THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO JAPAN, THE following document was communicated to the United States Senate, by the Secretary of the Navy, in reply to a resolution of that body :— Navy Department, April 5th, 1852. Sir. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Senate's resolution, adopted on the 22nd ultimo, calling upon the Secretary of the Navy to communicate to the Senate his opinion of the expediency of a reconnoissance of the routes of navigation in the Northern Seas, and in the China and Japan Seas, and whether any vessel belonging to the service can be used for that purpose; and, also, what would be the expense of such reconnoissance? So far as regards the expediency of the reconnoissance referred to in the resolution, I find that the files of this department contain a carefully prepared discussion of the subject by the Superintendent of the National Observatory of the date of December the 3rd, 1851,-confined, however, to the value and importance of the whale fishery in the Anadir, Ochotsk, and Arctic Seas, as the whaling grounds in the regions about Bhering Straits are called, from which I beg leave to furnish the following extracts: In the summer of 1848 Capt. Roys, of the whale ship Superior, penetrated the Arctic Ocean, through Bhering Straits, and encountered in his adventurous pursuit all the dangers of an unknown and Polar sea. He was successful in his enterprise, filling his ship with oil in a few weeks. Influenced by the report which he brought back as to the abundance of whales, owners in the United States fitted out a large fleet for those grounds, and in 1849 Capt. Roys was followed by 154 sail of whale ships, each vessel (said to be) worth on the average, with her outfit, 30,000 dollars, and manned by thirty ablebodied seamen each. This fleet took that season 206,850 barrels of whale oil, and 2,481,600 pounds of bone. In the summer of 1850 there went up a whaling fleet of 141 American vessels, manned as above, and of a like average value. This fleet, in the course of the few weeks left for their pursuits in those inhospitable regions, took 243,680 barrels of whale oil, and 3,654,000 pounds of bone. In the current year (1851) there went up a fleet of about 145 American vessels; but their returns have not been received; partial accounts of wreck and disaster only have reached us; they are startling. The lives and property at stake there for the two years for which we have complete returns may be thus stated : The losses during the year 1851 have been unprecedented, so far as heard from. No less than seven sail of this fine fleet of 1851, the Howqua, the New Bedford, the Arabella, the America, the Armata, the Mary Mitchell, and the Henry Thompson, have been wrecked there, and left behind as monuments of the dangers which meet these hardy mariners in their adventurous calling. There are reports of other losses and wrecks; these are certain; and though several of them were lost, not on shoals, but otherwise, yet these are enough to tell of imperfect hydrography, and to show the national importance of looking to it; for it may be so, that in case of loss in the ice, the knowledge of a sheltered anchorage near, and which a survey would give, would have prevented the exposure to the ice which induced the loss. All our commerce with what is called the East,' is not so valuable as this was for 1849 and 1850. We see by the above statistics that in these two years more American seamen were engaged in that small district of ocean, than are employed in our whole navy at any one time; that in these two years these hardy mariners fished up from the bottom of the sea, and by their own energy created and added to the national wealth, the value of more than eight millions of dollars. And we moreover see that, owing to the dangers of the land and ice, the hidden rocks and unknown shoals, one vessel in every twenty that went therein during the summer of 1851, has been left behind a total wreck, and that the lives of their crews, or of not less than one man for every twenty engaged in that business, have been put in jeopardy, mostly from the want of proper charts. No protection that our squadrons can at this moment give to our commerce, with any of the States of Christendom, can compare with that which a good chart of that part of the ocean would afford to this nursery of American seamen, and to this branch of national industry. I learn that in lat. 64° 15′ N, long, 178° W., Capt. Middleton, of the barque Tenedos, of New London, discovered a shoal having only eight feet of water on it, and which was two acres in extent; that the ship Ajax, of Havre, was lost on a rock south of the Isle of St. Lawrence, ten miles from land; that the entire fleet of whalemen in the Arctic Ocean complain much that charts are wrong, that the coast is badly explored, but little known,' &c.; that several of our vessels have been near being wrecked by unexpectedly making land or rocks under the bows at night;' that they have found in the Arctic Circle low sand-pits, extending five or six miles out; that also, 'in Ochotsk Sea, there are hidden dangers; that the Howqua, in 1851, was totally wrecked on a sunken rock in that sea.' 