The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-24 00:00:00

EXTRACTS FRON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD,

TRIGONOMETRICAL SURVEY OF
SCOTLAND.

Most of our readers are aware ihat a survey of the
British Ides, upon an extended and accurate scale, has
been going on for a great many years, under the direc-
tion of the Admiralty and Ordnance departments of the
Government. The survey of Ireland has, we believe,
been compl- ted, and that of England nearly so. Only a
comparatively small portion of the south of Scotland is,
we understand, finished ; but the triangulation, which
has been in progress for some years, is well advaricod.
It is upon the trigonometrical survey, or the observations
determining the great triangulation of the country,
preliminary to the detailed survey, that the corps of
surveyors upon Ben Nevis is now engaged. Pei haps it
is not generally known that the base line upon which the
triangulation of the three queendoms and all their islands
is reared, was measured in Ireland. From this base line
a multifarious system of angles has been raised, triangu-
lating the country to its uttermost limits. When the
ohss,rvations have been taken from the main points, they
are sent up to the Ordnance Survey-office, which is at
present at Southampton, where the calculators and
mappers are at work. Upon the reduction of the calcu-
lations here, any distance from any point in Scotland
to any other, with the bearing, can be determined
to a nicety, without a line ever having been actually
measured in Scotland. They are all divided from the
original base-line in Ireland, upon the simple and beauti-
ful calculation, that when the one side and two angles of
a triangle are given, the other two sides and the remaining
angle may be found. The great net-work of triangles
formed by these trigonometrical points (which may now
he seen upon every prominent hill-top in the country)
forms the ground work upon which the survey is based.
Surveyors are employed filling in the details with great
minuteness. Others again are employed filling in the
coast lines, sounding the channels and navigable rivers,
observing the tides and currents, &c., placing buoys and
beacons where required, and publishing the charts with
full and correct sailing directions. So correct and elabo-
rate is this Ordnance survey, that in Ireland, where it
has been. completed, no new survey has been required for
railway lines

The great theodolite upon Ben Nevis is one of
three of the largest size which are at present in ope-
ration upon leading points in Scotland. It was con-
structed by Ramsdell, in three feet diameter, has eight
microscopes, and reads to tenths of seconds. The
methods by which long distances are observed is in-
teresting. It is evident that, in distances of 50 to
100 miles, no ordinary object could be distinguish-
able. By the adoption of the heliostal or sun light,
it is calculated that they will be enabled to take
observations at a distance of 120 or 150 miles from
Ben Nevis. Corporal Windzer is in confident ex-
pectation of being able to observe Knocklayde in
Ireland. The sun-light consists of a mirror so posi-
tioned as to reflect the sun right in the direction
of the mountain-top from which it is desired to ob-
serve it. At present, there are sun-mirrors upon
many of the principal mountains, directed towards
Ben Nevis. That on Ben Macdhui, when seen
through the great theodolite, presents the appear-
ance of a very vivid star. These heliostal lights,
besides enabling the observer upon Ben Nevis
to fix with a greater degree of certainty the main
points of the great triangulation, and likewise
to observe objects at distances where no ordinary
signal could be visible, serve as beacon-lights amongst
the tremendous sea of hills by which he is sur-
rounded. tsome idea may be formed of the splendid
sweep of Vision which the theodolite upon Ben Nevls
commands, when it is stated that 1,500 observations
are expected to be taken from it. Upwards of four
mountain-tops will thus, on the average, fall within
each degree of the circle. In addition to the main
purpose of the triangulation of Scotland, numerous ce-
lestial, and barometrical, and thermometrical obse.lta
tions are here being registered. From Corporal Windzer
we learned, that during the first fortnight in August
(during which only he had lived upon the summit), the
lowest thermometer had been 38 degrees, and the highest
54 degrees ; the barometer averaged 25.2 inches.—
Aberdeen Journal.

BEGGING LETTERS—IMPOSTORS.----A gentleman of
this county received lately two begging letters from Ire-
land, written in the most plausible and persuasive style,
and accompanied by forged certificates. One of them
purported to be from a soldier's wife, Ellen Grant, a
hative i.f Beuly, who was wrecked while proceeding to
join her husband, a colour-sergeant in the 77th Regi-
ment. Her other relations, she said, had all emigrated
to America some years since, and the people of Ireland
would do nothing for a Scotch person. Hence she was in
great distress, " trusting to his Honour's kind and bene-
volent answer by return of post." The second lettdr of
this kind aroused the suspicions of the party to whom
they were addressed, and he forwarded both to the
Police-office at Dublin. In reply, the Commis,doners of
the Dublin Metropolitan Police stated that the papers
had emanated from impostors sojourning in Dublin, and
circulating fictitious applications fur alms. The Com-
missioners sent copies of various other forged certificates
of a similar description, accompanying them with the
following notice, which we copy, to put our readers on
their guard, in case Of other attempts at deception:—
't The Commissioner.; of the Dublin Metrop.:.liteu Police
have received from variousiparts of the United Kingdom,
,unterfvited certificates, purporting to be from magis-
trates at Galway, Sligo, and other ports, with fictitious
salheription lists appended, and sometimes municipal
seals (found to be impressions from casts of corporation
;it cry buttons), in which papers, women, represented to
Le:widon a of sergvants or othi r non-comtuis,ionedollhe- s

