The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-28 00:00:00

SINGULAR ESCAPE

The following is a narrative of an escape from peril
and a rescue of five lives by individual gallantry, rarely
equalled, and never exceeded, in the records of high and
noble daring. It is from the pen of Captain Bryan
Milman, of the sth Fusiliers, in a letter addressed to his
father, Major-General Milman, late of the Coldstream
Guards :

" Mahehourg, Island of Mauritius, June 30,1848.
"The following account of an almost miraculous escape
that I and five other officers have had from drowning
will interest you all, 1 have no doubt. The names of
the others are Colquitt, Bellew, Fitzgerald, Home, (all
of the sth Fusiliers), and Palmer, a commissariat officer,
in whose boat we were at the time of the accident.
Colquitt and Fitzgerald are in the first battallion, and
had come down here to stay with me and Bellew. On the
25th we made a boating party for them to visit one of
our detachments about 15 miles from hence, at Grand-
river, South-east. We left this about eleven a.m., and
after reaching our destination all safe, left it about 3
p.m. for home, the weather then looking anything but
promising ; when about four miles from home and from
the shore, we were overset by a squall. It came upon us
so suddenly that we had not time to do anything ; tor-
rents of rain fell at the same time, and there we were
drifting along on the side of the boat, which luckily did
not sink, without a chance of assistance, and the night
setting in. This happened about half-past 5 o'clock, and
it is dark at 6at this season. We drifted in this way for
about two 'hours, and at last grounded in about seven feet
water. It was almost perfectly dark, and all we could
see were the tops of the mountains in the horizon. We
supposed we were about two miles from shore. All of us
but myself had stripped on being upset, as I knew if we
came to a swim, that I could take my clothes off at any
moment. As it turned out, I think I was lucky in this,
as they, perhaps, though wet, kept me a little warmer
than my companions. Nothing seemed to give us a
chance of being saved, except holding on till daylight,
and as it was terribly cold, this seemed next to impossible.
At last it struck me I might be able to swim ashore to
procure assistance, and I got permission of the others to
do so. Our boatman, a Creole, who also said be would
go, started with me to make the attempt. I left them
with a hearty • God bless you !' from all. After smim-
ming some time I lost sight of the boatman, and was left
to myself. I swam back a little, shouting as loud as I
could ; but getting no answer, and feeling for my own
sake that I must push on, I turned my head towards the
mountain tops (my only guide) and struck out my best.
I must have been swimming for rather more than an hour
when I landed. I found myself a little tired, and very
much benumbed, barefooted, en chemise, and not able to
see ten yards before me, it was so dark. My first impulse
was to fall on my knees and thank Providence, after
which, curious to say, my military schooling came to my
aid in the extension motions,' which brought some little
feeling into my limbs, and enabled me to continue my
work, After feeling my way for about half an hour along
the shore, shouting all the time, I came to a cottage,
where 1 was hospitably received. They told me they had
heard my cries some time, but fancied I was some drunken
man returning home, or else they would have come out
to my assistance. The poor black gave me some dry
clothes, and made me a cup of tea, and then conducted
me to the proprietor of the estate, who lived close by,
and had the nearest pirogue (a small boat like a canoe,
dug out of a solid trunk of a large tree) in the neighbour-
hood. M. Chiron, the name of the proprietor, a man of
colour, as soon as I explained my situation, and my want
of a boat to go and assist the others, immediately offered
to go himself, and his son also insisted on going with him.
I jumped at the offer, of course, and we immediately
walked down to where his pirogue was moored, and
started, myself at the bottom to serve as a guide. By
the blessing of Providence, after about an hour's search,
we heard the cries from the wreck. I think I never felt
so happy or so light-hearted in my life as I did at that
moment, for there were so many chances against our
finding it. We could not see many yards from our own
boat. It was then about 11 o'clock, so that they had
been exposed on the boat for upwards of five hours.
Luckily, with great care, we got them safe into the pirogue
without upsetting her; and by 12 o'clock we were safely
housed under M. Chiron's hospitable roof, and he fed,
clothed and lodged us for the night. In the morning the
unfortunate Creole boatman was found dead from cold
and cramp, about half a mile from the place he was sup.
posed to have landed at. The kindness, hospitality, and
truly courageous assistance afforded us by M. Chiron, at
the risk of his life and that of his son, are deserving of
all praise. It was a service of danger to go out even at
all in a pirogue on such a rough night, much more to go
and seek for five drowning men three miles at sea. He
wished his son not to go, but the latter would not allow
his father to go without him. Constantly during our long
search, when the sou was getting tired of pulling the
boat, the father would cry out and encourage him, say-
ing, • Courage, mon fils.'
"BRYAN MILfAN, Captain sth Fusiliers."