[ 213] 
XXXII. Comparative Trials of the respective Merits of” 
“ MassEy’s Patent Sounding Machine,” and one known by 
the Name of Goutp and Burt’s Buoy and Knipper. Com- 
municated in a Letter from Mr. Enwarp Massey. ; 
To Mr. Tilloch. 
Sir, — To lessen the chances of misfortune in any place, is an 
object of consideration with the humane; but to add to the se- 
curity of vessels in their passage through the ocean, is worthy of, 
the attention, not only of the merchant, but of the statesman. 
and the philosopher. It is needless to suggest when ships are 
in a rough and tempestuous sea, and in-a dark night, making. 
perhaps ten knots an hour, and sailing in the company of a fleet, 
how desirable it is to all commanders to obtain soundings which 
may be depended upon as accurate, and which may be resorted. 
to constantly without bringing the ship to, or retarding her way. , 
My sounding machine has been adopted by the navy for ten 
years, and daring that period upwards of seventeen hundred of 
them have been in actual use; and reports of their accuracy, 
from skilful and experienced naval officers » may be referred to as. 
undoubted testimonials of their merit. 
When I find, however, that within the last four years a ma-. 
«chine has been ‘proposed for the adoption of the navy, which is, 
fallacious in its principle, and in its consequences must be de- 
structive to many ships and many crews; where forced recom-, 
mendation may be substituted for the test of experience, and 
where the opinion of interest may delude the accuracy of inven- 
tion; J feel myself summoned by the voice of truth, injustice to 
my own interests, and those of mankind, to stase the result of a 
public trial, respecting the comparative merits of these two ma- 
chines. ( 
The following Notice was sent to the Lords of the *Admicalty, 
the Commissioners of the Navy, the Board of Longitude, the 
Trinity House, and to the Companies i in the metropolis connected 
with shipping and navigation; and it was inserted at the same 
time in the daily newspapers called The Public Ledger; The 
New Times, and The Morning Post. 
“To Navicarors. — Edward Massey, the inventor of the 
Patent Sounding Maehine, which has been adopted many years 
in the Royal Navy, invites naval officers, ship owners, sea-faring 
men, and every person conneeted with navigation, to witness a 
public trial of the comparative merits of his sounding machine 
and one known by the name of ‘Gould and Burt’s Buoy and 
Knipper,’ to be -made in the river Thames at London Bridge, on 
Thursday the sixteenth instant, at half past two. o’clock in the 
03 afternoon, 
7 
