January 16, 1896.]
sail they made 1,732 miles, the best day's run being 75 miles.
The Bonnington is in a very sorry plight, and it needs only a cursory examination to prove what a miraculous escape the steamer and the crew had. Lying on the upper deck is the rudely constructed raft, ready for use, and in the boiler room rests the boiler half submerged in water. The bunkers are smashed in, the furnaces irretrievably damaged, and the stoke hole is half filled with water, on which floats all kinds of woodwork. Since the vessel's arrival she has been visited by many persons, all of whom marvel that she managed to arrive safely in port. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Captain Leighton and his crew for their noble conduct during this voyage of peril.
A FOREIGNER'S STEAM-LAUNCH SEIZED ON THE WEST RIVER,
The launch which was towing the cargo boat taking Mr. John Andrew and his
of cargo piece goods from Canton to Wuchow-fu has, we hear, been seized. We have not heard if the cargo boat and goods have been seized also.
The incident shows that the lekin officials are still bent on barring the way to goods going inland, unless squeezes ad infinitum are paid.
We learn later that Mr. Andrew has returned to Canton to lay his case before the Consul.
SENTENCE BY THE SAIGON COURT ON CAPTAIN BALLENTYNE,
Captain Ballentyne, of the steamer Flintshire. has, we learn, been tried by the Tribunal Cor. rectionnel at Saigon on two charges, first, re- ceiving Chinese passengers on board without a licence from the Emigration Officer, and, second, for aiding and abetting two soldiers to desert. The first charge was abandoned. The second was summarily dealt with, the trial occupying two and a half hours. Captain Ballentyne was ably defended by Mr. Thiolier, a young member of the bar, but he was found guilty and sen- tenced to three months' imprisonment.
The case is to be appealed.
The conduct of the President of the Court is commented upon by those who were present at the trial as having been unfair to the defendant. The interpretation, it is said, was also defective.
on
In connection with the trial of Captain Ballentyne at Saigon for assisting two French soldiers to desert we hear that the point was taken by the defendant's counsel that the two soldiers not having been prosecuted or convicted by the military authorities the charge of deserting, they could not be considered deserters and that therefore Captain Ballentyne could not considered an accomplice in the desertion. It is to be hoped our Saigon contemporary will give a full report of the trial in order that the case for the prosecution may be known. At present the affair has a very peculiar appearance.
THE NEW MINISTER TO PEKING.
As will be seen by Reuter's telegram, the office of Minister to Peking has been filled by the appointment of Major Sir Claude Maxwell Macdonald, K.C.M.G. On what principle the appointment has been made does not appear, but the new Minister may possibly prove all the more competent for his duties by being free from any traditions of the Peking legation on China Consular service, and his experience in Egypt and Africa may have given him the train ing necessary to deal with shufflers of the Tsungli Yamen type. He is not an entire stranger to the Chinese, however, having been stationed at Hongkong in 1879 with the 74th Highlanders. The following is his record in the Foreign Office List :---
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
landers (Brevet of Major; medal with three clasps, Khedive's star; and 4th Class of the Osmanich). Was employed on Special Service in Egypt, from February 13, 1883, to June 21, 1887. Was attached by the War Office to the Agency at Cairo, from 1882 to 1887. Was Acting Agent and Consul-General at Zanzibar from July 16, 1887, to March 21, 1888. Was appointed to be Her Majesty's Commissioner on the West Coast of Africa, December 15 1888. Proceeded on a special Mission to the Niger Territories, June, 1884. Was sent to Berlin with reference to the delimitation of boundary between the Oil Rivers Protectorate and the colony of Cameroons. Was appointed Com- missioner and Consul-General in the Oil Rivers Protectorate and adjoining Native Territories; Consul to the island of Fernando Po; and Consul in the Cameroons, January 1 1891. Was made a K.C.M.G., August 4th, 1892.
ANOTHER CASE OF PIRACY.
TWO MEN SHOT.
On the 8th Jan, the Hongkong Police received information of another case of piracy. but this time the outrage was committed in Chinese waters. The affair was certainly a very des- perate one; two men were shot, but the wounds were not fatal, although it is a wonder someone was not killed. About four p.m. on the 2nd inst. the Kam Sun Ki, a large junk carrying a crew of twelve and three passengers, and hav- ing a cargo of a thousand piculs of dried per- simmons and salt vegetables, was on a voyage from Shanchun, near Hoifung, to Hongkong, when she was becalmed near Pingloi. Suddenly two fishing junks, of about a hundred picnls capacity each, came up to her, and the occupants at once commenced the affray by firing rifles and revolvers. The Kam Sun Ki was well armed, having two cannons, two muskets, and a sword on board, but the crew were quickly forced to submit, as although the cannons were fired the men in the fishing junks succeeded in overpowering the crew. Altogether about fifty men boarded the Kam Sun Ki, after throwing stinkpots on board. They then sent the crew and passengers into the hold and battened down the hatches. One of the crew, a man named Ng Wo, was wounded in the left arm by a revolver shot, and another, Fong Ti, was shot in the right leg. Haring thus obtained command of the junk the pirates sailed her into a bay near Nanshan, where several other junks came alongside and cargo of the value of $6,000 was removed. Two days later the Kam Sun Ki was taken out to sea, where the pirates left her and went away in their own boats. The imprisoned crew managed after a while to release themselves and they sailed to Hongkong and reported the matter to the police. Several of the pirates and the junks can be identified, so it is to be hoped that arrests will be made.
