The Sun.
London, England, 1803-09-07 00:00:00

FOR'FROSE,,AuG. 23.

wfre;yr:sterday surprized with a visit of up.
w.irds of eighty prisoners, principal part of the
crews of three Dutch Greenlandmen, captureti in
the 11-)rth Seas by the.. St, Joseph Privateer, of.Li-
verpnol, and escorted to this place by a person who
atc.led as.rt 01}10.er on board said Privateer, with a
parry of Ilighlai,ders from Ullapool. They'etin:
sliced of Dutch, Danes, flannverians, Swedes, .and
Norwegialim, ajsd arrived here very much fatigued
lw so long a journey,- and 'in a hungry condition,
Much to the credit of the Inhabitants cf.tltis place,
they were treated with great
.humanity,and sup.
plied with brea4and.other necessary articlea,- and,
after resting- here for the night, were sent for Want
tlisinornill; to Inverness, limier the escort oft a
Serieant's guard .of ,the Fortrose Volunteer Com!
pahy. such 'a number of foreign prisoners appear.
ing so unexpeCtedly, (4.cited no small degree of
riosity amongst the
,people, some of whom
them tint tor a party of Frenchmen,
to tie itoped, %%Pill share the same fate, shoold,theyi
he so hating ay to tterivt a landing in this Cow)-
, try:. „. . .

New MOINE Loc.—A Patent has been grant-
ed' for an Instrument •tor taking Soundings at Sea,
of which the followingis as correct a description as
the nature of the subjeft will admit :,--'liter Appa.
ratUl.consists of a sounding weight-about 'inches
long, the bNly of which conjoins a register with '
two dials, of an iron or brass rod, 12 inches long,
and of a tin buoy, Air-tight, . about six inches
square, and jour deep. To the bottom oflhe buoy
is secured a pair of springJongS,,iine end of which
rests on a hook, and the spring part of the tongs is
fixed to a rotator, or rcycrivhag apparatus. '
ppara loi is composed of a copper or other itt:tallic
tube, and four brass, ();• other rnetallic.vanes, The .
tube Must be airtight, about tz inches ling, and
one inch and a half diameter, with a conical point, !
about four inches. in length,.. The, vanes
,are sal-
detect to.the tube in a.spiral direCiion, so as to pro.
doce a rotatory motion !mind, the axis of the tube
'when sent into the water: 'On each vane iti a re-
gulator, whi.y.e office is to make a rotator 'perform a
certain number of revolutions, in a given Space, cor-
respondent with the calculations of the wheels of tlx
register. The rotators are tO be adjusted, by ex-
periment in. water, to correspond with the regi..
sters to the greatest nicety,-that is, to,ascettain
the space, the machine will descend by'tvery revo.
intion of the rotator. By altering the angles, and
the size of the vanes, „the rotator may be made to.
revolve in any desired space.
By this method Soundings mAy be taken,in very
deep water, and in water of 20lathom, 'without the
trouble of heaVing ihe vessel to, although 'she- May
be going at the rate of five miles an bur ; for. as
lite rotator registers. the.deseent of the sounding
weight, there is nu occasion to pay respett to the
length' of line out; so that the Mariner may veer
.out any. quantity of line, which will give time lin
the machine to descend.

The.prominent object of this apparatus is' to do
away, or lessen:the errors arhing 'from the old me.
thoq of taking soundings, as the chief guide for the
Mariner by that meth ,d, is to `judge of the -perpen.
diculardepth.of line nut,. which is apt to deceive
him ; ,hereas on thii, principle his 'governed lay
the docent of the soundlng-weight.only, without
any.regard tothe length'6l.oe line, except in ease
of using the reel.' The Iniprovement in the rota..
tors are.the invention of the air tubes, and the. tne,,
shod of adjusting or regulating it. ' A rotator on
this principle. will answer both quick and slow sail.
ing, and ..give the true, distance without danger of
its breaking the regiiterin quiek.sailing, by .hold;.
ing too much water. ' A small steel guage is at.
cached to.the rotator, which will chew any'accitient
it may meet with.

Tie same presentiment which foreran the former
cnnligration of Mr. ASTLEY'S property, attended
the late, misfortune : the moment lie heard the gate-
bell ring, he exclaimed to Mrs. Arrtay•-•-"it.They
come to tell me , that the Theatre is on fire." We
are happy to state that, he bears his accumulated dis.
tress with fortitude. Mr. COLMAN has liberally
offered his Theatre ; and the Magistrates of the
Tower Distria have also generously proffered
Licence for .the Royalty Theatre so that; the Per-
formers may yet stand a chance of being saved from
inevitable ruin, Since their principal‘ dependence,
at this particular period, was Orr their annual benefits
Mrs. AsTi:ti• is better than her friends could pos.
sit* have expeEtetl.
IVlANite4liiiiicip.,—Yestertisy john 114oeken, a
Drover's Boy, WaSeharged before the loan lvlAirotti
with. picking. pockets at Bartholotnew.fair. Tle-was
recolle&ed to have been Game time ago found Guilty
at the Old Bailey, of sheep-stealing but on accnunj
of his, tender, years, had received His Majesty is par-
don. His Lordship,,however, did nor think proper
to commit him for trial.; but stilt him to Bridewell
for one month, to be kept
.to hard labour, and -to..be
properly correeted, • • • - '