The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-04 00:00:00

THE LATE STORM.

DREADFUL SHIPWRECK OFF BOULOGNE OF THE
ENGLISH CONVICT SHIP THE AMPHITRITE, AND
LOSS OF ONE HUNDRED AND 1•.IGH1 FEM ALE
CONVICTS, TWELVE CHILDREN, AND THIRTEEN
SEAMEN, IN THE EVENING OF AUGUST 31, 1833.
BOULOGNE SUR-MER, SEPT. I, 1833. The
dreadful event which is announced by the title to
this letter has filled the town with dismay, and must
lead to a most narrow and rigid investigation.
The Amphitrite convict ship sailed for New South
Wales from Woolwich, on the 25th August (this
day week). Captain Hunter was the commander;
Mr. Forester, the surgeon; and there were 108
female ccavicts, 12 children, and a crew of 16 per-
sons. The Captain was parr owner of the vessel.
When arrived off Dungeness, the gale of
the 29th began. On Friday morning the Captain
hove the ship to, the gale being too he%tiy to sail.
The vessel was about three miles to the east :7, "r 1
Boulovie harbour on Saturday at noon, when they
made land. The Captain set the topsail and main-
fore-ail, in hopes of keeping her off shore.
Frons thr,e o'clock she was in sight off Boulogne,
and certainly the sea was most heavy, and the wind
extrem-ly strong; but no pilot-boat went out to
an.l no life-boats or other assistance were de-
spatched. I nbaerved her from three o'clock till
about half-past four in the afternoon, when she came
round into Boulogne harbour, and struck on the
sands. By four o'clock it was known that it was a
British ship ; but ‘ome said it was a brig, others
said it was a merchant vessel, though all said it was
English.
It appears from the statements of three men who
have been sa.ed out of the crew—all the rest havirg
perished—that the captain ordered the anchor to be
let go, in hopes of swinging round wi:h the tide.
In a few minutes after the vessel had gone
aground multitudes rushed to the beach, arid a
brave French sal!. r, named 13:erre Heflin, who has
al eady received the thanks of the Humane Socie y
of London, addressed him-elf to the captain of the
port, arid said that be was resolved to go alone,
and to reach the vessel, iti order to tell the captain
that he had not a moment to lose, but mu-t, as
was low water, send all his crew and passengers on
share.

You will recollect, that up to the time of her
running aground no measure was adopted, arid the
captain was not warned from shore of her danger.
As soon as she had struck, however, a pilot boat,
commanded by Francois Heuret, who hat on many
occasions shown much courage, was dispatched,
and by a little after five came under her bow. The
Captain of the vessel refused to avail himself of the
a,sistance of Heuret arid his brave companions, and
when a portion of the crew proposed going on shore,
the Captain prevented them. Two of the men
saved, knew the boat was under the bows, but the
rest were below making up their bundles. The crew
then could have got on shore, and all the unfortu-
nate women and children.
When the French boat had gone, the surgeon
sent for Owen, one of the crew, and ordered him to
get our the long-boat. This was about halt-past
five. The surgeon di•cussed the matter with hi•
wife and with the Captain. They were afraid of
allowing the prisoners to go on shore. The wife
of the surgeon is said to have proposed to leave the
convicts there, and to go on shore without them.
In consequence of this discussion, no longboat
was sent out. Three of the convict women told
Owen that they heard the surgeon persuade the
Captain not to accept the asaitance of the French
boat, on account of the prisoners who were on
board.
Let us now return to Pierre Heflin. The French
pilot boat had been refused by the surgeon and
captain—the long boat had not been put out, through
a discussion as to saving the convicts—and it was
now nearly six o'clock. At that time Henin went
to the beach—stripped himself—took a line—swam
naked for about three quarters 0f an hour or an
hour, and arrived at the vessel at about a little
after seven. On touching the right side of the
vessel, he hai;ed the crew, and said, " Give me a
line to conduct you on land, or you are loot, as the
sea is coming in." He spoke English plain enough
to be heard. He touched the vessel, and told them
to speak to the Captain. They threw (that is,
some of the crew, but not the captain or surgeon)
two lines, one from the stren and the other from the
bow. The one from the stern he could not seize—
the one from the bow lie did. He then went to-
wn:us the shore, but the rope was stopped. This
was, it is believed, the act of the surgeon and
captain He (Heflin) then swam back, and told
them to give him more rope to get on shore. The
captain and surgeon would not. They then tried
to haul him up, but his strength failed, and he got
on shore.

-
You perceive then, that up to this moment also,
the same obstacle existed in the minds of the cap-
tain and of the surgeon. They did not dare, with •
out authority, to land the convicts, and rather than
leave them on board, or land them without such
authority, they perished with them.
But who could have given this authority ? The
British Corm!l is, of course, the reply. Did he do
so ? No. Why not ? We shall see hereafter.
To return to the narrative of events. The female
convicts who were battened down under the hatches,
on the vessel running aground, broke away the half
deck hatch, and, frantic, rushed on the deck. Of
course they entreated the captain and surgeon to let
them get on shore in the long-boat, but they were
not listened to, as the captain and surgeon did not
feel authorized to liberate prisoners committed to

