The Portland Gazette

MISCELLANY
The Macedonian put back in distress.
NORFOLK, OCT. 12.

On Saturday afternoon arrived at this port, in distress, the U. States frigate Macedonian, John Downes, Esq. Commander, having been dismasted in a hurricane which she experienced on Sunday, the 27th of September, in lat. 35, lon. 54. The Macedonian sailed from Boston, on the 20th of Sept. bound for the Pacific Ocean, and completely equipped for a two years cruise.—Nothing material occurred until the 27th, when, as they were hourly expecting to fall into the trade winds, and anticipating a quick run to the Brazil Coast, they were suddenly overtaken by the most tremendous hurricane ever known to the oldest seaman onboard, which lasted about 15 hours, and left their gallant ship a miserable wreck. The gale commenced from the S. E. with a heavy swell, but shifted to various points. About 5 A. M. the mizen mast was carried away by the board, and shortly after, all the remaining spars, except the fore and main masts, which however, were so badly sprung that it was found necessary to fish them in several places.—lost all the stern and quarter boats, and sustained much other damage. The tempest is represented to have been indescribably awful, and the situation of the Macedonian perilous in the extreme. In the early part of it, William Wilkins, captain of the mizen-top, an excellent seaman and a worthy young man, was unfortunately knocked overboard by the mizen-stay-sail sheet, and drowned. This was the only casualty that occurred among the crew. Previous to the sailing of the Macedonian from Boston, she had undergone a thorough overhauling and repair, and the trim in which she left that port could scarcely be exceeded; but now how altered! After being only six days at sea, she returns to port with no other vestige of her former grandeur than her "wooden wall," and in appearance, precisely as she entered the port of New-York, when a prize to the gallant Decatur.