HYDROGRAPHY, PAST AND PRESENT. 233 



with the greatest care, for if such important simplicities are neglected, and 

 the chart be incorrect in these essentials, no finish or cunning engraving 

 can save its credit ; it is beauty without discretion, a danger instead of a 

 safeguard. A very slight error in the position, colour, or character, of a 

 light or buoy, or in the insertion of a simple dot, cross, or figure, may 

 lead to the gravest disasters. Charts, like books, require study to be 

 properly understood, and familiarity with the abbreviations and conven- 

 tional signs is essential. A good chart, to those who study it with the 

 attention it deserves, is ' a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.' My life 

 has been saved more than once by Admiralty charts, and therefore I 

 speak of them with affection. From six to twelve copies of each chart 

 are kept in the office for correction, and as there are about 2700 charts in 

 circulation, the number collected at one time on the shelves may exceed 

 30,000. The assertion of the Daily News that ' space is wanted to spread 

 out a chart, without having first to remove books or papers that are at 

 the same time under consideration,' is literally true. At the Depot des 

 Cartes et Plans de la Marine, in Paris, a greater amount of space is 

 allotted to the British charts alone than the English Admiralty affords 

 for those of the whole world. Prom the sale of charts the Treasury re- 

 ceives about 6000L a year ; but though the number of charts increases 

 yearly, though the work required is more finished and elaborate, and 

 though the demand and sale have also increased, there is no cor- 

 responding addition to the staff employed. The Hydrographer's Report 

 for 1878-79 tells us that during the year sixty-one new charts and 

 plans were published, 1950 charts were corrected, and 202,800 charts 

 were printed for Her Majesty's service and for the use of the general 

 public. Although the maximum of work which this branch of the office 

 manages to perform with a minimum of hands is truly surprising, yet 

 the present staff, which consists of a chief draughtsman and five assist- 

 ants, is unequal to the demands upon it, and the unpublished informa- 

 tion is steadily accumulating. The result is that insurance is high, 

 and that valuable cargoes, and still more valuable lives, are thrown 

 away in order that the already narrow limits of the scientific vote may 

 be still further contracted. It is true that this vote has been reduced by 

 a few thousands ; but how much did it cost to repair the Lord Clyde and 

 the Agincourt, and how many vessels are annually lost on partially sur- 

 veyed or little-known coasts ? 



Having now sketched the constitution and working of the Hydro- 

 graphical Department, I shall endeavour to show what it is now doing, 

 and what remains to be done. On the outline chart of the world which 

 accompanies this paper, an attempt has been made to depict, faithfully, 

 the present state of hydrography, and I fear it will be only too easy to 

 show that a surveying Alexander need not weep. The surveyed coasts 

 are marked by a heavy coast line ; those only partially surveyed, by 

 shading; while coasts that have merely been explored ai'e drawn in 

 fine outline. The ships show the stations of the four regular surveying 

 vessels and three schooners at present in commission ; and the crosses 

 show the head-quarters of officers doing their best with small craft, or 

 with hired boats and crews, the latter method being adopted, where 

 practicable, with a view to economy. In some cases the expenses are 

 shared by Colonial Governments. 



Owing to the vastness of the subject, I fear that errors will be de- 

 tected in the chart by sailors knowing the respective coasts ; I shall be 



