The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-19 00:00:00

♦PPOINTMENTS.

Captain—J. J. Stopford (1841), to the Amazon.
Lieutenants—C. J. Hotrmeister, to the Eagle ; A.
Anderson, and J. S. Robertson, to the Samarang ; C.W.
Bonham, to the Dido ; H. Bacon, to the Daedalus ; Lord
C. Butler, to the Medea ; F. H. Stephens, from the
Medea to the Orestez, v;co Thorp, wit-) exchanges; J.W.
Probert, to the Snake.

Masters—G. Andrews, to the Cruiser ; P. P. Cotter,
to the Amazon.

Purser—W. 11. Brown, to the Amazon.
Surgeon—P. Leonard, to the Eagle.
Mate—ll. S. Jackson, to the Eagle.
Chaplains—J. Falls, to the Eagle ;C. W. Tucker, to
:he Albion.

Second Master—ll. Norway, to the Fearless ; W.
Wilkinson, to the Daedalus.

Assistant Surgeons—J. S. Davidson (additional), to
the Volage ; T. Crawford, to the Eagle ; N. L. Dalling,
to the Cambrian ; J. Laffer, to the Linnet.
Master's Assistant—J. J. Wright, to the Dredalus.
Midshipmen— C. L. Waddiloe, to the Eagle ; E. Bal-
cOmb, H. Huxham, and F. J. Protheroe, to the DEedalus.
Clerks—G. M. Lang and I. M. Ralph, to the Eagle.
Naval Instructors—J. Gorham, to the Eagle ; G.
Brand, to the Daedalus.
COAST GUARD.

Appointments—Lieutenant G. T. Smyth, from Har-
wich station, to command the Victoria cutter, vice
M'Watson to Harwich, ♦ice Smyth.
Removals—Lieutenant R. G. Jefferys, from Burn-
mouth to St. Andrew's station, vice Cox, appointed to the
Lapwing cutter ; Lieutenant J. W. Patterson, from Col-
lieston to Cromarty, as Inspecting-Lieutenant, vice
Thompson, appointed to the Greyhound cutter.

BRITISH SEAMANSHIP in a STORM
BOULOGNE, Nov. 13.—We have had here for the last
four or five days a succession of tempests almost without
example for their duration and their fury. Happily
there have been no wrecks in our immediate neighbour-
hood, but I heard this morning that many fishing
vessels have been driven ashore, with a melancholy loses
of lives, below Etables, not far from the scene of the
loss of the Reliance and the Conqueror, a year or
two ago.
At Boulogne the sea has been frightful, and has
nearly destroyed the whole of the solid sea wall at the
back of the Etablissement erected in 1840. It is not,
however, with the purpose of communicating events un-
happily occurring too generally and too frequently to
excite much interest, and which, occurring out of our
own island, have less than the common claim to atten-
tion ; it is not with this purpose that I write, but in order
to lay before the public in your columns the solution
of a problem of great importance, as I think, in the ad-
vancement of the science of navigation—particularly of
steam navigation.

At noon yesterday, "when the tempest was at the
highest (the sea wall at the Etablissement had just
fallen), I was on the Pont, taking leave of some friends
about to depart in the diligence for Calais, when I was
startled by a rush of some hundreds of persons, chiefly
sailors and fishermen, in the direction of the sea. This
was the more remarkable, as the rain was descending in
torrents at the time, and I concluded that some hapless
vessel had struck. Emerging from the shelter of the
Messagerie, I ran with the crowd, and soon ascertained
that the object attracting it was not a vessel ashore, but
a vessel in sight—an occasion of almost equal horror.
Indeed, both were regarded as involving the same cer-
tainty of destruction. Such was the intense interest
excited by the announcement that, notwithstanding the
sheets of rain descending, more than 1,500 persons had
in the course of a few minutes—l might say a few
seconds—assembled on the Eastern Jetty, and the scene
which they witnessed was assuredly one to justify their
excitement. The approach to Boulogne harbour, as you
know, lies between two long jetties about 60 yards apart,
and ex tending between dangerous sand-banks, some 600
or 700 yards in the sea. These jetties run pretty nearly
north and south, and that nearest to the Calais side is
called the East Jetty ; the other the West Jetty. The
West Jetty is somewhat the longer, and has a lighthouse
at the seaward end of it.

As the wind yesterday blew south and by west (the
worst wind in the Channel, as all sailors know), the
Western Jetty was exposed to the whole rage of the sea
—such a sea as few have ever seen, and was, for the most

part, hidden by the waves that rolled over it. It served,
however, as a protection to the East Jetty. Within a
few moments after " a vessel in sight" was announced
by the raising of a flag, the E tstern Jetty was, as I have
said, covered with, at the very least, 1,500 persons.
The vessel that l'ad an attraction so powerful appeared
to be just outside t f the dangerous bar, not more than

100 yards from the end of the Western Jetty. She was
struggling hard, but struggling gallantly, against the
tide, the tempest, and the current of an awful sea, to
gain an offing to the westward before making the attempt
to enter the harbour. Though so near, the vessel could
not be distinguished with any approach to certainty
through the thick_ rain. However, the opinion of the
crowd decided at once upon the vessel and the com-
mander. "No other vessel but the Princess Maude,
no other captain but Captain Monger, would dare to
face Boulogne Bay to-day." The conjecture was cor-
rect ; it was the Princess Maude and the gallant corn
mander named. Whatever opinion, however, had been
formed of either ship or captain, the most painful
feelings of apprehension were excited by her situa-
tion for some time. It was long doubted whether
the great steam power of the vessel could win the offing
necessary to give her a free sweep in between the light-
house and the bar. " She will do it"—" It is impossible,"
ran from mouth to mouth in anxious whispers ; the pre •
vailing feeling was however, desponding. At length the
first great point was gained—the noble little vessel won
her way considerably westward of the lighthouse. Next
came a severer trial, to round into the harbour without
overshooting it, from the combined force of the storm,
tide, and sea ; for to overshoot the harbour would be to
go directly ashore. Having secured his offing, Captain
Monger brought his vessel about ; and, to the amaze-
ment of the timid and un .kilful, spread a broad extent
of canvas, under the tremen lons gale, bearing down upon
the mouth of the harbour with a rapidity perfectly ter-
rific. As the vessel passed the lighthouse, almost every
heart sunk under the impression that nothing could
check or divert her direct progress to the sands. A stifled
moan was heard through the crowd, when,as if by magic,
the sails dropped instantly, the vessel changed her course
full 90 degrees, and then shot up the harbour at the rate
of at least 15 miles an hour. The enthusiasm of the
spectators found expression in a loud cheer, which was
' again and again repeated. The most striking circum-