CROSSING THE ATLANTIC IN AN OPEN BOAT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2204, 24 August 1886, Page 2

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC IN AN OPEN BOAT.

Considerable interest was created in Leith recently by the arrival of an open boat, 19ft. in length, containing two men who have embarked in the somewhat perilous undertaking of a voyage from Christiana, in Norway to New York in their little craft. The voyage across the North Sea has been made in safety and comfort, and it is intended that; the greater undertaking of crossing the Atlantic shall be commenced from Glasgow in a few days. The latter place is to be reached by canal. The boat, which is named the Ocean, is, as already stated, 10ft. in length ; its breadth is o^ft., and ite depth 2ft -tin. Two months' provisions for two men are on board, also a water- tank for 75 gallous, which lies along the under part of the boat. The boat, like most craft of Norwegian build, is bow-shaped at either end" and the sides are uell protected with fixed "fenders " packed with reindeer hair. Air compartments are arranged most of the way round, and the craft has the selfemptying arrangement of the lifeboat. Mast, oars and sails are in readiness, a canvas sheet covers nearly all but the sitting space for the occupants, and, altogether, the little ves-sel seems well equipped lor all that an open boat might be expected to do. The two adventrous navigators who have thus set out are, Captain M. Anderson and Christian Chtistiau Christiansen, the latter of whom holds a mate's certificate. Their port of depart was Christiana. The Atlantic has already been crossed in an open boat in an easterly direction, and the two hardy Norweigans have resolved to match the record by doing so from the European shores. The littlt boat, in which the provisions for the long voyage are ingeniously packed, seems in every way niell mounted aud rigged, and can carry great rail.

The piers of the wonderful bridge over the Hawkesbury River, N.S.W., will descend to a depth ot 170 feet below the water, a greater depth than those ot any other railway bridge yet constructed. The deepest point at which men can work in the cylinders, with compressed air, is 100 feet, but special scientific arrangements [ will be made so that no danger will attach to the employment of men at a greater depth. There are six piers, and the length of the bridge will be 3SOO feet.

Thk Stvte of Jam vie*. —A correspondent in Jamiea writes : —" We are in a terrible state. There is scarcely one estate out of ten in the whole Island that is making any profit at all. The island is rapidly going down hill in every way. Formerly we had a certain number of ically good resident English families, and those and the garrison nude life pleasant. Now there is scarcely a body one can talk to. The burning question with us is, of course, free trade. We cannot compete with the slave-grown su^ar, We emport expensive machinery, °we introduce all the latest improvements, and we lay outour money in every direction^ only to find that our neighbours who rejoice in the posession of slaves are making sugar according to the methods employed by our forefathers, and are underselling us in the markets. I am bound to say that their sugar is every bit as food as ours, and made at a quarter of the expense. Jamaica h perhaps the only instance of a colony that has not advanced in civilisation. There are many reasons for this, but the strongest is that no one ever comes near us. The estates are sold for a mere song, and then the proprietors very naturally do not care to come out. They send agents, and then ceases all their connection with the island." The public aie cautioned in another column not to pui chase or in any way deal with Lot ll!7, subuiba of Newcastle- North, excepting through the official liquidators.