Moonlight over England the Story of One Nightfighter Pilot

By Eric P. Donald

I came across an old photo recently and pondered the people in it. The person in the centre was my late brother, Norman G. Donald of the RAF. The other figures in the photo I do not know, though I suspect they were his flight instructors at North Battleford, Canada. The photo bears my brothers script KING-PINS ALL!N. BATTLEFORD.

After qualifying as a pilot, he sailed back to England and was posted to RAF Hunsdon just north of London in 1942. He was soon flying Douglas Havocs and Bristol Beaufighters.

Night fighters were a new school of defence, but it was hopeless finding enemy aircraft in the dark. The Turbinlite device was fitted to the Beaufighters and Havocs, and the idea was to find the enemy somehow, guided by ground control using heavy ground radar units (too heavy to carry in aircraft), turn on the Turbinlite searchlight, and illuminate the enemy aircraft. A single-engined Hurricane fighter flying alongside then shot down the enemy aircraft. It did help to see the target as this same sky was full of thousands of Allied aircraft, all trying to avoid each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483620992

Book preview

Moonlight Over England

The Story of One Nightfighter Pilot

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Eric P. Donald

Copyright © 2013 by Eric P. Donald.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013906269

ISBN:       Hardcover         978-1-4836-2098-5

                 Softcover           978-1-4836-2097-8

                 Ebook                 978-1-4836-2099-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/10/2013

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KING-PINS ALL!—N. BATTLEFORD.

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Introduction

Havoc Days

I came across an old photo recently and pondered the people in it. The person in the centre was my late brother, Norman G. Donald of the RAF. The other figures in the photo I do not know, though I suspect they were his flight instructors at North Battleford, Canada. The photo bears my brother’s script KING-PINS ALL!—N. BATTLEFORD.

After qualifying as a pilot, he sailed back to England and was posted to RAF Hunsdon just north of London in 1942. He was soon flying Douglas Havocs and Bristol Beaufighters.

Night fighters were a new school of defence, but it was hopeless finding enemy aircraft in the dark. The Turbinlite device was fitted to the Beaufighters and Havocs, and the idea was to find the enemy somehow, guided by ground control using heavy ground radar units (too heavy to carry in aircraft), turn on the Turbinlite searchlight, and illuminate the enemy aircraft. A single-engined Hurricane fighter flying alongside then shot down the enemy aircraft. It did help to see the target as this same sky was full of thousands of Allied aircraft, all trying to avoid each other.

I asked John Cunningham when I worked at de Havilland Aircraft if he had had any success with this system. His response was that it never worked, because the enemy aircraft always got out of the beam fast, and no doubt everyone was left in the dark.

Later when the lightweight radar came along, night fighters were able to find the enemy aircraft, and their rising success rate put an end to the raids on London. The Luftwaffe then hit other cities at random and destroyed most of England’s great industrial towns. This was truly catastrophic compared to the early bombing raids when only one house might be destroyed by each bomb. Whole streets were demolished by big bombs and even worse by two-ton parachute mines, which gave no warning of approach as they were silent. The author has the scars to prove it!

None of this was ever published for security reasons, but there was an undercurrent of unease at the time fed by rumours. When the flying bombs and V-2 rockets started arriving in London, it did not take long for the population to panic. Fortunately, the Allies were overrunning the launch sites, and other measures were effective at stopping many of those that still made it through. The author recalls living on an ammunition ship in Hull during the night raids that wiped out most of that city. My father was running the ammunition to Antwerp. One day, the ship departed Antwerp just before a V-2 landed on the quayside, which had been cleared of most of the cargo fortunately. His ship was the second into Antwerp, having been overtaken by an American ship which unfortunately hit a mine on the way in, so they became the first ship in to the newly freed port.

As the Turbinlite trials ended, Norman was posted to Filton where he tested, and in some cases delivered, Beaufighters, Bisleys, Blenheims, and Albemarles. Professor McClure, the author’s mentor at Cranfield University, described flying the Albemarle as like flying a soft mattress. Norman was not enthusiastic either. He no doubt saw more shortcomings than he mentioned as we all do when we work close to aircraft.

