The National Register. — London, England, 1822-02-10 00:00:00

LOSS OP THE THAMES EAST INDIAMAN. Mr. Henry . Barry, the purser of the ship, arrived late on Sunday night at the India House, with the melan choly intelligence of the loss of the Hon. Company's ship, the. Thames, Capt. Heaviside, bound to Bencoolen and China, with a general cargo of great value. The Themes was nearly a new ship, of 1350 tons hurtle'); had been only one voyage before, and the following in teresting particulars were communicated to us by a friend of t hat officer's:— The Thames left the Downs at 12 o'clock on Wed nesday last, with .a smart breeze from the S. W. and continued beating to the westward with fine weather, until Saturday at noon, when she weathered Beachy Head, the wind then blowing a brisk gale. As night approached the gale increased, and the wind still setting from the S. W. strong apprehensions were entertained that the ship would be driven upon a lee shore. To prevent ibis, every e ff ort that seamanship could devise was used, and the stronger endeavours were made to keep an offing, but all to no purpose; tlte gale con tinued to increase, and as darkness came in), it blew a complete hurricane; so tremendous as almost to exceed any thing the most experienced seamen on board had ever before witnessed. Finding the ship making fast towards that dreadful shore which had so often proved fatal to mariners, an order was given to commence firing signals of distress, and an incessant firing was from that time kept, but such was the state of the elements, that all idea of assistance from the shore was soon aban doned as hopeless. The state of mind of the ship's company at this period, can be better imagined than described.— The vessel every moment approaching nearer the shore ; the sea running mountains high, and the moon, which affirded a dim light through the dark clouds, serving only to make their extreme danger the more apparent. — At length about twelve o'cick the ship struck on a rock. very near the Head, but she floated from thence, and drifted over near to the town of Eastbourne, between the Round-house and the Martelln.tower, where again struck, and got quite ashore. This was soon alter wo o'clock on Sunday morning; and from that until half-past nine the ship continued to beat with tremen• duos violence against the shore, and every succeding wave was expected to shatter her to pier . The same incessant firing was kept up; lights in a short time were very speedily shewn from the shore; and in a short time the beach was covered with people, all anxious to assist in the preservation of the crew, but unfortunately without the power of doing so at that time. Not loug after the ship struck, her main-mast went by the board, carrving with it four of the crew, and in the course of the night the fore and mizen masts fol lowed, and seven more of the crew washed over-board. At day-light a scene presented itself which will not soon be forgotten by those who had the misfortune to witness it. This fine ship, which seemed when she sailed as though she would bid defiance to wind and ocean, was now lying on the sand, totally distrusted, and striking with a violence which threatened to stave her to pieces, and her crew were seen crowded upon the deck, anxiously look ing towards the shore for assistance, and expecting every moment to be overwhelmed by the waves, which were breaking upon them with undiminished force. At this time several hundred people had collected on the beach, and the ship was so near the shore, that it seemed to those on board as though they could almost leap from her side to the dry laud. At length, the only boat which could be 'Mind large enough to attempt to launch in this tremendous surf was brought to the spot, and a Midshipman (we have not learned his name) of the Pre ventive Service, and six seamen, in a moment volun teered their services to attempt to reach the ship. Several successive efforts were made to launch her, but she was each time swamped, and her. gallant little crew washed ashore. Still, however, undismayed, they made another attempt, and succeeded in getting her almost without the breakers, when a sea took her starboard bow, and upset her. The six seamen reached the shore ; but we lament to state, the gallant young officer, who so fearlessly had risked his life for the chance of rendering assistance to his fellow men in distress, fell a victim to his undaunted courage and humanity, and the ship's company, as well as those on shore, saw him struggling with the wives until his strength was exhausted, and he sunk beneath them. _ . Capt. Manby's celebrated apparatus for the preservation of lives, which at Eastbourne is kept under the cons mand of Mr. Hamilton, the collector of Customs for the ' port, was at length bronght into action, and a rope being thrown on boatel the ship and made fast, the whole re omitting of the ship's company, together with Major and Mrs. M'lnnis, and her female servant (passengers), were got safe on shore, but without saving a single thing ex cept the clothes which they had on their backs. They were all completely wont out with fatigue and anxiety, and the passengers were conveyed as speedily as possiidle to the nearest inn. The officers and crew remained near the spot in the hope of being able to save some part of the cargo, hot it was much feared that the tide, which was then ebbing fast, would at its return completely de stroy the ship. In this state of things Mr. Barry left Eastbourne for the India 'louse. It was next to a miracle that the ship held together so long, and had she not heel' nearly new, and of the strongest construction, she must have gone to pieces hours before the crew were released. Had that been the case, every individual on board must have perished. FURTHER NaTectreaas.