THE SEAMEN'S MANUAL.

A Letter addressed to the Editor.

The Manual, to which the following communication refers, was recently published for the benefit of seamen; and is, we are happy to find, obtaining a wide circulation :

SIR,-I am happy to say, that the "Manual of Devotion for Persons going to Sea," is selling very rapidly; and the remarks of friends, who have purchased copies to give away, both on land and sea, are so encouraging, that I have been led to compile another week's prayers, and thus intend to end my pleasing labour.

If, however, a further edition should be called for, I trust the British and Foreign Sailor's Society, to whom I now offer it, may receive some benefit by it.

I have been blessed in my own heart, by the Author of all good, in the benefit derived from the compilation of these prayers, composed by saints now around the throne, Burder, Belfrage, Jenks, and Toplady: and in the selection of the hymns from the sweet singers of Israel,-Watts, Cowper, Kenn, and Charles Wesley. I remain, Sir, your most humble servant,

October 14th, 1840.

T. G.

LOAN LIBRARIES.

A Letter addressed to the Secretary.

SIR,-I have sent the Library I got from your agent in January, for the use of the crew of my vessel, the Favourite, bound to Rio de Janeiro; and return you my thanks for the use of it. You will find ten shillings in the box, which is a very small collection-but, having been obliged to pay off most of my crew at Hamburg, it was out of my power to get them to contribute.

I trust you will be enabled to carry on your good work, as we cannot expect to get any thing like comfort in our ships, until the moral character of our seamen is improved: and, although you may have many discouragements, I hope you will not give up the work, as it is only by such means as yours, and other Seamen's Friend Societies, with God's blessing, that is to work that reformation we want in our merchant service.

That you may be enabled to go on and prosper, is the sincere prayer of your most obedient servant, WM. WILLIAMSON.

Kirkaldy, 10th November, 1840.

NAUTICAL

INFORMATION.

TABLE OF WRECKS IN WHICH THE CREWS HAVE ALL PERISHED!!

[From Lloyd's List, and the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, from 2nd Sept. to Oct. 31st, 1840.

Exhibiting a wreck of FOUR SHIPS, with a probable loss of not less than FORTY LIVES!!

Newfoundland, 18th August. The Florence, Rose, from Rotterdam to New York, was totally wrecked on the 9th inst. one mile W. of Cape Race. The second mate, and forty-nine of the crew and passengers, drowned.

The brig Cæsar, from Havannah, brings the account of the loss of the Spanish packet from Cadiz for Havannah, on the 20th August: having eighty passengers on board, of which only twenty were saved, after being eight days on a raft, in the greatest distress. The wreck took place at the entrance of the old Canal of Bahama.

Greenock, 10th October. The Thule, of Lerwick, was lost in George's Bay, Newfoundland, with all the crew, eight in number. A bible, belonging to Captain Fordyce, was picked up and sent home per Swan.

TABLE OF ACCIDENTS!!

Damaged. Stranded. Foundered Abandoned. Sunk. Condemned. Wrecked Not heard of. Total.

And if we allow, that for every TEN of these casualties only ONE perished, this would give a melancholy addition of TWENTY to the preceding number.

A SHIP DESERTED.

A letter from Nassau, in the Bahamas, bearing date the 27th of August, has the following narrative:-"A singular fact has taken place within the last few days. A large French vessel, bound from Hamburgh to the Havannah, was met by one of our small coasters, and was discovered to be completely abandoned. The greater part of her sails were set, and she did not appear to have sustained any damage. The cargo, composed of wines, fruits, silks, &c., was of considerable value, and was in a most perfect condition. The captain's papers were all secure in their proper place. The soundings gave three feet of water in the hold, but there was no leak whatever. The only living beings found on board, were a cat, some fowls, and several canaries, half dead with hunger. The cabins of the officers and passengers were very elegantly furnished, and every thing indicated that they had been only recently deserted. In one of them were found several articles belonging to a ladies' toilet, together with a quantity of ladies' wearing apparel thrown hastily aside, but not a human being was to be found on board. The vessel, which must have been left within a very few hours, contained several bales of goods, addressed to different merchants in Havannah. She is very large, recently built, and called the Rosalie. Of her crew, no intelligence has been received."

THE BRITISH NAVY.

The following vessels are on the stocks, or launched, and nearly ready for sea:

THE LATE GALES ON THE THAMES.

