"The National Standards of Length and Weight had been destroyed in the fire of the Houses of Parliament. On May 11th I received a letter from Mr Spring Rice, requesting me to act (as chairman) with a committee consisting of F. Baily, J.E. Drinkwater Bethune, Davies Gilbert, J.G.S. Lefevre, J.W. Lubbock, G. Peacock, and R. Sheepshanks, to report on the steps now to be taken. I accepted the charge, and the first meeting was held at the Observatory on May 22nd; all subsequent meetings in London, usually in the apartments of the Royal Astronomical Society. I acted both as chairman and as working secretary. Our enquiries went into a very wide field, and I had much correspondence.
"On Jan. 4th Mr Wood wrote to me, mentioning that Capt. Johnson had made some observations on the magnetism of iron ships, and asking whether they ought to be continued; a steamer being offered at £50 per week. I applied to Beaufort for a copy of Johnson's Observations, and on Jan. 7th replied very fully, discouraging such observations; but recommending a train of observations expressly directed to theoretical points. On Feb. 17th I reported that I had examined the Deptford Basin, and found that it would do fairly well for experiments. On July 14th, 1838, Capt. Beaufort wrote to me that the Admiralty wished for experiments on the ship, the 'Rainbow,' then in the river, and enquired whether I would undertake them and what assistance I desired, as for instance that of Christie or Barlow. I replied that one person should undertake it, either Christie, Barlow, or myself, and that a basin was desirable. On July 16th and 17th I looked at the basins of Woolwich and Deptford, approving the latter. On July 21st the Admiralty gave me full powers. From July 23rd I was almost entirely employed on preparations. The course of operations is described in my printed Paper: the original maps, curves, and graphical projections, are in the bound MSS.: 'Correction of Compass in Iron Ships—"Rainbow,"' at the Greenwich Observatory. The angular disturbances were found on July 26th and 30th, requiring some further work on a raft, so that they were finally worked out on Aug. 11th. I struggled hard with the numbers, but should not have succeeded if it had not occurred to me to examine the horizontal magnetic intensities. This was done on Aug. 14th, and the explanation of the whole was suggested at once: graphical projections were made on Aug. 16th and 17th for comparison of my explanation with observations, and the business was complete. On Aug. 17th and 18th I measured the intensity of some magnets, to be used in the ship for correction. It is to be remarked that, besides the effect of polar magnetism, there was no doubt of the existence of an effect of induced magnetism requiring correction by other induced magnetism: and experiments for this were made in the Magnetic Observatory. All was ready for trial: and on Aug. 20th I carried my magnets and iron correctors to Deptford, mounted them in the proper places, tried the ship, and the compass, which had been disturbed 50 degrees to the right and 50 degrees to the left, was now sensibly correct. On Aug. 21st I reported this to the Admiralty, and on Aug. 24th I tried the ship to Gravesend. On Aug. 30th I had the loan of her for an expedition with a party of friends to Sheerness, and on Sept. 9th I accompanied her to Gravesend, on her first voyage to Antwerp.—On Oct. 5th application was made to me by the owner of the 'Ironsides' to correct her compasses. In consequence of this I went to Liverpool on Oct. 25th, and on this occasion made a very important improvement in the practical mode of performing the correction.—On Nov. 16th I reported to the Admiralty in considerable detail. On Dec. 4th I had an interview with Lord Minto (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Mr Wood. They refused to sanction any reward to me.—The following is a copy of the report of the Captain of the 'Rainbow' after her voyage to Antwerp: 'Having had the command of the Rainbow steamer the two voyages between London and Antwerp, I have the pleasure to inform you that I am perfectly satisfied as to the correctness of the compasses, and feel quite certain they will continue so. I took particular notice from land to land from our departure and found the bearings by compass to be exact.'"—The following extracts from letters to his wife refer to the "Ironsides": on Oct. 28th 1838 he writes, "I worked up the observations so much as to see that the compass disturbance is not so great as in the 'Rainbow' (35° instead of 50°), but quite enough to make the vessel worthless; and that it is quite different in direction from that in the 'Rainbow'—so that if they had stolen one of the 'Rainbow' correctors and put it into this ship it would have been much worse than before." And on Nov. 1st he writes, "On Wednesday I again went to the ship and tried small alterations in the correctors: I am confident now that the thing is very near, but we were most abominably baffled by the sluggishness of the compass."
"The University of London:—On Jan. 6th I attended a sub-committee meeting on the minimum of acquirements for B.A. degree, and various meetings of the Senate. On July 14th I intimated to Mr Spring Rice my wish to resign. I had various correspondence, especially with Mr Lubbock, and on Dec. 13th I wrote to him on the necessity of stipends to Members of Senate. The dissensions on religious examination became very strong. I took a middle course, demanding examination in the languages and books, but absolutely refusing to claim any religious assent. I expressed this to Dr Jerrard, the principal representative on the religious side, by calling on him to substitute the words 'Recognition of Christian Literature' for 'Recognition of Christian Religion': I addressed a printed letter to Lord Burlington (Chancellor) and the Members of the Senate, on this subject.
"Of private history: In January I made a short excursion in Norfolk and Suffolk, and visited Prof. Sedgwick at Norwich. In April I paid a short visit to Mr Courtney at Sanderstead, with my wife. On June 14th my son Hubert was born. In September I went with my sister by Cambridge, &c., to Luddington, where I made much enquiry concerning my father and the family of Airy who had long been settled there. We then visited various places in Yorkshire, and arrived at Brampton, near Chesterfield, where Mrs Smith, my wife's mother, now resided. And returned by Rugby. I had much correspondence with my brother and for him about private pupils and a better church living. I complained to the Bishop of Norwich about the mutilation of a celebrated monument in Playford Church by the incumbent and curate."
The following extracts are from letters to his wife relating to the above-mentioned journeys:
CLOSE, NORWICH.
1838, Jan. 21.
I do not know what degree of cold you may have had last night, but here it was (I believe) colder than before—thermometer close to the house at 3°. I have not suffered at all. However I do not intend to go to Lowestoft.
BRAMPTON. 1838, Sept. 30th.
We began to think that we had seen enough of Scarborough, so we took a chaise in the afternoon to Pickering, a small agricultural town, and lodged in a comfortable inn there. On Wednesday morning at 8 we started by the railroad for Whitby, in a huge carriage denominated the Lady Hilda capable of containing 40 persons or more drawn by one horse, or in the steep parts of the railway by two horses. The road goes through a set of defiles of the eastern moorlands of Yorkshire which are extremely pretty: at first woody and rich, then gradually poorer, and at last opening on a black moor with higher moors in sight: descending in one part by a long crooked inclined plane, the carriage drawing up another load by its weight: through a little tunnel: and then along a valley to Whitby. The rate of travelling was about 10 miles an hour. Betsy declares that it was the most agreeable travelling that she ever had.
Yesterday (Saturday) Caroline drove Betsy and Miss Barnes drove me to Clay Cross to see the works at the great railroad tunnel there. Coming from the north, the railroad passes up the Chesterfield valley close by the town and continues up the same valley, till it is necessary for it to enter the valley which runs the opposite way towards Buttersley: the tunnel passes under the high ground between these two vallies: so that it is in reality at the water-shed: it is to be I think more than a mile long, and when finished 27 feet clear in height, so it is a grand place. We saw the preparations for a blast, and heard it fired: the ladies stopping their ears in due form.