On the 25th, we crossed the equator, in longitude 17° 10' W. and the next morning, Captain Cumming came on board, and informed me that the Tamer's three lower rudder-braces on the stem were broken off, which rendered the rudder unserviceable. I immediately sent the carpenter on board, who found the condition of the braces even worse than had been reported, so that the rudder could not possibly be new hung; he therefore went to work upon a machine, like that which had been fixed to the Ipswich, and by which she was steered home: This machine in about five days he completed, and with some little alterations of his own, it was an excellent piece of work. The Tamar steered very well with it, but thinking that it might not be sufficient to secure her in bad weather, or upon a lee-shore, I ordered Captain Cumming to run down to Antigua, that he might there heave the ship down, and get the rudder new hung, with a fresh set of braces which he had with him for that purpose; for the braces with which the ship went out, being of iron, were not expected to last as long as ours, the lower ones, with the sheathing, being of copper. Pursuant to these orders, the Tamar parted company with us on the 1st of April, and steered for the Caribbee Islands. When we came into latitude 34° N. longitude 35° W. we had strong gales from W.S.W to W.N.W. with a great sea, which broke over us continually for six days successively, and run us into latitude 48° N. longitude 14°, W. On the 7th of May, at seven o'clock in the morning, we made the islands of Scilly, having been just nine weeks coming from the Cape of Good Hope, and somewhat more than two-and-twenty months upon the voyage; the 9th, the ship came to anchor in the Downs, and on the same day I landed at Deal, and set out for London. * * * * * [The reader will find a short but interesting memoir of Byron prefixed, for the first time, to the Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Wager, published at Edinburgh by Ballantyne, 1812. All that it is thought necessary to quote from it here is, that in 1769, about three years after his return from this circumnavigation, he was appointed governor of Newfoundland, which office he held till 1775; that then he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, and successively to that of rear-admiral of the white and red; that he was appointed to command the squadron directed to watch and oppose the French fleet under Count d'Estaign, over which, however, owing to circumstances no prudence or bravery could control, he obtained no decisive advantages; that in 1779, he was promoted to the rank of vice-admiral of the white; and that he died in 1786, at the age of 73, generally respected and beloved for his eminent professional and moral qualities.--E.] CHAPTER II. AN ACCOUNT or A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, IN THE YEARS 1766, 1767, AND 1768, BY SAMUEL WALLIS, ESQ. COMMANDER OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP THE DOLPHIN. SECTION II.