SHIPWRECKS
AND
DISASTERS
AT SEA;
OR
HISTORICAL NARRATIVES
OF THE
MOST NOTED
CALAMITIES AND PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCES,
WHICH HAVE RESULTED
FROM
Maritime
Enterprise:
WITH
A SKETCH OF VARIOUS EXPEDIENTS FOR
PRESERVING
THE
LIVES
OF MARINERS.
===
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOLUME III.
===
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED
BY GEORGE RAMSAY & COMPANY,
FOR
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH,
AND
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND
BROWN,
LONDON.
—
1812.
414
LOSS
OF THE EARL OF ABERGAVENNY
EAST INDIAMAN, 5TH FEBRUARY 1805.
===
THE Earl of Abergavenny was one
of the finest ships
in the East India service, of. 1200 tons bur-
den, and commanded by an officer of distinguished
ability and character. Her officers were not less
skilful, and the crew both numerous and
well selected. This was the fifth voyage of the vessel,
for which she was in every respect completely
equipped, and in the most perfect condition for
reaching Bengal and China, the places of destina-
tion.
Four hundred and two souls, of whom forty were
passengers at the captain's table, sailed from Ports-
mouth, and the lading consisted of goods to the
value of eighty-nine thousand pounds. While
each hastened to secure his passage, there were
four persons amidst the confusion left behind;
the first and third mate, a cadet in the company's ser-
vice, and an ensign of the 8th regiment of foot.
They were on shore at Portsmouth, and, notwith-
standing their anxiety to reach the ship, no oppor-
tunity could be found, until the master of an open
boat, tempted by an offer of forty guineas, agreed
to carry them thither.
At ten on the morning of the
fifth of February,
while the Abergavenny was about ten leagues to
415
the westward of Portland, the
commodore made a
signal to bear up, which was accordingly done. At
this time she had the main top-mast struck, the fore
and mizen top-gallant mast on deck, and the jib-
boom in ; the wind was about W. S. W. At three,
a pilot came on board, when towards two leagues
west of Portland; the cables were ranged and bit-
ted, and the jib-boom was got out about four. The
wind suddenly died away while crossing the
Shambles, a shoal of rock and shingle, extending
along the south side of the island of Portland, about
a mile and a half or two miles from the land; and
a strong tide setting the ship to the westward, drift-
ed her into the breakers. A sea taking her on the
larboard quarter, brought her to with her head to
the northward, when she instantly struck the
ground, about five o'clock in the afternoon. All
the reefs were let out, and the topsails hoisted up,
in hopes that the ship would shoot across the
shambles; and the wind shifted to N. W. In this
condition the vessel remained two hours and a
half, with three or four feet water in the hold, the
tide alternately set her on, and the surf drove her
off; but she beat with great violence. The shocks
were so severe, that the officers and men could
scarce stand on deck; they diminished, however,
and at length she got off the rocks.
During the whole time the pumps
had been
constantly going, and for fifteen minutes, af-
ter clearing the rocks, kept the water at three or
four feet; but the leak increasing all sail was im-
mediately set, with the design of running for the
nearest port. Meantime the water
rose so fast
that the ship would not answer the helm, and it
was resolved to run her on the first shore.
For
some space of time, Captain Wordsworth and his
416
officers thought she could be got off without any
material damage, and no signal guns of distress
were fired for three quarters of. an hour, when
twenty were discharged ; and though fully sensi-
ble of the danger, the officers, in order to prevent
general confusion, preserved the minds of the pas-
sengers as much as possible from alarm by their
silence. Matters, however, soon
began to wear a
more unfavourable aspect; the carpenter announ-
ced that a considerable leak was discovered near
the bottom of the chain pumps, at which the wa-
ter gushed in so fast, that he was not able to stop
it. Ten or eleven feet water were
in the hold, and
the crew began to bale at the fore scuttle and
hatchway. Notwithstanding all
attempts to keep
the water under were vain, the officers still enter-
tained hopes of preserving the ship afloat, until she
could be run on Weymouth sands.
The lashings of the boats were
next cut, but the
long-boat could not be got out, without laying the
mainsail aback, by which the progress of the ves-
sel would have been so much retarded, as to pre-
clude all chance of running her aground.
At six in the afternoon, the
loss of the ship be-
gan to appear inevitable ; other leaks were disco-
vered, and the consequence of what she had suf-
fered on the rocks seemed to threaten inevitable
destruction. The captain and
officers neverthe-
less preserved the utmost intrepidity, and coolly
issued their orders, wherever necessity required;
their conduct preserved subordination, and they
animated the men to exertion by their own exam-
ple. As night advanced the
situation of all on
board became the more terrible, Miss Evans,
Miss Jackson, and several other passengers, ear-
nestly entreated to be sent on shore, which was
417
then considered impossible.
