NARRATIVE
OF THE LOSS OF THE
EARL OF ABERGAVENNY
EAST-INDIAMAN.
_____________________
[PRICE
1s. 6d.]
AN
AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE
OF THE
L O S S
OF
THE
EARL OF
ABERGAVENNY
EAST-INDIAMAN,
OFF PORTLAND,
ON
THE
NIGHT OF THE 5TH FEBRUARY, 1805.
TO WHICH IS ADDED
A return of the Passengers,
Officers, Ship's Company, Troops,
&c. with the Age, Description, and Birth Place of every
Officer and Seaman. Shewing at one view the fate of
each Individual.
CORRECTED FROM
THE OFFICIAL RETURNS
AT THE
EAST-INDIA HOUSE.
_____
Ha ! Total night and
horror here preside !
My stunn'd ear tingles to the whizzing tide !
It is the funeral knell ; and gliding near,
Methinks the phantoms of the dead appear.
Falconer's Shipwreck.
_____
LONDON:
Printed for JOHN STOCKDALE, Piccadilly, and
BLACKS and PARRY,
Leadenhall Street.
_____
Feb. 1805.
4
[Cox, Son, and
Baylis, Printers, Gt. Queen Str.]
5
NARRATIVE
OF
THE LOSS OF THE
EARL OF ABERGAVENNY
EAST-INDIAMAN.
_____
Ha ! Total night and horror here preside
My stunn'd ear tingles to the whizzing tide !
It is the funeral knell ; and gliding near,
Methinks the phantoms of the dead appear.
Falconer's Shipwreck.
_____
ON Thursday the seventh of
February,
1805, at a quarter past six o'clock in the morn-
ing, Mr. Stewart, Purser of the Earl of Aberga-
venny, accompanied by Mr. Taylor, a Cadet,
who had embarked as a passenger on that ship,
arrived at the East-India House, with the me-
lancholy intelligence of the loss of the Earl of
Abergavenny, and the majority of her crew and
passengers, off Portland on the 5th instant. In-
telligence of this event was immediately com-
municated to Mr. Ramsay, (the Secretary), and
the principal officers who resided near the India
House, and by nine o'clock, all the avenues lead-
ing to the Secretary's office were completely
blocked
6
blocked up, by the anxious enquirers on this
unfortunate circumstance.
Mr. Gilpin, the Fourth Officer of the ship,
had now reached the India House, and before he
met with the Secretary, " told many a tale of
" misery," in the passages of the India House.
From ten till near two o'clock, these three gentle-
men were closetted with the Secretary, during
which time the dreadful suspense of the friends
and relatives surpassed everything before wit-
nessed at the House. --It was soon spread abroad,
that out of about four hundred persons on board,
three hundred had perished, whilst the names of
those saved were unknown. Nothing could equal
the kind attention and humanity of the Secretary
on this occasion; and though he was under the
necessity of keeping the particulars so long from
the public, he was thereby enabled to give them
more ample satisfaction, by producing an accurate
list of the passengers, and others, saved from the
wreck, as far as the same could possibly be ascer-
tained from the evidence of the officers who had
arrived.
At eleven o'clock, Cornet Burgoyne, of His
Majesty's 8th regiment of Light Dragoons, who
had
7
had the command of the troops on board the
Earl of Abergavenny, arrived at the India House.
This gentleman, though very much fatigued in
making his escape from the wreck, and imme-
diately proceeding to town, was yet enabled, with
the other officers who had arrived, to detail the
following particulars, which have been corrected
by the testimony of those who have since reach-
ed town from the wreck, and may therefore be
depended upon as authentic.
On Friday, the 1st February, the Earl of
Abergavenny East-Indiaman, Captain Words-
worth, sailed from Portsmouth, in company with
the Royal George, Henry Addington, Wexford,
and Bombay Castle, under convoy of His Ma-
jesty's ship Weymouth, Captain Draper. In
going through the Needles, they unfortunately
separated from the convoy. The fleet, in con-
sequence, lay too nearly the whole of the next
day, but seeing nothing of the Weymouth, pro-
ceeded under moderate sail towards the next
port, in hopes of being joined by the Convoy.
