NARRATIVES OF RECENT SUFFERINGS AT SEA. FEW EW examples of sufferings at sea are more striking than the following one, which occurred on the homeward passage of the latest Quebec fleet, 1810. The Aurora bark, of London, on her passage from Quebec, with a cargo of timber, bound to Sheerness and Chatham, encountered a very heavy gale of wind on the 22d of November, in lat 51. 15. N. long. 32. 30. W. in which all her boats were stove, nearly all her provisions, and every article on deck, washed overboard, and her bowsprit sprung, when the hardships of her unfor tunate crew commenced; the only article of provision left being a little bread, sufficient but to supply their wants for the short space of twenty-four hours, then at the distance of 1,000 miles from the Land's End: but, on the 26th following, after enduring all the hardships imaginable for four days, during three of which they had been without food, and reduced to a most deplorable state, being almost deprived of raiment, and their limbs frostbitten, a more terrible gale of wind than that experienced on the 22d came on, in which the vessel fell over on her broadside, which accident released from the horrors of an expected but untimely end, the 1st and 2d mates, two seamen, and two boys, who were washed overboard, and perished; the remainder of the crew, consisting of the captain and three seamen, were obliged, for the preservation of life, to cling to the side of the wreck, in which situation they remained eight hours. During this period, the main and mizen-masts, foretop-mast, and back-stay, went by the board, soon after which she again righted, but was full of water: however, this afforded another retreat for those remaining, they be ing then enabled to get into the fore-top, where, after some hours, they secured themselves from the violence of the sea. The decks of the vessel then blew up, and, strange to tell, these men endured all the horrors of famine for the further space of seven days, when, in lat. 47. 50. N. long. 23. 30. W. the ship Maida hove in sight, and bore down on the vessel, not perceiving at first that any of the crew were still on board; but on nearing her, some men were discovered in the fore-top, and in consequence, a boat was hoisted out to bring them off. For eleven days they had been kept alive by sucking the ropes, which afforded them the water gathered there during the heavy rains. One of them appeared in a dead state, and the others were senseless, and in a most horrible condi tion: no intelligence as to their hardships could be obtained from them until within three or four days previous to the Maida's arrival at Plymouth, when they gave an account almost incredible o believe, but which was actually the case. Two English merchant merchant-brigs hove in sight at the time the crew were in the midst of their sufferings, to one of which captain Fleck held out a red handkerchief, which remained flying some hours; but this only tended to increase their misery, as no notice was taken of their signal of wretchedness, and both vessels proceeded on their course. During the gale, in which part of the crew were washed overboard, one of the little boys, of respectable connexions, clung to the captain; the latter could have saved him, had he been enabled to gain a rope, but that was impossible, and they were both separated by a most awful sea. The following extraordinary account is written from the recollection of a marine on board the Foudroyant, Admiral De Courcy, when in the Brazils: The narrative is candid, but not very clear, many places requiring explanation, and we wish that the writer had been more circumstantial in some instances, and also that he had communicated the relator's name; unfinished as it appears, it is, however, the most shocking instance of sufferings by famine, that we recollect to have been recorded for many years. In the month of June, 1810, I was a private in the first company of artillery in the garrison of St. Helena, and on the 10th of that month, about half an hour before parade-time, M'Kinnon, a gunner of the second company, asked me if I was willing to desert, and go with him on board an American ship, called the Columbia, Capt. Henry Lelar, which was the only ship at that time in the Roads. After some conversation on the subject, I unfortunately agreed to meet him, about seven o'clock, at the playhouse, where, at that time, I found him, accompanied by a private of Major Searle's company, called M'Quinan, one man, called Brighouse, another, called Parr, and another, called Conway. Parr was a good seaman, and said he would take us in a boat to the island of Ascension, or that he would lie off the harbour until the Columbia could weigh anchor, and come out. We went about eight o'clock to the West Rock, where we found the boat of the Columbia, with three sailors waiting for us. They took us on board their vessel, where Parr went into the cabin, and we changed our clothes. After we had been on board about half an hour, Brighouse and Conway proposed to cut a whale-boat from out of the harbour, and to stand out to sea in order to secure ourselves, as we suspected that the Columbia would be searched for us. This was concluded on, and we accordingly boarded the whale-boat, which we found moored by a large stone; they had on board five oars and a coil of rope. Having taken the large stone NARRATIVES OF RECENT SUFFERINGS AT SEA. EW examples of sufferings at sea are more striking than the following one, which occurred on the homeward passage of the latest Quebec fleet, 1810. The Aurora bark, of London, on her passage from Quebec, with a cargo of timber, bound to Sheerness and Chatham, encountered a very heavy gale of wind on the 22d of November, in lat 51. 15. N. long. 32. 30. W. in which all her boats were stove, nearly all her provisions, and every article on deck, washed over. board, and her bowsprit sprung, when the hardships of her unfor tunate crew commenced; the only article of provision left being a little bread, sufficient but to supply their wants for the short space of twenty-four hours, then at the distance of 1,000 miles from the Land's End: but, on the 26th following, after enduring all the hardships imaginable for four days, during three of which they had been without food, and reduced to a most deplorable state, being almost deprived of raiment, and their limbs frostbitten, a more terrible gale of wind than that experienced on the 22d came on, in which the vessel fell over on her broadside, which accident released from the horrors of an expected but untimely end, the 1st and 2d mates, two seamen, and two boys, who were washed overboard, and perished; the remainder of the crew. consisting of the captain and three seamen, were obliged, for the preservation of life, to cling to the side of the wreck, in which situation they remained eight hours. During this period, the main and mizen-masts, foretop-mast, and back-stay, went by the board, soon after which she again righted, but was full of water: however, this afforded another retreat for those remaining, they be ing then enabled to get into the fore-top, where, after some hours, they secured themselves from the violence of the sea. The decks of the vessel then blew up, and, strange to tell, these men endured all the horrors of famine for the further space of seven days, when, in lat. 47. 