972 
so brought on board the said hulk wore Maters of him, 
the said First Lieutenant, he, the first lieutenant, well know- 
ing at the time that such was not true, the same being ft 
scandalous action, in derogation of God s honour, ami in cor- 
ruption of good manners.— For that the said hirst Lieute- 
nant Frederick Charles Knight was on the 1 - th day of 
September, 1854, without his proper uniform, and without 
having obtained the requisite leave or permission dispensing 
with his wearing such uniform.- For that the said First 
Lieutenant Frederick Charles Knight was on the night of 
Sunday, the 17th day of September, 1851, and on the follow- 
ing morning, drunk on hoard her Majesty's hulk, Victorious. — 
The said First Lieutenant Frederick Charles Knight, at the 
times mentioned in the foregoing charges, being borne on 
the books of her Majesty's ship Dauntless, then and now in 
commission.” After the examination of a number of wit- 
nesses, the prisoner read his defence, in which he admitted 
the truth of the first charge, but pleaded in extenuation that 
the fault specified was committed in a moment of indiscretion, 
at the request of the girls themselves, and that he did not in- 
tend to have kept them long on board. With respect to the 
words forming the subject of the second charge they were 
uttered by him in joke, and ho did not intend them to be re- 
peated, nor think they would have been repeated to the chaplain. 
The third charge he admitted, but pleaded ignorauco of the 
regulations on that point; and the -fourth charge he indig- 
nantly denied, and asserted that no proof had been given in 
its support. The court found Lieutenant Knight guilty of 
the first and third charges, and acquittod him on the others ; 
and taking into consideration the irreproachable character lie 
has borne, sentenced him to bo placed at the bottom of the 
list of first lieutenants of Royul Marines. Lieutenant Jervis 
was then tried for allowing the women to come on board on 
the night in question, and not reporting the fact to the 
officer in command of the ship. He was honourably acquitted 
of the charge, having had nothing to do with the affair. By 
the sentence on Lieutenant Knight that officer loses eleven 
years' service. 
WRECK OF THE ARCTIC — DREADFUL LOSS 
OF LIFE. 
We regret to announce the total loss of the United States 
Mail steam-ship Arctic, Captain Luce, for New York, from 
Liverpool. 
“ STATEMENT OF THE SECOND OFFICER. 
“ The following is the statement of Mr. Buulilam, second 
officer of the ill-fated steamer Arctic, who was dispatched 
from Renews in search of the unfortunate vessel or her 
boats, and who has arrived in St. John’s this morning, at 
ten o'clock. 
“ On Wednesday, Cape Race bearing S.W. by W., 65 miles 
distant, while running in u very thick fog, we were struck 
on the starboard bow, about 60 feet abaft the cutwater, by 
an iron steamer, which made three large holes in the ship, 
two below water, one of which was about 5J, feet in length, 
andl or 1J in depth, leaving the whole cutwater and stern 
of the iron Bteamer clean through the Arctic’s side. So 
dense was the fog, that the vessel could not bo seen a minute 
before the collision. The wheel was put hard to starboard, 
the engine Btopped instantly, and bucked at full speed, until 
clear of the other steamer, which occupied a couple of 
minutes. The French steamer seemed to be sinking, bow 
first. Captain Luce immediately gave orders to clear away 
the quarter-boats, which was done, and Mr. Gourlay, chief 
officer, left the ship in charge of the starboard-bout, and in 
lowering the port-boat the Captain exclaimed, "Hoist up the 
boat again, Mr. Boahlam,” and beckoned me to go to him. 
Upon doing so he ordered me to go over to the bow to 
ascertain, if possible, what damage had been done. I then 
found the holes above mentioned. Upon informing him of 
the facts, he ordered the ship’s head to be kept for the land, 
which bore N.W. by W. By this time we had lost sight of 
the chief officer’s boat, and the other steamer, which we 
supposed had sunk. We had not been on our course more 
than four or five minutes before we run over a boat and 
crew belonging to the other vessel, all of whom perished 
with the exception of one, who caught hold of a rope hang- 
ing over the bow. 