—This fine ship, which ruts CM shore on the Bowdler Batik, opposite Martello Tower Na. 73, at Eastbourne, attracts numberless spectators daily. Eleven persons are said to have perished by the fall of the masts, &c. Five of their bodies have since beets picked op, and inquests held upon them ; as also upon the corpse of poor Mr. Slllllll. the midshipman, whose body was re ed on Wednesday into Kent, to be interred in the family vault. Nothing can prove more strongly the value of the preventive service to the shipping :merest, than their exertions upon this occasion. Two persons totind pilfering the wreck having bent ap prehended by them, were delivered into custody of the THE NATIONAL REGISTER civil power, by which means a stop was put to any far ther depredations. It is pretty certain that all the lug. gage and cargo will be saved, although some articles of a perishable nature are much injured by the salt water. Hopes are even entertained of being able to get the ship off next spring titles, by putting in a deck above the keelson ; but the success of this measure most, of course, he considered as extremely uncertain. The owner, Mr. Blanchard, with some highly respectable officers of the East India Company's Service, are very actively em ployed in superintending the removal of the Cargo. Nothinz can exceed the bustle and confusion that pre vail at Eastbourne in consequence of this deplorable event. The place resembles a fair. On Thursday a loaf of bread could not be obtained at any of the bakers, owing to the great influx of strangers : and we are assured that one of the public houses was compelled to stop sel ling for want of beer, every drop having been drawn out of the cellar. 130lter. MANSION 110 USE. On Thursday, the well-known Samuel Waddington, who has been some time employed in selling publica tions in Carble's shop, applied to the Lord Mayor for a warrant against a Bow-street officer, under the following singular circumstances : Waddington stated, that he had to complain of a most gross assault and battery eommitted upon his per son by a Bow.street officer, named John Murton, who entered Mr. Cathie's house, its Fleet -street, for the pur pose of making an illegal seizure. An extent its aid had been executed in the house, and the sheriff's officers were in possession. The front shop, however, did not belong to Mr. Carlile, but to himself, and he remained unmolested by those who entered by legal authority ; but a Bow-street officer thought proper to walk out of his own district and enter the city, for the purpose of doing violence to one of the inhabitants. This officer, upon g,o:tig into the shop, proceeded to seize some papers which were in an obscure part of the shop, not at all exposed to public observation, nor intended for public or private sale. Waddington expostulated against the injustice of such conduct, and asked him whether he had any warrant or authority to sanction a measure of so arbitrary a natttre. The officer replied he had no warrant, but if Waddington resisted, he would blow his brains out. In the course of this impetuous proceeding, Waddington received a blow front the officer, who per severed in his intention of seizing the papers, and left the shop, not however without leaving his address with the injured person. It was, Waddington observed, perhaps fortunate for the officer, that he at first supposed his assailant to be a city officer, for he was resolved not to resist the city police. Under these circumstances, hs called upon the chief magistrate fur protection, and had no doubt of receiving it. The Lord Mayor asked him whether the officer had seized the papers upon the ground that they had no printer's name affixed to them; and whether Wad dington had about him any copies of those papers P Waddington replied, that the officer had given no ex planation of his conduct, and declared that he believed the papers to be most inoffensive. He added, that the papers hail beets kept under a shelf, for the purpose of being used in lighting the gas of the shop. As for the suspiciou that he would publish any thing without hav ing the printer's name affixed to it, there was nothing to apprehend. lie had but the other day beets applied to, to sell an Account of Mr. Hunt's confinement in Prison, but he had refused to do so, from his knowledge of the illegality of the act, and nothing should induce him to violate the law. He had no copy of the papers, nor did he know what they related to. The Lord Mayor stated to Waddington that he would make the necessary inquiry into the case, anti that justice should be done to him. His Lordship disapproved of the practiee of employing Bow-street officers to du busi ness in the city, when the city officers were very active, and had the advantage of knowing so many sources of accurate information. Waddington said that he had witnesses present who would testify as to the ill treatment he had received in the shop. The Lord Mayor said he should attend to the wit nesses on the proper occasion, and ordered that a sum mons should be served upon the Bow-street officer to attend to answer the complaint. NVaddington expressed surprise at hearing that a sum mons was to be the course through which he was to expect justice, and said the law required that a warrant should be immediately issued to take the accused into custody. He was proceeding to show that nothing but a warrant would answer his purpose, is hen he was sit denly checked, and advised not to presume to dictate to the Chiet Magistrate. He then seemed satisfied with the course which his Lordship thought proper to take, and left the Justice-room. On Friday, Parton, the Bow-street officer, appeared to answer the charge of Waddington, for an assault. He was attended by Mr. Humphreys, the solicitor. Waddington stated, that on the sth instant Purton came into his shop, No. 5.5, Fleet-street, and coming b.-hind the counter, took up sonic waste paper, and col bred him, saying he was his prisoner. Vt'aftlington sked him by what authority. Parton showed a peace officer's stall, " which," said Waddington, " any one might have for sixpence; he showed no other authority, but threatened to blow my brains out if I made any re sistance." Waddington proceeded to state, that in of Pitman's endeavours to hold him, and in total disregard of his threat of shooting hint, he disengaged himself from him. ....... ....... Two city officers came into the shop soon after, and told Waddington that Purton was not a city officer, " which (said the Radical), had 1 known sootier, I should hale treated him accordingly : and now. lily Lord (to the Lord Mayor), I appeal to your Lordship in defence of the privilege of the city of London, a, well as of the outraged laws of the country." 