The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-08-20 00:00:00

LONDON GAZETTE

BANKRUPTS.—JOSEPH WILSON, High Street, Kings-
land, painter and dPeorator. WILLIAM. FIELD, Prince's
Street, Storey's Gate, Westminster, primer. EVAN
ROBERTS, Llanelly, Carmartbenshire, coal miner, awl
coal seller. JAMES Tausc,irT, A beryswith, watchwaker
and jeweller JOSEPH BARNSLEY, HOWIPy Regis, Staf-
fordshire, publican and gas tube manufacturer. JOHN
Dyne, Strand, stationer. JOHN JOHNSON, late of
Willenhall, Staffordshire, chemist and druggist. ANDREW
LAWRIE, St. J. hn Sl.reet Road, baker. WILLIAM JASPER
NAPPER, Newcastle-on-Tyne, co,tutnission agent. 'gm
1
ECCLES and JOHN NUTTALL, 0H.1110.1a111, Lower End,
Lancashire, cotton spinners.

SELLING WHISKEY WITH ,UT LICENSE.— Mary Carroll'
a resident of Sparlir,g-street, was summoned by the excise
authorities before the magistrates, yesterday, for Being
whiskey, without a license, on Sunday morning, the 26th
July. A pol ce officer proved the sale, and an excise officer
proved tlyit the defendant was not licensed. Mr. Campbell,
f)r the defendant, made an able address to the bench, but
called no witnesses. A mitigated penalty of £l2 10s was
inflicted.

REV. DR. SCORESBY'S COMPASS EXPERIMEcTS
AND OB ERVA.TIoNS ON MAGNETIC MANGO
IN THE ROYAL CHARTER.

