MARINE LOSSES BY BOSTON COMPANIES. The new ship Troubadour, of Boston, Capt. Pedrick, from Newburyport for New Orleans, was lost on Berry Islands, 26th of March, 1854. She was a good ship, of 1,200 tons, and was on her first voyage. She was owned by Messrs. Fisher & Co. There was insurance to the amount of $95,000 on vessel and freight, at the following offices in Boston : The ship Saxony, of Boston, from Halifax for Mantanzas, has also been wrecked off Cape Florida. The vessel is insured in Boston for about $20,000. The brig Salisbury, of Newburyport, lost on Berry Islands, is insured in Boston at the Alliance office. POLICY OF INSURANCE-AVERAGE LOSS-SET-OFF. Where the claim of a plaintiff is for an average loss on a policy of insurance on goods, the defendant cannot set up a counter demand for other matters, or, in technical language, cannot plead a set-off; it being a rule of law that a plea of set-off cannot be pleaded to a demand for unliquidated damages, and it has been invariably considered that a claim for an average loss on a policy of insurance is a demand for unliquidated damages. Castelli vs. Boddington, 20, Law Times Rep., 64. NAUTICAL INTelligence. NOTICE TO MARINERS. EXHIBITION OF A NEW REVOLVING LIGHT AT NORTH RONALDSHAY, AND ALTERATION OF THE START-POINT LIGHT FROM A REVOLVING LIGHT TO A FIXED LIGHT. 1. NORTH RONALDSHAY LIGHTHOUSE. The Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses hereby give notice that a new lighthouse is being built upon the Island of North Ronaldshay, in Orkney, the light of which will be exhibited on the night of Friday the 1st September, 1854, and every night thereafter, from the going away of daylight in the evening, to the return of daylight in the morning. The following is a description of the lighthouse and the appearance of the light, by Mr. David Stevenson, Engineer to the Commissioners : The lighthouse is in N. lat. 59° 23' 15" and W. long. 2° 23' 38"; it stands on the northern point of the Island of North Ronaldshay, and by compass it bears from Moul-head of Papa-Westra W. N. W. N., distance 15 nautic miles; and from StartPoint of Sanday Lighthouse, S. S. W. W., distance 6 miles. The North Ronaldshay Light will be known to mariners as a revolving light, producing a bright flash of the natural color once in every 10 seconds. It will be visible all round the compass. The lantern is elevated 140 feet above the level of the sea; and the light will be seen at the distance of about 18 nautic miles, and at lesser distances, according to the state of the atmosphere. 2. START-POINT LIGHTHOUSE. The Start Point Light, which is 6 miles from North Ronaldshay Light, being at present a revolving light, producing a bright flash once in every minute, the Commissioners further give notice, that on and after the night of Friday, the 1st September, 1851, when the new revolving light at North Ronaldshay is to be exhibited, the pres ent revolving light at Start Point will be changed to a fixed light of the natural color. By order of the Board, ALEX. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary. NAVIGATION INTO SPITHEAD. NOTICE TO MARINERS. TRINITY HOUSE, LONDON, 3d May, 1854. Pursuant to the intention expressed in the Notice from this House, dated the 5th ultimo, a floating light vessel has been moored on the west side of the channel, near to the Warner shoal, and a light is now exhibited therefrom every night from sunset to sunrise, for the purpose of facilitating the navigation of vessels into and out of Spithead during the night time. The light at this station is of the natural color, revolves, and shows a bright flash once in every minute, and the vessel is moored in 13 fathoms at low-water spring tides, with the following marks and compass bearings: The water mill at St. Helen's, half its breadth open of St. Helen's sea-mark, S. W. by W. W. The outer end of Ryde Pier, between the towers of Osborne, N. W. by W. Noman's Land Buoy, N. W. by N. Horse Elbow Buoy, N. E. N. Dean Tail Buoy, E. S. E. Bembridge light-vessel, S. E. By order, J. HERBERT, Secretary. INVENTION FOR REEFING SAILS OF VESSELS. The Portsmouth Journal says: Mr. Wm. H. Foster, of that city, has perfected his invention for reefing sails, and that it is satisfactory to scientific gentlemen and experienced seamen who have witnessed its operation. The yard does not revolve like that which was tried in England many years ago, but is fastened to the barrel in the usual manner. The sail