4? In reply to a question from Mr. Humphreys, Wad dington said the papers which Purton took up before he collared him were printed papers, but that he had only used them as waste paper, never having sold any. Porton, being called on to answer the charge, said he saw printed papers in the window which had not the printer's name, the same as others he had received at the shop from Waddington when making a purchase there on the loth of January. He here produced one of the papers, which was headed, "An Address toad the Pub lic except the Robbers;' and proceeded to say, that con sidering himself justified by law in seizing the papers. and bringing Waddington before a magisirate to answer for exposing them, he went into the shop for that pur pose. He admitted that he collared Waddington, but denied that he threatened to blow his brains out; hut that Waddington said the friends of liberty, who were outside the house, meaning a mob who had collected, would not allow him to be taken, he (Purton) said, if any one were to interfere, he would blow his brains out. He stated that he had not at the time any fire-arms about him. The facts being stated on both sides, Mr. Humphreys produced the act of the 39th of George the Third, by which it is enacted, that if any person shall sell, or in ahy manner expose to public view, any printed paper, on which the name of the printer shall not be printed, it shall be lawful for any of his Majesty's subjects to take such person before a justice of the peace to answer for the said offence. The Lord Mayor, on looking at the act, told Wad dington it appeared to him that the officer was justified in what he had done. Waddington appeared by no means satisfied with his Lordship's decision, and W 39 preparing to argue the matter, when the Lord Mayor repealed tnat the com plaint was dismissed. Waddington reluctantly retired from the liar, where he stood, consoling himself, how ever, for the disappointment he had experienced, by the consideration that he had exposed to public view the outrage that had been committed on him. Cogowag'a INQues-r.—Tnesda; morning, at eleven o'clock, an inqttisition was taken at the Prince Regent, Seymour-place, Marylebone, before Thomas Stirling, Esq. Coroner, on the body of Mr. William Harris, nephew, it is said, of an opulent gentleman, by whose death he would have come into possession of between 30,0001. and 40,0001. The investigation lasted some hours, and excited the utmost interest. The first witness examined was James Dodd, a watchman, of Seymour. place, who stated that on the Friday preceding, at about nine o'clock, having heard that a man had dreadfully ill-used his wife in a house in Queen-street, he with other watchmen gained admission into the house, in the passage he found the deceased's wife lying ; the bottom part of her face was shattered, and she was bleeding profusely at the mouth. He went into the back parlonr, and found the deceased lying on his back on the floor ; a surgeon was sent for, on examining the apartment, he found near the window a pistol, which had lately been discharged; another pistol was laying near the right hand of the deceased, and also appeared to have been recently discharged.—Mr. John North, of Seymour-place, surgeon, stated he went to the house of Mr. Collinson, in Queen-street, on the Friday preced ing at half-past nine o'clock ; he found a female severely wounded on the right side of the lower part of the face; he also observed the deceased lying on his back on the parlonr-floor ; he appeared to have received very consi derable injury. On examining him, he discovered that a ball had passed completely through his head, entering the temporal bone, and passing out of the back of his skull, and passed through the brain ; the wound was extensive, and of that nature that the witness could not render him any assistance. On directing his attention to the female, he found her jaw fractured ; he replaced the fractured pieces of the jaw which had been brokne by a pistol ball, and had extracted a tooth from her jaw. She was then put to bed, and notwithstanding her situ ation (being seven months advanced its a state of preg nancy), there was every probability that she would do well, though her face would be sadly disfigured. The witness then handed in two tenets to the coroner, writ ten by the deceased, stating, that in spite of his wife's infidelity, he had frequently ollifred to take her back, and be reconciled, and forget the pat, which she never would consent tn.—Sereral other witnesses were called, and the whole of their evidence went to prove that the deceased's wile lived alone in the house; and nue nigh: they heard the deceased come in and quarrel with her. One witness said, they had been separated 1.2 months; she frequently was observed in company with another man, a farrier. The jury viewed the body, and, after a charge from the coroner, returned the following v , ,rilict, " The deceased committed the act of violence upon his wife and himself while in a state of temporary derange. menu" PEDESTRIAII3IId.—YORK, JAN. 31.—Wright, the celebrated Bristol pedes:riati, has undertaken for a trifling wager, not amounting to 51. to wall: St4o miles in three days, in the following manner. The first day, 40 miles in 9 hours; and in the second and third days 50 wiles each, in 12 hours. The ground on which he is to walk is half a mile and back again, on the south road, close to this city; where he has to ascend and descend a very steep hill. He began his undertaking yesterday morn. ing at 20 minutes past nine, and concludcd at leis mi nutes before six, being half an hour within the time al lowed. He resumed his task this morning at 20 minute* past seven, and completed the 5.1 miles by 2i) minutes before seven this evening, bring 40 minutes within the given lime. He will recnnntwitue his undertaking to morrow morti!itg ; and, from the in tither in which I.e has proceeded so far, there is lithe cloillbt ;pm the result will b.. li‘norahlc to himself. We tinders...lml, th it in about Gutricen thyl, he:...van* il4 bung• hunts •i Sheffield. ~ J