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Article MISCELLANEOUS. ← Page 4 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Miscellaneous.
Roos and crew of H . M . S . Algerine . Owing to the remote position of the Cape , the means employed were of necessity simple—a capstan , cable , and diving-bell , one-fourth of a ton , made from a ship ' s tank . During heavy swells , the oscillations of the bell were from twenty to twenty-five feet in extent , consequently little could he done ; in heavy weather the party was employed in devising means , to blast and rend
the rocks around the wreck , ivhich was accomplished by cylinders , & c . After some search , the clivers discovered the bed of the treasure , and first found a quantity of specie and old church plate , mixed up with decayed meat , the stench of which was most disgusting . AVhales sometimes visited the Cape . One of these monsters occasioned no small alarm in the minds of those of the party who were conducting the
operations on the surface , for it approached within ten yards of the spot ivhere the bell had been let down ; luckily , however , it turned away . By a great and simultaneous effort , another rock was blasted , and a large sum of money was found . ' In short , from repeated exertions , about 15-16 ths of the ivhole property was recovered , after which the captain and his companions departed to Rio de Janeiro .
BRITISH MUSEUM . —In a recent return to Parliament , respecting old coins purchased by the Museum in 1833 , it stated that no coins were sold during tliis period ; but it is now generally known , that a sale of duplicate coins is contemplated , of the value of £ 500 . —Vide Annual Report to Parliament in 1832 . AVeuld it not be better that these coins , as well as all duplicates of books , prints , and objects of natural history ,
instead of being sold , as they must be , at a very great loss , and many of them for a mere trifle , should be ordered b y Parliament to be presented to some of our provincial libraries and museums , as those of Birmingham , Bristol , Leeds , Liverpool , Manchester , Newcastle , Norwich , the Ipswich library for the use of the county of Suffolk , & c .
At the late conflagration in the house of Mr . Fairburn , hook-binder , Duke-street , Adelphi , a considerable quantity of valuable manuscripts were destroyed , and among them that of the School for Scandal , in the handwriting of the late R . B . Sheridan , Esq ., ivhich Sir G . Chetwynd hacl taken the day previously to Mr . Fairburn to be bound up ivith others , and ivhich he intended as a present to the British Museum .
It was rendered still more interesting , having several interlineations and emendations in the handwriting also of Mr . Sheridan , ivhich marked the quickness of his conception in improving several passages which , in their original state , it seemed almost impossible to mend . As a curiosit y the destruction of the manuscript is a literary loss which cannot be repaired .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Miscellaneous.
Roos and crew of H . M . S . Algerine . Owing to the remote position of the Cape , the means employed were of necessity simple—a capstan , cable , and diving-bell , one-fourth of a ton , made from a ship ' s tank . During heavy swells , the oscillations of the bell were from twenty to twenty-five feet in extent , consequently little could he done ; in heavy weather the party was employed in devising means , to blast and rend
the rocks around the wreck , ivhich was accomplished by cylinders , & c . After some search , the clivers discovered the bed of the treasure , and first found a quantity of specie and old church plate , mixed up with decayed meat , the stench of which was most disgusting . AVhales sometimes visited the Cape . One of these monsters occasioned no small alarm in the minds of those of the party who were conducting the
operations on the surface , for it approached within ten yards of the spot ivhere the bell had been let down ; luckily , however , it turned away . By a great and simultaneous effort , another rock was blasted , and a large sum of money was found . ' In short , from repeated exertions , about 15-16 ths of the ivhole property was recovered , after which the captain and his companions departed to Rio de Janeiro .
BRITISH MUSEUM . —In a recent return to Parliament , respecting old coins purchased by the Museum in 1833 , it stated that no coins were sold during tliis period ; but it is now generally known , that a sale of duplicate coins is contemplated , of the value of £ 500 . —Vide Annual Report to Parliament in 1832 . AVeuld it not be better that these coins , as well as all duplicates of books , prints , and objects of natural history ,
instead of being sold , as they must be , at a very great loss , and many of them for a mere trifle , should be ordered b y Parliament to be presented to some of our provincial libraries and museums , as those of Birmingham , Bristol , Leeds , Liverpool , Manchester , Newcastle , Norwich , the Ipswich library for the use of the county of Suffolk , & c .
At the late conflagration in the house of Mr . Fairburn , hook-binder , Duke-street , Adelphi , a considerable quantity of valuable manuscripts were destroyed , and among them that of the School for Scandal , in the handwriting of the late R . B . Sheridan , Esq ., ivhich Sir G . Chetwynd hacl taken the day previously to Mr . Fairburn to be bound up ivith others , and ivhich he intended as a present to the British Museum .
It was rendered still more interesting , having several interlineations and emendations in the handwriting also of Mr . Sheridan , ivhich marked the quickness of his conception in improving several passages which , in their original state , it seemed almost impossible to mend . As a curiosit y the destruction of the manuscript is a literary loss which cannot be repaired .