The Sun.
London, England, 1802-02-15 00:00:00

SUFI'ERINGS OS-SOME DESERTERS.

LETTERS lately received from St. Helena, give a
most singular and affe&ing. narrative .respecting ,six
deserters from the Artillery of that Island. Their
extraordinary adventures produced a Court of In.
quiry on the 12th of December last, when
,791*
,Brown, one of the survivors, delivered the fol►ow_
ing account upon oath,• betore Captain DESFOUN-
TAIN, President; Lieut. B. HonsoN„ and Ensign
Yours:

" In June, 1799, I belonged to the first Com-
pany of Artillery, in the service of this Garrison,
and on the tofh of that month, about half an hour
before parade time, M‘Kinnon,.gunner and orderly
of the ad company, asked.rue if I was willing to go
With him on board of an Ainerican ship called the
Columbra, Captain Henry Lelar (the only ship then
in the roads); after some conversation I agreed, and
met him about seven o'clock at the playhouse,
where I found one M'Quin, of Major Seale's corn_
:piny, another man called Brighouse, another called
Parr, and the sixth Matthew Conway.
" Part was a good seaman, and said he would
take us to the Island of Ascension, or lay off the
harbour till the Columbra could weigh anchor and
come out. We went down about eight o'clock to
the WeSt Rocks, where. the American. boat was
waiting for us, manned with three•of the American
seamen, which took us alona-side the Columbra.—
We went on board—Parr went down into the cabin,
and we changed our clothes after having been on
board half an hour.

" Brighouse and Conway proposed to cut a
whale boat from out of the harbour, to prevent the
Columbra from being suspeaed, which they effea-
haviog therein a coil of rope and fire oars, with
a large stone she was moored by—this happened
about eleven at night.
" We observed lanthorns passing on the line
towards the Sea Gate, and hearing a great noise,
thought we were missed and searched for. We im-
mediately embarked in the whale boat, with about
twenty-five pounds of bread in a bag, and a small
keg of water, supposed to contain about thirteen
gallons, onecompass and one quadrant, given to us
by the Commanding Officer of the Colombra--but
in our hurry, the quadrant.was either left behind Or
dr7pped over-board.
" We then lefi the ship; pulling with two oars
only to get ahead of her—the boat was half full of
water, and nothing to bale her out—in this condition
we rowed out to sea, and lay off the Island, a great
distance, expetting the American ship hourly.
" About r z o'clock the second day, no ship ap-
pearing, by Parr's advice we bore away, steering
N. by W. .and then N. N. W. for the Ildand of
Ascension," using our handkerchiefs as substitutes
for sails. We met with a gale of wind which con-
tinued two days---the weather then became very
fine, and we supposed we had run about ten miles
an hour. M'Kinnon kept a reckoning with pen,
ink, and paper, supplied by the Coimbra, as also
charts and maps."' •

~ We continued our course till about the 18th
in the morning, when we saw a number of birds,
but no land. About twelve that day, Parr said he
was sure we must be past the Island, accounting it
to be 800 miles from St. Helena. We then each of
us took our .shirt, and with them made a small
sprit-sail, and laced our jackets and trowsers toge-
ther at the waistband, to keep us warm,: and then
altered our course to W. by N. thinking to make
Rio de Janeiro, on the American Coast. Provi.
sions running very short, we all Owed ourselves only
our ounce of bread for twenty -four haul's.; and two
mouthfuls of water.
‘, We continued until the z6th, when all our
provisions were expended. On .the 27th IVl'Quin
took a piece of bamboo in his mouth to chew, and
we all followed his example. On. that night, it
being my turn to steer the boat, and remembering
to have read.of persons in our situation eating, their
shoes, I cut a piece off one' of mine ; but it being
soaked with salt water, I was obliged to spit it
out, 'and take the inside sole, which I eat part of,
and distributed to the rest, but found no benefit
from it.