of her Alaj,sty's fort-‘s, are recommended for alert.,
usually tinder pretence of destitution from shipwreck;
and various fabricators of such papers, apprehended by
the police, having escaped punishment for the Hint it
legal proof of the actual receipt of money by mezns of
the fal: e pretences used (the only offence cognisable in
the present state of the law) it has been considered ad•
visablo to give this pablic notice of the f. a ids so prac-
tised, with a view to prevent further imposition, anti in-
duce the transmission of charitable donations through
responsible persons, when given in complia.nce with the
written solicitations of unknown applicants.—lrwerness
Courier.

OCT. 20, 1846.
Mr. Patterson attended the Board on his return from
the ship, anti explained his views as to getting her off,
and reported that, finding it necessary to protect the
ship until some means be adopted for her removal, he
had ordered a fender of wood-work to be made to secure
the ship's quarter, at an expense of 60/. or 70/. ; and
having recommended that a small floating breakwater
should be constructed for her protection generally, at a
cost of about 1001.,
It was resolved,
That the temporary protection ordered for the ship's
quarter be confirmed, and that the breakwater be im-
mediately proceeded with; also that the Secretary will
communicate with Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., of
Liverpool, in reference to Mr. Patterson's views as to
getting her off, for the consideration of the underwriters.
Captain Hosken's report of the circumstances which
preceded the disaster of the " Great Britain " in Dun-
drum Bay, and also the after occurrences, having been
read and considered,
It was resolved,
Ist.—That the report be circulated among the pro-
prietors.
2d.—That while the directors sympathise with Capt.
Hosken upon as event so afflicting to him, and so in-
jurious to the company, they rejoice with him that the
catastrophe was, by the blessing of Providence, unat-
tended with loss of life or personal injury to any one.
3d.—They take this opportunity of recording their
most grateful thanks to Lady Matilda Montgomery, the
magistrates, and the officers and men of the Coast
Guard, constabulary, and revenue services, mentioned
in Captain Hosken's report ; and their perfect satis-
faction with the conduct of the officers and ship's com-
pany, who, under circumstances of great trial and fatigue,
conducted themselves so admirably.
4th.—With respect to the occurrences which preceded
the stranding of the unfortunate ship, as explained now
by Captain Hosken, and by the report of Captain Clax-
ton to the secretary, the directors are of opinion that the
ship was stranded in consequence of an error in judg-
ment into which it appears her captain was betrayed,
through the omission of a notice of St. John's Light in the
chart of this year, by which he was navigating, and of
the want of knowledge on his part of such a light being
established—it being to the directors obvious, that, had
that light been laid down, Captain Hosken would have
known that the judgment which led him at eight o'clock
to put his ship in th proper course for the North Chan-
nel ought to have been persevered in.
The directors cannot dismiss the subject at its present
stage without considering whether any and what amount
of benefit to navigation is to be derived from the melan-
choly circumstances which they have so deeply to de
plore, and they inform the proprietors that they mean
to appeal to all insurance companies, all merchants,
shipowners, and masters of ships, to aid them in
urging upon the Legislature an enactment, with
heavy penalties, against all Admiralty agents who shall,
after the passing of the same, sell charts without
an annual certificate, that they have been examined
by a person or persons in authority, Either from the
Hydrographer's Office or the Trinity House, or as may
be appointed, and that they contain all the known
lights, buoys, or beacons, up to the date of the said
certificate; also upon vendors of charts not Admiralty
agents, who shall not, in the first week of every January.
have obtained a similar certificate from the Custom-
house authorities of the several seaports of the United
Kingdom. The directors apprehend that this may be
accomplished without any sacrifice of property, as no•
thing can be more easy than dotting down in red ink,
and in writing, whatever may be new upon the oldest
charts, and the result would be increased confidence in
navigation, a vast saving of property, greater security
to underwriters, and concomitant safety to the travelling
public.
The stranding of so noble a specimen of naval architec-
ture, and the consequent check to the progress of naval
science—the narrow escape from a watery grave of nearly
three hundred persons—the probable loss of so much
property, and the success or otherwise of experi-
ments to save her—are questions of interest, and
while they are fresh in men's minds, or under
discuisioe, is the time, the directors conceive, to
add considerations of modes of improvement in the sit:e-
guards of navigation, and they would consider theinsche,
remiss if they neglected the earliest opportunity of claim-
ing the supp,rt of the public in obtaining as Act of
Parliament, embracing in some shape the foregoing
object, as they cannot but consider that the primary
cause of the disaster was the omission of St. John's Light
in th,., chart used by Captain Hosken.