The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1885-08-07
CHRONOMETERS.
AN OLD SALT WATER SAILOR CHATS
ABOUT THEM.
How the Ocean Navigator Takes Care Of
His CSropometer-Life or Death in
Second Effect Of Temper
aturs "Rate."
tChicago Herald Tnterview.l

u noticed the other day." remarked an
old salt water sailor, who now lives on Kos
suth street. @that you had something in the
paper about chronometers. Now, happen
to have had some experience in the use OF
chronometers. People see them in the jew
eler's window, compare their watches and
pass Few stop to think of tho relations
they hold to life and property on the ocean.
Time was when ships were guided to differ
emit parts Of the world without them, but at
q frightful sacrifice Of time, and often Of
ship, cargo and crew. Then the only
means they had of determining their
longitude was by dead reckoning, and that
was a very poor thing to depend on.
The old way was to get into the latitude Of
the port sailed for and then steer east or
west as the case demanded. But the chro-
nometer has done away with all that Now
Q captain can leave a port and shade his
course to any part Of ths globe. and know
bis true position, in clear weather, every
day. There are two gentlemen, In this city
whose fathers sailed from the shores Of
Massachusetts, bay, around Cape Horn and
cape Of Good Hope without chronometers,
but there are very few that would under
take IL now. Some captains own their
chronometsrs, some hire them, others
belong to the ship. Some carry two.
and IL the captain carries his wife with him
she has good cause to be jealous Of the care
and attention that her husband gives to the
chronometer. She is only second In his
thought on shipboard. ! have known q
captain to take the pillow from under his
wife's head to set the chronometer on during
heavy seq. have often taken the chro-
nometer out of its outer box and set 1t on
pillows, when we were handling heavy
cargo, to save it from any sudden jar.
All captains have certain time to
wind their chronometers, generally at
eight bells In the morning. The captains
wife, as q general thing. dare not look at IL,
and she feels toward 1t accordingly. But
there are exceptions to this rule. There are
some captains wives that are first-class nav
igators For instance, some years ago the
American ship Ne Plus Ultra left Liverpool
for Bombay, Capt Plummer. He had his
wife and family with him After few days
he was taken with a paralytic shock. His
wife navigated the ship successfully to her
destination, buried two children on the pas
sage. and lost her husband three days after
reaching port She and her only boy came
home in the ship that was in. She looked
fully as noble as she had proved herself
to be.
sailors have to be very careful with their
keyhole, and works with string, so that as
soon as the key is removed it covers the hole
on the instrument so that no dust can posi-
bly, get into the works. Every chronometer
carries her record with her. The cover
forms almost half of the box in which she
sets In that cover Is where the rates are
kept from the time that she left the makers
hands II she is a good chronometer you
will find all her rates there. After each
voyage she is taken to q chronometer
maker and rerated. and they often run for
years on the same rate. Now, IL q chro-
nometer gains one-tenth Of a second to-day
and loses one-tenth tomorrow, which is q
very small item, she is no use for the pur-
pose for which she was intended. but
she would be just the thing for
jewelers. window. But IT, on the other
hand she gained two hours every twenty
four hours, or lost the same, and kept doing
so then you have first-class chronometer
This seems strange, but in the first case you
could not keep track Of her, and in the sec
ond case you could. Nc matter what she
gains or loses as long as she keeps on doing
the same thing she is all that you want
Some will say, Why are they 80 particular
about time at seal But when 1t is taken
into consideration what proportion sec
ond Is to mile it will be plainly seen why
We have to be 30 particular. There are fifteen
degrees TO the hour. four minutes to the de-
gree. fifteen miles to the minute. and four
seconds to the mile, so that an error Of one
second Is one-fourth Of mile.
"Ths trouble with chronometers Is that
they are SO affected by the temperature The
slower the movement, and the colder 1t is
the faster she runs We tell the longitude
by the chronometer. This Is set to Green
wich time, and the calculations are based on
the principle that for every degree Of longi-
tude east Of Greenwich local time will be
four minutes faster, and for every degree
west. four minutes slower. The best chro-
nometers will run with surprising accuracy
in all temperatures, but they are not perfect,
and as the slightest variation means much to
the navigator, he has his instrument tested
frequently, and the rate ascertained The
rate IL the variation Of the instrument
with temperature, and by observing tenn
perature the captain keeps q record Of the
variations Of his chronometer, and thus cor
rect the time as indicated by the instrument
In testing chronometers they are subjected
In turn to different degrees OF temperature
and their variation, scientifically observed,
Is registered inside the cover there. Every
good chronometer will go accurately at two
temperatures, and can be adjusted to any
| given temperature. For instance, one
| instrument may be made to GO
accurately In temperature Of 40, and also
I'm a temperature Of 80, at other tempera-
lures being not so accurate. By constantly
| endeavoring to keep his chronometer in it's
| best temperature the captain Is usually able
| to rely confidently upon its accuracy. though
many wrecks have been caused by over
confidence in chronomsters.