1824. On the evening of the 4th of October, a heavy gale commenced from the southward, and a long Atlantic swell quickly arose: there was not the slightest abatement of the storm for twelve days, and the horizon was always obscured, so that they remained in ignorance as to whether any pack or berg was lying to leeward of them, and their suspense, day and night, was very painful; for to see ice in such weather, was only a prelude to being wrecked upon it. On two of these days, the Griper shipped repeated and heavy seas; as often over the taffrail as the bow.
On the morning of the 12th, Captain Lyon spoke the Phoenix whaler, of Whitby; and on the 19th, the master of the Achilles, of Dundee, informed him that that ship had likewise been exposed, for nearly a month past, to a continuance of the worst weather that he had ever seen during thirty-four years’ service in these seas. A heavy E.N.E. gale blew all the 23d; but on the 26th, the wind became fair, and the Griper made great progress. On the 30th, her foretop-mast, already badly sprung, went in two places; the head of the foremast had been found much twisted about seven weeks before, and there was every reason to believe that the bowsprit was likewise seriously injured. On the afternoon of the 7th of Nov., soundings were struck in 70 fathoms; and next day, at 3 p.m., the coast of Cornwall was seen; on the 10th, at 10 a.m., the ship passed the Needles; and, considering her distressed state. Captain Lyon determined on running at once into Portsmouth harbour, where she was paid off on the 13th of the following month. Captain Lyon soon afterwards published a narrative of his voyage, with a reduced chart of his route, and an appendix, containing magnetic and botanical observations.
We next find this officer receiving the honorary degree of D.C.L. at Oxford, in June, 1825; soon after which he married Lucy, youngest daughter of the late Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and grand-daughter of James, first Duke of Leinster. He subsequently went to Mexico, as one of the Commissioners of the Real-Del-Monte Mining Company. Returning home, via New York, in the Panthea packet, bound
