AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN.
No. 3, 1884. The life and scientific works of Arnold Guyot, by Professor William Libbey, Jr. A remarkable globe map of the sixteenth century, by A. E. Nordenskiold. Map. A trip from Soul to Peng-Yang, by J. B. Bernadou, U. S. Navy.
Ensign Bernadou, who has been for some time in Corea on special duty, gives us in this interesting article an insight into some of the customs and manufactures of the Coreans, as well as a description of the country as observed by him while travelling under escort from Soul, the capital, to Peng-Yang, the second city of importance in the Empire. The distance between the two cities is two hundred miles, and the journey was made on horseback. One of the cities visited by the writer, Song-To, the capital of Corea under the Ui dynasty until 1392, is especially mentioned, as to it many Corean families trace their origin—and in consequence of which the streets are lined with pi or stones commemorative of the terms of office of different officials, while other monuments of a similar nature are enclosed in gaudily painted buildings and are protected by a railing. Ensign Bernadou remained in Peng-Yang some ten days, and received no ill treatment from the inhabitants beyond a laugh at his appearance.
A journey from Cumberland Sound and on the west shore of Davis Strait in 1883 and 1884, by Dr. Franz Boas. Map.
Dr. Boas, a German explorer, surveyed Cumberland Sound and a large part of Davis Strait during a period extending from October 1883 to July 1884. He has corrected many inaccuracies existing on the English Admiralty Charts, founded upon former reconnoissances and upon the information obtained from English and Scotch whalers, besides adding new discoveries. The map accompanying the article indicates the extent of the survey and the corrections made. Dr. Boas’ work was much impeded by reason of the dog disease which was particularly violent at Cumberland Sound in the fall of 1883, and by an epidemic of diphtheria among the Esquimaux being ascribed to his presence among them. The article contains a full account of the journeys made in prosecuting the survey, and a short summary of ethnographical observations made.
No. 4. Arctic Meeting at Chickering Hall, November 21, 1884, for the reception of Lieutenant A. W. Greely and his surviving companions.
A number of the Greely Relief Expedition and some prominent New Yorkers were present. Mr. Chief Justice Daly introduced Lieutenant Greely, who made an interesting address in conversational style, and received frequent applause. He stated that the expedition was not intended for exploration nor for reaching the North Pole, but its purpose was for simultaneous observations of the forces of nature in conjunction with the other meteorological stations proposed by the conventions of Berne and Hamburg on the original scheme of Lieutenant Weyprecht That the expedition was inadequately fitted out, “without proper funds, not having just those instruments that we should have.” He made a handsome tribute to the work of Lieutenant Lockwood, who travelled 125 miles farther than his predecessor on the same route, and attained latitude 83° 24' N., the highest yet reached by man. The geographical discoveries and the explorations of the several sledge parties were the chief topics, and no special reference was made to the legitimate work of the party at the Meteorological Station. In speaking of his men he remarked, “I am free to say that I think no better class of men ever went into the Arctic regions, taking them as a whole, than those who went with me. I testify here, publicly and cordially, to their courage, to their good temper and willingness to bear hardships.”
He spoke pathetically of the good qualities of the dead, and concluded by expressing a hope that a suitable monument would be erected to their memory. Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Prof. Theo. Dwight and General Egbert L. Viele made appropriate addresses, in which the effort to support Arctic Exploration was ably attempted. Nothing to show the commercial or scientific value of further exploration was stated, and the eloquent speakers dwelt on the indirect influences exerted, and the lessons of self-denial and suffering taught by the valorous deeds of the Greely Expedition.
Exploration of the Yukon River in 1883, by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka, U. S. Army.