On the 5th, the convoy not appearing, it was
deemed expedient to wait her arrival in Portland
Roads, particularly as the wind had become
rather
8
rather unfavourable, having shifted several points
from the N. E.-- Captain Clarke, of the Wexford,
being the senior commander, and consequently
Commodore, made the signal for those ships
that had taken pilots on board to run into the
Roads.
At about half past three P. M., the Earl of
Abergavenny having got a pilot on board, bore
up for Portland Roads with a steady wind, when
on a sudden the wind slackened, and the tide
setting in fast drove her rapidly towards the
Shambles. The nearer she approached, the less
she was under management ; and being at last
totally ungovernable, was driven furiously
on the Rocks, off the Bill of Portland, about
two miles from the shore. She remained on
the rocks nearly an hour, beating incessantly
with great violence, the shocks being so great,
that the officers and men could scarcely keep
their footing on the deck. At four P. M. the
shocks became less violent, and in about a quar-
ter of an hour she cleared the rocks. The sails
were immediately set, with an intention to run
for the first port, as the ship made much
water ; but the leak increased so fast, that the
ship
9
ship would not obey the helm. In this situation,
it was considered necessary to fire signal guns of
distress. Twenty were fired : the danger did not,
however, appear to those on board sufficient to
render it necessary for the ship's boats to be
hoisted out at this moment, as the weather was
moderate, and the ship in sight of the fleet and
shore.
At 5 P. M. the leak increased fast upon the
pumps. All endeavours to keep the water under
were found in vain, and night setting in rendered
the situation of all on board melancholy in the
extreme : the more so, as it was then ascertained
that the ship had received considerable damage
in her bottom, immediately under the pumps.
All hands took their turn at the pumps, alter-
nately bailing at the fore hatchway. At eight
o'clock their situation became still more dread-
ful, when it was found impossible to save the
ship, which was eventually sinking fast and set-
tling in the water. Signal guns were again dis-
charged incessantly. The Purser with the Third
Officer, Mr. Wordsworth, and six seamen, were
sent on shore, in one of the ship's boats, to give
notice to the inhabitants of the distressed state of
the
10
the ship and crew. At this time a pilot boat
came off, and Mr. Evans, with his daughter,
Miss Evans, Mr. Routledge, Mr. Taylor, a
Cadet, and Miss Jackson, passengers, em-
barked for the shore, notwithstanding a dread-
ful sea, which threatened them with almost in-
stant loss.
The general attention was diverted for a few
moments in observing the boats leave the ship ;
but the unfortunate crew were soon reminded of
their fate, by a heavy swell, which baffled almost
every attempt to keep the ship above water.
Every one seemed assured of his fate; and not-
withstanding. the unremitting attention of the
officers, confusion commenced on board, as soon
as it was given out that the ship was sinking.
At 10 P. M. several sailors entreated to be al-
lowed more liquor, which being refused, they
attacked the spirit-room, but were repulsed by the
officers, who never once lost sight of their charac-
ter, or that dignity so necessary to be preserved on
such an occasion, but continued to conduct them-
selves with the utmost fortitude till the last. One
of the officers, who was stationed at the door of
the spirit-room, with a brace of pistols, to guard
against
11
against surprise in so critical a moment, at which
post he remained even while the ship was sink-
ing, was much importuned by a sailor, while the
water poured in on all sides, to grant him some
liquor. The man said he was convinced " it would
" be all one with them an hour hence." The
officer, however, true to his trust in this perilous
moment, had courage enough to repulse the man,
and bid him go do his duty with his fellow com-
rades, observing, that if it was God's will they
should perish, " they should die like men."
