The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-14 00:00:00

THE LATE GALE.

MELANCHOLY SHIPWRECKS AND LOSS OF
LIFE AT TENBY.

On Friday night and part of Saturday a terrific gale,
attended with most disastrous consequences, blew from
the eastward, veering round from that quarter to the
south and south-west, and raging with tremendous vio-
lence, accompanied with frequent torrents of rain. The
aspect which the ocean presented during its continuance
was truly sublime and awful, but terrible in its destruc-
tive effects. About day-break the Tenby pilots observed
a large brig which had been windbound in au open part
of the roadstead apparently in great peril, and endea-
vouring to gain the shelter of Caldy-roads, which were
comparatively safe. She was known to be the Richard,
of Sunderland, Cook, master, laden with coal, and bound
from Cardiff to London, as she had been spoken with
the day previous by one of the pilots, who advised the
captain to anchor in a more secure position than that he
had chosen ; but apprehending no danger, the latter
did not attend to the caution. Indeed, so awfully sud-
den was the rising of the tempest, and so fine had been
the preceding day, that there might have seemed little
cause for apprehension. The vessel was now evidently in
great distress, and continued at intervals firing signal guns
for assistance, which it was impossible to afford her from
the shore, the increasing fury of the storm rendering it
impracticable for any boat to put to sea. About
four o'clock she lost her rudder, and ran aground
on the whiteback, a bank of sand near Gillar, and where,
had she gone to pieces, every soul on board must inevi-
tably have perished. As the :tide advanced, however,
she was again afloat, but having no helm, she was per-
fectly unmanageable, and at the mercy of the wind and
sea. She had thrown out her anchors, but drifted from
them, and at length, just after seven, she was driven
ashore on the Tenby Sands, upon a flood tide, opposite
the South Cliff, and within view of crowds of spectators
assembled on the cliffs, and at the windows of the
houses on the summit, all watching with intense and
painful anxiety the result of the catastrophe. At this
time the breakers were rolling with indiscribable fury
over the sands, and in less than a quarter of an hour the
doomed vessel began to part, becoming a heap of dis-
jointed wreck in a very short space of time. During
this interval the ill-fated crew were seen clinging to the
rigging and other parts of the vessel, while the waves,
breaking frightfully over them, threatened them every in-
stant with destruction. Lieutenant Guillet, of the Coast
Guard, and his crew, were on the cliffs above her, with
Captain Manby's apparatus for saving shipwrecked lives,
and every exertion of skill and intrepidity was made to
rescue the unfortunate men by the Coast Guard, aided
by the pilots and fishermen and many of the townspeople,
while the most eager and breathless interest pervaded
the spectators. It was some time before the attempts made
with the apparatus proved successful ; but at length a shot
with a rope attached reached the wreck, and one man was
able to avail himself of it, and was safely brought on shore.
Another, after some interval, was saved in the same man-
ner, and a third, by means of a scaling ladder thrown
over the cliff, which two men descended, and, at the im-
minent hazard of their lives, succeeded in dragging the
drowning man through the surf, and rescuing him from
death. The other four unhappily perished. Two were
washed from their hold utterly exhausted, and soon sank
amidst the tumult of waters. Another had leaped into
the boat as she was washed from the vessel's deck, and
with the help of an oar, contrived for a short time to
scull towards the shore, till thrown down by a sea break-
ing over him. He soon regained his feet and resumed
his labour, but another tremendous billow succeeded, and
swept him and his frail craft from sight. The circum-
stances attending the death of another poor fellow, sup-
posed to be the -captain, were most affecting. He had
secured himself to a rope thrown from the cliff by means
of the apparatus, and was drawn some distance towards
land, when his progress was suddenly impeded by the
other end of the line having got entangled in the wreck,
whence he was unable to disengage it. He had, even in
this terrible extremity, presence of mind to search bis
pockets for a knife to sever the rope, bat could not find
one, and death was now inevitable. The unfortunate
man struggled fearfully for life, but was drowned by the
incessant burst of billows sweeping over him.
The scene altogether was most heart-rending, and
can never be forgotten by its horror-struck spectators.
The three men saved were promptly conveyed to the
Brig public-house, and the usual means were resorted
to to restore them to animation. They were provided by
the Shipwrecked Mariners' Relief Society with clothing
and the means of returning to their homes ; and a slab-
scription was set on foot, in the town, for the relief of
the widows and orphans of the ill-fitted men who perished,
which (to the amount of upwards of 461.) has been for-
warded to the Mayor of Sunderland for that purpose.
The poor fellows left on Wednesday by the Phcenix
steamer. The cargo of the brig has been partially
saved ; but much of it was unavoidably lost, from being
washed away and buried in the sand.
Another melancholy accident occurred on the same
day, on board a fishing-vessel, of Brixham, belonging
to Mrs. Lewis, whose son, a lad of seventeen, and an
apprentice, were washed overboard off Caldy, during
the gale, and drowned. The masts and part of the
rigging f a vessel have been picked up by one of the
fishing-boats, and it is feared that several vessels have
foundered in the Channel. A number of small craft
have taken refuge in our harbour in distress, and vari-
ously damaged. Much damage was also done by the
gale in various parts of the town ; the church, and a
vast number of houses being partially unroofed. Such a
hurricane at this season of the year is unusual, and its
mournful effects have created the most painful sensations
in those who witnessed them.

