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i901.] NEW DESIGN FOR COMPASS CARD. PROPOSITION TO DO AWAY WITH. COMPASS POINTS ALTOGETHER AND TO USE A CARD GRADUATED IN A OIRCLE OF DEGREES CONTINUOUSLY TO THE RIGHT. Through the chief of the bureau of equipment, navy department, the Lydrographic office proposes a design of compass card to be graduated in a circle of degrees continuously to the right from 0° to 360°, omitting the present system of points. The proposed change has been worked out by Lieut. Com’dr S. W. B. Diehl of the compass office. The chief of the bureau of equipment says of it: “For some years this matter of doing away with the compass points and substituting degree graduations has been discussed among navigators, and the consensus of opinion, certainly among the higher order of navi- gators, is that the points should be abolished and only degrees. used in setting courses, taking bearings, and in notices to mariners. ‘A number of years ago a graduation of the compass rose from zero to 360 continuously by the right was proposed. Opposition arose from*the naval examining | board, and before the [Maritime Congress then in session.in Washington; the conclusion reached was that the time was not yet ripe for doing away. with the old-fashioned compass points on the compass cards. There can: be no question that in the last fifteen or twenty years the general standard of navigators has risen so that the present is deemed an appropriate time to take this step in advance, and while it is recognized that some opposi- tion may be expected from the least-educated class of masters of vessels, -it is believed that the greater maritime nations will recognize the advan- tage and adopt the same general method. The simplicity, as set forth in the memorandum from Lieut. Com’dr Diehl of the compass office, ‘will doubtless have great weight even with the uneducated class of navigators, and once adopted it will greatly simplify many of the navigating opera: tions of today and conduce to accuracy, which enters so largely into the! landling of the larger ships that are increasing so rapidly in all parts of! the world. It is therefore recommended that there be distributed at the more important mercantile centers of our own coasts and at branch hydro- graphic offices copies of these proposed changes, and that requests of in- telligent mariners be made as to’ the advisability of their adoption. As Lieut. 'Com’dr Diehl well says, criticism should be invited. It is further recommended that these drawings, or copies thereof, be submitted to the leading hydrographers of other nations and an expression of opinion in- vited from them. It is believed that the necessary information to guide the bureau will have been received before the beginning of next year, so that should the final conclusion be reached to adopt it in this hydro~ graphic office, the necessary compass cards can be distributed. to ships now in service and be obtained by others desiring to use them. Already there has been obtained from the branch hydrographic offices much infor- mation which can be submitted to the bureau bearing upon this subject, and in general it may be stated, as previously, that the better navigators of today are in favor of the proposed change.” Lieut. Com’dr Diehl’s memorandum explanatory of the proposed changes is as follows: PROPOSED FORM OF COMPASS CARD. The circumference of the card is divided into the usual 360 degrees and marked continuously to the right, from 0° at north to 90° at east, 180° at south, 270° at west, and 360° at north. The card is subdivided as gs Into divisions of 10 degrees, accentuated by heavy lines on the graduated rim, and by suitable geometric figures on the card, each 10- degree diyision of the card being indicated in figures by its appropriate number from 0° or north, MARINE REVIEW. 2! (b) Each 10-degree division of the card is further subdivided into half and quarter divisions and appropriately marked. - (c) Every fifth-degree line of the graduated circle between the 10- degree divisions is marked in figures, indicating its appropriate number from 0° or north. (d) The cardinal and intercardinal directions are emphasized on the card in geometric figures. The object of the proposed change is to omit the present system of points and fractions thereof and use degrees only.. The present card con- tains points and degrees. The conversion of one into the other is a natural result of the presence of both, but is not a necessity, as would speedily be recognized were the points omitted. Accuracy requires expression in degrees for courses, bearings, and compass errors, and not in points, the use of which is but a duplication of work. A comparison of a few leading features of the present system with that proposed is given below: PRESENT CARD. 360°=82. points. 