The Albemarle was the first tricycle undercarriage British aircraft and was made mainly of plywood and steel tube parts by many furnishing companies all over England. It had just enough performance to fly. The prototype had to have ten feet added to the wingspan to make it fly at all.

Half Bristol Blenheim and half Armstrong Whitley bomber in design, it was not a star performer, but a contract had been signed to build six hundred, and in the end, not even Winston Churchill could stop it.

The Red Air Force bought some to obtain better engine data, and it was Norman’s job to test and deliver them to Erroll in Scotland, where training in their use was arranged and from where they were flown to Russia. Norman intended to name his first child after Paul Yakimov, his Red Air Force friend, but the baby was a girl and so was christened Pauline, and Wendie after Wendie Money, a delightful little girl where he lived in his night fighter days. Norman and his crew were killed in an unsolved Albemarle crash near Purton on the Bristol Channel, Trafalgar Day, October 21st 1943.

The author called his son Paul to complete his brother’s last wish. The question is, what happened to the original pilot, Paul Yakimov of the Red Air Force?

You may ask why the title of this book is Moonlight Over England. Because Norman and his squadron flew by moonlight and were involved in the Turbinlite trials of artificial moonlight (Dangerous Moonlight one could say, after that great film of Anton Walbrook, which involved the Warsaw Concerto, the fall of Poland and the Battle of Britain), it seemed appropriate. Norman was also a fighter pilot, flying by moonlight, and he played the piano very well.

Because my brother never came home again, I have had a recurring dream of his return, which always ends when I ask him where he has been all this time. Perhaps my effort in compiling this book and attempting to solve the many mysteries involved will put this to rest.

EPD. May 2000

Moonlight Over England

(A Story of One Nightfighter Pilot)

Norman G. Donald

Contents

King-Pins All! North Battleford

Introduction: Havoc Days

Durham Cathedral

Location Map

Durham County

Sunderland Tramways

Lighthouse Windvane

Low Street, Sunderland

The Torrens

Genealogy

The Donald Family Tree

The Dobson Family Tree

Donald-Dobson Descendants

Grandpa James Donald MN

Grandma Mary Ann Donald, 1894

Grandpa Gilbert S. and Grandma Polly Dobson, 1894

The Mary Matthewson-Nellie Matthewson Tree

Grandma Polly Dobson, 1907

Hylton Castle

Washington Old Hall

Dorothy Dobson (9), 1906

Dorothy Dobson, schoolgirl by sea to London

Fulwell Mill

Monkwearmouth Station

Dorothy Dobson to James (her brother)

Sunderland in 1900

Dad, Norman Donald

Choir of St Stephen Church, Sunderland

Dorothy Dobson at 18

Dorothy Donald in her mother’s store doorway,

wedding day, 1st April

April 1st German Zeppelin

April 1st Tramcar

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Donald, after wedding,

1st April 1916 (3rd April photo)

Best man, Capt. Gary Waggott

Dorothy Donald (19)

No. 2, The Retreat, the Donalds’ new family home

(photo c. 1960)

First photos of Norman Gilbert Donald,

Feb. 4th 1918, and mother

Baby Norman with his Grandma Dobson (54)

Norman with his aunt Florence Dobson

New Donald family: Dad, Mom, Norman, and

baby Mavis (b. May 18th), Sept. 1919

Dad’s war medals

Dad’s ships (list)

Norman (3) and Mavis (1)

Mother, poem by author

Norman (3 1/2) and Mavis (1-11m) April 1921

Norman and Mavis, 1922

Mother in Sunday best

Mavis and Norman in Sunday best

Norman and Mavis by garden wall

Redskins in the South, Donald and Hunter Cousins

Redskins etc., from a tiny faded photo

Dad on SS Bellfield, 1924

Mom and Dad with Cissy and

Billy Garbutt on SS Bellfield, 1924

Dad, 1924, 2nd Engineer, SS Bellfield

Passport photo of Dad in Egypt, 1925

Mavis Donald, bridesmaid at Elsie Jones’

wedding to Will Fulton, c. 1925

Mother (28), 1925

Norman sails the Seamew (made by Dad) on

Hendon Beach, Sunderland.

