New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-20

aec, ot once TO tho southern exit of the lake Where
there was room for hat one ship 10 pass at tlne;
twenty were struggling 10 get on Then our Admiial
i'm the excess of hls Oriental courtesy, came 10 con-
cpiye that il no part of his duty 10 dispute loI
Mace with ships carrying the guests OF MS MASTER
the VicerOy. Accordingly, when an unscrupulous
captain sought TO run ahead of the Sennar-aI inc
risk of collision, if the SennaT did not give way
the Admiral commanded That she should cOhcoue
her place. and this happened repeatedly.
By o'clock. dozen ships may have entered the
canal and twenty more were jammed together NJ JUS
mouthneither able any one OF them 10 get III; nor
10 get ont of the way and let others enter fresh
wind blew from the west As tho ships had
no sufficient stecTage way on, they were
mDcontrolable by tho helm, and lying
broadside to this strong wind they presently found
themselves i'll imminent danger OF collision. Every
sailor knows how vessels lying neartogether graviate
irrcsistiby to. each other Jbedient 10 physical
laws as if they were so many planets let loose To
escape collisions each captain was eXhaustlng the
resources of his seamall,s art; ana only 100 often
their very ingenuites of this sort brought on the
catastrophe they strOye TO avert Ships in front were
backing down on to MS. Ships were coming mp on
our quarter. Ships were drifting brOadside into ms.
Ships To right of us and ships to left of u.s. yawng
wildly about, pointing their flying jb-bOoms one
moment into our cabin windows the next entanglng
their miZZeGtopsall yards IN the fOTe-rgglng OF the
Seminar A French ship on one side caught her mar
gingae III our pOrt-quater davlts; an Italian on the
other nearly carried away the awning stanchlODs OF
her hurricane deck in our bnCkstays and lee-braceS
In the midst of such pe-mell, the seamanship of
an EGYPTIAN Admiral came ont brilliantly. Nothing
could be more clever than his handling of the ship
and the proof of il was that the Seminar escaped all
damage in the midst of a crush of ships twice her
size, of whom half dozen at once were IN
collision. Rigging was snapped, blocks ana yar9S
came down by the rum An Austrian ship stoved III
the side of q Russian. One or two jb boOns were
broken short Oft, boats were crushed alongside. the
chapter of accidents seemed to have no end, for the
ships were simply unmanageable. AT last they got
bOwanchOrs down and Hedges out astern and matters
mended. Those nearest to the Canal made their way
in so slowly that could not doubt there was some
difficulty in the Canal itself. We hung In tins way
about the entrance from / o'clock till long after
dark at last creeping in by moonlight
getting by the same help for mile OF two, then
anchOring hard and fast for the night, aStern OF
/ know not how many ships. and which one snip lar
in front blocked the way The ship that thus closed
the canal that ship of the Messageres lmpenaes
called the Peluse
IN SEARCH OF sUPPLIES-FRENCH HOSPITALITY
1t was not intended that any vessel should 90
through to-day to Suez The Aigle and so many OF
the fleet as could follow were TO spend the night IN
the lower basin of the bitter lakes rather more than
half way from lsmailia to Suez To certain extent
this programme carried out As | close this let
ter two days after its date, may as well add that
the Aigle got on without much difficulty,
passed through the great basin III tho
afternoon, and duly anchored. with number
of her royal cOnsOrts in the smaller basin. whence
next morning she went on through the canal, COM
peting the passage from the Mediterranean to the
Red Sea- So far she and q few other ships could
do IT. the scheme of the inangurating voyage from
sea to sea had been accomplished But OF the 40 or
more vessels that left lsmaa for Suez at noon OF
the 10Th November. half, and more than half think,
found themselves still in the canal at the close OF tho
following day. The Seminar was one of those vessels
There might have been kind of glory in having been
on board one of the ships that were first at
Suez but those who enjoyed that fortune missed the
more important and significant lesson that was to be
learned from an experience OF the delays which so
large part of the fleet had to endure. There were
moments when | grew Hnpatlent, but on the whole l
Thought it piece OF good luck to be the Seminar.
should have come to "a more enthusiastic opinion
about the canal and ITS actual capacity,
if | had known only half the truth The SEMINAR
taught the other half aud 1t is the voyage OF the
SEMINAR which, in q following letter shall relate
at some length. As had to begin tins letter
with an unpleasant incident let me close IL with one
of another kind; going back 10 that moment of the
voyage when the Seminar lay for hours on the south
side of Lake TmSah, waiting for her chance To enter
the Canal-trlday afternoon from O'Clock TOO we
found the warning OF the Admiral about provisions
more literally true than We expected. Nothing was
offered us TO eat had been too busy in the morning
to eat any breakfast. lunch there none,
and for aught could there was 10 be
no dinner. In these alarming circumstances
our little party Of guests took counsel together ana
resolved not to perlshwithout an effort lherc were
ships all abOut us that must have provisions. Two
of us took boat and went ON board a vessel flying
French cOlOTs. We stated case to the command
ant and asked to be allowed to purchase ont of his
spare stores enough to carry us through to SueZ lie
sent for the steward and presently list was handed
us and were asked 10 choose what we would
| have We chose. The cOmmaDdant doubled our
| Tequistion added halfdozen of Bordeaux sent the
whole into our boat, pressed us 10 stay ana
dine before going back to the Seminar, and offered us
! a stateroom If we liked for the night With Spartan
| fortitude we declined. remembering our Starving
| comrades on the Seminar. When finally we asked
leave to pay bill aud go, the commandant replied
that his was not merchant ship, that he could not
sell his stores and that must do him the favor to
accept from him what had been put into our boat.
And we had TO come away without paying. IL was
done dellcately that were not allowed TO sus
pect till the last moment that we were to accept
such an obligation. The ship was tho TOuareg of
Biarseilles, chartered for the trip by party Of
twenty-five gentlemen. CIV s.