50. N. long. 23. 30. W. the ship Maida hove in sight, and bore down on the vessel, not perceiving at first that any of the crew were still on board; but on nearing her, some men were discovered in the fore-top, and in consequence, a boat was hoisted out to bring them off. For eleven days they had been kept alive by sucking the ropes, which afforded them the water gathered there during the heavy rains. One of them appeared in a dead state, and the others were senseless, and in a most horrible condition: no intelligence as to their hardships could be obtained from them until within three or four days previous to the Maida's arrival at Plymouth, when they gave an account almost incredible so believe, but which was actually the case. Two English merchant merchant-brigs hove in sight at the time the crew were in the midst of their sufferings, to one of which captain Fleck held out a red handkerchief, which remained flying some hours; but this only tended to increase their misery, as no notice was taken of their signal of wretchedness, and both vessels proceeded on their course. During the gale, in which part of the crew were washed overboard, one of the little boys, of respectable connexions, clung to the captain; the latter could have saved him, had he been enabled to gain a rope, but that was impossible, and they were both separated by a most awful sea. The following extraordinary account is written from the recollection of a marine on board the Foudroyant, Admiral De Courcy, when in the Brazils: The narrative is candid, but not very clear, many places requiring explanation, and we wish that the writer had been more circumstantial in some instances, and also that he had communicated the relator's name; unfinished as it appears, it is, however, the most shocking instance of sufferings by famine, that we recollect to have been recorded for many years. In the month of June, 1810, I was a private in the first company of artillery in the garrison of St. Helena, and on the 10th of that month, about half an hour before parade-time, McKinnon, a gunner of the second company, asked me if I was willing to desert, and go with him on board an American ship, called the Columbia, Capt. Henry Lelar, which was the only ship at that time in the Roads. After some conversation on the subject, I unfortunately agreed to meet him, about seven o'clock, at the playhouse, where, at that time, I found him, accompanied by a private of Major Searle's company, called M'Quinan, one man, called Brighouse, another, called Parr, and another, called Conway. Parr was a good seaman, and said he would take us in a boat to the island of Ascension, or that he would lie off the harbour until the Columbia could weigh anchor, and come out. We went about eight o'clock to the West Rock, where we found the boat of the Columbia, with three sailors waiting for us. They took us on board their vessel, where Parr went into the cabin, and we changed our clothes. After we had been on board about half an hour, Brighouse and Conway proposed to cut a whale-boat from out of the harbour, and to stand out to sea in order to secure ourselves, as we suspected that the Columbia would be searched for us. This was concluded on, and we accordingly boarded the whale-boat, which we found moored by a large stone; they had on board five oars and a coil of rope. Having taken the large stone stone on board, we brought the boat alongside the American, it being now 11 o'clock at night. Shortly after, we observed several lanterns passing along the line toward the Sea-gate, and hearing a great noise, we supposed we were missed, and sought for. M'Quinan, Parr, Brighouse, Conway, M'Kinnon, got on board the whale-boat, taking with us 25 pounds of bread, a keg containing about 13 gallons of water, a compass, and a quadrant, all of which were given us by the captain of the Columbia. In our hurry, I suppose, the quadrant fell overboard, as we could not find it afterward. We then left the ship, and pulled a head; but the boat was at this time half full of water, and we had neglected to take any thing with us to bail her. In this situation, we rowed out to sea, and lay a considerable distance off the island, expecting the American to pick us up, as the captain had promised to do, in a few hours. We continued in this situation until twelve o'clock the second day after leaving the island; but, no ship appearing, Parr advised, that we should bear away for the island of Ascension, steering N. by W. and then N.N.W. using an oar fora mast, and our handkerchiefs tied at the corners for a sail. The wind blew a gale for two days, but the weather then became very fine. M'Kinnon kept a reckoning, having pen, ink, and paper, from the Columbia. We continued our course until the morning of the 18th, when we saw a number of birds, but no land appeared. Parr said, he was sure we had missed the island of Ascension. Finding our substitute for a sail answer but badly, we took off our shirts, and made a small spritsail of them. We then altered our course to W. by N. hoping to make Rio de Janeiro, on the coast of Brazil. During this time we suffered severely from the want of shelter, and from the water in the boat, of which we could not keep her clear with our hats. We were also in great distress for provisions, and were obliged to stint ourselves to about an ounce of bread and two spoonfuls of water in twenty-four hours. We were now very much exhausted by hunger and fatigue; it being the 28th of June, all our bread was expended. We had now no prospect but that of a miserable death. M'Quinan took a piece of bamboo, which lay in the boat, and chewed it, upon which we all followed his example. Having remembered to have read of persons in our unhappy situation eating their shoes, I cut a piece off one of mine, but it was so soaked in salt water that I was unable to swallow it. I then tried the inner sole, and eat part of it, but found no benefit from it. In this miserable and exhausted state, wishing for death to end our miseries, we continued until the 1st of July, when Parr caught a dolphin, with a gaff which had been left in the boat. We got the fish into the boat with difficulty, and having thanked God for his goodness |