66 RELIEF TO SHIPWRECKED CREWS. "THERE IS SORROW ON THE SEA."-JEREMIAH XLIX. 28. The Crews of the following Vessels, wrecked on various parts of the Coast or foundered at sea, have been boarded, lodged, clothed, and forwarded to their homes by the Secretary at the Central Office and Honorary Agents of the "Shipwrecked Mariners' Society," between the 1st September and 30th November, 1878. The captain of this ship reported, the 28th October, that he had lost his wife and three children by the sinking of his vessel. + The Standard of the 15th October gives particulars of the stranding and loss of the Liverpool vessel'Beaumanoir' and the sufferings endured by the crew, five of whom were drowned. The 'Beaumanoir,' a brigantine of 270 tons, originally left Liverpool on a voyage to Havana, with a cargo of coals, and a crew of ten hands, all told. Havana was safely reached, and her cargo discharged. After taking on board a consignment of sugar, she left Havana for New York. "Severe weather was encountered shortly afterwards, and on the 6th ult. it was blowing with hurricane force, while there was a strong current running with a very heavy sea. The weather was hazy and the lights on the coast obscured. The vessel was driven ashore on the Florida Reefs, and became a complete loss: All the boats were gone, and the crew constructed a raft of the wreckage, and they were soon taken away from the scene of the disaster by the strong current. Tremendous seas swept over the raft, to which the poor fellows clung with desperate tenacity. This state of affairs lasted for some time, until five of them, becoming exhansted and helpless, were washed off the raft and drowned. The remainder, by the most vigorous exertions, were enabled to keep on the tiny structure; but, although their lives were so far spared, they were doomed to frightful suffering. The disaster to the vessel was so sudden and so complete that no time was allowed them to get provisions or water, and for five days they neither eat nor drank anything. The captain was included in the survivors, and he and the other four were almost maddened by excessive hunger and thirst. Fortunately, when matters had Deerfoot Ella Vail Earl of Zetland. Edith and Mary almost assumed their worst aspect, the Norwegian barque Asteraa' hove in sight, and took the mate on board. The men were landed by the barque at Queenstown. Captain Thomas, who commanded the vessel, is amongst the saved. The following is a list of the crew who sailed in the vessel from Liverpool on the 20th May last:-Captain Thomas, France; Samuel Renny, first mate, Cork; H. G. Harbord, second mate, Jamaica: W. E. Bu'l, steward and cook, London; A. Beerman, A. B., Hanover; Wm. R. Telfer, A.B., Chester; Mace, A.B., Hull; P. Coqui, A.B., Dublin; Wm. Perry, A.B., Liverpool. Wm. Early on Friday morning, 6th Sept., a collision took place about six miles east of Hastings, between the Empress,' steam collier, from London to Cardiff, and the Commerce,' a full-rigged ship, laden with grain, of Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, bound from Philadelphia to Antwerp. The 'Empress' ran into the 'Commerce,' which was struck broadside before the main chains. The 'Empress ' did not back out, but remained where she was, so that the crew of the Commerce,' eighteen in number, were enabled to clamber up the rigging into the collier, with the exception of a man and a boy. The former fell off into the water, the latter seemed powerless to leave thr rigging, and went down with the ship fifteen minutes afterwards. The captain of the 'Commerce,' whose name is Nickelson, states that it was a clear morning, that his lights were all right. When his vessel was struck he was on deck. The crew were landed at Hastings, and forwarded to London. The Collector of Wrecks, Mr. C. J. Vidler, arrived in the morning, and gave permission for the collier to proceed on her voyage. The Commerce' was 1,297 tons. The Deal Agent reports, 28th October, that this ship is on shore at Kingsdown; there were four drowned in landing in their own boat. J. Hill was sent to me in a fly; he was very ill through being in the water. I procured food and lodging for him; he has since returned to the ship to assist in attempting to get her off. + The Ramsgate Agent reports, 11th November, that the crew of this ship was saved by a Ramsgate fishing smack. The vessel was in a helpless condition, the captain greatly injured, and expecting the ship to sink. The fishermen, at great risk of their own lives, succeeded in saving them, simply with just what they stood in. The crew on landing were taken charge of by me, and provided for. The Ramsgate