966. All, or nearly all, ships with cargoes of nitrate or ores are too stiff; experienced masters try to make them a litter tender, so as to turn their sides up and fall away from a heavy sea. Deals, plank, or wood of any kind, for platform or dunnage purposes, are very expensive all along the west coast of South America. If freights for wool are low, it is desirable at Peruvian ports to take as much dead-weight, say nitrate of copper ore, as will complete the whole cargo, it generally pays best. It is considered advantageous to take in a dead-weight of nitrate, and to fill up with wool; if both are properly stowed, the ship will be easier at sea. Cargoes of nitrate and of copper ore occupy only so much of the hold as will leave ample space for ventilation. Large quantities of borate of lime are shipped at Iquique; if in the same vessel with nitrate, being lighter, it should go on it, and be well dunnaged with mats over all, to prevent injury from vapour. At Pisagua the mines are about 50 miles from the shore. Water is obtained there but not in Pisagua, excepting from a steam-condenser, and as there is no herbage for the mules and donkeys which bring the nitrate to the coast, they die in such numbers that strangers are said to be easily able to trace their route to the mines by the number of dead bodies lying about. Excepting three gold ounces to the consignee, there are no port charges at Pisagua. Nitrate is also shipped at Mexillones, Ochata, and several other little open bays in Peru, in bags varying from 150 to 180 lbs. each; at Iquique, they usually weigh 280 lbs. gross. When loading, masters should be cautious not to sign bills of lading for intake weight. It is customary to sign charter-parties for "gross weight" and "quality unknown," "not accountable for breakage of bags," "all on board to be delivered," &c. Many of the bags are rotten when they come on board, having been in store for several months; if not, they are generally rotten on arrival in Europe, and careful masters always sign bills of lading, "not answerable for condition of bags on delivery." As there is no vegetation at Pisagua, dunnage is usually obtained at Valparaiso and Callao; if horns can be had, so much the better. Dunnage as high as possible; casks are sometimes used; they are not so dangerous as with copper ore, which, when a cask is broken, falls in immediately; whereas if a cask continues whole for five or six days, the nitre by that time becomes solidified; for this reason, the bags are sometimes stowed open or hollow below. Nitre has usually to be dug out of the hold on discharging, and if there is not more than a loss of 5 cent., it is considered satisfactory, and the master obtains a gratuity.

967. The ship Abbot's Reading, of Liverpool, Capt. THоs. POWER,

which registers 420 tons, is 108 feet long, 23 broad, and has 173 feet depth of hold, left the port of Islay, Peru, in May, 1862, with 10,000 quintals of nitrate, averaging 22 to the ton English, say 454 tons shipped at Pisagua, and 1,190 bales Peruvian wool, 17 bales to the ton, 70 tons weight shipped at Islay, with some hides, say in all 530 tons. So laden she drew 16 feet forward and 17 feet aft, her ordinary draught with a full cargo of coal. There were usually kept on board, for any dead-weight cargo, about two standard (240) spruce deals, which on this occasion were ranged as a platform, with the addition of old broken spars and fenders as bearers. One end of the deals was placed on the keelson, and the other four feet high in the bilge, the object being to raise the weight off the bilges and away from the ship's sides to the centre, fore and aft. It was found advantageous to place the deals as high as possible, especially in the bilges, as it made the ship easier in heavy weather. With less dead-weight and more light freight, they would, of course, be kept lower. A ground tier of nitrate was then placed on this platform, commencing from about three feet before the foremast, and ending seven feet abaft the mizenmast. The bags were run up pyramidically towards the centre of the upper deck amidships, leaving the wings in the 'tween decks all clear fore and aft. This plan is considered well enough for small ships, or for any kind of ships when intending to fill up with light freight, but where they are say 5 or 6 times the breadth of beam in length, trunks like those used for copper ore (or with all nitrate or other dead-weight cargoes) are recommended, in which case the nitrate should be run right fore and aft, keeping the greatest bulk in the centre of the ship. The stowage of the nitrate in the Abbot's Reading being completed, it was well dunnaged over with dry hides, backs upward, overlapping each other sufficiently to prevent any particle of the nitrate from touching the wool which was then stacked upon the nitrate; it filled the remainder of the hold and 'tween decks. The wool was well dunnaged at least five inches from the ship's sides everywhere, including the 'tween decks; the dunnage wood was placed perpendicularly against the side, so that in case of leakage from the topsides, the water would run down uninterruptedly under the bilge platform. Had it been placed fore and aft, the dunnage would have become a stopwater, and in the event of leakage the wool would have been ruined. The hatches were then well battened down. On nearing Cape Horn, about the middle of June, hard, dry, easterly gales were experienced, and a sort of smoke or vapour was observed on board. With foul or head winds the vapour issued from the

