Note 123 — Chapter XV · HOMEWARD BOUND.

A writer in the city article of the Times of February 17th, dating from the Plate, shortly after the occurrence, says:—

The Lusitania, belonging to the Liverpool Screw Steam Company, made the passage from England in 35 days. The Argentine paddle-wheel steamboat, belonging to the same company, when leaving the harbour about a fortnight since for Buenos Ayres, struck upon a reef of rocks running from the Cerro. All efforts to get her off proving ineffectual, she was abandoned, and sold on account of the underwriters for 4,600 duros, but is likely to prove a dead loss to the purchasers, as the engines cannot be abstracted. The loss of this vessel is not only a serious one to the company, but to the public in this part of the world. By her punctuality and speed she had just succeeded in driving away all competitors, and would have paid very handsomely. When replacing her, it is believed, the company would do well to send a larger vessel, but of no deeper draught of water.