10 miles St. Martin Reports very loud; rolled
away like thunder.

Christ Church Park. 11 miles Report arrived a little more than a
minute after flash.

Nettlestead Hall 6 miles Distinct in every part of observer's
house. Very loud in the open air.

Bildestone 6 miles Explosion very loud, wind against sound.

Nacton 14 miles Reports quite distinct--mistaken by
inhabitants for claps of thunder.

Aldboro' 25 miles Rockets seen through a very hazy
atmosphere; a rumbling detonation heard.

Capel Mills 11 miles Reports heard within and without the
observer's house. Wind opposed to sound.

Lawford 15.5 miles Reports distinct: attributed to
distant thunder.

In the great majority of these cases, the direction of the sound
enclosed a large angle with the direction of the wind. In some cases,
indeed, the two directions were at right angles to each other. It is
needless to dwell for a moment on the advantage of possessing a signal
commanding ranges such as these.

The explosion of substances in the air, after having been carried to a
considerable elevation by rockets, is a familiar performance. In
1873, moreover, the Board of Trade proposed a light-and-sound rocket
as a signal of distress, which proposal was subsequently realized, but
in a form too elaborate and expensive for practical use. The idea of
a gun-cotton rocket fit for signalling in fogs is, I believe, wholly
due to Sir Richard Collinson, the Deputy Master of the Trinity House.
Thanks to the skilful aid given by the authorities of Woolwich, by Mr.
Prentice, and Mr. Brock, that idea is now an accomplished fact; a
signal of great power, handiness, and economy, being thus placed at
the service of our mariners. Not only may the rocket be applied in
association with lighthouses and lightships, but in the Navy also it
may be turned to important account. Soon after the loss of the
'Vanguard' I ventured to urge upon an eminent naval officer the
desirability of having an organized code of fog-signals for the fleet.
He shook his head doubtingly, and referred to the difficulty of
finding room for signal guns. The gun-cotton rocket completely
surmounts this difficulty, It is manipulated wi