NINTH EDITION; CORRECTED AND MATERIALLY IMPROVED, FROM
MANY ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS,

BY ALEX. G. FINDLAY,

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR R. H. LAURIE,

CHART-SELLER TO THE ADMIRALTY, THE HON. CORPORATION OF TRINITY-HOUSE, ETC.

No. 53, FLEET STREET.

"O'ER the glad waters of the dark blue Sea,
Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our EMPIRE, and behold our HOME."

(Lord Byron.)

ADDENDA, &c.

Page 22. A flashing light has been constructed 2 miles E.N.E. from the outer anchorage of Abrevrac'h, at the East extremity of Viérge Island; it is a bright light, varied by a red flash every 4 minutes, is 108 feet high, and is visible 15 miles.

Two smaller lights have also been established at Abrevrac'h; one red and fixed on Vrac'h Island, to the eastward of the entrance, at 59 feet, visible 4 miles; the other, bright and fixed, on the tower of Plouguerneau Church, nearly 4 miles S.E. by E., by compass, from the previous one. It will stand 226 feet above the sea, and is visible 10 miles distant. It is also intended to establish two smaller inner lights.

Page 418. A rock and shoal, in latitude 16° 59' N., longitude 21° 30′ W., is stated to have been discovered by the master of the brig Emily, of London. This rock, (which would be about 85 miles N.E. of Bonavista), is stated to be about 2 feet above water and 12 yards long, and of a gray colour; the shoal extended from the rock about 24 cables' length and 1 in breadth, running due East.-Supplement to the Globe, September 30th, 1845. This would seem to be an addition to the oft-repeated reports of the Bonetta Rock, which have re-appeared with such pertinacity as almost to lead to the belief of its existence.

To the Binder.-The Chart of the Hurricanes is to be mounted on a guard, and precede the Title page.

[Entered at Stationers' Hall.]

PRINTED BY J. RIDER, 14, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE, LONDON.

ADDRESS.

THIS work is designed to impart to the Navigator the MEANS OF SAFETY over the ATLANTIC; to develope the silent and imperceptible CAUSES of ERROR and SHIPWRECK; to point out the BEST ROUTES to the numerous Ports of this Ocean; and to communicate useful hints on GENERAL NAUTICAL PRACTICE.

Eight Editions have already been honoured by the public approbation; and, stimulated by such encouragement, no attention has been spared in rendering a Ninth still more worthy of acceptance.

A comparison of the latter editions with those that preceded them, will show how much we have been indebted to numerous friends for recent and important information. We have had, again and again, to thank CAPTAIN LIVINGSTON, of Liverpool, for his numerous and valuable communications. In like manner have we been indebted to LIEUT. JOHN EVANS (a), R.N., and to Mr. EDWARD DUNSTERVILLE, whose information more fully appears in another work.*

To the subject of Currents, in particular, it will be found that our attention has been directed. These currents have at length excited that inquiry into their nature and causes which the importance of the subject demands. This has been especially evinced by the curious and elaborate work composed by the late MAJOR RENNELL, which has confirmed, generally, all that we had previously stated, and has, moreover, explained several essential particulars before unknown. Further investigations have been promised; so that we may expect, ultimately, an accurate view of all the Atlantic Currents, as they predominate in the different seasons.

We enlarge the more especially upon the Currents, because, as now treated on, they are to seamen almost a NEW SUBJECT. To the majority it is, at least, one on which they particularly require information. If this position be doubted, consult the melancholy events produced by them, which are described in the present volume, and take into con

"THE COLOMBIAN NAVIGATOR," Editions of 1839.

sideration the incomparable number of similar cases which must necessarily have escaped our notice; and of which many have been the indubitable effects of a confidence arising from ignorance and self-conceit.*

In presenting the former Edition, we had to return our thanks, for their valuable communications, to John Mackellar, Esq., since RearAdmiral of the White; and to the Mercantile Captains, James Wallace Monteath, of Liverpool; John Wilson and Thomas Hamlin, of Greenock; Wm. J. Capes, then of the Lady Mackworth; John Steele Park, of the Carshalton Park; and Thos. Wilson, of the Henry Wellesley. To several of these gentlemen, to the late Captain Midgley, and to Captain George Cheveley, we have again been obliged for important and valuable additions, now incorporated in the work.

To Lieut. Chas. Hare, R.N., we are indebted for the route described by him for ships bound to New Brunswick, &c., in the succeeding pages 268, 269. This route is so evidently and greatly advantageous, to every commander and merchant in that trade, as to demand particular notice. To the friendship of Mr. Wm. Heron, of Greenock, (since deceased,) we have been indebted for several matters of importance; among which will be found some explanation of the currents about the southern coast of Newfoundland; currents which, while unknown, have probably been the cause of so many wrecks on that coast.