forecastle; when running free or before the wind, the whole current passed through the half-deck and cabin. About a week after rounding the Horn, some of the crew complained of weakness and of contraction in the knees and elbow joints, and were treated for rheumatism. Although the ship was lowering her latitude every hour as she approached the equator, and the weather was improving daily, yet the men, to the surprise of the master, became worse, and were unable to stand for any length of time. On the 13th July, in lat. 37° 0′ 5′′ S., lon. 40° 13′ W., the ship sprung a leak, which kept the weakened crew constantly at the pumps. About the latitude of Rio Janeiro the port pump burst; the weather however continued fine. Although liniments were applied, the disorder, scurvy, (not rheumatism as first supposed) became worse, and five seamen were confined to their beds in a helpless state on the 11th August, in lat. 8° 19′ N., and only two remained to work the ship. On the 13th the carpenter repaired the port pump. Strong S.S.E. and E.S.E. winds prevented any approach to the Azores. The legs of the sick men were now drawn completely up under them; and there was only one left on deck, but he could scarcely put one foot before the other without steadying himself by the ship's rail. Although a thousand miles from land, the master very prudently got the anchors over the bows and the chain cables on deck, fearing there might not be sufficient strength left to do it when nearing port. She arrived safely at Liverpool in September-140 days. The fifty days' sickness was attributed to the vapour from the nitrate. Had she not been provided with CUNNINGHAM'S patent topsails, Capt. POWER could not have navigated the Abbot's Reading with only three men. Her stores were excellent, and the crew accommodation ample.

968. Nitrate shipped on the coast of Peru sometimes lies on the wharves from five to eight months, during which it dries and hardens, and becomes in every way better for transport. It appears that the nitrate shipped in the Abbot's Reading was in a very damp raw state, having just come down from the mines. The evaporation was no doubt increased by the heating properties of the wool which came chock up to the hatches, and they being tight, forced the vapour to find an exit through the forecastle and cabin. It is recommended that masters having similar cargoes should, after rounding the Horn, avail themselves of every favourable opportunity to open the hatches, or by other means, to ventilate the cargo. The evaporation from Peruvian nitrate varies on a voyage to Liverpool from 4 to 16 cent. With an ordinary full cargo, having an evacent. the Abbot's Reading (three former voyages) had

poration of 6

lightened her draught 6 inches on arrival at Liverpool. With the cargo laden in May, 1862, she lightened 8 inches during the passage, and there was a loss of 10 p cent. on the intake weight. Experienced merchants consider that the nitrate on board the ship must have been very impure if the vapour came from it; they conclude that it arose from the wool.

