in the morning. Salvors lightened the ship, so as to get her off with next tide, and she proceeded on her voyage. A tender of twenty guineas, refused. For salvors it was stated vessel (150 tons) and cargo, was valued at 4,000.; their great exertions alone saved her; Lieutenant Caswell had suffered injury; tender insufficient. For owners, contended that coast-guard had no wet foot or jacket in this duty; their duty it was to assist vessels in danger: considered tender sufficient. Sir John Nichol considered it an important case, the vessel in a most perilous situation, it was a secondary duty only of coast-guard to assist vessels in danger; the Ocean's crew were two negroes, three boys, the master, and mate, their exertions could not have saved the vessel; if merchants and underwriters knew their own policy, they should be liberal in rewarding the zeal of coast-guard. He awarded fifty guineas to each of the lieutenants, and two guineas to each of their crews.-Admiralty Court, 16th June.

We regret to announce that the Right Honorable Sir John Nichol has closed his useful and valuable life: he died at his seat in Wales. He was the second son of John Nicol, Esq., of Llanmæs, Glamorganshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of James Havard, Esq., of Herefordshire. He was born on the 16th March, 1759, In 1765 he was placed at the free school, Cowbridge, and thence sent to Bristol school. In 1775 he was entered at Oxford, where he was immediately elected to a Founder's KinFellowship at St. John's College. He was intended for holy orders, but his destination being changed, he was admitted, in 1785, as an advocate at the bar of Doctor's Commons. In 1787 he married Judy, youngest daughter of Peter Birt, Esq., of Wenvoe Castle, who died in December, 1829. By her he had issue five children,— Henry John, who died an infant; Mary Ann; Judy, married Charles Franks, Esq.; John, married Jane Harriet Talbot; and Catherine, married Charles Scott Luxmore, Dean of St. Asaph, and died November, 1830. Sir John rose rapidly into very extensive practice: in 1791 he was appointed a commissioner to inquire into the state of the law in Jersey, with the late Sir William Grant and the late Mr. Partridge, King's counsel. In 1798 he succeeded Sir William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell,) as King's advocate. In 1802 he was elected Member of Parliament for Penryn, and sat successively till the dissolution after the Reform Bill for that borough, Hastings, Rye, and Great Bedwin. In 1809 he succeeded Sir William Wynne as Dean of the Arches and Judge of the Prerogative Court, and was made a Privy Councillor and a Lord of Trade and Plantations. On the death of Sir C. Robinson, in 1834, he was appointed Judge of the High Court of Admiralty by Lord Grey's Government, though known to be politically opposed to it. In 1835 he resigned the office of Dean of the Arches and Judge of the Prerogative Court, but he retained the Judgeship of the Admiralty to the period of his decease. The county of Glamorgan is indebted to Sir John Nicol for the introduction of the National System of Education, and the Sav ings' Bank at Bridgend; as also for the Glamorgan District Committee in aid of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Blessed with an excellent constitution, he attained a green old age, and he closed his long and useful career in his eightieth year, with his faculties unimpaired, full of religious hope, and accompanied by the respect and esteem of all who duly appreciated his public merits and private virtues.-Cambrian.

Records of Wrecks.

THE FORFARSHIRE Steamer.-Left Hull 5th September for Dundee, with fiftythree passengers and crew-Weather boisterous-heavy sea-could keep no water in boiler-wind increased from N.E. with rain and sleet-4 A.M. 6th, boiler gave waypumps set on-two furnaces drawn-damages repaired-continued on voyage-off Berwick-wind more violent from N.N.E.-leak in boiler increased-deck pumps unable to clear boiling water-firemen unable to perform their duty-towards evening brought to off St. Abbs' Head to examine condition-engine reported incapable of working-midnight-destruction evident-fore and aft sails set to clear the land -gale continued-thick fog-vessel drifting towards Shields-3 A.M. 7th, light of the Farn islands seen-Captain directed anchor to be cleared-mate proceeded to haul up cable-rushed to the boat, followed by others of crew-boat drifted about with them -in four hours picked up by a Montrose sloop, and carried to Shields-passengers warned of danger-on boat leaving vessel she struck on the outer Farn-parted in two, fore-part remaining on the rock, after-part drifting to southward with many passengers, some, it is said, in their berths-scene of horror ensued too dreadful to be described-fore-part of vessel, including engines, remained on rock-great exertions

by persons on Farn islands and on mainland to rescue sufferers clinging to vesseldaughter of light-house keeper behaved heroically-was the means of inducing her father to go off in a boat amidst the heavy sea fully a mile off, she herself taking an oar -Lieut. Brenton, of coast-guard, distinguished himself also-nine persons thus saved. The following remarks on the subject of a proper inspection of all steam-vessels, in the' justness of which we quite agree, are taken from the Edinburgh Courant.

