The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-21
INTO THE UNKNOWN.
The Obstacles the Great Sailor
Oyercame.

There are two main objects to be achieved
by this collection of memorial papers. The
first and most important is TO fitly cele rate
the fame OF Columbus the discoverer. who
is the Father of our Western world. The
second, scarcely less important, Is to vivdly
realize ourselves the real nature Of the feat
which was accomplished, and the veritable
conditions under which it was done, to
make picture, as 1t were, of the circum-
stances of 1892. and to conceive the difficult
ties physical and moral, which stood in the
way Of the great navigator.
We know that Columbus set sail on the
Sd Of August. 1892, and that his course was
due west On the 10Th of October he first
saw land. On January 10th, 1893. he set
out on his return, and on the 4tb
OF March he arrived at Lisbon. His out
ward voyage required then little more
than two months.
Let US, for a moment, imagine such
voyage made to-day in one of the magnifi-
cent steam yachts of New York, which are
capable of making nearly twenty knots an
hont.
The owner forms his captain that he
wishes to return to America, sailing ln three
days. These days are spent in testing his
compasses, in providing coal and supplies
and 10 overhauiing the engines and the ft-
tings OF the ship. On the appointed day, at
| the appointed hour, everything is ready,
| and IL the tide serves the anchor Is weighed
and the ship proceeds. AS she passes the
| lighthouse the navigator notes that at such
| an hour and minute the light was so many
| miles distant and bore In such direction
| by compass. He takes his departure
| from this known spot on the earth. The
| direction In which he must steer Is given by
| few minutes calculation, or even by in-
| spection Of q large diagram. So soon as
| he Is free from land the engines are put to
| full speed ahead and the routine OF the voy-
| age commences. The ships diary is the
! exact record of every material fact or incl
| dent. Once lat least In each hour the log
| Is hove and the speed at which she Is
| moving through the water Ia determined.
| The "patent log (which Is nothing but
| small propeller-screw dragged after the
| vessel and making q fixed number of turns
| for each mile travelled Is always recording
| its turns on dial. The number Of revolu-
| tions Of the ships engines serve also to de-
termine the miles run. The currents which
are setting the ship this way or that are
| pretty accurately known from published
sailing directions and charts. Every morn
! ing and every afternoon the local time OF
the ships position is determined by OBJ
servations OF the altitude Of the sun
with An accurate sextant. The difference
between the ships time at a given
moment and the Greenwich time (as
read of on the dials Of her chronometers)
gives the ships longitude west Of Green.
wlch. The observation of the suns altitude
at noon compared with the suns declina
tion (as taken from the tables of the Nauti
cal Almanac) gives the ships latitude.
Once day. at least, the navigator car
draw two lines on the chart and can say
that his position is at the intersection
these two lines. II circumstances are favor
able he can fix this position to within les
than O mile. When telegraph ships ar
laying cables they are often obliged D!
stress Of weather 10 buoy the end and T.