The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-08-08 00:00:00

CORBETT, STRAW BONNETS, 4e.

(From an Account of the Tnp of the United Kingdom Steam-
Packet.]
Ire passed close under the stupandonx cliff* of the island
of Iloy, and, on entering Stoniness Bay, discovered the
beach lined with spectators, whom the novelty of a steam-
vessel had attracted to the shore. As at fobermory and
Stornoway, the United Kingdom was in a few minutes
crowded with visitors, and besides the common people of
the town, several parties of ladies and gentlemen came on
board, and expressed themselves very highly delighted with
the splendour of the ship, and the extent of accommoda-
tion it afforded. The passengers went on shore, and the
whole stock of gloves, of a manufacture peculiar to the place,
was soon purchased. A most extensive manufactory of
straw bonnets is established here, and the specimens I saw
were much more beautiful than any Leghorn. They are
in great demand, and sell as high as four pounds on the
spot. Rye, when sown very thick, and on rather poor soil,
produces the straw most valued for this manufacture.
Throughout the islands several thousand women are kept
constantly employed, and I should think that its introduc-
tion to the Hii.hiands of Scotland would tend greatly to
benefit those district'. One of the passengers took occa-
sion to dilate on the advantages of this manufacture, the
introduction of which he attributed to the notorious moun-
tebank Cobbett. An old gentleman asserted that it had
been a manufacture of the Orkney Isles before the name
of Cobhett was known. 1 hope it will continue long after
lie is forgotten. Captain Oman, who never allowed an
opportunity to escape of increasing the comfort, and add-
ing to the gratification of his passengers, had been employ-
ing himself during our stay at Stroinness in getting in a
Purply of fresh beef, water, eggs, milk, fish, poultry, &c.
I suppose he found it no easy matter to supply a hundred
and twenty unsick people, whose appetites were not dimi-
nished by sea air, with a sufficiency of food. He had now,
however, plenty. I must not forget to mention the poor
fisherman of Stromneas, who, you will recollect was along,
with his wife and a boy, driven out to sea in a small skiff,'
and almost miraculously preserved. We brought them with
us from Greenock, and their story made a deep impression
on us all. Nearly six pounds was collected and given
them, for which they appeared most grateful. It will ena-
ble them to buy a new boat, and clothes for their children.
The poor woman had been in very bad health before the I
accident, but is now quite well : the fright, she save, has
cured her. We left Stronmees at five o'clock on Tuesday '
afternoon, and saw the tide ill the Pentland Firth in great
perfection. A small sloop, under all its canvas, with a
light breeze from the west, was carried round and round,
and even the United Kingdom did not steer with that pre-
cision which she did in higher seas. When off Wick, we
encountered the herring fleet, consisting, as we calculated,
of nearly 2,001) boats. It presented by far the moat animated
anti interesting picture of British enterprise and industry I
ever saw. The boats stretched from the Bay of Wick to
where we were, a distance of nearly six miles, the space be-
lug completely coverall with them. 'f he number of sea-
men engaged in the fishing at this station is supposed to be
12,000, and it gives employment for several months in the
year to upwards of 20,000 men, women, and children, at
Wick and the neighbourhood. We hailed a boat, and were
told that the fishing last week had been tolerably successful,
but that on Monday night very little was done. The same
gentleman who praised Cobbett took occasion to remark
that " steam-boats had done much to destroy the character
and'usefulness of English seamen." " Ay, and so they
have," said a jolly-faced gentleman, whom I understood to
he a wealthy Liverpool merchant, "so they have indeed,
Sir, just as gas lamps have destroyed the character and use-
fulness of lamp-lighters." This morning, when off Peter-
head, we exchanged three or four passengers for several
hundred fresh herring', the production of which at break-
fast forced us to forget the companions we had lost. I
need not detail our voyage further. What 1 have already
written is sufficiently dull and uninteresting, and you will
as glad as I am when I close this long letter by telling
you, that, after travelling 750 miles, in 73 hours, excluding
stoppages, I landed at Newhaven at 7, p. m., delighted
with any trip, and greatly pleased with the many intern-
gem and agreeable companions the voyage bad made me
acquainted with.

FATAL. ACCIDENT.—On Monday last, about half-past
one o'clock, r. at., the Rev. Mr. Perkins, of Brixham, left
that place in his boat. lie had rounded the Bay, seaward,
visited Torquay, and was on his return, when about five
r. st. a thunderstorm came on ; the lightning was most
vivid, ►he wind sprung up, and, veering to every point of
the compass, blew a complete whirlwind; the boat encoun-
tered one of its violent gusts, and with its inmates (Mr. P.
and an old boatman) instantly disappeared. The accident
was seen from Torquay, where the Rev. Gentleman bad
just left, and a boat put off to render assistance; u the
persons in it neared the spot they saw a person in a white
shirt swimming and vainly endeavouring to buffet with
the tremendous waves that rolled into the Bay, but before
they could reach near enough to render assistance he bad
sunk. Mr. Perkins will long live in the memory of the
inhabitants of Brixham, by whom he was much beloved ;
and we regret to add has left two children to lament their
loss.—Pllimouth Herald.
DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—On Sunday night about twelve
o'clock a poor Irishmin, of the name of M'Aulay, met
with a melancholy accident in the Saltmarket, Glasgow.
At the above hour Mr. Watt, of the firm of Messrs. Conner
and Watt, wine and spirit dealers, was alarmed by a vio-
lent knocking at their cellar-door. On learning the cause
be instantly admitted a party of the police; on going to
one of their back windows they found M'Aulay lying quite
covered with blood, in a state of absolute nudity, speech-
less and insensible, and groaning heavily. It appeared
that he had fallen from a window in the fourth storey ; his
skull was fractured, his jaw and breast bone and four of
his ribs were broken ; his left arm and his left thigh
were broken in two places, and his left leg was also
broken; he had besides a number of slight bruins
and contusions. Mr. Watt promptly produced a por-
tion of his bed-clothes, in which the poor man was car-
ried to the police-office, and be was subsequently conveyed
to the Royal Infirmary, where faint hopes are entertained
of his recovery. M'Aulay belongs.to the county of Done-
gall, and he arrived on Saturday night, with a steam-boat,
in order to take home a friend of the same name who re-
sides at Campsie.
SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—The Setter belonging to
the boat at the Preventive Station at Leap, relates the fol-
lowing:—That being on the usual look out on Thursday
morning last, he saw, drifting up the West Channel with
the tide, a small boat or punt, apparently without any one
in it, but on pulling along side he found in the bottom of
the boat an old man between 60 and 10 years of age, ao
very exhausted as to be speechless and without the use of
his limbs, but upon remedies being applied, he recovered
and gave the following singular account of himself. lie
stated that he belonged to Portsmouth, and that lie had
been to Chichester in his boat to sell some things, and was
returning out of Chichester harbour, when lie hoisted by
way of sail (the wind being favourable) an old bread bag,
and that on reaching the mouth of the harbour he found
his limbs become so useless that he was obliged to lay at
the bottom of the boat and leave himself to chance. Ile
drifted out to sea by way of St. Helen's, and had actually
been driven by the current c9inpletely round the Isle of
Wight, and came in again by way of the Needles up the
West Channel, when picked up by the Leap boat. The
man was sent over to Portsmouth from Leap by the Pre-
ventive boat, and is fast recovering. The above must
appear to every one a most extraordinary circumstance.
Those who are acquainted with the tides and currents
round the Isle of Wight will be able to form a pretty eor-
, rcct opinion as to the truth of thisstatement.