Star.
London, England, 1822-12-25 00:00:00

TO THE ISLE OF FRANCE.

The following narrative of the loss of the ship
Charles Mills, which is drawn up from a statement of
one of the survivors, will be read with deep interest :
" The ship left the pilot on the 11th instant, and
had a pleasant passage until the 14th, when she ex-
perienced a very heavy gale from S. E. with a tre-
mendously heavy sea, the ship labouring and strain-
ing very much, and making a great quantity of
water; the pumps constantly going till the 16th,
without gaining on the leak; and on the 17th the
ship was in a sinking state. Every exertion was now
made to save the lives of the crew; the anchors were
cut away, the boats cleared, Ste. but not hoisted out,
from the tremendous sea running at this time From
the heavy seas constantly breaking over the ship, it
was utterly impossible to open the hatches, to lighten
her, by throwing overboard any portion of the cargo.
The best. boat was washed away by the violence of
the sea. No language can describe the horror and
misery with which the unfortunate crew passed the
night of the 17th.
" About five o'clock on Monday morning, on open-
ing a small hatchway, it was perceived that the ship
was full of water, and in the act of foundering. Ter-
ror and dismay were painted on every countenance;
the boats were flown to as a last resource—the long-,
boat Was broken to pieces in attempting to hoist her
out, by the ship rolling her broadside in. A small
jolly-boat,which hung over the stern,was immediately
cleared, into which was put a female and child, with'
four or five men ; but while in the act of lowering het
she filled and capsized, and the woman, child, and
two seamen were drowned.
" A small boat, old and crazy, in which no one felt
the least inclination to trust his life,was now the only
one left. At last the second Officer and a sepoy went
into the boat, when the Captain and some other per-
son
cut the tackles; the whole of the gunwale of the
boat was stove in before it could clear the quarter of!
the ship, as she was running gunwales under. The boat
was soon drifted astern,when a few pumpkins, which
were hanging on the stern,were cut away, and fortu-
nately picked up by the second officer, who succeeded
in saving the gunner, two sookannies, and a little boy.
At this time the boat, being at some distance from
the ship, and there not being the least possible chance
of saving either vessel or cargo, the Captain jumped
overboard and swam towards the boat, the persons
on board which succeeded in picking him up.
" A few minutes before eight, on the 20th, the
ship foundered, with sixty-six unfortunate beings
standing on her poop; and in about four minutes
afterwards, every person and everything on board
had disappeared! In a small and crazy boat, four
or five hundred miles from the nearest land, with a
tremendous sea running, and nothing but a few
pumpkins to subsist on, did these seven survivors,
without a compass, put the boat before the wind and
sea, and stood N. until the 25th, when being near
the shore, off the Black Pagoda, to their unspeakable
joy, they discovered a sail, and about half-past eleven
they succeeded in getting alongside the French brig
Scythe. They were in such a weak and reduced
state, that probably another day in the boat would
have occasioned the death of them all."
The above ship was commanded by Captain Was.
She went down in lat. 15. N. long. 88k. The First
Officer was among those who perished.
NAVAL ENTERPRIZE.
In boarding vessels the English are unrivalled ; and
the astonishing feats which have been performed by
them against superior numbers, and under those dis-
advantages necessarily attending, in this case, the
persons who make the attack, evince it. It has been
no unusual thing to send in a number of boats to
attack a frigate of the enemy. They run alongside
of her, each man having a brace of pistols and a
cutlass girded on: thus accoutred, they make the
enemy's quarter-deck as well as they can; some get
through the quarter-gallery windows. (as Lord Nel-
son once led his men) and others over the bows. The
first that board are generally sacrificed ; and often,
by some little mismanagement, one boat-full boards
before the others are well alongside, in which case this
handful of men is often instantly slain. An officer
generally heads the men on board, and in five mi-
nutes the struggle is over—'tis victory or death. If
the enemy quit the deck, and run below, or leap
overboard, as they have often done, 'cis well ; but if
they contest it stubbornly, the carnage in a few mi-
nutes is desperate.
This system of warfare has gained much ground
of late, and has been adopted in cases where the
object was scarcely commensurate with the risk. It