The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-19 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.
ACCOUNT OF THE CREW OF THE SHIP STIRLING
CASTLE, AND THE CONDUCT OF THE SAVAGES.—Yester-
day Mrs. Eliza Ann Frazer, the widow of Captain Frazer,
of the ship Stirling Castle, which was wrecked on a coral
reef in the passage from Sydney to Singapore, in May,
1835, came to the Justice•room, accompanied by the cap-
tain of the vessel in which she arrived in this country, and
a female, at whose house she was received upon coming to
London, for the purpose of mentioning the particulars of
her dreadful adventures amongst the inhabitants of the
shores to which the crew resorted as a refuge from the not
more appalling dangers of the ocean.
The followin,, is as closo an account as our reporter
could collect :On the 16th of May, 1835, the StHinl
Castle left Sydney for the purpose of going to Singapore. On
the 23d, when they were approaching Torres Straits, it
blew very fresh, and there being .a current near the Eliza
coral reefs, which the vessel ,was unable to resist, she
struck on the reef at aho4, nine o'clock at night, when
the captain was incapable, on account of the hazy
weather, of making observations. There were about
eighteen men .on board, two boys, and Mrs. Frazer,
the captain's wife, who was far advanced in preg-
nancy. Two of the men who were labouring at
the wheel were killed when the ship struck, and
the cabins were dashed into the hold, together with all the
bread, beef, pork, and other provisions. The crew, when
the tempest ceased, contrived to cut away the masts, in
the expectation that the ship would right herself by turning
upon her beam ends, and she did in some degree change
her position, but not to any considerable extent. They
therefore determined to get away as well as they could in
the long-baat and the pinnace, which they had contrived to
keep secure ; the two other boats attached to the ship
having been swept away by the fury of the elements. They
.knew that they were to the northward of Moreton Bay, a
portion of the settlements of the British Crown, and they
determined to make for that place with as much expedition
as possible. Accordingly, having worked with the most
desperate industry until four o'clock on Sunday, they dis-
embarked from the vessel, and took to the boats. The
ship's carpenter, the cook, the cook's mate, John Frazer

(the captain's nephews the boatswain, Edward Stone, and
bill Lockton, a seaman, took to the pinnace ; while the
captain, his wife, the chief, and second mates, the two bOys,
and the rest of the crew, took to the long-boat. Four days
after they " committed" themselves to the care of Provi-
dence, Mrs. Frazer was delivered of a child whileuptts
her waist in water in the long boat. The infant was born
alive ; but after a few gasps was drowned, and the first mate
wrapped up the body in a part of his shirt, which he tore
from his back for the purpose, and let it go along with the
tide. The poor mother could not account for the extraor-
dinary vigour with which she was able to bear up
against
this calamity, added to the other calamities to which she
was doomed to be exposed. Fortunatsly she was for some
time in a state of insensibility, and was not, until a consi-
derable time after the chill was consigned to the deep
aware that it ws brought into a world from which it was
so rapidly hurried away, For a great many days they en-
deavoured in vain to reach Moreton Bay, being all the time
without any food, except a small quantity of the lees of hot s
which they had found in a cask. They suffered dreadfully
from thirst as well as hunger while in this awful situation.
At last they reached a large rock, to which they fastened
their boats, and they went in quest of oysters and water ;
but here disappointment was multipliaupon them, and they
stretched themselves ating in expectation of a speeds'
release from their sufferings by the interposition of
another tempest. In the morning, those who belonged to
tho long boat were astonished to find that the pinnace and
the man who had occupied her had altogether disappeared.
These unfortunate fellows were never heard of more, and
their comrades in calamity could not conjecture what their
motive could be for making an experiment, by themselves
without the aid of the experience of the captain and his
mates whom they left behind. The captain's aim was all
along, after they had been obliged to quit the ship, to reach
Moreton Bay, but, finding that wind and current were dead
against his object, and his companions being reduced to
the extremity of lying on their backs in the boat with their
tongues out to catch the damp of the dews that fell, he
resolved to make for the nearest land. It was a choice of
most awful evils, for he knew that the shore which it was
probable they would reach was visited by tribes of sa-
vages. They bore away before the wind, prepared to
meet death in whatever shape it might present itself, and
so exhausted with suffering as to be careless whether
they were to die by the hands of the natives or to be
overwhelmed in the waves. At last they came within sight
of land, and soon afterwards their boat ran into and landed
in a place called Wide Bay. They were now within 100
miles to the north of Moreton Bay, which was the principal
of the French settlements to which the incorrigible convicts
were sent to pass the remainder of their days in uninter-
mitted labour, and just as they touched the land they caught
a sight of vast crowds of naked savages, who soon approached
the beach evidently delighted with the priz! that presented
itself. The savages surrounded the boat and, raising it up,
carried it from the beach to the bush with its crew just as
they were. The moment they laid the boat on the ground
they began to strip the men of their clothes, commencing
with the captain and chief officers. John Baxter, the se-
cond mate, endeavoured to'hide a shirt ornament in which
his aunt's hair was contained, having willingly yielded up
everything else ; but the savages became infuriated at the
attempt at concealment, and beat him dreadfully. It is un-
necessary to say that they tore the trinket away from him.
They broke in pieces the watches and chronometers, and each
took a portion of the machinery to stick on their noses and
ears, and after they. had divided amongst themselves the va-
rious portions of apparel of which they had stripped their
captives, they threw to them -to appease their hunger the
heads and guts of the fish upon which they had been lately
making their meal. The savages, after having detained
them two days, took them further up into the bushes, and
drove them inward, that they' might, as they soon ascer-
tained, fall iato the hands of other tribes by whom an inges
nious variety was to be given to their sufferings. The
Captain had endeavoured to prevail upon them to accept
the services of the poor crew for a longer time, being appre-
hensive that any change amongst the natives would be for
the worse ; but they beat all the now naked whites on before
them until fresh tribes came up, and took each of them a
prisoner and set him to work in carrying pieces of trees, and
toiling in other exhausting ways. Mrs. Frazer, being the
only woman, was not selected by any of the tribes, but was
left by herself while they all went onward, but her husband
got an opportunity to mention to her not to stir from the
place in which she was at the moment, and that he would
contrive to see her in a few hours. During that night she lay
in the 0144 of 4 TPPkr d
,se mprning, after lookin
about without seeing a preatf.ire, she deterinieed to follow
some foot-marks, i#o4 after having procee4ed to some disc
tance she saw ,crowd pf bia4 women approach. These
women belonged to tho tribe of savages by
whom her buss
hand had been taken op the bosh?op the preeeding day,
and they set her to work in trailing wood and lighting fires.
Being quite naked, and preienting a contrast in her skin
which the women did not like, she was compelled by them
to rub herself all over with green herbs, which had the