Foreign Stations Research Articles

Lewis Morris—an Early Welsh Hydrographer

During the period prior to the formation of an independent surveying service as part of the Royal Navy, the making of hydrographic surveys was a haphazard affair often dictated by circumstances rather than as part of a well ordered and integrated scheme. Ordinary serving officers of the Navy were encouraged as part of their duties to obtain information relating to depths, sea-marks, time of tides, setting of the currents, &c.; especially when on a foreign station. In home waters, although the same directive applied, the Admiralty authorities also sought to improve the standard of charting by helping, and in some cases commissioning, private individuals to carry out hydrographic surveys of various parts of the coast. The valuable contribution made by these ‘amateurs’ is shown by the number of charts they produced, particularly during the first half of the eighteenth century. Although the printed charts have survived as a tangible record of their labours, little is known of the methods they employed and the difficulties that confronted them. In the case of Lewis Morris, however, the fact that he was an antiquary, literary scholar, philologist and mineralogist and attained greater fame in fields other than surveying, has meant that a considerable amount of his manuscript material has survived.1 From a surveying standpoint this material includes a number of letters and memoranda sent by Morris to the Admiralty and other interested persons, the original manuscript plans of his survey of the Welsh Coast and a rough survey notebook in which he jotted down his observations while out in the field. The latter is probably unique as, for obvious reasons, field notebooks are inevitably destroyed as the finished product emerges. It is thus possible to obtain a well documented and comprehensive picture of the way in which a zealous individual like Morris set about the stupendous task of surveying hundreds of miles of coastline and inshore waters in the interests of safer navigation.

Climate and health in the Royal Navy.

In July, 1945, a new form of monthly sickness return was introduced in the Royal Navy. The return called for counts of those men who were on the sick list, i.e., incapacitated by sickness, and of those on the attending list, i.e., with minor ailments who only attended the sick bay for treatment. It was expected that the attending list figures might be more closely related to living conditions than those for more serious illness necessitating absence from duty. The first review of these returns (Roberts, 1948), covering the period August, 1945, to July, 1946, showed clearly the value of the attending list figures, and the sickness return was amended to require the inclusion of a record of the air temperature on the upper deck at noon. The next examination, covering the period from October, 1948, to September, 1949 (Ellis, Smith, and Underwood, 1952), showed the value of the records of air temperature. When the returns from all stations were grouped together it appeared that the percentage of a ship's company on the attending list increased as the weather became hotter, and especially when the upper deck temperature ex ceeded 80? F. It was not clear whether variations in the numbers on the attending list were in some measure due to factors other than climate, such as station, or class of ship, so it was decided to make a further examination when more returns had been amassed. In the present study, which covers the four years between October, 1948, and September, 1952, an examination has been made of the question whether the relation between minor sickness and climatic temperature is to be found in all classes of ship and on all foreign stations.

Reports of special committees

Time‐Signal Service (H. E. McComb, Chairman)—The Committee reported that a large number of users of United States Navy Department time‐signals in the fields of applied geophysics, geodesy, and seismology have supplied information relative to the extent of the use of these signals. The general character and number of these communications prove that the time‐signals are used in a wide variety of scientific investigations. The Committee will supply detailed information on specific signals in its final report to the Union. Several users have reported serious difficulties in the reception of the 9425‐kilocycle signal due to interference from foreign stations. Others have suggested the desirability of having additional signals on some of the standard frequencies now on the schedule.

