On the 7th of October, a little before noon, they | people who had a desire to return, and forthwith prodescried a sail in the eastern quarter; in a little time ceed with them to Port Jackson. Mr. Dennis Lacy, another, and soon after a third, were also discovered. one of the master's mates of the Investigator, who was It is impossible to attempt a description of their emo- anxious to get home, returned in their new schooner, tions at the sight of these vessels; and, indeed, the the Resource. Captain Flinders, with a select portion astonishment on board was equal to their own; for on of the ship's company, attended by Mr. Aken, the that very day, the Resource, the work of their own master, and Mr. Charrington, the boatswain of the hands, had gone to Turtle Island, by way of trying her, Investigator, went on board the Cumberland, and proand little could these vessels have expected to be met ceeded in her to the Mauritius, by way of Torres Straits. by a schooner of twenty tons, erected on a coral bank; On the 10th of October the Rolla left the reef, in and especially considering the short space of time and company with the Cumberland. On the 17th they the implements they had to work with. Upon their passed Deliverance Isles, and crossed the equator on the nearer approach, they perceived the largest of these 25th. On the 30th they bore due west from a cluster vessels to be the Rolla, convict ship, which they had of low islands, distant eight or ten miles, which they left in Sydney Cove; the others were the Frances and supposed was called Baring's Islands. The day being Cumberland colonial schooners, which were familiar to calm, several were anxious to visit them, but on their them. In the afternoon, the three vessels anchored to approach were prevented by a high surf from reaching leeward of the reef, and a boat soon after put off from the the shore. They appeared very low, of a corally base, Cumberland, in which, as she neared them, to their and, though uninhabited, very perfect in their formation. great joy they saw Captain Flinders, who received a On the 6th of November a group of islands bore hearty cheer on landing. For the last ten days pre-N. W., distant three or four miles. They were very ceding the arrival of these vessels they had, every night, low, but well peopled. The men muscular and well at eight o'clock, fired a great gun, by way of apprising made, rather above than below the middle size, of a them of their situation, if chance should have brought copper or olive colour, with regular animated features, them at dusk near to the reef. fine teeth and long black hair. They were also fancifully tattooed on the breast and belly. Their only covering was a piece of shell, hanging in front; and none of them had any beards. They came off in canoes, without any symptoms of distrust, and exchanged, alongside, their different articles of traffic for iron, with which they seemed perfectly acquainted, and showed a predilection for it to every other thing.

Notwithstanding six weeks had expired from the time Captain Flinders had left them, they did not think it proper to adhere to the agreement that was made; and, therefore, had no intention of quitting the island yet. They naturally concluded, that he might have had a tardy passage to Port Jackson, and even when there, that vessels might not have been in readiness in Sydney Cove to send to their assistance. He might also, from the fatigue of going there, have been incapacitated from returning immediately, and thus the sailing of a vessel might have been procrastinated. These and other considerations made them change their former resolutions; and it was agreed that they should not separate, but patiently wait till another boat could be built, and go together in a body. This was so far fortunate; for had they parted, as had been previously planned, at the end of six weeks, it would, in all probability, have been productive of much uneasiness and dissatisfaction, as well to those who went from, as those who remained on, the reef.

The following arrangements were now agreed upon: the Rolla was to receive the officers and crew of the Porpoise, with whom she was to proceed to Canton, where they were to be distributed among such of the East India Company's ships as their servants in that port might think proper; and the Frances was to take on board such stores saved from the wreck as she could safely and conveniently carry, with any of the officers or

About noon on the 17th, they came in sight of Tinian Saypan, and other islands. On the 3rd of December they saw Pedro Blanco, and on the following day anchored in Macao Roads. Here they remained till matters were arranged at Canton for their passing the Bocca Tigris, or entrance of the river of Canton, and making Whampoa; where, on their arrival, the men were put on board the different Indiamen, and the officers invited to the English factory.

On the 6th of February, 1804, the season being then far advanced, they left Macao, Their passage down the China seas, along the coast of Cochin China, though tedious, was not attended with danger; but their passage up the Straits, for the first week after getting into the Indian Ocean, was not only tedious, but exceedingly boisterous. On the 3rd of July they made the island of St. Helena, and anchored there on the 12th. Some of the gentlemen now procured a passage home in the Courageux, Captain Boyles, which weighed anchor August 13, and after a boisterous passage arrived safe in the Downs, about dusk, on the 9th of October.

