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- AUGUST I5, I9OI. THE MARINE RECORD. ey RIGHT AND LEFT FOR STEERING TERMS. CLEVELAND, O., Aug. 14, IgoI. To the Editor of the Marine Record : As some of the governments of Europe are considering the abolition of the phrases port and starboard because of their conflicting meanings which render them unfit words for the expression of orders to the man at the wheel, a few lines may not be out of place at thistime, although you have kindly published for me more than one article on that subject during the past several years. The words starboard and larboard, which are now changed to starboard and port, were first intended for the direction of the movements of the tiller, and as the necessities of the marine profession demands that the wheel must do when moved in acertain direction what the tiller would accomplish if moved in an opposite direction, it seems plain that we should use words suitable to the movements of the wheel and let the phrases starboard and port be used only where the tiller is still used directly. Some hold that the phrases have reference only to the movements of the vessels and not to the steering apparatus at all, to which I do not agree, and even if that were true I see no reason why the words right and left would not express one’s meaning even moore clearly than the phrases starboard and port. The word starboard in one sense means the right hand side of the ship when standing aft and looking forward and of course the phrase port means the left hand side of the ship when standing aft and looking forward. In another sense the word starboard means anything, or rather any- where to the right of anything anywhere in the ship, and it follows of course that the word or phrase port means any- where to the left of anything or anywhere in the ship. Again, land on the right hand side of a ship is called the starboard shore if there is also land on the left hand side, and the land on the left hand side is called the port bank or shore, and yet to get to that port shore we must starboard, and according to our queer rules we must port if we wish to find the starboard shore. Others think that to fix the steering gear so that the movements of the wheel would correspond with the movements of the tiller when the orders port or starboard is given would settle the whole cross-eyed business, but they too are mistaken. If that were the case in a sailing ship a man could not stand at the weather. side of his wheel because the strain of the weather-helm would lift him off the deck and throw him over the lee rail, whereas if he stood on the lee, where the pressure would be down- ward as it should, he could not see ahead on account of the fore and aft sails bellying on that side. During my fifteen years experience as a seaman [ have seen at least two collisions caused directly by mistakes in giving orders as well as receiving orders in the old way of wording the orders. In close quarters when men lose their nerve, if every word does not mean just what it says, there is apt to be mistakes, and in my opinion the words left and right should be adopted asthe standard words for the direction of the movement of the wheel. It would cause no expense nor necessitate any international law, the -old could under- stand it as well as the Jad just beginning, and although it would seem at first a little landlubberly we would soon get used to it and wonder that we did not adopt it long ago. When the order, the man at the wheel, the rudder, and the ship’s head goes together the system will be perfect and this is exactly the condition that will prevail when starboard and port are abolished and the true language adopted in their stead. PATRICK CAROLAN. \ & @ 312 AT WATER STREET, THE —=~ 1 Bliss SHIP CANALS OF RUSSIA. The proposed ship canal between St. Petersburg and the White Sea, engineering plans of which have been approved by the Minister of Communication, is to be commenced dur- ing the present year. In brief, the plans are as follows: The naval port Cronstadt (the entrance to St. Petersburg) is to be connected with the new naval harbor Sorotskaja, on the White Sea, by a canal of sufficient breadth and depth to admit the passage of Russia’s largest cruisers. The extreme depth will be 31 feet, while the water surface will have a breadth of 200 feet. The length of the canal will be 963 kilometers, and it will pursue the following course: From the River Neva to Lake Ladoga; across the lake to Svir River, and the entire length of this stream to Lake Onega; due north through a new canal to Sego Lake; again by canal to Vigozero Lake; and thence to the Gulf of Onega and White Sea. This new waterway will not only have advantages from an industrial point of view, creating cheap transportation for timber and grain from the provinces of Archangel and Olonetz, and causing the establishment of saw and grain mills along its course, but is of most importance in its strategic value—placing the Baltic and White Sea divisions in direct communication on their own soil. With the merchant marine of Russia, her contemplated canals, her finished trans-Siberian railroad, and her total independence cf any foreign