The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-18 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE BRIGAND, IRON STEAMER.

The following letter has been received from the captain of
the Brigand, iron steamer, which was unfortunately wrecked,
off the Scilly Islands, on Wednesday last :
" I have the misfortune to acquaint you that the Brigand
struck on one of the sunken rocks to the westward of the
Scilly Islands, called the Bishop's Ridge, between four and
five o'clock on Wednesday morning last. I had made St.
Agnel: Light some time before, broad on the larboard bow,
and steered S.W. by W., a course which you will perceive,
on every reasonable calculation, should have taken me clear
many miles. The wind was east at the time, and the morn-
ing hazy, making the light appear far more distant than it
really was ; an effect (as the inhabitants informed me) always
the result of similar circumstances, and which set ordinary
calculation at defiance. I myself first saw from the quarter-
deck the ripple of broken water. The helm was instantly
put hard a-port, when the vessel touched on her larboaril
bilge, before the paddle wheels. Two plates, at each side of
the water-tight bulk's-head, which separate the engine-room
from the fore hold, were broken in. The engine pumps were
immediately rigged, and every endeavour made, but in vain,
to staunch the leaks. In expectation that the water-tight
compartments, forward and aft, still free, would keep the
vessel afloat, all hands were set about throwing overboard 20
tons of patent fuel, stowed between decks; but she settled
down so rapidly by the head, that it became my duty to order
them to the boats. We were 28 in number, and with 14 in
each boat, we shoved off. One boat, in charge of the first
mate, I directed to be pulled immediately to the islands, and
returned in the other close to the vessel, in order to board
her again if she remained above water. About a quarter of
an hour afterwards, rising perpendicularly half her length aft,
she went down with a fearful noise, head foremost, the water
spouting through her cabin windows high into the air. You
may imagine the varied feelings that crowded on my mind as
our boat, gunwale down, with her load of 14 souls, floated
on the brink of the vortex made by our sunken ship. After
six hours rowing we reached the shore. But amongst all my
cares, I have one solitary gratification to record—the conduct
of the crew. Not a man went near the boats until I gave the
order to do so ; and from the moment the vessel struck until
I took leave of them all safe at Bristol, on Saturday morning,
the same obedience and respect was shewn me as when I
walked the deck, their commander. With the assistance of
the Society for the Benefit of Shipwrecked Seamen, and from
their own willingness to remain under my controul, I had the
happiness of being able to provide for their wants, and to
forward them all to their homes.—Sincerely yours,
" ROBERT M. HUNT."

The Brigand was one of the largest and most beautiful iron
steamers ever yet built, being of 600 tons burden, and 200
horse power, and was remarkable for the beauty of her work-
manship, the splendid fittings of her saloon, and her extra-
ordinary speed. She cost in building £32,000. The Brigand
was built to trade:between Bristol and Liverpool, in which
trade she has been employed for the last two years; but she
left the station about a fortnight since for the purpose of pro-
ceeding from London to St. Petersburgh, for which port she
was to sail on Thursday next. At the time she struck the
vessel was on her way to London, whence she was to sail for
St. Petersburgh. She had on board upwards of 200 tons of
coals, and a large quantity of patent fuel for her consump-
tion. The rocks upon which she was lost have proved
peculiarly fatal ; no longer ago than 1811 the Thames steamer
was wrecked within three miles of the same spot, and
seventy or eighty lives lost. Various suggestions have
been made by nautical men here as to the cause of this
wreck, some saying that the steamer ought not to have gone
within many miles of the Scilly Islands; and that the wea-
ther being moderate she was not driven there ; while, on the
other band it is urged, that from the haziness of the weather
she was not aware that she was so near until too late, the
refraction of light deceiving them as to the distance of the
St. Agnes' light ; and the current, which is very strong there
and runs for nine hours in the one direction, and only three
hours in the other, having set them down on the rock. Un-
fortunate, however, as this accident has been, it has decid-
dedly proved the advantage of iron vessels built in compart-
ments, for had the leak affected only one compartment, she
would undoubtedly have been saved, and even although, by
the extraordinary fact of her rebounding and strikingi a se-
cond time, two compartments were burst, yet it is seen that
she floated for more than two hours and a half enabling the
crew to save themselves, while, if she had been built of wood,
she must with such injuries have gone down in less than 10
minutes, and all hands would have perished.