Harris we owe the perfecting of the lightning-conductor for marine purposes, and the power of braving unscathed the direst electric storms. The permanent conductor adopted in the navy in 1842 is arranged so as to extend along the masts, from the truck to the keelson, and so out to sea. In the hull various branches ramify, and admit of a free dispersion of the electric fluid in all directions. Thus armed, the ship is impregnable to all the forked lightnings that may dart about her. Since the system of fitting men-of-war with this apparatus has been adopted, no vessel of the Royal Navy has been injured. The log of the frigate Shannon, commanded by the late gallant Sir W. Peel, on his voyage out to China, affords a striking example of the manner in which the fury of such electric storms as are only to be met with in the Indian Ocean, was baffled by a contrivance which may truly be called, in the words of Dibdin "The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, And takes care of the life of poor Jack." "When the ship was about 90 miles south of Java she became enveloped in a terrific thunder-storm, and at 5 P.M. an immense ball of fire covered the maintopgallant-mast; at 5.15 the ship was struck a second time on the mainmast by apparently an immense mass of lightning; at half-past 5 another very heavy discharge fell upon the mainmast, and from this time until 6 P.M. the ship was completely enveloped in sharp forked lightning. On the next day her masts and rigging were carefully overhauled, but, thanks to Sir Snow Harris's system of permanent lightning-conductors, no injury whatever to ship or rigging was discovered." safety and havoc. The example of the Royal Navy is being followed by the merchant-service, but not so speedily as it should be. When it is remembered that the treasure-clippers trading between Australia and this country often bring home nearly a million sterling, in addition to a large complement of passengers, it does seem remarkable that the lightning apparatus is not considered as essential to their equipment as the boats, especially as they have to traverse an ocean where thunder-storms are of common occurrence. The cost of the whole apparatus is not above £100, and if the cupidity of the merchant is not sufficient to induce him to supply it, we think that Government should compel him, in order to insure the safety of the stream of passengers who annually leave our shores. As In the whole catalogue of disasters at sea, those which present the most terrible features are water-logged timber ships. The timber trade between Great Britain and her American colonies employs a very considerable fleet of large vessels. West-Indiamen, which would not be used wood is a "floating cargo," old worn-out for any other purpose, are frequently employed. A few years since, in addition to a full cargo, they carried heavy deck-loads, which so strained their shattered fabrics, that they often became water-logged, and were sometimes abandoned in the middle of the Atlantic. The sufferings of the crews on these occasions in their open boats were appalling. Beating about for weeks on the waste of waters without food or drink beyond the rain that fell from heaven, they were obliged to sustain If we compare this remarkable case existence by preying on the bodies of with that of His Majesty's frigate, Lowes- their dead companions, and not rarely toffe, when near the island of Minorca in they cast lots for the living. Since the 1796, we perceive how great is the pro- passing of the Act prohibiting deck-loadtection science affords to the seaman. The ing, these disasters are far less frequent; frigate was struck, it appears, at 12.25 but they have by no means ceased.* P.M. by a heavy flash, which knocked three this time there are several timber-ships men out of the tops, one of whom was drifting about the ocean, floating heaps of killed on the spot. Within five minutes desolation, at the mercy of the Gulf the ship was again struck, and her top-stream, which will ultimately cast them mast was shivered to atoms. In another on some European shore, or drift them minute a third shock shivered the fore-into the North Sea, to serve ultimately as mast and mainmast, and set fire to the fuel for the Esquiniaux. In turning vessel in many places, raked the deck from end to end, killed one man, paralyzed and burnt others, and knocked several persons out of the tops. In two parallel cases, the addition of a rod of copper made all the difference between VOL. XLV.-NO. IIL At Ver * The effect of this Act, which passed in 1839, was most marked. In the three years previous, the loss of life 300. the average annual loss of timber ships was 56, and In the three years subsequent to its coming into operation the loss of ships fell to 23, and the loss of life fell to 106, 23 the leaves of Lloyd's List, we find indica- | been left to tell the tale. In some cases tions of these dreary wrecks, which, where the circumstances of wind and curclothed in sea-weed, are driven over the rent are favorable, water-logged ships are face of the waters, and sighted by passing taken in tow by other vessels and become ships, of which they often cause the sud- valuable prizes. When, however, these den destruction, whilst carcering along in wrecks are in such a condition that it is seeming security. When these waifs and clear they can not be brought in, we think strays of the deep drift into much fre- it would be well if they could be desquented ocean paths, they are doubtless troyed. A few pounds of powder, juthe cause of many of those dreadful catas- diciously placed, or a beam or two sawn trophes witnessed only by the eye of God, across by the ship's carpenter, would