1865.] and on the Meteorological Department. 525 



stated, that the system adopted to ensure security of navigation in the Royal 

 Navy has no counterpart in the Mercantile Marine. The assimilation in 

 practice of the two services, so far as relates to the more essential points, 

 would certainly be a desirable end to attain. 



" I have already briefly detailed the two leading features of the Admi- 

 ralty system : The first of these (the navigating the ship by a standard 

 compass) is in itself so simple, and has proved in practice so secure, and 

 the neglect of it in many cases in merchant ships has been followed by 

 such disastrous consequences, that I conceive there is no question that it 

 should be enforced wherever there are the means of enforcement. Indeed, 

 were it rendered imperative by law, that every vessel making a long sea 

 voyage, and every iron vessel, whether employed coasting or foreign, should 

 be fitted with a standard compass, I am of opinion this measure would not 

 only directly tend to their secure navigation, but would indirectly tend to 

 foster that knowledge of compass-laws and action now found to have be- 

 come a necessity, when iron ships are the rule, and not the exception, as 

 was the case some twenty years past. On the assumption that a measure 

 of this nature must eventually obtain, I have appended a few short and 

 simple rules (Appendix II.), which perhaps might be advantageously 

 recommended by the authority of the Board of Trade, or Lloyd's Register 

 Committee. 



. " With reference to the second leading feature of the Admiralty system : 

 . " For many years in the Royal Navy the adjustment practised consisted 

 in the careful selection of a place for the standard compass, and the 

 formation of a Table of Errors by the process of swinging the ship ; and 

 this proved sufficient so long as the deviations were moderate in amount. 



" In many recent iron-built and iron-plated ships the amount of devia- 

 tion is, however, so large that the employment of magnets to reduce the 

 amount of deviation has become unavoidable ; but the correction by mag- 

 nets, however perfect it may be, is not considered in the Royal Navy aa 

 superseding the obtaining a Table of Errors and navigating the ship by 

 that Table. 



" The benefits which have been derived in the Royal Navy, both as. 

 regards the safety of ships, and the theoretical and practical knowledge of 

 the subject we have thereby obtained, cannot, I think, be over-estimated ; 

 and I may add that I consider that no compass can be said to be ' pro- 

 perly adjusted' of which, whether compensated by magnets or not, a 

 Table of Errors has not been obtained by the process of swinging the ship, 

 and that Table examined by a competent person. ~ 



" Closely connected with the subject is that of the construction of the 

 compass itself, as regards form and workmanship, magnetic power, and 

 adjustment. This subject received much of the attention of the Committee 

 I have referred to ; and the result of their labours was the production of 

 the 'Admiralty Standard Compass,' an instrument which has stood the 

 test of twenty-five years' use, with little modification introduced, and 



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