Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-09-10

safety to land; but when they got about
two leagues from the wreck, they, one by
one, cast off the tov lines, and abandoned
| Ge ratftO its fate, each striving TO make
of uiM oil possible speed.
AT this time the raft had sunk below the
surface, 10 the depth Of three feet and
hall, and the people were so squeezed one
against another, tina. it was scarcely posi-
BILE 10 move. Fore and aft they were up
TO the middle in water. When the boats
disappeared, they considered themselves
as deliberately sacrificed, and swore to be
revenged of their unfeeling companions, ii
ever they should come on shore. All per-
ceived their destruction TO be at hand, and
announced by their wailings the dismal
thoughts by which they were distracted
NJ. Correard had preserved pocket COIN
pass, but this fell through an opening in the
raft, and disappeared.
, Oppressed with hunger, they mixed the
biscuit, of which they had about twenty
FIVE pounds, with wine, and distributed it
in small portions-Night came on, the wind
freshened, and the sea began to SWELL
Their only consolation now was the belief
that they should in the morning. discover
the boats. At midnight it grew stormy,
and the waves broke over them in every
direction.
In the morning the wind abatcd, and the
sea subsidized little but dreadful spec
tacle presented itself. Ten or twelve Of
the unhappy men, having their lower ex-
tremiies damned between the spars OF the
raft, unable TO extricate themselves, had
persisted in that situation. Several others
had been swept of by the violence Of the
waves-Twenty had disappeared. AL
ready Says the narrator) was the moral
character of the people greatly changed!
Two young seamen threw themselves into
the sea, after deliberately taking leave of
their comrades. All this, however, was
nothing TO The dreadful scene which took
place the following night. When evening
approached, and no boats were to be seen,
a spirit of sedition spread from man to man,
and manifested itself by furious shouts
Night came on, The heavens were obscured
with thick clouds the wind rose, and with
it the sea the waves broke over them e.
very moment numbers were swept away.
particularly near the extremity Of the
raft; and the crowding towards the centre
was SO great that several poor wretches
were smotherei by the pressure of their
comrades, who were unable tokeep on their
legs.
Persuaded that they were or the point Of
being swallowed up, both soldiers and sal
Tors resolved TO sooth their last moments by
drinking till they lost their reason; they
bored hole in the head of large cask
from which they continued TO swill ill the
salt water mixing with the wine, rendered
il no longer potable. They now became
deaf to the voice of reason, declared their
intention to murder their officers and then
cut the ropes which bound The raft together
One of them, seiZing an axe. began the
dreadful work-the officers rushed forward
to quell the tumlt. and he with the axe was
the first that fell, by the stroke Of sabre.
The passengers joined the officers, but The
mutineers were still the greater number;
one fellow wa. detected secretly cutting the
ropes, and Immediately flung overheard
Others destroyed the shrouds and halyards,
and the mast fell on a captain of Infantry
and broke his thigh. He was instantly sci.
Zed by the soldiers and thrown into the sea,
but was saved by the opposite party. A
furious charge was now made upon the mu-
tineers, many of whom were cut down: at
length this fit of desperation subsidized into
egregious cowardice.-They cried out for
mercy, and asked forgiveness on their
knees: but after an hour Of deceitful tram
guilty, the insurrection broke out anew.
The mutineers ran upon the officers, like
desperate men, with knives, and such was
their fury that they tore theirAesh and even
their clothes with their teeth: there was
no time for hesitation-a general slaughter
took place, and the raft was strewed with
dead bodies. On the return Of day twas
found that in the course of the night, sixty
FIVE of the mutineers and two of the others
had persisted. One cask of wine only re-
manned. The unhappy creatures whom
death had spared in the course of the night,
fell upon the carcases Of the dead, and be-
gan TO devour them. Some tried to eat