long by 21 broad; her tonnage, 156; hull, mast-head, and globe painted red, and the name "Nore in large white

letters on each broadside. The hollow globe at the mast-head, 6 feet in diameter, made of bent laths, is characteristic of such craft by day; it is never removed unless when the ships are driven from their stations. About 10 feet below it hangs the lantern, an octagonal glass case, framed in copper, and fitting round the mast like a great gem ring, housed on deck by day, and hoisted as high up the mast as the shrouds will permit by night.

On deck forward is a powerful windlass-a necessary provision for managing the heavy cable, which is composed of very short links: the iron is 1 in. thick, and of sufficient length to veer out 100 fathoms if required. On a netting attached to the bumpkin (an apology for a bowsprit) is a sail neatly stowed ready for use if required; and at the stern, furled close to a jigger mast, is another sail. These are used in ordinary times to steady the ship when it is blowing hard, or in case of breaking adrift and being driven to sea (which has never yet happened) they would enable her to run to an anchorage.

Around the mast and fitting on to the deck is a circular wooden chamber into which the lantern is lowered in the daytime, affording convenience for cleaning it and trimming the lamps.

Passing down to the lower deck is a companion ladder, serving both for officers and crew. The latter are lodged forward, and occupy all the 'tween deck space from the mast to the bows of the ship. Their hammocks, chests, and lockers are along the sides of the berth, and a good broad table down the middle, with a bench seat at each side of it. Amidships, near the mast, is the cooking-stove, a large grate whose warmth must be particularly acceptable in hard weather. Close against the mast is a clockwork machine, set in motion by a descending weight, whose office is to turn an iron spindle-rod laid against the mast, and so contrived that when the lantern is hoisted into its place it sets the light revolving in the manner to be presently described.

Immediately behind the mast, after passing the companion ladder, a small passage-way leads to the captain's cabin and the store-rooms. On the right, in large lockers breast-high, the bread and

provisions are kept; on the left is the principal store, where the oil, cotton wicks, and spare lamps are deposited. Here are four or five cylindrical cisterns, each containing 100 gallons of colza oil, a bench, and a set of bright copper measures, and a black-board ruled into suitable spaces for a record in chalk of the quantities drawn off. Two or three spare lamps and reflectors hang from the beams, all ready for use; and a trimming-tray, with scissors, holders for wicks, and glass cylinders, and other appliances used by the lamp-trimmer when performing his daily task, lies here in the place provided for it.

From the passage a door opens into the stern cabin, a snug little den for the use of the officer in command, neatly but plainly furnished, with a library for the use of the crew, the books of which circulate throughout the service.

Below this deck is the hold, in which water tanks, spare cables, and some few tons of ballast, keep the vessel steady.

The principal function for which a lightvessel is placed is, as the name implies, the exhibition of a warning or a guiding light at night. To prevent confusion with lamps or fires on shore or on board other vessels, a distinguishing character is given to the light, which, in the case of the "Nore,' is called the revolving halfminute character. The effect to be produced is that a brilliant flash shall pass before the eye of the observer every 30 seconds, which is accomplished in the following manner:

The

Argand lamps, fitted each within a paraboloidal reflector, and slung upon gimbal work to counteract the vessel's rolling, are arranged in three groups of three lamps each on a frame within the lantern, and surrounding the mast. property of this kind of reflector is that it gathers all, or nearly all, the rays into a parallel beam of light, and when in position this beam is thrown towards the horizon. The three in a group are cornered together with their rims in one plane, like a triple-barrelled opera glass, so that the blended beams of three lamps reach the observer at the same time. The framework which carries the three groups runs on wheels on a circular rail, and its inner ring which encircles the mast is cogged upon one edge. When the lantern is hoisted these cogs come into connection with the cogged head of the iron spindle

laid beside the mast, which is kept turning by machinery below the deck, as before explained, and sets the frame in motion. If there were only one group of lamps the frame must revolve very fast to bring the beam round in half a minute, and the lamps would flare; but by placing three groups the speed is reduced to onethird. To put this description into a homely shape: the sea-gull flying over the lantern sees three bright spokes of a wheel going slowly round and round, while if he drops down on to the water he will get a spoke in his eye every halfminute from sunset to sunrise.

From stem to stern, deck, lantern, lamps, cabin, and utensils, are all kept scrupulously clean and bright. The crew who are charged with this duty number eleven in all, but only seven are on board at one time, the master or mate, two lamplighters, and four seamen. Once a month the relief steamer comes down from Blackwall, brings the shoremen back, and takes others away. The master and mate take month about, the rest have two months on board to one on shore. Provisions and water are renewed monthly by this vessel, and stores are kept up to service requirements. There is plenty of work in keeping a look-out, keeping all clean, especially the lantern, lantern-glass, lamps, and reflectors, and in keeping very neat and careful records of the state of wind and weather, barometer, &c., and of the daily and nightly expenditure of oil and stores. The men have, nevertheless, a good deal of leisure, which some of them employ in mat making, some in shoe-making, some in a kind of cabinet work or in toy-making. They live as a rule to a good age, and are entitled to a pension when past work.

The cost of this vessel with apparatus complete was £5,000, and its maintenance may be stated at £1,200 a year.

Nore Sand Buoy.-A 7 ft. can-buoy, made of wood, and painted with black and white stripes. It is situated in Sea Reach, on the northern edge of the Nore Sand, and marks a depth of water, at low water spring tide, of 16 feet. It is moored with 10 fathom of chain. The Nore Sand Buoy belongs to the Trinity House.