“ Directly the boat was seen, orders were given to stop 
the engine, which the chief engineer said could not be 
done, as the ship was fast sinking. In about 30 minutes 
all the lower fires were out, and, at least, there were six 
feet of water in the 6hip, fore and aft. By this time the 
confusion among the passengers was very great, but they 
used all efforts to assist the crew in keeping the pumps 
going, and in lightening the ship forward, for the purpose 
of endeavouring to get at the leak from inside, which was 
found to be useless, and numbers of them got iuto the boats, 
which were still hanging to the davits. In 45 minutes after 
this collision I came up from the forehold, and informed the 
captain that the water was on a level with the lower deck 
beams, and that it was impossible to get at the leak. I then 
asked him what he thought would be likely to be the fate 
of the ship, when he stated his belief to me that there 
was no hope of saving her. He then told me to see to my 
boats. On going to those on the port side I found them 
completely filled with men and women, and no possi- 
bility of getting near them. I immediately went to the 
starboard side, and ordered two of the crew to lower the 
guard-boat, and asked the captain what his intentions 
were, who replied that the ship's fate should be his. I 
then asked him if he would not allow his son to go 
with me, as I intended to take a boat, but he returned 
me the answer that he should share his fate. I then jumped 
into the boat, and was ordered by the captain to cut away 
the tackle-falls, and drop under the stern. I did so ; at which 
time about twenty persons, as I suppose, jumped overboard, 
of whom seventeen or eighteen were picked up. Fell in with 
another boat which had been lowered from the other side, 
and lightened her of part of her complement, leaving nine- 
teen in her and twenty in my own boat. The last sight we 
had of the ship her yards were level with the water, and the 
surface of the sea strewed with human beings who had jumped 
or fallen overboard, to whom, however, it was impossible for 
us to render any assistance, and we soon lost sight 
of all, as the fog continued to be very deuse. I 
then asked the boats' crews whether they were willing 
to be governed by me, which was unanimously approved, 
and I was put in complete command of both boats. We 
were then about 60 miles S.E. of Cape Race. Deeming it my 
duty, for the safety of all, to take the nearest course for the 
land, after pulling forty-two hours with nothing to guide 
us but the run of the sea — which I took to be heaving from 
the southward, and in a thick fog, which lasted all the time 
— we reached Broad Cove, some 12 miles north of Cape 
Race. We then proceeded by land to Renews, which we 
THE FIELD. 
reached on Friday last. I there obtained and took charge of 
a small schooner, which was hired by the purser and myself, 
and proceeded immediately in search of the wreck or her 
boats. We cruised round until yesterday, in a strong gale 
of wind from N.E., but could find no trace of ship or boats. 
No doubt is left on my mind as to the loss of the steamer 
Arctic." 
Passengers saved ; — Messrs. C. de Passiur, W. A. Young, 
W. W. Gilbert, J. Bogart, E. F. Mitchell, E. M. Tuss, W. 
Rathbone, J. Hennesy, H. Moore, De Meyer, W. Gihon, jun., 
J. M'Math, G. Dobbs, and servant to the Duke de Gram- 
mont. 
Crew saved: — Mr. Geib, purser; Mr. Baahlam, second 
officer ; Mark Graham, fourth officer, and twenty-eight 
seamen. 
PISCATORIAL PROLUSIONS. 
By the Hampshire Fly-Fisher. 
FISH-PRESERVING. 
( Continued from page 919). 
But the waters themselves afford means of self-pre- 
servation, at all events, against the use of nets. Stakes 
armed with stout nails, or tenter-hooks, driven iuto the bed 
of the river at short distances, large stones thrown into 
the deep holes, bundles of thorns sunk in a like way, or 
the cuttings of a tinman’s shop similarly deposited, are all 
effectual safeguards against the use of the net. And, unless 
in rivers where the fishery is kept for the purposes of com- 
merce, no net, other than perhaps a casting-net, should, 
with my consent, be allowed. In the first place, it disturbs 
the fish ; in the second place, it furnishes facilities for their 
destruction which the most careful proprietor cannot guard 
against. And this brings me to say a few words about 
keepers. I have often before asserted, and I here repeat my 
firm conviction, that the fair angler is the best of all keepers. 