At half past ten the water had got above
the Orlop Deck, in spite of the endeavours of the
officers and crew, who behaved in the most cool
and exemplary manner. All on board were now
anxiously looking out for boats from the shore,
many wishing they had taken refuge in those that
had already left the ship, as their destruction
on board appeared inevitable. The utmost
exertions became necessary to keep the ship
above water till the boats came off from the
shore. Unfortunately, in the general distress and
agony of the moment, the ship's boats were not
hoisted out, when every soul on board might pos-
sibly have been saved. At eleven o'clock, a fatal
swell
12
swell gave the ship a sudden shock : she gave a
surge, and sunk almost instantaneously, in twelve
fathom water, two miles from Weymouth Beach.
Many clung to loose spars, and floated about the
wreck, but the majority took refuge in the
shrouds. The severe shock of the ship going
down, made several let go their hold, whilst
others, by the velocity of the ship's descent,
had not power to climb sufficiently fast to keep
above the water. The Halswell East-Indiaman
was wrecked within a few miles from this spot,
in the year 1786.
When the hull of the ship touched the
ground, about one hundred and eighty persons
were supposed to be in the tops and rigging:
their situation was beyond all description
wretched : the yards only were above water, and
the sea was breaking over them, in the dead of
a cold and frosty night. In about half an
hour their spirits were revived, by the sound
of several boats beating against the waves
at a short distance; but, alas ! how vain their
hopes, when on hailing the boats, not one
of them came to their assistance. The
sound
13
sound of the boats died away, and they were
again left to the mercy of the rude waves,
" where fate on every billow seemed to ride."
By twelve o'clock their numbers had much de-
creased : the swell had swept some off, whilst
others were, from the piercing cold, unable lon-
ger to retain their hold. Every moment they
perceived some friend floating around them, for
a while, then sinking into the abyss to rise no
more.
About this time a sloop was discovered ;
she had heard the signal guns, and came to an
anchor close by the ship. The weather was
moderate, and those who had survived were
now promised a speedy delivery. The sloop's
boat was immediately manned, and proceeded
to the rigging that remained above water, when
every person was taken off. The boat returned
three times, taking twenty each turn. Nothing
could be more correct than the conduct of the
crew on this occasion : they cooly got into the
boat, one by one, and those only as they were
named by their officers.
When it was supposed that every one
was brought off, and the boat was about to
depart
14
depart for the last time, a person was observed
in one of the tops : he was hailed to but did
not answer. Mr. Gilpin, the Fourth Officer,
whose extraordinary exertions on this occasion,
as well as throughout the whole of this unfor-
tunate affair, entitle him to the highest com-
mendation, returned to the wreck, and there
found a man in an inanimate state, exhausted
from the severe cold. Mr. Gilpin brought him
down on his back, and took him to the boat --
the man proved to be Serjeant Heart of the
22d regiment. Every possible care was taken
of him, but to no effect : he died about twelve
hours after he was landed. The sloop having now,
as was supposed, taken on board all the survivors
of the ship, returned to Weymouth. She had not,
however, proceeded far, before it was perceived
that Mr. Baggot, the Chief Officer, was close
astern. The sloop immediately lay too for him ;
but this noble spirited young man, although cer-
tain of securing his own life, disregarded his
safety, on perceiving Mrs. Blair, an unfortunate
fellow-passenger, floating at some distance from
him. He succeeded in coming up with her,
and sustained her above water, while he swam
towards
15
towards the sloop; but just as he was on
the point of reaching it, a swell came on,
and his strength being totally exhausted, he
sunk and never rose again. The unfortunate
Mrs. Blair sunk after him, and this generous
youth thus perished in vain. It was nearly two
o'clock before she weighed anchor from the
wreck, but the wind being favorable she soon
reached the port. On mustering those who
had landed, it appeared that only 139 persons
had reached the shore out of 402 who had
embarked !
