Circular No. 247

Admiralty April 4th 1856

The practice of raising Screw Propellers for the purpose of examination being sometimes neglected for too long a period, My Lords desire the Captains and Commanders of all Steam Ships and Vessels fitted with trunks and apparatus for raising Screw Propellers to cause the Screw to be raised at least once a month, or after steaming a distance of two thousand miles, and the result of the examination inserted in the Engine Room Register, and in the Three-Monthly Report of the State of the Engines.

Whenever there are no surfaces of iron exposed to the action of the water, the Screw should be kept shipped, and not suspended in the trunk; but if there should appear to be any particular reason to justify a deviation from the course, the Screw should be lowered at least once a month, and turned round by the engine, or by the turning gear, to ascertain that the fittings are in all respects in working order; when the result, and the particular circumstances that rendered it desirable to keep the Screw unshipped, are to be recorded in the register and periodical return specified above.

By Command of the Lordships

R. OSBORNE

To all Commanders-in-Chief, Captains &c.

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