2 A PEEP AT 



ever employed in carrying the mail between Halifax 

 and Newfoundland, which extended from April, 1844, 

 down to the period when he was so unfortunate as to 

 have lost the steamer " Kestrel," at St. Shotts, on 

 the Newfoundland coast, in the summer of 1849. St. 

 Shotts has been the scene of a number of shipwrecks, 

 comprising several of H. M. ships of war, as well as 

 of merchant vessels. They all appear to have been 

 carried there by a mysterious current. A highly in- 

 teresting and philosophic article has been written on 

 the probable causes of the shipwrecks at St. Shotts, 

 by Mr. St. John of Harbor Grace, and published in 

 his paper, the " Conception Bay Herald." I was 

 grieved to find that Captain Magher was under the 

 impression that the remarks of Mr. St John did him a 

 great injury. I endeavored to remove this erroneous 

 impression. Capt. Magher took great exception to 

 the remark " guided by the rule of thumb." My in- 

 timate acquaintance with Mr. St. John led me to say, 

 that he would be among the last men in the world to 

 do or say any thing to injure another, particularly 

 Capt. Magher. Petitions from the merchants and 

 other leading inhabitants of Newfoundland, had been 

 sent to Mr. Cunard to reinstate Capt. Magher in the 

 command of the mail steamer, but apparently without 



