rate, and the sea much fallen, they cut away the remains of the foresail from the yard, got the stream anchor into its berth, and bent the thirty fathoms of cable to it which they had previously spliced together from the old pieces cleared away in the gun-room, and got out a new lower shroud-hawser, and bent it to the piece of cable; the ship continuing to make about the same quantity of water. About half-past eleven they descried a large ship a point afore the lee-beam, when they again hoisted the ensign union downwards, and fired signal guns for about an hour: she appeared to stand towards them, hoisted Swedish colours at her fore-top-gallant-mast head, fired a gun to windward, and made several tacks; but as they had no command of the ship, they could not bear down to her. It came on to blow soon after, when she lowered her topsails, reefed them, and bore away. four officers of the ship. As the wind was now more mode- the wind blew so strong, that it split the foresail to pieces, which was the only sail they could carry, and they had no other foresail in the ship; a heavy sea was running, with rainy weather, and night was coming on; the Flemish shoals were right a-head, and the sea breaking over them; the ship was driving on very fast, the lead showing quarter less seven, and they were confident, when she struck, that she must soon go to pieces, and every one on board perish with her; no land or vessels in sight but the brig, who was by this time at a great distance, and standing from them; the ship making the water as fast as they could free it by pumping; no mast except the foremast; no sails or rudder; no anchor except the stream-anchor, and no cable to bend to that, except the spliced one before mentioned; and on board were officers, seamen, passengers and servants, one hundred and twenty-six men, two women, and two children, who were all on deck, with the exception of those who were working the pumps. About two they sent three seamen on board the brig, in her boat, taking with them the hawser, to assist in doing any thing for them, and if requisite, to veer, star, or stay the General Barker. The wind freshening, they hailed them from on board the brig, that as near as they could judge, they were far to leeward of Ostend, and that if they drifted much longer on the tack they were then on, they would soon be on the Flemish shoals; and as it looked likely to blow a hard gale, they desired them to bring the hawser to the brig's bow, while they made the other end fast abaft, to endeavour to stay the ship, which was done, and the fore-yard braced-to, to help her; but those on board the brig, by straining the hawser too taut, broke it, and consequently the General Barker could not stay. Under such dreadful circumstances, a general consultation of officers and seamen was held, when it was agreed, to try by means of the stream-anchor to veer the ship, and if that failed, they had only to trust to Almighty Providence. They immediately got up the lower shroud hawser, and passed it through the aftermost larboard port on the quarter-deck, cut the junk from the streamanchor, and bent the hawser; palled the capstan, took three turns with the inner end, and stood by to veer away, when the ship brought up, and snub her gently, till they brought the wind on the larboard beam; they let go the anchor, and as they brought the ship's stern to the wind, they squared the fore-yard, and with the swing brought the wind on the larboard beam, and consequently the ship on the other tack; upon which they cut the hawser, and left the anchor behind, which was their last, and the fifth they had lost. The wind blowing strong, and accompanied with rain, the brig hailed them, and said, that unless they wore the ship, and stood on the other tack, the brig would not stay with them; they answered, that they could not veer, or do anything with the ship, as she was unma- This success cheered their spirits, and they now innageable, and that as the sea was breaking over them to dulged a hope, that while they could keep her above a fearful height, it would be impossible to save the ship, water, they had plenty of room to drift, and might meet unless they were assisted: they were answered, that the with assistance; they fired several guns, that those on master of the brig would go no longer on that tack, and board the brig might see them on the other tack; but they instantly wore the brig; upon which they hailed night coming on, they never saw or heard more of her. again, and implored them for God's sake not to leave As soon as the people were a little refreshed with a dram, them, as every soul on board must inevitably perish. The &c., they got up a fore-topsail, unbent the ragged forechief-mate desired them all to shout together; many were sail, brought it to the fore-yard, and as the wind was down on their knees, in places where they could be seen, blowing strong, close reefed it, and set it for a foresail; and upwards of a hundred people on the decks, waving their soundings were from seven, when they wore the their hats, and making every possible sign of their dis-ship, to ten, thirteen, seventeen, and sometimes to twenty tress, but all to no effect; for the brig stood from them fathoms; the ship's