Mother with swimming club friends, Ashbrooke,

Sunderland, 1st June 1928

Norman’s brother, Eric (author), born Feb. 23rd 1930

Norman, Mavis, Mother, and author (Eric), 1930

Grandma Dobson welcomes author to family, 1930

Author’s birthplace, 21 (now 11) Queen Alexandra Road,

new family home 1930–37

The only photo of all the N. Donald family,

Grangetown, Sunderland, 1930

Mother’s Keep Fit class, 1932

Norman’s Junior Technical School Reports 1930-32

Hendon Beach 1933, Mavis, Norman, and Eric

Hendon Beach 1933, Mother, Mavis, and Eric

Hendon Beach line-up of Donalds and Nixons, 1933

Cousin Muriel Nixon, Mother, cousin Gordon Donald,

Dad, Teddy Nixon, and Eric, 1933

Norman (15), after finishing technical school,

Mother, Mavis (14), Eric (3) at home, 1933

Next door, at the Inchbolds’, Norman, Mavis, and Eric, 1933

Grangetown tram service, the author’s first obsession

Norman at 15 in 1933, relaxes on the beach

(The beach was popular in those days.)

Dobbie (Mother) on the shore, Hendon c. 1930s

Dad, at 40, sits on the breakwater, 1933

Dorothy Mavis Donald, age 15, in front garden of No. 21

Mother and Mavis hold author sitting on the gate,

from which he fell at a later date

Norman on his new bike

We three on the breakwater, Hendon 1934

Norman Donald, Sea Scout

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (January)

Mavis and Connie on the beach

Mother, Connie, and Mavis sitting on Hendon Beach

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (February)

Mavis leapfrogs over Connie Chapman on Hendon Beach

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (March)

Our cousins, Gwen and Gordon Donald,

Uncle Gilbert Donald’s children

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (April)

Billy Bracegirdle at Hendon, July 1934

Norman in London 1935

Norman with moustache

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (May)

Grandpa James Donald visits family

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (June)

Cousin Teddy Nixon in scout uniform, June 1935

Molly Dobson, her mother Lil Dobson, and

Cousin Muriel Nixon, London, June 1935

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (July)

Auntie Florence and Uncle John Hunter stay

with us on holiday, June 1935

Pedro enjoys the beach and family with Hunter family

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (July-August)

Aunt Florence, Mavis, and her mother in

summer dresses, 1935

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (August)

Norman and his dog

Dobson families on the beach, 1935

(After Molly’s visit, Norman was very impressed.)

Molly

Mavis serves tea on the terrace to Dobsons here on holiday

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (September)

Norman and Sea Scouts at Rothbury

Norman, not a swimming enthusiast, with Mavis and

cousin Molly Dobson

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (October)

Norman on Scout hike in back country

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (November)

Author in new suit

A Year in the Life of NGD, 1935 (December)

Legend to names

Dramatic rescue 1937 of James Leiths off Hendon Beach, Sunderland, by our mother

The day of the rescue: Eric and cousin Billy Fulton;

Andrew Nichol, Eric, and Billy.

Grandma Polly Dobson, 1937

Pose by Mavis, outfit by Mother, studio photo by

Dr Geoffrey Robinson, 1937

8 Marcia Avenue, our brand-new home, 1937

NGD’s Echo office on Bridge St.

(where he wrote up Hendon Rescue in great detail!)

Norman’s newspaper office, the Sunderland Echo

On Bridge St

Cousin Margery Hunter and Mavis at our

new home 8 Marcia Ave., Fulwell, Sunderland

Norman and cousin Margery from London 1937

Mother models her new evening dress she made herself

The Mayor Ford of Sunderland honours

Mother with scroll from Duke of Gloucester

for her successful rescue at Hendon.

Mavis Donald portrait by Dr Robinson, 1937

Grandpa James Donald dies June 17th 1938

1938, a New Chapter in Norman’s Life

Norman and chum Billy Bracegirdle,

who cycled up from London every year

Norman meets Jean Ashdowne Williamson, 1938

Latest Sunderland-built tram No. 52 outside the

Roker Hotel, Norman’s favourite hotel

Roker, Tram No. 61

Norman and Jean at sea

Grandma with her cousins etc., Nixons and Budgens

Tram 97 at Dene Lane stands outside friends

Bob and Beatrice Evans’ house.