Voyage of Captain Back to the Arctic Regions. 1836.

Captain Flinders, on his arrival at the Mauritius, was | to lash the decks to each other, to prevent them from detained by the governor, under pretence of his being a separating, and the planks rising from their fastenings; spy; because, upon entering Port Louis, he took sound- the stern-posts, dead-wood, and after-part of the keel ings, as a measure of precaution, but which was construed were knocked away. In consequence of the repeated into a meaning consonant to those principles by which collisions the water gained on the ship, and she was the governor usually regulated his own conduct. He shaken from stem to stern; a chain cable was passed was closely confined, and treated with great severity. round her to keep her together, and the men were kept constantly at the pumps to free her from the water, which at one time rose to seven feet in the hold. By the impetus of the ice, the bow was lifted clear out of the water, as far as the mainmast; and her stern as far the seven-foot mark was placed in the same predicament, and in this condition she continued for more than a hundred days. At the expiration of that period, they got a thirty-five-feet ice-saw, worked by shears, and commenced the fatiguing operation of cutting through the ice under her, which, in thickness, measured more than thirty feet. By the 11th of July, they had completed so much of their task, that but two or three feet of the stern remained, when the ship righted, and they immediately made sail on the vessel; but an enormous wedge of ice remained fast to her starboard side between the fore and main-chains, that they were obliged to have again recourse to the saw, as they were not able to free her from the incumbrance by any other method. By means of purchases applied to this vast lump, it rose from under the water as it was freed, and according to the laws of gravitation, being the lighter body, floated on the water, throwing the vessel on her beam ends; and heeling her over fully twenty-seven degrees, the water poured in with frightful rapidity, and in alarming quantities. All hands, without distinction, were immediately called into requisition; some proceeding to saw through the piece of ice, the cause of their fresh misfortune, while others commenced working the pumps. These fatiguing, but indispensable operations, they continued with unremitting exertion until five o'clock on the morning of the 14th, when the men were so totally exhausted and completely dispirited by their incessant labour, that they could work no longer, having up to that period cut through the ice to within ten feet: they were therefore called in for rest and refreshment.

In the early part of June, 1836, Captain Back, the adventurous arctic traveller, went out in his majesty's ship Terror, in search of Captain Ross, and returned from his perilous undertaking on the 7th of September, 1837, when he arrived at Dublin, and immediately embarked for Holyhead, to be the bearer of his own despatches. He accordingly arrived in London on the 9th, and communicated the result of his voyage to the Admiralty. From his statement, it appears that the expedition had met with the greatest hardships, and endured the severest privations. Towards the latter end of August, 1836, she was encountered by the ice; her crew at that time consisted of sixty men, including officers, who were several times exposed to the most imminent perils from the constant concussion of huge masses of ice, which were dashed against the vessel with tremendous violence, threatening them with either a violent and sudden death, or, in the event of escape from this danger, to await slow but certain destruction by the appalling means of famine and cold. Deprived of fresh provisions or vegetables of any kind, disease spread amongst them with a rapidity only equalled by its virulence. At one time as many as twenty-five of the crew lay afflicted with that well-known scourge of those extreme latitudes, the scurvy, to which three of them fell victims. In this perilous situation the vessel lay for four months, now drifting to and fro, near Cape Comfort, then driven by the current of ice along Southampton Island as far as Sea Horse Point, off Baffin; and then again, at the mercy of the wind and tide, through Hudson's Straits, by Charles's Island, along the Labrador coast.

They had not been more than a quarter of an hour removed from the work when a sudden disruption of

On the 6th of August, they passed Resolution Issland; and from the 28th of September they lay sur-the ice took place, and the mass separated from its bed, rounded, exposed to all the horrors of the arctic cli- crushing with terrific violence against the ship's side, mate, with the thermometer 40° below Zero, until the tearing to pieces the lashings and spars that intervened ice commenced breaking in February, 1837. On March to protect her against this casualty, which had, in some 15th, they experienced the greatest shock they had yet degree, been foreseen: the strong shores, or logs, and encountered, a mountain of ice striking the ship with three-and-a-half-inch ropes, were snapped like packthe utmost violence, and rending away every interme-thread, and, but for the merciful interposition of Prodiate barrier, without the slightest perceptible resistance.vidence, not a single being out of the whole ship's Such was the force of the shock, that they were obliged company would have survived to narrate the circumn

stance;

