Dry-Rot and its Remedies.-This most insidious disease had been creeping over our shipping, to the vast expense of the nation, and the danger of her seamen. It behoved our people to spare no pains or labour in staying the evil

Nothing can be quite done well,

Unless you take some trouble;
But once done well, will always tell,

You save that trouble double.

Hurricanes of the Atlantic.-These are a few additional particulars to my former examination of the Law of Storms; with facts and diagrams in furtherance of the rotatory theory of hurricanes, and the mode of meeting them.

A Word on Professional Clubs.-This was a reply to certain clamours which branded these institutions as Sybarite palaces, and nurseries of effeminacy. Now, a good club means a well-arranged association, and therefore is a good thing, and with the present march of society somewhat indispensable. The accommodations are on a large scale, and in superior style, yet at the same time at the minimum of cost; owing as well to the number of members, as to there being no profit required on the expenditure. They constitute a social improvement.

On Lightning Conductors.-A volunteer essay on a deeply important subject, intended to call attention to the useful doings of the Parliamentary Committee, and to Mr.-now Sir-Snow Harris, whose conductors seem to be perfect.

The Goodere Tragedy. A Tale of the Sea.-Having visited the scene of the diabolical murder of Sir John Dinely Goodere by his brother, I was induced to re-examine the various documents, and draw up this account of the horrid transaction, in all its disgusting wickedness.

A Glance upon Spain: with a Recollection of the Siege of Cadiz.-This was a series of papers, springing from my recollections, and actual experiences, of a very eventful period of the late war with France. The first of these jottings was printed in November 1843, and the last in April 1844,

1844.

France and Morocco.-The intentions of France, as then indicated by the conduct of Marshal Bugeaud and Prince de Joinville, seemed so bent upon the

conquest of Morocco, that I bestirred myself to show the importance of what they coveted; for I had a pretty fair personal acquaintance with the subject.

The Mary Rose; and the French Historians.-Justice to our naval history, aye, and even to Henry the Eighth, required that the assertions of Du Bellay, De Longei, and Père Daniel, should be overhauled; and it is to be hoped that they are here effectually refuted. The incident itself is full of interest.

1845.

A Seaman's Visit to Windermere.-There are principles and feelings of humanity that seem to be set aside in these days of utilitarian philosophy, when pecuniary interests are held to be the main objects of life. But with all due regard for machinery, and admiration of its wondrous applications, it is impossible not to wish for an occasional seclusion. Hence this contribution to the Journal.

The "Athénien" and the Skerki.-The perils to which sea-life is exposed are proverbially not only without number, but also without intermission; yet it is certain that a man of vigilance and resource reduces the danger, and a vessel, under good navigation and seamanship, may defy the elements - generally speaking -with impunity. It is therefore most desirable that CORRECT accounts of shipwrecks should be added to naval literature; and, as it fell in my way to learn various particulars relating to the unfortunate "Athénien," this paper was published, notwithstanding a professional repugnance to a portion of it,—

But they breathe Truth that breathe their words in pain.

The Skerki Rocks, as shown elsewhere, are the abraded "Aræ" of Virgil, and form the crown of the submerged plateau which I discovered between two profoundly deep basins, and named, from our ship, the Adventure Bank. My opinion that this remarkable feature proved Sicily to have been once united to Africa, has been abundantly confirmed by the geological researches of the eminent Dr. Hugh Falconer, in the vicinity of Palermo, especially in and about the caves of Monte Griffone, where he discovered vast quantities of the relics of African animals. In illustration of the argument we may give an extract from a cheerful letter which he wrote to Mrs. Smyth on the 17th of November 1863, in reply to an inquiry :

:

I found a great many of the existing mammals of Africa in the shape of fossil remains in the Sicilian caves. The question immediately arose, how did they get there? African elephants

might possibly have been imported; but the hyenas, how came they? Man would not have been so foolish as to have imported them to prey upon his sheep and goats, and even upon his own children. They could not possibly swim across the broad channel between Sicily and the African coast; therefore they must have travelled by land. Admiral Smyth's invaluable soundings immediately indicated the lay of the land. "Adventure Bank" stretches in a broad shoal westward from Marsala to meet a corresponding shoal stretching eastward and to the north from Africa, leaving only a very narrow channel between, i.e. Admiral Smyth's Channel. This was evidently the direction of the old land, which, within the modern period, connected Sicily with Africa. The channel is nowhere apparently less than 100 fathoms deep, which interposes a difficulty as to where the precise line of connection ran—whether by the Skerki shoal, or straight across from Ras Addar to Marsala. This is a point upon which the Admiral is most competent to give an authoritative opinion, and in his presence I would not have to say a word about it.

To me one of the most remarkable circumstances in the case is, that some of the Sicilian cave animals do not now occur in North Africa. They are restricted, or nearly so, to South Africa. The spotted hyena, for instance, is not now found further north than Abyssinia, if even got there; while it abounds near the Cape of Good Hope.