Nore Yacht Club, New Falcon Hotel, Gravesend.-Object: To promote

yacht and naval architecture; to en courage amateur seamanship and yacht racing in classes of 40 tons and under and to establish yachting accommodation on metropolitan waters. Officers: commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, and honorary treasurer and secretary, who, with sixteen members, form the committee. Election by ballot in committee; nine votes must be recorded; one black ball in eight excludes. Burgee, light blue, dark blue cross through it, gold anchor in centre, red ensign.

Northern Outfall.-The Abbey Mills Pumping Station, one of the curiosities of modern civilisation, lies on the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway, between Bromley-by-Bow and Plaistow. For permission to view, apply to the Engineers' Department, Metropolitan Board of Works, Spring Gardens, S. W.

Northfleet, Kent, on the right bank, between Northfleet Hope and Gravesend Reach, 25 miles from London. A station on the North Kent Railway, about ar hour and a quarter from Charing Cross. The station is close to the lower part of the village. Population, about 9,000. Soil, chalk. Northfleet is a straggling little town on the side of a hill, on the summit of which are the church and a quaint, old-fashioned, open, triangular spaceprobably once the village green-which is known by the name of The Hill. The principal trade of Northfleet is in cement, and some shipbuilding and repairing are carried on by the river. A prominent object both from the railway and from the river is the college, built and endowed in 1847 by John Huggens, Esq., of Sittingbourne, for the benefit of ladies and gentlemen in reduced circumstances. It consists of 50 superior almshouses, each of the inmates receiving £1 per week. A handsome chapel forms part of the building. In' addition to the 50 inmates, there are 40 out-pensioners who also receive £1 per week. Perhaps the most prominent object in Northfleet is the Factory Club, a handsome building erected at the sole cost of Mr. Bevan, of the firm of Knight, Bevan, and Sturge, for the benefit of the workingmen of the village. It is a large hall, with galleries at either end, in which 1,000 persons can be accommodated, and a number of rooms in the basement, with

wings at the back, one of which contains the kitchen, offices, lavatories, &c., and the other a billiard-room. The building itself is mainly erected of red and white bricks, but relieved by columns in cement of apparently mixed Italian and Corinthian styles, in addition to which there are facings and cornices of a similar material. At each end of the building is a lofty slated tower, with a flag-staff, and margined with handsome ironwork. The internal finishings of the large hall are executed in pitch pine; underneath one of the galleries is a bar, fitted up for the supply of refreshments; and the whole of the fittings, seats, and tables are also of pitch pine. From the towers a splendid view may be obtained, embracing Southend and about twenty miles of beautiful scenery. The entrance fee is IS. 3d. for Messrs. Knight's men, and 25. 9d. for those not belonging to that firm. The subscription is 4d. per month.

W.

The church of St. Botolph, approached from the Hill, stands in a churchyard full of weatherbeaten old tombstones of all shapes and sizes. Many crumbling carvings and half-obliterated corbels on the porch and older walls of the church attest the antiquity of the structure, and on the right-hand side of the porch the curious may still discover the Rose of York or Lancaster. The tower, which was originally built to serve the purpose of a stronghold against the incursions of pirates and river thieves, has been partly rebuilt. The external flight of stairs leading to the tower is part of the original building. According to Mr. E. Godwin, F.S.A., the church in Norman times belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury, until it was given to the Priory of St. Andrew, Rochester, when it was in some measure rebuilt. The original Norman church has entirely disappeared, but traces of the rebuilding are visible in the three westernmost arches of the nave. These probably belong to the close of the 12th century. The present chancel would seem to have been built about the middle of the 14th century. The restoration of the chancel, under Mr. Godwin's superintendence, was finished in 1864. The chancel possesses one of the architectural rarities of England, ia 14th century rood screen beautifully carved in oak, on which are heads of Christ and His Apostles, much mutilated

by the Puritans. There are some fine brasses, notably one of Peter de Lacy, rector in 1375, whose body lies in the centre of the chancel, and others of William Lye (1391), and of William Rikhill and wife (1433). The sedilia in the chancel have been beautifully restored and decorated; another set of sedilia and piscina have been partially restored, and will be found at the east end of the south aisle. The roof is of oak and has been partly renovated; that in the chancel was new in 1864. The registers date back to 1539. The old parish church iron-bound chest, with six locks, is evidently of great antiquity. In the north aisle is a curious canopied monument displaying the bewigged marble effigies, nearly if not quite life-size, of Richard Crich and Esther his wife, "erected by his sole executor." Also in the north aisle is the monument of Dr. Edward Brown. The doctor's will is sculptured on the marble, and by it he leaves to his "dear and loving wife sundry fields in Northfleet, and the rent of the chalk, and the profits of the cherries." In the south aisle is a monument tablet to Walter, son of Robert, Lord Viscount Molesworth, who died in 1773, his wife (1763), and his daughters (1766 and 1772). On the general question of epitaphs it is said of this Walter, son of Robert, in the inscription on the tablet to his memory: Never fond of monumental compliments he forbade any use of them in regard to the carcases below."

PLACES OF WORSHIP. All Saints, Perry-street and St. Botolph's (parish church); the Roman Catholic Church of Our Immaculate Mother and St. Joseph; and Congregational, Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan, and Wycliffe Congregational Chapels.

POLICE.-Station, High-street.

POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.-Post Office (money order, telegraph, savings bank, and insurance), The Hill. Branch in High-street. Mails from London, 7.15 and 11.30 a.m., 6.45 p.m. Mails to London, 10.30 and 11.30 a.m., 2.15 and 8 p.m. Sundays, 6.30 p.m.

NEAREST Railway Station, Northfleet: Ferries, Greenhithe and Gravesend.

FARES to London : 1st, 3/6, 4/6; 2nd, 2/8, 3/6; 3rd, 1/10, 3/-.