A beautiful little yacht, belonging to Trevor Roper,
Esq., was driven from her anchorage in the bay durins:
the storm on Saturday, and totally beaten to pieces on
the shore. There were providentially no hands on
board at the time. _

Along the whole of the Welsh coast the etTe.its of the
hurricane were dreadful. Carmarthen Bay, Cardigan
Bay, and all the bays and inlets in the Bristol Channel,
were strewed with the wrecks of coasting and other
vessels. In Carmarthen Bay, in addition to the total
wreck of the Richard, we have to record the total loss of
three vessels near the 'Worms Head. They were endea-
vouring to enter Llanelly, but failed, and were com-
pletely destroyed. On Saturday forenoon the body of a
female was picked up on Peinbrysands ; she was sup-
posed to be the wife of the captain of one of the lost ♦es-
sels. These three vessels are supposed to be a schooner
called the Mary, of Bridgewater, laden with hay and
reeds—crew saved. with the exception of one man ; the
smack Julia, of Chepstow, laden with bark—one man
lost ; the Triton, of Plymouth, laden with copper ore
for Williams, Forster, and Co.—the master was saved,
but three of the crew were unfortunately lost.
The brig Friends, of Ilfracome, Fry, master, went
down in Carmarthen Bay. All the crew perished,
together with the master's wife and family, who were on
board. The Wave, of llayle, laden with copper ore for
Neath, made for Porth Cawl ; but it being so very
rough, she could not enter the harbour without doing
much damage to the vessels lying there, consequently she
was deserted, and she ran ashore in the bay, where she
sustained no damage except the splitting of sails.—
We/shman.

HoLynEAD.—During a strong gale from S.W., on
Tuesday last, the sloop Peggy, of Carnarvon, with slates,
put into the bay, disabled in her sails ; the anchors were
dropped, and a boat, with four men from the harbour,
boarded her. Seeing her perilous situation, a distress
signal was hoisted in the rigging. The life boat was
being prepared to go out, when the cables parted. No
alternative being left, the crew of the vessel contrived to
set what shattered sails remained, and, for the safety of
their lives succeeded in running her to a creek called
lienborth, to the eastward of Carnel's Point. The
vessel remains there much damaged, and her safety is
doubtful.

SHIPWRECK AND Loss OF LIFE.—On Saturday last,
as the schooner Catherine and Mary, of Port 11.1adoe,
William Owen, master, was proceeding on her voyage,
from Port Madoc to Ipswich, laden with slates, at half-
past two, A.m., Dungeness bearing N. by E. by compass,
distant 9 miles, wind about S. by E., standing to the E. by
S., on the starboard tack, she perceived a large brig tip.
proaching them on the larboard quarter, apparently bound
down the Channel. She hailed, but received no answer,
and, immediately after, the brig struck her, and
carried away all her stem to the water's ed e. The crew
immediately cleared the boat, and it floated off, but got
foul with the yards, and was stove; when, melancholy to
relate, two of the crew, Cadwallader Williams, the mate,
and W. Kenider, the boy, were drowned. The master,
William Owen, and a seaman, named William Richards,
clung to the boat, and were picked up soon after by the
smack Defence, from London to Portsmouth, and landed
at Ramsgate. The brig was painted black, and copper
bottomed ; and, although the crew begged their assist-
ance, she proceeded on her voyage. The schooner was
insured at the Port Madoc Mutual Insurance Company.
The crew were relieved at Ramsgate by Lieutenant
Grey, the agent of the Shipwrecked Fishermen's and
Mariner's Society.—Carnarvon Herald.
BEAUMARIS.—An accident, attended with loss of life,
occurred under Trecastle, nikar this town, during the
sudden gale of Tuesday morning. Four men from
Llandegran had gone out in two boats, for the purpose
of dredging oysters, when a sudden gust of wind struck
one of the boats, and instantly upset it. One of the poor
fellows sunk immediately, and then another clung to an
oar until assistance was rendered from the other boat,
which rescued him from his perilous situation. The body
has not yet been found.—Curnarvon Herald.

In reply to Mr. TRAILL, the unfortunate man said
that he was in a state of extreme destitution (which his
appearance fully testified), that the wards for the casual
paupers being full at the different workhouses where he
applied for admission, he had no alternative left than
that of seeking shelter in a station-house ; but finding
that could not be accomplished without he committed
some offence, he thought it better to break a lamp, _
rather than have recourse to plunder.
'r. TItAILL USEFUL PROPOSITION Of TIIE HUMANE SOCIETY.—
M said, that the unfortunate situation of Mr. Baker on Monday held an inquest at the Needle-
the poor man was to be deplored, but still he could not makers' Arms, Dalelish-street Limehouse, on the body
be permitted to destroy property by wilful means. The of William Jackson, aged five years, the son of a grocer,
Magistrate then, in default of paying for the gas-lamp, living in the above street. The evidence proved that on
committed him to prison for twenty-one days, a sentence Saturday afternoon, deceased, with some other children,
with which the poor fellow seemed delighted.
The Secretary 'of the St. Olave's Society of " Odd were playing on the banks of the Regent's-canal, Lime-
house-fields. Deceased was flinging stones into the
Fellows" attended for the purpose of giving information water, and in so doing, over-balanced himself and fell in,
of the following extensive robbery committed on the and no assistance being near he was drowned. When
funds of the society :—The applicant stated that an iron the body was recovered by means of drags, it had been
box, containing four 1001. debentures, together with too long in the water to restore animation. The coroner
three savings' banks books, containing entries of begged to mention that it was the intention o" the
150/, was intrusted to the care of Mr. Steven- Humane Society, in order to induce publicans and others
son, the treasurer of the society, who lived in to receive into
their her:. es the bodies of persons that
Loman's-street, Loman's-pond. The box and its had been immersed in water, to give the sum of 11 in
contents were kept in Mr. Stevenson's bed-room, and each case, for assistance afforded in the shape of warm
on the preceding evening, during his and his wife's ab- water, blankets, brandy, &c. This fact he considered
sense from home, the house was entered. The iron box ought to be known to the public. Verdict, "Found
was broken open, and the whole of the contents taken; drowned.,