Flood-lighting and Broadcasting during the Paris Exhibition

DURING the Paris Exhibition, it has been arranged that some four hundred monuments and buildings in the smaller villages of France and in the open country will be flood-lighted by five mobile units carrying flood-lighting equipment. Each of the lorries will carry generating plant, and will be manned by three men. It will carry ten spotlights of 3 kilowatts each and ten floodlights of 1J kilowatts. There will also be apparatus for the production of chemical smoke, as well as an amplifier and a loud speaker installation permitting lectures or music, which will be broadcast during the displays. According to the Electrician of May 21, all the services of the Government broadcasting system will be transferred to the radio pavilion at the Paris Exhibition. For this purpose, three large studios with mixing desks and control room, two smaller studios for speakers and announcers, and a television studio are being installed. There will also be an installation for the registering and rebroadcasting of records. The installations will be entirely enclosed in glass so that the public can see all the equipment in operation and yet all risk of noise or crowds interfering with the operations will be prevented. As the stations are broadcasting all day, it will be possible for the public to see at least some part of the Retaliation in operation at all hours of the day. The lighting tour has been organized to extend until the end of October. The general control of the whole system will be centred in a room near the entrance to the pavilion. It will have connexions with both French and foreign stations. In many places, the local authorities are being asked to provide flood-lighting for other buildings of interest.

The Work of the Sloops on Foreign Stations

The Work of the Sloops on Foreign Stations

THE HYDROGRAPHIC YEAR, 1933

During the past year H.M. Surveying-ships have been employed in various parts of the world, four in Home Waters and four on Foreign Stations.

THE HYDROGRAPHIC YEAR, 1933

During the past year H.M. Surveying-ships have been employed in various parts of the world, four in Home Waters and four on Foreign Stations.

Reduction of Chimney Emissions

THE Technical Committee appointed by the Electricity Commissioners in 1930 to consider the methods that should be taken to prevent the emission of soot, ash and grit from the chimneys of electric power stations has now published its report (London: H.M. Stationery Office, 5s.). A sub-committee made a thorough investigation, visiting many foreign stations which have adopted preventive measures. In 46 of the 111 British selected stations no grit extraction plant has yet been installed. The subcommittee regards grading by sieves as unsatisfactory, as it is impossible when the mesh is too small and untrustworthy for larger values. Particles below 20 microns (1 micron is a thousandth part of a millimetre) when discharged into an air stream are sufficiently diffused to avoid creating a nuisance. The only satisfactory way of testing the efficiency of dust extraction plant is to weigh the dust in unit volume of the gases at as high a point in the chimney as practicable. In Germany, where the power stations are generally larger than in Great Britain, electrostatic precipitation together with very high chimneys is favoured. The main conclusions arrived at by the Committee are that dust nuisance is avoidable with new stations, but the application of means for its prevention to all existing stations may not be practicable. There is an urgent need for standardisation of good methods of testing dust extraction plant. For pulverised fuel installations the electrostatic precipitator is the most suitable type to use. Water for dust extraction is not to be commended. The minimum height of chimneys should be at least two and a half times that of the highest point of the generator station buildings. Photographs are given of the filters used for separating ash and grit particles and of plant for multiple-cyclone dust extraction.

