delightfully, our little bark bounding over the sea like a "thing of life." Our competitors, having the advantage of us, were a short distance ahead by noon, and just at this moment we were called upon to decide an important point in the manœuvring of our vessel; it was questionable if we could weather the cape without tacking, by which we should lose ground and be beaten; still our captain held on his course. When near the cape we discerned a narrow passage between it and a small island, through which our captain determined to run, heedless of rocks or shoals, and thus obtain an even chance with our rivals. The gentlemen shook their heads distrustfully, and advised the captain to be sure of his affair before venturing on dangerous ground; but he decided the matter by bearing away for the strait, and in a few minutes we were dashing gayly into it, our little skipper congratula. ting himself on the prospect of being the first to make our destined port. The island was found to be an immense rock, towering far above the masthead; and being to wind. ward of us, it in a moment took all the wind from our sails, and left us drifting towards the perpendicular rocks of Cape Colonna, a quarter of a mile distant, on which the sea was breaking violently. It did not require much skill to divine what must be our fate if some decisive step was not immediately taken. Both anchors were let go, but they would not hold us, and we dragged them to within one hundred yards of the rocks. Then the guns were all lashed together, and a cable being attached to them, they too were thrown over; these held us for some time, until one of the chains parted, by which the vessel changed her position in such a manner as to place us opposite a cleft in the rock where there was a small sand beach, just wide enough to receive her in case she went ashore. We desired the captain to cut his cables, and run the vessel high and dry into this place of retreat so providentially provided for us; but he would not consent to it, he said, while he had yet two good anchors ahead. In a moment it was too late, for the other chain broke, and the vessel swung round again opposite the perpendicular wall of rock, hundreds of feet above our heads, and within fifty feet of us, the sea dashing against it, and the spray returning upon us. In this situation night set in, and the wind began to rise. Our fate seemed now inevitable, and we set about preparing for the worst. The gentlemen ordered some provisions to be put into bags, and charged the servants to be sure and not lose hold of them in the extremity that was approaching; meanwhile I was engaged in securing my valuables, not forgetting some warm clothing and a blanket or two. We all assembled on deck to await the moment when our small hempen cable should part, and the vessel should dash to pieces against the rock. We were half an hour in this state of suspense, when the wind shifted in such a way as made it barely possible for us to escape, provided we could get sail on the vessel, and give her a slight impulse forward at the moment when we should cut the cable. This was a very hazardous business, but there was no other chance left for us. It would require a better sailor than I am to describe, and one more versed in nautical science than your. self to understand, the very skilful manœuvre which saved us. Suffice it to say that we hoisted sails, brought the end of the cable to the stern, and then suddenly letting it go from the bow, the jerk gave the vessel a sudden impulse, when the cable was instantly cut, the sails fortunately filled in a moment, and in another we were running along broadside to the mountain sea wall, so close that every wave that passed beneath us dashed against the rock, and returning, struck our side, the spray completely drenching us. We ran on in this way for fifteen minutes, actually in the break. ers, and nothing but the rebound of the sea keeping us from dashing against the rocks towards which the wind was im. pelling us, and our little bark, with her quivering sails, striving for the mastery; never in my life have I passed a quar. ter of an hour in such breathless anxiety; for, in the first place, when we cut our cable, had the vessel" missed stays,” as the sailors term it, or had she, after escaping that peril, been headed off a single point of the wind, we should all have perished in an instant in the raging surf, without a shelf or crevice in the perpendicular rock to save one of us. Thanks to Providence, we escaped; and I shall ever be grateful to our little Englishman for the skill he evinced in the accomplish. ment of this nautical feat, and to the gentleman who first suggested the possibility of performing it. When clear of the rocks which formed the point of the cape, we stood out into the open sea for the night, and the next morning found us sailing up the Egean, with