and also that such goods had never become a portion of the common stock of Canada, by any previous actual importation for consumption or traffic in this province. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, A. N. MORIN, Secretary. TO HUGH ALLEN, Esq., President of the Board of Trade, Montreal. NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. VESSELS WRECKED AT KEY WEST IN 1851. In the Merchants' Magazine for January, 1852, (vol. xxvi., pages 52–60,) we published, under our series of "Commercial Cities and Towns in the United States," a carefully prepared description of Key West, bringing the statistics of the wrecking business down to the close of 1850. We now give a statement of the number of vessels wrecked on the Florida coast, and of those put into the port of Key West in distress, during the year ending 31st December, 1851; with the amount of salvage awarded, the expenses and values of vessels and cargoes:— In distress 19 vessels, wrecked 15; number wrecked and in distress, 34. Amount of salvage awarded, $75,852; amount of salvage and expenses, $165,085; value of vessels and cargoes, $941,500. 30 American, 1 Swedish, 1 Spanish, 2 English-34. 6 ships, 3 barks, 14 brigs, 2 steamers, 9 schooners-34. MAGNETIC VARIATIONS AT POINT PINOS AND SAN DIEGO. The Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, in a communication to the Secretary of the Treasury, states that "the magnetic variations at Point Pinos and San Diego, Coast of California, and Cape Hancock, or Disappointment, mouth of the Columbia River, Oregon, and computed from the observations of George Davidson, Esq., Assistant Coast Survey, are as follows:- Lieut. MAURY, U. S. N., under date, National Observatory, Washington, February 27, 1852, transmits to the Secretary of the Navy, the following extract from the log of the ship George Brown, Higgins, of Baltimore, touching the loss of that ship on an unknown reef of rocks not far from Tiger Island: FRIDAY, August 15, 1851. "Lat. at noon 60° 44' S. lon. 121° 30′ E., wind S. E., moderate. At 7 P. M. struck on a reef of rocks lying S. E. from Tiger Island,' about 15 miles from the Island. The Islands were just in sight from the deck. The next day the rocks went through her bottom, and she filled with water. By the means of several observations taken on the preceding day, the shoal is in lat. 6° 44′ S. lon. 121° E. It had about 10 feet water on it. We left the wreck in our boats on the 17th, and landed on the Island of 'Salayer,' after a seven days' passage." VESSELS TOUCHING AT ELSINEUR. It will be interesting to shipmasters trading to the Baltic, to know that by a recent decision of the Department of State, the masters of vessels touching at Elsineur, solely and exclusively for the purpose of paying the Sound dues, and transacting no other business, are not required to deposit their ship's papers at the American Consulate at that port, either on entering or passing out of the Baltic. LIGHT-HOUSE ON THE ISLAND OF CURACAO. The following notice to mariners, dated "Colonial Secretary's Office, Curacao, Nov. 21, 1851," bears the signature of J. Rammelman Elsevir, Jr. The Governor of Curacao and its dependencies, hereby gives notice to the shipping, that from and after the 20th of November, a light-house having been erected on the island of Little Curacao, will show a red light from sunset to sunrise. The light is twenty Netherland ells and four palms above the level of the sea, in lon. 68° 44′ W. of Greenwich, and lat. 11° 58′ N. It can be plainly seen from the deck of an ordinary vessel at the distance of 23 nautical miles, of fifteen miles to the degree. Having the light at this distance bearing W. by S., the light of Bonaire can be observed at the same time, bearing E. by S., when at an elevation of six ells above the level of the sea. The above light, which indicates the dangerous island of Little Curacao, will at the same time show the bearing of Punt Canon-the low east corner of Curacao, which point, bearing W. N, W., at a distance of one nautical mile from the light, is not less dangerous. CARYSFORT REEF LIGHT-HOUSE. We published in the Merchants' Magazine for March, 1852, a description of this new Iron Light-House. We now give an official notice for the benefit of mariners :— OFFICE OF THE CARYSFORT REEF LIGHT-HOUSE, KEY WEST, Feb. 14th, 1852. Notice is hereby given, that on and after the 10th of March proximo, a fixed light of 18 21-inch reflectors will be exhibited on the structure recently erected on the Carysfort Reef, Gulf of Florida. The light is elevated 106 feet above the water, and will be visible in clear weather from a deck twelve feet high, at the distance of eighteen statute