"It cannot fail to impress more and more the necessity of some efficient superintendence over the machinery and management of these vessels to which is now committed life and property to so great an extent. The agency of steam, surpassing as it does the power of the wind and waves, has, in its application to navigation, given a certainty to sea voyages never before known, and has in a measure converted the ocean into a common highway for all travellers, and for the conveyance of property to a vast amount. That it may be rendered subservient to these great objects, we have no doubt; but in conflicting with the terrible power of the ocean and the tempest, it seems indispensable that every thing should be in the best possible condition that nothing should be trusted to chance-that no weak or vulnerable point should be left open to the inroads of the raging waves. How forcibly 'does the disastrous fate of the Dundee steamer impress the necessity of taking precautions against carelessness, where so many valuable lives are at stake! We understand that the Forfarshire set sail from Hull with her boilers in bad repair, and imperfectly mended; no doubt, if the weather had been calm and moderate, the vessel, even with crazy machinery, would have reached her destined port. But what security have we in this proverbially uncertain climate for calm weather and a smooth sea? Who, when there was so much at hazard, would trust to the faithless ocean? The leak in the boilers imperfectly mended appeared when the vessel reached Flamborough Head, and again when off Berwick; and at last the engineer reported that the engine would not work. The cause of this calamity therefore will be attributed to the defective and worn out machinery, for which a deep responsibility lies with those who have the charge of preparing these vessels. * * * When we consider the grief, the wide spread misery and ruin to families thus occasioned by these unexpected calamities, it is scarcely possible to suppress a feeling of deep indignation on reflecting that vessels with such a precious cargo of human life, should be sent out to sea so ill-appointed, with such crazy machinery-and not, indeed, sea-worthy. The engineer, in his affidavit, had no hesitation in stating, that the machinery would have wrought, and the boilers would supply steam, "if it had not been owing to the great sea rolling and pitching the vessel,"--from which it would appear that the vessel was only fitted for a calm sea; but not for any of these gales which frequently occur in this climate at this season of the year. *** As a preventive of mischief it seems highly necessary that the machinery of steam-vessels should be superintended by a competent engineer, and that a guarantee should thus be taken for the efficiency of the engines, to which so many individuals, ignorant of the risk, daily trust their lives.

There is another circumstance which is stated in all the accounts that are given of this melancholy shipwreck, which is well calculated to excite the public indignation. We observe that the seamen, with the first and second mates, deserted the vessel before she struck, and took to the boat, leaving the helpless passengers to their fate. It is scarcely possible to conceive a proceeding inore selfish and unfeeling, less characteristic of British seamen, and in every view more unwarrantable. The master and crew of the vessel are responsible for the safety of the passengers-it is to their care that they trust their lives; and to desert them in the hour of need-to leave them without mercy to perish in the ocean, as must have been their fate after the vessel was abandoned by almost every seaman, is a breach of a sacred duty, which not only calls for reprobation, but should almost bring them within the reach of the criminal law. There were, it appears, two boats in the vessel; and if the crew had been men of courage and humanity, resolved to do their duty, they would have consulted with the master, when they might perhaps have manned the two boats, and saved a considerable proportion of the passengers. But coolly to leave the whole passengers to perish-not even to consider whether it was practicable to save a portion of them along with themselves this is conduct which can searcely be described in terms of adequate severity, and which will stick to them as a merited reproach to the end of their livesGlasgow Constitutional.

HOWARD CASTLE, Whaler.-Capt. T. Emmens, on Coast of California. Left Monterey, 30th December, for Cape San Lucas-7th January, 4h. 30m. A.M., wind fresh at W.N.W., high sea running-struck on a sunken rock off Coast of California, in a bight called Pescado Blanco-master and crew (thirty-one persons) took to boats. One landed on 3rd February, at Mazatlan.

Sept. 17

Sept. 17

Mexico & Havanna-15th ditto...... H.M.B.Express, Linnet, Sept. 20

ward Islands

3 12 1

La Guayra

3 12 1

Jamaica, Lee

2

21 3

ward Islands -15th ditto......H.M.B. Magnet, Tyrian, Oct. 10 3 1 2 1 Carthagena

THE RETURN OF THE PACKETS IS CALCULATED THUS :-To and from Jamaica, 12 weeks; America, 2; Leward Islands, 12; Gibraltar, 20 days; Malta, 53 days; Brazil 20 weeks; Mexico, 11.

From August to January inclusive, the packet touches at Pernambuco and Bahia on her outward passage to Rio Janeiro, and the other six months on her homeward.

