Across India | Page 4

more," Scott protested, and then continued his explanation. "Degrees of longitude vary from nothing at the poles, up to 69.07 statute, or 60 geographical or sea-miles, at the equator. We are now in about 15° north latitude; and a degree of longitude is 66.65 statute miles, or 57.9855 sea-miles, near enough to call it 58. By the way, Louis, multiply the number of statute miles by .87, and it gives you the sea-miles. Divide the knots by the same decimal, and it gives the statute miles."
"I will try to remember that decimal as you have done," replied Louis. "Now, Mr. Scott, don't open Bowditch's Navigator to us, or talk about projection,' 'logarithms,' 'Gunter,' and 'inspection;' for I am not capable of understanding them, for my trigonometry has gone to the weeping willows."
"Talk to us in English, Mr. Scott," laughed Miss Blanche.
"Let us go up to Conference Hall, where there is a table," said the third officer, as he produced a book he had brought up from his state-room. He led the way to the promenade, where he spread out a chart in the "Orient Guide," which had twenty-six diagrams of a clock, one at the foot of every fifteen degrees of longitude. At this point the commander came upon the promenade.
"Formerly the figures on a timepiece in Italy, and perhaps elsewhere, went up to twenty-four, instead of repeating the numbers up to twelve; and these diagrams are constructed on that plan," continued Scott.
"An attempt has been made to re-establish this method in our own country. I learned once from a folder that a certain steamer would leave Detroit at half-past twenty-two; meaning half-past ten. But the plan was soon abandoned," interposed the captain.
"Aden, from which we sailed the other day, is in longitude 45° east. Every degree by meridians is equal to four minutes of clock-time. Multiply the longitude by four, and the result in minutes is the difference of time between Greenwich and Aden, 180 minutes, or three hours. When it is noon at Greenwich, it is three o'clock at Aden, as you see in the diagram before you."
"Three o'clock in the morning, Mr. Scott?" queried the commander.
"In the afternoon, I should have added. Going east the time is faster, and vice versa," continued the young officer. "At our present speed our clocks must be put about twenty minutes ahead, for a third of an hour has gone to Davy Jones's locker."
"I understand all that perfectly," said Miss Blanche with an air of triumph.
"You will be a sea-monster before you get home. The sirens were beautiful, and sang very sweetly," added Scott jocosely.
"They were wicked, and I don't want to be one. But I do not quite understand how you found out what time it was at noon to-day," added the young lady.
"For every degree of longitude sailed there is four minutes' difference of clock-time," Scott proceeded. "You know that a chronometer is a timepiece so nicely constructed and cared for, that it practically keeps perfect time. Meridians are imaginary great circles, and we are always on one of them. With our sextants we find when the centre of the sun is on the celestial meridian corresponding to the terrestrial one; and at that instant it is noon where we are. Then we know what time it is. We compare the time thus obtained with that indicated by the chronometer, and find a difference of four hours."
"I see it all!" exclaimed the fair maiden, as triumphantly as though she had herself reasoned out the problem. "Four hours make 240 minutes, and four minutes to a degree gives 60° as the longitude.
"Quite correct, Miss Woolridge," added Scott approvingly.
"If I could only take the sun, I could work up the longitude myself," the little beauty declared.
"You have already taken the son," replied Scott; but he meant the son of Mrs. Belgrave, and he checked himself before he had "put his foot in it;" for Louis would have resented such a remark.
"I have seen them do it, but I never took the sun myself," protested the maiden.
The sea had suddenly begun to make itself felt a few hours before, and a flood of spray was cast over the promenade, which caused the party to evacuate it, and move farther aft. It was the time of year for the north-east monsoons to prevail, and the commander had declared that the voyage would probably be smooth and pleasant all the way to Bombay. It did not look much like it when the ship began to roll quite violently.
CHAPTER II
THE WRECK IN THE ARABIAN SEA
It was a sharp squall that suddenly struck the Guardian-Mother, heeling her over so that everything movable on her decks or below went over to the lee side, and sending no small quantity of salt water over her pilot-house. It had