The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-06 00:00:00

The NVEATHER.—Sun Office, Jan. 6, 1863.

THERMOMETER.
Highest since Noon yesterday 46
Lowest during the night
This day at N00n.....

Barometer-29.12.
Wind—S.-Westerly; light, with rain during the nigh
and this morning. Afternoon, fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DA7.—Morning, 2h. 58m.—Afternoon, 3h. 16m.
To-woßaow.-Morning, 3h. 31m.—Afternoon, 3h. 50m.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 18€3.

Several years have elapsed since the Admiralty
instituted a searching inquiry into the efficacy of
various kinds of anchors. The trial was a severe
one, and great credit was given to those who con-
ducted the investigation for the fair way in which
it was carried out. The Admiralty anchor, although
not the worst, was very far from being the best,
and was proved to be not only far more weighty
than TROTMAN'S and some others, but to be consi-
derably more expensive. The fiat was therefore
given against it ; but notwithstanding the judg-
ment of the committee, until a very recent date,
and, for what we know to the contrary, up
to the present time, only two ships in the
Royal Navy had been supplied with patent anchors,
viz., the Victoria and Albert and the Black Eagle;
the Admiralty having entered into a sort of dooms-
day contract with some firm some centuries ago to
supply anchors at a fixed price until somewhere
about the above-named date. We mention the
above fact, not so much to hold up Admiralty short-
comings to censure, but to show that in a quarter
where expense is seldom taken into account, the
interest of the service has been neglected. Still, on
the whole, our ships are well found, and if the
anchors be not of the best quality, they in
general answer their purpose, and the cables
are always tested to a far severer strain
than there is any probability of their being
subjected to in actual service, and a man-of-war
is far more likely to drag her anchor than to part
her cables. How different is the case with the
small fry of the merchant service a glance at
the yearly wreck chart will painfully demonstrate.
The larger class of merchant ships are as well
found as those of the navy. There is a strict
supervision kept over the equipment of the fleet of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company, the Atlan-
tic Packet Companies, and all the leading mercan-
tile traders. The number of their ships renders
it necessary for them to become their own insurers,
and to replace the loss or decay of any particular
vessel by a sinking fund yearly deducted from the
profits of the company. It is therefore evidently
to their interest to take every precaution to prevent
disaster. The loss of any of the abovenamed
ships is generally owing to thick weather, or a
mistake in reckoning, and to vessels of this class
intimation of danger is too often only given by the
striking of the ship. These large companies
possess fleets of ships equal to, and in many cases
superior, to the navies of other nations, and are of
vast service to our own Government in the con-
veyance of troops and stores, yet they form but
a small minority of the merchant fleets of
Great Britain. The majority of our ships
belong to firms who possess but a limited num-
ber ; these are,
therefore, insured at pri-
vate offices; and, as the owners will be indem-
nified for the loss of the vt ssels, they have not the
same inducement to provide them with first-class
stores. We do not charge all with being actuated
by such unworthy motives; but it is the duty of
insurance companies to put every restraint on those
who have a temptation held out to them to neglect ,
the safety of their property. It is a melancholy
fact that by far the greatest number of vessels I
wrecked on our coast are of under 500 tons burden,
and that of this number a large majority
are lost by the breaking of their cables.
We have mentioned above that in the Royal Navy
all chains are tested, or, as the term goes, proved
before being accepted from the maker. Now these
chains, to resist the required strain, require to be
made of superior iron, but oven then some flaw may
exist in some part which will cause the chain to
break, and it is forthwith rejected. To meet these
necessary expenses a higher price is of course
charged, but this, according to Mr. TROTMAN, does
not exceed one shilling per hundredweight, yet
eighty-two per cent. of merchant service cables
when tested broke at a strain not equal to one
quarter of What sound iron is calculated to withstand.
The question may be asked, Is not the cure of this
in the hands of the masters and crews of our coasters
and other vessels who might refuse to sail in vessels
not provided with proper and effective ground
tackle Were such a question put to any skipper
or mate ho would reply, /
were to hint
such a thing to my owners I should bo told
to clear out, and that somebody else
would be too glad to take charge of the