break and our only knowledge of which is a curt the bond that binds these logs together, notice on the "Loss-book," at Lloyd's, and, once separated, they would not be "Foundered at sea, date unknown." A re- likely to do much damage. cent instance, in which possibly no damage was done, will yet suffice to show the risk. The Virago, loaded with teak from Moulmein, in the Indian Ocean, to Queenstown, Ireland, became water-logged, and was abandoned on the 5th of March last, 155 miles south-west of Cape Clear. The next day she was passed by the American liner, Eagle; on the 17th of the same month, a steamer, on her way from Rot terdam to Gibraltar, reports having seen her; on the 5th of April she was passed by the Naiad, on her passage from Palermo to Milford; and on the 15th the Samarang, on her way to Tenby, met with her; on the 18th she was seen 160 miles off the Lizard, "in a very dangerous position," by the Champion of the Seas; again, on the 3d of May, the Alhambra steamer on her voyage to Southampton, met her in latitude 47°; about the same time and place she was seen by the Peru steamer, and appeared as if run into;" and, finally, on the 20th of May, the tele graph sends word that she was stranded near Brest, and her cargo was being discharged. It is curious to note how, amid the tossing of the ocean, her name became gradually obliterated, till it was totally effaced, a type of the progressive decay and final destruction of the vessel herself. At first she is properly reported to Lloyd's as the Virago; the next ship makes her out to be the Argo; still later her cognomen is cut down to the go; and then the name disappears until the French find her upon their strand. Here we suppose her half-obliterated papers were found, and our neighbors, according to their usual wont, transmute the Virago into the Neroggogi. From these reports it is evident that a number of large vessels passed quite close to the wreck, and it is even probable that a collision may actually have occurred, and no one have Many disastrous wrecks can be distinctly traced either to a defective compass, or to an ignorance of the effects upon it of the magnetism of the ship's iron. There is a melancholy example in the loss of H.M.S. Apollo, of 36 guns, in 1803, with 40 sail of merchant ships, out of a convoy of 69 vessels, bound for the West-Indies. The Apollo was leading the way, with her train of outward-bound sugar ships following in her wake, little suspecting the catastrophe which was to follow At the very moment her defective compasses drove her ashore, she imagined she was some forty miles off the coast of Portugal, and so close was the merchant fleet upon her, that upwards of half of them took the ground and were dashed to pieces. More recently we have had the instances of the Reliance and Conqueror, wrecked near Ambleteuse, on the French coast, in sight of the cliffs of Albion, after voyaging from India. The former is known to have had an immense iron tank on board, the influence or which upon her compasses must have been very great. The Birkenhead, wrecked ear the Cape of Good Hope, and the ship Tayleur in the Irish Channel, are ditional instances of the destruction t which the trembling finger of the mag netic needle points the way, where igno rance or willfulness have placed impediments to its truthful action. ad. Of the numerous errors that may be classed under the general term of compass defaults, we may mention defective compasses arising from imperfect workmanship, or from an ignorance of the principles of mechanical and magnetical science, compasses perfectly adjusted but placed injudiciously either with reference to the magnetism of the ship, or in immediate proximity to concealed and unsuspected portions of that metal. Ignorance of the degree of compass error arising from the ship's magnetism, and of its varying amount in changes of geographic position, and a consequent belief, that in all places and under all circumstances the needle is true to the north, are frequent causes of shipwreck. With regard to the defective mechanical construction of compasses, it must be admitted that great improvements have taken place of late years, and the chief credit, we believe, is due to the British Admiralty. Nearly twenty years ago they instituted a Committee of Inquiry, and the silent working of the measures then advocated, and the adoption of the improvements suggested first under the direction of the late Captain Johnston, and more recently under that of Mr. Frederick Evans, R.N., have infused into the manufacturers, and a large portion of the mercantile marine and ship-owners, a degree of caution, skill and attention to details, which has brought forth good fruit. A large portion of the superior compasses of the United States navy are manufactured in this country, entirely on the Admiralty pattern, and several foreign governments have recently obtained the same instruments as models. It must not, however, be supposed that defective compasses have ceased to exist. Our coasting vessels and many of our noble sailing ships are miserably equipped, and there are many captains who still look on the compass as a cheap and common article, fit to be classed with hooks and thimbles and other articles of the boatswain's store-room. There can be no doubt that great errors in navigation are induced by inattention to placing the compasses. It is common to see the binnacle within two feet, and even less, of the massive iron-work of the rudder and wheel, which again is in immediate, contiguity with an iron stern post. The local deviation is consequently great, magnet adjustment is had recourse to, and a temporary alleviation of the evil follows, which is only