THE VESSEL 23 



he knows what correction to make on his disturbed compass. 

 Many a shipwreck can undoubtedly be laid to an improperly ad- 

 justed compass, or to the use of faulty magnetic charts. The 

 Carnegie was made non-magnetic so that observations as free as 

 possible from local disturbances due to iron or steel in the vicinity 

 of the instruments could be supplied from which correct charts 

 would be drawn, and at the same time furnish the facts demanded 

 by science. 



The non-magnetic features of the Carnegie entailed large ex- 

 penses in building and in repair work, and introduced some seri- 

 ous difficulties in navigation. Our unhappy experience at Easter 

 Island may be cited as an example where the manila anchor- 

 hawsers were chafed through by coral heads, almost putting us 

 on the rocks. The clumsy windlass, made necessary by the non- 

 magnetic requirements of the ship, was unsuited to such passages 

 as the Straits of Magellan. In negotiating these narrow waters, 

 one must heave up the anchor at a moment's notice to take 

 advantage of a sudden change of wind or tide. It might take 

 as much as one or two hours to get away with the fisherman's 

 windlass, so it can be realized how much we were handicapped. 

 In fact, the farther we were from land the safer we felt. 



