The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-29 00:00:00

SHOULD

LITERARY AND PIIILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

This society met in the Royal Institution last night. The
chair was occupied by Mr. J. B. YATES. The principal
feature of the evening was a lecture delivered by Mr. Tow-
SON upon the lately-adopted principle of great circle sailing
in ocean navigation. The lecturer explained clearly the
principle of the system, which, although but recently prac-
tically availed of in nautical science, he showed was no
recent discovery, the origin of which might be claimed by
any one of the present age, but a principle known and con-
templated so far back as the fifteenth or sixteenth century.
He pointed out the fallacies arising from vessels taking the
chart as the true practical representation of the earth's sur-
face, and how many persons had acted in navigation as if
the earth were a plane and not a sphere. That which
appeared a circuitous route, in such a voyage as from Liver-
pool to Australia, when viewed on Mercator's chart, would
be easily recognised as the direct course if viewed as upon the
surface of a sphere. Illustrating the principle, by referring
to the different courses of navigation across the Pacific, and
showing the great practical saving of distance realised by
the principle of great circle sailing, he explained the
advantage which arose in the adoption of this system, by
which the vessel was enabled to take advantage of the western
trade winds. He also dwelt upon the fact that even where
no actual saving of distance was accomplished that presented
the advantage which no mariner could overlook, that it
enabled the vessel to choose that route by which she might
fully enjoy the assistance of those great winds in wafting her
to her destination. This fact, the lecturer showed, was itself
a practical answer to the argument which some persons had
adduced against the principle, to the effect that the advan-
tage gained in distance might not be sufficient to compensate
for the loss which they conceived would be felt if a vessel left
the course which best enabled her to catch these winds. The
principle of great circle sailing, he explained, gave additional
facilities for taking advantage of them. The lecturer then
fara?Mgrorr:Vfiiall'helf teMiela
adopted the great principle of circuit sailing to a certain
extent, and only departed from it where it was necessary to
do so, in order to avoid entering upon latitudes which the
mariner knew to be dangerous. He explained the advan-
tages which this system presented, in meeting every argu-
ment urged against the great circle sailing, and alluded to
the difficulties with which for years he had to combat in
bringing that system under the favourable consideration of
scientific men, the prejudices with which he had to contend,
and the arguments adduced to prove its fallacy. The lec-
turer referred with pride to the successful efforts made by
captains of great nautical skill, such as Godfrey, M'Kay, and
Forbes, which had of late years established the great princi-
ple of circle sailing, and gained for Liverpool the honor of
having first adopted it. The lecturer was loudly applauded
at the conclusion and during different portions of his address.
The CHAIRMAN called upon the meeting to join in a vote
of thanks to Mr. Towson, for the able exposition and demon-
stration of the principle he had laid before them, which was
passed amid general acclamation.
It was announced that Mr. Towson will continue his
lecture, and more fully elucidate these important principles,
on Monday, Dec. 12th.

FROM THE FISHING GROUND. - The schooner Ella
Osborne, has arrived at Gloucester from the Bay of St.
Lawrence. Came through the Gulf of Canso on the sth
inst. ; left only about thirty sail of American fishing vessels
on the coast. Her majesty's steamers have all left the
ground, on account of heavy weather, for their winter quar-
ters at Halifax. The cutters are still on the ground, and
quarter mostly at Port Hood. All of the American fishing
vessels will leave the coast by the 15th inst., it being very
dangerous to remain there so late at the present time.
The crew of the Ella Osborne contradict the report of the
loss of the schooner Gold Hunter, and believe that she is
now safe. None of the vessels were getting any mackerel.
—Boston Traveller, 11th Nov.

HUNTER (AUSTRALIA) RIVER STEAM NAVIGATION COM-
PANY.—A meeting of this company was held early in July,
to take into consideration the propriety of increasing the
capital of the company by the creation of 1,500 new shares
of 101. each. The chairman read a correspondence which
had taken place between the board and Messrs. Walker and
Co., and between the latter and the ship-builders and engine-
makers on the Clyde, at London, and at Liverpool. This
correspondence went to show that, owing to the rise which
had taken place in the price of iron, and in the rate of
wages of the artizans employed in steam-ship building and
engine making, and to the general press of business, which
made builders careless about taking new contracts, the
steamers ordered could not be built under a cost considerably
above the estimate of the board—ranging, say, from 80001.
to 10,0001. This it was, the chairman explained, which
had rendered necessary the proposed increase of capital;
a:d after giving the matter every consideration, the directors
had come to the conclusion that an increase of 15,0001.
would enable them to carry out efficiently the objects of the
company. The chairman further explained, that on the 4th
of May last a letter had been dispatched by the board to
Messrs. Walker per steamer, authorising them to incur,
within certain limits, the additional expense necessary to
obtain the steamers of the class and description ordered, and
without delay..
RAISING VESSELS BY ELECTRICITY.—The New York Times
gives a very interesting account of the raising of a submerged
vessel by Foreman's electric apparatus, invented and con-
structed for that purpose by the gentleman whose name it
bears. As the new discovery is one of the utmost importance
and utility to the maritime and commercial world, among
the throng collected to witness the announced experiment
were many influential merchants and shipowners. The wea-
ther was unfavourable, and the experiment was in conse-
quence only partially successful. The Times says :—Owing
to the weak nature of the materials employed in the con-
struction of the
.apparatus, which had been prepared econo-
mically for this occasion, and the heavy sea running even in
the dock, some delay occurred in bringing the force to bear
upon the submerged vessel—a craft of 90 tons, resting on
the bottom, in 18 feet water. The buoys, used as floats to
receive the gas, or, in technical phraseology, the "camels,"
were simply water-tight casks, so constructed that when the
charge generating the gas should be fired, the gas would en-
ter through India rubber pipes into one orifice, and the
water that had filled the casks up to the moment of the ex-
periment would thus be forced out at another. It so hap-
pened that these casks were of uneven buoyancy, and when
the charge was at last fired, the gas entered those ranged
above one side of the vessel with greater rapidity than it
could force its way into those above the other—so that the
former rising very swiftly, added to the pressure upon the
latter, which, remaining full of water and impervious to the
gas, sank instead of being inflated and buoyed up, and the
vessel rose to the surface on one side only. The principle,
however, was fairly illustrated, as the submerged craft came
up, amidst the cheers of the throng in about two minutes
after the charge was touched off, and remained suspended in
her position. The material used in the apparatus was alone
defective—a fault that can readily be avoided upon a future
occasion by the outlay of more mrney. We understand that
Mr. Foreman is having India rubber camels of precisely
equal size and buoyancy prepared, and will sown make
another experiment.