The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-16 00:00:00

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE

On Wednesday last, a broken down and wounded seamen,
named Joseph Forbes, was brought to the Mansion-house,
London, and introduced to Alderman Pirie by Mr. Brooks,
the ship-owner of Broad-street, who is one of the directors
of the London Docks, as an object of charity, from the strange
and intense sufferings he had undergone for a series of years.
Mr. Brooks said that Forbes had been lately brought from
Sydney to this country in one of his (Mr. Brooks's) vessels,
and had been kept at his expense for the six weeks during
which the unfortunate man had been in London, where medi-
cal aid of the highest kind had been administered almost in
vain to his case. The circumstances in which the man had
been placed for the last sixteen years (and of the accurate
veracity of the statement there was no doubt) would be best
detailed by himself. There had been some instances of simi-
lar horrors, but he was not aware of any of such long duration.
The seaman then made a statement, of which the following
is the outline : " In the year 1822, I, being then a boy, sailed
from London in the schooner Stedcombe, with a crew con-
sisting of thirteen persons, boundfor Melville Island, on the
north coast of New Holland. The vessel, which was a fine
one, having discharged her cargo at Melville Island, pro-
ceeded to the island of Timour Laut, for the purpose of pro-
curing buffaloes, and the natives came on board the schooner,
appearing to have the most friendly disposition towards us,
partook of food with the captain, and brought food and vege-
tables with them as a proof of their friendliness. There was
nothing to interfere with this feeling, which seemed in every
respect to be mutual. An arrangement was concluded with
the natives for the supply of a large cargo of buffaloes, which
they stated were ready to be shipped, and the captain left the
vessel in his boat with all the crew (amongst whom was my
brother) with the exception of myself, John Edwards, ano-
ther boy, the cook, and a seaman, with the intention of ac-
complishing the traffic. Soon after the crew landed, to my
great horror, I saw them attacked by a number of the natives
and savagely murdered. We, who were on boaid, looked 1
forward for nothing else than sharing the awful fate of our
friends, and a few minutes after the murder of the crew, the
murderers came over to the schooner in vast numbers, and
seizing the cook and seaman, cut their heads off and threw
their bodies overboard. Edwards and I had taken to the
rigging and witnessed the murders on the deck from thence.
The natives pursued us, and after a short while we descended
in an exhausted condition, convinced that our lives would
also be taken. We were, however, but mere boys, and they
did not use their weapons against us. They stripped us, put
us into a canoe, and took us to the beach, where they com-
pelled us to walk over the bleeding trunks of our poor ship-
mates, whose heads had been cut off and conveyed to the
village. The schooner, after having been plundered of every-
thing of the least value, was hauled on shore and burnt.
Edwards died about three months after this dreadful transac-
tion, leaving me the sole survivor of the Sedcombe's crew, to
linger out all the horrors and miseries of the most frightful

captivity."
Alderman Pirie.—They merely spared your life, then
They showed you no kindness ? .

The Seamari.—During the sixteen years of my captivity
they kept me to severe labour, such as cutting timber, culti-
vating yams, and other hard employment. In their wars I
was compelled to accompany them, and I received two se-
vere wounds, one in the neck, the other in the wrist, from
the former of which I now suffer most bitterly.
Alderman Pirie.—Did you not see any ship touch upon
the island of Timour Laut in all that time ?
The Seaman.—Whenever a ship appeared off the island I
was taken to a cavern, and there bound by the hands and
legs. They no doubt supposed that if by any chance I suc-
ceeded in coming in contact with any of my own country-
men, I should mention all that had taken place, and bring
down vengeance upon them. They bound me so tight as to
cause wounds on my legs, and absolutely to stop the circula-
tion' of my blood. The frequent repetitions.of this cruel
treatment made me the poor cripple you see, with a consti-
tution destroyed, and limbs which can scarcely perform any
of their offices.