Litchfield enquirer., 1840-06-04
From he N. Y. CommspcioI Adscrtissr, Nav &c.
LOSS OF THE SHIP POLAND. y

rival of the ship Clifton, the painful intelli-
gence that the fine packet ship Poland, from
this port for Havre, was struck by lightning
on the 18th inst, by which accident the cargo
became ignited, and the vessel was entirely
destroyed by fire. The Poland was the
packet of the 9Th of this month. but was de-
tanned, and sailed from here on Monday the
18th May, with % cabin passengers.
| The crew consisted of officers and men %,
and in addition there were ii Storage pas
sengers, making with those whose names we
have given, above 63 persons who were on
board the vessel at the time of the disaster,
and all of whom were floating on the broad
Atlantic with burning vessel beneath their
feet, for forty -eight hours, before the welcome
sight of a nearing sail gladdened their eyes.
| The Poland belonged to w. Whitlock, Jr..
and we understand that she is insured for
$4,000.
The cargo, so far as we have been able to
ascertain, consisted of 10000 dollars in spe-
Gle, 1900 barrels -four go bales cotton, so
casks quercitron bark, % barrels potashes.-
Total loss, $4,000. ts
We have seen one of the passengers, Mr..
I Buckingham, who says, that too much praise
cannot be given to Capt. Anthony for his
gallant conduct upon this occasion. He
states farther that the Poland was well pro-
vided with boats, but that he thinks that if
she had, in addition to the compliment on
board, a life boat such as that of the Ouch
esse d'Orleans, a great part Of the specie
and baggage of the passengers might have
been saved.
The ship was struck by lightning on Sat-
urday, the 10Th inst, in lat. al IS, long SO 80,
at p. M. during severe shower of rain,
wind about Southwest. The lightning
struck the fore top gallant yard on the lar
board side, and ran down the ties to the FORE
yard, thence along the foreyard to the head
of the foremost, where it knocked off a piece
of the fid Of the topmast. 1t then ran down
the mast into the lower hold, where it is sup
posed it set fire to the cotton which was stow
ed away near the mast.
After an Intellectual attempt to get at the
fire to extinguish it, the men being driven
from their work by the smoke, the matches
were closed about g o'clock and the boats
were cleared and got out, and about 10 P. nj.
| the females and children, with as many men
as was thought proper, were put into the
long boat, and moored astern. where they
remained all that night, and the next day
and night, until Monday morning-the ship
being hove to, in order to be easy, and in
hopes of being discovered by passing vessel.
On Monday morning the wind having We
ry much increased, with a rising sea, and the
fire not appearing to have increased much,
the boats were hoisted in again and sail
made to the NJ E. About / o'clock P. M.
sail was discovered and the ship was put be-
fore the wind 10 speak her.
At P. M. spoke the ship Clifton, and
Capt. Ingersoll Immediately complied with
their request to be taken off, and assisted in
saving all hands with his boat. sFs
The ship was abandoned about 10 o'clock
A. M, at which time the fire was very fast
increasing, and the decks were growing hot
ter every minute. The passengers and crew
saved but little except the clothes they had
on, and few fight articles of small value.
HoRRtBtE.-The Troy Wing contains
horrible account of the conduct of the cap
tain of the whale ship Beaver of Hudson,
and of the fate of one of her sean1erl. The
captains name is VIM. Rogers, and he arri-
we'd in his vessel in New-Ycrk harbor on the
LIST inst. Itappears that while the vessel was
in the Pacific Ocean, a man by the name of
Gordon, boat steerer, said to some of the
crew who had been afflicted with the sour
vey, as follows-"If was in your places
forward, if the captain, when we arrived in
port, should refuse to give us liberty ashore,
/ would point knife at his heart" On hear
| ing of this remark, the captain resolved to
give the man to the Cannibals, and steered
directly for one of their Islands. The ma
tives appeared in their canoes, and the cap
tain asked the first mate Lansing, of Alba
ny,) what should be done with the prisoner,
and the reply was" Damn him, throw him
overheard" This was done. The captain,
on seeing the natives would not take him, en-
couraged them to do so, and to use him ac-
cording to their custom-that is kill, roast
and eat him. They then took him off, while
he was begging for mercy from this worse
than cannibal captain. Will not the mon
ster forthwith be sought out and punished to
the extent of the law! Gordon, it is said, has
left wife and two children in Troy. The
above account was certified to by three eye
witnesses: VIZ; George, and Dennis Murray
ttf' E3t' t"s " r54Jo0 .tt ....t -rt
An Incident.--Ata recent grand parade of
office-holders at Hagerstown, Md, the fol-
lowing ludicrous incident occurred, as rela-
ted in the Torchlight.
One of the Marshals of the day, at the
close of the procession, as we have been in
formed, addressed the committee of arrange
ments thus :-Gentlemen Of the committee,
thank you for the marked attention you have
paid me. You presented me with sash--I
put it on. You gave me badge of office-l
took it. You offered me gray horse for
the day. mounted him. have marched
with you. l have assisted you through the
day. have voted and have acted and
fought with you for twelve years. can 60
with you no longer. Iwish to quit your par
ty in peace. l return you your sash, your
badge, your horse; and again thank you for
the distinction you have conferred upon me.
But gentlemen, have determined to vote for
Harrison. am just on my way to join the
Tippecanoe Club" And he did join it.
-. r. ASA