and to all appearance having been properly stripped and abandoned. These are the total circumstances which I can recollect; but, as the Admiralty have ordered an investigation into the circumstances, letters from Mr. Lynch, at Quebec, together with the log-book, will help to throw some light and verification of the truth. Mr. Coward told me at Quebec he had reported the ships, when I of course supposed that the news would certainly reach England. All this has come out lately, from a letter which was written by Mr. Lynch, after his arrival, to an uncle of his, a Mr. Croilly, whom I know very well, and now residing in Limerick. This letter, it appears, was published in the Limerick Chronicle; but, strange to say, the circumstances never got circulated, I believe, out of Limerick, until Capt. Coward, a few weeks ago, told a friend of his, a master of a ship residing at Tynemouth, who, it appears, had been conversing about icebergs to another gentleman, and thus the circumstance got spread about until it reached the Admiralty, who will (and no wonder) think it a very strange affair altogether. I never heard anything more about it from any one but Mr. Lynch; and I used often to regret the ships not having been boarded. ROBERT SIMPSON. And Capt. Ommanney's opinion appears in the following extracts: The statement made to me by Mr. Simpson, in the presence of Comdr. J. J. Palmer, R.N., Comdr. William Ellis, (a,) R.Ñ., and the Inspector of Police, Capt. William Caldwell, is herewith transmitted. That two vessels were seen in the position described, there seems to be no shadow of doubt, though it is to be regretted that, owing to the distance at which the Renovation passed from the piece of ice with the ships lying on it, no fact can be elicited by which the vessels can be identified, though I have put every question which my experience dictates. The duration of the time while the vessels were visible, appears to have been no more than three quarters of an hour. The Renovation at the time was making about a W.b.N. (true) course, running six or seven knots an hour through the water. The circumstance of a ship's crew being ignorant of the reward held out by Government for the discovery of Franklin's expedition may at first sight appear incredible. In consequence I have made the most searching inquiry in this town if the reward ever obtained publicity) but even the principal merchants, the chief of police, the postmaster, the editor of the Limerick Chronicle, the Chambers of Commerce, and the tradespeople immediately connected with the mercantile community, brokers, and masters of Quebec traders,-never heard of such reward being offered until the present moment! It is a matter of some importance to know that the position of the Renovation as first reported appears incorrect, and that she was considerably to the northward of her reckoning, (about eighty miles,) which will bring the ice on which the ships lay nearly on the 47th parallel; this fact is clear from the circumstance that the Renovation NO. 3.-VOL. XXV. U The fol was nearly run on shore owing to this error. lowing day they were set right by a French brig as to their position; they bore up, the wind having changed to the N.E.; after running along the coast they rounded Cape Race at about 2h. p.m. Mr. Simpson states the course steered from the ships was about W.b.N. (true), and running at the rate of six or seven knots for fourteen hours. With this data the position of the ships where seen is assumed to be E.b.S. of St. John's, about ninety miles. Whatever ships they may have been, whether Franklin's or not, the fate of the crews must be a subject of public sympathy, and many surmises will result. My firm conviction is that those vessels drifted a considerable distance on that piece of ice; from the description given I cannot denominate it a berg, the most elevated part being no more than thirty or forty feet high, while it was five miles long, which appears very like a portion of a heavy floe, with a hummock upon it. From the fact of being found drifting with the current which sets along the coast of Labrador from Davis Straits, I infer they came from a high northern latitude. The removal of the spars, and absence of the boats, indicate that the abandonment of the ships had been a work of time and deliberation. The fact of the ships being close together has the appearance of their being consorts. If the hulls were in a floating condition when released from the ice, there is yet a chance that they may be fallen in with some day, as timber ships have drifted to the coast of Portugal and the Bay of Biscay. I have spared no pains to obtain every particle of information on this important circumstance; and it is to be deplored that no measures were taken to examine the vessels: it appears to have been a subject of deep regret on the minds of Mr. Coward and Mr. Simpson ever since, and Mr. Lynch was strongly impressed with the idea that they were Sir John Franklin's ships. Such is Capt. Ommanney's opinion, and we observed in conclusion, There is however a feature in the account of the ships reported by the Renovation which will not fail to occur to the mind of the seaman, and is that to which we alluded as unobserved by the landsman inexperienced in nautical matters. These ships are dismantled aloft, one even to leaving her lower masts only standing, and the other with nothing above her topmasts and no sails on her yards. Such a process as that of stripping a ship aloft must have been deliberately done; why, we need not inquire. But are whalers left thus when they are abandoned by their crews in case of being nipped, do they stop to dismantle aloft? or do their crews leave them and make their escape on the ice as fast as they can? But the Resolute, above-mentioned, is not the only recent instance of this kind; there are several others besides. Sir James Ross himself drifted helpless from near his wintering place of Port Leopold through Lancaster Sound down Baffin Bay. The two American schooners Advance and Rescue, as if to show the extraordinary effects of currents, ac tually drifted, fast in the ice, up the Wellington Channel and down it again; then through Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound and down the Bay to Davis Strait, still fast in the ice, and had many narrow escapes from destruction. Similar instances might also be cited of whalers, but here are enough to show that Franklin's ships might have done the same. And those ships that were seen in the ice favoured the opinion that they were his by being in a condition that can only be duly appreciated by nautical men. But it is time we brought our reflections on this mysterious subject to a close,—a subject affording nothing but useless vestiges, reports, and rumours, visions of ships in ice, and only two tangible facts,-one at the beginning and the other at the end of this mournful tragedy. The first when their crews were busy and active and anxious to go forward; the last when they presented a sad and melancholy picture at the final retreat of their expiring hopes. In the view here taken of this sad series of adventures in arctic discovery we may be as mistaken as they have been who directed the search up the Wellington Channel before that to the South-West was complete, and although our conclusions are formed on facts it matters little whether they may prove right or wrong;-no ulterior project-no measures of rescue on them depend: the scene of the earthly career of Franklin and his party has long since closed! They are insensible to our sympathies, and they have left us that hard lesson to learn, that all that is, is right! With the sorrowing friends of those whose fate we all deplore,-whose noble daring and whose enduring fortitude, amidst the severest of trials, we all admire,-in humble resignation to the great King of Kings, that Almighty Providence which rules us all, and guides us all to serve his own inscrutable designs,-let us always say, "As in Heaven, so on Earth thy will be done." A. B. B. A BRITISH CAPTAIN OF THE OLDEN TIME. In these days, while the efforts of Lieut. Maury and a host of officers, both of the Royal Navy and Merchant Service, have been directed to improve the quality of the logs kept on board ship-and the advantages to navigation and nautical science that have resulted therefrom cannot be too highly appreciated-it may be interesting, if not instructive, to turn our attention for a brief moment to the journals kept on board H.M. ships two centuries ago. We therefore propose to give our readers a few extracts from the jonrual kept by Captain Christopher Gunman, while in command of H.M. yacht Anne, in the year 1675; which, after having been stowed away with other family records for many years past, has at length been brought to light and, in our opinion, will amply repay perusal. Capt. Christopher Gunman, son of William Gunman, of Gouard, in the county of Norfolk, was born in Dramm, in Norway, anno domini 1634. 