Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 8, January, 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
On the same voyage, when the propriety of putting into a harbor of
Corsica was under discussion, and the want of a pilot urged as an
objection, Napoleon described the depth of water, shoals, currents,
bearings, and anchorage, with a minuteness which seemed as if he had
himself acted in that capacity; and which, on reference to the charts,
was found scrupulously accurate. When his cavalry and baggage arrived at
Porto Ferrajo, the commander of the transports said that he had been on
the point of putting into a creek near Genoa (which he named, but I have
forgotten); upon hearing which Napoleon exclaimed, "It is well you did
not; it is the worst place in the Mediterranean; you would not have got
to sea again for a month or six weeks." He then proceeded to allege
reasons for the difficulty, which were quite sufficient if the
peculiarities of the little bay were really such as he described; but
Captain Usher, having never heard of them during his service in the
Mediterranean, suspected that the emperor was mistaken, or had
confounded some report he had heard from mariners in his youth. When,
however, he mentioned the circumstance many years afterward to Captain
Dundas, who had recently cruised in the Gulf of Genoa, that officer
confirmed the report of Napoleon in all its particulars, and expressed
astonishment at its correctness. "For" (said he), "I thought it a
discovery of my own, having ascertained all you have just told me about
that creek, by observation and experience."
HIS INDUSTRY AND CURIOSITY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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