THE NEW ROCKET FOR SHIPWRECK SERVICE.

Some time about the close of the last century an English artillery officer who had risen from the ranks, Lieutenant Bell, conceived the idea of establishing a communication between a stranded vessel and the shore by projecting from a mortar a shell filled with lead, and having a "deep sea line" attached. Experiments were made with the apparatus in 1791, before a committee of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. An account of these experiments, which were perfectly successful, is given in the "Repository of Arts" for 1808. But in spite of this success, Lieutenant Bell failed from some cause or another to give practical effect to his invention, or even to obtain for it any general notoriety. In 1811 a committee of artillery officers was assembled at Woolwich to report on a similar though independent proposal of Captain Manby, and by this committee Lieutenant Bell's claim to priority in the matter was distinctly and fully recognised. But the merit of having been the first usefully to apply the invention and to press it into the public service is undoubtedly due to Capt. Manby, with whose name, indeed, the scheme is too exclusively associated. In the year that we have named (1811) the invention was formally adopted, and an address was moved in the House of Commons praying that the Prince Regent would be graciously pleased to order the apparatus to be stationed on different parts of the coast. This is the origin of our present system of communication with stranded vessels, which is now established at some 350 coastguard stations, and by means of which a very large number of lives are annually saved. What that system is, and how it has attained its present perfection, may have some interest now that the season of stormy nights and wrecks has once again fairly set in.

During the half-century or more which has elapsed since the subject was first mooted, the attention of a number of inventors has been anxiously directed towards the possible improvement of the means of effecting a communication of the kind in question, and all sorts of ingenious contrivances have been proposed. Colonel Delvigne employed for the purpose a howitzer instead of a mortar, thereby reducing the angle of fire and in consequence the length of line to be carried, and he enclosed a portion of the line within the projectile. Captain Jerningham proposed an anchor of a peculiar form, as a means of hauling a life boat through a surf. Mr. Greener and Mr. Trengrouse each used a rocket to carry the line, the former discharging his rocket from a light harpoon gun, the latter making use of a small, and therefore comparatively feeble, "signal" rocket. Lieutenant Nares suggested the employment of a kite, and kites are manufactured for the purpose by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, at London Bridge. A kite is open to the obvious objection that it can only be useful for conveying a line from a ship on a lee shore to the land, and as in the confusion and sudden excitement of a wreck the kite would not often be forthcoming in working order, the proposition is scarcely practicable. Other plans have been suggested, such as an arrow, and a lead and line. But the advantages presented by rockets over other means of establishing a communication were so conspicuous as to induce Mr. Carte and Mr. Dennett to prosecute experiments, with a view to the

employment of very much more powerful rockets than those which had been used by Trengrouse. The Carte and Dennett rockets were Congreve or war rockets with lines attached, and differed from one another mainly or only in the position of the stick. Some ten or eleven years ago Den nett's rocket apparatus was formally adopted, ard 9-pounder rockets of his construction, having a mean range of about 250 or 260 yards, were issued to various coastguard stations, and a code of rules for their employment was officially established. During this period the gradual suppression of the Manby shot has proceeded, though some are still to be found at a few stations, and they are even occasionally manufactured. During this period, too, the great superiority of rockets to shot, or indeed any other projectile, has been practically established. They are more portable, as also is the apparatus from which they are fired, a point of great importance when the uncertainty as to the exact spot on which a wreck is considered; they carry their own illuminating agent, and are thus independent of the fusees which are necessary to indicate the path of a shot fired on a dark night; they do not require so long a line as a shot projected at a high angle of elevation from a mortar; the nature and duration of the propelling force renders the line carried out by a rocket less liable to be broken than a line carried by a shot; and finally, line rockets are more accurate than line shot, owing principally to the fact that the deflection caused by the action of the wind upon the line is in a great measure corrected by the well-known tendency of the rocket to fly up in the "wind's eye."

The range attained by the Dennett rockets was, however, inconsiderable as compared with what was desired, and Mr. Dennett designed a "double rocket"-two rockets side by side, like a pair of horses in a carriage-by which the line would he borne to a greater distance. In 1862 some experiments took place at Woolwich with Manby's and Delvigne's shot against Dennett's rocketts, single and double. "The result," as we learn from the official report, "was a general conviction on the mind of everybody present, and shared by M. Delvigne, of the great superiority over either of the other plans." The Manby and Devigne shot fired from mortars gave ranges of 200 and 185 yards respectively; the single rockets ranged 240 yards, and the double rockets 370 yards, "with great steadiness of flight, and with less length and weight of line in proportion carried out than the mortars fired at 45 degrees." A range of nearly 300 yards was obtained with M. Delvigne's shot from a howitzer, but the line broke three times.

