The Eva G. R. Taylor Lectures were founded in 1959 to mark the occasion of Professor Taylor's 80th birthday. Following an appeal signed by the Presidents of various learned bodies, including the Institute, it was agreed to endow an annual lecture to be presented by a distinguished scholar in any of the branches of learning to which Professor Taylor made such notable contributions. Rear Admiral Ritchie's lecture was presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Institute held in London on 26 October 1966, with the President, Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Irving, K.B.E., C.B., in the Chair.

In the following paper, which was presented to a meeting of the Institute held in London on 30 March 1966 Captain Wepster describes the results of an investigation undertaken by the Holland-America Line into collisions on the main navigable rivers and inland waterways of north-west Europe, including the United Kingdom. On the basis of a previously published paper by Beattie, it was estimated that the main rivers worth investigating were the Schelde, the Thames, the Elbe, the New Waterway and the Weser. A speed analysis and plot of casualties of these rivers is presented.

The lessons to be learnt from a collision are not necessarily proportional to the damage it has caused. The great catastrophes arouse passions which often hinder the use of reason; on the other hand, when there has been no loss of life and when material damage has been slight, the accident may be seen as a warning which it is possible to contemplate in a detached manner, to see how it might have been avoided and how similar or worse accidents might be averted in future. Such was the collision between the Placid, a 50,000 ton tanker in ballast, and the Tenacious, a cargo vessel of 4000 tons, laden, some years ago on a foggy day in the summer, between Le Havre and Barfleur. (Both names are fictitious to safeguard the anonymity of the companies involved.) The collision claimed no victims and the compensation amounted to 180,000 francs for the Placid and 90,000 francs for Tenacious.

In December 1958 and in February 1961 meetings of the Institute were held at the suggestion of the Hydrographer of the Navy, so that the Admiralty chart could be discussed with sea-going chart users. This forum produced a number of valuable suggestions for the improvement of the charts including those affecting an improvement in chart coverage; and a request for routing charts, since published for the North and South Atlantic and the North Pacific Ocean, with those covering the remaining ocean areas in preparation.

During the summer 1966 the Executive Secretary sailed his bout Jester single-handed to the Azores and back. The passage from Gosport to Horta (Faial) took 17 days, and 13 days back from Graciosa light to Newhaven, having passed 20 miles south of the Lizard 11 days out. Jester, it will be recalled, was owned by H. G. Hasler, her designer, who completed four transatlantic passages in her. The boat is 19 ft. 9 in. on the waterline, with a consequent maximum theoretical speed of about 6·2 kt. Her average speed on the return voyage was just under 4¾ kt. The following notes refer mainly to the navigation.

In 1965, following the Eastbourne Conference, the British, French and German Institutes of Navigation formed a Working Group to make a study of the environment in which the supersonic transport will operate and of its implications for the navigation of such aircraft. The Group's initial task has been one of education, largely through discussion of a series of papers submitted to it. Some of the papers considered have already been published in the Journal (Vol. 19) and a further selection is published below. Table I was contributed by Mr. G. E. Beck. The illustrations to these papers have not all been reproduced.

1. Atmospheric Conditions. It will be useful to distinguish between different kinds of atmospheric influences on supersonic aircraft operations. They may be classed as follows:

(a) Sporadic effects near the ground

(b) Sporadic effects in the free atmosphere

(c) Effects on sonic boom

(d) Effects of atmospheric ozone

(e) Permanently effective atmospheric parameters, such as temperature, density and wind.

It seems possible at this stage to judge which meteorological factors would be of most importance in commercial supersonic transport operations. The argument would be based on the possible data for the Concorde, which, as is well-known, will fly at mach 2·2 and for which the cruising altitude will be between 18 and 20,000 m. The mach 3 flight would have similar characteristics for which the cruising altitude would be 25,000 m. or more.

1. Preliminary consideration. In attempting to assess the worth of a navigation system already known, over against the demands of the supersonic transport aircraft, we shall take care above all to make no presumptions whatever regarding the future, and not to count on the developments of the transport aircraft as regards the favour it will find with its users and consequently with the airlines likely to put it into operation. The question is not put here as to whether the 3 to 1 reduction in the actual flying time will appear as a profit paying for the numerous other constraints which it will impose, at once on the constructors, on the operators and finally on the users, without counting the requirements regarding ground equipment and administrative agreements; the question is merely to know whether, given the normal flight and speed conditions of an aircraft, we have the means to navigate it in an accurate, safe and economical manner.

Professor Eva G. R. Taylor, an Honorary Member of the Institute since 1954, died in Wokingham on 5 July 1966, aged 85. She was a Fellow of Birkbeck College and Victoria Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society. From 1930 to 1934 she was Professor and Head of the Department of Geography in the University of London, and in 1944 became Professor Emeritus.

I recently received from a correspondent on the other side of the Atlantic a request for information concerning the graduation of compass cards. I compiled the following notes which may be of some interest to readers of the Journal. I must, however, point out that to a great extent they are based on examination of compasses and cards in museums and on my own experience. It may well be that readers, especially those from other countries, may be able to supplement or correct my statements. Any such information would be most welcome.

The following amendments and additions to the existing (1960) Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea are offered for comment by Institute members and others interested in this problem.

The only comment which we wish to make about them at this time is that we do not claim that any of the ideas on which these suggested new rules are based are our original ideas—they have only been sorted out, into what we hope will prove to be a satisfactory arrangement, from many ideas which have come to light and have been aired during exercises and discussions that have taken place during radar simulator courses conducted at the Welsh College of Advanced Technology over the last five years and during discussions with many members of the staffs of other nautical colleges and with nautical surveyors of the Board of Trade. The ideas put forward by many notable persons in the various nautical publications have also been studied and have greatly influenced us.

There is no doubt that everyone is agreed that a combination of visual and sound signals are a necessity, but, in view of the large disparity in the speeds of light and sound, the method of achieving this has not really been agreed upon, although a few countries supported the system of synchronizing the light and sound signals, thus bringing about the addition of Rule 28(c) to the Collision Regulations. I am, however, of the opinion that this synchronized system is not suitable, mainly because of the disparity between the relative speeds of light and sound. This could lead to confusion and misinterpretation by the receiving vessel; the degree of confusion depending on how far distant the receiving vessel is from the vessel giving the signals, when there is a sudden alteration of course immediately following the previous alteration.