The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-01-29 00:00:00

! 314RFELLUVS SroitY.
_...,—...--
[Eitract from the Sydney (New South Wales) almeffer ii
the bib • Jests, 111121.1
.......-
feet es Captain Raise wee en the ewe of leaving Valpa-
raiso for this part of the world own more' he was ieforeted
of a meet reonollouseffair retains to an American whale',
that hod bee. attacked by a whale at sea in **elation( end
dreadful a manlier as to occasiee the vessel to fooader, sod
meet of the crew evestirally to perish; sumethiag of whose
disastrous history we have been f ed with, sod shah
present the same to oar readers. Captain Raise received
informatioa that there were three men on Duties Island, who
bad preferred remaining there rather than venturer across the
new. In • boat, to which the crew had been compelled to
by from the ship. The beat, to which these three men be-
Waged, had been picked op by an Americas whaler, sheet
sixty days after the melancholy eccurreace. Another boat,
is which was the Captain sad the remainder of the ere*,
soon parted company, and were also fell in with by another
whaler of America, which vessel was the bearer of the in- '
telligence to Valparaiso; and the horrible account given by
the two survivors in this beat was truly deplorable muddied.
during. They had been entity days at sea before they were
fallen im with, and had experienced the most dreadful of •11
hems. vicishades; from the extremity of hunger they had
been reduced to the painful necessity of killing and devour.
tog each ether, is order to nosh, a wretched life, that was
hourlyexpected to be terminated. Eight times bad lots been
drawn, and eight human beings bad been sacrificed to afford
sustenance to those that remained; and, on the day the ship
encountered them, the Captain and the boy bad drawn lets,
sod it was determined that the poor boy should diet But,
providentially, a ship hove is sightend took them to, and
they were restored to existence. Delete' in the extreme as
It is to bear arch things, sad painful as it is to relate them,
it is nevertheless asserted as • fact by Captain /taint, that
the fingers, and other fragments of their deceased cutups.
atone, were in the pockets of the Captain and boy when
taken on board the whaler. The Commander of the Surrey
becoming opportunely acquainted with those pistol and
distressing circumstances, humanely determined on calling
at Dudes Island, and be instrumental In restoring three
unfortunate fellow-creatures to society, and very posaibly
rescue them from a miserable end; particularly as this
Island was no great distance out of his track from Velma.
niso to New Holland.
On Thursday, the sth of April, Captain Rains considering
himself eithiu a very short distance of Ducks bland, which
islaid down in Nor Ties Epitome to be in let. 24.41. S. sod
long. 124.37. W. kept a good lookout. At about two p. m.
hied was perceived, which termed eat to be en island in
let. 24. 26. As the vessel neared the land a gnu was die.
charged, sad shortly after the three poor men were seen to
Issue forth from the woods. The boat, were peateutly low.
ered, Captain Raise taking one himself. On approaching
the shore it was lowed not only dangerous but impracticable
to laud, of which they were informed in weak and tremulous
voices by the almost starved and nearly wortvout creatures
themselves, who could scarcely, from the miserable plight
they were in, articulate • syllable. One poor fellow sum-
moriedep courage to plunge into the waves, end with great
diScolty reached the boat ; he said one of the others only
could swine. After warily backing in the boat as near the
rucks as possible, amidst • heavy iterf, they succeeded is
getting on board, much bruised sad lacerated by repeated
falls ; which ohject was no sooner effected than each de.
vootly expressed his gratitude to that benign Being who had
so wonderfully preserved them from sharing in the destruc-
tion to which their unhappy shipmates had knee victims.
The whole island appears to be a ruck of volcanic matter,
and is replete with caves arid caverns of considerable extent.
in one of which Captain Rsine was informed by those men
they had discovered the skeletons sleight bodies on the north-
west side crib. island; and they farther reported, that in
several parts there were tlae sips amity*/ having here there
before, such as trees heels( been cut, and plans where lore
had been made. They stated, that whew they lint beard the
report of the gnu, they had just retained from plabirtiag bro.
rise and some of the palm tree, ad were taftwalieg their
apparently unrelenting destiny, when the rerverberatieg
sounds aroused their alteration. which were thought, for the
moment, to be distant thunder; bet hope involenterily
arising in the breast of one of them, he cast a wolfed eye
towards the sea, and joyfully beheld • ship, which was dea-
thbed t. release them from a miserable death. Captain Raise
conveyed them on board immediately, and if would be super.