The greatest attention was paid to
the unfortunate sufferers by the mayor and
aldermen, as well as the principal inhabitants of
Weymouth ; and the Purser was immediately
dispatched to the India House with the melan-
choly intelligence.
At day light, the 6th instant, the topmasts
of the ship were seen from Weymoth. During
the time the passengers and crew remained in
the tops she appeared to have sunk eight feet,
and was considerably lower in the morning ;
it was therefore conjectured, that she had sunk
on a mud-bank. The Greyhound Cutter was.
im-
16
immediately stationed to guard the wreck, and
the boats from the Rover succeeded in stripping
the masts of the rigging. It was at first feared
that nothing would be saved from the wreck ;
but if the weather continues moderate, hopes
are entertained of success. On the 7th instant,
her decks had not been blown up, and she
appeared to remain in exactly the same state in
which she had sunk. Her sinking so steadily is,
attributed to the great weight of her cargo, her
floorings consisting chiefly of earthen-ware. The
cargo of the ship was estimated at £200,000,
besides which she had on board dollars to the
amount of 275,000 ounces, and is supposed to
be one of the richest ships that ever sailed for
India. She was of the largest tonnage, and
inferior only to the Ganges in the service, being
at least 1500 tons burthen, and built for the
China trade.
Captain Wordsworth, who was nephew to
the Captain Wordsworth, who formerly com-
manded the Earl of Abergavenny, was considered
one of the first navigators in the service. He, was
on his third voyage as captain, and painful to relate,
perished with his ship, disdaining to survive the
loss
17
loss of so valuable a charge. His conduct,
throughout the distressing scene, has been
spoken of in terms of the highest praise ; and
the Court of Directors, by whom the particulars
of this event must shortly be examined, will
not fail to pass a deserving eulogium on this
worthy character, who so nobly stood by their
property till the last extremity, and forfeited his
charge but with his life.
Captain Wordsworth was a man of re-
markably mild manners ; his conduct was, in
every instance, so well tempered, that he was
known, among his shipmates by the title of
" the Philosopher." As soon as the ship was
going down, Mr. Baggot, the Chief Officer,
went on the quarter-deck, and told the Captain>
" that all exertions were now in vain ; the ship
"was rapidly sinking." Captain Wordsworth,
who no doubt expected it, stedfastly looked him
in the face, and, at last, with every appearance
of a heart-broken man, faintly answered : " Let
" her go ! God's will be done." -- These were
the last words he uttered -- from that instant he
was motionless. -- In a few moments the ship
sunk, and many who were climbing the shrouds
en-
18
endeavoured to save him, but without success.
In this endeavour Mr. Gilpin was foremost,
and made several unsuccessful attempts, at the
evident risk of his own life -- Captain Words-
worth sunk with his ship, and was seen no
more !!!
At two o'clock the Secretary was enabled
to issue the following bulletin, which was in-
serted in all the newspapers of the succeeding
day. viz.
" East-India House,
" 7th February, 1805.
["List of persons saved from the Abergavenny, 6th February,
1805." - starts here pages 18 to 34. There is a note about half
way through]
20
"Exclusive of the
above-mentioned per-
sons, about 20 soldiers, and from 40 to 50 of
the petty officers and others of the ship's com-
pany were saved, whose names are not yet
ascertained.---Total number saved supposed to
be from 90 to 100."
The above list of the saved, though it af-
forded the most heartfelt relief to the friend of
those who were fortunate enough to be included,
still added to the general anxiety. Thirty-two
cadets embarked at Portsmouth and five only
reached the shore! Mr. Routledge who got on
shore in safety, was on board the Lord Nelson
when the ship was captured after the most
gallant defence on part of her officers and
crew, and had the good fortune to resist the
stroke of a dagger by the accidental position of his
cartouche box.
21
Mr. Dent was managing owner of the Earl
of Abergavenny, and had two nephews on board,
cadets, who were unfortunately drowned.
By the returns at the East-India House, it
appears that on sailing from Portsmouth, her
