The National Register.
London, England, 1821-12-23 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

SHIPWRECK.
—+—
(From a New South Wale% paper.)

SYDNEY, JUNE o.—Just as Captain Rattle was on the
eve of leaving Valparaiso fur this part of the world once
more, he was informed of a marvellous affair relating to
an American whaler, that hail been attacked by a whale
at sea in so violent and dreadlid a manner as to occasion
the vessel to founder, and most of the crew to perish
of whose disastrous history we have been favoured with,
and shall present the same to our readers. Captain Raine
received information that there were three men on Dti-
eie's Island, who had preferred remaining there rather
than venture across the ucean in a boat, to which the crew
had been compelled to fly (tom the ship. The boat, to
which there three men belonged, had been picked tip by
an American whaler, about sixty days after the melan-
choly ocenrrence. Another boat, in which was the cap-
tain and the remeieder of the crew soon patted company,
and were also fallen in with by another whaler of Ame-
rica, which vessel was the bearer of the intelligence to
Valparaiso; and the horrible account given by the two
survivors in this boat was Billy deplorable and shudder-
ing. They had been ninety days at era before they had
been fallen in with, and had experienced the must dread-
fill of all human vicissitudes; from the extremity of hun-
ger, they had been reduced to the painful necessity of
killing and devouring each other, in order to sustain a
wretched life, that was bendy expected to be terminated.
Eight times had lots been drawn, and eight human beings
had been sacrificed, to afford sustenance to those that
remained i and, ma the day the ship encouutered them,
the captain and the boy had also drawn lots, and it had
been thus determined that the pour boy should die. But,
providentially, a ship hove iu sight and took them in, and
they were restored to existence. Doleful in time extreme
as it Is to hear such things, and painful as it is to relate
diem, it la nevertheless asserted us a fact by Capt. Heine,
that the fingers and other fragments of their deceased
companions were in the pockets of the captain and boy
when taken on board the whaler. The cot 1111 l ander of the
Surrey becoming opportunely acquainted with those pain-
ful and distressing circumstances, Imnianely determined
on calling at llacie's Island, and be irstrumental in re-
storing three unfortunate fellow-ereattires to society, and
very possibly rescue them front a miserable end, particu-
larly as this island was no great distance out of his tract
110al Valparaiso to New Holland. On Thursday, the sth
of April, Captain Raine, considering himself within a
very short distance of Ditere's Island, which is laid dowu
in Noire's Epitome to be iu lat. 24 deg. 4d min. S. and
long. 124 deg. 37 . W. kept a good look-out. As the
vessel °eared the land, a gnu was discharged, and shortly
after the three po ,r men were sect' to issae forth (tom the
a nods. The bumf% were [presently lowered, Capt. Naive
taking one Ititie.eif. On approaching the shore, it was
finial] not only datigei outs, hat utterly impracticable, to
14011, of which err cionitance they were informed, in weak
and treimiluus voices, by the almost starved and ueatly
worn out creatures themselves, who could scarcely, from
the miserable plight they were in, articulate a syllable.—
One poor fellow anutinuned up courage to plunge into the
waves, and with great difficulty reached the boat ; lie said
one of the others only could swim. After warily backing
in the boat as near the rocks as possible, amidst a heavy
surf, they succeeded in getting on board, lunch bruised
and lacerated by repeated falls; which object was no
sooner °fleeted, than each devoutly expressed his gratis
tilde to that benign Being, who hail su woriderfully pre.
served them lions sharing in the destruction to which
their unhappy shipmates had fallen victims. These men
are now with Captain Keine, and declare their names to
he Thomas Chapped, William Wright, and Seth Weeks ; and
the foible tug is the accuuut they gave of tiie distressing cir-
C.HOSIUUee, Which we feel no hesitation in declaring miry be
numbered with true of thine events that are without parallel
in the history of man. 'floe y sailed from Natucket in the
Ainerieun clip Aster, of two huudred and sixty tuns, O.
Pollard, master, of the 10th of Alvust, 1819, on a whaliug
voyage; they au rived in the South Seas, where they were
pretty fortunate, halving succeeded in procuring 150 barrels
01 oil, and wei e in the latitude to! 41 deg. south, and long.
118 west, when the ;Accident happened, which was on the
Idite of November, 1820. On that day sissy were among
whales, road the !hire boats were lowered downs the mati 'a
boat gut sieve, and had returned to the ship to be ‘repaired.
—Shortly after a is li:the of the largest claw struck the tilde,
and knocked part of the false keel utr, jug abreast ill the
main channels. The animal thee remained along-side, en-
deavouring to clasp the ship with her jaws, but could not
accomplish it; she Ikea turned, went muuimd the sten', mai
came up on the other side, and went away a head Jamul a
quarter tan mile, :and then cud& uly tinning, came lit the
ship with trernearluris velocity, head on. Time vessel was
gnat; at the rule of live knots, but such was the force a hen
bite struck the ship, which was under the cat-head, that the
ve.sel bad ster n-wns, tit the rate of three ur four knots; the
consequence wit., that the sea rashed into the cabin windows,
every man on deck was knocked down. and worse than till,
the sows were ,leave completely in, nod in a few minutes
the vessel tilled, aud went on her beam ends. At this un-
happy juncture, the captain mid second mate were fast to
a a huh- each; out On beholding the awful catastrophe that
bad taken place, immediately cut from the fish, amid made
fur the ship. Ily cutting away the masts, the vessel 'lighted:
the upper deck was their scuttled; and some water and
blend were prorwerl for dr. two boats, in which they were
cwiiipelled to lewain, its all thoughts (dairying the ship were
eject, Ns. la expect,' of falling iu wink some prate',
they remained [Mee days by the wreck, making sails, &c.
hut arr.. cumpilled at length to abandon it, and stood away
to south% aril, in hopes of getting the variable winds aid
spitespitn.vaciii fins weather; but the wind constantly (ruin
the east awl east south ran, they made much lee-way, and
were preveuted float keeping to the southward ; in conse-
quence of which, on the 20th of Deceitiber, they made the
islaird (tour which Captain Raine took theta, and which was
lake., for Ducie's 1-land, amt which place the boats remained
'sue week; but the Islior.l affording hardly any nourishment,
in fact exhibitiry, marring hut sterility, they resolved on
veuturing fur the coast, lenvisig behind them the three awe
lion on biend the Surrey, with whose sufferings. and those
of their shipmates, we are by this opportunity favoured
with sin account ; and cestainly they are puignaut in the
es treine.