However, several
small sloops approached, one of which sent a small
skiff to the Abergavenny, and these two ladies
and three other passengers embarked. It
is here
to be observed, that in some accounts of this ca-
tastrophe, it is said that the skiff carried them on
board the sloop to which it belonged; in others
that the ship's company being almost totally ex-
hausted, and scarce able to keep the vessel afloat,
new signal guns were fired, in hopes of obtaining
boats from the shore and saving as many of the
people as possible: that the purser, with the
third officer, Mr Wordsworth, nephew to the cap-
tain, and six seamen, were sent on shore in one of
the ship's boats, to communicate the distressed
state of the ship to the inhabitants of the coast,
and endeavour to obtain assistance; that a pilot
boat then came off, in which Mr Evans, and his
daughter, Miss Jackson, Mr Routledge, Mr Tay-
lor; a cadet, embarked for the shore amidst a dread-
ful sea, which threatened them with instant de-
struction. Mrs Blair, a lady
passenger, going to
settle the affairs of her deceased husband in India,
remained on board in spite of all entreaties; but
many more would have embarked had they not
dreaded to encounter a tempestuous sea in so dark
a night. Nevertheless those who
ventured reached
the shore in safety.
Several boats
were now heard at a short distance
from the ship about nine o'clock, but they render-
ed no assistance; whether they were engaged in
plunder, or in saving some unfortunate persons
who hazarded themselves on pieces of wreck to
gain the land, was never ascertained. It
has been
said, that they were deterred, by what they heard
on board, from approaching ; for when the officers
VOL.
III.
Dd
418
and others endeavoured to cheer the people with
a song, they thought it the cries of desperation,
and that it would involve themselves in danger.
The
people still continued pumping and baling
without intermission; the whole cadets, though
but of tender age, struggled with the rest, and la-
boured until they yielded under their protracted
exertions. A midshipman was appointed to guard
the spirit-room, to repress that unhappy desire of
a devoted crew to die in a state of intoxication.
The sailors, though, in other respects, orderly in
conduct, here pressed eagerly upon him. "Give
us some grog," they exclaimed, “It will be all
one an hour hence." “I know
we must die," re-
plied the gallant officer, coolly, " but let us die
like men;" armed with a brace of pistols, he kept
his post even while the ship was sinking.
At
length the carpenter came up from below,
and told the crew, who were working at the pumps,
that he could do no more for them, and that the
ship must go down. Some gave
themselves up to
despair, others employed their few remaining mo-
ments in recommending themselves to heaven ;
and some seeking the means of safety, committed
themselves on pieces of wreck to the waves.
Mr
Bagot, the chief mate, went to the captain,
saying, “ we have done all we can, Sir, the ship
will sink in a moment; " to which the captain re-
plied," it cannot be helped,' God's will be done."
The ship was now nearly full of water, and gradual-
ly sunk under the waves. The cries of the distressed
while sinking were awful; they could be heard at a
great distance from the scene of their misfortunes ;
all were running about the deck in the utmost
consternation, so long as it kept above water ; and
at eleven o'clock, when the ship went down, many
419
hastened up the shrouds and masts. At that mo-
ment, Captain Wordsworth was seen clinging to
the ropes ; the fourth mate used every persua-
sion to induce him to endeavour to save his life ;
but he seemed indifferent about existence, and,
at the age of thirty-two, was buried in a watery
grave.
But
the hull of the vessel struck the ground,
while part of the masts and rigging remained above
the water. On the last cast of the
lead, eleven
fathoms had been found ; and about one hundred
and eighty souls had sought an asylum in the tops
and rigging. Their situation was
dreadful ; ex-
posed in a cold, dark, frosty night, with the sea
incessantly breaking over them. In
their strug-
gles to attain places of security, shocking scenes
ensued. One of the crew having
gained a consi-
derable height, endeavoured to reach still higher ;
but his exertions were frustrated by some mess-
mate, in a perilous condition, seizing fast hold of
his leg - all remonstrance was vain ; and the im-
pulse of self-preservation prevailed so far over the
dictates of humanity, that the seaman drawing his
clasp-knife, deliberately cut the miserable wretch's
fingers asunder ; he was precipitated downwards,
and killed in the fall. Many people besides perished
in the shrouds. A serjeant having secured his wife
there, she quitted her hold, and
melancholy to re-
late, in her last struggles for life, bit a large piece
from her husband's arm, which remained dread-
fully lacerated.
In
about half an hour after the Abergavenny
went down, the spirits of the survivors were reviv-
ed by the sound of vessels beating on the waves at
a distance ; and an attempt was made to hail a
sloop-rigged vessel, with two boats astern, which
420
proved fruitless. Perhaps
those on board did not
hear their voices, as no attention was
paid to them,
and the sound died away on the waves. Their
numbers had considerably decreased at twelve
o'clock. Some had been swept off
the wreck by
the swell, others were incapacitated by cold and fa-
tigue from retaining their hold ; and every instant
the survivors were surrounded by the floating bo-
dies of their friends.
