MEMOIR OF HER MAJESTY'S STEAM SHIP THE MEDEA. 95 



After landing King Louis of Bavaria, the Medea returned to the Piraeus, and on the 10th of 

 May received the king of Greece on board, to convey him to Ancona, where His Majesty 

 proceeded to meet his bride, and ultimately returned to Athens in H. M. S. Portland. 



In prosecuting this voyage the Medea conveyed the Grecian King close along the shores of 

 such parts of his dominions as bordered on the sea, and thus made a circuit of the whole 

 Peloponnesus, from the Gulf of Egina to that of Lepanto, stopping at every place of note, 

 at all of which the young sovereign of this resuscitated state was most enthusiastically re- 

 ceived by his Hellenic subjects. 



From the gulf of Lepanto, near the entrance of which the King landed, at the ancient 

 town of Patrse, now the commercial emporium of Greece, they proceeded to Missolonghi, 

 and viewed the sad memorial of him who devoted his best talents and his latest energies 

 in the cause of Grecian independence, and fell a victim at the shrine of that liberty he loved 

 so well. 



From Corfu, where the steamer stopped a few hours, the voyage was continued to Ancona, 

 at the rate of ten knots an hour, though the wind was mostly contrary, and for the last 100 

 miles fresh against her. 



Thus ended these most interesting yachting cruizes of the Medea, throughout the whole of 

 which she acquitted herself to the admiration of all, and worthy of that country whose 

 standard was borne in unison with the royal banners, either of Bavaria or Greece. 



The ship now returned to Malta, and steamed the whole distance from Ancona at the rate 

 of nine and a half knots per hour, the wind being ahead, with occasional fresh breezes for 

 one-third the passage. On the 10th of June she rejoined the fleet at Corfu, to which place 

 she was navigated under sail ; and having cruized about the Ionian Islands, and off the coast 

 of the Peloponnesus, anchored with the rest of the ships close to the shore of Attica, imme- 

 diately in front of the old Athenian havens of Phaleron and Munychia. 



Leaving the squadron at this anchorage on the 10th of August, the Medea sailed round to 

 Zante to meet the English packet, and beat up the west coast of the Morea at the rate of six 

 and a half knots an hour, against a fresh north-westerly breeze, making nearly a straight 

 course at five points from the wind. From Zante she returned to the JEgean sea under 

 steam, and on the 21st rejoined the admiral, then at anchor off the island of Syra, 

 after a passage of thirty hours ; thus accomplishing this circuitous and intricate navigation of 

 290 miles at an average of nine and two-thirds knots per hour, the wind having been directly 

 ahead, but moderate during the first half of the run : and although for the latter part it was 

 mostly on the " beam " and " quarter," the waves which it created were by no means 

 favourable to her progress. On the 26th a Turkish ship of war was driven in a gale of wind 

 close to the rocks on the windward side of the island Gutherize, near Syra, and obliged to 

 anchor close to the reefs. The Medea proceeded to her assistance, and extricated her from 

 her perilous position by towing her off-shore against the gale. On the 28th she again pro- 

 ceeded to Zante with the admiral's despatches, and arrived in twenty-seven hours, at a mean 

 rate of more than ten and a half miles each hour. 



There being no necessity of expedition on her return to the fleet, the passage was made, in 

 accordance with her usual custom on such occasions, without the aid of steam. It is 

 worthy of remark, with reference to the Medea's frequent voyages under sail, that she inva- 

 riably beat the trading vessels which were met with ; and it is well known that the commerce 



