The Literary Echo, And Pawcatuck Advertiser

The Alta California gives the intelligence that a vessel had arrived at San Francisco, which was on the 31st of August boarded by the whale ship John Wells, of New Bedford. Captain Cross, who reports the following vessels as being totally lost this season:-

Ajax, of Havre; Aramatta, of New London; Arrabella, of New Bedford; New Bedford, of New Bedford; America, of New Bedford; Cosmopolite, of France; Mary Mitchel, of San Francisco.

It appears that the whole whaling fleet had wintered in the Gulf of Anadir, in the northern part of the sea of Kamschatka, in Russia in Asia, and, on the coming on of Spring, had set sail for Bering's Straits; but in attempting to pass through into the Arctic Ocean, the fleet was environed by ice, and the above named vessels were totally wrecked. The crews of the destroyed vessels are reported to have reached the main land in safety: but it is said that in some disturbance afterward with the natives, eleven of the whalemen lost their lives. It was supposed that some sixty more vessels had shared the fate of those mentioned above; and it was quite impossible to tell how many more would be likely to be lost in their attempts to escape from the ice. The general result of this season's whale-fishing is set down as a total failure.