The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ATLANTIC AND TRANSATLANTIC
SKETCHES AFLOAT AND ASHORE.
By Captain Mackinnon. Colburn.
In his narrative of a fourteen months' sojourn in
America, or on its coast, Captain Mackinnon has dis-
played considerable skill in blending practical infor-
mation with amusing anecdotes ; his description of the
Falkland Islands, and his adventures with the wild
cattle, are well written and worthy of perusal. The
following extract from an account of a West Indian
hurricane, will give some idea of the terrible force of
these tornadoes :
"All doubt about the approaching tempest was now
dispelled. The black inhabitants of the small cottages
in the vicinity, belonging to the estate, floeked up to
Dry-hill House, to seek consolation from companionship
with the white people.
" A light breeze soon sprang up from the north, and,
as it rose, the mercury fell. At three o'clock a furious
gale was raging. Being anxious to observe the proceed-
ings of the shipping, I slipped out of the back part of
the house, and went down towards a cliff overlooking
the anchorage. To my great disgust as a sailor, I per-
ceived amongst the twelve merchant-vessels, lying in the
roads, that only four were making any preparations to
withstand the typhoon. Three were at single anchor,
with a short scope of chain, and top-gallant yards across,
and one brig with royal-yards and head-sails loosed.
Such bare-faced and lubberly carelessness is almost in-
credible. Old Columbus ' knew better. Be soon made
himself master of the signs preceding a hurricane in the
West Indies. . _

" When he was off the principal Spanish West Indian
settlement at St. Domingo, he foresaw that a hurricane
would shortly arise, and sent to Ovando, the governor
of the place, to request that he might be allowed to take
refuge in the harbour; but this being refused, ho was
obliged to stand out to tea, and face the storm. ' What
man, without excepting even Job, would not have died of
despair,' says Columbus, ' to find that, at the crisis when
the lives of myself, my son, my brother, and my friends
were in danger, I was prohibited from approaching that
country, and those ports, which, under the blessing of
God, I had purchased for Spain at the expense of my
blood f' At this time a fleet of twenty 'four ships was
about to sail for Spain, carrying Lirge quantities of gold
and pearls, partly the revenues of the king, and partly
the properly of those private individuals who were pas-
sengers on board. Columbus, notwithstanding Ovando's
inhumanity, advised him to detain the fleet a few days,
because a tornado was likely soon to occur; but bis
warnings were treated with contempt, and the vessels
were suffered to proceed on their voyage. Before the
close of the following day, twenty of their number, with
fifieen hundred persons, had foundered in the hurricane.
The loss of treasure on this occasion was so great as to
affect the financial resources of Spain for several years
after.'"

"As the wind still steadily increased, I considered it
best to get back to the shelter of the house. To enable
me to do this conveniently, it was necessary I should
creep along under the garden .bank, which offered some
protection against the gale. Not having the slightest
idea that the force of the wind would be so enormous in
this early stage of the hurricane, I attempted to walk
past a gateway. and being instantly struck by the full
power of the blast, was rolled over, and driven, as by a
giant's strength, violently along the ground. For a
moment I gave myself up for lost, as the harbour of St.
John was directly in my compelled course. Fortunately,
before coming to the open water, the land declined into
a bushy marsh. Here, assisted by the underwood, I
clung firmly to Mother Earth."

" The natural anxiety of a sailor again led me down
to view the shipping. Never did I behold such a scene
of wreck! Two of the largest craft had foundered with
all hands; the lower mast-heads still sticking above the
water. The small vessels, as already stated, I found a
long way above high-water mark. Three had ridden out
the storm, and amongst them, to my surprise, the brig.
There she lay, still at single anchor, the main-royal yard
still crossed, but the fore-Lop-mast-head twisted off, and
all the upper gear gone. Who can account for this?
" The poor steamer to which I -vas attached in English
Harbour had fared very badly. In the first part of the
gale she had dragged the huge moorings, and gone
broadside on to the wharf'. On the gale shifting, not
being able to snap the numerous fastenings by which
she was secured to the buried guns, she had torn down
the whole length of the wharf whereto she was at-
tached, and dragged huge masses of eihris into the har-
bour. Several ponderous stone buildings in the dock-
yard were blow❑ down, and a Dutch corvette, strongly
secured in English Harbour, was driven up into six feet
water; her usual draft being seventeen feet."

The descriptions of the various towns and seaports
which the author visited, and his rambles inland,
contain interesting accounts of their situations and
resources, together with the customs of the inhabi-
tants, whether human or animal. We may, perhaps,
complain that the author has been rather prolix on
some points, and has introduced immaterial passages,
still this but shows that he has endeavoured to give a
true account of his rambles rather than to publish a
work containing only the marvellous. This certainly
is a proof of its genuineness.

*Trlowison's "Colonies."

ADMIRAL AUSTEN AND HIS FLAG-SIIIP.
Sir,—Under the head of " Naval Intelligence," dated
" Plymouth," in your impression of Saturday, occur
some observations reflecting on the conduct of
Rear-Admiral Austen, in not taking his flag-
ship with him to Rangoon. I should hardly have
thought it worth while to notice such observa-
tions if they had been confined to a provincial
paper, but when the Times gives them circulation it
is different. It seems to be implied in the observations
in question that the presence of the Admiral's family
was in some way the cause of the arrange-
ment commented on. On the 24th of March the Ad-
miral's family was living in his house on Penang-
hill; on the 28th of that month he proceeded in the
Rattler to Rangoon. It is not very easy to see how the
one circumstance can have had any connexion with the
other. Independently of this, however, I am able to
state that the reason why the Hastings did not accom-
pany the Admiral, as had been intended, was, that there
was not water for a ship of her size in the Irrawaddy,
and the Commodore had stated that he had force
enough without her. As there is no safe anchorage off
the Irrawaddy, it would have been imprudent to take
the Hastings there, with the change of monsoon
coming on. It might, perhaps, not 'be too much
to assume that the Admiral would not wantonly have
left his own immediate followers behind when active and
honourable service was to be expected; and the prompti-
tude with which, for the good of the service, he gave up
the advantages of their attendance and the comforts of
his own ship,
and transferred himself to a small steamer
by
commanded a stranger, if it has not obtained him
might at least have saved him from
‘lttca(c)rnplimeals,"
attack.

I hay° the honour to be, Y &e., -
HENR E. AUSTEN.

[As we c innot, of course, answer
forto assert
m
Admiral
7, New square, Lir:ooln'scalnunot pn, June 21.
Austen's motives,
that b‘ family considerations; "
induced him to leave
the Hastings behind when he proceeded to Ran-
goon, although an Admiralty order lately issued
seems to point to that conclusion.
not being Water enough for the Hastings in ...
Irrawaddy, we shall not be surprised to learnAs to there
next mail
the
that good anchorage has been found for her. There is
certainly no ground for Mr. Austea's second reason for
her absence—that the Commodore had force enough,
since the Arrogant and the Winchester have been dis-
patched from England to reinforce the squadron.—
:Ernes.

It appears that the highest price ever reached by
Consols was nearly a century back. In the year 1757 they
were quoted art 107.