steamer, cable, telegraph, or rai], from the Baltic Sea to the North Pacific Ocean, one has a view cf possibilities equally as great in peace as in war. oo ooo DUST IN EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE. It has often been wondered how dust: collected each day on board ofa sailing ship months after she had left port. The subject puzzled Capt. Cook one of the earliest naviga- tors, later investigations, however, seem to account very naturally for the apparently miraculous condition. Baron Nordensk jold,upon finding on the snows of Green- land dust composed of the elements invariably associated meteorites, and of uncommon occurrence in terrestrial mat- ter, concluded that cosmic dust is falling imperceptibly but continually upon the earth. Recent spectroscopic ex- amination of many varieties of dust collected in England and elsewhere has an interesting bearing on Nordenskjold’s conclusions. Among the constituents of dust floating in the air are lead, silver, copper, rubidium, gallium, indium, thal- lium, nickel, manganese, and so,forth. Many of these can be traced to their sources in factory chimneys and flues. Volcanic dust has characteristic features, and dust from clouds, collected either by itself or in hail, snow, sleet ~ or rain, exhibits a regularity of composition not seen in other varieties of dust. Iron, nickel, calcium, copper, potassium and sodium always appear init in about the same propor- tions. Some dust that fell near Dublin in. 1897 resembles meteorites in its composition, is attracted by a magnet, and seems to be of cosmic origin.—Science. OO OD OS THE Smithsonian Institution was founded by James Smithson, an Englishman, who left his estate, valued at $550,000, to the United States Government to establish in Washington an institution ‘‘for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.’’ The Congress of the United States has placed the following Bureaus of the Government under the direction of the Smithsonian Institute:, The United States National Museum, the Bureau of International Exchanges, the Bureau of American Ethnology, the National Zoological Park and the Astrophysical Observatory. LIQUID ya COMPASS SUN’S AMPLITUDES. The following approximate amplitudes of the Sun’s rising or setting will be given each week in this column during the season of navigation. A second bearing may be taken by compass at sunset, by reversing the east bearing given for the nearest latitude, as the change in declination for a few hours makes but a slight difference in the true bearing of the Sun’s setting. The bearing may be taken when the Sun’s center is on the horizon, rising or setting. The ele- ments which may be obtained by taking these. amplitudes are the quantities known as local attraction, va-iation and deviation, or the total difference between compass and true, or geographical bearings. LAKE ERIE AND S.. END LAKE MICHIGAN, LAT. 42° N Date. Amplitude. Bearing P’ts. Bearing Comp. Aug. 16....B. 19° N. =N. 64 EH. = #. by N, 3% N. Aug. 39....E. 189 N. =N. 6%, EK. = E. by N. % N Aug. 22,...H, 16°%:-N..== N. 6% KH. = BE. by NN LAKE ONTARIO, S. END HURON AND CENTRAL PORTION LAKE MICHIGAN, LAT. 44° N. Date. Amplitude. Bearing P’ts. Bearing Comp. Aug. 16,...E. 20° N =N. 6% EH. = FE by N. 36N. . Aug. 19....E. 18° N. = N. 6% H. =H. by N. 54 N.- Aup. 22.....H. 17° N. == N. 63% EH. = Re by N. 2 Ne N. END LAKES HURON AND MICHIGAN, LAT. 46° N Date. Amplitude. Bearing P’ts. Bearing Comp. Aug. 16....K. 20° N. = N. 64% KE. =H. by N. % N. Aug. 19....E. 19° N. = N. 6% N. =H. byN. % N. Aug, 222.758. 179 N. == Nv64R. ==. bysNe Ze NS eee LAKE SUPERIOR, LAT. 48° N ee Date. Amplitude. Bearing P’ts. Bearing Comp. _ Aug. 16....E. 21° N. = N. 6% E. = E. by N, % N. Aug. 19....H. 20° N.=N. 6% H. =H. by N. 36.N. Aug. 22....E. 18° N. = N. 6% E. = E. by N. % N. With a compass correct magnetic, the difference between the observed and true bearing or amplitude will be the vari- ation for the locality. Should there be any deviation on the course the vessel is heading at the time of taking the bear- ing, the difference between the observed and the true ampli- tude after the variation is applied will be the amount of de- viation on that course. If the correct magnetic bearing is to the right of the compass bearing, the deviation is easterly, : ‘if to the left, the deviation is westerly. ————— OO SO oor A RECENT order issued by the Navy Department states that hereafter the naval station at Bremerton, Wash., shall be known as the ‘‘Navy Yard, Puget Sound.” It is the intention of the Department to fit up this yard with neces- sary tools and machinery to carry on all of the repair work required by the largest ships, and the estimates for the next fiscal year, it is understood, will embrace liberal expendi- tures for the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Detar A = . wT ae Se ie i350 eae as By MARVELOUS] THE NEW BAUSCH & LOMB-ZEISS STERE Binocular |} Glasses. Used by the Armies and Navies of the World. Invaluable for Tourists, Sportsmen and Every-day Use. Booklet Free. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Seeman Nay; New Yor! Ch icago. 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