The British Board of Trade issue the following official notice to shipowners and agents: "The attention of the Board of Trade has frequently been called to cases in which British vessels have been endangered or wrecked through the masters' attempting to navigate them by means of antiquated or otherwise defective charts. The Board of Trade desires, therefore, to direct the especial attention of shipowners and their agents to the necessity of seeing that the charts taken or sent on board their ships are corrected to the time of sailing. Neglect to supply a ship with proper charts will be brought prominently before the Court of Inquiry in the event of a wreck occurring from that cause." The following is a translation of a notice in the preface to the catalogue of charts published by the German government: "Owners and masters of vessels are apprised that cases of marine accidents in which the casualty was due to antiquated or erroneous charts, have frequently been before the admiralty courts. In consequence of this, the 'Instructions for the prevention of accidents to steamers and sailing vessels,' issued by the Seeberufsgenossenschaft have been amended by the following additional paragraph: 'It is obligatory upon every master, except when engaged in local coastwise navigation, to keep the Notices to Mariners regularly, and with the aid of them to carefully keep his charts up to date.'" The British shipping laws provide that a ship may not be sent to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the life of any person is thereby endangered, and the House of Lords has defined the term "seaworthy" to mean "in a fit state as to repairs, equipment, and crew, and in all other respects, to encounter the ordinary perils of the voyage." Proper charts and sailing directions are a necessary part of the equipment of a vessel, and the courts have frequently inquired into this. The records of the British courts, however, show that even in recent years many ships have been damaged or lost owing directly or indirectly to failure to have the latest information on board. The following are instances from these records. In 1890 the steamer _Dunluce_ was lost owing to the use of an old edition of the Admiralty chart which showed a depth of 4-1/2 fathoms on the Wikesgrund, whereas the later chart showed much less water. In this case the master had requested his ship chandler to send him the latest chart. In 1891 the steamer _St. Donats_ got ashore on a patch which was not shown on the chart in use, which was privately published in 1881; the danger was, however, shown on the Admiralty chart corrected to 1889. Also in 1891 the steamer _Trent_ was lost on the Missipezza Rock in the Adriatic. The ship was navigated by a private chart published in 1890 which did not show this rock, and by sailing directions published in 1866.