The Admiral asks me for the "itinerary of the alarmed herds." I will give him Mr. Babbage's stamping hypothesis.*. The hippopotami by thousands were disporting themselves in the Bay of Palermo. The land began to rock, and the sea to rise in mountain waves of translation. The animals were terror-struck, but, being mathematical hippopotami, their instinct led them to flee in the line of least resistance, which was in the direction of Monte Griffone. The converging herds were pressed into a dense mass. The front rank were pushed into the cave of San Ciro, and the rest of them against the steep rocks. The hind ranks, finding the way was stopped, mounted on the backs of the middle ranks-like shepherd's dogs-others upon their backs, till at last they contrived to tramp and stamp each other to death. One sturdy hippopotamus alone remained, and he, disdaining to survive his kindred, scrambled up the cliff and precipitated himself upon the mass of carcasses below, after having sung a melancholy dirge:

Place me on Griffon's marbled steep,
Where nothing save the waves and I
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep;
There, pig-like, let me grunt and die,
The last of hip-po-po-ta-mi.

Thoughts on Naval Tactics. My friend the late Admiral Constantine Richard Moorsom sent me an early copy of his tactical treatise, with a wish that I should "show it up;" and the task was a very pleasing one. Neither of us, however, though we clearly saw the shadow of an approaching change,

* Mr. Babbage's "Observations on the Remains of Human Art mixed with the Bones of Extinct Races of Animals," was read to the Royal Society, at the Meeting holden on the 26th of May 1859.

could imagine the iron age of the navy was advancing so rapidly. Practically conversant with the power of steam, he doubtlessly would have proposed an organization under which to fight; but he died, and the British fleet is still without any authorised regulations on that paramount subject.

The late military historian Sir William Napier, alluding to my comparative statement of losses in land and sea fights, contends that the estimate cannot be fairly made. In the naval battle every man in the fleet is a combatant, while the military one may be fought by about half the force enumerated, when the necessary posts and hangers-on are included in the enumeration. For example, at the battle of Salamanca, one of my citations, the left wing of the army-amounting to upwards of 13,000 men, and composed of two crack divisions-was destined to be idle spectators throughout that glorious day; much after the manner of the lee-ships at the battle of the Nile, that master-piece of Nelson's skill.

Kolapoor and Sawunt-Warree.--Colonel Harvey of the 14th Light Dragoons wrote me from India on this paper: "There is no fault to be found. You have infused great interest into the subject, and our colonel feels extremely obliged for the article, as must all the Third Brigade, of whom the 22nd were Napier's own regiment." When I mentioned the " looting " of villages in 1845, the word was printed in italics as little known: unhappily it requires no distinction now, custom having rendered it rather common of late.

Nelson's First Visit to Naples.-The writing of this account was accompanied by poignant feelings, as it shews that a consummate naval chief, remarkable for judgment, foresight, and decision in his profession, may be fatally overcome by female wiles. It is not unlike watching an eclipse of the sun.

A word upon the Trade Winds.-This was a slight attempt to point out the probable limits of the perennial trade-winds, their curious phenomena, and their important consequences, arising from causes coeval with the world.

Nelson's Second Visit to Naples.-The intentions of our immortal hero may have been pure and good, but, by his fatal error, Prince Caraccioli and seventy other Neapolitan subjects included in the capitulation were hanged. My view of the matter was quoted by that distinguished officer Captain Toup Nicolas, against that of Sir Harris Nicolas, his brother, in the able letters signed Fiat Justitia, which appeared in the United Service Journal (Part iii. 1845).

Thoughts upon Tides.-A self-satisfied and complacent writer, who easily rids himself of the old system by branding everything in it as either impossible or absurd, drew forth these remarks. His grand concetto is, concerning the sun's preponderating influence in tidal movements; and he brings forward a lot of figures to prove that its interference ought to be much greater than the moon's. Its attraction of course is so; but the tides are owing to the inequality of the attraction on different parts of the globe, and this inequality is known to increase as the distance diminishes.

Matthew Hanley, a sea-ballad.-Superstition, or irreligious religion, as poor Burton dubbed it, is disappearing so rapidly, that the old story of Matthew was furbished up for general information, before her final exit from the fleet.

On Manning the Navy.-A topic to which, in a seaman's eye, all other considerations are, in comparison, of secondary consequence to the general welfare; for every free-born Briton must acknowledge that the hardship and degradation of impressment has no parallel in this country. The question is tough and knotty, and one from which, I am free to say, I hardly see my way out; but it is of vital solicitude to the interests and security of Great Britain; and how we are to lay our hands on 20,000 or 30,000 experienced seamen on a sudden emergency, still remains for solution.

1846.

The Submarine Propeller, or Archimedean Screw.-As the paddle-wheel propulsion necessarily deprives a man-of-war of a portion of its gun-decks, the screw propellers are objects of supreme importance to the Royal Navy; and I naturally took great interest in the investigations detailed.

Lampedusa and its Legends.-So many readers of the gentle Shakspeare located Prospero in the "still vexed Bermoothes," that, being pretty sure the enchanted island whereon Italians were wrecked on their passage from Tunis to Naples was Lampedusa, I wrote this paper in evidence.

The latest Legend of Lampedusa.-The mala fama of Lampedusa occasioned its port to be so little frequented as to become a refuge for pirates, privateers, and other discreditable and lawless lupi di mare; but of all the sea-wolves in our last great war, the Maltese were among the most nefarious.