Page images
PDF
EPUB

13. Diagrams or indicator cards* have been received, taken from the following ships: Cambria,'' Admiral Moorsom,'' Leinster' and Ulster,'' Colombo' (lengthened), 'Nubia,' and 'Thunder.'

[ocr errors]

The sum of £150 voted by the Council of the Association to defray the expenses of the Committee has been expended, and the statement of the expenditure, which could not be prepared in time for publication with this Report, will be presented by the Committee at the Meeting.

The thanks of the Committee are especially due to Mr. Wm. Smith, C.E., a member of the Committee, for the large amount of assistance he has rendered in collecting information, as also by placing a room in his offices at the disposal of the Committee.

Your Committee, in conclusion, have the painful duty to record the death of their late Chairman, Admiral Moorsom, and the regret which they have felt at the melancholy event which has deprived them of their Chairman, and their sense of the great loss which has thus been sustained by your Association and by the scientific world at large, as well as by the distinguished profession to which he belonged.

Offices of the Committee,

19 Salisbury Street, Adelphi, London.

(Signed)

APPENDIX.-Table 12.

SUTHERLAND,

Chairman.

Return of the Average Passages of Mail Packets and Consumption of Coal for Six Months, ending 31st March, 1861.

[blocks in formation]

Note.-The Ulster' and 'Munster' encountered a larger proportion of severe weather and fogs than the 'Leinster' and 'Connaught.'

[ocr errors]

APPENDIX.-TABLE 13.

Steam-ship Leinster.' On trial from Holyhead to Kingstown, April 4, 1861.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

* The indicator diagrams may be seen, by any one interested therein, by application at the Offices of the Committee.

APPENDIX.-Table 14.

Steam-ship Ulster.' On trial from Kingstown to Holyhead, April 5, 1861.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

BRITISH ASSOCIATION.-COMMittee on Steam-SHIP PERFORMANCE.

19 Salisbury Street, Strand, London, W.C.

November 21st, 1860.

SIR,-Enclosed is a Form which the Steam-ship Performance Committee of the British Association hope you will kindly fill up at your convenience, and transmit to me.

The Committee have apprised the Admiralty of their intention to communicate with such Captains and Engineers of H.M. Ships as may be disposed to assist the British Association in obtaining facts for scientific calculations relating to the Performance of Ships at sea, and have, at their Lordships' request, sent them a copy of the Form.

The Form proposed is as simple as is consistent with the object of obtaining data necessary for calculation, and the Committee are under the impression that the time required to fill up such Forms cannot interfere with the duties of the respective Officers.

[ocr errors]

It is, however, to be clearly understood that it is for objects of science alone that the Officers are invited thus to aid the labours of the British Association, one of whose fundamental rules is laid down in the following terms :— The object of the Committee is to make public such recorded facts through the medium of the Association, and being accessible to the public in that manner, to bring the greatest amount of science to the solution of the difficulties now existing to the scientific improvement of the forms of vessels and the qualities of marine engines. They will especially endeavour to guard against information so furnished to them being used in any other way, and they trust they may look for the co-operation of Members of the Yacht Club having steam yachts, of Shipowners, as well as of Builders and Engineers." I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

C. R. MOORSOм, Vice-Admiral and Chairman.

ERRATA AND ADDENDUM IN TABLE V.

Col. 12, last line but one, for "about 64,700", read "total 64,700."

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

BRITISH ASSOCIATION.-COMMITTEE ON STEAM-SHIP PERFORMANCE.
Return of H.M.'s Steam-ship

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

No. of Furnaces at Work ......

Square Feet of Grate Surface at Work..

Square Feet of Heating Surface at Work......

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Weight to which Safety Valve is loaded per Square Inch...

Pressure of Steam per Square Inch in Steam Chest

Density of Water

Consumption of Coal per hour....

Description of Coal during period

[merged small][ocr errors]

Indicated Horse-power, with Diagrams

Evaporation of Water per hour

DRAUGHT OF WATER :

On Leaving Port-Forward..........
Ditto ditto Aft......

On Arriving in Port-Forward
Ditto ditto

REMARKS

[ocr errors]

Aft

[ocr errors]

....................

Office, 19 Salisbury Street, Strand,
London, W.C.

Signature

Date

Preliminary Report on the Best Mode of Preventing the Ravages of Teredo and other Animals in our Ships and Harbours. By J. GWYN JEFFREYS, F.R.S., F.G.S.

SINCE the last meeting, Mr. Jeffreys went to Holland for the purpose of investigating the experiments which are being made there, under the direction of the Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, and with the sanction of the Dutch Government, in order to check the destructive ravages of the Teredo marina; and he was accompanied by Dr. Verloren, of Utrecht, another member of the Committee. The progress of these different experiments is periodically and carefully recorded; but it will take many years before the result can be shown. From an elaborate report of the Dutch Commission, published last year, and which was placed by M. Van der Hoeven in Mr. Jeffreys's hands, it appears that no efficacious remedy had at that time been discovered. Even the expensive process of creosoting the timber failed in one instance where the piece of wood thus treated was in contact with another piece which had not been creosoted; the Teredo having indiscriminately perforated both pieces of wood, first attacking the uncreosoted wood. Mr. Jeffreys had also lately seen a piece of wood used in the construction of harbour works at Scrabster, which, although it had been creosoted to the extent of 10 pounds to the square foot (having been first dressed and cut), was excavated on every side by the Limnoria lignorum. Iron-headed or scupper nails afford very little protection, as the Teredo and Limnoria work their way even through the rust, unless it is very thick, the valves of the Teredo becoming stained in consequence. The remedy suggested by Mr. Jeffreys (viz. a coating of some siliceous or mineral composition) had not been tried in Holland or France. Among other communications received by Mr. Jeffreys on the subject was one from Mr. William Hutton, of Sunderland, who had recently taken out a patent "for preventing the destruction of timber from the action of marine animals." His process is to force into the wood a soluble silex, or water glass, with muriate of lime. If this process is not expensive, it would no doubt answer the desired purpose; but it is probable that the same object would be attained by merely soaking the wood in a solution of this kind, or even laying it on the wood with a brush. It would seem to be sufficient if the outer layer of the wood were coated or glazed in such a manner that the composition would not crack or peel off.

Although the different kinds of Teredo are locally and partially distributed on our coasts, the wood-boring Crustacea (and especially Limnoria lignorum) occur everywhere in countless numbers, and on the whole do the greatest damage to our harbour works. Mr. Jeffreys endeavoured to obtain, through a member of the Committee who resided at Plymouth, permission from the Admiralty to institute some experiments in the Dockyard there, having been informed that very considerable damage had been sustained in that port during many years past from the last-mentioned cause. But, although a copy of the Association's Proceedings was furnished to the First Lord and Secretary to the Admiralty, and the Port-Admiral expressed his approval of the experiments being tried, and forwarded the application to the Admiralty, permission was refused. It does not appear that the Admiralty or Government have taken any steps to prevent further loss, or even to inquire into the

matter.

Notwithstanding this discouragement, Mr. Jeffreys will persevere, with the assistance of the other members of the Committee, in doing all that is possible to ensure such an important and national object as the protection of our ships and harbours from the destructive attacks of these animals.

« PreviousContinue »