Excerpt from Sketches of Residence and Travels in Brazil, Vol. 2 of 2: Embracing Historical and Geographical Notices of the Empire and Its Several Provinces Some years ago the English frigate Thetis, bound homeward at the expiration of a cruise in the Pacific, was wrecked upon Cape Frio. This vessel, on leaving the harbor of Rio where she had touched, had en countered foul weather. After struggling against it till it was presumed she had cleared the coast, she bore away on her course. The darkness of the night was impenetrable, and the wind being strong, the ship was running eight or ten knots an hour, when, without the slightest warning or apprehension of danger by any one on board, she dashed upon this rocky bulwark. The officers and crew, in the shock and consternation of the moment, had barely time to transfer themselves to contiguous portions of the promontory, before the shi vered frigate went to the bottom. Most of those on board were saved by being drawn, and by drawing themselves up, on shelves of the rock out of the reach of the waves, where, in the most constrained position, they were forced to remain throughout the dismal night. I have frequently conversed with a person who was a midshipman on board the Thetis at the time, but upon whom the horrors of that dreadful scene made such an impression, as to cause him to abandon the ocean from that day forward, not even returning to his native land. A good light-house has since been con structed upon Cape Frio, which at the present time renders the approach of the navigator nearly as safe by night as it is by day. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.