The rock is of a whitish sand-stone, drawing to a rose-colour, and assumes a singular appearance by taking a schistic form. Two transversal and parallel fissures are particularly remarkable. It rises about thirty feet above the level of the sea: and the top of the towers or

for had they not have been called in but a few minutes before, they would all have been inevitably crushed by the mass of ice on which they had just been labouring. As the ice separated from her, she righted and drifted along. A temporary rudder was fitted up, her stern-posts having been carried away from the six-lanterns about fifty. foot mark, as well as the dead wood broken off; and her stern-frame was so shaken, that her run had to be secured by two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half-inch ropes, shores, and screw-bolts, and when fairly got to sea, a stream chain was passed round her, three feet before, and another abaft the mizen-mast.

In the early part of the passage home across the Atlantic, they fortunately experienced mild weather; but, subsequently, it became rather unfavourable, and the ship began to leak very fast. At one period, when it became necessary to call the men from the pumps in order that they might shorten sail, which occupied them for about twenty minutes, the carpenter reported six to seven feet water in the hold. In an instant there was a rush to the pumps, and all hands were busily employed at them until they arrived at their destination.

At first, they directed their course to the Orkneys; but the wind proving adverse they bore up for Lough Swilly, where they arrived on the 3rd of September, 1837. On entering the harbour, the exhausted crew could scarce remain one moment longer at the pumps, their unremitting labour at which had secured their safety. The coast-guard on being apprised of their distressing condition, immediately boarded the vessel, and afforded timely relief to the worn-out mariners; and her majesty's cutter, the Wickham, entering soon after, sent twenty of her men on board for the same purpose. They endeavoured to beach her, but unable to effect their purpose were obliged to leave her, having her mainHeck housing thrummed under her bottom.

The expedition had only seen the natives twice, once on their entrance to the Frozen Straits, and once at heir departure. On both occasions they trafficked with them, and it would seem to profitable account; an old piece of iron producing skins in abundance, and hose who had not this commodity to offer, were willing barter their children for even a less article of value, f possible.

The Casket Lights

Three towers, placed triangularly, are connected by walls forming an area, which contains a plot of ground where a few vegetables are grown in soil brought from Alderney; a small house for the accommodation of the agent of the Trinity-house, when he may have occasion to visit the establishment: a bake-house, and conveniences for the workmen who may occasionally come to make the necesssary repairs, such as a carpenter's shop, &c.

In each lantern is a reflector, round which a circle of Argand lamps revolve horizontally, by a simple machine, not unlike that of a common culinary jack. The projection, en potence, to the right of one of the towers, shelters from the weather the pullies and weight which work its revolver; the tower itself not being of a sufficient height from the rock, to afford play to the machinery which is necessary, so as to enable it to have a simultaneous action with that of the others.

The revolving of the lamps produces a twinkling effect, which, with their number, should sufficiently distinguish these lights from others. A Russian man-ofwar was, notwithstanding, lost here some years ago. This vessel was observed in the night steering for the Caskets, but bearing a little to the eastward, and consequently between the Caskets and Alderney. On passing through a narrow interstice in the ledge, so as to be clear of all the dangers, she was seen to tack, apparently for the purpose of getting to the westward of the rock, when she struck, and every soul perished!

These unfortunate people are supposed, on entering the British Channel, to have first made these lights, and that in such a direction as to keep two in one, thus mistaking them for the Lizard-Lights, until they came abreast of the rock, when they opened the third, found their error, and by endeavouring to extricate themselves, were precipitated into that destruction which the spectators thought they had most miraculously avoided.

The interior economy of this place cannot, we think, fail to be interesting to our readers. The inhabitants generally consist of one family, whose duty is rather severe-watching and trimming the lamps at night

RE built on a rock forming the extremity of a broken dge, which extends in a westerly and northerly direc-particularly in winter, when the spray of the sea flies on from Alderney, about seven miles. From the earest, or most northerly point of Guernsey, they bear orth and by east, distant about twelve miles, and are sible in clear weather from the most distant parts of e island.

over, perhaps to double the height of the towers, and the waves dashing with such violence as to break the panes of glass of the lanterns, although of an extraordinary thickness.

