Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1841-04-07
Frsm Litiens Museum.
NARRATIVE OF THE WREEE or
THE 0IIAIT,


On the 23d of March; 1886; his Maiesty's
cutter Quail, Lieutenant Philip Bison, Com.
mander; sailed from Falmouth with the rnails
for Lisbon. On her previous trip in February
the cutter had encountered much bad wealth.
er, and sprung her mast; which was replaced
by a new one Il was hePed that thc dcten-
ton caused by this, and the very boisterous
weather which we had hitherto experienced.
had brought us ever the time when the eoui.
noctial gales are usually expected and that
they had in reality blown themselves out: we
congratulated each other upon theIprobabilty
of a good passage, and speedy return to our
original station off Brighton for we had found
little comfort in crossing the Bay of Biscay,
during the winter months, being for the most
part under water,-as one of the mates Of the
Hastings viii readily vouch for; he having been
washed out Of the Commanders cabin whilst
a passenger on board the Quail The object,
however, of this little narrative is not TO grum-
BILE or find fault, but TO detail facts simply, and
as they occurred,-facts which / think would
clearly prove t0the most subtle unbeliever that
there is a Coda most mercifu and power
full Lord and Savior:
On the morning of the 2Sd the mails arri-
we'd from London but the weather was too
unfav6rable to start until about noou, when il
partially clearedi and the wind chopped from
w. S. w. 10 w. N; W.; the signal was
made, the mails embarked, and the Quail de-
parted; appearances were not very promising
but packets are compelled to start when other
shipping remain fast. Notwithstanding hea-
w cross sea, we reached the neighborhood of
| Ushant the next evening, when the wind cons
ing strong from the S. w. obliged us to bear
| that they have sustained all of the executive
mr., EolrAo,tb hut frof,ra n1,,ft roooI,
| that port, the wind veered tn n. W., IN CON-
sequence Of which the Quail was put about,
and we finally took our departure from the
Lizard on the forenoon of the 18th. The
weather came on very stormy as evening APP
preached ; but we made all snug, and ran a
couple of points free; upwards of 100 miles by
the next morning; then the wind fell light
and variable.
On Sunday morning the 9th, prayers were
read by the Commander IN his cabin: the
breeze was then moderate aud fair but the
appearance Of the sky to the westward was
awfully wild In the afternoon the Quail was
under treble reefed mainsai; and before nine
o'clock that night was hove-to under trysail.
/ The wind ho@led; and the sea increased so
fearfully; that the Commander issued orders
for the watch below to be ready to jump up in
!. moment, and not to undress,-a good pre-
caution, for the trysaI; sheets were carried
away twice. and the spitfre lib sheets once;
and Consequently kept all hands on deck near:
" the whole of that dreadful night. The TB
sheets went about an hour and half before
| the accident the foresail donbie reefed was
then set; and the Ib came m very WELL
. Our attention was now drawn aBaa; the
trysail sheets had again gone, but fortunately
81 the end Of the nlainsheet had been bent on 70
3 spare cringle as prevention, and the sheets
were more speedily replaced. An so far had
: gone on well, when unluckily the leech-rope o
? the trysail went, and somehow got over the
: gaff; this we knew would soon split the sail il
. such storm there was no remedy ;down Is
!. sail must cene-and it was smartly done. III
!. the leech.rope was secured, the bonnet take,
+ Off and the sail hoissed again. The Rt1rri
: cane, b oweyer, still increased, and it was foun
: necessary to reef the trysail Whilst th
I lpeople were about this. tremendous Sc
/ struck the cutter on the larboaTd beam, whic
. threw her clean over, and hurled sixteen
q our fine fellows into eternity. I've Office
:. (Messrs. Paul and Knox and six more Sc;
+ men were nearly sharing their fate, but the
5. were fortunate enough to regain the vessel.
II This awful calamity occurred a little belol
o dagbfake Of Monday the 2Sth; for on comm
e 10 our senses there was barely light enoug
e to show the horTid desoIafion around !. e.
: mast had gone IN two places, leaving a stun
rs itandIng Of about twenty ieet above the deck
er all the spars and sails texcept the bowspri
s. had followed it the jolly boat qhe gig ha
G. been. previously cut away was strewed
al small pieces about the aecRs the bulworks .
abaft the mast were clean swept away, vii
three ofthe guns andno vestage could be SEE
a. bof the after-conpanion, the two biHnacle
- water closets signal lockers, water tanks--o
i - in short anything movable or immoveable {
=, the upper.deck, except one gum even q
- shipss bell, that was wal hooked upon