969. The Margaretha Roesners, Capt. EGGERS, of Rostock, where she registers 195 lasts or 429 tons English, took in at Pisagua, in January, 1864, about 600 tons of nitrate of soda, and 30 tons of leather at Valparaiso. She had space left for about 200 tons of leather. The dunnage, wood and plank obtained at Valparaiso, was laid about 13 inches each side the keelson, and 12 inches in the bilges. The nitrate was in bags containing 200 or 300 lbs. each, and after being stowed across the ship below, was brought up pyramid-fashion to the hatchways. Subsequently it depressed four feet, when bags were taken from the sides and placed under the hatchways. The 'tween had been removed, and care was taken to prevent the beams from being broken by pressure from the cargo. She is 129 feet long 28 feet 6 inches outside breadth, has a depth of hold of 16 feet, and is 6 feet 2 inches high in the 'tween decks. With the nitrate cargo she drew 16 feet aft, and 15 forward; the same as with 600 tons New South Wales (Newcastle) coal. The ship lay 300 yards from the shore, whence the nitrate was taken by her boats. In the hold, a boy unhooked the tackle, and the whole of the cargo, which took only six days in loading, was stowed by a Peruvian, whose skin appeared to have such substance and firmness that it resisted the effects of the nitrate, which made the hands of the crew quite soft; he wore a thin dress, worked without boots, carried the bags on his back, and received for stowing $5 p 1,000 quintals, each quintal being 100 lbs. The nitrate was covered with boards to received the leather. Through evaporation, the Margaretha drew two inches less on arrival in the English Channel, than when she started. The wastage occurred chiefly during the first week after shipment. Shippers calculate the loss at 3 to 4 p cent., and never more than 5 cent. unless the ship leaks.

970. The Ravenscraig (see linseed) loaded at Iquiquê, in October, 1862, 600 tons nitrate of soda, in her lower hold, and 225 tons orchilla weed in the 'tween decks, when she drew 19 feet aft and 19 feet 9 inches forward. On discharging in January, 1863, there was a loss by evaporation of 4 cent. on the nitrate. Not only were all the rats, mice, and vermin destroyed, but even all the wood lice in those parts of the ship touched by the cargo; she continued free

until the reception of a cargo of rice, when vermin came on board with the dunnage and matting.

971. Nitrate shipped at Iquique, is dug out of the earth in immense plains beyond a range of mountains, part of the Andes. As it arrives, the bags are stacked in the warehouses. Eight months are sometimes occupied in storing a cargo, and while that part first stored is dry, the last is green, and is therefore liable to leak. When stowed in a ship's hold, it is preferable to receive the green first, and to arrange it equally over her bottom. If put in one part only, say forward, and leakage occurs at sea, the trim of the vessel will be altered, and she will then, of course, become too deep aft. Nitrate is brought off at Iquique and at Pisagua in boats called balsos; they are about 10 or 12 feet long, are formed of skins, and shaped something like a canoe, but rise more at the ends-the bow especially. They are provided with a kind of deck throughout their entire length; the space under the deck is air-tight. Two of these balsos are fastened together, side by side, about two feet apart, by wooden stretchers near the bows and sterns. A longitudinal piece of wood is attached at each end to the middle of the stretchers, and then runs equi-distant from, and parallel to the balsos. On this framework two folded hides are placed overlapping; they are not fastened, but by use adapt themselves to the shape of the framework, and become a platform for the reception of the nitrate of soda, and keep the surf from it; the materials altogether do not weigh more than 30 lbs. While on the beach, about four or five bags are placed on the platform. The bows being near the water's edge, and the balsos inflated, a native boatman seizes their after ends, and waiting the approach of a heavy roller, launches his frail craft on its crest, and at the same moment places his knees on the stretcher aft. In this posture he goes out on the roller, and at the proper time takes up a paddle (previously laid cross-ways on the bags) provided with a blade at each end, and being grasped in the middle with both hands, the boatman uses it very adroitly on either side, and thus propels and steers at the same time. He dare not stand upright or the craft would be liable to capsize, as it draws only three or four inches of water. At a distance of 30 or 40 yards from the beach, the nitrate is delivered into the ship's boats, which, when they have obtained say 50 bags, proceed a quarter or half a mile to the ship, into which they are hoisted by the usual purchase at the winch. The nitrate is at shipper's risk immediately it is received in the ship's boats.

972. The iron barque Witch of the Tees, 300 tons register, Capt. SETH COOPER, belonging to Messrs. BAKE & Co., of Philpot Lane,