ADMIRAL MAKAROFF'S COLLISION BUFFER
vious fall. Roughly speaking, the speed cording to the scale recognised in experiments with models, might be taken as eighteen knots, with the propellor stopped at the moment of collision.
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The first experiment was made with the cushion on. The cushion, also made to scale, was a very tiny object of cotton thread worked on à i metal shell and affixed as a cap on the ram. All being in readiness, the weight was let go, and the model was drawn through the water at á high rate of speed and struck the hulk a heavy blow. The result was that the shell of the latter was dented, but not pierced. The experiment was then repeated without the cushion, with the result that the ram made a clean cut of over an inch in vertical measurement and the lin- jured vessel began to fill rapidly.
In a
Admiral Makaroff explained in detail to his brother Admirals the details of his invention, illustrating by diagrams the operation of the cushion, or buffer, or muselière as he calls it, and afterwards accorded to a representative of the Daily Press the favour of an interview. His Excellency feels very strongly on the subject of the loss of life at sea through collisions and the importance of the adoption of measures to prevent it. The questions of our representa- tive were directed to the effect the Admiral's invention would have when applied to merchant ships, more especially as regards loss of speed. His Excellency explained that it was only in the case of rams that it was necessary to apply the muselière below the water line. vessel with a. vertical stem he would apply it above the water line. In the day of fiddle- head bows collisions were seldom attended with fatal results, the force of the blow expending itself on the upper part of the vessels. The same result would be attained by putting a guard on the portion of the vertical stem above water. On the deck of the Nicolai I. was a muselière which is used on the vessel and which has the appearance of a fender, which is what it really is, shaped to the lines of the ram. similar fender attached above the water-line to vessels with vertical stems would go along way to modify the effect of collisions and would operate as buffers
railway trucks. His Excellency, however, has also another plan, which is to build out from the vessel's how a small projection of thin iron filled with cork, indiarubber, or other suitable material; on a collision taking place the iron would col- lapse like an eggshell and with the filling material form a fender.
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Writing as a landsman our representative. considers Admiral Makaroff's humane inven- tion a most meritorious and practical one. To men-of-war, especially those with rams, it ought certainly to be applied. Admiral Makaroff estimates that the loss of speed on the Nicolai I. through its use does not exceed an eighth of a knot an hour, which in ordinary times is not of much consideration, and as the muse- lière can be readily removed it forms no im. pediment to the vessel's being run at her highest efficiency in case of emergency The most ordinary prudence seems to require that such deadly weapons as men-of-war rams should be guarded, put in a scabbard as it were when seeing that they are not required for actual use, a means has now been invented by which this can be done at snoh an infinitesimal loss of speed. Had the Camperdown been supplied with Admiral Makaroff's invention England might possibly not have had to deplore the loss of the Victoria and her long death roll.
The application of the invention to vessels of the mercantile marine would be. attended with
On the afternoon of the 9th Jan. H.E. Admiral Makaroff gave a demonstration of his device for minimising the effects of collisions at sea to Admiral H.E. Admiral Buller and H.E. Hoffmann on board the Russian flagship Nicolai I. Captain Newall, of the U.S.S. Detroit, was also present. The demonstra- tion was, made in a small tank on the vessel's deck. At one end of the tank was a small hulk of tin plate stiffened with wooden beams, very trifling pecuniary cost and no loss of lying broadside on. At the other end was a speed. Shipowners, however, are somewhat model of the Nicolai I., made to a scale of in. slow in adopting improvements that do not show to the foot as regards the bow and ram, but an immediate profit. In a matter of this kind the proportion was not preserved in the after the Insurance Companies are more immediately part, as that would have required the enlarge. interested and it would pay them to place a ment of the model to an unwieldy extent. premium on the use of this valuable invention Attached to the bow of the model was a rope by granting more favourable rates to vessels on passing over a pully at the other end of the which it is applied. The invention, we think, tank and weighted with a sandbag of 20 lbs. The only wants to be seen to be approved, but if MacDonald, Major Sir Claude Maxwell, weight being released the model was drawn there are any practical objections to be urged K.C.M.G., entered the 74th Highlanders, March through the water towards the hulk representing against it we will be very pleased to open our ∙16, 1872; was promoted to be Captain, February the vessel supposed to be receiving the impact columns to a full discussion of the subject. 12, 1881, and Major (Brevet), November 18, 1882. of the collision. The length of rope was ad- Served throughout the Egyptian Campaign of justed to allow the weight to reach the deck at 1882, and through the Suakin Expedition of the moment of collision, so that the way on the 1884-85, as a Volunteer with the 42nd High-model was simply that gathered from the pre-rent if one be made. This is usually done by
As a corollary to his invention for preventing the piercing of vessel's sides by collisions Admiral Makaroff has another for stopping the
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