The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 21, 1848.

THE LOSS OF THE AVENGER.

The fallowing extract from a letter written by Mr.
Larcom, the gunner, to a distinguished officer of the
navy has been published
"her Majesty's ship Ceylon, Malta, Jan. 4, 1847.
" Dear have not the least doubt that you
have heard of the fate of the unlucky Avenger, which
was lost on the Sorelli Rocks about twelve miles to
the south-west of Galita, on Monday, at ten P.M.,
going at the rate of eight or nine knots, under double-
reefed topsails and reefed foresail. At the time she
struck I was in my bed, but being awakened by the
shock, I jumped out and felt for my clothes ; a heavy
sea, however, striking the ship at the time, I ran on
the deck in my shirt, where I found Lieut. Rooke
pressing the men to clear away the cutters. Seeing
the state the ship was in, I ran down to my cabin
and got my trousers on. By this time the ship
was on her beam ends, with her deck exposed to
the sea. Lieutenant Rooke failing (in the confu-
sion) to get the cutters cleared away, desired me to
assist him, which I immediately did. The surgeon,
second mate, master's assistant, captain's steward, a
stoker, and a second-class boy, got into the boat
before it was lowered, when Lieutenant Rooke,lower-
ing the foremost fall, and myself the after one, we
got down the falls ourselves and shoved off from the
ship with the intention of saviag any one that might
be washed off from the wreck. Before we shoved off
from the ship they commenced lowering the other
cutter, but unfortunately she was dashed against the
ship's side and was stoved, and the gig astern was
washed from the davits.
" We had not shoved off five minutes before the
mainmast went over the side, taking with it the
mizentopmast and the funnel ; about a minute or two
after that the foremast went, taking with it the bow-
sprit ; and in less than a quarter of an hour after she
struck she was a perfect wreck,
ever coming off again, and all hopes of saving the
ship's company were lost. leaving no chance of
" The wind and sea increasing all the time, and
our boat's crew being nearly worn out, we held a
consultation among ourselves as to what was the best
to be done, when it was agreed that we should run to
leeward of the Island of Galita, and wait there till
daylight, and try to get assistance to send to our ill-
fated companions. But when we got to leeward Gf
the island the wind suddenly shifted to the N.E.,
blowing, if possible, harder than before, which caused
a heavy cross sea, and baffled all our hopes of getting
assistance, :if any could have been obtained in the
Island of Galita. The only thing we had then to do was
to retrace our steps back to the place where we came
from, as the wind was blowing directly from the op-
posite point from which it was blowing before, and
we then passed over a reef on which I shall always
think our ill-fated ship struck.
" The wind kept veering about, as God Almighty
would have it; if it had not been so we should have
had to beach the boat in the night, and we all must
have been lost. As it was, daylight came, and we
saw the land about twenty miles off; the boat at the
same time was standing right for it, and when we got
nearly in for the shore there was such an awful sea,
that I thought every moment would be our last. As
it happened we got into a little bay, and in one place,
for about fifty yards, we saw it was a sandy beach,
and we thought we should be able to land in safety
there. But it was not to be so; for when about one
hundred yards from the beach, the rollers lifted the
boat nearly perpendicular, and her stern taking the
ground, and all power of the steering oar being lost
thereby, she swung broadside on a roller coming
in directly after, and was swamped, when, I am
sorry to say, four out of our little party, namely,
Mr. Steele, doctor; Mr. Betts, second master; Mr.
Ayling, master's assistant; and John Owen, stoker
—sunk to rise no more ; and three only besides
myself reached the shore, namely, Lieutenant Rooke,
William Hill, captain's steward, and James Mor-
ley, boy.
When we reached the land we fell exhausted on
the beach, and nearly blind from the sand getting in
our eyes as we struggled to the shore. Having some-
what recovered ourselves, we all got up and walked
along the shore, not knowing at the time where we
were going, as we hardly had any senses in us, when
we fell in with an Arab, who kindly took us into his
hut, and gave us some warm milk, which greatly
revived us. We dried our clothes, and contented our-
selves there for the night, having made him (the
Arab) understand that we wished to go where there
was some British consul, and to which we understood
he would guide us the next day.
" In the morning we were determined to set out
as early as possible ; but neither of us having any
shoes, Lieutenant Rooke cut the legs of his boots
off, and I made of them a pair of slippers
for myself and a pair for the steward. The
boy at the same time took the sleeves off his jacket,
and adapted them to the same purpose. Having
walked about thirty miles that day, we put up at an
Arab hut, and remained there for the night, having
been given to understand that we should have horses
in the morning to take us on our journey, which we
commenced again as soon as daylight, and arrived at
a place called Biserta. Here was a vice-consul, and
he gave us refreshments and shoes, and handkerchiefs
to tie round our heads, for we had lost our hats in
getting ashore ; but there not being a vessel of any
sort in this place that we could send to our ship,
Lieutenant Rooke determined to push on for Tunis,
that being the next port. Accordingly we got a boat
and arrived there in it at midnight ; and not being
allowed to enter the town we remained on board until
the morning, when Lieutenant Rooke went to
the Consul-General, Sir T. Reade, who immediately
sent to Malta to give intelligence of what had hap-
pened, at the same time sending two schooners to the
place where our poor ship was wrecked, we ourselves
going there in a large pulling boat for fear that the
schooners should be becalmed outside. The Bey of
Tunis also sent the whole of his squadron, to see if
they could recover any of the vessel or of her crew;
but I am sorry to say neither they nor we could find
either, the ship having disappeared. There cannot
be the least doubt that everybody perished except
ourselves, for the wind having shifted, and such a
heavy sea rising at the time, she must have been
washed off the rocks, and have sunk in deep water.
" We are now at Malta waiting a passage to Eng-
larid, where I hope I shall reach by the latter end of
Late this month, when we shall he able to describe all the
"JOHNhe ATljitaj
particulars—So no more from your humble and
obedient servant,
Resety9sMs,higp unner,
" Le o
Avenger."