Reviews of Books

Abstract Abstract British Strategy: A Study of the Application of the Principles of War. By Major-General Sir F. Maurice, K.C.M.G., C.B., LL.D. With an Introduction by Field-Marshal Sir G. Milne, G.C.B. (Constable & Co., Ltd.). The Life of Lord Fisher of Kilverstone. By Admiral Sir R. H. Bacon, K.C.B., K.C.V.O., D.S.O. 2 Vols. (Hodder & Stoughton, London). 42s. The Cambridge History of the British Empire. Vol. I. (Cambridge: At the University Press). 35s. The Decisive Wars of History: A Study in Strategy. By B. H. Liddell Hart. (London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd.). 1929. 12S. 6d. Voyages to the East Indies. By Christopher Fryke & Christopher Schweitzer. Introduction and Notes by C. E. Fayle. (Cassell & Co., Ltd.). IOS. 6d. Malta. Institution of Royal Engineers. Series of Descriptive Accounts of Foreign Stations. 1S. The Narrative of a Naval Nobody. By Lieutenant-Commander Douglas Fairbairn, R.N. (John Murray). 10S. 6d. net. A Stoker's Log. By Henry Vincent. (Messrs. Jarrold). 5s. net. Thames Nautical Training College: “H.M.S. Worcester.” By Captain W. A. Morgan. (Charles Griffin & Co., Ltd.). The White Mutiny. By Sir Alexander Cardew. (Constable & Co.). 12s. 6d. The Defence of Bowler Bridge: A Study in Minor Tactics. By H. E. Graham. (W. Clowes & Sons, London.) 3s. 6d. Military Law. By Lieut.-Colonel S. T. Banning, C.B.E. Seventeenth Edition. (Aldershot: Gale & Polden, Ltd.) 8s. 6d. The Weary Road: Recollections of a Subaltern of Infantry. By Charles Douie. Introduction by Major-General Sir Ernest Swinton, K.B.E. (John Murray, London). 6s. The Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War. By Captain H. Fitz M. Stacke, M.C., of the Regiment. With a Foreward by Field-Marshal Sir Claud Jacob, G.C.B., K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., Colonel of the Regiment. (G. T. Cheshire & Sons, Ltd., Kidderminster). The Essex Regiment: The Essex Militia. By John Wm. Burrows, F.S.A Published by arrangement with the Essex Territorial Army Association. (John H. Burrows & Sons, Southend-on-Sea). 5s. Napier's Rifles: The History of the 5th Battalion, 6th Rajputana Rifles. By H. G. Rawlinson, Indian Educational Service. (Oxford University Press). The History of the Assam Rifles. By Colonel L. W. Shakespear, C.B., C.I.E. (Macmillan & Co., London). £1 10S.

A Pamphlet on Foreign Stations for the Use of Officers

A Pamphlet on Foreign Stations for the Use of Officers

Science of the Sea

THERE is a large though scattered body of people interested in oceanography or fascinated by marine biology, but prevented from making any advance by the want of practical direction and assistance: not only explorers and yachtsmen, but officers in the Navy with time on their hands in port or in foreign stations, medical officers on board ship or on coastal stations, and gentlemen who have retired from active service. To all such who wish to learn the methods of oceanographic inquiry, this book will be gladly welcomed, for it brings together instructions that otherwise are hard to find, given with the greatest care, and tested by the practical experience of many lives. The handbook is, in fact, the collective wisdom of the most active members of the Challenger Society, a body that has met quarterly in an unobtrusive fashion in London for some years, and now expresses its interest in oceanographic research by this publication. Science of the Sea. Dr. G. Herbert Fowler. Pp. xviii + 452. (London: John Murray, 1912.) Price 6s. net.

Egypt as a Foreign Station

Egypt as a Foreign Station

Ceylon as a Foreign Station

Ceylon as a Foreign Station

On the Assurance Risks incident to Professional Military and Naval Lives; and the Rates of Extra Premiums which should be charged for such Risks

In assessing the risks to be provided against in the case of professional military and naval lives, consideration has to be given to the following distinct elements:(1) The risk of death at home stations, or the normal mortality.(2) The risk of death at foreign stations in time of peace, or the climate risk.(3) The risk of death in active military service in the constantly recurring “small wars.”(4) The risk of death in active military operations in “national wars.”(5) The liability, in time of peace, to foreign service.(6) The liability to active service in the field in “small wars.”(7) The liability to active service in the field in “national wars.”

VI. On the tides at Malta

Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key, K. C. B., late Superintendent of the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, and formerly Naval Commander of Malta, before leaving this country for a foreign station, placed in my hands the original record of tidal observations made by a self-registering tide-gauge at La Valetta, extending through one entire lunation and through parts of others. On the location and construction and use of the instrument I have received from Sir Cooper Key the following notes:— “The place of the tide-gauge was about 40 or 50 yards from the entrance of the Somerset Dock (which is in the French Creek, so called by us), on the western side or left hand when entering the dock. A channel about a yard wide, and 8 or 10 yards long, led to a deep recess in which the gauge was placed. No ripple was felt from the effect either of wind or of ships moving in the neighbourhood.