AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE LIGHTS TO BE EXHIBITED BY STEAM VESSELS. (From the New South Wales Government Gazette, Feb. 22.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 412, 27 March 1850, Page 2

AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING THE LIGHTS TO BE EXHIBITED BY STEAM VESSELS. (From the New South Wales Government Gazette, Feb. 22.)

The Board appointed under the provisions of the Act of the Governor and Council, 11th Victoria, No. 3, for the Regulation of Sea.going Steam and other Vesseli, carrying Passengers, having had under consideration a copy of an order issued by the Lords Commissioneri of tbe Admiralty, regarding Lights to be exhibited by Steam-vesseU with a view to prevent collisions, have, with the approval of his Excellency the Governor, determined that from and after the expiration of one month from the date of the publication of this notice, the following condition! shall be obierved with respect to the mast-head and paddlebox lights at present carried by Steam- goinp; Vessels under tbe amended Regulations, published in the Government Gazette of the 29th December, 1848, No. 147, tbat is to say :— 1. The mast-head lights to be visible at a distance of at least five miles in a clear dark night, and the lantern to be so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 20 points of the compass— viz. : from right a-liead to two points abaft the beam on each «ide of the ship. 2. The coloured side-lights to be visible at a diitance of at least two miles in a clear dark night, and the lanterns to be so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horison of 10 points of the compasa— viz., from right a«head to two points abaft the beam on their respective sides. 3. The tide lights to be moreover fitted with inboard screens, of at lea*t three feet long, to prevent them from being seen acrois tbe bow. The screens to be placed in a fore-and-aft line with the inner edge of the side lights. 4. The lantern vied by steam-vessels when at anchor elsewhere than at their respective wharves at Sydnay, or the out-ports, to be constructed io as to ihow a good light all round the horizon. J. GIBBES, President. MERION MORI ARTY. H. H. BROWNE. W. S. DELOITTE. R. TOWNS. Approved— CHAßLES A. MTZ ROY. February 9, 1850.

Destruction op Whalers by Icebergs,—lntelligence received from the " fisheries " at Davis Straits communicates the total loss of four whaling ships— the Superior, 400 tons burthen, belonging to Peteihead ; the Lady Jane, 390 tons, of Newcastle ; the Prince of Wales, 380 tons, of Hull, and a large American ship — the whole crushed to pieces by icebergs, On the 12th of June last, the above vessels were " fishing in Melville Bay, Davis Straits." About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the floating ice set in upon them, and the Superior, the Lady Jane, and the American ship were speedily cut to pieces. After remaining on the ice till the 16th June the provisions were divided, and the crews got the boat's read/ onil launched diem. After encountering many hardships, they reached Levely, a Danish settlement, five hundred miles from Melville Bay, on the 29th June, where they were forwarded to the Orkney Islands. Tke Prince of Wales whaler was wrecked in another part of Davis Straits, under precisely similar circumstances. The value of the four ships is estimated at about £50,000.