o 



40 A RECORD OF SHIPWRECK. 



strangers, and not natives of the place ; that they are, 

 in fact, the enduring records of a tragical event that 

 occurred some fifty years ago. 



It was in the war with France, which ushered in 

 the commencement of the present century, that two 

 transports returning from the West Indies, with black 

 prisoners from some of the French Islands, were 

 driven on shore in this cove, while attempting to 

 enter the harbour of Ilfracombe in stress of weather. 

 Most of the people escaped with their lives, but 

 almost everything else on board was lost ; and for 

 years after the sad event, the people of the town used 

 to find gold coins, and jewels, among the shingle 

 at low-tide. The vessels were ballasted with this 

 yellow gravel, which though washed to and fro by the 

 rolling surf, remains to bear witness of this shipwreck, 

 and to identify the spot where it took place ; a curious 

 testimony, which probably will endure long after the 

 event itself is lost in oblivion, and perhaps until the 

 earth and all the works therein shall be burned up. 



THE GLASSY ^QUOREA. , 



Among the treasures which rewarded my first at- 

 tempt at Medusa fishing was a beautiful translucent 

 species of a genus, which when Professor Forbes pub- 

 lished his Monograph had not been recognised as 

 British, but a species of which has been lately de- 

 scribed by that accomplished naturalist. Though the 

 genus contains many species, I cannot find any de- 

 scription that agrees with the present, which I desig- 

 nate as the Glassy iEquorea ( JEquorea vitrinaj. 

 It may be thus described. 