head lay from N.N.E. to N.E., without returning any answer, when at that time she and her driftage about one and a half to two knots an could have lain about eight or ten yards to leeward of hour. They settled every thing upon deck as well as the ship, in almost smooth water. they could, set the watches at six in the evening, and Death now seemed painted in colours the most gloomy; kept the pumps going without intermission. CHRONICLES OF THE SEA. On the fifteenth, at six in the morning, they called all coming from the shore. In about two hours they had hands, got the fish, which is a spar aft on the poop, and completed the raft, when the gunner's mate, the caulker, made a machine to keep the ship nearer the wind, by un-the joiner, a midshipman, and sixteen seamen embarked reaving the fore-topsail ties, which they fixed as guys on on it, and drove with the wind and sea towards the shore; each quarter; the bight they made fast to the end of the but, sad to relate, those who remained on the wreck had fish, and lashed gratings, bar iron, shot, &c. to it, for the the misfortune to see them washed off one by one, and purpose of sinking the end, that it might have more hold as the ship began to go to pieces forward, they expected in the water. They then launched it, and by noon had very soon to share the same fate. it fixed, one end in the great cabin window, and the other sunk by the weight, and by this means the ship's head came up to N. by E. They had soundings from thirteen to twenty fathoms, and saw a steeple or spire, bearing about S., but could not see land; and at noon, they had a good observation which gave latitude 52° 1' N. In the afternoon they would have raised a jury-mast, with a spare top-mast they had on deck, but had no rigging, nor a rope in the ship to make it; they, however, raised a small spar on the taffrail, and set the yawl's mainsail, and the main-top-gallant staysail, for a mizenstaysail. About four o'clock they hauled up a mainsail, unbent the fore-topsail which had been set up for a foresail, brought the mainsail to the fore-yard, took in one reef and set it for a foresail, the weather beginning to clear up and grow moderate; but towards the evening, the ship fell off to N.E., and N.E. by E. About seven o'clock, they saw two lights on the leebow. The ship still laboured very much, lying in the trough of the sea; towards night, therefore, they lashed every thing on the decks, and as the ship was falling off so much, they endeavoured to make her veer, by means of the machine they had made to steer her by, instead of a rudder; but they could not succeed in getting her about, till twelve o'clock at night, having fired signal guns every five minutes during the evening; the watches were set all this night, as before; the pumps kept regularly going, and soundings taken, which showed from thirteen to fifteen, and down to ten fathoms. On the sixteenth, at daylight, they saw land very near them, the ship nearing it apace, and shoaling the water to seven, and then to five fathoms; they instantly hove overboard two nine and two four-pounders, leaving themselves only two guns to fire signals of distress. At about half past ten in the morning, the ship struck about two miles and a half from the shore; and for some time lay with her starboard side towards the land, the sea making a fair breach over her. They still continued to fire the guns every five or ten minutes, and hoisted a union-jack, which was the only colour they had left. The ship beat and swung with her stern to the shore, when being of no further use, they left off pumping, and all hands began to make a raft of what few planks, or anything else they could find, as there was a heavy sea tumbling in upon the beach, and they saw no assistance About three o'clock in the afternoon, the water had In this situfilled the hold, and flowed over the gun-deck, and the sea and the gunner, made a breach over her from stem to stern. ation, Mr. Gibson, the acting officer, carpenter's mate, got staples, nails, &c., drove them in the poop, and with whatever lashings, lines, and gaskets they could get, lashed a great number of invalids, old seamen, two women, and two children thereto, with the hope that when the ship went to pieces, the poop would float on shore, and save them. About six, they fired the last gun, which was nearly covered with water; the upper deck forward, being at this time under water, and all the people on the quarter-deck and poop. blew a hard gale, and the sea frequently washed over them; but as night approached, they sheltered themselves on the after-part of the quarter-deck, as well as they could; but their situation during this dismal night may be better imagined than described. It still On the 17th, about daylight, the ship parted about the main-hatchway; the after-part remained fast for a short time, but, soon after, that also gave way. At this time they observed two schuyts making towards them from the land. The wreck now parted in several places, but the poop remained entire, with those before-mentioned lashed upon it, which was the means of saving many lives. On a large piece of the wreck, were a midshipman, the gunner, boatswain, the ship's steward, some servants, and French seamen, who