The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-12-24 00:00:00

HALF AN HOUR IN AN OLD PORT-
LANDER'S COTTAGE.

A Amide chat about the Norcimbe. Gale mut Nola
Wrycks iatA: Wu t Bay.
Yross "rimy tboughtm sad rixtits" I Siweend—

twilight, ascending slowly from the Rut,
intwined in duskier wreaths her braided lock'
cY•r the fair frost and iadiant eyes of day"
Front off the beach into an ancient beachman*s cottage.
The nadir light within sheds forth a Stria welcome to me;
and on the foam-white walls within. as tit ma-gins for
suck framed records of the old fisherman's otewardallip,
are mementos of his heroic bravery, acknowledgment.
from the Royal Romano Society for saving If, from off
ti. Cisetil Beach. Hie life had been spot for the most
part on the deep watar, and the following incidents being
eo much in conformity with his old habito and mhhoins it
eramv.e.....easure to him to relate some of his old deeda and
of by-gone times. Reside a burning log,
which cheerfully dared and dickered in the rapacious Kn-
utson, seated in as old out-of-date but comfort tble arm-
chair, before the "feast for mine ears" betas, the brow
which had suddenly sprung up, as it whistled by under the
eaves of the thatch without, ?till of rising and falling in-
&clime, giving effect t) all its pathetic and primeval
language, added like sweet music to the words of the old
swan, which, after kind inquiries, for the friends we
mutually esteem, the following arc not of wrecks. hii
favourite topics, commenced.
And now, ea Shakespere

