FRENCH SHIPPING.
AN IMPORTANT ALTERATION. From January, France, as England before her, will introduce the German system of compass division in oonnexion with all her maritime chart-, navigation handbooks, notices to mariners and lists of lighthouses, etc. This, says the ''Frankfurter Zeitung" of December 11th, will cause important changes, which are to bo gieatly welcomed in tho interests of shipping. The farmer practice of basing all navigation charts upon the meridian of Paris caused much reckoning. This will now become a thing of the past, since from January lst all new publications and reprints in the domain of the topography of the seas will in the case cf Franco take the meridian of Greenwich as their 0 meridian. By adopting the Gorman system of compass division, all surveys and courses will now, pointing to the right, be indicated by degrees from 0 to 360 degrees. So far, all French navigation charts used the indication "O." as an abbreviation for the word Ouest (west). It is clear that this "0.," which corresponds with the German "Oaten" (East) may frequently result in a serious misunderstanding, as regards the course to be steered by vc-ecls. A drastic change will, however, b_ made in this respect from January lst, inasmuch as the present abbreviation for the French "Oueet," viz., 0., will be replaced by W. In connexion with these changes, the "Frankfurter Zeitung" notes the increased use of German navigation charts by -foreign countries, including England. This fact, tho paper adds, is all the more significant since, not very long ago, foreign navigation chartwere exclusively used on board German ships. In connexion with the sale -i German navigation charts, the Secretary of State for the Navy recently gave thc Budget Committee of the Reichstag some figures which afford an excellent -proof of thc importance enjoyed by German navigation charts in regard to international shipping.
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Press, Volume L, Issue 14887, 29 January 1914, Page 8
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310FRENCH SHIPPING. Press, Volume L, Issue 14887, 29 January 1914, Page 8
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