1° point==11.25°. Yy point=*5.625°. Y% .point= -2,8125°. Graduated circle is marked in ~degrees in each quadrant, from ()° _ at: north and south’to 90° at east and west. > “Phe fifth point is NE. by E: or , Nub6? 4B. | _ The thirteenth point is SE. by OFS ba. 34°F. : 2eThe. coutsesiss S:°18°% Ey or: S. “by E. % E. . Easterly deviation is additive in the NE. and.SW. quadrants; sub- tractive~ins*thes SEZ and NW: PROPOSED CARD. 360°= 36 divisions. 1 division=10°. Y% division= 65°. Y% division= 2.5°, Graduated circle is marked in degrees continuously to the right from 0° at north to 360° at north again. The fifth division is 50°, a mul- tiple of 10°. : The thirteenth division is 130°, a multiple of 10°. : : The course is 162°. Easterly deviation is always additive to compass course to get magnetic, . i Westerly deviation is always subtractive from compass course quadrants, to compass course to ‘to get magnetic. get magnetic. ~ Westerly deviation. is. subtrac- tive in Nw. and SW. quadrants; |- additive in SE. and NW: quad-*- rants, to compass course to get Magnetic. In line with the proposed card, the compass rose on the chart should be marked from: 0° at north continuously to the right to 860°, omitting the present system.of points. .The sailing directions should give courses and bearings in degrees and not in points. The azimuth tables would re- neues only a change in the rules given at the bottom of the page, as ollows: 5.8 Bonn When the latitude and declination are of the same or contrary name— _ In north latitude the azimuth is the tabulated value when the time is a, m. In north latitude the azimuth is 360° minus the tabulated value when the time is p. m. PERE xt : _ In south latitude the azimuth is 180° minus the tabulated value when the time is a. m. wee In south latitude the azimuth is 180° plus the tabulated value when the time is p. m. No other change in the tables would be necessary. Such tables as that on page 8 of Bowditch, and tables 1 and 5A would be eliminated. It is believed that the proposed marking of the compass card would result in greater accuracy in navigation in its relation to the compass. Courses would be laid in degrees and more accurately noted, as the ap- proximate course of SW. by W..%4 W. “a little westerly,” for example, would be replaced-by the exact course of 240°. Chances of error in the application of the deviation to compass courses would be lessened. Con- version of points into degrees and the reverse would be eliminated from the problem. Boxing the compass would be a matter of a few minutes’ instruction to the layman of average intelligence. Sailing directions would be simplified. All work in relation,to the compass would be facilitated. ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC COAST BUILDERS. = A NUMBER OF NEW CONTRACTS ‘ARE To BE NOTED WITH THE ADVENT OF THE NEW CENTURY—LAUNCHES, TRIAL TRIPS, ETO, The firm: of Carlton, Norwood & Co., Rockport, ‘Me., is to resume ship building: at the old Pascal yard, Rockport, in the spring. The first vessel to be built will be a four-masted wooden craft for ‘Capt. Simon H. Hall of Rockport. Gardiner G, Deering will launch some time in January the four- masted wooden schooner Malcolm B, Seavey. Mr. Deering has leased the Palmer yard at Bath and will start work immediately on a five-masted schooner. A five-masted wooden schooner to be built by the Holmes Ship Building Co., Mystic, Conn., will be the first vessel of that class built on the Atlantic coast outside of (Maine. She will be launched in July... J. B. Hannify ‘& Co. of San Francisco have placed an order with C. Fulton of New Whatcom for two wooden schooners. They will be built at ‘Port Hadlock. i ; The Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me., has recently been asked to submit figures on the cost of a seven-masted steel schooner to carry 6,000 tons of coal. A four-masted schooner building at the New England Co.’s yards, Bath, Me., for Capt. George Kelsey of Clinton, will be launched next week. Work on a new steam yacht for A. H. Davenport was begun last week at the Atlantic Works, East Boston. The battleship Ohio will be launched at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, on May 18. ,