North-eass

house on the cliff N.W.b.W. W. Naze Tower N.b. W. § W.
Gunfleet Buoy N.E.b.E. E. Gunfleet Beacon W.b.S. § S. Sunk light vessel
S.E.E.
J. HERBERT, Secretary.

NEW BOOKS.

THE INDIA DIRECTORY; or Directions for sailing to and from the East Indies, China, Australia, and the Interjacent Ports of Africa and South America, compiled cheifly from original journals of the Hon. E. I. Company and from observations and other remarks, resulting from the experience of twenty-one years in the navigation of those seas, by James Horsburgh, F.R.S., &c.—Vol 1. W. H. Allen & Co.-Leadenhall Street.

The rapid strides which have been made these last few years in the various branches of knowledge, are topics of every day remark; the arenas of our public lecturers describe them, and modern publications record them; so that any one having attained a tolerable acquaintance with science some twenty years ago, and then thrown it aside, would now find on taking it up, a vast stock of arrears to be brought up, and that, in fact, his knowledge of it lay within very narrow limits:-that frequent discovery has opened new sources of information in many cases altering the whole features of it, and making it, if not a new science, one assuming altogether a new character. There is no subject in which this is more apparent than in Hydrography, of which we have ample evidence in nearly every page of the work before us. Discoveries in Hydrography are no less important to navigation, than are those of chemistry to general science, and no less alter the features of that important art. We are glad therefore to perceive that this fact has been seen in its proper light by the proprietors of the East India Directory, a work which we have long looked on as the parent of that valuable class of books which the seaman takes for his guide, in making his voyages from one part of the world to another; as embodying all the knowledge, and all the experience of those who have gone before him.

We are glad to perceive that this (leviathan we had almost said) has not been allowed to fall into desuetude, to lie neglected as out of date; and that it has risen from its sleep in its last edition, with fresh acquisitions of information concerning the various coasts of which it treats, strong in its resources to go through another era of useful service, as a sea-bird rises from its bed on the ocean wave, refreshed for another flight.

In turning over a few of its pages, and comparing them with those of the last edition, judicious alterations in the shape of omission of old, and introduction of new matter, force themselves on our attention. Among the first introductions, we find the concise and clear directions for finding the amount of local attraction acting on a ship's compass, from our own pages of 1837:-this is as it should be, and it affords us much satisfaction to perceive by the numerous extracts from our own, as well as other useful works, that we have contributed so much to the benefit of navigation. In fact there is no part of the navigation between England and Bombay, or Madras which has not received new additions of highly useful matter. Among many which we have not room to enumerate, we may particularize Capt. Owen's remarks on Mozambique, and the clear and excellent description of the islands in the northern part of that channel by Captain Fairfax Moresby of H.M.S. Menai. A description of the Red Sea by the officers of the East India Service is also a most important change from the scanty and limited account we had in the old editions: in fact we congratulate our seamen n the great accession the volume contains to the hydrography of the high road from England to India by sea.

It is a happy feature of the present enlightened age, that those stores of knowJere possessed by our public offices, which can in any way forward the proof geography and hydrography, are unlocked freely to the world,-are e in the easiest possible way, and made available to the public good.

It is a gratifying task to notice this, and to hold up to admiration the generous principles from which such a course emanates. Hence all participate in an advantage the good effects of which are felt at the furthest point to which a ship sails, or a traveller has roamed under the auspices of Government; and the East India Directory, founded on the journals and experience of ships of the East India Service many years ago, now combines with them those of the officers of the Royal Navy. Such measures are founded on the principle of pure benevolence, and the determination of doing good, and are sure of carrying with them not only their own reward, but are the becoming acts of a liberal nation.

We shall close our remarks for the present on this volume, in expectation that the second will undergo a similar revision, and with an illustration of the thesis with which we set out respecting change. In page 86 we find that in consequence of the supposed deficiency of fresh water at Saldanah Bay, the ship General Palmer unable to get to the Cape, having taken refuge there, after a stay of some days, had actually to bear up for St. Helena to obtain a supply of that article by which she lost about two months on her voyage to India! It is recommended in the work before us, to send notice to the Cape for water, on any other occasion of a ship arriving under similar circumstances! The recent discovery of springs on Schaapen Island, which we published in our July number, will render any such steps quite unnecessary, and is one of those important discoveries which require the close attention of those who compile these works, for the guidance and information of seamen.

TOM BOWLING.-A Novel by Capt. Chamier, R.N.-Three Volumes.-H. Col

burn.

When first we heard that Tom Bowline was really to make his appearance among us at last, in the shape of a novel from a talented author, we certainly expected to find him invested with all the noble attributes of the British seaman, and that his failings would have been treated with a lenient hand: but we did not anticipate, that he was to personate a band of the gallantest of the gallant seamen which the British Navy could ever boast. The incidents of "birth, parentage, and education," in such a field, are ample, and from the cockpit Mid to the Governor of Greenwich Hospital, rich are the stores of naval adventure. To choose such materials, the very essence of all that is exciting in "love and war," in absolute reality, was to ensure a passport to reading patronage, and accordingly Tom Bowline must become a favorite novel.