The scaffultlin,g on the top of St. Pours Cathedral
has been so tar removed as to give a full view of
the new ball and cruss, which have a very splendid

utret.t.

ws
ADJOURNED INQUEST ON' NIL BLADE
On Monday, at two o'clock, the Jury met according to
adjournrnent,at the house of Mr. Fountain, the Marques.
of Granby, in Percy-street. Ratliboile.place, to resume
their inquiry into the circumstances which led to the
melancholy death of the above gentleman.
The first witness examined was a gentleman named T.
R. Este, residing in Porimaiesquare, who stated, that
about nine o'clock on the 29th of November, as he was
passing through the Edgware-road, he saw two females,
apparently women of the town, looking in a shop window.
He had scarcely passed when Ise again saw them running
towards a stage coach, the driver of which was on his
box, and invited them to come up and take a ride, which
they did. The man then drove away rapidly towards the
toll-gate. and then he drove still more furiously. In a
few minutes lie (witness) heard shrieks and screaming,
and, conceiving that an accident had happened, he tan
back, and the first person he met told him the stage had
overturned. Sonic little distance on he sew a crowd,
amougst whom lie noticed one of the women that rode
with the driver; she was covered with mud, and appeared
to be fainting, and lie should conceive that she must have
been seriously injured. Another woman came up, who
was much disfigured. and laboured under considerable
agitation. A tCw yards on laid the deceased, covered with
dirt, and bleeding. Witness asked him if lie was hurt,
and lie then complained that his head and body lied been
much hurt. Witness and some other persons lifted bins
up, and carried him to a gentleman's house adjoining.
surgeon was immediately sent foi , and a gentleman, sa
assistant to Mr. Bryan, soon afterwards arrived, and
dressed the deceased's wounds. Witness, as soon as he
conl,l, proceeded to the stage coach, and saw '4 Notting
Hill" on it, but before he could take the name, the coach-
man mounted the box and drove off. He could not see
the exact colour of the coach body. There were lamps
along one side of the road, and witness is perfectly sure,
that if he was driving the coach he could have seen the
deceased's chaise. The coachman's language was very
otkesive, and lie certainly considered his manner of
do iviug to be very reprehensible; but it was nothing
inure, speaking generally, than all the coachmen on that
road were in the Jaily habit of doing.
A Juryman here suggested, that 'Fliomas Stratford, the
person who was supposed to have driven the coach on the
night of she accident, was in attendance to give evidence;
but

