the four stout iron rods which support the mast. On the apex of each pontoon, in connection with the upper wooden platform, are manholes, fitted with water-tight covers, giving access to their interior, and enabling one of them to be used as a kitchen and storeroom for the tide-marker; whilst in the other he may sling his hammock.

Now it is a well-known fact that the buoys at present marking our outlying dangerous rocks and sandbanks, although of immense size, are useless for any other purpose; they require a vessel to carry them and all their mooring gear into their stations; they strain their moorings in a heavy sea, causing much wear and tear of chain; they spin round in a tide-way, and are dangerous to approach; they cannot carry a large beacon; and it is therefore worthy of consideration whether some such thing as the safety beacon should not supersede the ordinary clumsy buoy at the most dangerous places on our coasts.

The beacon seems to be specially adapted for carrying a bell ; for if placed well above the sea, at the summit of a tall mast, it would ring easily with the slightest motion and be better heard.*

The Lightning's tide-guage is shewn in Fig 4. It is made out of a ship's steam boiler tube, having a screw point fitted to one end and a tapered ashen pole at the other. The guage being in two parts is very portable; it can be screwed into the ground in a few minutes, and will stand firm and erect in a strong tide without guys or supports of any kind. When the range of tide exceeds twenty feet, two of these guages are used as near to each other as convenient; the zero of the upper pole being screwed into the ground so as to be level with the top of the lower one.

NOTICES TO MARINERS.

THE heading, "Notice to Mariners" is familiar to every sailor. He sees it wherever he goes; on leaving the British shores it appeals to him with a sort of "Pray take care of such and such a danger," or "Don't forget that this or that light will guide you into safety." Again, on touching at any foreign port he encounters the familiar

* When not in use the beacon is disconnected and hoisted on board the Lightning with the boat's davits, as easily as a couple of dingeys; and they are stowed, one on either side, abreast the sponsons.

announcement still appealing to him or addressing to him practical words of warning. But it is not only the British sailor who is thus cautioned; in every language of the civilized world these notices may be found urging with mute earnestness their important warnings upon all those who " go down to the sea in ships, and have their business in the great waters." There is not one of our readers we venture to say, who is not fully aware of the value of these announcements; all sailors look eagerly for them, and thankfully accept their valuable aid towards the safe navigation of their ships.

It might perhaps be supposed that in these scientific days, when improved charts and elaborate sailing directions are within easy reach of most navigators, that the simple "Notice to Mariners" had lost something of its old prestige, but although both for our Royal Navy and our merchant service there are careful eyes ever on the watch to note the most trifling hydrographic alterations, which are forthwith set down in the proper charts, and in the sailing directions, the simple notice still retains its value, for by its aid the master of a ship is enabled to correct his own chart, and thus to become almost practically acquainted with the particular object to which the announcement gives publicity. Masters of vessels cannot always be changing their charts, and in the intervals between the buying of new ones, the notices to mariners are to them simply invaluable. Of course what we have now stated is well known to all sailors, but as the Nautical Magazine frequently falls into the hands of those whom without disrespect may be called land-lubbers," we do not think our remarks on this subject will be altogether thrown away. Landsmen we know have very vague notions concerning these notices to mariners; they seldom trouble themselves about them, feeling that the announcements are such as cannot interest or affect them in the slightest degree. In every sense of the word, they are simply and purely notices to mariners. The technicalities would be sufficient to confuse any person who was not learned in nautical matters. Landsmen, whose knowledge of guiding marks extends to little more than lamps and sign-posts, could hardly be expected to know much about the bearings and uses of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and other "marks and signs of the sea."

A century or more ago, when navigation had not reached its present gigantic proportions, these nautical announcements were few and far between; their publication was eagerly looked for by mariners, and they were undoubtedly of great service. They generally told of some very serious danger, or of the establishment of a most important guiding mark, the latter an event of

no little importance at that time. Now-a-days notices are as thick as leaves in Vallambrosa," and they publish for the benefit of mariners a vast quantity of most valuable information. The numerous recent additions to the lights of the world of themselves necessitate a large increase in the number of notices, for besides their own establishment they constantly involve changes in neighbouring lights, so that the individuality of each separate light may be preserved, and not rendered liable to be mistaken for another, all of which changes must be duly advertised. They also indicate the positions of all known dangers, and often point out the localities where unknown dangers are supposed to exist. Such warnings make men very careful in navigating the doubtful places, and the truth as to the existence of the reported dangers is very soon arrived at from the concurrent or diverging testimony of navigators in the vicinities alluded to.

