In making a passage to the Cape in H.M.S. Himalaya, or any powerful steamer, I should say take the inshore passage and coal at Sierra Leone. Then I would keep a little inside the straight line, so as to make the land in 26° or 27° S. By doing so you will avoid the S.E. Trades, as it is well known the prevailing winds in the Bights of Benin and Biafra are from W.S.W. to W.N.W. By taking this

route instead of the St. Vincent one you will save nearly 1,000 miles; and I am of opinion you will have the fore and aft sails set as many days on the inside passage as on the outside one, provided the ship is on her course; and my experience has taught me, in a ship like this, if you want to make a passage you must not go looking for winds, take every advantage of what you find in your track, but do not go out of your way to look for them, you cannot spare the time.

I find we make from 200 to 240 miles a day facing the Trade, force from 2 to 5. Three boilers expending from 45 to 52 tons of coal per diem, so there is no fear of being short of coal, and I feel sure this ship will make the passage from Sierra Leone to the Cape nine times out of ten in fifteen days.

From the Cape to St. Helena, St. Vincent, and England.

A reference to the foregoing tables will give the results of two voyages, both on the outside track.

Remarks on the Current from the Cape of Good Hope to Algoa Bay and Port Natal.

April 5th, 1859.-From Simon Bay to Algoa Bay thirty-six hours. Wind S.S.E., force 2. Ship to the eastward of her reckoning, 14 miles, which might or might not be current.

8th-Left Algoa Bay for Port Natal. Wind S.E., force 4. Found the ship set in twenty-four hours S. 28° W. 102 miles.

10th.-Wind S.E., force 2 to 4. Found the ship set in the last twenty-four hours S. 41° W. 114 miles.

Passed H.M.S. Hermes on her way to Algoa Bay, and on our return there on the 23rd compared notes with the Admiralty Surveyor, Mr. Skead, and found both ships had the same amount of current to a mile.

21st.-Left Port Natal for Algoa Bay, and arrived on the 23rd; did not perceive any current.

24th.-Left Algoa Bay for the Cape; arrived on the 26th; did not find any current.

JOHN SECCOMBE, Commander.

I beg to call attention to the compasses. We found when approaching the Cape, and whilst on that coast, the deviation altered on some points as as much 13°.

CHARTS, &c., Published by the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, in June, 1859, and Sold by the Agent, J. D. Potter, 31, Poultry, and 11, King Street, Tower Hill.

English Channel, 3 sheets, various authorities, 1859, (9s.) Scotland, West coast, Loch Tuadh, Comdr. Bedford, R.N., 1857, (3s. 6d.) Scotland, West coast, Sound of Harris, Capt. Otter, R.N., 1858, (5s.) Nova Scotia, Beaver Harbour and view, Comdr. Orlebar, R.N., 1857, (3s.) East Indies, Ports in Macassar Strait, various authorities, 1859, (2s. 6d.) British Lights, corrected by Comdr. Dunsterville, R.N., to July, 1859, (1s 6d.)

French, Spanish, and Portuguese Lights in the Atlantic Ocean, corrected by Comdr. Dunsterville, R.N., to July, 1859, (1s.)

Admiralty, 20th June, 1859.

New Books.

EXPLANATIONS AND SAILING DIRECTIONS-to accompany the Wind and Current Charts, &c. By M. F. Maury, LL.D., U.S.N., Superintendent of the U.S. Observatory and Hydrographical Office, Washington. 2 vols. 4to., Eighth Edition.

The former of these volumes runs to 383, and the latter to 874 pages, with a proportionate supply of well engraved illustrations. No one can deny after this that Mr. Maury is not a painstaking man.

And well he may be so when he is laying the foundation year by year of a national compendium of hydrography,-one that is to be consulted by the ships of a large maritime nation, whose people are enterprising to the last degree, whose sea board embraces some thousands of miles in two oceans, and whose seamen are well known for their enterprising, enduring, and daring character.

We must not pretend to enter into any discussion on the subjects of these two important volumes, and weighty ones they will be found by those who have to use them, but the reference to which is much facilitated by "contents." For the present our readers will be satisfied to obtain an idea of those contents, which we may enable them to form by running down the subjects of the several chapters.