were prisoners of war; but the ship's steward and some others were washed off and perished. The second officer, Mr. Welwood, and Mr. James Hay, a midshipman, were on another piece of the wreck, but had not drifted far before it turned over; the officer, having a cork jacket on, rose again with the youth holding fast to his leg, and they got on the piece Near to them, on another of wreck again; but soon after, it again upset, and both went down to rise no more. piece of the wreck, were Mr. Gibson and another midshipman, hand in hand, who in this manner reached the shore, almost lifeless. On another piece of the wreck were several seamen, who were repeatedly washed off; but being good swimmers, and assisting one another, they reached the shore in safety. One seaman who was quite naked, got two pump-dills, and lashed them together; and though he was often off, and as often got on again, he reached the shore, but expired in a few minutes after- | procured an interpreter and learned the real cause, when wards. On another piece of the wreck, were two per- he told them he really pitied their misfortunes, and would sons, who, after contending a long time with the surf see what he could do for them. He turned out the Dutchand heavy seas, at last reached the shore in almost an men, and in less than an hour his own troops entered, exhausted state. with baskets of broken victuals, which they had collected from the houses by force or persuasion. There was plenty for all, and very good, and officers and all hands had a savory and comfortable meal, the best they had had for a long time, as from the time they were driven from the Downs, their only food had been raw salt meat, with biscuits full of maggots and weevils, and raw rice. The night was passed in the dungeon, nothing occurring but quarrelling for the straw. The two schuyts before mentioned, had by this time reached the poop, and by means of ropes thrown to the people who were upon it, hauled them from their perilous situation, safe on board. The beach was lined with armed Dutch boors, who made them prisoners of war as they came on shore, either from the schuyts, or from the pieces of the wreck, and guarded them on the beach till every one had landed, when their situation was deplorable in the extreme; the country was frozen up, while some were lying, and others sitting on the beach; but strange to say, those who had no clothes on, appeared the warmest. The place where they came on shore, was near Schevelling; from whence they were conducted by some Swiss troops and the boors, to a place like a brewery, where they were obliged to pig together for the night, as well as they could. : On the 18th, after a breakfast of bread, cheese, and small beer—at least for those who could struggle most to get it-they were closely stowed together, without distinction, in nine or ten carts, that had been used to convey manure, for, in some of them, a great deal, hard frozen, already adhered, and in this manner they were leisurely driven through some poor fishing villages, and, as they passed along, were pelted by women and children with hard clods of frozen earth. The wind blew fresh, few of them had any clothes on, and they were attended by a brutal mob, who were huzzaing, to drown their complaints of the insults they met with; and had it not been for the Swiss soldiers, it is more than probable they would have been dragged from the carts. Thus escorted, they reached the town of Noordwyk, where they were put into a place like vaults, under ground, strewed with straw, with no provisions, even for those who had money; but some gin was smuggled in at a rupee per bottle, with which they made themselves as comfortable as they could in such a cold damp place, till some Dutchmen came in with large wooden platters, piled up with boiled pearl barley, smoking hot, with treacle on the top; but the sight of such uncouth victuals, even from an enemy, made the scamen so indignant, that without consulting their officers, they instantly seized the Dutchmen, and rubbed their noses in the hot viands, till they roared out fire and murder, when a number of Swiss soldiers entered with muskets and bayonets fixed; but the seamen, still irritated, and nothing daunted, bared their breasts to the pointed bayonets, and dared them to fire; till the officer, convinced that there must be some misunderstanding, On the 20th, in the forenoon, they were marched for the city of Leyden, where eleven officers were allowed to reside within the gates upon their signing an engagement not to attempt to escape: the remainder of the crew being confined in a place outside the gates, called the pest-house. Among them were a number of invalid soldiers and French prisoners, who had assisted to work the ship home from India, some of whom were saved. The total number lost was twenty-five. Loss of the Ship Fame, February, 1824. THE following is Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' (late governor of Bencoolen) account of this dreadful accident : We embarked on the 2nd instant, in the Fame, and sailed at daylight for England, with a fair wind and every prospect of a quick and comfortable passage. The ship was every thing we could wish, and having closed my charge here