'noes to dilate on benevolence and hentaiity which is so
universally known in New South Wales ; settSce it to say,
that every precaution and tenderness were observed in regard
le their food; and, in a few days, they soon recovered the
accustomed cheerfulness of seamee, and were shortly enabled
is *mist the sailors that had exerted themselves In snatching
three hums, being" sad fellow-marieers from an otherwise
inevitable destruction Throe men are sow with Captain
Radar, and declare their names to be Thomas Chappel,
William Wright, and Seth Were.; and the following is the
account they gave of the distressing eireemetimer, which we
feel no hesitation is declaring may be numbered with
sae of those events that are without a parallel in the history
of Eno. They sailed from Nantucket in the American skip
Bore; of 260 ions, George Pollard master, an the 19th of
August, 1819, on a whaling royage ; they arrived in the
South Seas, where they were pretty fortunate, having sue-
seeded is mousing 750 berreO of oil, and were is the lati.
lode of 47. S. lorigiteile 188 W. when the anodes( happened,
which was on the 13th of November, 1820. On that day
they were among sassy whale', and the three boats were
lowered down; the unitte's boat got stove, and bad returned
to the ship to be repaired. Shortly after a whale, of the
largest class, strnek the ship, and knocked pert of the false
keel off, jest abreast of the main chamois. The animal
then remained for same time along-side, eadeavouring to
cl.tep the ship with her jaws, but could not accomplish it ;
she then turned, went round the stern, and came up ow the
other side, and went •erny • bead about a quarter of • mile,
and then sudrteely turning, came at the ship with tremeedons
velocity, bead tie. The vessel was prise at the rate of fire
knots, but arch was the force when she struck the ship,
which eras under the cat.head, that the noel bad stere•waj,
at the rate •f three or four knots; the consequence was, that
the sea seabed iota the cabin wiu.lows, every man on deck
was knocked down, and worse than all, the bows were stove
completely in, and, in a very few minutes, the enrol filled,
and went on her beam-ends. At this unhappy juncture, the
Captain and second mete were fast ti a whale each; hot, on
beholding No solid catastrophe that had taken place, imme-
diately cut from the fish, and made for the ship. By cutting
away the neon the vessel righted ; the upper deck was then
scuttled, and some water mod bind were procured for the
two boats, in which they were compelled to remain, as all
thoughts of saving the ship were give• up. In expectation
of falling in with some vessel, they remained three days by
the wreck, making sails, lie. but were compelled at !toga
to abandon it, sod stood away to the southward, in hopes
of getting the variable winds, experiencing Gee weather;
but the wind being constantly from the E. and E.S.E. they '
made much lee-way, mud were ',reverted front keeping to the
Deathward, in consequence of which, on the 20th of De- '
ember, they made the island from which Captain Rains took
I them, sod which was taken for Denies Island, at which
plan the boats remained one week, but the island affording
hardly any nourishment, in fact exhibiting nothing het ste-
rility, they resolved on venturing for the coast, leaving behind
them the three men new on board the Surrey, with whose suf-
ferings, and that of their shipmates, we are by this oppor-
tunity favoured with an account ; nod, certainly, they are
poignant
im in the extreme. Captain Raise has pat into our
the letter that was left by Captain Pollard on this
laud, which was enclosed in a tin box, of which the follow.
lag la • May :
" Angora of the loos of the ship Essex, of Nantucket,
in North America, Duties Island, December 20, 1820, eons.
sanded by George Pollard, jun. which shipwreck happeeed
P on the 10th day of November, 1810, on the equator, in
long. 120. W. dome by a large whale striking her in the bow,
which ceased her to 1111 with water maw.' tea minutes.
We got what provisions and water the boats wooled carry,
and left her on Hutted of November, and arrived ben this
day with all hand., except one black man, who left the
skip in Tenures. We tetrad to leave to-morrow, which
will be the 18th of December, 1820, for the continent..
1 shall leave with this a letter Cue my wife; and trimmer