is also attached to the yards in the old way. It works entirely upon the principle of the pulley. It is simple, but exceedingly ingenious. The weight of the topsail yard, in being lowered by loosening the halyards, is directly applied to the reefing and furling of the sail at the same time. A single hand on deck, however incredible it may seem, is enabled to take in each reef, even to close reef, and furl any sail in less time than a single minute. LIGHTHOUSE AT WINTERTON. NOTICE TO MARINERS. TRINITY HOUSE, LONDON, May 4, 1854. Notice is hereby given that, with the object of rendering the lighthouse at Winterton more distinctly visible from vessels at sea during the daytime, the tower is about to be colored red. The buildings around it will continue white, as they are at present. By order, J. HERBERT, Secretary. MYSTERIES OF THE OCEAN. A paper containing the results of various observations made in the coast survey by A. D. Bache, was read before the Scientific Association at its late session in Washington. Among other interesting passages was one relating to the shape of the floor or bottom of the ocean, showing that some extraordinary depressions exist along our own coast. The following outline of the remarks upon this subject is quoted from the National Intelligencer; For instance, on the seaward line abreast of Charleston, from the shore to sixty miles out, the depth increases pretty gradually, till at that distance it has acquired a depth of one hundred fathoms. But it soon deepens with great rapidity, as if on the side of a mountain, until at about eighty miles out the ocean bottom is more than six hundred and fifty fathoms from the surface. This continues forward less than ten miles, when the depth as suddenly decreases to not more than three hundred and fifty fathoms, which so goes on only a few miles, when it again deepens to about five hundred fathoms, with subsequent fluctuations. There is, therefore, a submerged mountain peak or ridge between these points, of a truly remarkable character. The differences in the temperature of the water vary almost precisely according to the change of contour of the bottom, showing that the temperature at great depths is much modified by the propinquity of the ocean's bed. It appears that the Gulf Stream, whilst certainly not superficial, does not run to the bottom, for off Cape Fiorida, at twelve hundred fathoms, the water in summer is of a temperature of 38° Fahrenheit, a degree below the average Winter temperature much further north. RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS. RAILROAD STOCKS HELD BY FOREIGNERS. The following is one of the tables communicated to the Senate of the United States by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the purpose of showing the amount of American securities held by foreigners on the 30th of June, 1853: From returns made, with a few exceptions, by their own officers, (222 railroads :)— Returns from 22 other railroad companies, part obtained from the American Railroad Journal, and part obtained from brokers: Capital paid in.... Bouds outstanding. $53,143,545 Supposing the proportion of capital stock and bonds held by foreigners in these companies to be the same as in the companies from which returns have been directly received, we have the following results: In the Merchants' Magazine for May, 1854, (vol. xxx., pp. 631-3,) we published very complete tabular statements of operations of all the railroads of Massachusetts for the year 1853, carefully compiled for our magazine from the annual reports made to the Legislature of that State. We are now indebted to WILLIAM J. MCALPINE, Esq., State Engineer and Surveyor, for an official copy of his Report on the Railroads of the State of New York, for the year 1853. It is a very able, full, and complete document. The manner adopted by Mr. MCALPINE of preparing these tables, furnishes the means of detecting many of the errors; and it is believed that the publication of the errors will be found one of the most effectual means of inducing more care in the preparation of the reports hereafter. We will now lay before our readers Mr. MCALPINE's admirable abstract of the report, which covers 424 octavo pages, and in a future number of the Merchants' Magazine we shall give the most important tabular statements of the operations of the different roads in the State. The length of all the railroads in operation in the State is The length of double track in