To keepers themselves, so far as fish are concerned, I have a 
decided objection. In the outset — 
" Quis custodi et ipsos custodes ? " 
I never pass by a snug cottage by the water side, and see 
nets hung up to dry, day after day, but stray thoughts 
will force themselves upon me. How, and how often, and 
by whom are they used? We all know that no man 
can deal with them single handed. We all know that the lazy, 
idle vagabonds, who prefer anything to a regular day’s work, 
the hangers about in the public-house, who have no ostensible 
occupation, but are commonly reported to be rare bands at 
snaring a pheasant or wiring a hare, are the readiest persons 
to help when the drag-net is]used. Plenty of beer is to be bad, 
find then conies the evening carouse. It may be the keeper 
himself likes a glass of ale, and then the fellow-labourers by 
day become boon companions at night, and are, so to say, 
sprung up. It may be the keeper may yield to temptation, 
and appropriate a brace or two of fish to himself. This once 
done, he is no longer the master, but the servant, and the 
consequences may be readily anticipated. I have heard of 
such a party carousing at public-houses, after a day’s use of 
the net, under the pretence of catching jack, when numbers 
of fine trout have been given away in the tap-room to any 
one who would pay for beer. I have beard, too, of their 
returning with thirty or forty brace of fine fish ostensibly to 
supply their master's table. I wonder how many reached it. 
I know, too, that there are places, both in London and in the 
country, whore fish are always to be bad. In London I have 
seen them openly exposed for sale, and have been told, on 
inquiry, by the fishmongers that they have come from 
waters which I always believed to be closely preserved, and 
the proprietors of which never sold a fish in their lives. 
How, then, did they get to London ? That, indeed, may be 
a mystery ; but one thing is quite clear — if they went without 
the keeper's knowledge, his office might well be dispensed 
with as one of no practical utility. If he were a party to it, 
he is infinitely more dangerous than the poacher himself : 
and it must never be forgotten that these depredations almost 
defy detection — the waters tell no tales. It is otherwise with 
game ; they always have signs of their presence. If, too, I 
beat a stubble or turnip-field, or draw a cover three or four 
times, nnd find nothing, I am quite sure that there is no game 
there, and then the keeper is called to account. But it is 
otherwise by the water-side. Either the fish won’t rise, or 
they have done rising, or they are lying in the weeds, or 
something or other is sure to account for the absence of any 
show. The story always is, “ Lord, sir, if you had been with 
me this morning, when the sun was bright, or last night, 
when there was a rising, you never did see such a sight ; the 
river is full of fish,” &e., See. I may be very uncharitable, 
but I am become very sceptical of the truth of these stories ; 
and, as I said before, have strong doubts of the advantages 
derived from the employment of those by whom they are told. 
I f I thought it necessary to engage any one, either to look after 
my water, or, if need be, to supply me with fish, the person I 
should entrust with the duty should be a good angler — one who 
would feel a pleasure as well as au interest hi the discharge 
of his duty. He should have the same liberty as any other 
person to fish for himself, and for his own amusement as 
well as for me ; or if I required a constant supply of fish, that 
might be easily met without duty. There is seldom any 
difficulty in either diverting a back stream, or turning any 
little trench or rivulet into a stew, in which fish may be kept 
ready for use, as the poultry iu a farm-yard. But to bring 
this long yarn to a conclusion. Of three things I am quite 
sure : the first, that fair angling never injured a river ; 
secondly, that there were many more fish thirty years ago, 
when there was not half the fuss about preserving them that 
there is now ; and thirdly, that if there were fewer nets, there 
would not be half the cry out about the destruction of fish. 