magnified on the ship approaching some distant port. Numerous examples are on record of iron being introduced by some addition to the equipment of the ship, which has perhaps been lost in consequence within a few hours after quitting port. Among the causes which thus operate, we may name the fancy rails leading to state-cabins and saloons. These beneath a highly-polished covering of brass often conceal many hundred weights of iron. Cabin stoves and funnels, immediately under and alongside the compass, are frequently unsuspected. A noble transport during the late war, carrying troops and stores, pursued her course by day with unswerving fidelity, but at night the compass was as wild as the waves themselves. After diligent search it was found that the brazier, in preparing the binnacle lamps, had introduced a concealed iron wire hoop to strengthen their framework. The stowage of iron in cargo does not receive the attention it deserves, and we consider it should be imperative for every vessel which carries it, to be swung for the local deviation before quitting port, and a certificate duly lodged before clearing the Customs. When the Agamemnon adjusted compasses preparatory to sailing upon the last unsuccessful expedition to lay the Atlantic cable, it was discovered that the presence of the enormous coil in her hold caused a deviation of no less than 17 degrees! Had she been a merchant ship, no similar verification would have been made, and the sign-post which showed the path upon the trackless waters would only have pointed to mislead. It is remarkable how much misapprehension on the nature of magnetic action exists even among men of high intelligence. A competent witness, in a recent law trial, in a case of wreck, arising chiefly from a want of knowledge of the laws of magnetism in the navigation of the ship, stated that seamen in general believed, that if a cargo of iron was covered over, its effects were cut off from the compass. A leading counsel in the case sympathized with the general ignorance, because he confessed that he shared it. The adjustment of compasses by magnets is a most delicate operation, and has received much attention from some of our leading men in science. An able Committee, under the auspices of the Board of Trade, are now engaged in the midst of an iron navy in the port of Liverpool in elucidating the whole of the subject. We feel bound, however, to record our opinion against the indiscriminate employment of all the nostrums prescribed by the compass doctors or quacks at many of our seaports. Let the ship-owner consult such Reports of the Liverpool Committee as have been already published, or follow the Admiralty plan of having at least one good compass in a position free from all magnetic in- | ships are very faulty, both with respect fluences. In some of the large ocean to the position and character of lights, steamers a standard compass is fitted high buoys, and beacons, and to the variation up in the mizzen-mast, and we hear that of the compass, which is not unfrequently it is proposed to build a special stage on half a point wrong-an error which may board the Leviathan, in order to keep the be fatal in shaping a course up Channel compass from being affected by the im- or in a narrow sea. From this great evil mense body of iron in her fabric. the seaman has at present no protection. A perusal of the evidence given in The remedy lies in the hands of the legis those inquiries which take place relative lature, who have only to compel all chartto the loss of ships, under the Mercantile sellers to warrant their charts corrected Marine Act, would lead to the supposition up to the latest date, at least with respect that defective charts were even a greater to lights and buoys. There are but three cause of wrecks than compass defaults; or four publishers of private charts, as far. but this is not the case. The fact is, in- as we are aware, in the United Kingdom; correct charts afford an excuse for a mas- their stock of plates can not be very large, ter who may have lost his ship, which is and, once examined and set right, the but too readily accepted by the members corrections and additions could be easily of courts of inquiry and of courts-martial. inserted. Either the Board of Trade or The defense set up for the wreck of the the Admiralty should be intrusted with Great Britain steamer in Dundrum Bay, this duty. The latter are obliged to coron the east coast of Ireland, was that St. rect their own charts, and we understand John's Light, placed two or three years it is the practice of the hydrographer to previously, was not inserted in the most cause every new light, or change of light, recent charts of the Irish Channel procur- or buoy, or beacon, to be inserted in the able at Liverpool, and that consequently plate within twenty-four hours of the time it was mistaken for the Light at the Calf of the intelligence reaching the Admiralty. of Man. But these two lights are at least A large number of notices to marinersthirty miles apart, and it is monstrous to upwards, we believe, of a thousand a week suppose that a steamer should be so much -are printed and published, both by the out of her reckoning within a few hours Trinity House and the Admiralty, and of leaving port. Again, in the more re-distributed among those connected with cent case of the wreck of the Madrid steamer, off Point Hombre, at the entrance of Vigo Bay, several masters were examined, who stated that they had invariably passed equally close to the same headland, in reliance on the correctness of the chart. "Under these circumstances," said the Court, "the loss of the Madrid can not be attributed to the wrongful act or default of the