17 Nov., 1646.-He was bound apprentice to Ed. Nicholls, citizen and marriner, of London. 3 Feb., 1663.-He was Master of his Majie's ship the Bonaventure, 1666. He was made Capt. of his Majie' ship the Orange. 28 June, 1666.-He takes (after 5 houres fight) a ship of 22 guns, from Madagascar, belonging to ye French Royal Company, the cargo valued at £100,000, wch soon after sunk. 3 Aug., 1666.-He lost his left hand in an engagement with a Dutch man of warr. 29 Jan., 1667.-He was made Capt. of his Majic's ship the Reserve. 6 Mar., 1668.-He was made Capt. of his Majie's ship the Fforester. 16 Feb., 1669.-He was made Capt. of his Majie's yacht the Anne. 11 Aprill, 1670.-He was by Act of Parliament naturalized 22 Car. 2. R. 26 Oct., 1670.—He was made a Younger Brother of the Trinity Company. 15 May, 1674.-He is comanded by his Royall Highness the Duke of York, then L High Admirall, to be his Master of the Royal Prince. 19 June, 1675.-He sent the Excheq' £500 ( now near £700.) 22 June, 1675.-He is made an Elder Brother of y° Trinity Comp. by recomendacon of ye Duke. 15 May, 1676.-There is by Wm. Dugdale, Esq., Norway (Norroy?) King of Arms, by vertue of a warr' under the hand of James Earle of Suffolk, Deputy unto y Right Honorable Henry Earl of Norwich, Earl Marshall of England, dated 15 Ap' 1676, devised and granted a Coat of Armes and Crest unto the sd Capt. Ch' Gunman, Comand' of ye Anne. July, 1676. He refuses to strike his topsaill to y castle of Cronenbourg. 16 Feb., 1677.-He finds a large harbour at Garnsey. 20 Sept., 1677.-The Mary yacht launched; he has a comission to comand her. 26 Xb., 1679.-He was made a burgess of the citty of Edenborough, in Schotland. 6 May, 1682.-The Gloucester ffrigate lost. 28 9b., 1682.-He was made a member of y Artillery Company. 25 March, 1684.-He dyed, having broke his leg by a fall in Deep Harbour, in France, aged 50. See Biographia Navalis, vol. i., p. 225. Extract from Evelyn's Memoirs. 26 March, 1685.-I was invited to the funerall of Capt. Gunman, that excellent pilot and seaman who had behaved himself so valiantly in the Dutch warr. He died of a gangrene occasioned by his fall from the pier of Calais. This was the Captain of the yacht carrying the Duke (now King) to Scotland, and was accused for not giving timely warning when she split on the sands, where so many perish'd; but I am most confident he was no ways guilty either of negligence or designe, as he made appeare not only at the examination of the matter of fact, but in the vindication he shew'd me, and which must needes give any man of reason satisfaction. He was a sober, frugal, cheerfull, and temperate man: we have few such seamen left. On board his Royal Highness yacht Ann, in Deptford wett dock, in January, 1675. Paint 26th. We haled into Deptford wett dock to bee repaired, painted, and gilded; the first of wch the carpentiers went to work on. ing and gilding could as yett nott be agreed on who should doe it. Att last it was contracted wth Mr. Scattlife that hee should have 200£ for gilding and painting in side and outside all the carued workes, &c. The 27th, being Wednesday, I receiued a comission from his Maj' (bering date the 21st instant) to comand in chiefe all his Majie's shipps and vessells in the River of Thames. I alsoe received an order from the Right Honorble the Lds Comitionars of the Admiralty to call a Cort Martiall, consisting of Captains and Comanders, to make inquiry concerning some offences said to bee comitted by Captain Henry Carvett, Comander of y Woolwich sloope; and the 29th instant I sent sumons to all the Comanders then in the river, viz.: Capt. Dikinson, Capt. Sanderson, Capt. Clements, Capt. Lowell, Capt. Smith, Capt. Tyte, Capt. Kempthorne, Capt. Wright, Capt. Day; all these to bee on board the Grayhound, frig", on Munday the 1st day of Feb 167. The 1st being Munday, att 8 this morning all the Comanders I had sumoned did mete on board the Grayhound, as alsoe Jam Southerne, who at y time was Deputy Judge Advocate. The s Capt. Caruat being brought before us by Mr. Joynes, Deputy Marshall for the Ad |