INTRODUCTION. Yll 



to sea, they tried it, and to their surprise and delight they found 

 that, mth the knowledge it afforded, the remote corners of the 

 earth were brought closer together, in. some instances, by many 

 days' sail. The passage hence to the c\raator alone was shortened 

 ten days. Before the commencement of this midertaking, the 

 average passage to California w^as 183 days ; but with these charts 

 for theh guide, navigators have reduced that average, and brought 

 it down to 135 days. 



Between England and Australia, the average time going, with- 

 out these charts, is ascertained to be 124 days, and coming, about 

 the same ; making the round voyage one of about 250 days on the 

 average. 



These charts, and the system of research to w^hich they have 

 given rise, bid fah^ to bring that colony and the mother country 

 nearer by many days, reducing in no small measure the average 

 dm-ation of the round voyage.* 



At the meeting of the British Association of 1853, it was stated 

 by a distinguished member — and the statement was again repeated 

 at its meetmg in 1854 — that in Bombay, whence he came, it was 

 estimated that this system of research, if extended to the Indian 

 Ocean, and embodied in a set of charts for that sea, such as I have 

 been describing, would produce an annual saving to British com- 

 merce, in those waters alone, of one or tw^o millions of dollars ;t and 

 in all seas, of ten milhons.J 



* The outward passage, it has since been ascertained, has "been reduced to 

 97 days on the average, and the homeward passage has been made in G3 imder 

 canvas alone. 



t See Inaugural Address of the Earl of Harrowby, President of the British 

 Association at its 24th meeting, Liverpool, 1854. 



X . . . " Now let us make a calculation of the annual saving to the commerce 

 of the United States effected by those charts and sailing du-ections. According 

 to Mr. Maury, the average freight from the United States to Eio Janeiro is 17*7 

 cts. per ton per day ; to Australia, 20 cts. ; to California, also, about 20 cts. The 

 mean of this is a little over 19 cts. per ton per day ; but to be witiiin the mark, 

 we will take it at 15, and include all the ports of South America, China, and tl:o 

 East Indies. 



" The sailing directions have shortened the passages to California 30 days, to 

 Australia 20, to Eio Janeiro 10. The mean of this is 20, but we will take it at 15, 

 and also include the above-named ports of South America, China, and the East 

 Indies. 



" We estimate the tonnage of the United States engaged in trade with these 

 places at 1,000,000 tons per annum. 



" With these data we see that there has been effected a saving for each one of 

 these tons of 15 cents per day for a period of 15 days, which will give an aggre- 

 gate of ^2,250,000 saved per annum. This is on the outward voyage alone, and 

 the tonnage trading with all other parts of the world is also left cut of the calcu- 



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