'I am also informed that the Indians are very friendly; that they wanted to trade; that the whalemen frequently went on shore,' &c. ; 'that Capt. Taylor brought specimens of ores of metals from the Arctic shore,;' that 'he obtained information from the natives of the existence of gold among them, as also iron;' that when shown implements of various kinds, they gave him to understand, plenty in the mountains.' Such also was the case with gold. They knew the metal, and pointed as such existing among them. With these facts before the department, I have no hesitation in expressing an opinion favourable to the measure suggested in the resolution, nor in recommending such a reconnoissance and survey as will establish accurately the position of the prominent capes, bays, headlands, and harbours. To fix the positions of the rocks and shoals that endanger the navigation there, and to examine the Fox or Aleutian Islands, would be the work of two or three properly appointed vessels only for a short time. When the season is closed for these latitudes, the same vessels could be most beneficially employed in an examination of the seas of China and Japan, and the regions thereabout, whose hydrography is so defective, and an accurate knowledge of which is becoming every day of more and more importance. In reply to the latter clause of the resolution, viz., ' Whether any vessels belonging to the service can be used for that purpose, and also what would be the expense of such a reconnoissance?' I respectfully state that this department has not at its command the vessels necessary for the contemplated service, unless by reducing the number of our vessels attached to squadrons on foreign service, which I by no means recommend. I am of opinion that the necessary vessels can be built at our navy yards, or purchased for a sum not exceeding 125,000 dollars; and that no additional appropriation beyond that sum need be made. The wear and tear of the vessels, the pay of the officers and crews, stores, provisions, instruments, &c., can be provided for out of current appropriations. The accompanying report from the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, and papers prepared by Commander Ringgold and Lieutenants Maury and Page, are respectfully submitted, as throwing additional light upon the subject. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, W. A. GRAHAM. Hon. W. R. King, President of the Senate. AN ORDINANCE ENACTED BY THE GOVERNOR OF MALTA, WITH THE ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT THEREOF.-For making further provision for the Instruction and due Qualification of the Masters and Mates of Merchant Vessels belonging to Malta. WHEREAS it is expedient to make further provision for the instruction and due qualification of the masters and mates of merchant vessels, His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council of Government, enacts and ordaina as follows: 1. The Rector of the University, the Teacher of Navigation in the Lyceum, together with two masters of the merchant service of Malta, who shall have commanded and navigated merchant vessels for a period not less than five years, shall be appointed by the head of the Civil Government for the time being, to constitute a board in connexion with the University, to be called the Navigation Board. 2. The said Board shall be empowered to grant certificates of competency in theoretical and practical seamanship, according to regulations to be framed and published under their authority. Such certificates to be of competency for some one of the following grades: Master of third class; Mate of vessel commanded by a master of first or second class; Master of second class; Master of first class. A Captain of the third class, is authorized to command vessels of small burden navigating between these islands, Sicily, Sardinia, Tripoli, Tunis, and the port of Bona; that of the second class, vessels navigating within the Mediterranean, including Cadiz and the coast of Portugal, and that of the first class, vessels navigating in any part of the world. 3. Candidates desiring to qualify themselves as masters of the third class shall have served at sea for a period of not less than two years. 4. Candidates desiring to qualify themselves as mates, shall have served at sea for not less than two years, and shall have frequented the School of Navigation in the Lyceum for one year, or any other school of navigation, which the head of the Civil Government may, by public notification hereafter, duly authorize for the purpose, for such period, not being less than one year nor more than eighteen months, as shall be specified in such notifi cation. 5. Candidates desiring to qualify themselves as masters of the second NO. 6.-VOL. XXI. 2 U class, shall have served not less than two years at sea in the capacity of mates. 6. Candidates desiring to qualify themselves as masters of the first class, shall have served not less than two years at sea as mates, and shall have frequented the School of Navigation in the Lyceum for six months, at any time subsequent to their first six months service at sea as mates,—or, in default of such frequentation, shall have served at sea three years and a half in the capacity of mates. 7. No person shall be permitted to act either as mate, or as master of any class, except on licence from the Chief Secretary to Government; and no such licence shall in future be issued by government, except on the production of the corresponding certificate of competency from the said Navigation Board, and to persons of good character and reputation. The production however of such certificate shall not be obligatory for such persons as shall prove themselves to have been authorized to act as captains by any competent authority, in any other part of Her Majesty's dominions, nor for any mate of a vessel not belonging to the port of Malta, who shall apply to be authorized to command such vessel in lieu of the master of the same, who shall have resigned her command or have died, or otherwise have become incapable to continue in such command. 