The Sun.
London, England, 1824-07-29 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE Sill? FAME.

[Extract of a Letter from Sir Titos. STAMFORD RATTLES,
dated Bencoolen, Feb. 4, 18241
We embarked on the 2d instant, in the Fame, and sailed
11 at day-light for England, with a fair wind and every prospect
of a quick and comfortable passage. The ship was every thing
we could wish, and having closed my charge here much to my
satisfaction, it was one of the happiest days of my life. IVe
were, perhaps, too happy, for in the evening came a sad reverse.
Sophia had Just gone to bed, and I had thrown ofilialf my clothes,
when a cry of" Fire, tire!" roused us from our calm content, and
in live minutes the whole ship was in flames ! I ran to examine
whence the flames principally issued, and found that the lire
had its origin immediately under our cabin. Down with the
boats; where is Sophia? Here ; the children ; here a rope
the side ; lower Lady Raffies--give her to me, says one—l'll
take her, says the Captain. Throw the gunpowder overboard;
it cannot be got at; it is in the magazine, close to the fire !
Stand clear of the powder. Skuttle the water-casks. Water !
water ! ! Where's Sir Stamford ? Come into the boat, Natoli !
Nelsen ! come into the bciat. Push off; push off'; stand clear
of the after-part of the ship.
" All this passed much quicker than I can write it; we
pushed off, and as we did an, the flames were issuing from our
cabins, and the whole of the after part of the ship was in
flames; the masts and sails now taking fire, we moved to a dis-
tance, sufficient to avoid the immediate explosion, but the
flames were now coming out of the main hatchway, anti seeing
tflard ?
tbe rest of the crew, with the Captain, &c. still on board, we
litick to, her under the bows, so as to be most distant
*lie powder. As we approached, we perceived that the
fl-orn the':hatliway ;
PevPis Roo on board' were getting into another boat on the
41404 4,)* pushed off, we hailed her, have you all on
his e 14,411, 'Ave one. Who is he ? Johnson, sick in
then C°- issuing Can we ? No, impossible ; the flames were
at this moment the poor fel-
low, ecorelied, impgiee }.).y the flames, roared out most lus-
tily, having run up on the,deck. I will i;o for him, says the
Captain. The two boats then came together, and we took out
some of the person; from the Captain's boat, which wax over-
laden. He. then pulled under the bowsprit of the ship, and
picked the poor fellow up. Are you all safe ? Yes, we've
got the man ; all lives safe, thank God ; pull off from the
ship; keep your eye on a star, Sir Stamford ; theee'n one barely
visible.

" We then hauled close to each other, and found the Captain
fortunately had a compass, but we had no light but from the
ship. Our distance from Bencoolen we estimated to be front
twenty to thirty milei in a S.W. direction, there being noland-
iog-place to the southward of liencoolen, our only chance was
to regain that port. The Captain then undertook to lead, and
Wa to follow in a N.N.E. course as well as we could. No
chance, no possibility being left thatwe could again approach
the ship, for she was now one splendid flame for and aft and
aloft, her masts and pails in a blaze, and rocking to and fro,
'threatening to fall in an instant, There' goes her mizen-mast ;
pull away, Myboya; there goes the. onpowder, thank God
j
" You mayjudge of our Situation without further partien-
lora ; the alartu.waa given at about twenty minutes past eight,
and in less than ten minntes she was in flames; there was not
a soul on board At half-past eight, and in lets thin ten minutes
afterwards she was one grand mass of fire. '
" lily only apprehension was the want of hosts to hold the
people, as there wasi_pot time to have:Wife:nit a long boat, or
make a WV all
stye had to 'rely upon were two small boats,
which fortunately were lowered Without accident,' and in these
two small open boats, without a drop of water or grain of food,
or a rag of covering, except what we happened at the moment
to have on our backs, we embarked on the wide ocean, thankful
to God for his mercies. Poor Sophia having been taken out of
her bed, had nothing on but a wrapper, neither shoes nor stock-
, ings; the children were just as taken out of bed, whence one.
had been snatched after the flames had attacked it. In short
there was not time lot any one to think of more than two things
—Can the ship be saved, No; let us save ourselves then; all
the was swallowed up in one great ruin.
" To make the best of our misfortune, we avitP.tl ourselves
wlf,theitylViA,,thesll to steer a tolerably good course to.
ta• .t `tk.fehe'rtws tow :to turn till about midnight
w hen tlesm p Wu, nett 'ions' 114'. 280 tons on •board,
atottreuhvrelteieorgiblriwtiuteotriv,tonse,eeroatyinundsihi:eal
sw!
continuedlll Ilgoifisaftttheyttoe.na ihorizonmiles, and
everreastin-gtliteehae;
took fire, and sent tip one of the most splendid and brilliant
n
n
we
boisonorinndr:ie flames
°lafet
n.hba
cloud of smoke. sightlfilaothers,
moe f het n this
objects;t l;re
luridly
ar