" ru tell you matter deep ant detwerous,
Fell of peril and adventurous ',lilt.
And within the place whose* virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed r
Fifty-three years ago this very night was the night of the
pdo d 'Ake happened November Ord, 1814, which only
lase about a tile. 1 t cominseced about too or this in
the morning, with the wind right in the South Wed,
Atom% 632 the Snit see came In over the beach; I rushed
with my youneeet brother out of doors for safety. new.
were tiring ions by, and there ww nobody in hula* but
mother and moves children. 1 locked the door behind me,
sad when I returned about quartsr to six the greatest sea ,
had come in over. I broke open the dwe with a crow-
ber I had been workin,r with, as we bad lost the key, and !
found the room full of water. Mother and fire children
had got up stain expecting every minute the house would
have been down and they a-top. There was no coining
down the stairs, for they were broken and washed away.
theses. still coming In. Doors and windows of houses
blown and washed in, the water entering in at the
windows and tearing the doors open to get out, h awes
being wombed into one another. Ooe man went a little
way oat about in his boat and had Ma arm broken, and
afterwards a house best down a-top of him. At this time I
there we. nothing but wild confusion, about Ti people were
killed meetly basted in the ruins or dro• nod in trying to
escape ; gorsiol the ruin, have not been touched since, as
they were left by the gale so they are to be seen now;
about 70 or 80 haloes were w uhed down Is ire than. The
old Perry House (at the time when they went autos in a
boat drawn by a line) wan eaten sway by waves under.
mining it, and the people who were all in an up-stair
room, expected every minute to he carried away as the
only room in which they were, hung by, as it were, a
timed. One or two men were drowned whilst attempting
to cross over from there on horseback, and poor old Dick,
as we used to call him, was drowned In trying to get •
soldier's horse out of the stable. thelold ferryman bad both
there nigh 30 yeare. The damage amounted, they say, to
be /AM Says a Weymouth man, in to Weymouth a
part of theßstaiste was oat 14 down, and people went
Xa sad
lr deco" too:7;On; of lies BltaisorYgestQwnsee
washed up • considerable distance by force of waver.
Vessels had •job to keep of the Quay and two or three men
were drowned whilst erasing the Narrows keg don the
/kudos was built, I keeled one of the men well, as I
wee Hebei seer the Round bones Next morning we
theught the waves were coming in again; but it was the
Reund-bouse on Are, the wind Mew the flames away from
the town, or it would have suffered. Fleet Church was
washed down too. " Aih wrecks' I should think there
were, my deer sir, and for weeks afterward.. There we.
one Dutch millet leaded with been stanza and ducky
stones. The first ducky stone that was ever known to be
valuable was 'Asked up by J. M., be was one of the boys
trimmer), up the ping to the melt on the beech, either to !
keep them warm ; or per the time, they bad these I
Meese to play the game of ducky with, although this sew
years and yeses alter the wreck. Little or no notice
seems to have been tams of their value till a Jew owning
dose offered la dd. : this spend their eyes to the fact
they were silver. They are about the rise and shape of a
tee sesther, and generally black. Nobody knew the
name; the was teen thine way of by my old in-
formant, who was apparently the first to wes her come
'shore, and as she came nearer and nearer she could see
the man who steered her had a red guernsey on. About five
miles of along shore, was the great East Indiatuan, the
Colville, Imre Demerara. Her masts we could see
nearly touched the beech as • sea came sweep-
V.?. then of again into the trough, nearly touching the
sida Ono of the bodies picked up had written on
his shlrtecoller his name, "passenger. per Colville," with
the address of his relations ; he was buried with the People
who were killed it Portland by the falling of their houses,
and one great funeral-day wee made of It. Another vessel
(showing the tremeadout seas they sometimes have) was
corded in and her masts struck first, the second wave
carried her and best her so that not a vestige of her
remained entire • few minutes after she struck—all was
knocked Into matchwood. A Government " gun-eye "
brig, that brought shot and powder, was hove clear
unhurt over the other aide of the beach from the West
Bay—the only vessel that everts known to have gone from
Plymouth to Portsmouth (where she was bound for) with-
out going round the Bill of Portland. She was launched
down unhurt into Portland Roads. "Oh ! they was Vows,
sir I when they used to take over British money in the
bowsprit of their vessel for smuggling with as they warn't
allowed to send British gold out of England, so they had
hollow bowsprits in which they bldied away the guincae."
Oh I no, Ur, the Halaewell was not wrecked in the West
Bay, but between Peverell Point and Si, Alban's Head—
undo, the high, perpendicular cliffs ther Capt tin Pearce
was captain of her, and she was over 700 tons. the left
the Downs the lit of January, 1786, and besides the crew
she had a great many soldiers and several la lies, incluling
the captain a two daughters. Just after starting they had
heavy gales with snow, and en the 6thof Jaen try she
droned her anchors, and was cost an those awl at rocks at
two in the morning. She swung round broadside, and,
strange enough, right in front of • carers, which was the
Ithrth of the ship and about 12 yards in depth. Soon
afterwards her side* broke up, and lifted bar decks and
carried away delishouse and all who were in It. Some
of the soldiers and crew before this clung on to the rocks,
many were washed high and right into the cave, where
they laid sip on the shelves or ledges in there. About
dawn, or five redo* a.m., they saw nobody could, to all
appearance, see them, as the ill-fated vessel had been all
knocked Into smithereens, and nobody could have beard
the distress gun., which were {star after she ssrnek. One
rflaii (the ) oildbod or t's top and got to a house,
and they soon got together other well with ...Novo and hit/.
and went and hoisted up the poor felloe • from below, as
they crawled, more dead than alive, to the end of their
temporary prison—the cave. Many dropped of the has
from exhaustion, and it was Ida in the day afore they
were all drawn op. Sevenths/oar men out of over 140
soak were saved. Among the moss-covered stones in
Wyke Churchyard with letters almost illegible, Is this
ineeripties concerning the wreck of the Alexander :
Lamented shades I 'twee your'e alai I to drain
blisfortone's bitter chalice, whilst in vain
Food hops and Joy, regardless of control.
Prompted each movement of the willing soul.
Sudden destruction reared his giant form,
Black with the horrors of the midnight storm;
And all coarnWd with elementary strife,
Dieselrd the throbbing acme of hope and We.
Death's triumph Weed, may angels guide your way
To the blest regions of eternal day'
Where no rude blast provokes the billowy roar,
Where virtue's kindred meet to part no more."
She was on her voyage from Bombay to London, and was
lose en the Nth of March, 1815, when all of her crew and
a = perished, with the exception of five! Lowers. sr.. people went up on the beach they fell over
them, they were so thick ; one woman over a black man,
which later generations hsve sadly to remember, the
chums being deformed. With their agonising looks
what a horrible sight in that grey early morning,
before daylight I The Abercrombie fleet was wrecked
on the night of the 18th of November. 1796, under the
command of Mr Ralph Abercrombie. A storm having
edam •on the 17th, which lasted till the next day.
may of the ships were lost. The Venus, in which
was Major Kw and his son, was also loot' but be was
never loud, although it is possible he might have been
leaped in with the rest. Among some of his things which
were seeneare afterwards washed op was • silver
" C.E.." ; but being black like the " ducky.
= or bars of silver the finder ridiculed the idea of
ite being silver, silver been in their unsophisticated
mind.amedithed with bright metal. Many of them
in=wows quite naked, owing to the shingle getting
clothes by the action of the wav, tearing away
and deandlw, the body 01 covering. me fleet left Port,.
month on the 15th of the same month full of troops,
destined on an expedition to the West Indies. including
mum el the Ord Regiment of Infantry, 11th Wert India
West, find Wert India Regiment, other' of a Wed
Reetnent ditto, 96 Light Dragoons, and nine
women. Some were found opposite Langton, Fleet, and
ChicherelL This hammed on Wednesday, Novesovir
Nth, 1701). One woman at one time came ashore on a
sheep's beak and was saved. A lady was washed arbor*
from the Abergavenny, an outward lv:und East Indiaman
that was kid on the sth February, lAA she struck on the
Shambles, and sank where she Is now (a foe mues off the
1f.0t1a...6 a few hours afterwards. The lady, however, as
to • resident of Weymouth. Teat *eel they
c7•111rolli's Ark was • French smuggler She had a curious
crew as well as cargo, like the first old Creek privateer. the
Argos. She was captured of Langton with all her tube in her,
taken by coastguards, and towed up through where the
Ferrybridee is now. She is now west for the Coastard
Station. In I.
a log-wood ship was wrecked, and her Miat,
a large one, was thrown over the beach and lodged= await
Many nuwe Addle connected with the sad tales would be of
MUM too lengthened V. discourse of now, for as the Poet
sue.