NEW BOOKS

AN ATTEMPT TO DEVELOPE THE LAW OF STORMS. By means of Facts arranged according to place and time, and hence to point out a cause of the variable Winds. By Lieut. Col. W. Reid, C.B. This is one of the most important books which have been presented to the seaman since the days of Hadley and Maskelyne. We shall spare our own comment at present on the laudable exertions of the Colonel to make room for the following extract of the proceedings of the late meeting of the British Association which will give our readers some idea of the Colonel's book:

"The business commenced by the reading of a short paper 'On Storms,' by Lieut.Col. Reid, of the Royal Engineers, with occasional comments, viva voce, in which he brought forward and unfolded one of those subjects which will make the meeting of the British Association memorable in the annals of science. Its importance in every point of view cannot be overrated, though the gallant Colonel, with a modesty so honourable, to really original and extraordinary efforts in a walk hitherto neglected, though bearing so much upon the interests of mankind, liberally attributed much of its merits to Mr. Redfield, an American, who had first called his attention to it, and made light of his own labours in collecting a volume of facts with an industry and zeal above all praise. The colonel observed that he broached no theory, but had brought these data together, to lay them before the able men whom he was sure to meet at this assembly.

"A Report, explaining the progress made towards developing the Law of Storms; and a statement of what seems further desirable to be done to advance our knowledge of the subject.' By Lieut.-Col. W. Reid, Royal Engineers. Having been ordered, in the course of a military duty, to the West Indies in 1831, I arrived at Barbados immediately after the great hurricane of that year, which, in the short space of seven hours, killed upwards of 1400 persons on that island alone. I was or two years and a half daily employed as an engineer-officer amidst the ruined

buildings, and was thus naturally led to the consideration of the phenomena of hurricanes, and earnestly sought for every species of information which could give a clue to explain it. The first reasonable explanation met with, was in a small pamphlet extracted from the American Journal of Science,' written by W. C. Redfield, of New York. The gradual progress made in our acquaintance with the subject of storms is not uninteresting. The north-sea storms on the coast of the United States of America had attracted the attention of Franklin. One of these storms preventing his observing an eclipse of the moon at Philadelphia, he was much surprised to find that the eclipse had been visible at Boston, which town is north-east of Philadelphia. This was a circumstance not to be lost to such an inquiring mind as Franklin's. By examination he ascertained that the north-east storm came from the south-west: but he died before he made the next step in this investigation. "Colonel Capper, of the East India company's service, after having studied meteorological subjects for twenty years in the Madras territory, wrote a work on the winds and monsoons in 1801. He states his belief that hurricanes will be found to be great whirlwinds; and that by placing a ship in these whirlwinds may be ascertained; for the nearer to the vortex, the faster will the wind veer, and subsequent inquiries have proved that Col. Capper was right in his opinion.

"Mr. Redfield, following up the observations of Franklin, probably without knowing those of Col. Capper, ascertained that, whilst the north-cast storms were blowing on the shores of America, the wind, with equal violence, was blowing a south-west storm in the Atlantic. Tracking Franklin's storms from the southward, he found, throughout their course, that the wind in opposite sides blew in opposite directions; and that in fact, they were whirlwinds, their manner of revolying being always in the same direction. By combining observations on the barometer with the progressive movements of storms, Mr. Redfield appears to have given the first explanation of its rise and fall in stormy weather, and my inquiries confirm his views.

"The first step taken by me in furtherance of the inquiry, was to project maps on a large scale, in order to lay down Mr. Redfield's observations, and thus to be better able to form a judgment on the mode of action of the atmosphere. These maps, which have been now engraved for publication, are the Charts I. and II. of those laid before the Association. The wind is marked by arrows; on the right hand of the circles the arrows will be observed to be flying from the south; on the left hand, coming back from the north. The field of inquiry which this opens can be but simply indicated here: to proceed in a satisfactory manner with the study, it being a new one, requires that the proofs be exhibited step by step; this I have done by printing what I have collected and arranged. The inferences drawn from the facts appear very important, and the further pursuit of the inquiry well deserving the attention of abler men than myself. The manner in which I followed up the investigation has been to procure copies of the actual log-books of ships, to combine their information with all that I could obtain on land, and thus compare simultaneous observations over extended tracks. On Chart VII. are thirty-five ships, in the same storm, the tracks of several crossing the storm's path, and the wind as reported by the ships, corroborated by the report from the land. The observations of ships possess this great advantage for meterological research, that merchants log-books report the weather every two hours, and the log-books of ships of war have hourly observations always kept up. After having a variety of storms in north latitude, I was struck with the apparent regularity with which they appear to pass to the North Pole, and therefore, led to conclude that, in accordance with the order of nature, storms in south latitude would be found to revolve in a precisely contrary direction to that which they take in the northern hemisphere. I earnestly sought for facts to ascertain if this were really the case; and I had obtained much information to confirm the truth of it, before I was at all aware that Mr. Redfield had conjectured the same thing, without, however, having himself traced any storms in south latitude. Chart VIII. represents the course of a very severe hurricane, encountered by the East India fleet under convoy in 1809, aud it is strikingly illustrative of the truth of this important fact. If storms obey fixed laws, and we can ascertain what those laws are, the knowledge must be useful to navigation; but to apply the principles practically, requires that seamen should study and understand them.

