The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-03-13 00:00:00

March 13, d

I THE WRECK OF THE FORTIT'

The following interesting extract is frt ;isri
letter, received at Southampton last week'
rica, from Campeachy, dated the 19th Januarf.,
pose you will have heard before this reaches I°7
gallant old Forth has gone down. Thank
likely to see you again safely. She struck °n t,
east side of the Alacranes on the 14th ofJanuarr.
were 136 persons on board at the time. When
the heavy surf was breaking so violently over
that we all expected to go to the bottom•
were soon gone, and the Forth began rapidly It!
A couple of our boats were swamped as soon as
the others were immediately i
crowded with side,
who were all huddled together under the lee rt
wreck. Just as we were about to make en eff°
through the breakers into smooth water, tl sell
near the island of Perez. The rejoicing nincl,;,,
ng
very great, I can assure you, at this wew-si
Lieut. Molesworth, a gallant fellow, who
,sr.,
voyage to join his ship, the Wellesley, voluct...
four men to go over the dangerous reef and e(7,
with the vessel that was seen. This be ed.°
after encountering great difficulties, in first-
The The sail proved to be a small schooner. She ea,
as she could to us, and as many as possible g,t
of her, and she then started for Perez.
making a clean breach over the wreck at this tip
left it about one o'clock in the day. Everythinf
could save we did; but all was nearly spciled
quence of being so thoroughly soaked in salt W
had a tremendous and dangerous pull of seven
reach the island. Thank heaven we all reach
When we arrived, which was not till evening,
we had very little water and provisions for so 'I,
binson Crusoes, so we set to work, and after,Ps.
our boats we began pulling to and fro from the
the wreck for the next two days, picking oP,,
visions and water we could get at. Fortunatei!he
with a brigantine at Perez, and on the 17th,
ri'ot
ing, we left that island for this place. Wed uel iS
here until the afternoon of the 18th. A vess
ap
being chartered, I believe, to convey the roeils,,,ro
and passengers to Vera Cruz, and I trust to-m-'
I shall leave this villainous place."
Lieutenant Molesworth (who is a son of tre
Rochdale) has written to his friends. We me
lowing most interesting and thrilling extract
" To see the decks opening and shutting, efl 0
sengers crying to God for assistance and forgl,
see the mothers holding their children, and ho're
wives taking leave of each other, uis a sight taae
imagined than described ; I felt that we must • I
especially as I had seen the chart, and discov,e
there was no land within 70 miles, but still I thd
spair. I endeavoured to console the ladies and
by telling them there was no immediate danger
to give way to despair, and I managed to get
them aft, out of the way of the mainmast. v"1".0g,
inclined to come down by the run ; and in elel 1
experienced many heavy thumps on the deck:ty
went to the captain, and pointed out the necessity
ting some of the people into the boats: and be 7
to take command of the large boat; which
accepted. The difficulty now was to get tho,'"ti
the boat, which was not so easy a matter, for a' '
was 20 feet below, and the next moment close te',
was a stout rope made fast from the deck, 50,
:the
lady round the waist wi,h one arm, and with
holding the rope, I swung myself from the so,'Yto
boat alongside. In this way I put every lady Ibeo
besides four children, safely into the boat. 'a fei
my friend, Mr.-, who from infirmity sfsbor,
nearly lost his self-possession. He weighed
stone, and could not get into the boat, so I said, P
hold of me, and hold on, and do as I tell Yee'
caught me tightly round the neck with bother%
I said, 'jump when I tell you,' wbich he did
vengeance, for he took a spring that might lie/'',
fol
the boat altogether ; and as I could not well beat
to
htheehbaosate.ineFeotretludnamteelythfoetr
he never
weight and his, we came down about 10 feet toge th,
evlerwwasenu
tably. into a boat in all his life. I then took cf:ret
but just as we were starting, a boat managed to vsol
into the breakers, and was turned over and over,„ol
bare rocks could be discovered after the wave
passengers in my boat became terribly frightes
the captain called to me not to go on. A 5133,b1
was now discovered, and hailed with three chetio
despairing passengers ; but no one could tell 10.10
was approaching or going away. I, thereforeta.
boat, and went and spoke to the captain, and said tlis
not try the reef ? The wind is increasing, and
getting heavier ; and if the worst comes to the
only chance must be the reef. I will volunteer
boat, and if I succeed I will go for assistanepef
vessel.' To which he answered, If you attecoh.
will be dashed to pieces, for no boat can live
sea, and the rocks are hardly under water.' So
I can get volunteers, you will let me try ?' to the
replied, Very well.' At this I jumped up 000('
warks, and at the top of my voice asked for Oboe,
teers. Some who were in the boat got out, an4„t
tndinerenreesol,
pause for a moment ; at last one said, '
then another. I got my four men. So, taking oirret
and giving it to a man to take care of for me if
nle
I swung myself into the boat, wished all the Penvr,e6
bye, and told them to keep their spirits up. 1 0
to the men, and with a loud hurrah dashed into tP,OO
ers, which followed high and fast, but the men
just when we were over the worst ; she grounded
a towering sea was about to break, which 000,je..
swamped us, when she fortunately rose a little:
clog
sent her a-head ; the sea broke just astern, all,OO,
me on the back, prevented the force of its cotOlos,
boat ; we therefore only shipped a little water, 30:oe''
three more strokes cleared the breakers al" bot
which all the people on board gave three cheerf,eta;;
noise of the breakers prevented our hearing t,l,esei
waving my cap to them, we pulled away 0 the
Finding we did not near her much, I rigged
one of our oars, and away we went most glorio4K;
about an hour I discovered three small boats tl.`,ll;tlf.„

which turned out to be cairCes7WndVeTantovv, ,har`s!
and getting into one of the canoes, put one of
into the.boat, and sent three for assistance, Itt git 7,
turned to the wreck to tell them of an island au"toP,
miles from the ship, which the men in the boalocl
of. I was very much astonished, and you nlaY
a little delighted at the joyful news."