their car'.
About seven o'clock the flood tide began. The
crew, seeing that there were no hopes, clung to the
igging. The poor 108 women and 12 children re-
married on deck, uttering the most piteous cries.
The vessel was about three quarters of a mile Eng-
lish from shore, and no more. Owen, one of the
three men saved, thinks that the women remained
on deck in this state about an hour and a half!!!
Owen and four others were on the spars, and thinks
they remained there three quarters of an hour; bat
seeing no hope of being saved, he took to swim-
mitts, and ;t. a at,a‘e or lasensibillty to
the Lord. Towsey, another of the men saved, was
on a pl.ttik with the captain. Towsey asked who he
was? He said, "I am the captain," but the next
moment he was gone Rice, the third man, floated
ashore on a ladder; he was aft when the other men
took to the raft. 'When the French pilot boat
rowed away, after being rejected by the cawain, he
(Hive) saw a Iran waving his hat on the beach, and
remarked to the captain that a gentleman was a av-
ing to them to come on shore. The cap rain
turned away and matle no answer. At the moment
the women all th.appeared, the ship broke in two.
These are the facts of tins awful case. The
French Miirine Humane Society immediately placed
hundreds of men on the b‘aci;the office or
lodging being close to the shore,and
as soon as the
corpses were picked up they were brought to the
rooms, where 1 assisted many of my couritr
endeavouring to restore them to lite. Our effort..
in
we e fruitless, except in the cases of the three men,.jrt'
Owen, Rice, and Towsey. I never saw so m;
fine at:d Ist-swift,' bodies in my life. Sams of
the
women were the most perfectly made; and French
and Eogl;sh wept together at such a horrible loss of
life in sight of—aye, and even c!ose to the port and
town. Body after body has been brought in.
More than 60 have been found; they will be buritd
to-morrow. But, alas ! alas ! after all our efforts
only three lives are saved out of 136 I !!
Whose fault was all this ? The Captain has
been blamed for his obstinacy—but he is dead.
The surgeon has been blamed for his tenacity—but
he is lifeless. The French and English authorities
are Warned, for riot having done something to save
the vessel trom coming on shore, since from three
till five o'clock she was in danger and distress close
off the shore. The English Consul is of course
blamed; but it is said that he was not informed rib
past seven o'clock by a private letter, and that
written by myself, that a vessel was in danger.
Whose fault was this ? During such weather a-
that of Saturday, ought not the Consul to have had
some one watching for biro off the coast ? or was he

not bound to do this? and was it the place of the
public authorities of Boulogne to have informed
him ? If he had known, or been informed, could he
not have sent out by the French pilot-boat advice.
or even orders, to the captain to put his crew and
passengers on shore, as the loss of the vessel was
inevitable ? Would or would not the captain and
surgeon have been delighted to have had this
authority ? Could the English Consul have sent
out other pilot boats ? Could not Henin, who
swam out, have taken orders from the Consul to
the captain to land his crew and passengers with-
out the delay of an hour ? Remember that from
three to half-past seven the convicts and crew
could have been got on shore by lines, boats, and
ropes—and that they were yet all lost except three
men. Did the Consul offer one thousand or two
thousand francs to each boat who would go out ?
se are questions which are everywhere put, and
that with an anxiety and irritation I cannot
deline-
and will not dwell on. Airdi aileron partenz.
We \ •ill do so, but mere ignorance of such an
event, in such weal her as we have had from Friday
night to the moment at which I am writing, will
surely be no apology. If the Captain and surgeon are
only to be blamed, let this be known ; if not, let an
examination be conducted on the spot. I saw al;
—I have examined the three men who survive; all
ought to have been saved ; where was the fault
that they were not ? We must wait and see.
SUNDAY, ONE o'cLocKe—The wind is somewhat
abated, though not much. The sea is running
mountains high. We have begun a subscription for
the three poor fellows who survive—l think we
must add, and for the widows and orphans of the
rest of the crew who expired. Three hundred and
forty-five francs have already been subscribed. A
portion of the subscription will he applied towards
reward.ng the pilot Heitret and Pierre Henin, who
did all they could towards saving the vessel. The
übscription will be •uperintended by a committee to
he named by the Mayor of the town from the sub-
scribers.

(ANOI lIER ACCOUNT.)
" The men who reached the slime were saved by
clinging to the spars, and were providentially washed
by the force of the filoding tide upon the beach.
Mr. Hamilton, the Con-ul of Boulogne, has been
unremitting in his cares upon them, although tht
lives of two have been pronounced by the medical
men to be in the most precarious situation ; of the
third there are strong hopes of his eventual recovery
Tile scene presented in the port of Boulogne on
Stturday morning baffles any description—corpses
strewed here and there along the beach, and each
advancing wave poured forth from its bosom some
fresh victim of the frightful calamity. Sixty bodies
had been washed on shore, one presenting the ap-
palling spectacle of a child, whose mouth was fast
locked in the nipple of its young mother's breast.
" We nudes st and, ou inquiry, that there were lofty
children on board with their parents. It is custo-
mary, under particular circumstances, to permit the
children of such women to accompany them to their
destination as preferable to their remaining in this
country without protection. It ought to be stater],
in justice to the surgeon-superintendent, that he is
responsible for the safe custody of all she convicts
intrusted to his charge, as wel as for their treat-
ment throughout the voyage; and, as a premium
for the due performance of his duty, he receives a
gratuity of one pound for each convict he delivers
to the authorities in New South Wales, in addition
to his pay. The captain and the crew are under
the sole control of the surgeon in all matters not
connected with the immediate nautical management
of the vessel; anti as an additional inducement to
the Captain to take proper precautions to secure
the safe custody of the prisoners, he is liable by
bond to a heavy penalty (we have heard 1,0001.)
for every one who shall e•eape. This may account
for the jealousy manifested both by the surgeon
and the captain, who perhaps apprehended no im-
mediate danger in not permitting any person to
come on board, or suffering the unfortunate women
to avail them-elves of the opportunity of saving
their lives, which was offered. These persons, in
fact, sacrificed themselves to the strict performance
of their duty. It is very unusual for the wives of
the surgeons-superintendents to be permitted to ac-
company their husbands; and such an indulgence
is only granted under very peculiar circumstances.
We believe this is the first instance in which a
convict ship has been lost in her way from this
country ever since the establishment of the colony
in New South Wales.