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

BAROMETER INDICATORS.

At the last meeting of the National Lifeboat Institution,
on Thursday last, the following communication was read
from Captain Washington, R.N , F.R. S., hydrographer of
the Admiralty, on Barometer Indicators, three of which the
institution, in connection with its President, the Duke of
Northumberland, and the Meteorological Society, has placed
on the Northumberland coast :

" London, Nov, 5.
have taken advantage of a visit to Notthuniber-
land to inspect the lifeboat stations at Boulmer and Ali'
mouth, and to examine the barometers and barometer indi-
cators at these two stations and at Amble.
" The committee will be gratified to learn that on each
occasion his Grace, our President, accompanied see, and
evinced the same unfailing personal interest in this good
cause that he has always shown.

" I have some few remarks to make on the lifeboats,
which may form the subject of a future letter ; for the pre-
sent I will confine myself to the barometers and barometer
indicators, as I think it possible that these latter instru-
ments may be rendered useful to a greater degree, perhaps,
thin any of us hitherto ha 3 ventured to anticipate.

"And first I would tender my hearty congratulations to
the committee on the admirable way in which the baro-
meters so liberally placed by our President at the different
stations on the coast of Northumberland aro already work-
ing. The fishermen, lam told, take to them most kindly,
and, notwithstanding the favourable appearance of tho
morning, if the barometer has fallen much, they accept the
warning, and remain on shore. lam assured that in all pro-
bability much property, and possibly life, has been saved by
attending to those faithful monitors. Mr. Sopwith, presi-
dent of the Meteorological Society, and Mr. Glaisher, of
the Royal Observatory, are entitled to the hearty thanks of
the Lifeboat Institution for the trouble they have taken in
setting them up along the coast.

" With respect to the barometer indicators, I am happy
to report that they are very popular, which is the first step
towards their becoming useful.

"At Boulmer the circular, or dial indicator, is placed
high up against the sea front of the lifeboat coxswain s
house. Its face is 8 feet in diameter and 24 feet in circum-
ference, and it shows boldly at a good distance. Each inch
of the scale being magnified 48 times, and the pointers or
hands being 4 feet long, it may be read as yon gallop along
the beach. Coasting vessels have reported that they have
distinguished it with a glass at two miles out in the offing.
"At Alnmouth the single-faced upright indicator is
placed against the gable end of the Coastguard houses front-
ng the sea. The scale here is five feet to the inch, or
magnified 60 times, yet owing to its narrow face, it is not
nearly so easily made out as the dial. I have desired it to
be raised 12 feet higher, and the pointers to be made to
project as far outside the scale as they do within it, which
will render them more visible.

"At Amble the four-faced, or Janus indicator (if the
term may be permitted), placed on an isolated hillock, about
50 feet above the level of the sea, near the harbour, stands
proudly, and, being surmounted by a agstaff, is a promi-
nent and a picturesque object as seen from every quarter.
It se happens here that the harbour where vessels moor and
the sea where fishing-boats ply their calling lie in differen t
directions, and a single faced indicator would not be suffi-
cient fur both. The scale at Amble is 21 feet to the inch,
or magnified 30 times; this is hardly enough, and in all
future cases I would recommend nothing less than five feet,
or, better, six feet to the inch.

" The Coastguard, as usual, have stood the friends of the
National Lifeboat Institution in working the indicator at
Alnmouth, so also Mr. Layton, shipbuilder at Amble, and
Stephenson, the fisherman, at Boulmer ; and the committee
are much indebted to Mr. Buddle, of Alnxvick, for the in-
telligence he has shown in preparing and placing the instru-
ments.

" At none of the stations had the men in charge any
diagrams for registering daily the barometric curve, nor the
instructions for their use, as at the stations of the Lifeboa
Institution. Immediately on the receipt of the three sets
so promptly sent me down from the institution I went
over to the coast, and, although it was my last day in the
country, I had time to explain their use and trace the curve
for them for the last few days, and before I left had the
gratification to see a party of sailors and fishermen crowd-
ing round the barometer windows and pointing out to each
other the zigzag track, or, as they termed it, the 'traverse
sailing course' of the weather. The dark line on the diagram
showing the sudden fall of an inch on the 11th of October
last, and the word Storm' printed under it in strong black
letters, evidently made a serious impression on them as to
the utility a barometer might prove to them in their own
special calling.