" Neither Nelson, nor Mr. Bell, our medical friend, who had
accompanied us, had saved their coats; the tail of mine, with a
pocket handkerchief, served to keep Sophlea feet warm ; and
we made breeches for the children with our neckcloths. Rain
now genie on, but fortunately it was not of long continuance,
and we got dry again—the night became serene and starlight.
We were now certain of our course, and the men behaved man.
fully—they rowed incessantly, anti with good heart and
spirit, and never dial poor mortals look out more for day-
light and for land than we did. Not that our sufl'eringt or
grotunls of complaint were any thing to what has often befal-
len others, but front Sophia's delicate health, as well as my
own, and the stormy nature of our Court, I felt perfectly con-
vinced we were unable to undergo starvation, antl'exposure to
ninny
sun and weather days, and, aware of thei rapidity:of the
currents, I feared we might fall to the southward of the port.
" At day-light we recognised the Coast and Rat Island,
which gave tie great spirits, and though we found ourselves
much to the southward of the
1 most at home. Sophia had gone through the. night better
than could have been expected, and we continued to pull
Port, we considered ourselves al-
on with all our strength. About eight or nine o'clock we
saw a ship standing to us from the Roads; they had
seen the flame on shore, and sent out vessels in all direc-
tions to our relief, and here certainly came a Minister. of
Providence, in the character of a Minister of the Gospel, for
the first person i recognized was one of our Missionaries.—
'Phey gave us a bucket of water, and we took the c,aptain on
hoard as a pilot. The wind, however, was adverse, and we
anti took to the ship, where we got
some
shelter from the sun. By this time,
sscootupliedi
artei owfrtrrseh)qamcuhei
tnetth,eexashnhtace shelter from the sun. By this time,
So?hia was quite exhausted,
fainting continually About. two
o'clock, we landed safe and stimuli and no words of mine can
.
do justice to the expression of feeling, sympathy, and kind.
now with which we were hailed by every one. If any proof
had been wanting that my administration had been satisfactory,
here we had it unequivocally from all; there was not a dry
eye, and as we drove back to our former home loud was the
cry of `• God be praised." ,
" But enough ; and 1 will only add, that we are now greatly
recovered, in goods spirits, and busy at work in getting ready
made clothes for present use. We went to bed at three in the
afternoon, anti I did not awake till six this morning. Sophia
had nearly as sound a sleep, and with the exception of a bruise
or two, and a little pain in the bones frorn fatigue, we have
nothing to complain of.
" The property which I have lost, en thie mast moderate ad-
mate, cannot be less than 20,0001., I might almost say 30,000 t.
But the loss which I have to regret beyond. all, is my papers
and drawing's ; all my papers, of every des;ription, including
my notes and observations, with memoirs and collections, suf-
ficient for a full and ample history, not only of Sumatra, but
of Borneo, and every other Island in these Seas; my in-
tended account of the Establishment of Singapore ; the his-
tory of my own Administration ; grammars, dictionaries, arid
vocabularies; and last, not least, a grand map of Sumatra,
on which I had been employed since my first arrival here,
anti on which, for the last N 1 X months, I had bestowed al-
most my whole undivided attention ; this, however, wan
not my collections in natural history, and.tny splendid
collection of drawings, upwards of a thousand in'nutrilicr,. with
all the valuable papers and notes of my friends. Arnold . and
Jack.; and, to conclude, I will merely notice, that there was
scarce an unknown animal, bird, beast, or fish,: or an intersst--i plant, which we had not on board. .A living tapir, a new
poems of tiger, splendid pheieants, eze. ate., all 01,04411.
,
(or the voyage. 'We were, in short, in this resPatta;
aft
Noah's Ark. All—all—has perished !.hank Clod,
lives have been spared, and we deli& repine. .! Cind
" Our plan is to get another ship as won as e'oe etathiniryou May still expect us in July.' There a OHM
ship, called the Lady Flora, touching here .herogn.nyvern2
and there le a email ship ih the ratdik.,
''
- which t._
mid grew
into *.Packet, and take us' hOme, rilivi O'"r""7 .
coutthothl,"