The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-06 00:00:00

Fraudulent Personation of the Duke of St.

Albans.

" The Duko of St. Albans ! Has his lordship left
his card ?" "No, sir," was the reply ; and then
the captain's answer came, "Indeed, then he has

left a message ?" "No !" " There's a mistake,
gentlemen, surely, for the Duke of St. Albans is an
intimate friend of mine." "There can be no mis-
take, because we have spent some time with his
lordship, who has just returned to the Royal
Hotel." Captain Seymour still expressed a doubt,
and asked to have a description of the "duke."
It was no sooner given than Captain Sey-
mour replied, "I tell you distinctly that your
late guest is not the duke, who, I have
reason to believe, is at this time with the Prince of
Wales at the royal seat at Sandringham." The
dumbness of modest, men upon their own merits
could not be more extreme than was the silence of
the astonished officers of the ship, and one of them
immediately penned a note to Mr. Pearse, of the
Royal Hotel,. stating that the captain of the Royal
Adelaide had convinced the officers that the Duke
of St. Albans was not in the county. Unfortu-
nately the messenger despatched with the note wore
the uniform of the service, and when he entered the
hotel he was confronted by the person to whom the
note referred. " Captain Dashwood," alias " the
Duke," was smoking in the lobby, and espying the
naval dress, coolly said to the youth, " What brings
you here ?" The boy said he had a note for Mr.
Pearse. " I'm Mr. Pearse," replied Capt. Dash-
wood, and adroitly took the note, slipped into
the coffee-room, and a moment after reap-
peared, and sent away the boy, to whom he said,
" There is no answer at present ; I will write
the reply." Upon this the captain proceeded
to his bed -room and straightway fulfilled
his promise, for he wrote to the officers of the Royal

Adelaide, berating them severely for their suspicions

and the manner in which they had acted on them,

Strange to say, he paid his bill, was then driven by
his order to the pawn-office of Mr. Smith, Whimple-

street, and there pledged a watch worth about £3O
for £5, and drove to Devonport, handing the ticket

of the watch to the cabman in payment for hi 3 fare,

The cabman left him at the station, where he took
a ticket for London, and on his arrival wrote a letter
to the officers, full of stern rebukes for their incre-
. _ _

dulity.

At length the imposition came to the ears

of the Duke of St. Albans, who directed inquiries
to be made concerning the swindler, with a view to

his prosecution. The next that was heard of Capt.
Dashwood was that he had victimised hotel-keepers
and others at Truro and in other towns in Cornwall.

Colonel Vivian, the chief of police at Plymouth, at
once put himself in telegraphic communication with
various places, and learned that the " captain" was
at Great Yarmouth, whither Colonel Vivian at once
proceeded, and soon succeeded in gaining possession
of the " captain," who is now in custody at Truro.

The Sufferings on Board the Jane Louden.

STATEMENT OF THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE

CREW.
The following statement has been made by Capt. Cesey,
the late commander and only survivor of the crew of the
British ship Jane Louden, laden with timber, from Quebec
for Falmouth, for orders, who was rescued from the water-
logged ship by the Dutch barque Ida Elizabeth, of Rotter-
dam, from Batavia for Amsterdam, under very painful cir-
cumstances :