addition to the above is. 664 The whole number of miles traveled by the passengers is about..... The capital stock of which is about.... The amount of funded and floating debt is. The amount paid for construction and equipment is 531,572,298 246,554,492 $112,038,131 45 61,238,829 22 59,669,478 38 117,707,620 58 The average distance which each passenger traveled would appear, from the footing of the report, to be 44 miles, and the average distance which each ton of freight was moved would appear to be 65 miles. But these average distances should be slightly increased, in consequence of a portion of the passengers and freight being carried over two or more roads, and the number of passengers and tons of freight being in those cases reported on each road. Twenty-three railroad corporations have made full reports, from which the following statements are made: The amount expended in engine houses and machine shops. 1,209,205 76 The total amount expended in construction and equipment, including grading and superstructure... 95,466,243 59 The total amount expended in construction and equipment, includ ing grading and superstructure, during the year 19,180,411 44 The whole length of road is Miles run by the passenger trains for the year. Passengers carried in the cars, as reported*. The number of miles traveled by all the passengers. Number of miles run by the freight trains. Miles of movement of the freight..... The cost of maintenance of way (17 roads only reporting this item) 46 freight business The cost of repairs of machinery on 18 roads reporting is....... 66 freight business 5,234,963 2,841,147 397,272,298 3,564,807 219,454,492 $1,447,876 65 $874,895 50 606,893 08 1,403,154 81 $817,570 51 4,159,310 51 $2,155,597 92 1,945,990 64 • The actual number of passengers carried is considerably less than the number above stated. The payments, other than for construction, on 19 roads were:— The average cost of construction and equipment per mile of road of those railroads which have reported these items, has been as follows: For graduation, masonry, and bridges for 2,066 miles.. Total expense per mile of construction and equipment for 2,105 miles of road. The average cost per mile of single track :— For graduation, masonry, and bridges for 2,663 miles. Superstructure, including iron, for do... Station buildings for do. Engine houses and machine shops for do... Land and fencing for do..... All expenses of construction and equipment for 2,723 miles.... The number of locomotives on 2,076 miles is one to 4 miles of road. $17,162 61 11,915 61 1,555 87 585 29 3,751 30 45,091 84 $13,315 04 9,244 30 1,207 00 450 96 2,922 00 85,059 32 The average mileage of the passengers for each mile run by the trains, 76. The average distance traveled by each passenger is nearly 48 miles. The average speed of the express trains when in motion is 40 miles per hour. The average number of tons of freight for each mile run by the trains is 62. The average distance each ton of freight was moved is 724 miles. The average speed of the freight trains when in motion is 16 miles per hour. The average weight of the freight trains, exclusive of the freight carried, is 160 tons. The roads reporting the amount of freight carried show an aggregate of 2,831,336 tons passing over those roads, but as the same freight is frequently carried over two or more connecting roads, on each of which it is reported, the footing of these several amounts does not show the true aggregate of the tonnage carried. As near as can be ascertained, about one and a half millions of tons of freight were carried on all the railroads of the State. The reports furnish the number of tons of each classification of freight carried, but as the aggregate returns must necessarily contain the errors above mentioned, these aggregates are only useful to show the proportions of each description of freight shipped, which are nearly as follow: The tonnage of the product of the forest is per cent of the whole tonnage; product of animals, 20 per cent; vegetable food, 22 per cent; other agricultural products, 4 per cent; manufactures, 12 per cent; merchandise, 11 per cent; unclassified articles, 17 per cent. THE AVERAGE COST OF MAINTENANCE OF WAY PER MILE OF ROAD. 17 62 6 83 For repairs of road bed... 38 75 All expenses of maintenance of way.. $455 43 $322 81 For all expenses, both passengers and freight, $699 12. THE AVERAGE COST OF REPAIRS OF MACHINERY PER MILE RUN BY THE TRAINS, |