§ MR. MACDONA (Bermondsey, Rotherhithe)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he has received a copy of the Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for October, 1893, issued by the Hydrographic Office, U.S. Navy Custom House, Baltimore, in which is indicated the places on the Atlantic where 25 wrecks have been seen floating; and if he will inquire whether a somewhat similar Chart can be prepared by the Admiralty for the use of the British Mercantile Marine?
SIR U. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTHI have to thank the hon. Member for sending me a copy of the Chart. It is regularly received at the Admiralty. In the October Chart, 33 wrecks are shown in the whole Atlantic, two of these being near the track between Great Britain and British possessions in America. The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty considered, when this Chart was first published, whether it would be desirable themselves to issue a Chart of the character. This could not be done without an amount of trouble and expense, entirely out of proportion to any good result which could be obtained.