captain." His certificate was therefore returned; and at the same time he was informed that, as a general rule," 150 yards is not a sufficient wide berth to allow in passing headlands." We should think not; and furthermore we imagine that, if the omission of every insignificant rock close to shore in government charts is to be taken as an excuse for shaving a dangerous headland, we may expect to hear of many repetitions of the disaster. The Orion wrecked on the west coast of Scotland, and the much-abused Transit, in the Banca Strait, owed their fate to the unseamanlike love of hugging the shore. It must be admitted, however, that the charts in common use on board merchant shipping; and every chart-seller should be bound under a penalty to give proof: to the Board of Trade or to the Admiralty. that he had inserted the corrections in his copper-plate within forty-eight hours of the appearance of the notice. It is a startling fact that the materials for constructing charts, even of parts of the waters which wash the shores of Europe, are not yet in existence. Of the coasts of Europe generally we are tolerably well informed, although there are many portions that require closer examination; but on the African and Asiatic portions of the Mediterranean, the early seat of civilization, and the best known sea in the world, there is still much to be done. When M. de Lesseps brought forward his romantic proposal for a Suez Canal, no survey existed of the coast of Egypt from Alexandria to El Arish. Of Syria we know nothing accurately; Cyprus, Rhodes, and the western half of Crete, are still almost blanks. But it is in the Eastern seas and in the Asiatic Archipelago that we are most at fault. The Persian Gulf, portions of the coast of India, Ceylon, Burmah, Malacca, Cochin China, the Yellow Sea, Corea, Japan, the southern and eastern part of Borneo, Celebes, etc., are hardly so correctly mapped as the mountains in the moon. The north and east coasts of New-Guinea again are unsurveyed. As long as the Spice Islands and the unknown lands washed by the Indian seas were given up to pirates and to the imagination of poets, this want was not felt; but now that our clippers swarm in these seas, and that Australia herself is beginning to trade there extensively, we shall assuredly hear of fearful shipwrecks from want of surveys. Then indeed it will be truly said, that imperfect charts are the cause of shipwrecks, unless, when India passes under the Imperial Government, vigorous steps are taken to remedy this grievous defect. From the British Quarterly. SOCRATES: HIS LIFE, TEACHING, AND DEATH.* FROM the modern Christian and Protestant champion of intolerance to the ancient martyr to heathen bigotry seems almost like a climax. We are not even sure that the Roman Catholic author of this interesting and erudite monograph, a Member of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Vienna, has not imbibed from his study of Socrates a more intense hatred of persecution than he is likely to have learned from Stahl. There are several tempting topics in the pages before us, on which, had we space, we could have wished to say a word. Such are his views of the theology of the great Grecian sage, and on that old quæstio vexata, the Demon of Socrates. But what has most struck us, is the startlingly close parallel which he draws between the heathen philosopher and the Great Teacher, which has never been carried so far as it is here. It will be, of course, understood, that the comparison relates to our Lord's human nature exclusively. M. Lasaulx goes so far as to say, in closing his remarkable essay: "I do not hesitate openly and boldly to avow my belief, that amongst the personages of the Old Testament, none furnishes so perfect a type of Christ as the Greek Socrates; and that in like *Des Sokrates Leben, Lehre und Tod nach den Zeugnissen der Alten dargestellt. Von ERNST VON LASAULX. (Socrates: his Life, Teaching, and Death, according to the Testimonies of the Ancients.) München, (Munich:) 1858. London: Williams and Norgate. manner the best part of the ethics of Christianity is incomparably more closely related to Hellenism than to Judaism." His synopsis of the ingenious though sometimes far-fetched analogies which he discovers between the life and death of Socrates and those of the Son of Mary, is too curious to be wholly omitted from even this brief notice. "As to the history of the youth of both men, we know, alas! far too little of that of the Nevertheless, some points of resemblance are to Saviour to be able to carry out a comparison. be found. The one was the son of a statuary, the other was the reputed son of a carpenter; accordingly both belong by birth, not to the learned class, but to that of artificers and mechanics. At the birth of Christ, Maji from the east came to worship him; a Maje to have foretold to Socrates his violent death. who had come out of Syria to Athens is said Even the manner in which both called their disciples shows remarkable similarities. When Jesus came to the lake of Galilee he found two brothers, Simón and Andrew, who were casting their nets to catch fish, and said to them, Follow me, I will make you fishers of men; and him. Once, when Socrates was passing through immediately they forsook their nets and followed the streets of Athens and met Xenophon in a narrow lane, he blocked up the young man's path by holding his sitck across it, and asked him where such and such sorts of provisions were to be bought. "When Xenophon had answered him this question, he asked him further: Do you know, too, of any place for training virtuous and good men? And when upon this the blood flew to the young man's cheek, Socrates said, Follow |