A small mis-quotation of Scripture will not prevent us from wishing him success; but we cannot part with him without expressing regret that the seaman's taste of the author, allowed him to deviate from the real vernacular pitch and tar, in naming his bantling after the orthography of Dibdin, rather than the honest family of Ben Buntline, and the other "lines," to which surely Tom Bow-line belongs. In spite of all the fascination of Dibdin's verses

"Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling,

The darling of our crew."

we cannot help associating with them an idea of some Bowling Green hero, instead of what he intended, namely, a veritable “Tom Bowline,” in his brother the captain of an East Indiaman, the occasion of whose death gave rise to the lines. Had Dibdin been a seaman, we should never have heard of such an outrage on our nautical phraseology, to preserve which in its purity, should be the first aim of a naval author.

MASTERMAN READY, or the Wreck of the Pacific, written for young people by Capt. Marryat. 1 vol.-Longman.

Capt. Marryat appears to have taken the sterling qualifications of resources in exigency, strict obedience, close observation, and withal practical information, "the why and the wherefore," with a determination to illustrate their full value, and to instil them into the minds of youth through the very interesting channel of adventure. We cordially recommend this little book to parents, as containing such information which the minds of youth may be stored with, in preference to the many nursery tales and stories which abound in the present day. Th

has undertaken a difficult but a useful task, and his future volume, (for we find the subject is to be continued,) will most assuredly succeed, if they are as good as the first.

THE COMBUSTION OF COAL AND THE PREVENTION OF SMOKE, chemically and practically considered.-By C. W. Williams. Simpkin and Marshall. 1841. This is the second edition of a work most important to steam-engine proprietors, whether on shore or afloat. Mr. Williams has evidently devoted great attention to the subject of combustion, and the chemical principles on which it takes place, and assuredly there is no subject so little understood by the very persons who ought to understand it best,we mean the constructors of furnaces and the firemen who feed them. And when it is remembered that these persons are throwing away the capital of their employers, it is clearly the interest of those employers to enlighten them on this subject. All who are engaged in steam affairs should consult Mr. Williams pages, and follow him closely in the ill understood subject of combustion. The work consists of two parts, an investigation into the principles of combustion, accompanied by precepts to carry them out, and a volume of coloured diagrams to illustrate them, for which the public are indebted to the enlightened views of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.

PILBROW'S CONDENSING CYLINDER STEAM ENGINE.-By Boyman Boyman, Esq, Weale, High Holborn.

We shall briefly state, that the object of this small pamphlet is to introduce to steam-engine proprietors the advantages of Mr. Pilbrow's engine, in saving loss of power during the stroke from an imperfectly exhausted cylinder. There can be no doubt of the importance of such proposal being sufficient to demand the close attention of engineers.

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.

PROMOTIONS.

(From the Naval and Military Gazette.)

CAPTAINS-W. Preston, C. Eden. COMMANDERS-C. F. Brown, Geo. D. O'Callagan.

LIEUTENANTS-E. H. B, Proctor, F. H. Stevens, E. H. Alston, C. Clavell, W. K. Hall.

SURGEON-G. King, M.D., of the Illustrious flag ship, to be Deputy-Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets,

APPOINTMENTS.

CAPTAINS J. E. Erskine (1838) to Illustrious, fitting for the flag of Viceadmiral Sir C. Adam, кCB.-D. Pring, (1815) from Inconstant to Thunderer, v. Berkeley, resigned.-F. T. Michell (1830) from Magicienne to Inconstant, v. Pring. -R. L. Warren (1839) to Magicienne, v. Michell.-A. Ellice (1831) to Astrea, as perintendent of Falmouth Packets, v. Thumridge, resigned.-F. W. Burgoyne 5) to San Josef for service of Plyth Ordinary, v. Tayler, time expired. COMMANDERS-W. Smith, b (1826) to H. R. Henry (1838) to Styx., b (1840) to Ardent. ANTS-G. Beaufoy (1821) to

command Speedy.-J. M Potbury (1823) to command Spy.-T. Hodgskins (1841) to Syren,-B. J. Wilson (1832) to Iris additional, for service on the coast of Africa.-J. S. Rundle (1839) to Monarch, v. Armitage, sick.-A. Smith, b (1819) D. Reid (1840) to Hastings.-J. E. Cabburn (1815) to Ocean, for service of Ordinary, v. Boultbee.-J. Dalyell (1826) to Champion.

MASTERS-F. J. Gruzelier (1840) to

Syren.

MATES-E, Lacy to Hastings.-R. T. Bedford (1834) to Impregnable.-H. S. N. Micklethwaite (1815) to Dublin.-W. Cashman (1838) to Electra.-W. P. S. Morton (1838) to Belleisle.-M. B. Nuna to Excellent.—E. A. T. Lloyd (1841) to Electra.

SECOND-MASTERS-J. Laffer to Calculla. T, Hart to Atholl, v. Dupre to Partridge. Symonds to Pique.-W. J. Luke to Atholl.-Whiting to Dublin.

SURGEON-W. Roy (1838) to Syren, MASTERS-ASSISTANTS-A. J. Barnard to Queen.-B. Woolley to Lucifer.

MIDSHIPMENThe Hon. F. A. Foley, W. Peel, Salik Effendi, (a Turkish genleman), and H. Boys to Monarch.-C. Rowley to Electra.-H. Elliot to Indus.

MOVEMENTS AND STATIONS OF HER MAJESTY'S NAVY.

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS.