86 Rev. Mr Scoresby's Observations on the 



ently. The former, under Admiral Reynolds, had been dis- 

 niasted in the Baltic, but being refitted, and considered capable 

 of performing the passage, she made the attempt, accompanied 

 by the Defiance. Unfortunately, they steered a direct compass 

 course, and being overtaken with the same gale under which the 

 Hero suffered, both ships went on shore on the western coast 

 of North Jutland. Of the crew of the Defiance, which went to 

 pieces half an hour after strikmg, only six men were saved, 

 who got to shore on pieces of the wreck. Eleven of the crew of 

 the St George most providentially escaped in a similar way ; 

 " and when the last of them left the ship, on the afternoon of 

 the 25th, the Admiral and Captain were lying dead beside each 

 other on the quarter-deck^ together with the greater part of 

 the crew. Only about fifty remained alive, whose cries were 

 heard till it was dark. The ensuing night terminated their 

 sufferings."*' 



The number of persons that suffered in these three ships, 

 including the whole of the officers on board, amounted to nearly 

 2000, being a greater loss of life in British seamen, than has oc- 

 curred in some of the most splendid battles in which our fleets 

 have been engaged. 



Under circumstances, I believe, somewhat similar to those of 

 the Hero, was lost the Minotaur of 74 guns. Captain Barrett, 

 on the Haak Sands, at the mouth of the Tex el, on the night of 

 the 22d of December 1810. She left Gottenburg on the 15th, 

 in company with the Plantagenet and the Loire, with sixty sail 

 of ships under convoy, in tempestuous weather. During the gale 

 she separated from the ships in company, most of which, if not 

 all, made their escape. One hundred and ten of the crew of the 

 Minotaur succeeded in saving themselves in the boats, the re- 

 mainder, about 360 in number, perished. 



Towards the production of all these dreadful calamities, the 

 (Icoiation of the compass^ I am persuaded, greatly contributed. 

 This, by a very little calculation, we shall be able to render ex- 

 tremely probable, if not to prove. The distance from Boven- 

 bergen, on the north-west coast of Jutland, to Yarmouth Roads, 

 is 330 miles on a true course S. 42° W., or course per compass, 

 (the variation being 25°) S. 67° W. Let the mean deviation of 

 a vessel on an east or west course be 5°, a quantity frequently 



