322 Voyage of the Novara. 



through the salons, whose natural charms were enhanced 

 by tlieir agreeable geniality, not less than by an elegance of 

 toilette such as Parisian salons themselves could not have 

 surpassed. 



A few days before the Novara sailed, a merchantman drop- 

 ped anchor in the roads, which on her voyage from Mel- 

 bourne to Europe had, while running 11 miles an hour, 

 come into collision with an iceberg in 60° S. and 149" E., by 

 which she had lost bowsprit, foremast, and all her topmasts, 

 besides carrying away her cutwater and figm-ehead, and 

 damaging the hull, and, sad to relate, sacrificing the lives of 

 sixteen persons ! The spectacle presented by this mere ruin 

 of a ship, as she ran in half dismasted under jury-rig, created 

 profound emotion even among the sea-faring portion of the 

 community, which was still further deepened, when the full 

 particulars of their sufferings were detailed by the passen- 

 gers. The captain, fully expecting that a ship so seriously 

 damaged must go to the bottom, formed the unworthy reso- 

 lution of escaping in a boat with fifteen of the men. The 

 whole perished, it is supposed, as nothing was ever heard of 

 them, while the vessel, which owed her truly marvellous 

 preservation to the fact that, having struck stem on, she had 

 sprung no leak, though so terribly injured, was enabled to 

 pursue her voyage to Valparaiso, where she arrived, the wind 

 proving favourable, after a passage of 55 days. 



On the 11th May all was ready for the departure of the 

 Novara^ and the officer on duty only waited a favourable 



