60 
Method of weiglimg AnchorSy 
ments, extracted from the ship’s log-book, he has favoured me* 
with a communication, which states, that, after an experience 
of two years, the Sympiesometer affords the most delicate and 
correct indications of the weather and that ‘‘ it is a great fa- 
vourite on board, being commodious even for the smallest ca- 
bin, and at the same time easily read off.” 
‘‘ The master, mate, and steward of the Light-house Yacht, 
(Mr Stevenson adds), give such accounts of the utility and 
conveniency of the Sympiesometer, as are well calculated to 
recommend it to the attention of those sailing in vessels of the 
smallest burden. It is now in use in the service of the Com- 
missioners of the Northern Lights, on board the Light-house 
Yacht, of 80 tons register, and the Pharos, or Bell Rock Ten- 
der, of 45 tons.” 
Edinburgh, March 20. 1819. 
Art. X. — Method of Weighing AnchorSy used hy the Natives of 
the Coast of Coromandel. Communicated by the Author. 
W HEN his Majesty’s ship Minden struck upon the Cole- 
roon shoal, on the coast of Coromandel, in September 1814, 
a bower anchor was laid out by the boats ; but after the ship 
was hove off*, these were found insufficient to raise the anchor 
off the ground ; and the water being too shallow for the ship to 
approach, it became necessary to resort to some other means of 
effecting this object. While the officers were considering which of 
the ordinary expedients was best, the master-attendant of Porto 
Nuovo, who had come on board to give his assistance, suggest- 
ed that the natives should be allowed to try the method in com- 
mon use amongst them for weighing anchors. This proposal 
was immediately agreed to by the Admiral, the late Sir Samuel 
Hood, whose ardent and inquiring mind caught eagerly at every 
thing new, which promised to be of use in his profession. 
The natives were supplied with a number of spars, such as 
topmasts, jib-booms, &c. These they lashed together, so as to 
form a raft in the form of a rude cylinder, between three and 
four feet in diameter. Round the middle of this, they wound 
the buoy-rope of the anchor, and made it fast. Thirty small 