Several
boats were again heard paddling about
the wreck ; but the people in them, though hailed
by those still clinging to the masts and yards, could
not be induced to carry them on shore. For
this
conduct, apparently so inhuman, and which surely
can admit of no palliation, it was affirmed, that the
people were apprehensive, that all on board, eager
to save themselves, would have leapt into the boats
and sunk them.
At
length two sloops, which had been attracted
by the signal guns, came to anchor close by the
wreck, and by means of their boats, took all the
survivors from the shrouds, by twenty at a time,
and in the morning conveyed them safely to Wey-
mouth. Then, so far were the
people from crowd-
ing into the boats, that they got off the shrouds,
one by one, and as called on by the officers who
were with them. When all were
supposed to be
embarked, and the boats about to depart for the
last time, a person was observed high in the shrouds.
Being called, he made no answer; on which Mr
Henry Mortimer, the sixth mate, hastened up the
mast, and found him in a state of insensibility from
the rigour of the weather. His wife and child had
already perished, but Mr Mortimer brought him
down on his back, and placed him in the boat.
He proved to be Serjeant Heart, of the 22nd regi-
421
ment of foot ; and when carried on shore, medical
means were adopted to restore him; they partly
succeeded, but he died in the course of the day.
Several
persons had a miraculous escape. Wil-
liam White, a midshipman and coxswain, feeling
the ship go down, leapt overboard, though he
could not swim, and trusted to save himself by
exertion ; he got on a hen-coop along with two
others. After drifting some
distance from the
ship, it overset, and his companions were swallowed
up, while he in vain attempted to regain his seat
on the hen-coop ; in striving to do so he caught a
piece of wreck, of which an unfortunate person
had just lost hold and was drowned, and by means
of it reached the mizen-rigging from which he
crawled into the mizen-top. Twenty
persons
crowded into a boat, which, before advancing
many yards, overset, and only one of the num-
ber, Mr Thwaites, a cadet, escaped by clinging to
it. He was rescued from his
perilous condition
when almost sinking from fatigue and apprehen-
sion. Nor was the captain's joiner
less fortunate ;
the same sea which washed Captain Wordsworth
over, carried him away also, along with the
launch, which was full of sheep and a cow. On
swimming about a short time he observed it, and
having got into it amongst these animals, he was
saved
When
the awful declaration was heard that
"The ship must go down,” Mr Gramshaw, one of
the cadets on board, and two more, went into the
cabin, where they stood some time looking at each
other, without uttering a word. At
length one of
them said," Let us return to the deck,” and two of
them did so, but Mr Gramshaw remained be-
hind He then opened his
writing-desk, and,
422
having taken out his commission, his introductory
letters, and some money, he went upon deck, but
saw neither of his companions. Then,
bending
his eyes forward, he observed the ship going down
head foremost, and the sea rolling in an immense
column along the deck. When
endeavouring to
ascend the steps leading to the poop, he was
launched among the waves, encumbered by boots
and a great-coat, and unable to swim. Afterwards
finding himself on the opposite side, he conceived,
that when the stern of the ship sunk, he must
have been drawn down by the vortex occasion-
ed by the sinking. Whilst
struggling to keep
himself afloat, he seized on something which fre-
quently struck against the back of his hand, and
found it to be a rope hanging form the mizen-
shrouds. Amidst his exertions to
ascend several
feet by it, he slipped into the sea, where he resigned
himself to that destruction which appeared inevit-
able. But, by a sudden lurch from
the ship, he
was thrown into the mizen-shrouds, where he fix-
ed himself as well as circumstances would admit.
Mr Gilpin, the fourth mate, with about twenty
others, had gained the mizen-top, from whence,
impelled by the dictates of humanity to administer
relief to others, he descended the shrouds.
Mr
Gilpin continually cheering them, and advising
them to keep up their spirits.
Captain
Forbes of the king’s service, and three
privates, died on coming ashore, from being crow-
ded into the hold of a very small fishing vessel, ow-
ing to the danger of upsetting her had too many
persons remained on deck. One of
the crew also,
423
a Portuguese, who had got ashore, being extreme-
ly ill from fatigue, desired the person who attend-
ed him, eight or ten days afterwards, to purchase
a wax candle, at the same time producing the last
shilling he possessed. He requested
that it should
be lighted and placed by his bed-side, saying he
should expire before it burnt out, and from that
moment he obstinately persisted in refusing all
sustenance, and died a few hours afterwards.
The
body of Captain Wordsworth was not found
until the 20th of March, when it was washed
ashore at Weymouth, and sent to Wyke for inter-
ment. Nine bodies also floated
ashore next day.
When
the Abergavenny sailed from Portsmouth
there were on board,