The Coroner declined calling him, lest he might be cri-
minated, and could not legally be examined.
Richard Saunders, of the Edgware-road, wheelwright,
was alarmed by a noise in the street,and on going out saw
a horse rush by, dragging the fragments of a chaise at its
heels. The deceased was then lying against the railings,
in answer to witness's inquiries, lie said lie was very much
hurt, and that lie feared his leg was broken. He said 110
was buckling the belly-band of his horse at the lime, and
that he called out to the coachman to take care, bat be
paid nu heed to the caution, but ran him down. The stage
was one of the Bayswater coaches, and the man who drove
it was not the regular driver ; the women called him by
the name of Toni, and witness is sure he should know him
again. There was light enough for him to see, and room
to pass 11r.Stade without touching either him or his gig.
Mi. Appleton (a Juror.)—The road is 1-1 yards wide,
and FIX carriages could easily pass abreast ; on this occa-
sion Mr. Slade's chaise and the stage were the only vehicles
on the road.
Charles Reeves, a watchman, saw two women on the
box; their names are Sarah Dixon and Carty. He
had no doubt but he could find them immediately.
Coroner.—Well, then, my chaise is down below—take
that, and tiling the ladies here at once.
A summons was then granted against them, and the
watchman deported to serve it.
The witness Saunders re-examined.—He had been down
stairs to see the person. now in waiting, and tbe Mall
!mimed out to him by the name of Thomas Stratford is
the same w limo he saw with the coach on the night of the
accident.

There being no more witnesses at this period of the
inquiry, the Jury and Mr. Das is, one of the assignees tin-
! der Kitiner's baiikruptcy, held a long consultation respect-
! ing the owners of the coach, from which their *Gigs
appeared both perplexed and unsatisfactory.
At the request of the Jury, Thos. Stratford was called,
and being informed by the Coroner of the situation in
which he stood, was asked if lie had any objection to be
sworn ? He replied in the negative. He them stated that
lie sometimes throve the coach front Nettie; Hill; he did
not know who the owner of that coach was, hut the name
upon it is Samuel Kinuer, of Kensington.
Curoner.-.-1 am rather shy in asking you any (nether
questions, nor treed you say aay more unless you like.
Stratford.-1 have nettling more to say, Sir, only I was
not the cause of the accident.
Coruiter.—Who was then ?
Answer.—Why, t don't know, it was miserably dark
and foggy.
He then proceeded to state that he gave the two wane
a ride, but the mess who were with him were passengers.
However, he subsequently admitted that those persons
also rode fur nothing, lie having given them " a lilt" from
the Batik,-and he afterwards declared that the women
were passengers too, and very frequently rode with him,
although in the firs; instauce be was understood to say to
the cuutraiy. He was afterwards asked who employed
and paid loin 1 Tu the tinnier lie answered Mr. Khmer ;
and with retard to the latter he decared that he never
received any wages at alt.
Mr. Junathaii Wooddenillord of the Star and Garter,
in the Eden at e-road, stated, that on the evening is ques-
tion, Thomas Stratford, and another coachman, whose
name lie believed to be Calvert, called at his house and
had something to drink ; they were both sober.
511.. Itov elicits, who keeps the Yorkshire Stiego, proved,
that on the night of the accident Stratford called at his
house; he then drove Kintiet's Notting Hill coach, and
he appeared sober.
It was announced that the watchmen who bad been
sent tut the women had arrived with one of them. She
wits aceordingly introduced and sworn. Her name,
slue said, was Caroline Johnson; her residence was
itr Lisson-green t on the eve ee iee g when Mr. Slade wee
killed site was walking along the Edgware.road, and
at the Star and Gaiter public home saw the says water
coach, which Thomas Stratford drove; she got up without
being asked by the driver—in fact, because she wanted to
go to Bayswater as a passenger. On going through the
toll-gate, Stratford gut done to do something to the
coach, giving her the reins, and on his getting lip again