them their ship-fare, which he may weigh out to each of them, and if they will there lade a tun of water instead of so much wine, they may, and in case there should happen at sea a casting of goods overboard, the case is the same for a tun of water as in a tun of wine, or other goods, liver by liver, and if so be that merchants do fraight the said vessel for transportation of goods, what freedome and immunity the said mariner hath, the said merchant shall also have. It seems in 17. The mariners of Britain ought to have but one meal a day from the kitchin, because they have beverage or drinkings out and home, but those of Normandy are to have two meals a day, because they have only water at the ships allowance, only when the ship arrives at a wine country, there the master is to procure them wine to drink. those days this was the Law, now no such thing in use. The Skipper may compel the mariner to com plete the ships 18. When a vessel doth discharge or unload, and the mariners demand their wages, whereof some have neither bed, chest, nor cabbin aboard, the master may lawfully retain part of their wages till they have brought back the ship to the port from whence she came, unless they give good caution to serve out the whole voyage. voyage. (To be continued.) ATLANTIC PACKET STEAMERS. In an age like this, when the real rivalries and contests of nations are carried on not so much by regiments and frigates, as by means of the shuttle, the railway, and the steamboat; it is curious and important to note the progress of different countries in those partial arts and sciences which more immediately promote these friendly national contests. European statesmen have all watched with wonder, and not a few of them with alarm, the tremendous accession of power which the rapid development of railways, telegraphs, and steam navigation in the United States has given to the people of North America; an accession of political and material influence in the affairs of the world which seems to stand in almost startling disproportion to the mere weight of the masses of population. The Brazils, by nature far richer than the northern states in all the raw materials of power, have no more voice in determining the direction of great historical events than a petty German or Italian principality. Belgium, covered with railways and dotted with manufactories, has already more active influence in Europe than the once powerful and magnificent kingdom of Spain. Science, multiplies the resources of nations in an extraordinary degree; and older games of ambition are so far gone out of modern fashion, that statesmen with the true instincts of the future about them, care less and less about drilling regiments, and more and more about promoting science. The trials of strength in this noble contest lie at present chiefly between the two great divisions of the Anglo-Saxon race. England by insular position, and America by her geographical remoteness, stand tolerably free from the wear of intellect and waste of material means, which are daily seen in the political struggles of continental Europe; and they are as regards each other, therefore, on equal and fair terms of competition. With the shuttle England might be conquered, even while her hearts of oak defied the world. A French army on the coast of Devonshire or Kent might prove a passing evil; but a combina tion of natural and mechanical advantages secured to the workshops of the United States would be utter and irretrievable ruin. Thus far, the shuttle of Manchester beats the shuttle of Lowell; hitherto, the steam vessel of Liver. pool has outsped that of New York. But the forces are so nearly matched as to lend all the charm of an uncertain issue to the struggle. Especially is this the case with the ocean steamers. In rivers, lake, and coast navigation, America has long carried away the palm of victory. The boats on the Rhine, the Elbe, the Clyde, the Thames, and the Scheldt are not for a moment to be compared with the "floating palaces" on the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Potomac, either for rate of sailing or for magnificence of fitting up. We have been credibly told of vessels steaming down the Mississippi at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour! But in ocean navigation, longer practice and equal enterprise still keep us slightly ahead of our energetic descendants. We are proud of our rivalry. To the general reader at home, it is next to impossible to convey an adequate idea of the interest which the contests between the English and American mails excite in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Each run is carefully noted and compared, fears are excited, hopes raised by every voyage, and half a dozen hours in the length of a trip of three thousand miles is thought a considerable variation. The struggle for mastery at this moment lies between the English Mail Asia and the American Mail Atlantic; and the recent voyage of the Asia was the quickest ever yet performed. This passage from New York to Liverpool was made in ten days, four hours, and five minutes; being four hours and fifteen minutes less than the best voyage eastward made by the Atlantic. The New Yorkers are building still more powerful vessels for this line of Service. The prize is a great one. The fleetest vessels must carry out letters, orders, news, government despatches, and, having the prestige of scientific excellence and success, will generally command a choice of the passenger traffic.-Athenæum. NAVAL FORCES AT HOME. [From the United Service Gazette.] Commander in Chief-Admiral Sir Wm. Hall Gage, G.C.H.-Commander of Ordinary.-Commodore Lord John Hay, C.B. PORTSMOUTH. Commander-in-Chief—Admiral the Hon. Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, K.C.B. Commander of Ordinary-Rear Admiral Superintendent Prescott, C.B.-Superintendent of the College-Capt. Chads, C.B.-Superintendent of Packets, Southampton-Capt. A. L. Corry. Service, &c. Ready in harbour. 