"We sailed from Quebec on the 28th of November.
Nothing particular occurred until December the 20th, in
lat. 37.47, at 8 a.m., fresh wind from S.W., which increased
to a gale at noon, the barometer 2816. The gale increased,
and at 6 p.m. a complete hurricane ; all hands at the pumps,
the ship straining heavily, and making great quantities of
water. On the 21st, it still blowing a hurricane, the ship
making more water, the pumps not able to keep her free, sea
making a fair breach over her, and all hands lashed to the
pumps. At noon a heavy sea struck the ship on the star-
board side, smashing three boats, and washing them over-
board, with all the fresh Water and every movable article
on dheeclkd. •
:a St otubne imdted
ethrue pumps and found five feet water in
the g with close reefed topsail and
reefed foinre,sLilt
ib t blewefore hurricane.ttheeribbno s ;
all h
Triedands
commenced to ke the'
foresail
again at the pumps. At 6.30 p.m., in spite of every exer-
tion, the ship was full of water, the sea completely burying
the hull, and all hands obliged to take to the rigging. At
midnight the gale considerably abated, the barometer rising
fast. On the 22d, at 10 a.m., the weather being moderate,
the crew were able to leave the tops and get on deck.
Commenced finding provisions, and got bread and butter,
potatoes, and some turnips into the top; at noon it
commenced to blow very hard from the S.W. to N.;
myself again compelled to take to the top. At 6.30 p.m.
thegale had increased to a hurricane, causing the seato rise
ter. Nine of the number
fearfully, which struck the ship, heaving her on her beam-
ends,
into theher mastse ri,, washing all hands and
myself in the w
in
number.
at once met a watery grave ; myself and the remaining
fil withwat
seven, with a hard struggle, gained the wreck. By this
time the bowsprit, foremast, and maintopgallant-mast
were carried away by the sea. The remaining part of the
crew got on the ship's side, and there secured ourselves as
well as we could ; but in about one hour and 20 minutes,
the squall being over, the ship rolled to an upright posi-
tion, and we again took to the maintop, but to our sorrow
found all the provisions we had saved washed away, the
cabin forecastle washed overboard, and nothing left on
board in the shape of provisions. At 4.30 p.m. the whole
of the stern frame came out, taking rudder and stern post
with it, the cargo coming out very fast. 23d, the weather
moderated, and nothing particular occurred until the 6th
of January, when ono of the crew, named Alfred Bolton,
fell from exhaustion, and at nine on the same evening ho
died, and the next morning we committed his body to the
deep; haying " been 14 days without food of any descrip-
tion. On the 7th, one more, William Thomas, a native of
Wales, died; and in spite of all I could do the men would
drink salt water, which drove them mad. On the day
after (the Bth), four more died from exhaustion, cold, and
hunger, leaving
• me and the carpenter alone. We were so
much exhausted that we could not move the bodies into
the sea, so we lowered them on the deck of the vessel. On
the 10th the carpenter died, I then being the only survivor,
and on the next day as well as I could lowered the body
on
.the ship's deck. On the 23rd of January I was taken
off the wreck, after being there 28 days without food of
any description, by the Dutch barque Ida Elizabeth, of
Rotterdam, from Batavia for AmSterdam. Names of the
drowned :—E. Malby, chief mate, native of Cornwall;
Samuel Bird, boatswain, native of Padstow; John Cnew
and Evan Davis, seamen, both of Wales ; John Conolly,
seaman, of Scotland ; James Griffiths, boy, of Milford ; and
Thomas Gate, 7 boy • John Henry, cook and steward, of
Padstow.

(Signed) " Captain CESEY,
late master of the ship Jane Louden."

The new daily paper at Detroit will be issued
March Ist, and will be called the Post. A company has
been formed oil a basis of $20,000 capital,

The Plymouth police have in their custody a per-
son who is perhaps best known as " Captain Dash-
wood," although he has assumed several names, of
which he appears to have made use whenever by so
doing he could Perpetrate a fraud on the public.
The gallant captain recently visited Plymouth,
where he coolly entered himself on the books of the
Royal Hotel as the Duke of St. Albans, and being
a man of pod address, and not only presentable,
but even distinque in appearance, it is not strange
that those who had never looked upon the Lincoln-
shire nobleman should not question the identity of
the new-corner. During his stay at the hotel the
titled visitor made the acquaintance of an officer in
her Majesty's service, and the result was that he
was requested to visit H.M.S. Royal Adelaide in
Hamoaze. his lordship assented, greatly to the de-
light of all the officers of the ship, excepting Cap-
tain Seymour, C. 8., who was unaware of the in-
vitation. At length his lordship was conveyed on
board, and, after looking over several por-
tions of the ship with intelligent interest, was
ushered into the mess-room, and was before long
seated with the first lieutenant and the other officers
before as good a dinner as such gentlemen would be
expected to provide for such a guest. Purser, stew-
' ard, and cook had not cogitated in vain ; several of
the dishes were incomparable, and the wine was in
plenty and of the richest. The " Duke" displayed
reciprocal delight, and the joy of the mess increased,
for his lordship's condescension had added one of
the most notable entries to their list of visitors to
the ship. In recognition of the honour all the officers
mustered in full dress, and when at length the plea-
sures of the dinner were to be succeeded by a with-
drawal of their guest, a heartiness worthy of glad-
dened hosts was manifested, and the guest departed
with all the honours due to station, grace, and vir-
tue. Half an hour, however, had hardly elapsed
when the officers learned that the captain was within
his cabin, and with some eagerness Capt. Seymour
was waited on and informed of the visit of the duke,
and how the most had been made of it for the
honour of the ship and of the service. Capt. Sey
mour expressed a glad surprise, and at once said