The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-31 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY SHIPWRECK

We regret to announce the loss of the schooner Balius,
the property of Messrs. Stockdale, laden with rice spices,
&c., which left Jamaica on the 20th of January. Among
the passengers was Miss Haselden, daughter of Mr. Ha-
selden, manager of Woodside Ferry. From the sth of
February to the 26th the weather was most severe, and on
the latter day a tremendous sea struck her on the star-
board side, and swept the decks of all the bulwarks,
stancheons, boats, spars, provisions, water, and galley,
and split the covering board on the larboard side. Capt.
Pendlebury and four of his hands were also washed over-
board. Two of the men succeeded in catching hold of
something, and were hauled in by the mate and carpenter
over the quarter, covered with cuts and bruises, and all
over blood ; a third clung to the jolly-boat, which went
overboard at the same time, and was saved. The fourth,
Thomas Vale, was not seen again. Captain Pendlebury
was repeatedly washed under the vessel ; but at length,
his situation becoming known to the mate, he was hauled
on board again, at the moment his strength was failing,
and he was about to sinkleneath the raging waves.

Five feet of water was now discovered in the hold, and
two men were kept continually at the pumps. At three
a.m. on the 28th February it cleared a little, and they dis-
covered a piece of land, which turned out to be Castello
Branco, a reef on the south side of the island of Fayal,
the chief of the Azores.

At the distance of about a mile, the surf broke with
fearful violence on cliffs 300 feet high; and they were then
sailing straight for them. The vessel was in the midst of
a sort of bight, one arm of which was formed by the
Castello Branco, and the other by a high ridge of rocks,
called Varadouro, a point which if they could have
weathered, they would have driven safely into the port of
Fayal. They had, however, no sail to set except a fore-
sail, every other rag of camas havirg been lost or carried
away ; and each tack brought them nearer and nearer
their destruction. The energies of the captain and his
crew, however, did not desert them ; and they tried to ge•.
up a flying gib for a main staysail, in order, if possible,
to keep off till daylight ; and they hove round three
times. The wind, however, with the exception of a brief
lull, which did them more harm than good, blew fast and
furious towards the dreadful cliffs, and the still more fear-
ful surf, and at about five o'clock the unfortunate vessel
struck with great violence stern foremost ; she then turned,
broadside on to the rock, beating so fearfully that it was
evident she must be broken up almost instantly.
The condition of Miss Haselden, (who was returning
home in the vessel, after having been nurse to a family in
Jamaica,) during this hurricane, was truly deplorable, but
the unfortunate girl behaved with great fortitude. She
was very anxious to keep the deck, hut as that was impos-
sible in its unprotected state, she spent the dreadful hours
below. From the time that the crew found they could not
escape, she was frequently observed on her knees. When
the ship struck, she rushed up to the deck, but she had
hardly set a foot upon it when a tremendous sea washed
her overboard. The sailors, with the exception of Samuel
Scott. all reached the rocks in safety. but in a most de-
plorable state, the waves having stripped every particle of
clothing from several, and half denuded the others. They
then had Lc) scramble a mile over the most precipitous and
dangerous cliffs before they reached the country. The
body of Miss liaselden was observed in the surf, and
rescued at great risk by the captain and one of his seamen.
The poor girl's head was fractured in a dreadful manner,
and every particle of clothing had been torn off her by
the fury of the waves. The bodies of the seamen who
were drowned were not recovered. _ _

The shipwrecked sailors were received with the greatest
hospitality by the natives, who supplied them with cakes
of India corn and wine, and such as were naked with
clothes. . _

The body of Miss Haselden was interred at the expense
of the British consul, who attended the funeral in full
official costume. _

The Clyde steamer, with the West India mails, touched
at Fayal, and brought Captain Pendlebury and the crew to
Southampton. Captain Symonds generously gave them a
passage, the officers and men being messed according to
their rank.

The Balius is not the only vessel which has suffered from
the awful hurricanes in the latitude of the Azores, there
being no fewer than seven vessels put into Port Fayal for
repairs ; and four have been observed driving past with
signals of distress flying, unable to make the harbour.

FATAL SHIPWRECKS.—On the night of Saturday week,
the Bee sloop, of Goole, foundered about three miles off
Shoreham harbour, Sussex, when five of the crew were lost.
One man only was saved, and he had ambed and clung
to the rigging, whence he was rescued on Sunday morning
by the Menai steamer, bound for Dieppe. On the 16th
inst., at Thurso, during a severe pale, the Belfast, of
Liverpool, bound to Monte Video. was driven on shore at
Ormalade ; the master, mate, and seven men drowned.
The sloop Diana, of Arbroath, bound to Dundee, and the
Prosperous of Stornaway, were driven on shore at Scrab-
ster, the same evening : master and two men of the former
drowned ; crew of the latter saved. The Admiral, of
Sunderland, was totally wrecked at Port Shelley, the
same day, with all hands.