Tram 97 at Fulwell Crossing, where a two-ton

German mine in 1943 nearly killed author

Evening on the River Wear

Northern Dusk

Grandma Polly Dobson with daughters and granddaughters

Sept. 1939, war begins

Uncle George gives away Molly

A Wedding Invitation

St John’s Wesleyan Methodist Church, Ashbrooke,

where Mavis and Alan married

Wedding at Ashbrooke, Eric Pattison, Alan P.,

Dad P., Mavis P., Dad, and Mom D.

Mavis and Alan, bridesmaid Jean and Dad at

8 Marcia after the wedding May 11th 1940

Norman G. Donald and Jean Ashdowne Williamson’s

wedding, at Roker, Sept. 6th 1940

Norman in the Royal Air Force, a letter home 13 Oct. 1940

The last photo of Norman, Mavis, and Eric together, 1941

Norman in pilot training at N. Battleford visits Turtleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1941

Sample 1 of Norman’s letters home from Canada

Airspeed Oxford Advanced Trainer

Sample 2 of Norman’s letters home from Canada

Norman at the controls of an Airspeed Oxford

Sample 3 of Norman’s letters home from Canada

Norman flying his Airspeed Oxford

King Pins ready to fly

Sample 4 of Norman’s letters home from Canada

RAF Liberators and Alan arrive NI, June 1941,

and start to win Battle of the Atlantic

Alan Pattison RAFVR flew Liberators until his

death Aug. 12th 1942 in Atlantic

Mavis Pattison as a young widow, 1942

Alan’s brother Eric Pattison disappeared in a

Lockheed Hudson from the W Atlantic

Battle of Britain Map

Douglas DB-7 Havoc night fighter

Sample 1 of Norman’s letters home from

RAF Hunsdon nightfighter base

The night battle for London

John Cunningham

F/O Norman G. Donald RAF, a portrait

RAF Hunsdon airfield and night fighter base (map)

The RAF Hunsdon Beaufighters with which

Norman’s squadron saved London

Bristol Beaufighter

Sample 2 of Norman’s letters home from

RAF Hunsdon, somewhat faded after 60 yrs

Bristol Beaufighter Night Fighter fitted with AI

Typical page from the Station RAF Operation Record (O.R.)

Bristol Beaufighter I night fighter with

AI equipment (side view)

Beaufighter details

O.R.

NGD Beaufighter of John (Catseyes)

Cunningham’s Hunsdon squadron

A Beaufighter TF.X in D-Day livery

Douglas Havoc Night Fighter at Hunsdon

Douglas Havoc details

More Operations Reports

Final entry of NGD in 530 Squadron Christmas report 1942

1943. Norman starts test flying in Gloucestershire,

at Hawksleys, a special Co set up to build and

test Albemarles near Gloster and Bristol

Aircraft Companies at Filton

Albemarle flight photo

Albemarle I and II details

A typical Albemarle

Norman’s flight log 1943, page 1

Albemarle I

Albemarle in Italy

Bristol Beaufort bomber version of Beaufighter

flown by Norman

Bristol Blenheim V, bomber forerunner of the

Beaufort and Bisley

Albemarle II aircraft

Back home, site of two-ton parachute mine

explosion that injured the author 16 May ’42

Sample of Norman’s letters home, from RAF,

Filton, July 1943

Norman’s flight log 1943, page 2

Sample of Norman’s letters home, from RAF,

Doncaster, August 1943

Further pictures and details of aircraft flown,

a Vickers Wellington bomber designed by

Dr. Barnes-Wallis, made of all triangular frames

(geodetic construction)

Sample of Norman’s letters home, from RAF,

Prestwick, Scotland, September 1943

A de Havilland Mosquito bomber flown by Norman

Another Mosquito, an amazing light fast

bomber made from plywood

Sample of Norman’s letters home, from Gloster Aircraft

at Huddlecote, October 1943

Norman’s flight log 1943, page 3, the last page

Time

Last entry in Norman’s diary

Norman’s last letter home, franked by PO at very

moment he died

Map of crash location at Purton near Peter Scott’s

Slimbridge Wildfowl trust

Memorial dedication at Sunderland Boys Club Norman

founded with Jackie Freeman of Pauline Avenue

next to Marcia Avenue (J. Freeman died at the

Rhine Crossing, serving as a glider pilot)