19 Master J. Scarlett (a) ... Tender to flag ship. Commanders. 176 Capt. F. P. Blackwood... ... 150 Lieut. W. H. Fenwick... Fantome... 12 125 Com. E. H. Gennys For New Zealand. Cuckoo..... 100 2 34 Com. Lefebre....... 135 Com. W. S. Hand. Master D. N. Welch ... Do. Channel Islands. Royal Yacht Tender. FALMOUTH AND BRAZIL PACKETS. Linnet.... 61 44 Lieut. T. James. Left Falmouth for Rio. Commander-in-Chief-Vice Admiral the Hon. G. Elliott, C.B. 1 106 Master Warman (a)...... Dover. 25 2nd Master G. Bourchier Tender to Flag ship. CHATHAM. Commander of Ordinary-Capt. Peter Richards, C.B. Commanders. Gns. Men. Service, &c. SIR.-When in 1837 or 1838, Sir John Ross took his voyage to the South Seas it is stated in his book, that in south lat. 20°, and west long. 20°, or thereabouts, they sounded to the depth of 4,600 fathoms and found no bottom. In your next number will you be so obliging as to give some information of this extraordinary statement, or if it has been done before will you refer us to the volume of your Magazine. We have not the book-"Ross's voyage to the South Seas," in this library. It must have been a powerful apparatus to have got to such a depth. Your obedient, Of the Hull Mechanics Institute. To the Editor of the Nautical Magazine. [On several occasions, in the progress of this Journal, we have given accounts of deep water soundings obtained by H.M. ships in different parts of the world, but it is not many years since the process was adopted which has been so successful. The difficulty was first to get a line down to a great depth, owing to friction and resistance arising from increased density in the depths below, which required a considerable weight to overcome. We have ourselves witnessed the loss of many hundred fathoms of whale line in attempting to recover a lead after it was down arising from those causes. The process at present adopted was devised by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, and was first employed by Sir James Ross by his direction in 1840, an account of which and the method pursued will be found in our volume for that year, p. 507. It will be found that the depth he then measured was 2,677 fathoms, above two miles and a half. In our volume for 1843 (p. 471) will also be found another attempt at deep soundings by Sir James Ross when 4,000 fathoms found no bottom. Similar attempts have been made by Capt. Sir Edward Belcher and Capt. Barnett, which will be found recorded in our later volumes. The weight used was generally a broken pig of ballast, and the line three or four yarn spunyarn.-EĎ. N. M.] HENDERSON BANK, Atlantic.-In the December number of the Nautical, 1850, we repeated an important communication, made to that valuable Journal the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, reporting Soundings in the Atlantic to the northward of the Azores. We noted at the time an ambiguity in the account, and have since received the following letter from the Commander, by which we are enabled to secure an authentic statement of an interesting piece of Hydrographic information. The fact of two soundings of 48 and 50 fathoms being obtained at three miles distance apart, and again 70 fathoms at another three miles distance, would imply a bank of considerable extent on which there may be even less than these depths. We trust that some favourable opportunity will be taken for extending these soundings, and in the meanwhile the following is the letter of the Commander to which we have alluded. Leith, 30th December, 1850. That the soundings I reported were accurately taken may be relied on, as I have had much practice, and as to their positions I can only say that they were as carefully found as my means could afford. During my passage from Port Louis to St. Helena, I had frequent opportunities of finding the longitude by Lunar observation, and found fair agreement between the results, and the longitude per chronometer, and both at St. Helena and at Ascension found that the chronometer had kept to the rate. On the 23rd October, I made Fayal, when having good observations I found the rate unaltered. On 28th October, at noon, we were in lat. 42° 41'N., and long. 28° 45'W. steering N.W.b.W. (true); with light variable winds from the eastward, and fine clear weather. Having previously observed that the water had changed colour about 10 A.M., and since that there was a sensible ripple, at 2 P.M. I sounded, and found hard bottom at 48 fathoms: the distance run since noon about six miles. At 4 P.M., having steered same course in lat. 42° 49' N. and long. 29° 4' sounded and found 50 fathoms, and at 6 P.M. having steered same course and run about six miles found 70 fathoms, rocky bottom. From observing the change of colour and ripple at the surface of the water at 10 A.M., and having sailed from that time up to 6. P.M. nearly northwest, the bank inay probably extend considerably to the south-east of the position where I took my first sounding at 2 P.M. Not having seen either of the publications you alude to, I have not the means of obviating the alleged discrepancy, which being well aware of the importance of accuracy in such statements I would most willingly have done. Your most obedient servant, ROBERT HENderson. To the Editor N. M. MORE ATLANTIC VIGIAS-The Leontina and Anfitrite Breakers.— A correspondent has sent us the following translation from a page pasted into the third edition (1837) of the "Derrotero de last Antillas." Hydrographic Direction." Notice to Captains of Vessels, using the General Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, published by this establishment in 1837. They should insert in it a Shoal or Vigia, discovered at 3h. P.M. on the 21st May 1846, in fine steady weather by D. Gabriel Perez, Captain of the Spanish merchant ship, Leontina, in lat. 38° 27' N. and long. 31° 39′ 37′′ W. of Cadiz, [and allowing a difference of longitude of 6° 17′ 33′′ in long. 37° 57' 10" W. of Greenwich-Translator] having observed a short time |