_ .
For as many a ship, both gallant and tall,
froth sunk where those waters rail;
And their keels, and their shattered mast., are all
That have 'soaped the devouring wave."
I will but Welly mention • few more, among the awful
many were those bound for the West Indies, when vessel
after vessel was wrecked • they consisted of • fleet of
merchant new, under Admiral Christian, and wore named
*' the Christian Fleet." The wreck happened in November,
1795. when as many as • thowand led their lives. The
flop" Spanish ship with .1000.000 of specie n board of
which ZA,OOO was saved. How it artieU men's memories
when they remember that on such • year they Were Weil of
for soap, or stems of tobacco, calico, shirt-buttons genera
=heed, cogesberrios, or red and light N for
The schooner Norwell had six people saved ; she
wee loaded with sugar from the West lodes. The Petronell
had scurvy is bad on board, the poor fellows limbo were
rigid sod melees to work the vessel, and that'. how she
cam labors far the weather was not very rough. She
was loaded with rice in the huska The Preach
brig Emmanuel, her masts had been cut away, one man
threw his jacket ashore, ran to the jibboom end lowered
himself down, bet was swept away, he was very small,
and his ways WM that of • wild mad Only One, AO brig
Emily, ever to have been got off, eelee Wee
Worn by mesas of laying baulks or timber, and
the of stone juke used by the quarrymen. The
bst7re
Colum 0 years ego, went out, having mostly shirt
and other teats on board. There was • barque the
rune morning with baulks of timber, she was ae only
le notes where the crew have been all saved. Another.
oil I, had duck calicos, shots and toys, and so
the lad list of daubers contiene. The wreck of the
Rona Adelaide—with the awful ghostly sights—what
MO were lying literally deed and dying from the
effects of the doubly strait rpirita, I need not continue.
se the 'manse of even souse of her eare_oy selndolif corks. still moan there on the beach. Nor of the. 4
sad *tifullkieUr help of these la the boat from the
Forest. of . as they fought and strugiled against
their sad doom as their boat struck the Chesil Bach,Shem.selves being hurled and drawn back by the undertow of
that see. Their cries being wafted upwards by the
whistling wind and rale on the early morales, their Veklee
even hides dominion over the surrounding sladoni,
being heard "ae unearthly sounds down cattenchlasseys. i
"Shrieks and cries of wild despair
lilled the air,
=lrfainter as they listened;
e bursting serge alone
Sodded es."
lli • few short a 0014148 all their voids Were 1°164
mad Writ& laybruk as the foLlowlag derdleg--

...........--. ----.
'7oa tkaTblask ••• bomb, .
411 idioms& sisoreibligi .
F.
le ••• their tame "dem to •
=4«.11.7 b°161.04; titiaVia6h-•