The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-02

interests OF the photographic once. All
the ships that sail the seas are encour-
aged to consider themselves part of this
office. Whenever they pass or sight
floating object large enough to be danger
ous,. whether ship or lumber raft, or
broken spar, they note its exact where
abouts in latitude and longitude, and the
first port they reach, the information,
with description of the object, is given
to the American consul, who forwards IT
| to Washington In the photographic Of
| flee at Washington is large blackboard,
on which the location of these reported
objects is jotted down each day. Once
month chart is made from the data col
| lected on the boards and copies of it are
| printed and sent to all sea captains VINO
| contribute the data to fill it, Few news
papers or magazines have such a world
wide circulation this monthly chart. On
it are not only the locations of derelicts,
but a deal more of valuable information
about currents and winds fogs and ice
bergs and reports of general interest-all
compiled from the information sent in
from over seas, says the Boston Herald.
The work of the derelict hunteE7 does
not, however, stop with merely locating
them. For those that lie we'll outside me
main lines of travel reporting is sufficient;
but when a derelict is sighted in the di-
rect lines of commerce, her presence is
of the navy who sends the nearest small
war vessel after her The cruiser goes to
the nearest likely spot, cruises back ana
forth till the derelct is finally sighted,
and then proceeds either fastening tor
pedoes to her and exploding them oy
electricity from safe distance, or by
shooting at her, to break her into small
harmless pieces, or sink her outright. If
she will burn, burning is very good way
of demolishing her. and provides the nee
essary pillar of fame by night and of
smoke by day to serve as a warning for
approaching vessels until she finally sink.
Drifting about the North Atlantic OCEAN,
susceptible to the varying changes OF
waves and winds, are hundreds of com
mon beer bottles, thrown overheard by
ships of the American and Russian mer-
chant service and occasionally picked up
| and reported to the photographic offices
of these governments. This is in the in
terest of a scientific research instituted
| few years ago to determine the direction
taken by bodies coming under the in
| fiuences of streams and currents of which
little is known by the physical geograph-
| ers
| The methods employed are simple, and
| the results obtained are expected to prove
| of inestimable value to commercial inter
| ests generally, while removing many
doubtful questions arising out of the tor
| tuous drift of derelicts whion heretofore
! have been regarded as correct examples
| of the directions ships would take when
] abandoned to the influences of ocean cur
rents.
Thousands of these bottles. containing
| minute directions printed in seven differ
| ent languages, are annually thrown into
| the sea under the supervision of the
American navy department, WIN the ex
pectation that many will be found and
rescued by passing vessels their location
noted and the fact reported at Washing
! ton. Each bottle contains written di-
rection as to what shall be done by the
| skipper of the ship finding it. He is sup
| posed to note the latitude and longitude
where it was sighted, where it was
| thrown into the sea- and to estimate the
| probable distance traversed since orig
| inally thrown overheard BY which the
| general direction taken may be reckon
| ed. Reports received at the navy de-
| partment last year indicate that much
valuable information is being derived re-
| garding the direction of the important
| currents, and that the simple process en-
| ployed is proving admirably adapted to
| the purposes sought.
Russia is closely cooperating with this
| government in carrying out the idea. and
| instructions are issued by the hydro
graphic office that any bottle picked up
| at sea by the skipper of some ship not
| OF that government shall be at once re-
ported. All American and Russian mer-
| chant and Warships are expected to note
| the locality of bottles they may find
! drifting about, and again 10 turn them
| adrift after observing the original place
they were thrown into the sea indicated
on the waterproof paper supplied by the
! two governments to ships assisting the
| plan.
Recent reports present some remarka-
| BILE drifts of bottles, several having gone
| as far as the distance across the ocean
! and one double that distance They vary
! from only a few miles to over thirty-five
day, which is almost the average of
| the usual derelict, exposed to the wind
and often borne along rapidly by the
small portion of woodwork above water
serving as a catch for the sea breezes
| One bottle has the record of 1920 miles
traversed in 557 days, at the average rate
of 712 miles a day. This bottle was thrown
! overheard from Tie ship Co1nliebank Of
the Spanish merchant service Another
! drifted $500 miles in 694 days at the av-
! e.age of 513 miles a day. While a third
Travelled $500 miles in ATS days.
The most remarkable drift Of all, how
| ever, was that of bottle that went 70
miles in two days, or at the rate of 35
miles day Another travelled 200 miles
in eight days, at the rate of 25S miles
| a day, while still another 300 miles in
| 1874 days, at the rate of 10 miles a day
The latter shows the quickest drift for
| long distance of any bottle reported
| Long distance drifting in the Pacific is
| especially noticeable in the reports re-
| ceived here. March "a, 1897 a bottle was
| tossed into the sea from the ship Rock
| hurst, and, after drifting for 742 days
was picked up, having covered in a direct
| line $500 miles, or the entire distance
from San Francisco to China. Its aver
| age rate was 30 knots a day Another
| bottle thrown into the sea from the Span