July 27, 1893] 



NA TURE 



305 



t wenty-t wo papers on various maritime subjects were read and 

 discussed, and visits were made to some of the most important 

 seaports on the north and west coasts of France. The interna- 

 1 iona! commission, which constitutes the executive, determined 

 that the second meeting of the congress should be held this year 

 in London, and as a result the first sitting took place on July l8, 

 when the opening proceedings were got through in the morning 

 by the delivery of various complimentary addresses, whilst in 

 the afternoon the more serious business of the congress com- 

 menced. 

 The proceedings were divided into four sections, as follows : — 



Section L Harbours, Breakwaters, &c. 



,, If. Docks and their Equipment. 



,, IIL Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. 



,, IV. Lighthouses, Fog signals, &c. 



There were in all over forty papers set down for reading and 

 discussion, and all but a few were so disposed of, only one or 

 two being taken as read. Such a feat speaks highly of the in- 

 dustry of the various sections, and it will be understood that in 

 this general notice we can do little more than give a list of the 

 various papers read. Lord Brassey was president of the con- 

 gress, and Mr. James Forrest, honorary secretary. Mr. C. F. 

 Findlay was secretary. The headquarters were 25, Great George- 

 street, Westminster. 



Section I. met in the theatre of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers at 2 p.m., on Tuesday, July 18. It should be stated 

 that arrangements had been made for different chairmen to 

 officiate at the various meetings. Mr. L. F. Vernon- Harcourt 

 was the moving spirit in this section, and naturally presided at 

 the meetings although he did not occupy the chair. 



The first business was the reading of two papers, one on 

 " The Breakwaters and Harbours of Middlegrimden," by Capt. 

 P. Hansen ; and a second on " The Harbour and Breakwater of 

 Copenhagen," by H. C. V. Mijller. These papers were taken 

 together, but the meeting voted that the discussion should be de- 

 ferred to the next day. A paper on " Recent Breakwaters and Sea 

 Defences in Italy," by Chev. L. Luiggi, was next read ; and a 

 fourth paper on " The Construction of Breakwaters," by Baron 

 Quinette de Rochemont, brought the proceedings of the first day 

 in this section to a close. All these papers were of a special 

 and strictly professional character. It is to be regretted that the 

 order in which they were originally set down was not followed, 

 and Baron de Rochemont's contribution was not taken first. 

 The whole of them might well have been then discussed to- 

 gether. 



The second meeting of Section I. was held on the afternoon of 

 the following day, when the proceedings were opened by Mr. A. 

 G. Lyster (the Assistant Engineer of the Mersey Dock and 

 Harbour Board) reading a paper on "Dredging the Mersey 

 Bar." This perhaps was the most important paper of the 

 section, inasmuch as it dealt with a practical example of what 

 is being done to meet the most pressing maritime necessity 

 of the day. In our last issue we pointed out that the naval 

 architect and marine engineer had progressed so far that they 

 had completely outstripped the harbour engineer. Advance in 

 ship construction is really barred by the want of depth of water 

 over dock-sills and at the mouths of ports. This is not only 

 apparent in cross-channel service with small swift packet boats, 

 but also with our great ocean liners. Every increase in size in 

 steamships appears to be attended by success, but limits of 

 draught .seem now to stop progress in this direction. A paper 

 by M. Feret on mortar in sea works was also read at this sit- 

 ting ; a paper by MM. Cimino and Verdinois on rock-dredging 

 at Palermo being taken as read. 



The next sitting of .Section I. was on the following Thursday 

 afternoon, when three papers were set down for reading. The 

 first taken was by M. P. Demey on ports on sandy coasts; the 

 second, by M. V. E. de Timonoff, a Russian Professor, having a 

 similar title. The latter contribution was an interesting com- 

 munication of a general nature, in which the various points in- 

 volved in the consideration of the subject in regard to tideless 

 seas were considered at large. In the discussion an interesting 

 point was raised by an English engineer, Mr. Wheeler, as to 

 the movement of beach. The matter was perhaps somewhat 

 outside the legitimate scope of the discussion, as Mr. Wheeler 

 attributed the movement of beach to the tidal movement, whilst 

 M. de Timonoff dealt only with tideless seas. Mr. Wheeler 

 said that the travel of beach is always in the direction of the 

 flood — a theory which does not support the author's line of argu- 



NO. 1239, VOL. 48] 



ment ; but it must again be said the action of tide was- 

 eliminated from the author's reasoning. A paper by Mr. C. 

 Spadon on the Lido entrance to the port of Venice was taken as 

 read. 



The last sitting of Section I. was held on Friday afternoon. 