This article gives many interesting details of a raft journey of 1303 miles on the Yukon and notes on the topography and resources of the region. The most important statement is as follows: “ Alaska has a grand future with its certain fisheries of seal, salmon and whales, paying us annually in them alone half its original cost of $7,000,000. The whaling ground is one of the most important ones left in the world, and paying yearly a million to our citizens; while salmon exist in her rivers in greater number than ever found in the Columbia, the present source of nearly all our supplies. Cod banks stretch along her coast that are so wide and long that they have never yet been outlined, and only feebly invaded as a commercial enterprise. Signs of precious metal are found everywhere, and her southeast islands would furnish ample timber supply for grand commercial cities; while those of the southwest would give grazing ground enough to supply the markets of a score of San Franciscos.”
ANNALEN DER HYDROGRAPHIE UND MARITIMEN METEOROLOGIE.
Part I, 1885. The indirect or approximate solutions for the two- altitude problem (continuation). Fernando Po, from report of German Corvette Möwe. Hydrographic investigations of the Nordenskjöld expedition to Greenland. Remarks upon Loma-Loma in the Viti chronometers tested at Wilhelmshaven in the winter of 1883. The international conference at Washington, for the establishment of a common prime meridian and universal time.
Part II. The indirect or approximate solutions for the two- altitude problem (conclusion). Extracts from the voyage report of the German bark Jupiter. [These relate to Sydney and Newcastle, N. S. W., Manila and the straits of San Bernadino, Isabel harbor, Basilan Island, Sulu Archipelago.] Deep sea soundings in the N. Atlantic, between Cadiz and the Canary Islands. The weather telegraphy and the weather in Japan, 1883-1884. Two typhoons in Japan on the 15 and 17-18 September, 1884.
Part III. Supplement to the article on thunderstorms and hail- formation, by Dr. Andries. Remarks on several places on the West Coast of Africa between Loando and Cape Town, from report of the Mowe. Remarks on Cape Town, Cheribon, Java, thence to Soerabaya, and thence through the Bali straits, from voyage-report of bark Triton. New longitude determinations for the Australian observatory. Absolute determination of the horizontal intensity of the earth’s magnetism at Wilhelmshaven. Practical rules for manoeuvring in storms.
THE ARMY AND NAVY QUARTERLY. Philadelphia: L. R. Hammersley & Co.
Vol. I, No. 2, April, 1885. Modern cruisers. By Naval Constructor Theodore Albrecht, Austrian Imperial Navy. (Translated from the German, by Lieutenant W. H. Beehler, U. S. N.)
This is an excellent discussion of the reasons for and against the construction of this class of vessels, and of the steps made towards its development. The writer gives many of the details of some of the most approved and most recent specimens of this type. The recent action of the English Government in arming and attaching to their service a number of swift passenger steamers may have some influence upon this question in the future. The translator increases the value of the article by the addition of a list of the unarmored cruisers of the world, whose speed is fifteen knots or over.
BULLETIN DE LA RÉUNION DES OFFICIERS.
January 10, 1885. The Maxim Gun.
January 24, 1885. The voyage of the Jeannette.
In this notice of the book published by Mrs. Delong, appears the remarkable statement that the Jeannette expedition was the first American endeavor to reach the North Pole.
BOLETIN DEL CENTRO NAVAL.
January, 1885. Buenos Ayres. Scientific progress of the Argentine navy. Description of the English cruising torpedo boat Scout. Lectures on torpedoes and their employment. Continuous firing guns. Describes the Maxim automatic gun. Notes on the fauna and flora of the southern coast of the Argentine Republic (trans.). On some observations seldom employed at sea. State of the Argentine navy. Sounding machines, &c. (Plate). Mathematical investigation of the movements of an auto-mobile torpedo (trans.). Compulsory service. Movements of vessels and naval orders.
ENGINEER.
February 27, 1885. Conclusion of the Spezia plate trials.
Subsequent to the shots with the 100-ton gun, in November last, two shots were fired at each of the plates from a 10-inch gun, with the result that the Brown and Cammell plates were completely broken up, while the Schneider plate, though badly cracked, withstood four shots. “The Schneider steel has, therefore, on this occasion won a remarkable victory. We could wish that the English plates had beaten it, but it is idle to ignore the fact that they were beaten.”
