RISKING DEATH FOR A MARK ON THE MAP

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 15, 17 July 1937, Page 25

RISKING DEATH FOR A MARK ON THE MAP

A party of sweating bluejackets' is hacking its way through the tangled undergrowth of a South American jungle, says a writer in the "News Chronicle." The young naval officer in charge is doing his best to make use of his surveyor's theodolite, to keep track of their bearings in this unknown country where it is impossible to see more than a few yards in any direction, and to keep one eye open for hostile natives.

Considering the distracting nature "of his task, it is hardly surprising that the officer fails to observe a yellowish, spotted shape crouching with tense muscles on a branch above the foremost man of the party,

Suddenly the patch of shadow springs to life, lunging downward with hooked talons and wickedly snarling jaws on the unsuspecting seaman beneath. There is a scream of agony, a hurried and futile shot, and the lurking jaguar disappears in the jungle. I'et another member of a British Naval Surveying party has given his life for the sake of a mark on the map; in this case, a landmark for ships approaching the British Guiaiia coast.

An important and dangerous work of exploration is being continually carried on by the British Navy, whose surveying ships sail the seven seas, charting treacherous coastlines, measuring and marking landmarks on littlsknown shores, discovering new anchorages, keeping the Admiralty charts up to date.

The tragic loss of the vessel which the new- Non-Magnetic Surveying ship Research is replacing, offers grim evidence of the reality of the perils of marine survey work; and many a boat's party, caught in an unsuspected current or raging surf, have had their launch crushed like an eggshell on some jagged rock face, with fatal results.

In one case, not many years ago, an officer in charge of a surveying party landed in Tierra del Fuego, became separated from his men, and was murdered by Indians. His body was never .recovered, but, some months later, his uniform coat was found on the back of a native.

Another officer, from a vessel surveying near Kilindini, East Africa,

landed in the bush. Which of half a dozen possible fates befell him, no one knows; he was never seen again.

The surveying of the seas never ends; shoals and sandbanks are continually altering, charts becoming-obso-lete; and long as this work has been going on, there still remain many waters in our own Empire which are virtually unknown.

The Admiralty keeps ten surveying ships continually employed—H.M.S. Beaufort, Challenger, Fitzroy, Flinders. Kellet, Stork, Ormonde, Moresby, Herald, and Endeavour. The four permanently employed in home waters are all war-built, twin-screw fast minesweepers. With a burden of 800 tons, these little vessels carry a .ship's company of nearly 100 men, work they do is as-valuable to Britain's merchant and fishing fleets as to the navy itself.

H.M.S. Endeavour, 1700 tons, specially designed and built in 1912, is a typical example of the four larger surveying ships in commission abroad. Her double awnings,. generous allowance of fans, ice-making machinery, and cold storage room to hold two or three months' provisions, make survey work in the tropics considerably more congenial than in the old days of salt pork and weevily biscuits.

Making charts of the coastline, taking angles of headlands, measuring the heights of hills and other landmarks are only parts of the surveyor's duties. Weeks must be spent in measuring the rise and fall of tides at various phases of the moon; currents in the open sea must be carefully watched at different seasons of the year, so that the best possible directions can be given in charts and sailing directions to guide the navigator. In bays and harbours the best anchorages and holdings unaffected by tides and winds must be selected.

Most of this work, naturally, is carried on within the British Empire, but it becomes necesary, from time to time, to produce charts for the guidance of British vessels in foreign waters. It is interesting to know that a considerable number of these charts are purchased by ' foreign Powers, among whom the superiority of Britain's hydrographers is acknowledged.

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