8. Sec. 1, 2, 3 and 4, of book vi, chap. ii, and sec. 2 and 3, chap. iii. of the said book of the Municipal Code de Rohan; and sec. 1 of the minute of the 9th of December, 1837, in as far as they are contrary to the provisions made by this Ordinance, are repealed and annulled. LOCAL ATTRACTION IN SHIPS. Does It appears that this subject has at length forced itself into notice. or does not the compass misbehave itself from the above cause in southern latitudes. Some answer yes and others no. Where the dangerous plan of applying correcting powers to the compass is adopted we apprehend that it does generally, and it is shown so in the following letter. Topsham, Devon, April 8th, 1852. SIR.-I received the inclosed paper a few days since from my son Alfred Mering Sainthill who commands the Keera, and as the information may be useful to some of the steam ships about to proceed to Australia, I forward it to you to publish it if you think proper. The Keera's compasses were adjusted in Newcastle previous to her departure. To the Editor N.M. I am, &c., Remarks on the compasses of the Iron Steam Boat Keera from Newcastle to Sydney. Correct as far as the equator, first found wrong in the south-east trade, October 3rd, 1851, lat. 27° S., long. 23° 52′ W., ship's head by compass S. W. true, S.W.b.S. On getting to the southward of the south-east trade, the deviation increased as we got to the eastward. In lat. 41° 21' S., long. 33° 45' E., the course by observation was N. 89° E.; course by binnacle compass E.b N, course by cabin compass, S.E.4E., deviation of binnacle compass increasing. November 28th, lat. 40°, long. 82° 40′ E., steered northeast to make an east course. On Thursday, December 3rd, lat. 42°, long. 100° E., in a heavy gale hove to, the compass frequently changed ends, sometimes continuing reversed two or four hours, and then vibrating a long time, in fact useless. They continued so until the 6th, when I reversed the poles of the antagonist magnets, and removed them about two feet further from the compass, after which we made good courses with the ship's head east, but found the compass sometimes one point wrong, ship's head north on the coast." No correcting powers are applied in H.M. ships, nor should they be for many reasons. The amount of error is always found and allowed for. Further attention is called to the subject by the following Admiralty order. Admiralty, May 12th, 1852. My Lords desire to call the attention of the captains, and commanding officers of H.M. ships and vessels, to the necessity of constantly watching the deviation of the ships' compasses, caused by the attraction of the iron in ships, especially in steam vessels, and more particularly in those constructed of iron; experience having shewn that large errors are caused thereby, which not only vary in degree when approaching the magnetic equator, but in many instances, when passing to the southward of it, require the correction for error to be applied in a contrary direction to that previously ascertained. With the view of taking such further precautions as appear to be necessary to guard against the dangers arising from the above cause, my lords are pleased to direct as follows: 1st.-All ships and vessels are to be swung once in each year, for the purpose of ascertaining the errors of the compass of the ship, also immediately on their arrival on a foreign station; or if there has been any great change in the ship's position since the errors were last observed. 2nd.-Azimuth and Amplitude observations are also to be taken at sea, for the same purpose, as pointed out in the practical rules supplied to H.M. ships, for the guidance of officers. 3rd. Whenever ships are swung, or observations are taken at sea, a notation of the circumstance, and of the amount of error, is to be inserted in the ship's log, and remark books, and a yearly return of the local attraction of the ship is to be transmitted to this office with the quarterly returns ending December 31st, in the form at present in use. 4th. It is always to be stated in the returns, if the compasses have been corrected by magnets. 5th. The attention of officers is particularly called to circular No. 9, dated November 20th, 1846, with reference to the removal of iron from the vicinity of the compasses. THE LOSS OF THE Birkenhead. We have been favoured with the following interesting communication from one of the officers of the Cape Screw Steam Navigation Company's ship Propontis. It will be remembered that the unfortunate Birkenhead was lost on the same night that the strange circumstance took place in reference to the compasses on board the Propontis. "Some days before making the Cape land, on board the Propon is, in February, 1852, we found nearly six points difference between our standard and binnacle compasses, the standard having nearly three points west variation and the binnacle nearly three points easterly variation. On approaching near the land, the night of February 25th, we found the binnacle compass so unsteady, and oscillating so much, at times taking nearly a round turn, that we could not steer by it, but conned the ship by the standard, which remained steady." SWINGING THE GREAT BRITAIN.-On Tuesday this splendid craft left the |