ENGINEERING.
January 16, 1885. Steamboat equipment of war vessels, concluded January 23d.
January 23. The United States Navy.
An editorial note upon the annual report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1884, from which the following is taken: “We are not concerned just now to follow the report in the controversy that has arisen in America, and which has found an echo in this country, as regards the merits of the designs for the four new cruisers. Whether the Chicago will be a more efficient war vessel for having beam engines and brick furnaces, whether the Boston and Atlanta would be better with or without their 'peculiar features,’ and whether they have too large or too small a sail area, can be more certainly discussed when the vessels have been launched and tried. It is no part of our duty to check a possible waste of American money on naval experiment.”
The torpedo boat of the future.
According to the views of “Un Ancien Officier de Marine,” the armor-clad ship is obsolete, and in any future war none would venture to sea until all the opposing torpedo-boats had been destroyed. The type proposed for a seagoing torpedo-boat is to be about 130 feet long and 12 feet beam, to be manned by 15 to 18 men, and to carry provisions for 12 to 15 days, and coal for 1500 to 2000 miles. She should be able to steam 22-25 miles an hour, and be armed with six or eight torpedoes and one machine gun. The cost would be about $70,000.
The United States Navy.
A letter written by “an American” in Paris, replying to some of the criticisms upon the action of the Advisory Board, in the editorial above noted. It is not perhaps generally known that one of the members of that Board who recently resigned from the service is living in Paris.
February 6. The autobiography of a Whitehead torpedo.
A serial purporting to give the adventures of a torpedo; in an entertaining manner a deal of interesting matter pertaining to torpedoes in general is given. The author is evidently well acquainted with ship routine.
American naval administration.
A further notice of the report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1884. "In England,” the writer says, “we do not allow political considerations to govern the choice of workmen in dockyards. Our statesmen reserve such influence for muzzling the more august members of the naval administration.”
Test for cotton seed oil.
Place about one teaspoonful of the oil to be tested in a wineglass, add an equal quantity of nitric acid, specific gravity 1.34, and place the glass in a basin of water kept at 60° F., add a small piece of copper about 1/32 in. in diameter and 3/8 in. long, and stir at frequent intervals. At the end of an hour, pure lard or olive oil will show white waxy flakes, and on standing for another hour the oil will have changed to a solid white mass. Pure cotton seed oil produces no flakes. Oils made from petroleum show black gummy flakes after twelve hours, but there is no other change, and mixtures give a soft pasty mass, according to the nature and amounts of the adulterants. After a few trials with well known mixtures it is very easy to estimate very closely the characteristics of any oil examined.
Paulsen’s Torpedo.
A self-propelling and steering twin-screw torpedo, the motive power being liquid carbonic acid. It is automatically steered by means of a compass, and upon any deviation from the course, the needle makes an electric circuit, decreasing the supply to one motor, and increasing it to the other, until the original course is resumed. An ingenious device prevents an alteration in the course when within the magnetic influence of an armor-clad. The shell is made of compressed water-proof paper pulp; a cable, detachable at will, may be used to render the weapon more effective. No official trials have been made.
February 20. Carbon in steel (concluded from February 6).
March 6. Side armor vs. armored decks. The Nicaragua Canal project.
March 13. The use of torpedoes in war.
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE JOURNAL.
March, 1885. Tidal theory and tidal predictions. Report of the Board of Examiners, International Electrical Exhibition.
In this is a report concerning the Mangin projector and the McEvoy torpedo detector. The latter is a modification of the induction balance. It is enclosed in a sinker and dragged along the bottom, and if it comes in the proximity of a mass of magnetic metal like a torpedo case, the equilibrium is disturbed and a humming noise will be heard.
JOURNAL DU MATELOT.
No. 9, 1885. The cost of English naval guns.