much to my satisfaction, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We were, perhaps, too happy, for in the evening came a sad reverse. Sophia had just gone to bed, and I had thrown off half my clothes, when a cry of Fire! Fire! roused us from our calm content, and in five minutes the whole ship was in flames. I ran to examine whence the flames principally issued, and found that the fire had its origin immediately under our cabin. Down with the boats! where is Sophia? Here! The children? Here! A rope to the side; lower Lady Raffles-give her to me, says one-I'll take her, says the captain. Throw the gunpowder overboard; it cannot be got at; it is in the magazine, close to the fire! Stand clear of the powder. Skuttle the water-casks. Water! Water! Where's Sir Stamford? Come into the boat. Nelson, Nelson! come into the boat. Push off; push off; stand clear of the after-part of the ship. "All this passed much quicker than I can write it; we pushed off, and as we did so, the flames were issuing from our cabins, and the whole of the after-part of the | per, neither shoes nor stockings; the children were just ship was in flames. The masts and sails now taking as taken out of, a bed, whence one had been snatched fire, we moved to a distance sufficient to avoid the after the flames had attacked it. In short, there was immediate explosion; but the flames were now coming not time for any one to think of more than two things—out of the main-hatchway, and seeing the rest of the Can the ship be saved?' 'No.' Let us save ourselves crew with the captain, &c. still on board, we pulled back then.' All else was swallowed up in one great ruin. to her under the bows, so as to be most distant from "To make the best of our misfortune, we availed ourthe powder. As we approached, we perceived that the selves of the light from the ship to steer a tolerable good people from on board were getting into another boat on course towards the shore. She continued to burn till the opposite side; she pushed off, we hailed her. Have about midnight, when the saltpetre, of which she had you all on board?' 'Yes, all save one.' Who is he?' 250 tons on board, took fire, and sent up one of the Johnson, sick in his cot.' Can we save him? No, most splendid and brilliant flames that was ever seen, impossible.' The flames were then issuing from the illuminating the horizon in every direction, to an extent hatchway. At this moment the poor fellow, scorched, I of not less than fifty miles, and casting that kind of blue imagined by the flames, roared out most lustily, having light over us, which is of all others, most luridly horrun up on the deck. I will go for him,' says the cap-rible. She burnt, and continued to flame in this style tain. The two boats then came together, and we took for about an hour or two, when we lost sight of the out some of the persons from the captain's boat which object in a cloud of smoke. was overladen. He then pulled under the bowsprit of "Neither Nelson, nor Mr. Bell, our medical friend, the ship, and picked the poor fellow up. Are you all who accompanied us, had saved their coats: the skirt of safe?' 'Yes, we've got the man: all lives safe, thank mine, with a pocket-handkerchief, served to keep SoGod; pull off from the ship; keep your eye on a star,phia's feet warm; and we made breeches for the children Sir Stamford; there's one barely visible.' with our neckcloths. Rain now came on, but fortunately it was not of long continuance, and we got dry again; the night became serene and starlight, We were now certain of our course, and the men behaved manfully; they rowed incessantly, and with good heart and spirit, and never did poor mortals look out more for day-light and for land than we did. Not that our sufferings or ground of complaint were anything to what has often befallen others; but from Sophia's delicate health, as well as my own, and the stormy nature of the coast, I felt perfectly convinced we were unable to undergo starvation, or exposure to currents. I feared we might fall to the southward of the port. "We then hauled close to each other, and found the captain fortunately had a compass, but we had no light but from the ship. Our distance from Bencoolen we estimated to be from twenty to thirty miles in a S.W. direction; there being no landing-place to the southward of Bencoolen, our only chance was to regain that port. The captain then undertook to lead, and we to follow in a N.N.E., course, as well as we could, No chance, no possibility being left, that we could again approach the ship, for she was now one splendid flame fore and aft and aloft, her masts and sails in a blaze, and rocking to and fro, threatening to fall in instantly. There goes her mizen-mast! pull away my boys; there goes the gunpowder, thank God!' "You may judge of our situation without further par-selves much to the southward of the port, we considered ticulars; the alarm was given at about twenty minutes past eight, and in less than ten minutes she was in flames; there was not a soul on board at half-past eight, and in less than ten minutes afterwards she was one grand mass of fire. "My only apprehension was, the want of boats to hold the people, as there was not time to have got out the long boat