AND THE PRESENT DAY 19 



canvas boat of two skins, cannot he overset, and is 

 quite buoyant if filled with water. The one I have 

 is a fishing boat ; it carries four, but two can go with 

 comfort ; it is only 70 pounds in weight, 9 feet long, 

 and 4 feet broad. They are made any size, as will 

 be seen from the extract I give from the Times. 



" Berthon's Collapsible Barge. — Among other 

 scientific devices with which the ' Faraday ' is sup- 

 plied, with the view of facilitating the laying of the 

 Direct United States cable, is a ' collapsible barge,' 

 the principle of which, the invention of the Reverend 

 E. L. Berthon — a name already well known in nau- 

 tical circles in connection with his perpetual log — 

 was originally applied by Mr Berthon to life-boats, 

 a number of which, it is stated, are in course of 

 construction. The barge was built by Mr E. R. 

 Berthon, the son of the inventor, and is to be 

 used in laying the shore ends of the cable, of 

 which it will carry from 20 to 30 tons with a 

 very light draught of water. The proportions of 

 length in the barge are very unusual, being nearly 

 2 to 1, the dimensions being, length 31 feet, 

 width 16 feet, and depth 4 feet; such, however, 

 is its collapsibility, that, stowed away on the deck 

 of the Faraday, it only measures 2 feet at its 

 greatest width. The barge is cellular in con- 

 struction, and when a small confining rope is cast 



