TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUX, JANUARY 22, 1898. 
183 
by Gunner’s Mate C. Ironsides. The other instrument was in charge of Lieutenant 
Percival Jones, the times hy a deck watch being recorded by A. Wilkins, 
Lieutenant de Wet reports as follows on the instrument and observations :— 
“The instrument used for observing the contacts and cusps was a '2-inch telescope, 
which acted as finder for and was fed hy the same mirror as the 6-inch prismatic 
camera. A screen, 10 inches in diameter, formed by pasting paper on a copper disc, 
was fixed inside a box in such a way that the disc could be turned I’ound. On 
the paper a circle 4 inches in diameter was drawn, and also lines marking 90° 
and 45° of arc. This screen was placed in such a position, that, when focussed, 
the finder would throw an image coincident with the circle on the screen. It was 
calculated that the cusps would form an arc of 90° 25 seconds liefore totality, 
and an arc of 45° 5 seconds before totality, when the 6-inch and 9-inch prismatic 
cameras were to commence taking their series of photographs. The oliservations 
of contacts and cusps were very difficult to take accurately, owing to the excessive 
‘ boiling ’ of the sun’s crescent as shown on the screen, especially when nearing 
totality. This ‘ boiling ’ seemed to increase simultaneously with the springing up 
of the sea lireeze. 
“ The observed times of contact, corrected to local mean time, were :— 
1st contact 
. 21 d. 
23 h. 
12 m. 
31 s. 
90° (cus^is) 
0 
0 
45 
31 
Loiin. of 
45° ,. . . 
0 
0 
45 
50 
O 
^ Viziadruv 
2nd contact . 
0 
0 
45 
53 
o 
4 h. 53 m. IG s. E. 
3rd 
0 
0 
47 
57 
4th „ . . 
0 
o 
14 
30 
No sejiarate report has been received from Lieutenant Percival Jones, lint 
shortly after the eclipse a memorandum of the recorded times was made hy 
Mr. Fowler. 
The two sets of observations, corrected to Greenwich mean time, may he 
summarised as follows ;— 
Phase. 
DE "Wet. 
Jones. 
Mean. 
h. m. s. 
h. 111 . s. 
li in. s. 
1st contact 
18 19 15 
18 18 50 
18 19 25 
Cusps, 90^' .... 
19 52 15 
„ 4.5°. . . . 
19 52 34 
2ik1 contact . 
19 52 37 
19 52 36 
19 52 36-5 
3i'd ,, ... 
19 54 41 
19 54 42 
19 54 41-5 
4th „ ... 
21 21 14 
21 21 0 
21 21 7 
It will be seen that, according to Lieutenant de Wet, totality lasted 2 minutes 
4 seconds, and according to Lieutenant Percival Jones 2 minutes 6 seconds. 