 Two papers were on the list, one by Mr. A. E. Carey on " La 

 Guaira Harbour Works, Venezuela," and a second, " Harbours 

 and Ferry Systems of Denmark," by the same author. 



In Section II. the first meeting was held on Wednesday 

 morning, when the following papers were down for discussion : 

 — " The Docks of Bordeaux," by H. Crahay de Franchemont ; 

 "The Equipment and Working of Ports," by A. Guerard ^ 

 " The New Docks of Antwerp," by G. A. Rogers ; and 

 " Hydraulic Installation at the Port of Genoa," by L. Luiggi 

 and E. Borgatti. The next silting was on the following day, 

 when three other papers were read, viz.: — "The Port of 

 Calais," by A. Charguerand ; " The Port of Dunkirk," by Paul 

 Joly ; and "Lengthening of Leghorn Dry Dock," by J. 

 Inglese. The last day of the meeting was devoted by this sec- 

 tion to the reading of papers descriptive of the London Docks, 

 and of the Havre and Alexandra Docks. 



In the Shipbuilding Section, Section III., the papers were 

 mostly of a moderate degree of excellence. Mr. A. E. Seaton, 

 of Hull, opened with a good historical paper on "Cross Channel 

 Steamers," which led to an interesting discussion. It was fol- 

 lowed by a paper by Prof. Biles, on "Ocean Passenger 

 Steamers." The subject has been so often dealt with, that it 

 is difficult to say anything new upon it. On the following day, 

 Thursday, July 20, Sir Thomas Sutherland, the chairman of 

 the P. and O. Company, gave a general address, after which 

 a paper by Mr. A. Blechynden, on the " Sand-pump Dredger 

 for the Mersey Bar," the vessel already referred to, was read. 

 This is a hopper dredger, and, we believe, the largest in exist- 

 ence, the capacity being no less than 3000 tons. A paper by 

 Mr. Flannery on "The Transport of Oil in Bulk" followed. 

 The subject is one which has been largely dealt with lately, 

 and the author necessarily trod again a good deal of the ground 

 occupied by Mr. Martell at Cardiff the week previously. On 

 Friday, the last day of the meeting, a paper by Mr. C. E. 

 Stromeyer, on "Marine Boiler Construction," was read. The 

 scope was general, and were it not known that the author, from 

 his position at Lloyd's, must be fairly in touch with recent prac- 

 tice, one might almost fancy that he had ceased to study his 

 subject four or five years ago. The most original, and perhaps 

 the most suitable paper to the occasion was that last taken. It 

 was a contribution by Mr. A. Denny, of Dumbarton, entitled 

 "Shipowners and Shipbuilders in their Technical Relation- 

 ships." The subject is one that may be considered with 

 advantage by both sides. 



In the business of this section Dr. W. H. White, the Assist- 

 ant-Controller of the Navy and Director of Naval Construction, 

 took the leading part, assisted by Mr. G. Holmes, who, as 

 Secretary to the Institution of Naval Architects, was well 

 qualified to conduct the detail business of the section. 



Section IV., that devoted to lighthouses, &c., had an attrac- 

 tive programme, but the proceedings were, in some cases, rather 

 disappointing. Our space will allow us to give no more than 

 a list of the papers set down for reading. They were as fol- 

 lows : — "On Compressed-air Fog Signals," by C. Ribicre ; 

 "Ship Signal Lights," by J. Kenward. These were taken on 

 the first day, Tuesday, July 18th. A discussion was brought 

 on by arrangement upon " Communication between Lightships 

 and the Shore." The result was disrippointing on the whole. The 

 next day a good paper on " Feux- Eclairs, and the Physiological 

 Perception of Instantaneous Flashes " was contributed by M. A. 

 Blondel. M. Bourdelles also gave a paper on " Methods and 

 Formula; for Calculating the Luminous Power of Lighthouse 

 Apparatus." The following day an interesting and practical 

 paper on " The Illumination of Estuaries and Rivers" was con- 

 tributed by Mr. W. T. Douglass. Two other papers were on 

 the list for this day, the first on " Harbour Lights, Buoys, and 

 Beacons in Italy," by D. Lo Gatto, and another on "Re- 

 searches as to Continuous and Alternate Electrical Currents for 

 Lighthouse Purposes," by A. Blondel. The last day of the 

 meeting had three papers down for reading, viz. : " On Recent 

 Improvements in Lighthouses," by D. A. Stevenson; "Effi- 

 ciency of Recent Gigantic Lighthouse Apparatus compared wiih 

 Electric Light," by D. Lo Gatto ; and " Lighting and Light 

 Dues in the Red Sea," by Commander G. Hodgkinson, R.N. 

 In connection with the Congress there were numerous dinners 