A Fighter Pilot

Grandma Dobson

The Windowsill

Mother, Author, Jean Donald, Adele Pattison,

Pauline Donald, 1944

Author tours Canada with RCAF,

Banff Springs, August 1947

Author after returning to England

The sailor home from the sea, survived two

World Wars at sea, torpedoed once

Dorothy Donald, the Sailor’s Wife

Post-war Sunderland

The Michael Swanson-Jean Donald Wedding,

Roker, Sunderland, 1950

Wedding group

Jean, Pauline, and Michael Swanson arrive home at

11 Gillside Grove, Roker, 1950

Korean War: Author in RAF

Author back home again in 1953 with both sisters

Author now in London at Fairey Aviation 1953

Author with his mother at her sister Edith Nixon’s

home, London 1956 (where author built the

first jet-thrust reverser model for Fairey Aviation)

Pauline Wendy Donald-Swanson (15), 1958

Casalina, parents’ new home in New Forest

Mother gathers flowers at Casalina

Les deux belles jeunes! Adele and Pauline

enjoy stay at Casalina

The Dobson cousins meet after Dad’s funeral in the

New Forest, June 1st 1961

John Hunter, Mother, sisters Florence H., Edith Nixon,

brother George Dobson at Casalina, June 1st 1961

Mavis pours the tea.

Dobbie sails on Oriana for Australia 17th May 1963,

arr. Melbourne 9th June 1963

Mavis visits Jean Swanson, Norman’s widow,

Hartlepool, July ’64 for the last time.

Mother (Dobbie) has settled in South Australia 1964.

Author off to America on one of the last Cunard

ocean liners from Liverpool, Sylvania

Author marries Juliet Allen, 26th December 1966

Norman’s niece Adele Mavis (Pattison-Powell)

Sanford marries John Farley, 1975

Mother, Mavis, Eric, and Juliet visit John and

Adele Farley in their Surrey mansion.

Author celebrates Fleur’s birthday with Allen family,

a last photo.

1968: Author begins inquiries into Norman Donald’s death

Letter to Hawker Siddeley (Gloster Aircraft Co.), 1968

Letter from Hawker Siddeley, 1968

Letter from Gloucestershire Constabulary, 1968

Letter from Gloucester Journal, 1968

Letter from Ministry of Defence, 1968

Letter from Accident Investigation Branch

Air Ministry, 1943

Letter from Ministry of Defence, 1968

Letter from Handley Page Ltd, 1968

Letter from General Register Office, London, 1973

Letter from Gloucester Coroner, 1973

Letter from General Register Office,

Death Certificate, 1973

Letter from John Grierson to author’s mentor

Prof. Charles McClure, 1973

Letter from John Grierson, 1974

Letter from the Royal Air Force Museum, 1975

Letter from the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1975

Letter from H. A. Taylor, 1975

Letter from John Grierson, 1976

Letter from Francis Grierson, 1977

Letter from Malcolm Giddings, 1978

Letter from Dorothy Latham, 1978

Letter to Malcolm Giddings, 1978

Letter from Malcolm Giddings, Aug. 1978

Letter from Malcolm Giddings, Oct. 1978

Obituary: John Lloyd

Critiques

A Short History of Glosters by Hugh Burroughes

Britain’s first jet aeroplane by John Grierson

(Norman’s chief test pilot)

A.W.41 Albemarle

Unwanted Albemarle by Ray Williams

The Illbegotten Albemarle by H.A. Taylor

The Albemarle scrap heap

Pilot’s Notes, Albemarle I, II, V and VI Aircraft

Detail Drawings of Albemarle

References

Correspondence

Names Index

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Durham Cathedral

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(15) Low Street, Holmes’ Wharf, Sunderland 1882,

watercolour by T. M. M. Hemy (1852-1937)

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(16) Wind vane of the old Sunderland lighthouse,

demolished 1902

(20) The Torrens in the doldrums, 1892, photographed by Mr. W. G. M. Edwards, while a passenger to Australia. A composite sailing ship, launched 1875 by Sir James Laing and Sons, Ltd., Sunderland, she broke the record for the run from Plymouth to Adelaide, making the voyage in sixty-four days. Joseph Conrad, the novelist, served on her as mate, 1891-93, meeting John Galsworthy on board in the latter year.