the islands of Ægina and the Morea on our left, and the shores of Attica on our right. We had a fine view of Cape Colonna at sunrise; and Beside the Cape's projecting verge are placed A range of columns, long by Time defaced;" which, sparkling in the sunbeams, were the first beautiful ruins of Greece that met my eye. As we approached the port of Athens, we descried sev. eral frigates at anchor in the roadstead; coming nearer to them, we saw the star-spangled banner flying at their peak, and finally recognised one of them as old Ironsides herself, riding in majesty among her consorts over the waters once covered with the fleets of hostile Persia. We hove to, while the gentlemen took the boat and went to pay their respects to the commander of the squadron. But, as we had come from Turkey, we were what is called, in quarantine parlance, "sporco" (unclean), therefore the gentlemen were deprived of the pleasure of going on board; but they conversed with the commodore under his cabin windows, and obtained late news from home. The frigates all sailed that night, one for home, and the others for the Levant. We soon found ourselves at anchor in the ancient port of the Piræus, five miles from Athens, and were condemned to a quarantine of seventeen days, which was entirely unexpected to us. We discharged our vessel, and went on board an old man-of-war hulk to ride out our time of probation. We had the vessel entirely to ourselves, and her ample decks, covered with awnings, afforded a fine promenade. With the assistance of a spendidore we made out to live exceedingly well, and, as soon as we could get a letter up to the city, we had a visit from the Rev. Mr. Hill, through whose exertions the time of our imprisonment was reduced to nine days. We were also allowed the privilege of rowing round the harbour and rambling over the shores, attended by a guard. The harbour of the Piræus is not much larger than a goodsized millpond, being about half a mile long by a quarter of a mile in width. There is also a small inner harbour, where the Greeks in ancient times used to lay up their wargallies in ordinary when not in commission. There are no vestiges of antiquity around it save a few old foundations. At the upper end of the harbour is a small mole, inside of which crowds all the commercial marine of Athens, consisting of a few feluccas from five to twenty tons-mere market-boats for the transport of wine, oil, grain, and vegetables for the support of the new city of Athens. A short distance from us was anchored a specimen of the redoubtable navy of Bavarian Greece, in the shape of a small ten-gun brig; and near her was the Smyrna mail packet-brig. At the head of the port are a few scattered storehouses recently built, and all the rest is dreary desolation. How different this picture from the one presented by this port of ancient Athens in the days of her glory! In this little har. bour were assembled the ships of that proud but unfortunate expedition which Alcibiades led against Syracuse. What AN ATHENIAN ARMADA. 285 a splendid sight must here have been exhibited on that grand occasion, when the Athenian naval power," in all the pride and panoply of war," was sweeping out to sea, and the whole amphitheatre around was crowded with the popula tion of Athens and strangers, who, as Thucydides says, "attended merely for the pleasure of gazing at the means intended to accomplish a great and stupendous design; for never did any one state of Greece before this time equip by its own strength such a powerful armament. It was the most glorious fleet that at this day the world had seen." The commander of each ship vied with the others in the decorations of his own vessel, and expended vast sums from his own private fortunes. "When the fleet was ready to sail, silence was proclaimed by sound of trumpet;" "solemn prayers" for the success of the expedition were proffered aloud "by the voice of a herald," so that the vast assemblage might hear and respond. "Goblets filled with wine ran the circle of the whole armament, and every crew, as well as the commanders, poured out libations, and drank success and happiness out of gold and silver cups. And now, the pæan being sung and the libations finished, they put out to sea." While standing upon the Munychian promontory, I al. most fancied I could see the lines of gallant triremes stretching from the Piræus to Ægina, the first point of rendezvous for the expedition. Thence I followed them in imagination throughout that long and disastrous campaign of Sicily, and finally I could almost fancy that in the crowd of little Epidaurian ferry-boats I beheld the unfortunate fugitives from the defeat of Syracuse, returning home only to behold the temporary overthrow of the long-cherished popular govern ment. "The pride of glory, the exalted height, The frequent trophies on the land and sea, |
