APPENDIX I. (Handed in by Col. Hozier, Q. 1418.) Captains of vessels are most particularly requested, in case of any wreck, or vessel in distress or overdue, becoming known to them, to communicate the fact to Lloyd's Agent immediately on arrival at the first port of call. N.B.-This form can be posted to Lloyd's without prepayment from any port or place the ship communicates with. Captains of vessels bound to London are informed that the Customs boarding officers at Gravesend will be prepared to receive and forward to Lloyd's any Reports which Captains may tender to them on their boarding the vessel on arrival at Gravesend. WRECKS AND DERELICTS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, 1887 TO 1893, INCL SIVE. THEIR LOCATION, PUBLICATION, DESTRUCTION, ETC. NOTE BY THE HYDROGRAPHER. The Hydrographic Office, which is a branch of the Bureau of Navigation of the Navy Department, has for 11 years taken cognizance of matters pertaining to ocean wrecks and derelicts, and has published on its pilot charts and hydrographic bulletins information relative to these menaces to navigation. The Hydrographic Office has 11 branch offices, situated in the principal maritime cities of the United States, for the purpose of collecting and distributing hydrographic and meteorological information, under direction from the main office. An important duty of the branch offices is the collection and investigation of reports relative to wrecks and derelicts. Each office is in charge of a naval officer, and is supplied with a very complete outfit of charts, nautical books, and nautical instruments. Each in its own neighbourhood can readily form such connexions as will enable it to investigate reports thoroughly. Reports are received from every available source, especially from shipmasters, and are forwarded daily to the main office. Reports received at the main office are at once sent to the Meteorological Division, which has charge of matters relating to ocean meteorology, oceanography, and also to shipping interests, so far as nautical practice relates to the latter. In the Meteorological Division, the positions of these dangers are plotted upon charts, and attached also to a large black board chart. The latter exhibits, always, the positions of wrecks and derelicts in the North Atlantic Ocean according to the latest reports. The continuous drift of derelicts is shown upon the Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, a monthly publication of the Hydrographic Office. Additional information relative to wrecks and derelicts is given on a weekly publication styled Hydrographic Bulletin. The Pilot Charts and Bulletins are circulated freely among master of vessels who are voluntary weather observers for the office, and among those who are otherwise APPENDICES. actively interested in the work of the office. At short intervals, tabulated statements of the existence of wrecks and derelicts dangerous to commerce are sent by special messenger to the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department. If the case is urgent, special reports are made. The Chief of the Bureau of Navigation then refers the reports to the Secretary of the Navy, who oftentimes directs that the wreck or derelict be destroyed by some available naval vessel. In a case of special urgency, the order for the destruction of a danger is sent by telegraph. The Hydrographic Office has nearly 3,000 voluntary observers of the weather at sea. The majority of these are mariners who traverse the North Atlantic Ocean. They provide, therefore, an excellent patrol of the waters of that ocean, and are, in a sense, voluntarily under the control of the Hydrographic Office for that purpose, From what has been said it is seen that the Navy Department of the United States has a fairly well organised system leading to the discovery and destruction of wrecks and derelicts in waters reasonably near the North Atlantic coast of the United States. The subject of wrecks and derelicts came before the International Marine Conference organised in Washington on October 16, 1889. The Conference adopted the following resolution : That the different maritime powers interested in the navigation of that portion of the North Atlantic Ocean bordering the American coast, and situated westward from a line drawn from the Bermuda Islands to Cape Race, Newfoundland, be invited to come to an agreement respecting the removal of derelicts in these waters, under due official super vision. The following joint resolution, having passed both Houses of Congress, was approved by the President on October 31, 1893 : Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is nereby, authorised to make with the several Governments interested in the navigation of the North Atlantic Ocean, an international agreement providing for the reporting, marking, and removal of dangerous wrecks, derelicts, and other menaces to navigation in the North Atlantic Ocean, outside the coast waters of the respective countries bordering