" Having now seen all the three indicators working, and
heard the opinions of fishermen and seafaring men on the
coast, I think I may venture to assure the committee that
the object of the National Lifeboat Institution, in placing
these three specimens of different shapes at these fishing
stations in juxtaposition, has been attained, and that in the
generality of cases the dial indicator will carry the day.
There may be places, such as Amble, where two or three, or
even four, faces are required; and then the upright or Janus
form is the,more suitable ; but, as an easily read and eco-
nomical instrument, I recommend the dial above all. It
should, however, be 12 feet in diameter, and each pointer
6 feet long ; it would then be visible far and wide, and the
fisherman, lying in his boat in the bay or tithing in the
offing, s‘ ould be able to distinguish it without ;riving occa-
sion to come to the shore to learn the state of the weather.
" One step more is wanting. The dial should be illumi-
nated by night. And why not ? If the illuminated dial of
the Westminster clock is the first object to greet the tra-
vellerarriving in London by the South-Western Railway by
night, why should not a similarly illuminated dial convey
to the fisherman or passing coaster the intelligence he is de-
sirous to learn ? Such, I venture to predict, sill before
long be the case. Public-spirited fishing ports such as
Ramsgate, Hastings, or Penzance, with its numerous pil-
chard boats, will surely adopt it; and also on the eastern
and northern coasts of Great Britain, as at Yarmouth,
Scarborough, Peterhead, and Wick, in Caithness, which
latter port, in the herring season, sends to sea over 900
boats, manned by 4,000 hardy fishermen, every night for
three months in the year. These men are compelled to hover
off the coast in pursuit of their calling, exposed to the pro-
verbially sudden North Sea gales. Why should not they
have a friendly monitor in the shape of an illuminated
barometer indicator, to tell them whether they may remain
safely at sea, or should seek shelter against the ooming
storm P

"Again most cordially congratulating the committee on
the successful result of the endeavours of the institution,
" I am, Sir,

"JOHN WASHINGTON."

The Plenipotentiaries of the Confederate States,
viz., the Hon. Dudley Mann and the Hon. W. L. Yancy,
dined with the Fishmongers' Company on Saturday evenin e„,
His Excellency the Russian Ambassador arrived
at Chesham House on Saturday from visiting her Majesty
at 'Windsor Castle. His excellency will give a grand enter-
tainment to their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Duke
and Duchess Constantine on Tuesday next at Chesham
House. There is a select circle invited to meet their Impe-
rial Highnesses.

The Duchesss of Wellington arrived at Apsley
House on Saturday from Windsor Castle. Her grace leaves
town to day to Join the duke at his shooting -quarters in
Norfolk.

FOLKESTONE WiTs.—All sorts of curious stories
are still told to illustrate the perfect guilelessness and crass
ignorance of the ancient Folkestoners. Most of these tales
are, of course, mere fictions and pleasant conceits of their
enemies. The amusing ballad of the "Folkestone Fiery
Serpent" humorous y recounts how the sagest municipal
functionaries of the place, startled by the unwonted appari-
tion of a fine large peacock—a genus never before seen
within their borders—took counsel together, before sallying
forth to encounter it, as to how they could best capture or
slay the terrible monster, which could not have struck
greater terror into their hearts if it had been
" Gorgon, or hydra, or chimera dire."
This simple-minded, stay-at home race, were afflic'ed with
none of your modern furore for travel. Any adventurous
member of their body who had made a pilgrimage of fifteen
miles to Canterbury was ever afterwards looked upon as an
oracle of wisdom and knowledge, and in the local vocabu-
lary was dubbed "a foreigner,' by reason of his distant
peregrinations. The same incurious people are said on cue
occasion, when threatened with a visitation of small-pox,
to have spread their fishing-nets over the town to keep out
the malady—or at all events enablo them to catch it, and
then drown it in the sea. Again, a parochial conclave,
after grave debate, once issued a solemn order for having
the parish church " white-washed blue," and then removed
to a better site by pushing it isideways with men's shoulders..
But there is no end of the ridiculous stories which have
been circulated at the expense of the Folkestoners—a plain
honest people, like most other Kentish men, albeit now
over.." bright" in intellect ; and it is difficult to conceive
why they should have been specially singled out to be the
butt of the local satirists. The malignant ingenuity with
which they have been assailed may be judged of from the
fact that a willing, centuries ago, discovered that the letters-
of which the word Folkestone is composed will, when trans-
posed, form the anagram of " Kent fools." Years have
since then rolled on ; Time—the Avenger—bids fair to tar'
the laugh against the scoffing rivals of the erst-despised
n
perriseed
township. The vast changes incident to the intro introduction
of railways and steamboats have opened a eranewwr
stone, both in regard to its material prosperity eity for Folks
if the and the
awakening of its dormant intelligence.
magi-
cal influence of some po ent talis.man
ttohethliettlde,ignmiistyeraobfles,
squalid fishing-village has attained
dsome new stree ts, villas
thriving, bustling port, han
in every direction,
hotels, and marine terraces springing up
and giving promise of still greater developments of wealth
and splendour. Folkestone has long escaped from its sub-
serviency to Dover, to which it now owes scarcely a
nominal fealty.—From the St. James's Magazine.
SUICIDE IN A WATER BUTT .—A coachman,
named Young, in the employ of a gentleman in Chester-
terrace, Regent's-park, was found drowned in the water
butt of the stables on Friday morning. It is said that he
committed suicide in consequence of the excitement he was
thrown into by the difficulty of finding his way about tow
with the carriage, he having only lately arrived from ilfra-
combo,