84 Rev. Mr Scoresby^s Observations 07i the 



sels were found to be on shore ; and the sailors discovered that 

 they were on the coast of Portugal, near Cape Mondego. It 

 is unnecessary for me to detail the sad events which succeeded, 

 excepting the general results of this dreadful accident. The 

 Apollo being at a distance from the beach, and the gale con- 

 tinuing for three or four days, lost sixty of her crew, who pe- 

 rished from cold, drowning, hunger, and other circumstances, 

 connected with their perilous situation. Many adhered to the 

 wreck for about sixty hours, sustaining during this period the 

 most intense anxiety and severity of suffering from cold, wet, 

 and exhaustion, without either meat or drink. Along with the 

 Apollo, twenty-nine sail of merchantmen were likewise wrecked ; 

 some of these foundered with all hands, and most of the others 

 lost from ten to twelve men each. The total loss of lives has 

 been estimated at 250 or 300 men. 



This fatal accident has very generally been ascribed to the 

 carelessness and inattention of the Commodore ; but, from what 

 has been observed, it will, I think, appear most probable, that 

 the deviation of the compass was the occasion of the calamity. 

 An officer, from whose narrative the preceding facts were de- 

 rived, acknowledges, that no one on board the Apollo expected 

 the ship to be near land, and that when the ship struck, they 

 imagined they were upon some unknown shoal. It is indeed pos- 

 sible that part of the error might have been owing to currents ; 

 but as we know that the deviation in men-of-war, on a course S. 

 29° W., and a distance of 700 miles (the course and distance be- 

 tween Cork and Cape Mondego), would, in many cases, be up- 

 wards of a degree of longitude, we may reasonably consider the 

 deviation as a material cause in this disaster. The Commodore 

 was no doubt chargeable with a want of that prudent and watch- 

 ful jealousy of mere dead reckoning, which, under Providence, 

 is one of the best safeguards in practical navigation. 



Of a nature somewhat similar, but vastly more calamitous, 

 was the loss of His Majesty's ships St George of 98 guns, De- 

 fiance of 74 guns, and Hero of 74 guns, in the winter of 1811-12. 



The Hero, Captain Newman, with the Grasshopper sloop, 

 Captain Fanshawe, sailed, December 18. 1811, from Wingo 

 Sound in the Cattegat, with the Egeria and the Prince William^ 

 armed ship, and a convoy of 120 sail. This vessel, the Hero, 