From a report of the English War Office, it appears that the cost of the B. L. rifles furnished by that department for use in the Royal Navy is about as follows: the 12-inch of 43 tons, $31,000; the 9-inch of 10 tons, and the 6-inch of 4 tons, $3,500. The 16-inch 80 ton M. L. R. cost $52,000 each.
MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE DES SEEWESENS.
Vol. XIII, Nos. i and 2. The advantages and disposition of stations for towing ship-models. Special causes of lung diseases in the navy, and means of diminishing them. Modern cruisers. Experiments with the long 47 mm. Hotchkiss cannon. A quick method of deriving an approximately correct stability curve for one ship from the known stability data of another. Use of torpedoes on board the ships and boats of a war fleet. Rules for manoeuvring in storms. Directions for putting electric lights in Russian powder factories, laboratories and magazines. Experiments in England with optical signals. Shipbuilding for the Danish Navy. The opening of a course of lectures on ship-building in the Glasgow University. Sketch of the fundamental conditions and formulae for calculating the strength of new boiler plates (with tables).
REVIEW MARITIME ET COLONIALE.
January, 1885. Recent progress in naval ordnance. Historical account of the seaman-gunner. Apparent weight in ships at sea. The French cruiser Dubordieu.
Was launched at Cherbourg in December last, is of wood, 253 feet long, 46 feet beam, and draws 23 feet water. She will carry four 16 cm. guns in barbette towers, two firing forward and two astern, and twenty-two 14 cm. guns in battery, a number of revolving cannons and torpedo tubes on the upper deck. The engine is compound with three cylinders, and is calculated to drive her 14^4 knots an hour. Ready for sea the Dubordieu will have cost in round numbers $753,000, divided as follows, construction, &c., $460,000, engine and machinery $153,000, armament $140,000. She is intended for service in foreign waters.
The laws of the perforation of wrought-iron plates (See page 329).
February. Investigations subsequent to shipwreck. Seaman- gunner (concluded). A new boat-lowering apparatus. Commander Fournier’s law and its application to a cyclone in New Caledonia. Cryptography and its application to military art. The Farcy gunboats.
These vessels, designed by M. Eugene Farcy for service in Tonquin, are of steel, 98 feet long and 13 feet beam, weighing about 30 tons each, and drawing two feet of water. The motive power is two paddle wheels, forward in channels which run the length of the vessel; the tiller is also forward. In the centre are the boiler, engine, and coal bunkers. Aft are the quarters for the crew of ten men, lockers for provisions and stores, the anchor, windlass, and a 3-inch gun.
March, 1885. The Min River combats, by Captain Ch. Chataud- Arnault, French Navy. Farragut and Dupont, by E. Grasset, Inspector. The Protectorate of Tonquin, continuation from February No., by Captain A. Bouinais, infantry of the navy (Marine Corps). Cryptography, continuation from February No., by Captain H. Josse, French Artillery. Cholera epidemic of Guadeloupe (continued), by Walther, Surgeon-General French Navy. The Lay torpedo, late improvements, Williams torpedo. Removal of boiler crustation by electricity. Unequal distribution of heat in the two hemispheres, by Lieutenant G. Le Goarant de Tromelin, French Navy.
ROYAL UNITED SERVICE INSTITUTION JOURNAL, NO. CXXVII.
The papers in this number most interesting to naval officers are: “Machine Guns in the Field,” by Captain Lord Charles Beresford, R. N., and “What are the Most Urgent Measures that Should be Taken for increasing Her Majesty’s Navy?” by Sir Edward J. Reed, K. C. B., F. R. S., M. P. The discussion which follows the latter paper is especially instructive. Some of the remarks come home to us with great force at this time.
Hon. Wm. H. Smith, M. P., former First Lord of the Admiralty, says: “This should not be made a party question. We ought to insist that the conduct of the great services, the Army and Navy, should be altogether irrespective of the petty personal interests of gentlemen either on one side of the House of Commons or on the other. What we want is some system that will rise to the necessities of the case and see that the interests of the country are properly cared for.”