Propagation of Salmon. — Some weeks ago we gave an 
extract from the report of the Commissioners of Fisheries 
in Ireland, iu which a salmon pond, prepared at Kingstown, 
is described, and where the fry are said to be in a thriving 
and healthy state. At the same time we took occasion to 
say that the plan recommended by the commissioners was, 
wc feared, more ingenious than practicable, as the experiment 
had been tried at Stonehaven precisely in the way pointed 
out, and had turned out a complete failure. We have made 
some inquiry into this matter, and a short description of the 
ponds referred to may not be unacceptable to such of our 
readers as have turned their attention to this subject. At 
Stonehaven two ponds were prepared — one fed from the 
fresh water of the river Cowie, and the other from the sea. 
They wore dug in the middle of a large park, and were, of 
course, immediately beside each other — in fact, there was 
communication between them by means of a lade or conduit. 
The fresh water pond was about 360 feet in circumference, 
aud had a constant stream running through it. At the close 
of the fishing season, from thirty to thirty-six salmon were 
taken from the sea and conveyed to this pond, where thev 
continued in a lively and thriving state, and where in due 
time they spawned. The young fish were seen in great 
numbers in the spring, at which time they had grown to two 
or three inches in size, when it was thought proper to change 
their habitat, and they were accordingly allowed to remove 
themselves to the largest or sea pond, which they did by the 
conduit previously referred to. The sea pond is upwards 
of 600 feet in circumference aud wasted by a pipe of 12 
inches, the wnter beginning to flow into it at half-tide. It 
is puddled with clay, and, we believe, causewayed around 
the margin. Into this receptacle, then, were the young fi.ffi 
received, and here they appeared to thrive for some time • 
but by-and-by they began to disappear, and in the course of 
two or three months they had gone, no one knew where. 
The parent fish were also transferred to the large pond ; but 
they too dwindled to mere shadows of their former selves, 
in most cases losing five or six pounds in weight, until at 
last it was resolved to take them from their prison-house 
and to look upon the experiment as having entirely failed. 
It is said that from first to last the sum expended in these 
operations was not much below £1,500. —Perthshire Adver- 
tiser. 
The River Fisn of India. — Fish throughout India is 
superabundant. The most approved of this class of dietary 
commodities may be named, iu the first place, the beetce or 
‘‘cock up.” This is a very delicate well-flavoured fish, and 
is not inferior to the codling of this country ; it is allowed 
to rank in Class A iu the Bengal catalogue of pisco-gastronomy. 
Besides the former we have mango fish, the hilsah, suleali, 
mullet, pufther, ruee, kutler, and other varieties of an infe- 
rior kind, with prawns in profusion. The mango fish is 
esteemed a great luxury. It is about the size of a Trent 
smelt, and when in season, assumes a brilliant croGeate hue. 
It derives its name from the circumstance of its colour, 
precisely resembling that of a ripe mango fruit, aud arrives 
at perfection in the month of April, at the time the mango 
tree begins to fructify. There is a striking feature in this fish, 
which consists of two tufts of long sprouting flexible antenna?, 
protruding from the anterior portion of the pectoral fins, 
which precisely resemble the whiskers of a cat. The tubisha, 
its native name, when soused iu vinegar, after the manner 
of mackerel, eats deliciously, nnd the hard roes, which are 
very large, are esteemed by Indian epicures as a very choice 
dainty, indeed, as the lie plus ultra piteous bon louche. The 
hilsah or sable fish is also held in good repute. It Funs from 
three to five pounds in weight, and partakes slightly of the 
flavour of salmon. When cut into slices and laid down in 
earthen jars, between green bruised tamarinds, with |a pro- 
portion of salt, it is looked upon as a great treat by Euro- 
peans at their breakfast tables. When served up these slices 
are broiled on a gridiron, and butter is laid over them, 
which gives a piquant relish to the taste of the old Bengalee, 
whose appetite is iu many instances exceedingly fastidious. 
