t recommend to the captain or pilots either coming to an
anchor, or standing on the other tact, for the better security of H.M.
late ship Crescent.'

'The court was further of opinion that every exertion was made on the
part of the remaining officers and crew for the safety of the
Crescent.'

THE MINOTAUR.

His Majesty's Ship Minotaur, of 74 guns, Captain John Barrett, was
ordered by Admiral Sir James Saumarez to protect the last Baltic
fleet, in the year 1810.

After seeing the convoy through the Belt, the ship sailed from
Gottenburg about the 15th December, and, with a strong breeze from the
east, shaped her course alone for the Downs.

At eight o'clock, in the evening of the 22nd, Lieutenant Robert Snell
took charge of the watch; the wind was then blowing hard from the
south-east, the weather thick and hazy, and the ship, under
close-reefed topsails, and courses, was going at the rate of four
knots an hour.

At nine o'clock, the captain gave orders that soundings should be
taken every hour, under the immediate direction of the pilot of the
watch. At midnight, the pilot desired that the vessel might be put on
the other tack, and all hands were instantly turned up to carry out
his directions, and Lieutenant Snell was in the act of informing the
captain of what was going on, when the ship struck.

The helm was ordered to be put up, but the first shock had carried
away the tiller; fruitless attempts were then made to back the ship
off, but she had struck with such force upon the sand that it was
impossible to move her. The carpenter now reported fifteen feet water
in the hold; and it increased so rapidly that in a few minutes it rose
above the orlop deck. The officers and the whole of the ship's company
were assembled upon deck, and the universal question passed from mouth
to mouth--'On what coast have we struck?'

The pilot of the watch maintained that they were on some shoal in the
English coast; the other pilot, however, was of opinion that they were
upon the North Haacks, and this proved to be actually the case.

For a few minutes after the ship first struck there was some degree of
confusion on board; but this soon subsided; order and tranquillity
were restored, and the men all exerted themselves to the utmost,
although she struck the ground so heavily, it was almost impossible
for them to keep their feet.

The masts were cut away, and other means taken to lighten the ship;
and guns were fired