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GENEALOGY

Family Trees

Eric P. Donald, 1998

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James Donald MN, 1853-1938

Norman, Mavis, and the author’s paternal grandpa

Born in Dundee, Scotland, he died in Sunderland.

He was reputed to have changed a ship’s propeller at sea.

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Paternal grandma Mary Ann (McIntosh) Donald (1862-1926) married her cousin James Donald, 1882, Sunderland Reg. Office.

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Grandparents of Norman, Mavis, and Eric

Donalds, Dobsons, Nixons, and Hunters

Mary (Polly Matthewson) Dobson and Gilbert Sourby Dobson

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Grandma Polly Dobson, 1907, mother of Dobbie

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HYLTON CASTLE

Hylton Castle is believed to date from the 15th Century when a tower house was built on the north bank of the Wear. It was for centuries the seat of the Lords of Hylton. Although many extensions to the castle over the years have been demolished, it is now preserved as an ancient monument. It is said to be haunted by the Cauld Lad of Hylton.

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WASHINGTON OLD HALL

Old Hall history goes back to 1183 and parts of the original manor house are still intact. It is best known as the ancestral home of George Washington, the first President of the United States.

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Dorothy Dobson, 1906

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Dorothy Dobson, commodore girl, Royal Mercantile Marine boarding school, London, travelled to school by steamship from Sunderland and back each term.

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Fulwell Mill

Estimated to be between 180 and 230 years old, local maps as early as 1785 show a mill on the present site. The mill was last used in 1949 but is still one of Sunderland’s best-known landmarks.

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Monkwearmouth Station

The station, built in 1848, after the Grecian-Doric style, is acknowledged as one of the finest examples of railway architecture. It replaced a station at the corner of Broad Street and Portobello Lane in Roker Avenue. The adjoining railway bridge over the Wear was opened in 1879.

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Dorothy Dobson to James (her brother)

Sunderland in 1900

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The Borough of Sunderland, one of the most flourishing and progressive seaports of the kingdom and one of the three greatest shipbuilding centres of the world, is situated in the county of Durham, of which it is the commercial capital, and at the mouth of the River Wear. It is also one of the chief places for the shipment of Durham coal, and one of the greatest coal ports of the kingdom, as well as a place of large commercial and manufacturing interests.

This section, with the accompanying illustrations, will, we trust, present the more salient features of the town in a manner worthy of the subject. Despite the germ of Old World history it possesses in common with most other English towns, Sunderland is essentially modern.

A glance at not only the illustrations, but also the solid and handsome character of the buildings as a whole, shows this.

The borough’s area is about 3,735 acres and its population estimated in 1897 at 143,849, having grown to that number from 26,511 in 1801.

To discuss the advantage that has been made in manners and morals since the earlier date is really no part of our purpose, but it is recorded that the absorbing pastime of cockfighting was formerly held in high estimation—by a part of the inhabitants, at least—together with the equally exciting sport of bull-baiting; but these things have long passed away.

The town now provides for all the needs of an intelligent and refined community in the matter of public entertainments. Before describing the many admirable public institutions of the town, however, it may be convenient to summarise its principal industries.

The three chief activities upon which its prosperity rests are, as intimated, coal, iron, and steel exporting, steamship building, and marine engineering.

We may remark that the coal and coke shipped from the Port of Sunderland has for the last five years amounted to considerably over four million tons annually, while during many years past, the gross tonnage of vessels built on the Wear has been not far from two hundred thousand tons per annum, the figure being exceeded several times.

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A notable feature of the latter trade has been the steady increase in the size of vessels built. Other very important industries are brewing, the manufacture of iron and steel rails, wire ropes, glass, fire bricks, anchors and other marine requisites, biscuits, paper, furniture, electrical engines and appliances, and the like.

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The imports include timber in large quantities, petroleum, ice, grain, and other staples, together with iron ore, pig iron, etc., the nature of the exports being generally indicated above. Earthenware, lime, iron, patent fuel (manufactured at the docks), and cement should, however, be added to the list.

The many and great improvements that have been made in the public buildings, etc., are comprised chiefly within the last twenty-five years. The town is fortunate in possessing several