TALKING SHIPS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18938, 7 December 1929, Page 18 (Supplement)

TALKING SHIPS.

Ships at sea have many sorts of tongues with which they can and do hold converse with each other or with the shore. Some have wireless, and all have flags, semaphore, and Morse lamps. But in ad- ' dition to the chats which ships hold by these means, they have another sort of language in which, under the most rigid laws, they must talk at certain times and under certain conditions. Every steamer must be. provided with an efficient steam whistle or siren, a mechanically operated foghorn, and a bell —a drum being permitted as rather a quaint substitute for a bell on Turkish vessels. A sailing ship must carry a mechanical foghorn and a bell. A ship may be groping carefully along in foggy weather, and, seeing nothing, will suddenly hear a prolonged .siren blast followed two minutes later by another, and thus immediately knows that there is another steamer near and that she is moving forward. If the one blast changes to two, with a second’s interval between, it means that the steamer has stopped her engines and is not moving, although she is not at anchor. If this ceased to be repeated and, instead, a bell sounded a five seconds’ jangle every one minute, it would be understood that the ship was at anchor. If one, two or three blasts, sounding every one minute instead of every two, \s heard, a sailing ship would be talking and telling whether she was sailing with the wind on her port or starboard side, or “abaft her beam’’(more astern that sideways). The reason for the sailing ship being obliged to tell on which side of her the wind is blowing is that other vessels may steer clear of her. If a sailing vessel, for instance, has the wind on her right side she can only turn a very' limited distance to the right before she would be running in the face of the wind and brought to a stop, whereas she could turn away to the left and continue sailing, the wind then merely being more over her stern. Trawling and fishing \*essels with lines or nets down have other ways of making this clear. By one, two or three short blasts a steamer says she is turning to starboard, to port, or has her engine going full speed astern. POT POURRI AND PERFUME. Why not preserve the sweet perfumes now filling your gardens, so that you will enjoy them during the winter months? A pot-pourri or rose jar is one way of keeping them intact, and, for those who care to try it there is a very simple method of extracting the perfumes from fragrant flowers. There is great fascination about choosing your favourite flower, and making your own perfume from it. To make a rose jar, gather all the rose-leaves you can. Dry them at a sunny window, protected from draught, turning them over and over several times a day. When all are dry, put a thin layer of them into a jar, and add some of this mixture, well pounded: lib common salt, 4 teaspoon cloves, and 4oz storax if procurable from the chemist. Sprinkle in a little ground cinnamon or mace, some well dried and grated orange peel, and a vanilla pod. Now put in another layer of rose leaves, more spices, and continue in this way until all are used up. Then add all manner of sweetly smelling things—lemon scented verbena, a few geranium leaves, Lome lavender flow ers, clove carnations, and so on—everything being thoroughly dried before being added. Some people like to sprinkle a few drops of eau de Cologne in the mixture, but this is not really necessary. If you prefer to make a perfume, you can da it in this way. Secure two bottles, one of which is to hold the flowers, and should be a fair size. The neck must certainly be wide enough to take the top of the smaller bottle when it is inverted. To make the joint as air tight as possible wrap a piece of cloth round the shoulder of the smaller bottle. Into the neck of the small bottle push a small piece of cotton wool which has been saturated with olive oil. Arrange the flowers in the bottom of the larger bottle and invert the smaller one into it. Stand in the sun for a day, and then change the flowers, putting in fresh ones of the same kind. Do this for three or four days, and then squeeze out the oil from the cotton wool. This will be very highly scented, and one drop should be sufficient for ordinary use. The oil should be stored in a tightly corked bottle. NO WOMEN WANTED. No woman of any race has ever trodden the Antarctic. It is the only part of the world that a woman has never seen. There are at least twenty-five women who want to see the Antarctic, and they have applied to Sir Douglas Mawson to be allowed to accompany his expedition. But conditions are so rough in the Antarctic that the commander does not feel justified in admitting them, although he pays a tribute to their courage.

P.S.—This little poem was written apropos of my letter in last Saturday’s Page. Success to the Starland Tov Trail, but please send the toys! A.H. BRIDGES AND ARCHES. For anv number of equal teams. Each team divides into half, and players stand in pairs holding hands, above their heads. When the whistle is blown the first pair divide, run down behind the sides of their team, meet at the end, hold hands and run under the arches made by hands of other players. When they get back to their places, they sit on the ground facing each other with legs outstretched touching. Immediately the next pair jump over their legs, divide and run down sides to end, hold hands, run under arches until they regain their original places. They then sit and touch feet. Then the third couple start, jump over two bridges (made by the first two couples), run to end, hold hands, run under arches and sit and make bridge. Immediately the next couple start, and so on. The first team to be sitting down with feet touching after all have run wins.