Star.
London, England, 1830-08-03 00:00:00

CAPTAIN DOUGLAS CLAVERING.

We give a short sketch of the lift of this gallant and distinguislted
Aker, from the able pen of his eminent friend, James Smith. Esq.
of Jeedanhill. It is prefixed to an account of a scientific voyage to
Spitsbergen and Greenland, which contains more information and
geographical discovery than is to be found in many a goodly quarto,
although given in the unpretending shape of a contribution to a pc-
olodical publication.
A wild and romantic ilterest attaches to the accounts of East
Comteland, from the circumstance of its havints been tbnnerly the
scat of flourishing colonies from Dti.mark. Kith which. in conse-
%niece of the coasts having been completely shut out from the rest
of the world by ice, there has been no communication since the be-
ginning of the fifteenth century.
Captain Clattering has no' only penetrated farther to the north of
itireerdand than any former navigator, but is tho only one in IIICI•
dem times who has had any intercourse with the natives. He found
them, however, differing in no respect from the other savage tribes
iiiitabiting high northern latitudes. " They are, in fact," to use his'
own words, " evidently the same race as the Esquintaux in the other
parts of Greenland and the northern parts of America :"
" My late lamented friend, Captain Clavering, previous to his
departure for the coast of Africa, drew up, at my request, a jour.
oal of his voyage, and lett it with me, with permission to publish
it in any manner I saw proper. I delayed doing so, in the hopes
that, upon his return, he might make it more fit for publication ;
but that event was destined never to take place. He sailed from
sierra Leone in the summer of 1827, and it is conjectured that.
soon after, his ship was lost, and all on board perished ; part of the
wreck was found on the coast. hut no other tidings were ever re-
ceived of the unfortunate Redwing, or her gallant crew. In her
commander, whose short but bright career was thus prematurely
terminated, his country lost an officer who, by his seal In the per-
formance of his duty, and high professional acquirements, gave every
promise of future eminence, and his friends one who was not less
distinguished for his upright and honourable feelings, than for the
most amiable and affectionate disposition.
" Douglas Charles Clavering, the eldest son of Brigadier. General
Henry Clattering and Lady Augusta Campbell, daughter of John.
fifth Duke of Argyll, was born at Holyrood-house, Bth September,
1794. He entered the navy at an early age, and served as mid-
shipman,. under Sir Philip Broke, in the Shannon frigate, on the
,A nierican station. In the brilliant action of that ship with the
Chesapeake, he distinguished himself for his coolness and gallantry,
and his name was honourably mentioned in the Gazette. He af
terwards served as lieutenant, in the Mediterranean, in the Spey
sloop of war; and, in 1821, was appointed commandos of the
Pheasant, then on the coast of Africa. On his passage to join his
ship, he met with Captain Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, who was
proceeding out to commence that remarkable series of observations
on the length of the seconds pendulum, which extended from the
equator to the most northerly accessible station on the surface of
the earth.

" He formed a friendship with that distinguished officer and man
of science, which continued without interruption till his death ;
and, at his request, the Pheasant was appointed to the service of
conveying him to the different stations. And such was the able
and zealous manner in which Captain Clavering co-operated with
him that he was not only enabled to make the observations at every
station in the most satisfactory manner, but without the slightest
accident ever having taken place in moving the numerous and de-
licate instruments to and from the ship. The observations were
made on this voyage at Sierra Leone the bland: of St. Thomas,
Ascension, Bahia, Maranhao], Trinidad, Jamaica, and New York.
In the course of the voyage, Capt. Clavering, in conjunction with
Captain Sabine, executed a valuable and extensive series of oboe,.
vations on the direction and force of the equatorial current, which,
hollowing the course of the trade.winos, is deflected by the coast of
America to the northward, into the Gulf of Mexico, from which,
passing between Cuba and Florida, it returns again into the Allan.
tic. under the name of the Gulf Stream.

The results of these experiments, illustrated by a chart, have
been published by Captain Sabine in his Account of the Pendu.
him Observations. Aluch of the value of such observations must
depend on the accuracy with which the ship's reckoning is kept.
t sprain Clavering, by his judicious arrangements and personal su.
perintendence, introduced such a degree of precision into the reek.
oning, that it became little inferior as an element in the deduction
of currents, to the observed difference of latitude and the chronome-
trical difference of longitude. Massey's self-registering log was
used as a check upon the estimated reckoning, and proved the value
and efficacy of the attention paid to the latter, by its being a rare
circumstance to find a difference between them amounting to a mile
in twenty-four hours.
" Upon the return of the Pheasant to Great Britain. the Board
of Longitude determined that Captain Sabine's Observations on the
Pendulum should be continued to the most northerly latitude to
which it was possible to reach. For this purpose the Griper,
which was one of the vessels that had been engaged in Captain
Parry's first expedition in 1819-20, was selected, and Capt. Cla.
vering appointed to the command.
" It will be seen that he availed himself of every opportunity
that presented itself for prosecuting discoveries, and enlarging the
boundaries of geographical science. A considerable part of the east
coast of Greenland explored by him, was seen in the preceding
year by Captain Scoresby ; but, from his distance from the land,
that able navigator had not the same means of laying it down cor-
rectly to the north of Cape Parry which he had to the south of that
headland, when he was close in with the land. In the chart the
discoveries of both .navigators are laid down, and form an actual
survey of the coast from lat, 69 deg. to lat. 76 deg for although
Capt. Clavering did not reach farther north than Shannon Island,
yet the positions of the bluff head lands to the north of Roseneath
Inlet, and the islands named, from their appearance, Haystack and
Adam. were determined by astronomical bearings from two hills,
one on the outermost, and the other on the innermost, of the Pen.
dulum Islands; and the distance between the two stations was
aicertained by a trigonometrical operation.
" Although the principal object of the voyage was to convey
Oaptain Sabine to the different stations, Captain Clavering did not
consider it necessary to give any of the results of his observations
in his account, as they were already published, and well known to
the scientific world." _

We are sorry our limits prevent us from appending to the above
a few of the parwages in Captain Clavering's Journal. This,
however, we may do at some future period ; and, meanwhile, we
recommend an attentive perusal of it to our readers, who will find
themselves amply repaid by the knowledge and entertainment it
affords.