The pointing out of the positions of rocks and shoals, the advertisement of the means by which they may be avoided; the information as to lights, beacons, buoys, fog-signals, and as to the peculiarities of coast line, tides, currents, and prevailing winds; the directions for entering channels and harbours by day or night; -all these particulars make the notices to mariners of truly cosmopolitan utility. They find their way into every quarter of the globe, and diffuse among the seamen of all countries that information which helps them to navigate dangerous localities with greater safety. It is almost impossible to over-estimate the benefits conferred upon humanity at large by the publication of these particulars. They promote international communication, and aid in no mean degree in the progress of civilization all over the world.

As regards the coasts of Great Britain there are three Boards or General Lighthouse authorities, who publish notices to mariners concerning the navigation adjacent to our shores. The foremost is the Trinity Board, who have issued notices, we were going to say from time immemorial, but at any rate when our great-great-grandparents were alive, the Trinity Corporation were sending out their notifications of the establishment of new lighthouses or lightvessels, of the placing of buoys or beacons, or cautioning mariners as to the perils of certain localities. The Commissioners for Northern Lighthouses, by no means so ancient a body as the venerable Trinity Board, have now for a number of years sent out from Edinburgh announcements concerning the navigation of the Scotch coasts; and from Dublin, the Irish Ballast Board, or as more recently styled, the Commissioners of Irish Lights, have sent and continue to send out their notices as to the dangers

of the "melancholy ocean" contiguous to the shores of Ireland. The notices printed in the form of handbills are sent by these authorities to all the custom houses round the coast, where they are fixed up so as to catch the observation of nautical men; they are also sent to the pilots who ply in the vicinities affected by the respective notices; all the foreign consuls in London have a supply sent to them, which they forward to their respective governments for publication; they are also republished by the Admiralty for the information of the Royal Navy, and by them again distributed to all the foreign governments and consuls; and they are advertised in such of the daily and weekly press as are considered desirable mediums for appealing to the maritime community. Besides these means of distribution, the authorities afford every facility to individual mariners who may desire to obtain certain notices. A stock of handbills is always kept by the authorities, and any seaman on "application" will be furnished with a copy of whatever announcement he may require.

Information concerning foreign coasts is collected by the Admiralty and published by the Hydrographic Office of that Department. The particulars reach the Admiralty through various channels; direct from foreign governments, or through the Foreign Office, Board of Trade, or consuls, also from their own officers and those of the merchant service. The foreign notices have to be very carefully translated, as the technical expressions of one country do not always apply literally to those of another, and the greatest care and vigilance are necessary so as to prevent a wrong impression being conveyed in the translation; the greatest simplicity of language is also studied in order that the unlearned may clearly understand it. These translated notices are sent to every country which has a ship on the seas, and even to the one from whence they emanated: and they are often retranslated by foreign governments and reach the Admiralty again in a new form and language. They are also forwarded to the Trinity House, who republish for the general information of English seamen, such of the information as they consider desirable.

Such is a brief sketch of the mode by which mariners are informed of the changes which are constantly taking place in all parts of the world, and of the means adopted in the various countries for facilitating the navigation of their coasts. It is all done by a humane system of international reciprocity; we give and take freely, and mankind all over the earth is benefited.

Without undue boasting we think we may, as a nation, take to ourselves some credit for this eminently satisfactory state of things.

We have done a good share of the work by which civilization has been urged onward and humanity protected. Our ships have found their way into many places, where amid the evils of slavery, piracy, and ignorance, wretched people have lived and died like so many brutes. But the sparks of intelligence and goodwill carried by our ships into those dismal regions have set fire to those abuses, the stagnant intellect has been developed, and unnumbered blessings have followed. Those officers who at this day are surveying far off localities and indicating their special dangers, or who are repressing with strong arms the slave trade or piracy in far distant seas, may well congratulate themselves on performing a high, cosmopolitan duty, a duty which is an honour to the men engaged in it, and a glory to the nation which organizes and encourages it. No other country but our own is at present willing to undertake these duties; but there are not wanting happy signs of all nations combining sooner or later in such humane works for the common good of mankind, even as they now combine to establish a universal system of giving notice to mariners of the perils of navigation.

FORBES'S PATENT SCHOONER RIG.

MR. FORBES, an old and valued correspondent to this journal, has recently addressed the following letter to the Nautical Gazette of New York, on the subject of his patent schooner rig. We reprint the letter for the information of our readers, and we can only remark that for economising labour and expenditure, Mr. Forbes's new rig seems to possess special merits. We are not so sure of its superiority as regards efficiency, over the old rig: it is difficult to judge of such matters without some sort of practical experience of its working. Mr. Forbes states the case very fairly, and places the merits and demerits of both systems in candid juxtaposition, and the result certainly appears favourable to his plan. We hope before long to receive fuller information upon this subject.-[ED. N.M.]

To the Editors of the Nautical Gazette,

Having some claims on the sympathy and confidence of seamen, by reason of the introduction of the double topsail, now so universally adopted, I desire to call the attention of your readers to my new rig for schooners.