Captain Bridge, commander of the “Prince of Orange,” had received two mails for Cuxhaven on board his Packet on the 9th of December; and it may be interesting to readers of our own day who by long experience have gained confidence in the speed and certainty of mails, to observe how long these mails remained in Captain Bridge’s possession, and how he fared in his efforts to dispose of them. It was by no means in the power of a Packet captain a hundred years ago to proceed to sea whenever he pleased. He was under the necessity of waiting on the winds; and for a full week after Captain Bridge had received his mails, those winds blew so fiercely from the east that it was quite impossible for the “Prince of Orange” to set out on her voyage. Nothing short of absolute necessity kept the Packets lying idle. If any craft afloat got out to sea they were expected to do so; but not the best will or the finest seamanship around the coast could take a Packet from Yarmouth upon her course for Hamburg in the teeth of an easterly gale. And so the “Prince of Orange” lay at anchor, while more mails continually collected in the agent’s office, until, when at last the wind veered round, and blew from the south, there were three other Packets also ready to put out to sea. All four set sail in company; but almost before they had weighed anchor they were suddenly enveloped in a dense fog, in which they separated. At the same time the wind shifted again into the north-east, and rose quickly to a strong gale, with showers of snow and sleet, against which the four Packets beat vainly throughout two nights and a day, when, finding it absolutely impossible to make progress, they returned once more to Yarmouth. Two days afterwards the wind again became favourable, and the Packets, once more hoisting their anchors, went out of Yarmouth Roads with a strong breeze from west-south-west. The fair weather lasted long enough to bring the “Prince of Orange” in sight of Heligoland, where she remained throughout the night, making signals for a pilot, which were not responded to. Now Captain Bridge was well aware of the critical importance of the service he was engaged on, and by no means intended to be prevented from executing it by the cowardice or sloth of the Heligoland pilots. He knew the coast well, and resolved to attempt a landing. Possibly he might succeed as well without a pilot as with one, since the case was one demanding resolution and daring rather than an exhaustive knowledge of the coast. He was venturing a good deal; for the risks of the sea were his, the Government accepting only those of capture or damage by the enemy.