The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-08 00:00:00

STORM SIGNALS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Two letters in the Times of this morning
induce me to offer a few lines as an explanation, if
not a reply, to your correspondents. Evidently
the writer from near Hull had not taken notice
enough of your daily Weather Table, by which it is
shown that Scarborough and Yarmouth (each side
of Hull) report daily, and that there is not a suffi-
cient difference between them to make an inter-
mediate station necessary for reporting to this
office. Hull has barometers and signals, is regu-
larly warned from London, and transmits caution-
ary notices to the Spurn Light and other neigh-
bouring places.
To your Portsmouth correspondent I would
submit the consideration that the experiment of
warning by special and peculiarly shaped signals
has scarcely been tried long enough to justify its
adoption by her Majesty's Government definitely.
At present its effects are being tested by the un-
failing method of experience. The Admiralty has
aided the Board of Trade, which has allowed and
supplied means for this trial; but the Government
does not incur any responsibility. Were such a
cautionary signal hoisted on board one of her Ma-
jesty's ships, under existing circumstances, it could
not be divested of an authoritative appearance.
Arrangements for an efficient co-operation are in
progress by the Coastguard, depending, of course,
on the results of a few months' trials.

The system is by no means dependent on one
person. There are rules and directions easy to un-
derstand, and now used by my assistants.
On Friday last, at two o'clock, we knew in Lon-
don that a northerly gale was impending on the
northern and eastern coasts of Great Britain.
Having on a previous occasion given warning at
the earliest moment, but unavailing to those who
would not wait even for one day, or more probably
could not then stop (unhappily many of them were
lost on the shores of Durham), and having then
been thought too early, we did not send out the
telegrams until after reading the three o'clock re-
ports from ten salient stations, which arrived at
four, or soon after, from Ireland as well as Scotland.
Getting dark now in the north at five, it would
have been useless to hoist a signal that evening, so
the telegram was to 34 stations on the coasts (in-
cluding those reported daily in your columns) :
"At daylight to-morrow hoist drum, and keep it
up all day."
A drum (showing as a black square of three feet)
means that dangerous winds are probable from dif-
ferent directions successively.
On Saturday and Sunday a northerly gale blew;
on Monday and Tuesday a southerly gale was blow-
ing. The instructions accompanying our cautionary
signals say that they apply to any time from first
hoisting to two or three days afterwards.
I do not hesitate to say, and it is more than 40
years since I bought Daniell's first work on meteor-
ology, that the peculiarities of our winds and cli-
mate are now sufficiently known to make it practi-
cable to foresee every extensive storm ; and when
no such change is impending to give the negative
information, often valuable, that no tempest need be
feared.

The storm of last Saturday was remarkably local
and circumscribed, but, as usual, violent proportion-
ally to its smaller extent between two strong con-
trary currents. While blowing hard from the north
with'a low thermometer (30 to 40 deg.) across Scot-
land, England, and the western side of the North
Sea, there was a southerly gale over Holland, and
at Paris the thermometer showed 60 deg., while
across France there was only wind from south-east
to south-west.

The weather reports of last Friday morning
showed notable differences of pressure and tempera-
ture—startling when compared with the general
uniformity or gradual changes so prevalent (except
in two weeks) during the last seven months. Places
usually corresponding closely in barometer and tem-
perature numbers differed nearly half an inch and
nearly 20 degrees. (See Nairn, Yarmouth, Dover,
Aberdeen, and Valentia, in the Sun " Weather
Report" of Nov. 1.)
The sure indications of a northerly gale, in addi-
tion to these warning signs, were a low thermo-
meter and a highly electrical:state of atmosphere,
with a low barometer, which had been falling for
some days, but fell rapidly on Friday.
At Lynn it was below 29 inches; at Yarmouth
and at Scarborough scarcely above that point, which
before a northerly wind is equivalent, as a warning,
to 281 inches before a southerly gale.
The storm of Saturday was circuitous or cyclonic;
its centrical area was in the North Sea, off York-
shire, round which along the coast it blew hardest
from Northumberland to Norfolk. OffFlamborough
Head it was sudden and most severe.

There was no wind to speak of in the west of
Ireland. On the north-east coast and in the Irish
Sea there was a short gale. This cyclone was local,
and did not travel far. Faithfally yours,
ROBERT FITZROY.
Meteorological Department, 2, Parliament-
street, S.W., Nov. 7.

THE NEW 'CUNARD STEAMSHIP

SCOTIA.

The Scotia,_ the latest and most magnificent of the line of
Cunard Royal Mail steamers, is approaching completion
on the Clyde.
The general dimensions of the ship aro as follow :
Length of keel and forerake, 360 feet; length over all,
400 feet ; breadth of mould, 47 feet ; and depth, 32 feet. In
the construction of the hull the most modern improve-
ments have been introduced towards enabling her to afford
as great resisting power as possible to the combined influ-
ences of storms and winds. The keel is composed of several
bars of iron, each 35 feet in length, firmly joined together
by long scarves, the whole being 14 inches in depth, and 4
inches thick, The framework is of the strongest description.
Amidships it consists of plates of four-angle iron, running
up to the gunwale and towards the stem and stern, while
the other portions of the hull aro constructed in the usual
way. Owing to this arrangement of the plates, the frame-
work is very heavy, but the amount of strength secured
will be increasedly great. The frame of the bow is built
diagonally, so that in the case of a collision, or contact with
a rock or iceberg, the strain would fall upon the very
strongest material of which the ship is composed. The
Scotia would thus have a doubly good chance of safety, and
of a successful resistance to accident, while other vessels
would be in peril. In addition also to the kelsons and
girders of a usual flame, others of a novel character have
been introduced in order to give a superior resisting
power. Tho Scotia is not clinker built, but the plates are
laid on alternately, and in such a manner as to impart
wonderful compactness and solidity to the hull. The
plates at the keel are 1 1•.16th of an inch in thickness ;
at the bottom of the ship they are 15-16ths of an inch, from
the load water mark they are 7-Bths, and above that they
are 1 inch in thickness. The hull consists of seven water-

tight compartments. The cargo of the vessel is to be
stowed in two of these divisions, 75 feet eßeh in length, 20
in breadth, and 20 in height. These tanks are built in the
centre lino of the ship, and aro capable of receiving 500
tons measurement of cargo. They are completely water-
tight, and in the event of an accident to the hull would
of themselves be sufficient to keep the ship afloat. The
vessel, in fact, has a double bottom under the tanks
for the stowage of the goods, so that if the outer shell
wero beaten in or strained, the inner would preserve
the cargo intact. The coal bunkers aro placed on each
outer side of these tanks, and aro made to contain 1,800
tons of coals. Her engines, which are of 883 horse-power,
aro on the side-lover principle, with two cylinders of 100
inches diameter each and 12 feet stroke of piston. The ap-
paratus for starting the engines is also constructed so that
the operation will bo comparatively easy. Tho paddles
measure 40ft. Bin. in diameter over the rings. The accom-
modation for passengers is in harmony with the splendid
general capacity of the ship. She has 157 cabins, affording
sleeping accommodation to 300 passengers. Those cabins_
are each 9 feet in height, which, with the excellent system
of ventilation introduced, will render them airy and
healthy. Surmounting the main deck there is a deck
house, the roof of which forms a promenade from stem to
stern. The saloons will afford dining accommodation for
above 300 persons. When the Scotia was launched her
weight was about 2,600 tons, but now that the heavy weight
ill
of her machinery is on board she is about 4,000 tons, and
draws 20 feet of water.—Liverpool Journal of Commerce.

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