The hilsah is on the latter account generally accepted under 
the name of the tamarind fish. The roe of the hilsah, like 
that of the barbel of the Thames, operates when eaten as a 
violent cathartic, and ought to be avoided. The suleali runs 
to a large size. I have witnessed them when taken off the 
"Sandheads” one hundredweight each. The same is a 
coarse eating commodity, and is used chiefly by the native 
population, who first thoroughly salt it, aud afterwards dry 
it in the sun. They then convert it iuto burtah. This 
when eaten with bread aud butter is not so much amiss, but 
no person, unless he was restricted to a very bad taste, 
would, if he could avail himself of any other fish preferable 
to it, court it as a feature in his dietary. The most valuable 
portions of the suleali are the bladders, which are invariably 
bought up as soon as the fish are caught, nnd consigned 
direct to the Chinese markets. The latter people have held 
this monopoly in their hands exclusively from time imme- 
morial, nnd it was only so late as the year 1833, that whilst 
I was residing at Fultah, on the shores of the river Hooghly, 
I discovered this fact. The bladders, when collected in any 
reasonable quantities, are shipped for Macao, where they 
undergo the process of purification, and after undergoing 
the operation of cutting or threading, the material is denomi- 
nated striped isinglass. This has been Bold in Calcutta as 
high as 12 rupees (24s.) per lb. ; whilst the bladders in their 
raw condition when taken from the fish, may be bought for 
one anna each (three halfpence), the former weighing about 
one pound avoirdupoise. It is somewhat surprising that the 
English merchants of Calcutta have not long since taken 
advantage of the isinglass trade, which promises to prove 
one of the most steady aud lucrative pursuits to which their 
mercantile attention could be possible directed. The 
chingaree (Indian prawn) abounds in all; the rivers and 
tanks throughout the country. The smaller samples are 
boiled and eaten at the breakfast table, but the larger sorts 
are somewhat coarse, and are, for the most part, curried after 
a peculiar manner, and form a dish named chingaree do 
piazzur. The latter proves a very favourite nic-nac both 
among natives aud Europeans. The crab (kankaree) is 
similarly used. Ruee and kutler correspond with the carp 
and bream of England, while the pufthur is equal to our river 
perch. We have good oysters on the Coromandel coast, 
equal to the Feversham kinds, that come from the Chilkah 
Lake. The Chittagong rock oysters are very large and coarse, 
and present a green, unwholesome complexion. There are 
some fine turtle taken iu the Bay of Bengal, aud all the rivers 
teem with lampreys aud eel. 
/rmiinsnnrii nnir jMnsonii: SitblligBnw. 
MEETINGS. 
Monday, Oct. lCth. — Lodge of Emulation, No. 21, Albion Tavern, 
Aldorsgnte-street ; Lodge of Felicity, No. 00, London Tavern; Lodge 
of Tranquility, No. 218, George and Vulture. 
Tuesday, Oct. 1 7th. — Mount Lebanon Lodge, No. 87, Green Man 
Tavern, Toolcy-strcct, Southwark ; Enoch Chapter, No. 11, Freemasons' 
Tavern ; Mount Sinai Chapter, No. 49, Gun Tavern, Pimlico. 
Wednesday, Oct lsth. — Gen. Com. Grand Chap, at 3; Royal Athel- 
stano Lodge, No. 7, George and Blue Boar; St. George’s Lodge, No. 164, 
Yacht Tavern, Greenwich; Lodge of Sincerity, No. 203, Crooked 
Billet, Tower-hill ; Oak Lodge, No. 226, Radley’s Hotel. 
Thursday, Oet. 19tl). — House Com. Fern. School at 2 ; Globe Lodge, 
No. 23 (Emergency), Freemason's Tavern; Gihon Lodge, No. 67, 
Bridge House Hotel, Southwark ; Constitutional Lodge, No. 63, Exeter* 
hall Hotel, Strand; Lodge of Prosperity, No. 78, Horn's Tavern, 
Hackney-road; Manchester Lodge, No. 209, Old Red Lion, Bridge- 
street Blackfriars; Yarborough Chapter, No. 812, George Tavern, 
Coinmorcial-road-east 
Friday, Oct. 20th. — Middlesex Lodge, No. 107, Thatchcd-houso 
Tavern, St. James's. 
Saturday, Oct. 21st — Lodge of Honour and Generosity, No. 191, 
London Tavern. 
[Much masonic matter is in type, and, if possible, shall appear in our 
Sccoud Edition. — E d.] 
