Such printed copies shall be furnished by the Department of Commerce to local inspectors for distribution. (Sec. 4405, R. S.)

Relieving the Watch. On well-conducted vessels no part of the routine is so important, and so necessary of clear-cut understanding, as the matter of turning over the watch.

On a steamer in which the writer had the good fortune to serve—a liner in the Transatlantic service—this formality was practiced with the utmost precision.

The officer in charge of the watch would keep facing ahead, near the telegraph, if the weather was thick. He would turn over the data of the watch rapidly and clearly; the relieving officer having already read over and initialed the Captain's order book.

  1. Special orders from the Captain.
  2. Position—how obtained—when.
  3. Vessels passed; in last hour, at least.
  4. Weather—fog if any; sea rising or falling.
  5. Wind, veering, or hauling.
  6. Distance made—by log—revolutions.
  7. Soundings taken—if any.
  8. Lights sighted, or expected; if in pilot waters.
  9. How vessel was steering—wild—good—etc.

THEN—being ready to turn over the watch:

"The course is N. 76 degrees east," says the Officer of the Watch.

"N. 76 degrees, east," is the reply, and the moment these words are spoken the relief is in charge, and steps next to the telegraph.

An Incident at Eight Bells. This simple ceremony of turning the watch over took place one morning at eight bells—it was a smoky channel morning, heavy weather had been met with on the run eastward, and the train for London was waiting at Southampton, for the first-class passengers who expected to dine at the metropolis that night. It was foggy, and the vessel was doing close to twenty knots; the telegraphs at "stand by." Everything had been passed over to the relief. The quartermasters and juniors had relieved each other, two watches were on the bridge at once, in the cold wet mist. One crowd, still a trifle sleepy, but filled with a sea breakfast, the other tired and wet.

Just as the course was being given, and half completed, something leapt out of the gray fog: