My dear Captain Collinson,-I cannot express the sense of gratitude I feel towards you personally, as well as towards each of the Arctic Officers who have so kindly presented me with a testimonial, beautiful and valuable in itself, but of far higher value as conveying in so marked a manner your approbation of my conduct during a long period of great anxiety, whilst you and they were employed in various parts of the Arctic Seas in search of the discovery ships Erebus and Terror.

You will readily believe that I, in common with all my countrymen, feel deeply grateful to you and to your brave coadjutors, both officers and men, for your zealous exertions in so noble a cause, and that I shall ever reflect with feelings of pride on the intercourse and friendship to which it has given rise between us.

Few persons perhaps are more acquainted than myself with the severe nature of the service upon which you have been employed, and feeling so assured, I do not hesitate to say that the annals of this country furnish nothing finer than the patient endurance of toil, privation, and suffering you have all so cheerfully undergone in the sacred cause of humanity.

Although your efforts have unhappily not been crowned with the success they deserve, they have nevertheless led to the solution of the great geographical problem which so long engaged the attention of my lamented father, and have thus secured to our country an honourable distinction in the accomplishment of an enterprise, which through successive reigns, and for nearly three centuries, had heretofore baffled every attempt.

For my own part I have only to regret that in my humble position there was so little scope to act as I could have wished, but the will to serve you and to advance the cause was ever present with me, as it ever will be when occasion may call it forth.

Again sincerely thanking you for the kind part you have taken in the matter, and requesting you to convey the expression of my gratitude to your brother officers,

I remain, my dear Captain Collinson,
Your obliged friend,

Capt. Collinson, C.B.

JOHN BARROW.

Inscription.

TO JOHN BARROW, ESQ., F.R.S., F.R.G.S., ETC.,

In grateful remembrance of his kindness and attention, and as an acknowledgement of his valuable exertions in the furtherance of the search for Sir John Franklin and his Companions; an object which he pursued with hereditary ability, energy, and devotion: this token is presented by several of the Officers employed in the Arctic Searching Expeditions, 1848-54.

An Obelisk of Aberdeen granite has been erected in front of the Royal Naval Asylum at Greenwich, to the memory of the gallant Lieut. J. Bellot of the French Royal Navy, on which the following inscription appears:

:

TO THE INTREPID YOUNG
BELLOT

WHO IN THE ENDEAVOUR TO RESCUE

FRANKLIN

SHARED THE FATE AND THE GLORY OF THAT
ILLUSTRIOUS NAVIGATOR.

FROM HIS BRITISH ADMIRERS

1853

THE SEAMARKS OF OUR COASTS.

"A steady seamark is an inestimable boon to mariners."

A few observations on the very important subject of Seamarks will not be considered out of place in these pages. They are suggested by a recent proposal for improving those valuable guides for seamen by Mr. George Herbert; and with the assistance of this gentleman's views we hope to find our channels hereafter navigated with as much safety as any high road of this or any other country.

In our number for January, 1854, we described the principle of construction then first brought forward by Mr. Herbert; the experience which has since been obtained has fully verified the statements then advanced. This principle is to construct floating bodies, not intended for locomotion, so that they shall be moored from the centre of gravity, which, by a due distribution of weight, is made coincident with the centre of the plane of flotation. In order to attain this condition the bottom of the floating body is hollowed out and raised up, so as to form a hollow cone, to the apex of which the mooring is attached. Many buoys have been constructed on this plan, and unquestioned success has attended their use: they preserve an upright position under all circumstances, whether in a gale of wind, in a heavy sea, in a strong tide, or in all combined. The attainment of this condition is in itself alone a very great step in improvement.

The quotation at the head of these remarks is from some observations made by a high naval authority at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in a discussion of this mode of construction. It was stated by the same high authority as above alluded to, that "The reports he had received of the qualities of the buoys of the new form at the Gunfleet and other places, were most favourable; they remained erect and steady in very heavy whether where those of the ordinary construction were in general buried under the waves, and not unfrequently broke from their moorings." Indeed the efficiency of these buoys was also fully acknowledged by the Deputy Master of the Trinity House and others, at the same meeting:-"Advantage had been taken of this principle for the construction of buoys, and it was strongly recommended for that purpose." It was admitted by them "that the system was admirable for buoys, it had proved highly successful, and

See pamphlet, Herbert on the Construction of Floating Bodies, p. 12.

it was hoped it would be further tried." The acknowledged utility of these buoys will, we hope, ensure their universal adoption; for the vast amount of property now afloat demands that every means should be employed which will in any manner tend to render navigation seWe subjoin an outline of the new buoy, fig. 1; one also of that in ordinary use, fig. 2; and of a mode by which the latter may be adapted to the new plan, fig. 3.

cure.

This adaptation consists in first removing the heavy ironwork with which the buoy is encumbered, and then placing its head, as a new floating base. By this arrangement all the buoys around our coasts might be rendered not only upright and plainly visible, but they also might be made safety buoys, whilst those now used are wholly unserviceable for saving life. The opportunity thus afforded of giving to mariners the" inestimable boon of a steady seamark," and at the same time of providing for the drowning sailor a floating refuge, surely cannot be neglected. Which of our public maritime bodies can persist now in continuing the present primitive and crude mode of floating the buoys of the old form, laying them on their sides in the sea, and thus depriving them of their greatest efficiency for the real purpose for which they are intended.

It is a subject also which we trust will not escape the attention of that noble society of gentlemen the Royal National Life Boat Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, who cannot but contribute their efforts towards abolishing so unscientific a method.

Economy very properly enters into all our arrangements in these days; and we doubt not that if this plan comes generally into use, the country will save at least 30 per cent. of its present expenditure.

Our present system (if such a set of crude arrangements can be so termed) affords us no floating seamarks between a buoy and a lightvessel. The new construction gives us a good conspicuous floating beacon, a desideratum of long standing. There are many hidden dangers which require bold and conspicuous marks, and there are many positions where, though the exhibition of a lightvessel is not needed, the unmistakable floating tower will be the means of saving many lives and much property. We subjoin an outline of this beacon twenty feet in diameter at the water line, and having a tower rising up twenty-five feet in height, surmounted by a ball three feet six inches in diameter, see fig. 4. The body and tower are of plate iron, the interior formed with four bulkheads or partitions, so constructed that if any accident should occur to any one part the structure would not be submerged. The upper part of the tower is fitted with a door and ladder irons, by which access is had to an upper compartment, containing_biscuit and water for those who may seek refuge on the beacon. The central chain mooring, which holds it at the centre of gravity of the mass, is connected with a windlass, which, with the central tube or hawse pipe, turns freely as a swivel in the middle of the body; or, in other words, permits the body of the beacon to rotate freely if so disposed without twisting the chain; the links of the chain being held firmly by a stopper close to the mouth of the hawse pipe.

By this contrivance of a continuous or endless chain, rove through & suitable shackle attached to the mooring anchor, any portion of it may be sighted, examined, and painted periodically, so as materially to lessen the chances of deterioration or failure. The tower is also fitted with a signal line, by which notice may be given if assistance should be required.

A beacon similar to this was built by the Trinity House two years since, and was placed by direction of that board in the overfall of the sea at the South Sand Head of the Goodwin Sand. It was not placed there as a mark, but only to test its qualities, for nothing in the shape of a ship could have retained her position where it was moored. The South Sand Head Lightvessel was about a mile distant from this beacon, and the master and crew were directed to watch it. A description of the manner in which it rode in such disturbed water is important, and we consider it right to preserve here the two following letters