A few days before the _Novara_ sailed, a merchantman dropped anchor in the roads, which on her voyage from Melbourne to Europe had, while running 11 miles an hour, come into collision with an iceberg in 60° S. and 149° E., by which she had lost bowsprit, foremast, and all her topmasts, besides carrying away her cutwater and figurehead, and damaging the hull, and, sad to relate, sacrificing the lives of sixteen persons! The spectacle presented by this mere ruin of a ship, as she ran in half dismasted under jury-rig, created profound emotion even among the seafaring portion of the community, which was still further deepened, when the full particulars of their sufferings were detailed by the passengers. The captain, fully expecting that a ship so seriously damaged must go to the bottom, formed the unworthy resolution of escaping in a boat with fifteen of the men. The whole perished, it is supposed, as nothing was ever heard of them, while the vessel, which owed her truly marvellous preservation to the fact that, having struck stem on, she had sprung no leak, though so terribly injured, was enabled to pursue her voyage to Valparaiso, where she arrived, the wind proving favourable, after a passage of 55 days. On the 11th May all was ready for the departure of the _Novara_, and the officer on duty only waited a favourable breeze to weigh anchor and set sail. Unfortunately, however, none such sprung up, and when towards 7 A.M. a gentle breeze at last rippled the water, it did not last long enough to enable the vessel to clear the roads. The captain of H.M.S. _Ganges_ (80), who, as also Admiral Baines, the venerable Commander-in-chief of the British naval forces on the Pacific station, had already in a variety of ways cordially coöperated with and aided the Austrian Expedition, sent some of his boats to tow the frigate out of the roads, in which the French corvette _Constantine_, which had arrived the day before, politely assisted. Thus towed along by no less than 14 boats, the _Novara_ succeeded in getting into the open ocean. Favoured with a gentle breeze from the northward, she was soon able to lie her course, and towards evening, when a rather fresh S.W. sprang up, she was rapidly leaving the hospitable shores of Chile. The Commodore thought it advisable to make an offing of from 100 to 200 miles parallel with the coast, and to keep increasing his distance even against contrary winds, so as to permit of his rounding Terra del Fuego, running free before the S.W. winds, prevalent at that season off the Horn.