Agent reports, 31st October, that the crew of this ship was rescued in the North Sea, under very perilous circumstances, by the fishing-smack Regard,' of Ramsgate. The master of the 'Leader' told me had it not been for the gallantry of the brave fishermen, himself and crew must have perished, for he had never experienced such an awful gale all the years he had been to sea. The Hon. Agent at Waterford reports, 18th September, that this vessel was in collision in Carmarthen Bay, and both vessels immediately foundered, all hands saved by vessels' boats. The Agent at Kinlochberrie reports, 27tb September, that this vessel struck the rocks at Owner's Pride Prospect Rachel Ralph Buckhouse St. George Thomas The Albion.. Two Sisters Virgo Volunteer Yoxford Zenobia Zion Hill Montrose Blyth N. Shields Wells Liverpool Newcastle Dundee Lov estoft Plymouth Llanelly Deal 7 0 6 1 18 1 5 0 2 10 0 670 1 14 0 1 10 0 3 12 0 0 6 0 Sunderland 1 12 6 Looe 2 16 0 Woodbridge 1 0 0 Guernsey 5 2 0 Aberdeen 10 14 6 3 a.m. on Monday, 9th September, and went to pieces in eight minutes. Seven men on board, all told, of whom five were drowned and two saved by being washed ashore on portions of wreck. Survivors badly wounded and bruised. Supplied with medical attendance, board, clothing, and passage to Plymouth, their home. The Agent at Holyhead reports, 10th October, that this vessel capsized in the bay during a heavy squall; master and two seamen lost, the survivor swam on shore naked. Another account says, that during last night, Oct. 7, and this morning a furious gale from the south-east swept over the neighbourhood of Holyhead. About midnight the schooner Volunteer,' of Padstow, bound from Liverpool (whence she sailed yesterday morning) for Plymouth, laden with coals, had just got round the breakwater to the inside of the harbour when a squall capsized her. The crew consisted of four hands, of whom Captain Bate, Edward Every, and Henry Labb perished. A seaman named Samuel Honey, finding but one chance for his life, jumped into the water, and in spite of the heavy surges swam round the breakwater and safely reached the iron ladder on the outside. He was escorted by one of the lightkeepers to the Stanley Sailors' Home. where every attention has been shown to him, and he was afterwards forwarded to Newport by the SHIPWRECKED MARINERS' SOCIETY. Portfolio. HOW TO SEE LIFE. It is a grand point for the reader, whether he be a landsman or a seaman, to know that the knowledge of redemption is the first step in real life. A man's life is really of no acconnt until he begins to walk with God, in the knowledge of full salvation and settled peace, through the precious blood of the Lamb. Previous to this he is, in the judgment of God, and, in the language of scripture, "dead in trespasses and sins; "alienated from the life of God." His whole history is a complete blank, even though, in man's account, it may have been one uninterrupted scene of bustling activity. All that which engages the attention of the men of this world, the honours, the riches, the pleasures, the attractions of life, so called-all, when examined in the light of the judgment of God, when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, must be accounted as a dismal blank, a worthless void. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life " (John iii. 36). Men speak of "seeing life" when they launch forth into society, travel hither and thither, and see all that is to be seen; but they lose sight of the fact that the only true, the only real, the only divine way to see life" is to "believe on the Son of God." 66 How little do men think of this! They imagine that real life is at an end when a man becomes a Christian in truth and reality; whereas God's Word teaches us that it is only then we can see life and taste true happiness. "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John v. 12); and, again, "Blessed is he whose transgression is fo rgiven, whoses in is covered" (Ps. xxxii. 