Both above and below bridge, a great number of barges, and other craft, were sunk by the hurricane. The various steamers suffered greatly by the storm.

DISASTERS AT SEA.

These have been very numerous during the gales. Omitting innumerable minor instances of wreck and damage-at Harwich, several vessels are reported on shore on the Gunfleet Sand, and it is feared none of the crews have been saved. At Lowestoffe, one large vessel has sunk on Barnard Sand. The Six Brothers, Beazley, timber laden, and the Lincoln, Sand, laden with barley, were driven on shore at low water, and filled,-crews saved.

At Yarmouth, the Hunter, Broadbelt, from Newcastle to London, has been run on the beach in a sinking state,-crew saved. The Mary, Scott, from Shields to London, is sunk in the Roads,- -crew saved.

At Southwold, the Ant, Mariot, from Maldon to Wakefield, was totally wrecked during a heavy gale,-crew saved. A loaded brig, apparently a collier, came on shore,―part of the crew, in attempting to gain the beach, were drowned, and the remainder were still in the rigging.

Intelligence was received, late on Saturday evening, at Lloyd's, of the loss of three vessels in the gale, attended with frightful sacrifice of life. Between two and three on Friday morning, a vessel was observed at sea, off the harbour leading to Bideford, in Devonshire, evidently making for that port. She turned out to be the Collina, laden with timber, from Prince Edward Island. On the vessel reaching a short distance from the mouth of the harbour, the captain perceived, that in consequence of the great surge, it was impossible to enter. The vessel was put about to sea, and, in about twenty minutes after, drove on to the rocks under Baggy Point, (an immense cliff,) where she went to pieces. The crew took to the rigging; unfortunately it was not in human power to save them, the rocks being inaccessible. The whole of the poor fellows perished, except two, who were washed ashore, about ten in the morning, almost dead from exhaustion.

About the same hour on Friday morning, the sloop, Wigeon, of Berwick, laden with a valuable cargo, was totally lost near Whitby, and the crew drowned.

About twelve the same day, the Susan of North Shields, (a collier,) on her voyage from London to Shields, was capsized off Walton, near Harwich, and sunk. Four of the crew perished, the others saved themselves by the vessel's boat. A large vessel (name unknown) foundered off the same place on Friday morning, and all on board perished.

THE CABINET.

ESTIMATE OF THE POWER OF MEANS.

IT is a humble thing to be a man. The feebleness of means is, in fact, the feebleness of him that employs them; for the most inconsiderable means, when weilded by celestial powers, can produce the most stupendous effects. Till then, the time shall arrive for us to assume a nobler rank of existence, we must be content to work on the present level of our nature, and effect that little which we can effect; unless it be a greater magnanimity and piety to resolve, that because our powers are limited to do only little things, they shall, therefore, as if in revenge for such an economy, do nothing. Our means will do something,—that something is what they were meant to effect in our hands; and not that something else which we all wish they would effect, and a visionary man presumes they will.

This disproportion between the powers and means which mortals are confined to wield, and the great objects which all good men would desire to accomplish, is a part of the appointments of Him who determined all the relations in the universe; and HE will see to the consequences. For the present he seems to say to his servants,-" Forbear to enquire why so small a part of these objects, to which I have summoned your activity, is placed within the reach of your powers! Your feeble ability for action is not accompanied by such a capacity of understanding as would be requisite to comprehend why that ability was made no greater. Even if it had been made incomparably greater, would there not still have been objects before it too vast for its operation? Must not the highest of created beings still have something in view, which they feel they can but partially accomplish till their powers are enlarged? Must there not be an end of improvement in my creation, if the powers of my creatures had become perfectly equal to the magnitude of their designs? How mean must be the spirit of that being that would not make an effort now toward the accomplishment of something higher than he will be able to accomplish till hereafter? Because mightier labourers would have been requisite to effect all that you wish, will you therefore murmur that I have honoured you, the inferior ones, with the appointment of making a noble exertion? If there is but little power in your hands, is it not because I retain the power in mine? Are you afraid, lest that power should fail to do all things right, only because you are so little made its instruments? Be grateful that all the work is not to be done without you, and that a God employs you in that in which he also is employed! But remember that while the employment is yours, the success is altogether his; and that your diligence, therefore, and not the effect which it produces, will be the test of your characters. Good men have

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