Mr. Dennetts's double rockets were open to the objections that simultaneous ignition of both rockets could not always be depended upon, and a percentage of failures was the result; secondly, the strain thrown upon the line by the combined force of a pair of rockets was sometimes greater than it was calculated to stand, and fractures of the line not unfrequently took place. With regard to this last objection, it might be supposed that a simple remedy could be found in the employment of a thicker line; but as any increase in the thickness of line entails a corresponding loss of range, its strength is necessarily limited. The satisfaction of these two antagonistic conditions-the extension of the range and the employment at the same time of a sufficiently strong line-is indeed one of the chief difficulties with which the inventor of a "life-saving apparatus" has to

contend. The problem appears to have been solved, and the objections to the Dennett double rocket system to have been overcome, in the rocket which has recently been definitely adopted by the Board of Trade. This rocket has been designed by Colonel Boxer; and its chief feature consists in the placing of one rocket in front of the other, the two being contained in the same case and forming to all appearance a single rocket. By this arrangement when the first or hinder rocket is exhausted the front rocket becomes ignited, and by bringing a fresh force to bear, extends the range nearly double the distance obtainable with a single rocket. At the same time the strain upon the line is at no time greater than what would be due to the employment of a single rocket. In fact, the advantages of the double and single rocket systems are retained without the disadvantages of either; and the problem of a long range with little chance of fracture of the line is satisfactorily solved. The range obtained with these rockets is from 370 to 400 yards. Their cost is little more than one half that of the Dennett double rocket. The reports made by the different coastguard officers to whom the rockets were supplied, in the first instance for experiment, were so favorable that they were last year formally adopted in supersession of Dennett's rocket, and are now being supplied at the rate of 3,000 annually. This rocket is undergoing trial in France, and a rocket of similar construction, designed by Major General Konstantinoff, is employed for the same purpose in Russia.

The main object of line shot and rockets is to establish a communication between the shore and a stranded vessel, but the principle is evidently applicable to a variety of other purposes, such as throwing rafts or bridges across rivers in the absence of boats, throwing suspension bridges across ravines or mountain torrents for the passage of troops and materiel; in naval matters it might be useful in landing through a surf, laying out anchors, or taking a vessel in tow by casting a grapnel over a buoy fast to line in heavy weather.

TRADE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES.

COTTON, BREADSTUFFS, TOBACCO, PROVISIONS, ETC.

The British Board of Trade returns for the mouth of November, and the eleven months ending November, have now been received, and the figures made public show that the trade of Great Britain for last year was very extensive, and much in excess of former periods. This result is, in a very considerable measure, due to the great trade carried on between ourselves and the United Kingdom, for we find that the value of our cotton imported in the ten months was £31,250,000, against £2,534,000; and the value of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures from Great Britain to United States ports £24,225,000, against £14,844,700 last year. These items alone account for some portion of the great increase in the trade of Great Britain last year, and on looking carefully at the returns we observe that, with South America and Canada, the outward rade of the United Kingdom has also been very great. The crisis appears to have had a somewhat unwholesome effect on the trade of Great

Britain with her colonies and possessions in Asia. Towards the close of the year, however, the transactions were on a more extensive scale, and the total exports to India, China and Australia in the first eleven mouths of 1866 were somewhat in excess of 1865 and 1864.

The declared value of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures from Great Britain in November last was £15,080,430, against £15,567,742 last year, and £12,065,213 in 1864. These amounts raise the totals for the eleven months to £173,913,222, £150,832,344, and £148,340,865 in 1866, 1865 and 1864 respectively. The totals for each month in each of the last three years are subjoined:

With regard to this country, we find that the exports in the first ten months of the last three years were as under:

The computed real value of the principal articles imported in October was £19,530,442, against £23,606,789 in 1865, and £20,309,746 in 1864. For the ten months, the total for 1866 is £193,698,047; for 1865, £160,909,954; and for 1864, £181,283,856. Annexed are the parti culars for each month:

7,520,356 6,398,922

18,214,541 12,891,252 16,610,159 | Aug.

16,396,928 13,005,394 19,891,204 Sept..

1864. 1865. 1866. £ £ £ 20,458,253 18,964,190 19,597,929 21,944,048 20,997,691 20,940,303 19,961,653 21,632,731 18,356,015

17,587,565 13,078,755 22,455,968 Oct... ...... 20,309,716 23,606,789 19,530,442 22,392,601 14,595,334 23,224,762

21,498,185 15,407,688 23,243,701 | Total..

.181,283,856 160,909,954 193,698,047

COTTON.

The import of cotton into the United Kingdom in November amounted to 645,227 cwts., of which 126,001 cwts. were from the United States, 425,743 cwts. from the East Indies, and 17,533 cwts. from Brazil. The total received in the corresponding month in 1865 was 630, 588 cwts., and in 1864, 621,100 cwts. The 11 months' importation was 11,255,498 cwts., against 6,946,153 cwts. in 1865, and 6,767,896 cwts. in 1864, of which the following are the particulars:

But from these totals, a considerable deduction must be made for exports. These, in the eleven months, reached a total of 3,221,690 cwts., being 970,000 cwts. in excess of the corresponding period in 1865. In the month of November, however, the shipments from Great Britain were confined to 189,240 cwts., against 212,103 cwts. in 1865. Figures, showing the shipments in the eleven months ending November 30, are annexed:

EXPORTS OF COTTON FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM IN ELEVEN MONTHS

The computed real value of the cotton imported in the ten months ending October 30 was:

So far as we ourselves are concerned, the British trade returns are by no means encouraging in this department. In November, the import

of Wheat from the United States was only 35,153 cwts., and of Flour only 23,834 cwts. Flour continues to be received from France, including small quantities of Wheat; but the bulk of the importations is from Russia. The following statement shews the imports of cereals into the United Kingdom in eleven months: