the Victory, particularly the Vigo, no less than
eighty-four miles; but none of the ships had observations for the
chronometers, and therefore the commander-in-chief determined on
running by the reckoning of his own ship; and had he not done so, the
whole fleet would have shared the fate of the Hero in the same spot!
At ten P.M. soundings were struck on the broad fourteen, which cleared
up all doubts on the subject; on the next day the gale moderated, the
fleet passed the Gallopere light and anchored to stop tide; on
Christmas-day passed down Channel, and in the evening anchored in St.
Helen's.

I may here observe with propriety, that I have since found the
deviation from the true course, which by pilots and masters of ships
had been attributed to _indraft_, &c. was occasioned entirely by the
_deviation_ of the magnetic needle when steering to the S.W. the point
on which the attraction found in almost every ship was, by a series of
experiments, established to be, from one to two points; (see Ross's
voyage 1818;) while it is notorious that if the ship was standing N.E.
the opposite point, it had been always found that not only no
allowance for _indraft_ was necessary, but that the error in the
reckoning was on the opposite way; and we therefore conclude that many
ships have been lost for want of making the necessary allowance for
the _deviation_ of the compass in steering across the North Sea, in a
storm from N.W.

A correspondence was carried on with the Captains of this squadron
without leading to any satisfactory reason for the extraordinary
errors in the reckonings of each ship, and it is mentioned here to
warn those who may be in a similar situation, and to induce them to
obtain the errors of their compasses, for which plain rules have been
given, if they are not provided with Professor Barlow's apparatus.

On the arrival of the Victory at Spithead, Sir James applied for leave
of absence, and arriving in town received the unqualified approbation
of Ministers, and of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, for his
wise and firm conduct on this critical situation of affairs in the
Baltic, and for the important service he had rendered the country in
maintaining peace, and in supporting the dignity of the Crown and the
best interests of the community.

CHAPTER XIII.

1812.

State of Europe in 1812.--Critical situation of Sweden and
Russia.--Advance of Buonaparte.--Sir James Saumarez resumes the