or make a raft: all we had to rely upon were two small open boats, which fortunately were lowered without accident; and in these two small open boats, without a drop of water or grain of food, or a rag of covering, except what we happened at the moment to have on our backs, we embarked on the wide ocean, thankful to God for his mercies. Poor Sophia, having been taken out of her bed, had nothing on but a wrap ourselves almost at home. Sophia had gone through the night better than could have been expected, and we continued to pull on with all our strengh. About eight or nine o'clock we saw a ship standing to us from the roads. They had seen the flame on shore, and sent out vessels in all directions to our relief; and here certainly came a minister of Providence, in the character of a minister of the gospel; for the first person I recognized was one of our missionaries. They gave us a bucket of water, and we took the captain on board as a pilot. The wind, however, was adverse, and we could not reach the shore, and took to the ship, where we got some refreshment and shelter from the sun. By this time Sophia was quite exhausted, fainting continually. About two o'clock we landed safe and sound, and no words of mine can do justice to the expression of feeling, | the bolt into the passage-way leading to the cabin, sympathy, and kindness, with which we were hailed by thence ran along the bell-wires in the steward's pantry, every one. If any proof had been wanting that my melting those connected with the larboard state-rooms, administration had been satisfactory, here we had it and passed through the side into the water, starting unequivocally from all; there was not a dry eye, and as several of the treenails, and ripping the copper. Two we drove back to our former home, loud was the cry of men engaged in hauling taut the main-topsail-sheet God be praised!' were instantly killed, and two others were hurt. Within a minute after, another shock, still more severe, struck the ship in the same manner as the first, and escaped in the same direction. A passenger, who was in the steward's pantry examining the effects of the first stroke, was slightly injured in the head by the second. Notwithstanding the appalling scene, perfect order was 'But enough: and I will only add, that we are now greatly recovered, in good spirits, and busy at work in getting ready-made clothes for present use. We went to bed at three in the afternoon, and I did not awake till six this morning. Sophia had nearly as sound a sleep, and with the exception of a bruise or two, and a little pain in the bones from fatigue, we have nothing to observed. Captain Stoddard immediately sounded the complain of. "The property which I have lost, on the most moderate estimate, cannot be less than twenty thousand pounds, I might almost say thirty thousand. But the loss which I have to regret beyond all, is my papers and drawings; all my papers of every description, including my notes and observations, with memoirs and collections, sufficient for a full and ample history, not only of Sumatra, but of Borneo, and every other island in these seas; my intended account of the establishment of Singapore, the history of my own administration, grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies; and last, not least, a grand map of Sumatra, on which I had been employed since my first arrival here, and on which for the last six months I had bestowed almost my whole undivided attention. This however was not all: all my collections in natural history, and my splendid collections of drawings, upwards of a thousand in number, with all the valuable papers and notes of my friends Arnold and Jack; and, to conclude, I will merely notice, that there was scarce an unknown animal, bird, beast, or fish, or an interesting plant, which we had not on board. A living sapir, a new species of tiger, splendid pheasants, &c. &c. all domesticated for the purpose. We were, in short, in this respect, a perfect Noah's Ark. All--all have perished; but, thank God, our lives have been spared, and we do not repine." Ship struck by lightning. THE following is an extract from the log of the Ville de Lyon, American packet-ship, which put into Plymouth in June, 1837, having been struck by lightning. "At ten, P.M., Barfleur Light bearing S.S.W., distant about fifteen miles, they experienced a heavy squall from W.S.W., with rain. Whilst in the act of taking in sail, the ship was struck by lightning. The electric fluid descended by the main-topsail-sheets, passed through pumps, and examined the vessel in every part. The appearance of the lightning was most remarkable. When the fluid struck the ship, the explosion resembled that of a bomb. The vessel, both above and below deck, appeared to be filled with fire. At twelve, P.M., the wind moderated." The Ville de Lyon is a new vessel of 800 tons burden, and had on board a large number of cabin and steerage passengers. THE SEA BREEZE. "WHENCE Comest thou, O wind of the sea, As a lion in his pride? "I'm from my range o'er the baseless deep; I come from my wild career o'er the wave :- I've rush'd-when all thought of ill was hush'd- And dash'd at the bark, and rent her shrouds, "I too have howl'd and shriek'd for a few- |