534 Correspondence on Magnetism of Ships, [Nov. 30, 



pass, or in -which the navigating-compass does not fulfil the conditions 

 prescribed. The information which the Council possess induces them to 

 think that, under the present system, a large number even of sea-going 

 passenger-steamers cannot be said to have their compasses ' properly 

 adjusted ' and that owing to the causes pointed out in the ' Memorandum.' 

 The President and Council do not apprehend that if the department recom- 

 mended were established, its action would be impeded for want of authority. 

 "The President and Council therefore consider that even for the due 

 discharge of the duties already imposed on the Board of Trade by the 

 Legislature, some systematic superintendence on the part of the Board 

 is necessary. 



" "With regard to the offer of the Board of Trade to communicate to 

 Lloyd's Register Committee any practical rules which the Royal Society 

 can furnish as to the supply, placing, and adjustment of compasses, and as to 

 the effect on them of different modes of construction of the hull of the ship, 

 the Board of Trade may be referred to the very valuable paper by Staff- 

 Commander Evans, the Superintendent of the Compass Department of the 

 Royal Navy, in answer to an application of the Board of Trade to the 

 Admiralty, as containing everything which the President and Council 

 could venture to suggest. The whole of this paper is well worthy of the 

 most careful consideration ; but there are some passages in it which bear 

 so directly on the present subject, that they may be more specifically 

 mentioned. In one of these Captain Evans states that the rule of navi- 

 gating a ship by a standard compass is in itself so simple, 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 he considers 

 there is no question that it should be enforced, wherever there are the 

 means of enforcement. In another passage Captain Evans states that he 

 considers that no compass can be said to be ' properly adjusted,' of which, 

 whether corrected 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. In a third passage Captain Evans observes that 

 the present state and prospects of the science and practice of the cor- 

 rection of the compass makes it impossible to offer with confidence any 

 complete set of suggestions as to the system to be adopted in the Mer- 

 cantile Marine ; this could only be elaborated by careful and continued 

 attention directed to the magnetic character of the ships of the Mer- 

 cantile Marine, their compasses, and the capabilities of its officers ; and 

 that he thinks it must be assumed that no system can be expected to be 

 satisfactory which does not gradually develope itself under proper super- 

 vision. They trust that the communication of this important paper to 

 Lloyd's and its publication may be followed by beneficial results. 



" The Board of Trade further say that, as regards the diffusion of 

 information on the subject of compasses, especially among Merchant 