Their supplies of the necessaries of life from

Trinity-house, consisting of the best salt meat, biscuit, with a pining desire for that home which he fancies he flour, &c. &c., are very liberal, and of the first quality. shall never re-visit, the young voyager has been known They occasionally, when the weather permits, receive fresh provisions and vegetables from Alderney. When to this is added their own poultry, with the produce of their garden; the great abundance of fish which they catch from the rock in summer, and either consume fresh, or cure for their winter use, their situation is, in this respect, most comfortable; and indeed the air of content, the personal cleanliness and cheerfulness of these people were remarkable.

One mode of fishing deserves mentioning for its ingenuity. A lobster-pot, properly loaded to insure its sinking, was placed on a float, and to each was attached a cord held by the fisherman, who suffered this apparatus to be carried away by the current, until in a proper situation, when, by twitching away the float, the pot sunk, and was pulled in after remaining a sufficient time.

Rain water they save in cisterns, usually adequate to their wants, although in dry seasons it has been necessary to procure a supply from Alderney.

It may be worthy of remark that pigeons quickly degenerate here in size, probably from the want of green vegetable food. An eagle which had taken up its abode on one of the neighbouring rocks, some years ago, carried off many.

In the dark winter nights it is not unusual for wild fowl, attracted by the light, to dash themselves against the glass, and be taken up dead in the morning.

There are two landing-places for boats, which are impracticable but in calm weather, and scarcely ever both at the same time; in consequence of which, they have certain signals to point out the safest. And on the subject of signals, it should not be forgotten that they have a telegraph, with which they communicate with Alderney.

to leave his cot, and pass over the side of the ship, under the delirious impression that the sea around him, grown vividly green from the reflection of the ambertinted haze which then frequently prevails, is nothing less than the beloved fields that witnessed the sports of his childhood; and from this flattering delusion, the doomed wretch is only awakened as the waters engulph him in their cold embrace for ever.

Predisposed by the occurrence of so many real and fictitious dangers, the crew of the Ganges now readily gave way to the enervating influence of their situation. Without present occupation, or certainty as to the future, they huddled together in detached groups, and seeking the coolest parts of the ship, spent the tedious hours in recounting marvellous adventures, said to have been encountered by hapless mariners.

Among other prodigies, the histories of such fatal calms were related; and how the elemental lethargy had been prolonged, from weeks to months, until at last the grinding pains of famine clung to a whole ship's company.

And then they told, how, day by day, the men grew ravenous, and found the sodden leather from the ship's pumps, and their very shoes, delicious food: and then when these were gone, and hours had rolled on hours, without a chance or hope, though each to patience was an age!-how like a troop of wolves at bay, they circled round, and watched, with greedy joy, the last faint struggles of a messmate, expiring of the hunger felt by all.

And how before the death-film had altogether dimmed his dying eyes, the limp and wasted limbs were gashed; and how, with vampire-thirst, they drained the empty veins, tore the shrivelled sinews from the bones, and gorged to madness on the soul-revolting banquet.

A Calm at Sea.

ABOUT the time of the failing of the wind, the obscure vapour which had so long prevailed, melted into a thin and yellow haze, through which a tropical sun transfused, with power unsubdued, its majesty of light, and furnace glow of heat.

It is, perhaps, chiefly owing to the oppressive influence of climate, and the languor it induces, joined with the monotony of maritime life, without exertion, that the crew of a ship becalmed, in the Indian Ocean, so often lose all self-confidence, and give way to nervous impressions of despondency. It is certain at least, that such feelings are sometimes carried so far, that, grown wild

SAILING SONG.

We have left the still earth for the billows and breeze,
'Neath the brightest of moons on the bluest of seas;
We have music-hark! hark! there's a tone o'er the deep,
Like the murmuring breath of a lion asleep.
There's enough of bold dash in the rich foam that laves,
Just to whisper the slumber-wrapt might of the waves;
But yet there's a sweetness about the full swell,
Like the song of the mermaid-the chords of the shell.

We have jewels-oh! what is your casket of gems
To the pearls hanging thick on the red coral stems?
Are there homes of more light than the one where we are?
For it nestles the dolphin and mirrors the star.
We may creep, we may scud, we may rest, we may fly;
There's no check to our speed, there's no dust for our eye.
Oh well may our spirits grow wild as the breeze,
'Neath the brightest of moons on the bluest of seas!

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY, PRICE ONE PENNY.

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF CAPTAIN WOODARD.

Dreadful Sufferings of Captain Woodard and four Seamen, | twelve, they being then in about 9° S. latitude. There