figments of
diseased fancy, that nauseating romance about virgins betrothed and
lady love, which in so many instances elbow decency and common sense
from the pages of our periodical literature as "unwelcome guests."

It has frequently been said that sailors, above every other class of
men, have irrepressible hankerings after the wild and wonderful.
Certain it is, that he who will sit on a ship's forecastle of a bright
moonlight evening, will hear of "hair-breadth escapes," and perilous
adventures no less chivalrous and incredible than those which
Cervantes and the biographer of Baron Munchausen have attributed to
their respective heroes. Although the following incidents may excite
no very thrilling interest, they have at least the merit of truth. The
actors in this short drama are still on the stage, ready to testify to
this narrative of facts.

On the morning of the 14th of April, 1828, the ship Gold Hunter glided
majestically out of the Liverpool docks, with fair wind and tide. The
Mersey, from Liverpool to Black Rock, a distance of about three miles,
was literally covered with vessels of every character and nation,
which had taken advantage of the fair wind to clear the harbor. Here
might be seen the little French lugger, carrying back to Bordeaux what
its fruit and brandy had bought, as frisky in its motions as the
nervous monsieur who commanded it. At a little distance, the
square-shouldered Antwerper, sitting on the elevated poop of his
galliot, was enjoying, with his crew, a glorious smoke. You could
almost see them (and that, too, without very keen optics) put care
into their tobacco-pipes, anxiety curled in fume over their heads. A
not unfrequent sight was the star-spangled banner floating in beauty
over the bosom of the wave. The serenity of the atmosphere, the
ever-changing brilliancy of the scene, the tout ensemble, were well
calculated to excite the most pleasurable emotions. Every thing seemed
to give the most flattering assurances of a voyage of unruffled
peacefulness.

This large squadron continued comparatively unbroken until it reached
Holyhead, where such vessels as were bound for Scotland, or the north
of Ireland, bore away from those which were bound down the channel.
The Gold Hunter, whose destination was a port in the United States,
was, of course, in company with the latter class. Those on board of
her very naturally felt great gratification in perceiving that she was
not only the most splen