"The problem so long desired to be solved, viz., on which side to lay-to a ship in a storm, I trust is now explained. By watching the veering of the wind, the direction in which a storm is falling may be ascertained. The object required is, that the wind, in veering, should veer aft instead of a-head, that a vessel may come up instead ENLARGED SERIES.-No. 10-VOL. FOR. 1838. 4 X

of having to break off. To accomplish this, the ship must be laid on opposite tacks, on opposite sides of a storm; but the limits of this paper render it impossible to attempt an explanation in detail. The researches which have been carried into the southern hemisphere, afford a very interesting explanation to the observations of Captain King in his sailing directions for the southern extremity of America, viz., that the rise and fall of the barometer in southern gales corresponds with the rise and fall in high northern latitudes; east and west remaining the same, but north and south changing places. This is a strong corroboration of what I trust I have now proved, Five connected storms, which occurred in 1837, and followed each other in close succession, possess an interest altogether new, for they afford us a clue towards explaining the variable winds. Since these whirlwinds revolve by an invariable law, and always in the same direction, every new storm changes the wind. Thus, the hurricane of the middle of August, 1837, traced on Chart VIII., had hardly passed towards the Azores with the wind in the southern portion of it, blowing violently at the west, when another storm, coming from the south, and bringing up the ship Castries with it, at the rate of seven or eight knots an hour, reversed the wind to east. The storms, expanding in size and diminishing in force, as they proceed towards the poles, and the meridians at the same time approaching each other, gales become huddled together, and hence, apparently, the true cause of the very complicated nature of the winds in the latitude of our own country. Since great storms in high latitudes, often extending over a circular space of 1,000 miles, the length and breadth of the British islands afford far too limited a sphere for their study; and this is the chief reason which induces me to address this society.

"Nations should unite to study the atmospheric laws. By exchanging the observations made at the light-houses of different countries, reports would be obtained along the whole coast of the civilized world. If the merchant log-books, instead of being destroyed, as they frequently are at present, were preserved in depôts, each great commercial port keeping its own, they would greatly assist in giving observations upon the sea, and along the coasts. After the same manner, the meteorological reports within the interior of different nations should be exchanged, and we should then soon be able to trace the tracks of storms over almost the entire globe.

"When I had obtained satisfactory proofs that storms in the southern hemisphere revolve in opposite directions to that which they take in the northern, and saw the magnet, when in conjunction with the Voltaic battery, exhibit a similar phenomenon, making contrary revolutions on the two poles, it gave again a novel and increased interest to the inquiry. I have since, with the assistance of Mr. Clarke, of the Lowther Arcade (with whom I placed an 84lb. hollow shot for the purpose of experiment,) found that rotations may also be exhibited off the poles; but I have not yet had time to try further experiments with this shot, fitted up after the manner of Barlow's magnetic globes. During this investigation I have also endeavoured to ascertain the law by which water-spouts move; for they, doubtless, follow some fixed law. After many fruitless researches, I have obtained two instances: one of which is from Captain Beechey; where there appears no reason to doubt that the explanations given are correct.

"It is remarkable that, in these two examples, which occur in opposite hemispheres. the revolutions are in opposite directions, but both in the contrary direction to great storms. The double cones in a water-spout, one pointing upwards from the sea, the other downwards from the clouds, mark it as a phenomenon of another kind; and we ought to observe whether the cloud above and the sea below revolve in the same directions with each other. To ascertain their electrical states would be also highly interesting; and this may not be impracticable, since the great hydographer Horsburgh actually put his ship through a small phenomena of this description (when navigating the Indian Ocean); and this step he hazarded for the purpose of examining their nature. The apparent accordance of the force of storms with the law of magnetic intensity, as exhibited by Major Sabine's report to this society, is also very remarkable; and I had looked forward to its being printed with great interest, in order to make the comparison. It is frequently remarked with wonder, that no storms occur at St. Helena. I felt, therefore, much curiosity to know the degree of magnetic intensity there, and was not a little struck at finding it the lowest yet ascertained on the globe. Major Sabine's isodynamic lines, to express less than unity, are only there, and they appear, as it were, to mark the true Pacific ocean of the world. The lines of greatest intensity, on the contrary, seem to correspond with the latitudes of typhoons and hurricanes; for we find the meridian of the American magnetic pole passing not far from the Caribbean sea, and that of the Siberian pole