PUBLISHED BY M. AND J. CONRAD, AND CO. SHIPWRECK of Francis Pirard de Laval, on the Maldivia Islands, with a description of the Singular Shipwreck of an English Vessel near Voyage and Shipwreck of Captain George Ro- The Honourable John Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager Man of War, one of Com- modcre Anson's Squadron, and the subse- quent distress suffered by him and his Compa- nions, on the Coast of Patagonia, and after- wards during a Period of more than five Years Narrative of the loss of the Centaur Man of War, and of the miraculous preservation of the Pinnace, in a Traverse of near three hundred Leagues on the Atlantic Ocean. Narrative of the loss of the Grosvenor Indiaman, which was wrecked on the Cost of Caffraria, on the 4th of August, 1782. Compiled from the examination of one of the Crew; to which are added an Abstract of Van Reenen's Journal, and other Particulars, relatiye to the unfortunate Survivors of the Wreck. Narrative of the Loss of the Halsewell Indiaman off Seacombe, in the Isle of Purbeck, on the Coast of Dorsetshire, in 1786.. M. de Brisson's Narrative of his Shipwreck on the Coast of Barbary, and Captivity among THE miscellaneous nature of this volume seems to demand some explanation. In turning over a number of books on the subject of voyages, we found several articles, which, though deeply interesting, could not, with strict propriety, be interspersed in our work. It was therefore determined to reserve them for a separate volume; and the last on the subject of naval adventures seemed to be the most eligible. Shipwrecks, and disasters of that melancholy stamp, are not only read with avidity, but, in our opinion, with advantage. To rouse the dormant powers of sympathy, to display human nature struggling with adverse fortune, serve at once to mend the heart and to exercise its most amiable propensities. We participate in the distress which we cannot alleviate, till we feel an inclination to lessen the mass of ills within our reach. From what admits of no cure, we turn our eyes to scenes of calamity now passing....to misfortunes that press, with afflictive force on individuals, or bodies of men; and callous must that heart be, which, under such impressions, would not stretch forth a hand to assist or relieve, Let the following pages then, as far as they detail misery, be read with a view of alleviating its weight, whenever an opportunity presents itself, and we shall not only be entertained, but bettered by their perusal. |