The sheet of the fore-storm stay-sail was hauled aft, and the sail attempted to be hoisted from the main-bitts to the stump of the mizen mast; it blew instantly into ribands, as if to mock our joy; nevertheless, the few hands who had come up were kept on deck, that our failure might not check the rising spirits of those at the pumps. At half-past six in the evening the scud began to drive fast, and the weather became clearer, when one of the look-out men announced "a large ship coming right down upon us!" Every body sprang from under the bulwark, and looked to windward. We On the quarter (to the S. E.) a large vessel was indistinctly seen scudding (wind S.S.W.), and in a moment or two after, she dashed close past the stern, with a proximity and rapidity that were startling; she was soon lost to view in the gloom to leeward. had just time to observe that her fore-topmast was gone, and from her great size we conjectured her to be the St. George, and were extremely happy to find her still buoyant, as, from her leaky state, we had been indulging (and, indeed, continued to do so afterwards) the most gloomy apprehensions for her safety; and we found out subsequently, when again meeting at Halifax, that these feelings had been reciprocally entertained; they on passing us thought it impossible that we could weather out the storm. This was another imminent danger most providentially averted; had it been an hour later, or indeed had not the weather cleared up as it did just at the time, so as to admit of the St. George's steer-men catching a momentary glimpse of our ship, and avoiding contact, by putting the wheel a spoke to port, both ships in all probability would have been ingulphed in the ocean; the Centaur undoubtedly must have gone down from the shock! The news of the St. George being safe, and the hurricane breaking was soon conveyed to the men at the pumps, and they testified their joy and heart-felt delight by repeated cheers; and although, as may be supposed, their strength must have been greatly lessened from incessant labour, want of rest, &c. yet, I believe truly, that there was more water discharged at this time than at any preceding period; such influence has the animal spirits upon the physical powers of the body. Night was now approaching, and as it was not possible to ascertain the relative positions of the other vessels, it was not without a reasonable degree of anxiety that we contemplated the possibility of one or other of these running us down. The near realization of such a catastrophe which we had just escaped, rather added to our disquiet; and it was impossible not to be impressed with the conviction, notwithstanding the height of the hurricane seemed to have past, that, unless some of our consorts should be at hand in the morning to afford us aid, there was no other prospect of our being able to keep the ship afloat! in such a forlorn-hope the mercy of Providence alone could save us by the intervention of some unlooked-for succour; and to this "sheet anchor" of the Christian we clung. At eight in the evening, the wind, although still blowing violently, had evidently lessened, and the clouds were moving in rapid succession; but the motion of the ship rather increased, as did the leak, now exceeding rather more than eight feet an hour; happily, however, the men still continued their labour, which was almost superhuman; indeed, an ordinary ship's company could never have gone through the fatigue attended by the privations, which these noble fellows underwent-they were a picked crewthe same gallant spirits who had performed so many deeds of daring under that ornament to the service, the late Sir Samuel Hood. The night was pitchy dark, and the "whipping smacks" of the furious wind sounded in our ears, as the wail of the death-note; every hour seemed an age, and the minds of those who were left for a short time to the quiet indulgence of their own thoughts, if these could be defined, dwelt perhaps upon "That tender farewell on the shore Of this rude world, when all is o'er, The dawn of day, on the 30th, at last arrived, and prepared objects for our sight that were hailed with indescribable delight; the Eagle and Atlas were seen to windward! It is impossible to convey to the minds of those persons who have not been placed in a situation of such extreme peril, the delight with which this intelligence was received by the almost worn-out crew. Our situation, as must be obvious to the seaman, was not immediately bettered by the lessening of the wind, for, not until the sea went down also could we build upon our safety; and before that consummation so devoutly wished should arrive, the men, perhaps, might give way from shear exhaustion, and then our fate would speedily have been sealed, as, no doubt, that of many others have been under similar circumstances; but it pleased Heaven to ordain it otherwise; both wind and sea gradually subsided, and the timely assistance derived from the Eagle saved us. It was the consciousness of this, coupled with the personal exertions of the excellent captain, his officers, and men, that so endeared that ship, and all on board, to our officers and crew. The two ships had lost their topmasts and sprung their lowermasts, and were otherwise damaged, but none of the squadron were so shattered as the Centaur; she was an unwieldly, though beautiful ship, of great length, carrying heavy metal, and had been considerably shaken when she had been aground. We were towed to Halifax, N. S. by the Eagle, where we arrived on the 15th of August; and thus all our fair prospects of reaping glory with Lord Nelson were blasted by this unlucky hurricane. We lost our station in the line at Trafalgar, for which no subsequent good luck could possibly compensate. For the safety of the ship it was found necessary to heave many of the guns overboard, and the ship's bottom was bothered with a thrumbed sail, which greatly lessened the leak. In conclusion, I may state, that all the officers and crew attended divine service at church, where prayers were offered up to God for our deliverance. The Lieutenants of the ship were-R. Campbell, R. Kenah, W. Croker, W. Brown, T. Smith, and W. H. Dickson. To the Editor of the Nautical Magazine. Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport, Dec. 1, 1835. SIR,-The prevention of oxidation of iron, when in contact with salt or fresh water, has engaged, from time to time, the attention of various individuals, the attainment of so desirable a result would be fraught with many advantages generally, but more particularly as regards the use of that metal, not only in the construction of ships, but also to the many purposes to which it is applied on board of them. I beg leave, therefore, to communicate, that for some months past I have been engaged in a series of experiments, having that object in view, and which, in reference to the Phisosophical Magazine for November, appears also to have occupied the attention of Mr. Davy, Professor of Chemistry, of the Royal Dublin Society; but as the conclusion to be drawn from the experiments made by that gentleman differ, in some respect, from those made by me, perhaps the following statement may not prove altogether uninteresting. My attention was first drawn to the subject, with the view of obtaining a remedy for the quick wear and tear arising from the oxidation of iron tanks, at present generally used in the navy for the stowage of fresh water. I first fitted a small plate of zinc, three inches square, inch thick, with iron rivets, to a piece of sheetiron six inches square, the two metals being completely in contact, and immersed the same into six gallons of spring water; at the same time I also annexed a piece of sheet iron of the same dimensions, without the zinc, into the same quantity and quality of water at the expiration of 30 days the two pieces of iron presented nearly the same appearance, viz. oxidation had commenced, and to the same extent in both. I repeated this experiment with protectors of larger dimensions, still without any satisfactory result; and I have others still in progress, where the two metals bear a more equal proportion; but sufficient time has not yet elapsed to form a correct opinion as to the result. Experiments with two metals in contact in salt water, for the purpose of substituting iron sheathing for ships' bottoms instead of copper, have also engaged my attention, and have been attended with various results. As far as these experiments have proceeded, I fear they were not likely to be productive of the great benefit I at first anticipated, although no doubt can exist as to the zinc protecting the iron from oxidation, as the simple electrical action arising by the contact of the two metals in presence of the fluid, will produce that effect; yet I have found, in all instances, that the corrosion of the zinc is very considerable; the following experiment will shew to what extent : Two pieces of sheet iron, six inches square, were fastened to a piece of wood, the one with nine zinc nails, the other with the same number of iron nails, having small pieces of zinc, inch diameter, under the head of each nail; also a third piece of sheet iron fastened to the wood simply with iron nails, the board was then floated in the sea, and at the expiration of 30 days I found the heads of six of the nine zinc nails had completely disappeared, and the pieces of zinc corroded to such an extent, that only a very small portion of zinc remained. The protected iron up to this period was free from oxidation, whereas the iron unprotected was perfectly oxidised this experiment has been repeated several times with the same result, which clearly shows, that although the zinc completely protected the iron, the zinc itself corroded in exact proportion to the protection it afforded to the iron. Experiment has also proved, that the same evil which rendered Sir Humphry Davy's system of no practical use for the protection of copper on ships' bottoms from oxidation, is also apparent, to a certain extent, as regards the protected iron, viz. that by rendering it slightly negative, a calcareous substance is found deposited on its surface, and that sea vegetable matter appeared also, in a short period, to attach itself to the iron, although in a much less degree than in the experiments tried on the bottoms of boats, which were subject to the constant friction of the water passing by them. In the experiments tried in still water, vegetable matter was found to make its appearance on the iron in six weeks after immersion, although a strong electrical action was kept up during that period. The results of these experiments, as far as they have proceeded, lead me, therefore, to the following conclusion; in the first place, that iron and zinc in connection will not protect the former from oxidation in fresh water. Secondly, that when iron and zinc are in connection in salt water, the iron will be protected, but a calcareous and vegetable substance is generated on the iron. And, thirdly, that in the same proportion as the zinc protects the iron, the zinc itself becomes subject to corrosion. I wish it, however, clearly to be understood, that although these experiments are not so favourable as might be wished, I by no means consider them so conclusive as to preclude the necessity of further investigation. I am, sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS TASSEI GRANT. MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. NEW BOOKS. A DIARY OF THE WRECK OF H. M. SHIP CHALLENGER on the Western Coast of South America, in May, 1835; with an Account of the subsequent Encampment of the Officers and Crew, during a period of seven weeks, on the South Coast of Chili. Longman. London. The title of this work informs the reader of its purport. The narrative is written in a plain and unassuming style, and will not fail to impress on the mind of the reader that great superiority in the conduct of British seamen under misfortune, which before this event has been so forcibly contrasted with the behaviour in similar cases of those of other countries. The peculiar circumstances in which the author was placed, enabled him to collect information on that part of the coast of Chili where the wreck took place. This will be found highly interesting by the general reader, while the event shews the great inaccuracies of the charts, the mouth of the river Leïbu, from whence the Challenger's crew were taken by the Blonde, being about twenty miles wrongly laid down in latitude! Our readers will find a concise account of the wreck (partly extracted from the work before us) in our last volume, page 789, and will also find in this "Diary” some plans and views illustrative of the position of the wreck, and the scenery of the country, which give it much additional interest. A TABLE OF ARCS for facilitating the Computation of the Latitude by Double Altitudes of the Principal Fixed Stars, calculated for the Years 1835, 1845, and 1855, &c. By C. F. A. Shadwell, R.N. Rivington. London. The observations of two stars for finding the latitude is but seldom resorted to; the obscurity of the horizon, the uncertainty in reading off the instrument at night, and the tediousness of the calculation, are very discouraging; every thing therefore that tends to lessen either one of these difficulties deserves favourable reception. In variable weather, when the sky is clear at intervals, and when, by waiting for the meridian altitude of a star, the latitude by obser. vation might be lost altogether, this method is highly useful; but we cannot understand on what grounds the author gives it the preference over meridian altitudes in every case. Dr. Inman demonstrates in his Navigation, that in the double altitude an error of altitude produces generally a greater error in latitude; whilst by the meridian altitude such error produces an error in latitude neither more nor less. This preference is therefore erroneous; and even if it were not so, the greater length of the calculation of the double altitude, which exposes it to mistakes, would at once decide in favour of the |