miles. The structure can be approached from the eastward within a quarter of a mile, being erected on the most seaward bank or reef, distant about four miles from the light-ship, as laid down upon the charts, and bearing from it E. N. E. (magnetic. GEO. G. MEADE, Lieut. Top. Engineers. NEW REGULATION AT THE PORT OF LEGHORN. LEGHORN, January 30, 1852. A circular, dated 23d January, has been addressed by the Tuscan government to the consular body resident in this place, informing them that, agreeably to the 37th article of the law of the 18th of July, 1851, vessels of less than eighty tons burden, having on board parcels of tobacco, manufactured or otherwise, are absolutely prohib ited anchoring off the coast, even at Leghorn, unless legally proved to have been compelled to do so by stress of weather. The necessary orders have therefore been given at the office of the port of Leghorn, in order that vessels of less than eighty tons burden, with tobacco on board, shall not be admitted to pratique, and they shall, as required by the 39th article of the above cited law, except only in cases of absolute necessity, be immediately warned off. WM. MACBEAN & CO., Agents to Lloyd's. BARNARD SAND, COAST OF NORFOLK. The south part of the Barnard Sand having grown up in an easterly direction, the S. W. Barnard Buoy (Red) has been moved about half a cable's length E. half N. from its former position, and now lies in six fathoms at low water spring tides, with the following marks and compass bearings, viz.:— A windmill, its width open to the northward of Covehithe Wood.... South Inner Barnard Buoy DOLPHIN ROCK, IN THE JAVA SEA. W.N.W. E. Captain Ropes, of the bark Fenelon, from Shanghae, reports seeing Dolphin Rock, in the Java Sea. He describes it as being a coral rock, about the size of a ship's beam in diameter, being about one fathom below the surface of the water. It bears Knob Hill (Sumatra) West; the Brothers' Islands, N. E.-varying seven miles from the position given on Horsburg's Chart of the Java Sea. HOLYHEAD NEW HARBOR WORKS. Some idea of the vastness of the operations now being carried on may be gathered from the fact that nearly six million tons of material will be required to form the breakwater and sea-pier; and of this quantity about five-and-a-half million tons have been deposited to form the fore-shore of the breakwater; this latter will be six hundred feet in width at the base, and the proper settlement of the material thus deposited is ascertained by the engineer-in-chief and his staff. The fore-shore will extend twenty-six hundred feet to the seaward. The breakwater will inclose an area of three hundred and sixteen acres, three-quarters of a mile in length, in five-and-a-half fathoms of water, with a sea-pier two thousand feet in length, and the cost of the whole will be about seven hundred thousand pounds. And its priests have cried, 'Such a triumph as ours, But sound the praise of the Iron Age- The world shall never behold! For the Priests, with their Car and Idols, Of the age of Steam and Fire. OPERATIONS OF THE RAILWAYS OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1851. COMPILED FOR THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE LEGISLATURE, BY DAVID M. BALFOUR. In the following tables, "Interest," and Amount paid other Companies," in tolls for passengers and freight, are not considered running expenses, and are, therefore, deducted from the total of expenses. And the amount paid other companies "in tolls," &c., and the amount received for "Interest," are deducted from the total receipts. The returns from the Providence and Worcester, the Boston and Providence, the Norfolk County, the Stoughton Branch, the Nashua and Lowell, the Fitchburg, the Vermont and Massachusetts, the Harvard Branch, and the Newburyport Railways, exhibit the operations of those companies for eleven months, ending November 30th, 1851. In the returns from the New Bedford and Taunton, and the Cape Cod Branch Railways, the operations of the month of December, 1850, are included. 32 VOL. XVIII.-NO. IV. Total. 1,044 106 384 $52,595,288 $3,525,128 82,650,465 $280,248 $6,599,576 $652,666 $591,360 $2,083,411 $3,338,905 $3,260,671 av6 20 Including the Albany and W. Stockbridge Railway, (N. Y.) 38 1-4 miles, which is owned and operated by the Western Railway Corporation. + Operated by the Housatonic Railway Company. Operated by the Housatonic Railway Company. Operated by the Berkshire Railway Company. Operated by the Providence Railway Company: Operated by the Nashua and Lowell Railway Co. ** Interest received ($2,521) deducted from receipts. ++ Operated by the Fitchburg Railway Company. * Operated by the Fitchburg Rallway Company. |