SfPlOO
RELIEF TO THE POPE.—A further collection ,
on Sunday at the Roman Catholic churches The cite;
in the metropolis for the relief of the Pope. 11000,,r
from the Bishop was read to the congregations „ ft)
pulpit, in which it was urged that the Sovereig7A
required assistance in his present deposed state' the.,
it was the wish and intention of the church that roi.,
man Catholic community in this country gout,. te"l,
large sum of money as a manifestation of the' cot
and regard for the spiritual head of the Roma die
c 0 i
church in his present temporal debasement. Ithef,
tions made are of a very liberal character, and ddriv
it is understood, be forwarded with a suitable 3
an early opportunity to His Holiness, at Gaeta' t'
DREADFUL MURDER.—The city of Bristol wr-i.u9c,,,
into considerable excitement, on Wednesday ben
discovery that a most horrible murder he lady,, 10"
if
mitted, the victim being an elderly maidenoo,4
Jeffries, who resided at No. 6, Trenchard-street•
at
was possessed of property to the amount nt, resL,
£ll,OOO. Her servant, the only other person wA",:o °
in the house, has been taken into custody urtho:tl
suspicions. It was observed, on Friday wee' OP
shutters of the house were closed, and, as they yio;
re-opened until Wednesday, the circumstaneetool.e',/
marked, and the relatives of the lady were in'thor"d
the matter. They consulted with the police Obis
and an officer was despatched to the house. 111,, 0,1
an entrance by climbing over a wall at the baev r
then found the back door open. On proceeding
he saw in one of the bed-rooms the corpse oflloil
which bore marks of great violence. He fount'
body was that of Miss Jeffries, and that the '7,01
,
been ransacked, it being known that she gene 00
large sums of money in the place. Her Pen to
marks of great violence, and her head appearwro
been completely beaten in with some blunt 0,,
Suspicion alighted on her servant, and after
~'"
search she was found at home, at Horfield,4vo
about two and a-half miles from Bristol. ' 4
police entered the house, to which at first thelolP,
fused admittance by the girl's mother, thel
accused party hid in the coal cellar, and on see''
they discovered a quantity of silver spoong
"E. J.," together with some other articles, 000
twenty-eight pounds in cash. She was l',efo 0/
1
_Bristol. At the inquest, on Tuesday, a bro I
deceased deposed to the abstraction of a variety ° d i,lsof,
property, part of which was subsequently foll_11.0:j
possession of the prisoner. Two neighbours ''OlF
that early on Saturday morning, they were e'tbe
strange noises, and screams, proceeding from toy
room of the deceased, which were attempted
counted for by the servant, who said, " it was a jOr4
had jumped upon the bed and frightened her o.'",
The surgeon, who made a post mortem exacalo;.
the murdered body, deposed to the injuries he' 01'1
inflicted by some blunt instrument, and that theirj4
death was concussion and compression of the V% 17*,
inquiry was adjourned till to-day. It is stet,/
stone has been found in a fire-place in the worP)
which is stained with blood, and has grey hairs Ord.
to it, and which, upon being compared with.theetijoj
was found to correspond precisely with one 01 ir
the forehead. The prisoner, who was presents I:1(1°11
the same indifferent appearance until near the ef,diti
surgeon's evidence, when she burst into tears
bitterly for some time. She has made a confeltiOici,
effect that she was not the actual perpetrator 0,,e eft' ri
atrocious act, but that it was committed with tY
a girl whose name it would be imprudent to al do'
who was formerly a fellow-servant of hers, elibe6":
not borne the best of characters, she having or;
for felony. The stone has been found to c°,l,/,
exactly with the indentations in the skull of '
nate deceased. It appears, too, that on Thal.,f, 1/4
ins, whilst, as was natural, some converseoty,
subject was going on at a public-house in .13,00,4
two men of somewhat suspicions appearance
to get up suddenly and quit the house. Tiriidr/f
did not attract much attention at the time, ttlol/
house was about to be closed the partyp ~
ters up found an obstruction in the groove i•
which, on examination, turned out to boa ha% o'oc,
which, it has since been shown, fit the land
Jefferies's doors. The servant-girl above alli?,ho,,Vt
well known to be a frequenter of the puhYdesf
gt y 4
question. The parties, too, must have ev
ceeded in their murderous work with the
and deliberation, as it appears, in order to Pre pi,"
which was in the house, from
lor
giving any e „y•
thrown down the ndcessary, where the dell-00;1"
since been found. A parrot, likewise,
favourite of the luifortuuatiedeeeatted*wag ;Or