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On deck the confusion was equally great and destructive. Many of the boats were carried away; the great chain cables rolled from side to side until they were actually polished bright by the friction, while they were a source of perpetual danger to the crew in the performance of their duties. The oil tanks broke loose, and after tumbling about for a time fell down through the upper hatchway. And the two cows that fell with their cowshed down into the ladies' cabin were killed by the violence of the shock. The chief cook was flung against one of the paddle-boxes, and having put out his hand to save himself, had his wrist sprained. was then flung towards the other side, and coming against a stanchion in the way, had his leg fractured in three places. One lady had a rib fractured; another her shoulder dislocated; another her wrist. These are only specimens selected to show what the poor people were subjected to. It is said that there were twenty-two fractures altogether, among passengers and crew, besides innumerable cuts and bruises. The cabins were flooded to the depth of several feet, and broken articles of furniture floated about everywhere. The luggage in the luggage room, which had not been secured, was hurled about until trunks, boxes, valises, &c., striking against each other and against the sides of the compartment, were utterly destroyed, the very leather of the trunks being torn into small shreds.

Throughout all this terrible scene the passengers behaved, with one or two exceptions, admirably. The ladies especially displayed great courage, remaining in accordance with the desires intimated to them, in their cabins, while the gentlemen did their best to keep order. On the Friday they appointed a sort of committee or police force, of upwards of twenty strong, who took the duty in turns of going round

the vessel, keeping order, carrying information to, and reassuring, the ladies and children. Four only of these, who were called directors, had the privilege of speaking to the captain during the storm, thus saving him from the annoyance of repeated and ceaseless questioning.

The crew also did their duty nobly. Captain Walker acted throughout with calmness, courage, and good judgment, and from the tenor of resolutions passed at an indignation meeting held by the passengers after their return into port, it would appear that they entirely exonerated him from any blame in reference to the disaster. The fitting up of temporary steering gear, which was begun on the Sunday when the storm moderated, was a work of great difficulty and danger. It was accomplished chiefly through the courage and cleverness of two men, John Carroll and Patrick Grant, who volunteered for it and were let down over the stern at the imminent risk of their lives; and an American gentleman, Mr. Towle, a civil engineer, rendered great assistance in superintending and directing the work.

It was not until two o'clock on Sunday morning that the vessel got up steam in her screw boilers and steered for Cork Harbour. The whole of the iron work of both paddle wheels was carried entirely away. The ladder leading up to the larboard paddle-box was twisted in an extraordinary manner. The boats on the starboard side were all gone, and those on the other side were hanging loosely from their fastenings. Altogether the great ship presented a most melancholy spectacle as she was towed into port.

At the meeting of the passengers already referred to, the first resolution was expressive of their grateful acknowledgments to Almighty God for his kind care in protecting them during the storm, and bringing them in safety out of

their danger. The second condemned the directors, and stated that "The Great Eastern was sent to sea thoroughly unprepared to face the storms which every one must expect to meet with in crossing the Atlantic; and that, if it had not been for the extraordinary strength of the hull, and the skill which was manifested in the construction of the vessel and its engines, in all human probability every soul on board would have perished."

It has been said that if the ship had been more deeply laden she would have weathered the gale more easily. This, if true, is an argument in her favour. But in viewing the whole circumstances of this and previous disasters, and, indeed, the vessel's career from the launch to the present day we cannot avoid being deeply impressed with the fact that the Great Eastern has not yet had fair play. In her construction and general arrangements there have been some grave, and numerous more or less trivial errors. From first to last there has been a little pardonable, and a great deal of culpable, not to say gross, mismanagement; but the Great Eastern steam ship cannot yet, with justice, be pronounced a failure. It is possible that she may yet live to ride out many a wild Atlantic storm, and perchance become-who knows?—the first of a race of ponderous giants who shall yet walk the deep,-to the utter confusion of timid croakers, and to the immense advantage of the world.

THE mysteries and the wonders of the polar regions were first made known to us by those adventurous mariners whose chief pursuit was the capture of the whale; and the people who first prosecuted the whale-fishery as a commercial pursuit were undoubtedly the Frenchmen who dwelt on the shores of the Bay of Biscay in the twelfth century.

Those Frenchmen of the middle ages, however, attacked only such whales as frequented their own seas; the English and the Dutch were the first who followed that finned giant called the "true whale " to his own peculiarly loved haunts in the frozen seas of the north, and there, amid perils such

as other navigators had not even dreamed of, attacked and captured so many fish that the trade soon became, and has ever since continued, extremely lucrative.

It is not our purpose to record the history of the whale fishery. Passing from this preliminary reference to its commencement, we proceed to give a few anecdotes illustrative of the peculiar dangers to which those mariners are exposed who push their ships into the Northern Seas. The substance of the following paragraphs is gathered from an interesting account of the northern whale fishery in the wellknown work entitled, "Polar Seas and Regions."

DANGERS FROM ICE.

A furious storm assailed one of the whale ships, which belonged to the Dutch, when near the edge of the Spitzbergen ice in the year 1639. Though the ship was violently agitated, the captain succeeded in steering her clear of the great bank and thought himself out of danger, when suddenly two immense icebergs appeared before him right in the course in which the wind was driving his vessel. An attempt was made to penetrate between the bergs, but the vessel was driven against one with a shock so terrible that it was immediately disabled and seemed about to sink.

By cutting away one of the masts, she was enabled to right; but as she continued to take in water rapidly, several of the boats were launched. These being instantly overcrowded, sank, and all in them perished. Those who remained found their condition becoming more and more desperate. The fore part of the vessel sauk so deep in the water that it became almost impossible to stand on deck; while one of the masts broke, fell into the sea, and carried a number of the crew along with it, involving them in the fate of those who