running down. There are also two complete sets of batteries, an A and a B set. If one set should be suspected of being weak, a movement of the plug will connect the other set.

At 5 miles distance the Antrim turned under starboard helm, steaming 5 knots, to present her port side to the Spanker: the bell was heard all the time, getting clearer and more distinct as it drew abeam.

The helm was kept on so as to bring the Spanker across from the port to the starboard bow.

Captain Oliver listened with the ear-pieces connected to the port microphone, the sound getting gradually fainter from the time the bell was 2 points on the port bow until right ahead, when it was not audible. The switch was then moved, and the starboard microphone connected to the ear-pieces; the bell was again audible when half a point to the starboard bow, the sound getting louder and louder as the Spanker came more and more on the bow.

The Antrim was then swung under port helm to bring the Spanker across the bow again, and Captain Everett tried to locate the bearing of the Spanker without looking to see how the Antrim was heading. When he commenced, the Spanker was two points on the Antrim's starboard bow, and the Antrim was slowly swinging to starboard; using the starboard microphone the bell was heard distinctly at first, and it gradually got fainter and fainter. The direction of the ship's head by compass was noted when Captain Everett said the sound was inaudible, and the port microphone was at once switched on, when he immediately heard the bell again. At the time the sound was lost with the starboard microphone, the Spanker was right ahead.

This shows that at a distance of 5 miles the submarine bell could be heard and its direction located with certainty, and this is a distance beyond the certain range of any of the aerial sound signals in use by light vessels in fog.

When at the 5 miles' distance an officer stationed below was able to hear the bell by placing his ear against the ship's side below the water-line.

EXPERIMENTS AT TEN MILES' DISTANCE.

When this distance was reached, the Antrim was turned to bring the Spanker to bear on the port beam, going 14 knots; the bell was heard when the Spanker bore two points abaft the port beam; when it was abeam and a little before the beam, the note was very clear and musical. Speed was then reduced to 5 knots, and the ship allowed to swing slowly up to port to bring the Spanker across the bow as in the previous experiment. Captain Oliver, standing in such a position that he could not tell how the Antrim was heading, listened with the port microphone connected; the sound was loud at first, gradually becoming fainter; when he lost it, the direction of the ship's head was noted by another observer and the starboard microphone immediately switched on, and as soon as the sound was audible again the direction of the ship's head was again noted.

The result was, that the sound was lost with the port microphone when the Spanker was half a point on the port bow and picked up with the starboard microphone when she bore half a point on the starboard bow, the mean of the two being the exact bearing of the Spanker.

Boats designed to be carried on shipboard are subject to many requirements connected with lowering, hoisting and stowing, which define their characteristics within narrow limits, especially as regards their size and weight. The boats of a merchant vessel are intended almost exclusively for saving life under circumstances of emergency, when they must be handled by a small number of men and usually under conditions of more than ordinary difficulty. It is therefore as important for them to be light and handy as to be roomy and seaworthy. The boats of men-ofwar are used for a great variety of purposes, and in design are usually a compromise between conflicting demands.

In considering the type of boat most desirable for ship's use, a distinction should be made between the general service of the ship, whatever that may be, and the specific object of saving life in the case of a man overboard or of a call for assistance from another vessel in distress. For these last-mentioned objects and other similar ones, calling for the sudden lowering of a single boat, a type is needed which shall be exceptionally light, handy, and, above all, buoyant and seaworthy. It will be generally admitted that the type which best meets these requirements is the "whale-boat" of the New England whaling ships, which is quite a different thing from the boat commonly known under the name of a whaler" in other ships. The true whale-boat has moderate beam, a long rather flat floor, an easy turn to the bilge, a very bold sheer and no deadwood either forward or aft. This absence of deadwood results in a sharp rake to the stem and stern posts, which round boldly in to meet the shallow keel. The lines are considerably fuller at the bow than at the stern, and this leanness of the after-body is one of the most characteristic features of the type.

66

Fig. 1, Plate 56, is taken from an actual New Bedford whaleboat, and is believed to be the first authentic drawing of such a

boat ever published. The planking of these boats is never more than one-half inch in thickness; and the seams, instead of being calked, are covered by a light batten run along them on the inside. The timbers, knees, stem and stern post, etc., are also very light; indeed, every effort is made to gain buoyancy by saving weight.

Of late years whale-boats have been built for sailing rather than for rowing, and as a consequence the center-board has come into use and has necessitated some changes in design, which, however, do not essentially modify the description given above.

The true whale-boat is single-banked and designed to steer by an oar, though a rudder is fitted and works fairly well in smooth water. It should always be fitted to the curved stern post-not to a straight post made by filling in with deadwood-as this filling-in destroys one of the most important features of the type. The lightness of these boats, coupled with their form, makes them so buoyant that they ride over the waves where other boats cut through. The comparative flatness of the floor, the shallowness of the keel, and the absence of deadwood, make them very quick in turning, especially when steering by an oar; and this characteristic, added to their remarkable buoyancy, fits them peculiarly for use in a surf. They sail badly on a wind (unless fitted with a center-board), the lack of hold upon the water resulting in excessive leeway; but they do well off the wind and run well before a sea, and they can be rowed against a sea in which a deep cutter would be altogether helpless.

The crutch for the steering oar, which in navy boats is shipped at the very stern, is, in whaling, carried on a bumpkin projecting from the quarter of the boat. This brings it to one side of the man who handles it, and gives him much freer control than he could otherwise have.

Fig. 5, Plate 56, shows the whale-boat of the U. S. Navy.

The whale-boat is not well fitted for the general purposes of a man-of-war, but could be perfectly adapted to the needs of the merchant service by certain modifications in the direction of carrying capacity. The boats commonly used by merchant vessels are "double-enders," and to this extent resemble whale-boats, but beyond this they have little in common with the type that has been described above, and certainly they have few of its ad