thereon. This action by Congress has increased the interest felt in the question of wrecks and derelicts, as shown by the press and by the increased correspondence of the Hydrographic Office. With a view to satisfy this interest as far as possible, the statistical information contained in this book has been prepared. C. D. SIGSBEE, Commander of the U.S. Navy, Hydrographer. II. AVERAGE NUMBER OF DERELICTS IN THE NORTH The following tables of derelicts for the period of seven years, from 1887 to 1893, inclusive (during which the present system of recording and publishing the information has been in operation), show a grand total of 1,628 in seven years, or 232 annually, and 19 every month. The table of unidentified derelicts is not the number of the reports received of unrecognisable abandoned but is carefully computed from the reports to be the actual number of ther. ་ 7 Unidentified Derelicts, 1887-1893. 2828 One thousand one hundred and forty-six unidentified abandoned vessels were seen on the North Atlantic during the following months: WRECKS AND DERELICTS. 1.-NUMBER OF REPORTS RECEIVED OF WRECKS AND DERELICTS. A total number of 1,146 unidentified derelicts for seven years, of which all but two or three were wooden vessels. These tables show that the months during which the greatest number of derelicts is reported are September, October, and November. They also indicate that during the past five years the number has been gradually increasing. This increase is probably not so much the increased number of derelicts, but is due to the fact that this office has gradually increased the efficiency of its ccean patrol through its constantly increasing number of This feature is voluntary co-operating observers. exemplified by the fact that in 1893 there were 312 unidentified and 106 known derelicts, or a total of 418, and an average of 35 per month, instead of 19, the monthly average in the period of seven years. It has been shown that there were 1,628 derelicts in seven years, or an average of 19 every month; and since the average length of time a derelict remains afloat is one month, it is evident that there must be 19 derelicts constantly afloat on the North Atlantic. Prior to 1893 this was estimated at 16, but fuller reports are received now than in former years. III.—THE REGIONS WHERE DERELICTS ARE MOST The Pilot Charts show that most of the derelicts are sighted in the Gulf Stream off the United States coast, north of 30 north latitude, and west of 60° west longitude. The number gradually decreases to the eastward along the transatlantic steamer routes. A number of those which remain afloat the longest time make the circuit of the Sargasso Sea. The majority of the derelicts were vessels which were abandoned near the United States coasts. IV. THE AVERAGE TINE A DERELICT IS ADRIFT. A fair estimate of the average time a derelict remains afloat may be obtained from the following tables of identified derelicts by assuming that each derelict remained afloat one day after it was last reported, and that those derelicts that were reported only once remained afloat three days each. On these assumptions, the average period of drift is found to be approximately 30 days. V.--TRACKS OF DERELICTS. These tracts are plotted on the Pilot Charts from month to month. The most notable case is that of the three-masted schooner Fanny E. Wolston, abandoned October 15, 1891, and last seen on February 20, 1894. She has, therefore, been a derelict for 850 days, during which she drifted 7,025 miles, the longest track of the kind on record; and, as she is supposed to be afloat yet, her track will probably be still further extended. All those known derelicts that were reported more than once are given in the following table: Drift of Derelicts in the North Atlantic during the Seven Years, 1887-1893, inclusive, Drift of Derelicts in the North Atlantic during the Seven Years, 1887-1893 inclusive-continued. Progres, bark Octavia, bark Little Wonder, schooner Johu E. Chase, bark 13 Jan. 1891 34 51 74 48 28 Jan. 1891 33 58 31 Mar. 1891 34 52 ལྷ 74 10 6 Dec. 1892 11 Mar. 1891 48 45 12 Mar. 1891 31 28 17 May 1891 39 42 11 June 1891 43 10 ལྷ ལྤ ལྷ ཋ རྩ ༀ ཙཾ ུ ཅེ ཅེ ༄ བཻ ཅེ ིི ཥྱ ནི ཚ ནི ཆ བྷ བཻ ༔ ཅེ བྷ ú རྒྱུ 27 July 1891 30 07 13 Sept. 1891 44 18 14 40 41 10 25 40 17 05 77 00 74 00 75 30 74 35 44 00 22 00 44 28 35 33 21 45 46 49 43 51 52 30 21 20 51 40 18 30 44 17 12 28 35 00 58 00 43 46 - Feb. 1892 28 Feb. 1892 20 Mar. 1892 20 Mar. 1892 23 May 1892 44 30 37 54 36 22 48 00 27 20 68 01 40 46 10 55 Hatteras WSW., about 75 miles. At sea. 69 46 72 35 9 00 44 50 28 July 1991 49 38 9 Oct. 1891 4 Oct. 1891 28 Oct. 1891 13 Dec. 1891 20 Feb. 1894 31 17 16 Oct. 1891 33 34 15 Nov. 1891 35 10 21 Dec. 1891 4 April 1892 14 Feb. 1892 6 Dec. 1891 18 Dec. 1891 9 April 1892 5 Jan. 1892 14 Jau. 1892 26 Jan. 1892 2 Feb. 1892 1 Feb. 1892 28 Feb. 1892 24 Feb. 1892 3 Mar. 1892 8 Aug. 1892 29 Feb. 1892 21 Mar. 1892 3 April 1892 8 June 1892 1 June 1892 22 Sept. 1892 7 Aug. 1892 19 July 1893 |