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of fire to the contents of those vessels. The instance of the 

 explosion, in 1864, of the Lottie Sleigh at Liverpool, laden with 

 llj tons of gunpowder, in consequence of the accidental spilling 

 and ignition of some paraffin oil in the cabin of the ship, illus- 

 trated the danger incurred in permitting these materials to be 

 together on board a vessel, and should have furnished some 

 warning by the publicity it received ; but the explosion, ten 

 years later, on the Regent's Park canal, of the barge Tilbury, 

 revealed the continued prevalence of the same reckless disregard 

 of all dictates of common prudence in dealing with the joint 

 transport of explosives and volatile inflammable liquids. 



The efficient laws and Government inspection to which all 

 traffic in explosives has since then been subject, have rendered 

 the recurrence of that identical kind of catastrophe almost out 

 of the question, but an illustration has not been wanting quite 

 recently of the fact that, but for the respect commanded by the 

 rigour of the law, barges passing through towns would probably 

 still carry freights composed of petroleum spirit and powder or 

 other explosives, being at the same time provided with a stove, 

 lamp, and matches for the convenient production of explosions. 

 In August, 1883, an explosion occurred on the canal at Bath, in 

 a barge which sank immediately, the master being slightly in- 

 jured ; the freight of the vessel consisted of petroleum, benzo- 

 line, and lucifer-matches. 



The last four years have furnished several very remarkable 

 illustrations of great injuries inflicted on ships by explosions, 

 the origin of which was traced to the existence on board of only 

 small quantities of some preparation containing petroleum spirit, 

 or benzoline, with the nature of which the men who had charge 

 of them were not properly acquainted. These materials had, 

 consequently, been so dealt with as to become the means of 

 filling more or less confined spaces in the ships with an explosive 

 atmosphere which, when some portion of it reached a flame, was 

 fired throughout, with violently destructive effects. 



The first authenticated case of an accident due to this cause 

 occurred in June, 1880, on board the Pacific Steam Navigation 

 Company's steamer Coquimbo, shortly after her arrival in the 

 morning at Valparaiso from Coquimbo. A violent explosion 

 took place, without any warning or apparent cause, in the fore- 

 peak of the vessel, blowing out several plates of the bow and 

 doing other structural damage, besides killing the ship's car- 

 penter ; the explosion could only be accounted for by the 

 circumstance that a small quantity of a benzoline preparation 

 used for painting purposes (probably as "driers") was stored 

 in the fore-peak and that a mixture of the vapour from this with 

 the air had become ignited. The sufferer was the only person 

 who could have thrown light upon the precise cause of the 

 accident, but there was no other material whatever in that part 

 of the ship to which the explosion could have been in any way 

 ascribed. 



In May, 1881, an explosion of a trifling character occurred on 

 board H.M.S. Cockatrice'm Sheerness Dockyard, inconsequence 

 of a man going into the store-room with a naked light and 

 holding it close to a small can which was uncorked at the time, 

 and which contained a preparation recently introduced into the 

 naval service as a "driers" for use with paint, under the name 

 of Xerotine Siccative. This preparation, which was of foreign 

 origin, appears to have been adopted for use in the naval service 

 and to have been issued to H.M.'s ships generally without any 

 knowledge of its composition and without attention being 

 directed to the fact that it consisted very largely of the most 

 volatile petroleum spirit, which would evaporate freely if the 

 liquid were exposed to air at ordinary temperatures, and the 

 escape of which from a can, jar, or cask, placed in some con- 

 fined and non-ventilated space, must speedily diffuse itself 

 through the air, and render the latter more or less violently 

 explosive. 



When attention was directed to the highly inflammable cha- 

 racter of this xerotine siccative by the slight accident referred to, 

 official instructions were issued by the Admiralty, in June, 1881, 

 to ships and dockyards that the preparation should be stored 

 and treated with the same precautions as turpentine and other 

 highly inflammable liquids or preparations. 