(From the Herald.)
H Avenger How came the on the Sorrelli rocks is a
suggested question which has ested itself to most persons.
Those who have read the acconnts of the wreck, and
who know the steam-packet route to Malta, or who
have referred to the chart for it, must come to one or
other of the conclusions:---that the ship overrun her
distance in a very short
time, which is not very likely,
seeing the master had
taken
a few hours before the bearings of the ship
she struck ; that her steering was
so wild and uncertain
all
ls to throw her out of her
course, which is not at
temerity to
ihne improbable ;or that, with a
afordaaeyer deplored, the Avenger
determined,
paerbx and tempestuous night,
to cut off the
Ori-
ental steam-vessel a, Peninsular, and
(whi.h
self to be a faster boat), - had proved her-
ofpit.he
run at all hazards through by endeavouring to
between the island dangerous navigation
.. ita, and the fatal rocks of
Sorelli, instead of keepingifthe Pacha's course, far to
ta
the southward of the,
attempted, it was, indeed, the latter " shave" was
commanded
awful mistake on the
part of these who
foll or risked the sad re-
sults, which too surely
uncer-
tain ship as the Avenger. lotwed, in such an s
was mentioned yester-
day that the Avenger was
ovupplied with the proper
charts for her station; but
.if she had not re-
ceived any either at Lisbon oreCr: Gibraltar, the common
chart which has been issued all her Majesty's
ships going to Lisbon, for a longo number of years,
(as we have ourselves seen) clearly
gives the position of the island of and distinctly
prominently upon its face the Sorelli
and,
and bears
It may not be true that there wast reeks.
the part of the Avenger to try to get any intention Malta
there are circumstances which lead to
informed that
that such was the case. We related° the supposition
on Saturday the
manner in which the life of Colonel m
all probability preserved—namely, by`lntyre was in
out of the Admiralty regulation, which forbids
carrying
forbids any
ship of war to take passengers front Gibraltar when
there is a contract packet steamer in
to the same destination. It is re Port proceeding
ported that the
gallant Colonel is not the only person who owes his
life to obedience to this order, but
many persons had embarked at __moreover that
i-
Avenger, and by permission of
the captain
in the
captain were
about to take a passage in her to It
alt
was only by the captain of the paczia gat and that it
board the Avenger at Gibraltar, and roing On
tequiring that
the Admiralty orders with respect
should be strictly observed (thoe ord passenger:
tirs having
happily been put in force, too, fur the first
tune), that,
much to the unconcealed annoyance and chagrin both
of the officers of the Avenger and the
parties them•
selves who were to have been their mpagnons de
voyage, they reluctantly shifted their
quarters to the
handsome accommodations on board the
We noticed on the 7th instant, that the losspacket-ship.
Avenger was " decidedly the worstwhich has
of the
occurred in the annals of the Royal Navy since
December, 1811, when the St. George, 98, and
the Defence 74, stranded on the coast
of Jutland,
and, with the'exception of sixteen seamen, all souls
perished." We perceive that a
correspondent
has corrected a contemporary by since
quoting the
above as that of a later disaster than that which befel
the Athenienne, 64 guns, on the Sk.
irk rocks (noted
in Captain Mundy's extract yesterday), off Sardinia,,
Oct. 20, 1806, when 347 souls perished. l
cir-
cumstances attending the loss of this ship he
are fear-
s fully
interesting, as many who know
Sir Win. Pym,