| Description | Present at the Committee for ascertaining the length of the Seconds Pendulum: the President in the Chair; Mr Brande; Mr Browne; Mr Combe; Sir H Davy; Captain Kater; Dr Young
Minutes of last committee meeting read
Letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty read, allowing laboratory tents for protection of the instruments, and agreement for Captain Sabine and a Serjeant of Artillery to accompany him to care for the instruments.
Resolved to add to the instruments list;
Two transit instruments,
Four small Altitude Instruments by Captain Kater
A small tent about 6 feet square without a pole for protecting the variation Transit
An apparatus for bringing up water from different depths.
Committee recommends;
1. The expedition to receive directions to touch at Spitzbergen if practicable in order that important geographical observations be made in that high Latitude provided no land be found nearer the pole
2. Mr George Fisher who has considerable mathematical talent to accompany the polar expedition to conduct scientific observations and experiments
It was reported by Captain Kater that Lieutenants Franklin, Beechy and Parry were now fully competent in their knowledge of the use of the instruments for the Northen expedition and could provide the required observations adn experiments.
The Committee approved, and thanked, Captain Kater for reading his Instrucitions for the use of the differenct instruments of which he had had the superintendence. |