The following November, however, telegraphic news was 

 received of a very serious explosion on board H.M.S. Triumph, 

 then stationed at Coquimbo, due to the xerotine siccative. The 

 explosion took place early in the evening of November 23, and 

 originated in one of the paint-rooms of the ship ; the painter, 

 and a marine who was assisting him, were in the upper paint- 

 room at the time ; the former received severe internal injuries 



and afterwards died, the latter was killed at once. One man 

 standing at the open door of the sick bay furthest from the ex- 

 plosion was instantaneously killed, others in close proximity 

 receiving only superficial injuries. Altogether there were two 

 killed, two dangerously wounded — of whom one died — and six 

 injured by the explosion. 



The results of the official inquiry held at Callao led to the 

 conclusion that the explosion was caused by the ignition of an 

 explosive gas-mixture produced by xerotine siccative which had 

 leaked from a tin kept in a compartment under the paint-room 

 and quite at the bottom of the ship, usually termed the "glory 

 hole ; " that locality having been considered by the captain of 

 the ship as the safest place in which to keep this material, to the 

 dangerous nature of which his attention had been recently called 

 by the receipt of the Admiralty Circular. It transpired that the 

 painter had sent his assistant down to this compartment from 

 the paint-room to fetch some paint. The man, who had a hand- 

 lantern with him, while opening the hatch, which had not 

 been opened for three days, made a remark that there was a 

 horrible smell ; the chief painter told him to return, as he thought 

 the smell was due to foul air, and immediately afterwards the 

 explosion occurred. 



The tin can which had contained six gallons of the liquid was 

 found, after the accident, to have received injury as though some 

 heavy body had fallen, or been placed, upon it ; this appeared 

 to have been done before the explosion, and there is no doubt 

 that the liquid had leaked out of the can, and had evaporated 

 into the air in the compartment beneath the paint-room, and 

 probably also to some extent in the adjoining spaces. The 

 damage done was very considerable. An iron ladder leading 

 from one paint-room to the other was so twisted up as to have 

 lost all semblance of originality, the wooden bulkhead separating 

 the upper paint-room and sick bay was completely blown away, 

 the framing of the ship's side in the sick bay was blown inwards 

 and broken, the furniture in the latter was completely shattered, 

 and the bedding and clothes of the men near the explosion were 

 much burned. The inquiries which followed upon this deplor- 

 able accident showed that, while due precautions were taken to 

 store the supplies of mineral oil used for burning purposes, of 

 turpentine and of spirit, which were sent to different naval 

 stations for supply to the fleet, in special parts of the ship or on 

 deck, this highly inflammable liquid, which was far more 

 dangerous than other stores of this class, had been sent in 

 freight-ships as common cargo, being stored in the hold without 

 any precautions. A stone jar which was advised as containing 

 a supply had arrived at its destination in the Pacific quite 

 empty, the contents having leaked out and evaporated on the 

 passage out, so that the vessel carrying it had been unsuspectedly 

 exposed to very great danger. 



( To be continued. ) 



PROGRAMME OF WORK TO BE PURSUED 

 AT THE U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY AT 

 WASHINGTON, D.C., DURING THE YEAR 

 BEGINNING JANUARY I, 188s 1 

 The Great Equatorial 

 BSERVATIONS of a selected list of double stars will 

 be continued. These stars are such as have rapid orbital 

 motions, or which present some other interesting peculiarity. 



2. Conjunctions of the inner satellites of Saturn during the 

 opposition of the planet will be observed. There will also be 

 made a complete micrometrical measurement of the dimensions 

 of the ring. 



3. There will be made three drawings of Saturn — one before 

 opposition ; one at or near opposition ; and one after opposition. 



4. The observations which have been begun for stellar parallax, 

 and for the temperature coefficient of the screw of the micro- 

 meter, will be finished. 



O 1 



The Transit Circle 



1. Observations of the sun will be made whenever the neces- 

 sary ephemeris stars can be observed, and the required instru- 

 mental corrections determined. 



2. The moon will be observed through the whole lunation. 



3. The major planets will be observed from fifteen to twenty 

 times, near opposition. 



' Transmitted by Commodore S. R. Franklin, U.S.N. Superintendent. 



