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34 THE MARINE REVIEW is used, and in an oil compass, a lead washer is used. On no account must the glass cover ever be started for filling pur- poses, or for any other purpose unless you know what you are doing it for. In hot latitudes the compass should be - shielded from the rays of the sun which will turn the card a dirty brown, if not crack the glass top. The compass is employed, or used, in various ways, but the compass intended for use on board ship is called the mariner's compass, and according to the purpose it is intended for it is named the steering compass, the stand- ard compass, the azimuth compass, etc. The mariner's compass consists of a circular card, which represents the horizon of the observer; the cir- cumference being divided according to two systems of. notation--into points and degrees--32 points and 360 degrees. : \ ; : Reading the Compass by Points.--It is now necessary to consider the information contained on the compass card. There is a great deal more there than you think for. But few navigators are, what you can say, thor- oughly familiar with the "sea clock," as sailors call the compass. Let us say right here, that there is not be- stowed on the compass the amount of consideration that it merits. It is pre-eminently the instrument upon which the safety of the vessel depends, and justly ranks 'first in importance. It would be a much easier matter to dispense with the chronometer, or even the sextant, than with.this. invaluable guide. As the. student of the compass has already learned, the. compass card is divided into 32 equal parts, called points, or directions, and each part, therefore, is one point, or the 32nd part of a circumference, and is equal , to 11% degrees, or 11° 15'. REGARDING MAGNETIC BEARINGS. Capt. M. A. Boggan, Master Steamer Conemaugh :-- What you say in regard to magnetic bearings is only too true, as the magnetic bearing of Corunna range shows. Correct magnetic. bearings, as given in various. publica- tions, including those issued by the government, should be regarded as suspicious on this account, or until veri- fied and found correct. They may have been the correct thing one time, but as the variation changes and the amount is not taken into account and goes uncorrected after a number of years they cannot help being incorrect. As recent observations are continually finding a different amount of variation from that given on some charts found from observations taken years ago and kept corrected by allowing for the annual increase or decrease, it 1s only too apparent that this matter should always be looked into. A knowledge of navigation gives the master of a vessel confidence and a feeling of self-assurance in his _ work, since it makes him independent, in a large meas- ure, of corrected courses, etc., given in publications of this nature. A navigator of ability does not require dry nursing of this kind since he is acquainted with the nec- essary data to make the deductions himself. All late charts. keep him posted of new observations for varia- tion and such other information that he can turn to good use. $o long as it becomes necessary to make his own corrections for variations, corrected course of _ this kind. are. of no real benefit to the man who knows how the. operation is 'performed and can do it himself. : Lon. Contract has been awarded the Wellman-Seaver-Mor- gan Co., of Cleveland, for the installation of five Hulett ore unloading machines at the Indiana Steel Co.'s plant at Gory. EXPLOSION ON BOARD SHIP AT LIVERPOOL. Nine men were killed and about forty injured as the result of a terrific explosion at Liverpool on board the British steamer Haverford of the International Naviga- tion Co. The vessel, which is commanded by Capt. Niel- sen, arrived at Liverpool from Philadelphia, landed her passengers, and proceeded to MHuskisson dock, in order to unload.. The stevedores were loosening the hatches when the explosion occurred. It blew off the hatches, rent the decks, and hurled dead and wounded men in all directions. The explosion, which was heard for many miles, was followed by an outbreak of fire. The cargo, consisting of linseed oilcake, in hold two and hold three, was soon blazing fiercely. Firemen and police hur- ried to the scene, and the injured were quickly taken to a neighboring hospital, while the work of searching _ for further possible casualties proceeded with vigor, in spite of the fierceness of the fire which soon assumed alarming proportions, owing to the inflam- mable nature of the cargo. After two hours' hard fight, however, the firemen obtained the mastery of the flames. The cause of the explosion is now being inquired into. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. The wharf of the Merchants & Miners' Transportation Co., at Baltimore, was totally destroyed by fire recently. The steamer Essex lying alongside was burned to the water's edge, as were also eight scows and barges. The loss is estimated as over $1,000,000. The Old Dominion Steamship Co., of New York, has concluded negotiations for the purchase of a majority Stock Of the Virginia Navigation 'Co. and' Mr. ; W.. Ee Guillaudeu, president of the Old Dominion line, has _ also been elected president of the Virginia Navigation Co. The Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me., has been awarded contract by the Eastern Steamship Co. for a new pas- senger steamer somewhat on the same line as the steamer City of Lowell. The new steamer will be 335 ft. long, 40 ft. beam and 17 ft. deep. She will have turbine engines and Scotch boilers. It is announced that the seven-masted schooner Thomas _W.. Lawson iand the six-masted schooner. Wm. L. Douglass have been chartered to carry oil from the Texas fields to northern refiners. This is the first time schoon- ers have been utilized for this purpose, though full-rigged sailing ships have carried oil abroad. Every watchman, wheelman, mate and master on the lakes should read Clarence E. Long's article on "Scientific Lake Navigation' now running in the Marine Review. This series began in the issue of April §. To anyone sending in his subscription now all the back numbers will be sent to him free--that is to say his subscription will be entered for one full year from the date of receipt and all the back numbers allowed without charge. v The second of the three tugs building for the Penn- sylvania railroad at the yard of the Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md., was launched recently. The tug is 105 ft. over all, or ft. 3 in. keel, 24 ft: beam and 13% ft. deep. She is fitted with one compound engine with cylinders 18 and 36 in. by 26-in. stroke. Steam will be supplied by a Scotch boiler 14 ft. 5 in. M2. tt, 8 -in, allowed 160 lbs. pressure.. In addition to these orders the Maryland Steel Co. is building two car floats 340 ft. long for the New York, Norfolk & Philadelphia Railroad Co., two oil barges for the Standard Oil Co., each 185 ft. long, a freight steamer 235 ft. long for the Old Bay line and a passenger steamer 275 ft. long for the Baltimore & Philadelphia Steamboat Co.