour backing, the entire hull is of iron. is double throughout, and, except at the extreme ends where such great strength is not necessary, the inner skin is treble riveted. The iron used is the famous Pennsylvania charcoal iron, and the whole of the huge plates have been separately tested. Those of the skin are one inch thick, with a tensile strength of 62,720 lb. to the square inch. There are seven main shot-proof bulkheads, with several smaller ones at the bow and stern. The whole of these, as also the coal-bunkers, are watertight, and as the coal is consumed water can thus be pumped in to keep the vessel in fighting trim. The side armour consists of two rolled plates each 5 in. thick, making 10 in. of iron, backed by 44 in. of white oak, the butts being scarped and great additional strength being thus given to the hull. The whole of the armour backing has been thoroughly soaked in creosote and coated with tar to preserve it from rot and The main deck is planked with 8 in. timber and covered over with inch-thick rolled iron plates, being thus made entirely shot-proof. The turret is composed-first, of four rolled plates inch-thick, then of a layer of wood, and outside this the armour worms. proper, consisting of rolled plates 15 in. thick, making in all 19 in. of iron, besides the heavy wooden backing. Its armament at present consists of two 20 in. bore Rodman naval guns, with an all-round fire, throwing a shot of 1,080 lb., with a powder charge of 200 lb. The engines, which are said to be the most perfect yet constructed in the United States, are composed of four cylinders, driving a pair of twin four-bladed screws of 18 ft. diameter and 27 ft. pitch. They are fed by ten horizontal boilers, with three furnaces each, with a total heating surface of 28,000 square feet. The coal bunkers can carry fuel, for a voyage of 3,500 miles, with full armament and stores for a six months' cruise. It is calculated that a speed of at least 16 knots an hour will be obtained, as the greatest immersed transverse section is only 890 square feet, and the water lines are exceeding fine. The bow is of enormous strength, with a view to being used as a ram. Altogether the full details of her construction and equipment represent this huge vessel as being one of the most powerful ships of war in the world. Her builders have sent out a special agent, M. de St. Laurent, to offer her first to the Porte, and if not bought then to the Russian Government. THE withdrawal of the Merchant Shipping Code has for some time been looked for as a matter of course by all who are interested in maritime matters. The House of Commons seems to have fought shy of the 696 clauses :-counts out and windy debates seem to have been the order of the day on the part of our senators, and Merchant Shipping Legislation is deferred sine die, or at any rate for another session. THE Aurora islands have not disappeared, as has been asserted, -for the simple reason that they never had any existence. It is suggested in Nature that the insertion of the name in the French chart of the South Atlantic was due to the imagination of the first reporter, who invested an iceberg with substantial attributes. There is an island called Aurora forming one of the Low Archipelago group, and lying some 2,500 miles eastward of the New Hebrides. It is fertile and inhabited, but its elevation is such as to render it extremely improbable that it should have suddenly disappeared. When the news of the loss of the Iles de l'Aurore reached England, it was hastily concluded that the single island had been submerged. ERRATA. We have to apologise for an unintentional error in our last number; in the memoir of the President of the Royal Society we styled him Major-General Sir Edward Sabine, etc., it should have been General Sir Edward Sabine. We have also to call attention to a misprint in Admiral Bethune's letter, page 415, line 29, for 60° and 20°, read 60' and 20'. TID. The s during yard on To in with a b As sc channel high we at the co The b of wate centimet The a water ur The s the sea. When the entr 2 he signal made by day to denote that the entrance to the harbour prope of is dangerous. prese all-rohe signal made by day (if any) to denote that the harbour can of 20be entered without danger. const Ditto by night. drivithether any, and if any what, private signals are habitually used 27 ft For vessels belonging to the different harbours within the The district. furna full ampanying this Circular is a diagram showing the tidal signals that ly used at all the harbours of the French coast, and the Board greatde would be glad to know whether, in the opinion of the the tendent, the French system could be adapted with facility ignal stations at the harbours within his district, and if not, stem or code he would suggest. with her c one o have to the TH time terest AL SIGNALS USED ON THE COAST OF FRANCE. have ignals denoting the depth of water at the entrance of the port seem the day are made by flags and balls hoisted on the mast and and the jetty, and are denoted in the plan annexed. rate i TH -for dicate the ebbing and flowing of the tide, a white flag lack diagonal cross and a black pennant are used. suggion as there are 6 feet 6 inches (2 metres) of water in the chart the flag with the pennant over is hoisted, and so remains until reponter, during which period the pennant is hauled down, and Thermmencement of the ebb is hoisted under the flag. pelag alls which are hoisted on the mast and yard indicate the depth Hebi on its increasing or decreasing every 20 inches (50 apperes). rend reaclnnexed diagram gives each signal and indicates the depth of had der it. Eignals are drawn as they appear on approaching the jetty from state of the weather, or any other cause, renders 16 90 tudengenus red flag replaces the signals. 415, line 29, for 60° and 20°, read 60' and 20. |