1). We can get life and happiness only in Christ. Apart from Him, all is death and misery, whatever the outward appearance may be. It is when the thick veil of unbelief is removed from the heart, and we are enabled to behold, with the eye of faith the Lamb of God bearing our heavy burden of guilt upon the tree, that we enter upon the path of life, and partake of the cup of divine happiness-a life which begins at the Cross, and flows onward into an eternity of glory—a happiness which each day becomes deeper and purer, more connected with God and founded on Christ, until we reach its proper sphere in the presence of God and the Lamb. It is the very height of folly and vanity to seek life and happiness in any other way. True, the enemy of souls spreads a gilding over this passing scene, in order that men may imagine it to be all gold. He sets up many a puppet-show to elicit the hollow laugh from a thoughtless multitude, who do not know that it is Satan who is in the box, and that his object is to keep them from Christ, and drag them down into eternal perdition. There is nothing real, nothing solid, nothing satisfying but in Christ. Apart from Him, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit." In Him alone true and eternal joys are to be found; and we only begin to live, when we begin to live in, live on, live with, and live for Him. No. CII. APRIL, 1879. Vol. XXVI. THE ROYAL NAVY-ANCIENT AND MODERN.* (Continued from page 8.) FTER the battle of the 31st July, 1653, Admiral Lawson, who hovered off the Dutch coast with fifty sail, took thirtyeight more of their ships and several herring-busses, which he sent into Yarmouth; and a few days later thirty-five other prizes, laden with French wines, fish, &c., were sent by him to the same place, and then the poor Hollanders were reduced to the verge of despair. Upon the return of the fleet, gold chains and medals were presented to General Monk and Admirals Blake, Penn, and Lawson. Smaller medals were given to all the officers. The 25th of August was appointed a day for solemn thanksgiving. At a public feast in London, Cromwell put the gold chain round Monk's neck, and required him to wear it during the entertainment. In the following month, Monk, in his ship the Resolution,' nearly perished in a terrible gale of wind off Cromer. The English fleet being now absolute masters of the sea, no ship could stir out of the Texel without their permission. In short, matters were brought to that pass, that when Mynheer Nienport, one of their former ambassadors, sought to bring about a peace, Cromwell could dictate his own terms. * From "British Battles on Land and Sea," by James Grant; Cassell & Co., and other sources. F Peace was signed in April, 1654, and one of the conditions of the treaty was the expulsion of the exiled King Charles II. from the dominions of the Dutch; and another was, "That the ships of the Dutch, as well ships of war as others, meeting any ships of war of the English Commonwealth in the British seas, shall strike their flags and lower their topsails in such manner as hath ever been at any time heretofore practised under any form of Government." Inspired by bigotry and ambition, Cromwell sent thirty ships under Blake to the Mediterranean, where no English fleet had been since the days of the Crusaders, and this armament humbled the Grand Duke of Tuscany on the European side and the Algerines on that of Africa. The Bey desired him to look at his castles of Porto Farina and Galetta, and do his worst, when asked to restrain the piracies of his subjects. Blake did not require this bravado. He drew up his ships close to the castles, and blew them to pieces with his guns. He sent bodies of seamen into the harbour in pinnaces and long boats under the fire of 140 pieces of cannon. These burned every ship that lay there, and the boldness of this action, which its very temerity rendered safe, and which was executed with very little loss, filled all that part of the world with the fame of the English arms. At Tunis he released many Christian slaves, some of whom were Dutch and English seamen. In the following year he was cruising 'off Cadiz in conjunction with General Montague in hopes to lure out the Spanish fleet which lay there, or to intercept another homeward-bound; and while he anchored for a time in a Portuguese bay to take in water and some provisions, Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir Richard) Stayner, whom he had left to continue the blockade with the Bridgwater' and the Plymouth' and four other vessels, fell in with eight galleons returning from South America. The Commodore gave chase, but the weather proving stormy prevented four of his ships from getting up to the attack. However, with the three we have named he engaged them with such spirit that in a very short time two of the galleons were sunk, two ran on shore, two escaped, and two were taken. One of those which were sunk had been set on fire in the action by Captain Young. On board of her was a Spaniard of rank, the Viceroy of Peru, who, with his wife and daughter, perished. The galleons and the treasure they had on board amounted to two millions of pieces of eight. Cromwell's hostilities with Spain were entirely unprovoked, and resulted in the seizure by Philip IV. of all the English ships throughout the |