The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-01-25 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY LOSS OF LIFE

We regret much to have to record an occurrence which, as
bringing deep affliction to several respectable families in this
city, could scarcely be exceeded. In the month of Novem-
ber, 1840, three or four families of this city, remarkable
for their industry and prosperity in their respective lines of
business, including Mr. James Salter, his wife and ten chil-
dren, a respectable jeweller, residing for many years on the
Grand Parade—Mr. John Wilkinson, wife and four children,
boot and shoemaker, of Daunt's-square--and Mr. Stannard,
of Hammond's marsh, we believe a cabinetmaker—broke up
their respective establishments, and sailed in the ship Nep-
tune, for Sydney, their place of destination being New
Zealand. Mr. Salter had made an extensive purchase of
property at New Zealand, through the agency of a friend
who had been there and reported most favourably of the
country, and took out a considerable quantity of plate and
other property. The Neptune arrived at Sydney in good
order, and the emigrants landed, and sojourned there some
three or four months, during which period Mr. Salter made
provision there for one of his sons. Matters being in readi-
ness, and all arrangements perfected, the families of Messrs.
Salter, Wilkinson, and Stannard proceeded in the month of
August last, in the clipper Sophia Pate, from Sydney, and
arrived, after a run of about three weeks, in the Bay of
Islands. Here having stopped a short time, Mr. Stannard
proposed to walk across the country, about fifteen miles dis-
tant, to the spot towards which they had looked for months
in that spirit of anxiety and solicitude natural under the cir-
cumstances. The proposition to proceed overland was not
agreed to by Mr. Salter or Mr. Wilkinson, upon the ground
that it might not be prudent in them to leave their trunks
and boxes to the care of others, and Mr. Stannard, accom-
panied by one of Mr. Wilkinson's sons, set off, leaving the
remainder to proceed coastways. Upon arriving at the
destined spot he was astonished that no tidings of the
vessel had been received, and he immediately proceeded
to the residence of the chief, of whom the property had
been purchased for Salter, and whose welcome was most gra-
cious. Accompanied by a Methodist missionary, in con-
nexion-with the London institution, and a number of follow-
ers, the chief proceeded to the harbour likely to be selected
as a landing-place by the clipper, when they were met by the
master and crew, wearing Mr. Salter s clothes. Explanation
quickly followed. The master reported that when close to
shore the vessel struck, and bad gone to pieces, and that all
on board, except himself, the hands, and a child of Mr. Wil-
kinson, had perished.—The chief, an extremely intelligent
man, instantly suspected that all was not right ; his suspi-
cions extended to his followers, and it was only by the great-
est exertions of the missionary that the natives were pre-
vented tearing the crew limb from limb. A portion of poor
Mr. Salter's property, in plate, was found on the captain ;
and he and his crew being first stripped of the clothes on
them, were conveyed to Auckland, a principal town in New
Zealand, to await their trials. Young Mr. Wilkinson is
stated to have represented that when the ship struck Mr.
Salter entreated the captain to lower the long boat, and he
did lower her, but it was to send her adrift; upon which he
was asked to let down the jolly boat. He refused at first;
but upon letting her down he and the crew lowered them-
selves into her, providentially pushing young Wilkinson, in
the confusion, before them. He got to the bottom of the
boat, and thus escaped, the last scene h e witnessed on board
being Mr. Salter and family at prayerin the cabin, which at
this time was filling fast with water. There are some of the
particulars of this severe calamity, derived from a source upon
which we implicitly rely.—Cork paper.