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THE Marine REVIEW confidence and a feeling of self-assurance in his work. It .makes him independent in a large measure, of courses and distances steered and run by others, for he has the ability to accurately direct the course of the vessel through tortuous channels with hidden dangers "on either hand, and along treacherous coasts enveloped in fog, with compass deviations continually changing, and the safety of the vessel depending upon the accuracy of the calculated deflection of the compass needle. The man with superior navigation ability holds the key to the situation and he is master of the position at all times. Such knowledge is furnished by scientific training, which under all conditions and circumstances, is a never-fail- ing aid, and therefore superior to the stand-off-shore-till-it- clears navigation of the two-foot-rule-order. Azimuth is of no account in thick, foul and cloudy weather, and where you have such weather on an entire trip with the dev. different for different trim of your boat, the master is "up against a stiff proposition," The only meth- od of determining or verifying the dev. then is by harbor piers, harbor ranges and the ranges in the rivers. These river ranges afford an easy and accurate method .of ascertaining the dev.. of the compass when azi- muths cannot be taken. It should be employed by the master at all times. It should be employed as a check in azimuth work. Every master of ability is continually on the lookout for opportunities of this kind. Of course, the next thing is to get to the rivers in thick weather in order to get the ranges. Coming down Lake Superior from its head is the worst and most dangerous in thick weather without a proper knowledge of the course. Run- ning. the Soo river the ranges will give you the desired information for a. table of dev, for all courses to be steered on the lower lakes. You have another chance to verify it in the St; Clair and Detroit rivers on their ranges. Lake Erie ports to- Southeast shoal are not so difficult to make in thick weather as the courses on Lake Superior, though bad enough when you are not sure of your compass. The only proper way of verifying a ves- sel's position in thick weather is by 'chain of soundings" employed in conjunction with safety or fathom curves on the chart, To perform this accurately it is necessary to have a patent sounding machine, which does the work automatically. With one of these machines a vessel can go. at any speed and regular soundings can be taken at regular intervals without the least trouble and at any time. The master can control the entire situation person- ally from the bridge. A fathom curve is a continuous line drawn, or laid down on a chart, that passes through soundings of the same depth. Take the 10-fathom curve for an example; a continuous line is drawn connecting each sounding of 10 fathoms. These curves are of great benefit and assistance to the navigator, for in making harbor, a turning point, or otherwise, in thick weather, either from the non-dependence of fog whistles, or from being unable to hear them, or from the vessel being off the course she is supposed to be making good, either irom -a wrong dev., a change in the dev., leeway. or current, or otherwise, the vessel by keeping outside (by use of the lead) of this curve cannot get aground, pro- vided, of course, that the vessel's position is approximate- ly known, and that there is no obstruction within these limits. If this be so then a safety curve of greater depth - must be employed to guide and keep the vessel into safe- ty. These curves are very irregular as will be seen from looking on a chart which contains them. Except in places of harbors that have been surveyed in detail, the five- fathom line laid down on charts should be considered as a caution or. danger signal against unnecessarily ap- proaching the shore or bank within that line. The 10- fathom curve on rocky shores, is at t another warning espe- cially for vessels of heavy draught. Fa It has always seemed strange to me that the patent sounder has not found its way on lake vessels. Ocean liners could hardly do without them in making the land, or in shoaling the water on banks or otherwise. If they are of such great service on the seas they would be doubly do in our navigation on acocunt of. making the land and shoaling the water and changing the course so fre- quently. Ocean liners making from 15 to 18 knots get soundings and specimens of the bottom in 100 fathoms of water without stopping with these machines. By the way, I have prepared an article demonstrating its use in. this connection which will soon be published in the Re- VIEW. Some practical tests of the machine are to be made on lake boats before long. A report of the results will be published in order to show what can be done with them in finding the position of.a vessel in thick weather. No matter how correct a compass may be it cannot over- come bad steering, leeway, current, etc, Without sound- ings and a sample of the bottom there is no way of veri- fying the position of a vessel in thick weather when fog signals cannot be heard, or where they do not exist. Soundings and their comparison with those on the chart are as essential for finding position in thick weather as lighthouses, landmarks, headlights, etc.. are in plotting the position in clear weather. Where the dev. is so changeable as in most lake ports from different positions of the hull in the water the use of the patent sounding machine must be fully apparent in determining the posi- tion of the vessel when there are no other means at hand. In thick weather a vigilant lookout is not of much use, neither is a mere familiarity with the chart, courses dis- tances, shoals, buoys, lighthouses, fog signals, and the frequent use of the lead is in itself no safeguard at all. Safety in thick weather depends on such factors, as, for instance, a knowledge of the principles by which strand- ings are prevented; the shaping of courses so as to be eas- ily controlled by the lead. It is not the frequent use of the lead, but its time and judicious use, which ensures safety. Compass and log cannot be depended upon since both can be influenced by the currents. From all this follows the necessity of a thorough knowledge of all the principal methods used to avoid these dangers in thick weather. Without scientific training no one is able to intelligently navigate a vessel and keep her out of danger in thick weather, the numerous strandings in proof there- of. I note what you have to say in regard to a boat lying idle, or in one direction all winter. This is termed "Re- tained Magnetism." When a vessel's head has' been in one direction for a long time, the hull becomes tempor- arily magnetized in a direction parallel to the magnetic meridian, owing to the earth's inductive force. This change sometimes amounts to as much as 15°. Lying near a large pile of iron ore during this time or along- side of several other steel vessels, as you say, would' have the effect of intensifying this retained magnetism. This, however, is no fault of the 'compass. It is from the in- fluences of this retained magnetism on the compass needle that is responsible for it. This abnormal' condition be- comes normal after a while and the ship's magnetism settles down to its original state. Every steel vessel ly- ing in one direction like this all winter 'ought to have her head reversed at least a week before starting out iin the spring. This temporary magnetism goes. more 'quickly when the direction of the' ship's head * has been reversed than otherwise. I am gratified to hear that you depend so much on the pelorus' and Saas nd "