The important communications of an accomplished officer, Lieut. Greevelink, late of the Dutch Royal Navy, which have added so considerably to a due knowledge of the West Indian Seas, have been incorporated and acknowledged in the Colombian Navigator; and so much of a general nature, as the subject required, has been re-introduced in the present volume.

In the Tables of Positions and Sailing Directions, many additions have been made from the Observations and Surveys of the officers appointed to the surveying service by their Lordships of the Admiralty, as

The numerous wrecks that formerly occurred on the rocks and islands of Scilly, from ignorance of the tides and currents, are notorious. Add to these the wrecks, still more numerous, which have occurred on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and Africa; upon which side of the ocean the currents have uniformly produced more mischief than on the opposite coasts. Among these were the British frigate Apollo, and about forty ships under her convoy, on the coast of Portugal, as described hereafter, page 177; of the vessel with M. de Brisson, in 1787, on the coast upon which, in 1810, the American ship Charles was wrecked, as noticed and described in our pages 180 and 305; of the Montezuma, page 181; of the Eliza and Olymphe, both in 1827, page 182; of the brig Commerce, page 306; of the Oswego, 308; and Medusa, 310; about thirty other vessels lost on the African coast, of which, according to the respectable authority of Mr. Jackson, about seventeen were English, and five American, page 304; twenty-six others wrecked on the Bar of Senegal, at different times, according to M. Galbery, page 321.

Many ships, also, have been lost, by the currents, &c. on Allegranza, Graciosa, and Santa Clara, of the Canaries; the Hartwell, East Indiaman, on the reefs of Bonavista, page 417; the Cynthia, George, Cora, &c., on the South shore of Barbadoes, page 194; and, by similar causes, several others, on the Roccas, &c., off the Brasilian coast. See, with respect to those about Newfoundland, including the Tweed, the Comus, the Harpooner, the Drake, and the Spence, page 230; and to these may be added the Lady Sherbrooke, froin Londonderry to the River St. Lawrence, lost near Port au Basque, East of Cape Ray, Newfoundland, in July, 1831, when 300 persons perished!

well as by other scientific men. The new documents more especially include the Memoir and Surveys of the Baron Roussin, of the French Navy; with those of Captains Wm. F. Owen, Richard Owen, Edward Belcher, Thos. Boteler, Wm. Mudge, A. T. E. Vidal, John Washington, and H. W. Bayfield, of the British Navy; Colonel Sabine, of the Royal Artillery; with many articles from the Nautical Magazine, &c., as noticed and acknowledged hereafter.

The Directors of the Deposito Hydrografico of Madrid, have done us the honour of translating for, and inserting into, the Derrotero de las Antillas, all that we had heretofore collected on the subject of CURRENTS, and have superadded thereto some additional and valuable remarks, which we have incorporated in this work. Numerous facts, of late date, illustrating the general set of currents, will be found described under their proper heads.

In the APPENDIX, also, will be found some further illustration of the same subject, with several additions on Magnetism and Chronometers, and a brief explanation of Professor Barlow's invaluable mode of counteracting the aberration of the compass, caused by the local attraction of the ship, &c.

The summary descriptions of all the LIGHTHOUSES on the different coasts, will, we trust, be considered as an important and useful addition; inasmuch as they will, if attended to, prevent those accidents which have so frequently happened from mistaking one light for another, examples of which will be noticed hereafter.

Our ardent wishes are, as our strenuous efforts have been, devoted to the improvement of Hydrography; and we, therefore, again, earnestly solicit communications for future correction, &c. Such communications are particularly acceptable, because ORIGINAL and AUTHENTIC; and, therefore, more to be depended upon than the imperfect statements commonly given in newspapers and other publications, as we have already had occasion to notice. The great importance of the latter has, however, been admitted; and we may here repeat the observation that, "A series of such notices, PROPERLY AUTHENTICATED, announcing the discovery and position of DANGERS, new determinations of the situations. of places, &c., with the particulars of the observations, and names of the observers, would be very beneficial to the public service. Had such a measure been adopted years ago, many fine ships which, and brave sailors who, have been lost, might still have been in existence." We have urged this argument repeatedly, and have had the pleasure of seeing that, to a certain degree, the suggestion has been adopted.

The Volume lately published, entitled A Sailing Directory for the Ethiopic or Southern Atlantic Ocean, may be considered as a continu