INDIAN MARINE SURVEYS. 



had, curiously enough, been made exactly 40 years before. 

 Several trigonometrical stations had been fixed in the vicinity by 

 Major Branfill at the time of his connecting India with Ceylon in 

 1875, consequently Mr. Chapman was enabled to connect his marine 

 work with ease and accuracy. The whole survey was shown on two 

 sheets, and no fewer than 455 miles of water were sounded over. 

 Navigating Lieutenants Hammond and Pascoe paid a visit to 

 Cochin, Beypur, and Calicut to ascertain what changes had occurred 

 since the last surveys. At the first-named nearly half of Vypeen 

 island was discovered to have been washed away, and other changes 

 had taken place necessitating a re-survey. About 10 years ago 

 the monsoon sea breached through Vypin island at Cruz Milagre, 

 two miles north of the town, and so large was the body of water 

 that great and costly efforts were made to close it. These for- 

 tunately succeeded, but during the two years of existence of the 

 gap. the main ebb stream of the Cochin backwater was much 

 weakened, and the sandy ridge of the bar was driven in about a 

 cable's length by the monsoon swell, besides other changes. At 

 Beypur and Calicut minor hydrographic data were noted, and the 

 recess was utilised by Lieutenant Pascoe in preparing the fair 

 drawings of the extended survey of Madras, which was added to 

 the previous survey by Lieutenant Jarracl in 1876, the whole being- 

 shown on one sheet and plotted on the scale of 10 inches to 

 1 nautic mile. It extended from St. Thome on the south to 

 Kasimodo on the north, and comprised 5f miles of coast, while the 

 soundings were carried out to the 10-fathom line, i.e., between 

 two and three miles off shore. 



Some important additions to the hydrography of the Siam coast 

 were received from Captain A. J. Loftus, Topographer and Marine 

 Surveyor to the Siamese Government. The hydrographic work 

 executed by him extended along the west coast of the Gulf of Siam 

 from Hilly Cape to Lem Chang P'ra, a distance of upwards of 

 300 miles, and embraced Singora, Patani, and other anchorages 

 hitherto entirely unsurveyed, and indeed unknown, and filled up a 

 distinct gap in the existing charts of the coast. The work was 

 well produced ; elaborate notes were appended to the sheets 

 explaining how the survey was carried on, as well as a large 

 number of views of various parts of the coast. These sheets were 

 reduced to convenient scale by Mr. E. C. Carrington and published 

 by permission of the Government of India at Calcutta. 