At a special meeting of the L'verpool Compass
Committee, held in their rooms, nn Saturday last's
the Rev. Dr. Scoresby gave a comprehensive account 0'
the results of his magnetic researches during the voyage
of the Royal Charter to Australia, and round the world.
The Royal Charter, it should be noted, is an iron slap'
of the clipper cl iss, with auxiliary steam power, belntlV
ing to the Liverpool and Australian Navigation Company'
and commanded by Captain F. Brace. She is 324 fee
in length on deck and 42 feet in breadth, and 2 78 039:
measurement. The compasses of the Royal Chart "
ohs rvations on which was one important object of Pr:,
Scoresby's enquiries, were four in number ; the steeria"
compass, adjusted by magnets nn Mr. A;ry's p,ineiples'
68 feet from the stern; another adjusted compa97
called the companion compass. 89 feet.; a stanitat`
compass on the deckhouse, unadjusted, 181 feet frail
the stern, and a compass aloft, 42 feet above the poopss„'" n„
deck. The leading objects contemplated by ri
Scoresby in his recent undertaking, were to verify or test
his theoretic views and results of inductive massmetifll'
with relation to the compass, especi illy as to the ";ele'',,'
tive quality " so highly developed in iron ships. ia the
process of construction with the changes its such mag-
netism—views which he had first placed before tilt
public at the meeting of the B itish Association a,
Oxfor3, in 1847, and sirce then, in his assoetie'"
Investiga ions," published in 1852, and in various oth'r
forms ; and to test also his plan of a compass aloft, first
proposed in his account of discoveries on the eas'et,lls
coast of Greenland, in 1822, for the avoidance of the slap
attraction, and for obtaining correct compass guitlasee'
so essential to safety in navigation. Four plans or r°,
cesses were adopted by Dr. Scoresby, for the determine'
tion of the f icts, as to the nature and changes of the
s
ship's magnectic condition, viz.:—comparisons,
daily, of the four compasses described ; experiments
the ship's external magnetism, as iwiicated by her de-
viating action on a compass, placed first near the tippet
edge of the top plating, and then gradually let clowne
towards the water's edge—such experiments being ma aa
in different parts of the ship's length, on the poop, 1370,
forecastle; the determination, from time to time, of ,ht
polarity of iron bars, standards, &c., having an up 1411:
position ; and, finally, the ascertaining the posit°,
taken by a Foxe's dipping needle in different statist%
about the deck, and comparing the results with the kn°lo
Terrestrial dip. By these several applications, the whole
of the objects contemplated in the voyage were satisfactass.
and completely attained, and to Dr. Scoresby it was nee'
sarily most gratifying to find that not one of the conc":1
the
sions he had been led to by inductive researches was le
any measure controverted ; but, on the contrary, all e
leading propositions he had been urging for years on ;4,
attention of navigators and men of science, were in
tinctly verified—thus, just as he had predicted, the Su
retained her original magnetic condition, and .the
adjusted compasses preserved very nearly their origlum,
state, so long as the ship was on courses not very renlLo
from the direction of the ship's head when building; ",be
when she came into a south-easterly direction, :0
reverse of that on the stocks, under a heavy seajda'sse
had been predicted, the compasses changed, and th`,.
was an error, temporarily, in the steering compass °,1.10
point or more. On reaching a position of considerable
southern dip, the adjusted compasses went wrong--°
of them to the extent of a point and three-quartersS;
moderate change only in comparison with many alslIIP
due, no doubt, to the favourable position of tbe „og e
Charter's compasses in being removed so far frora.des,
stern, and entirely above the iron plating of the si 0.
On swinging the ship at Melbourne the standard 011.1
pass was found to have lost nearly one-half of its origl
errors, and the two adjusted compasses to have atta'nto
considerable deviations, whilst the compass abaft was
all practical ends quite correct. But the most strilt.,s
change exactly consistent with theoretic deductions ;35,,
the complete inversion of the ship's magnetic Pnia,j,
The whole of the top sides having changed from s°Ll`,ieser
to northern externally, and every standard, stanetliiiog
davit, or other mass of iron about the deck, inch' to
ear
also four iron capstans, had attained at the upper I had
northern polarity, which, northward of the equatatod.
been tested as having their southern poles tillcv,esl
Approaching the magnetic equator on the hnull,eo
passage the two ends of the ship, as had also
"tat
predicted, attained polarities corresponding with so
action of Terrestrial induction, the stern aloft, as welifsa
below, changing to southern polarity, and the oil
becoming more intensely magnetic with the Itol
polarity. The gradual travelling of the southern Pt' cord
from the stern forward, as the ship advanced north ol
towards the line, was a fact, which Dr. Scoresby scatchissf
with great attentionand interest until after reae,ed
some distance within the northern tropic. The syl'°'tsat
the ship's sides had changed again their polarity, set act
from stem to stern, as when the ship had first
out, the npper plating had all acquired the sl'„se'
polarity. Finally, as to the corroborating fact ul „`per
vious decluctives, it was mentioned that thous!' the ual
polarity of the ship had changed, yet some grn re
influence derived from the previous inversion of polavierf
or more particularly from the earth's inductive I"ivortl
while the ship's head was continually directed north
of
from the passing of Cape Horn, had been receive(solt
retained. Hence, on twinging the ship at Liv°l3oeo
immediately on her return to port, the adjusted c°mPthel4:
were found not merely to have retained their saaapso'
errors, but that the maximum of the steering' cts"
had increased up to about two points, while corresPlof
dently, in a theoretic view the standard comoass„, it!
become still more correct than when at Melbollt"--00
errors on a large number of points being now tr. pr'
and unimportint. In reference to this operaliTiser,'
Scoresby remarked that it was but justice to fly)
pool committee, and their active s cretary, Mr. „ty ot
and to the well bestowed confilence and liber"'ecetl"
the dock committee, to state that but for their r. the
arrangements for determining in the case of ships 1, 0 theriver, the true magnetic direction by the marks °,,toll'
dock walls referable to a lofty chimney in Nrantlhotet'a
road, this second prompt swinging of the Royal
without which his (Dr. Scoresby's) series of e%Peris- blori
would have been essentially defective, could 11°;rtolls"
been accomplished ; and for facilEtating the inIP
object of determining the compass errors in ir°lll,dhrg
this plan Dr. Scoresby considered deserved the uledle,
commendation. The results of the dipping 11,0"
experiments, which were in no small degree interi
and instructive, were described in the course °,bu
Scoresby's statement, anti illustrated by diagragla'ocide
they do not admit of such conversation as this !.. t,
requires. One most important fact reinalener;
be noticed, viz., that such was the gof
accuracy of the compass aloft, that in this case ire
Royal Charter, and such the instruction derive"oosil
the repeated swinging of the ship, that the Ol
actually made good on every occasion durol7o i 4 P 4
voyage was accurately known—that is, far with eftli
limits of the defects of steering. And that 130"0f „s
'
determinations, by azimuths and amplitudes, ee
variation of the compass in the Pacific and Nal: ouch
p
South Atlantic were obtained with, perhaps, 39,i0beA
accuracy as had ever been had in ships built of l'„Avri
At the conclusion of his statement, the rev. Dr. revyesflli;
the congratulations of the members on the snecolif
issue of his voyage, and a vote of thanks wasss,
mously accorded to him, on the motion of 0, le°,l,
Potter, Chairman of the Underwriters' AssociatTosr
the instructive report with which they had been fa' loll;
and which contained so many important facts lriroe eft 's
to the management of iron ships. Mr. J. P. PaL-t.o the
seconding the vote of thanks, bore testimony sao,
importance of the investigation to underwriLeisels
shipowners, as well as to passengers. The C''''sf
Mr T. Brocklebank, in conveying the thank.isesSto
meeting to Dr. Scoresby, said, he only expressed 'lljsiles
timents of all present when he said he had listens(. Ole
much pleasure to the statement which had he,,e40`),0
made. Those who best understood the subjeel„seo„"o
appreciate it the most. Dr. Scoresby, in reply. e%„l,see'd
the pleasure he felt in receivino' the acknowle","lolso
of the committee, stating that lie was not forg'et °of' I
the liberal spirit in which the compass cninmitte„ ore
other Liverpool associations had seconded
.bra
when he first proposed his voyage to Australia.