Thus volume i. contains chapters severally on these subjects,--the atmosphere, red fogs and sea dust, the winds, the geological (?) agency of the winds, the equatorial cloud ring, the salts of the sea, currents of the sea, the Gulf Stream, influence of the Gulf Stream upon climates, the depths of the ocean, the basin of the Atlantic, submarine telegraphy, the climates of the ocean, the drift of the ocean a new field (appertaining apparently to zoology), the specific gravity of the sea, gales, typhoons, and tornadoes; description of the charts; the Brussels conference. These form the subjects of the first volume, on each of which probably a volume might be written of what we do know, and another perhaps of what we do not know.

The second volume is less speculative, and we come direct to the plain straight forward requirements of the seaman. He may wander in amazement through the pages of the first volume, and wonder as he goes on at what he may learn, and see how much he has to learn of the stupendous works of the Great Creator of the universe, and admire the perfection of them and the beautiful manner in which he has poised the equilibrium by which Nature keeps Nature in her proper place everywhere. But in the second volume, is he destined for any part of the world, he has nothing to do but refer to the route and he sees at once how to shape his course. He may visit the four quarters of the globe, including Australia and the many shores of Polynesia, and he will be told by Maury the best way of doing so. All this to him is most important, and great credit is due to Maury for the elaborate pains he has bestowed on all these subjects. Yet we sometimes think that the duty of the hydrographer is to generalize, to make up his mind with reasons, for, as Pope observes,

"From what can we reason but from what we know,”—

and then he might say which is the best made of doing anything and why it is so, and seamen, we believe, would thankfully follow his advice. Maury has collected a large mass of material,-the work of condensation should come next, and the size of these volumes seems to hint that it is necessary.

We perceive on the Australian route Maury differs from our directions; but he does it with so much grace and good feeling that one is glad to see the occasion which has given rise to it, and rejoice at the circumstance. There is

much in the great circle course doubtless, and there is much, too, in securing a good, strong, steady fair breeze, this is certain in one case, but is it so in another. Will not light breezes, inconvenient clusters of small islands, and perhaps icebergs, lie in the seaman's way in the other. Laissez allez-nous verrons-experientia docet-one of these will decide the road. But our space warns us that we must stop.

LIGHTS IN LYRICS,—or a Glance at the Channel Lights on a Run from Scilly to the Nore. Potter, Poultry.

These Lyrics, reprinted from our own pages, with an addenda about the Compass, some highly interesting notes, a useful little chart, and a neat view of the dangerous Casquets, are here thrown together and form a useful companion at least for the Navigator or the Yachtsman who is fond of salt water and channel cruizing. There is something damaging to the character when our merchant captains lose their ships on the coast of France, and sail by a chart some twenty years old without its proper complement of lights, when such a chart as that with the Lyrics would give correct information which ought to be found in every ship, not only of the state of the lights, but channel soundings also. As it is expressly meant to assist the navigator, the lights being alluded to as leading marks, these appear all to be unexceptionable, saving in one, that of the Lizard Lights, which are E.b.S. and W.b.N. of each other, and not E.b.N. and W.b.S. as stated, the former being the channel course. They are well worthy of the attention of our seamen and carry with them their own recommendation.

PRESERVATION OF THE BOTTOMS OF IRON SHIPS.

We have long ago given our opinion of the great importance of Peacock and Buchan's composition for the preservation of iron and copper of ship's bottoms, and which by the unprecedented voyage of the Himalaya to the Cape and back has evidently contributed to her speed. It is not equalled by any yet invented, not only for its preserving qualities, but for adding, by its peculiar property of slipping through the water, the great advantage of speed. There was one tried once on the bottom of the Industry. The composition on one side of that vessel was the old-established preparation of Peacock and Buchan; the other side was overlaid by a preparation about four times as costly, the invention of a German Count. The result of the experiment proved that the new was not equal to Peacock and Buchan's composition.

Since

About nine months since the Himalaya received a coat of Peacock and Buchan's composition, which seems to have contributed in a great degree to the rapidity of her movements. On her late remarkable voyage to and from the Cape of Good Hope fifty-eight days only were occupied at sea. the application of the composition the Himalaya has traversed 26,000 miles, and the authorities at Keyham are well satisfied with the result. Usually with such an amount of service a coat is given every six months. In the present case, notwithstanding the lengthened interval, the plates and rivet heads continue in excellent preservation, and the bottom presents a very smooth appearance, being merely covered with a dark thin slimy substance. It is, however, remarkable that grass has grown on the "pressure" part of the screw, on a portion of the rudder, and those parts of the bow and waterline where the composition seems to have been rubbed off, and that encouragement has been thus given to vegetation by the exposure of the under coating of red lead. To prevent a repetition of this evil, red lead will not be used now, but two coats of the composition will be applied, the under one direct against the bottom.