Admiral Sir Spencer Robinson says: “Having once obtained the unanimous consent of the country that the navy is inadequate, do not dissipate that by anything like hypercriticism. I never knew a perfect ship, and never shall; therefore stick to one point, stick to this, that the state of the navy is insufficient.”
UNITED SERVICE GAZETTE.
January 24, 1885. The Aquidaban.
This is the name of an armored turret ship, closely resembling the Riachuelo, built for Brazil by Samuda Brothers. The hull is of Siemens steel, with numerous compartments; sheathing of teak and metal extend to a height of two feet above the water-line to prevent fouling, while the stern (fitted with a ram) and the sternpost are of solid gun-metal castings. A water-line belt of steel-faced (Brown) armor seven feet deep and varying from seven to eleven inches thick protects the engines, boilers, and magazines, and the pumps for working the turrets; and an armor-deck two inches thick extends over the engine and boiler rooms, and is so constructed at the bow to strengthen the ram, and at the stern to protect the tiller and steam-steering gear. The engines of 4500 I. H. P. are expected to give a speed of 14 ½ knots with natural draught; the coal bunkers will hold 800 tons of coal—a quantity calculated to enable the „ vessel to make 6300 miles at 10 knots an hour. Provision is made by a middle line bulkhead for working the vessel, even if one engine or boiler room be flooded. The two turrets are placed in Echelon and revolve within armored breastworks covering the loading gear; they and the breastworks and the conning tower on the bow are plated with 10-inch steel-faced armor. The Aquidaban will carry four 9-inch 20-ton Armstrong B. L. R. in the turrets, and four 5¾ in. B. L. Armstrong with Vavasseur mounting on the upper deck, two at the bow and two astern. There are five Whitehead torpedo ports, two on each side and one right aft; a second-class torpedo boat will be carried and fifteen Nordenfelt guns. Nineteen months were occupied in building the vessel, and in three months more she will be ready for sea, making twenty-two months in all, a noteworthy instance of the rapidity with which private English firms can construct such vessels. The Aquidaban is to be ship rigged with steel lower masts; dimensions are as follows: Length between perpendiculars, 280 feet; extreme breadth, 52 feet; draught of water, 18 feet; displacement, 5000 tons.
January 31. Gun experiments at Woolwich.
A 6-inch steel gun of the new pattern burst near the muzzle on board the Active, in November, 1884, during gun practice when fired with only 17 lbs. of powder, half the service charge. A committee, of which Vice-Admiral Luard was president, was appointed to investigate the cause. As the Active’s gun could not have been double loaded, it was suggested that the explosion may have been caused by injudicious lacquering of the bore, or by the presence in the chamber of some foreign substance such as sand, cotton waste or old files. Iron and steel wedges of different sizes and shapes were therefore placed in a similar gun, and after firing, the effects upon the bore and shell were observed. The series of experiments have proved conclusively that the gun was not burst by an obstruction in the bore, and the gun will now be subjected to distortion by letting it fall from a height and by dropping heavy weights upon it, after which it will again be tested.
We have received a beautifully engraved map which has recently been published by the Hydrographic Office, Navy Department, Washington, D. C., of the Polar Regions from Baffins Bay to Lincoln Sea, this latter name having been given to the most northern waters. The map was made under the direction of Commander John R. Bartlett. It comprises the discoveries made by the Polaris Expedition under Captain Hall, 1872; the British Expedition under Captain Nares, 1876, and the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition under Lieut. Greely in 1881-4. It was in this last expedition that latitude 83 deg. 24 min. was reached, being the highest yet reached by man. Captain Nares reached 83 deg. 20 min. 26 sec. Previously to these records came Captain Parry, in 1827, by way of Spitzbergen, 82 deg. 45 min. Reduced to miles, the Greely party exceeded Captain Nares, on reaching the North Pole, about four miles, and Captain Parry about forty-four miles. This is getting distances down to a pretty fine point.