, 1865-11-21

"1t Is our painful duty to announce the
total loss Of I'll. NJ. S. "Bull Dog" which
was blown up on the night of October
23rd, to prevent her falling into the
hands of the enemy. AS the circum-
catastrophe as the blowing up Of one of
Her Majesty's ships, must be interesting
to every body, we will briefly state the
events which necessitated such an unpre-
cedentcd occurrence.
"On the morning Of October 18th, the
"Bull Dog left her anchorage in Cape
Haitlen harbour, for the purpose Of exer-
clslng her crew at target practice and
when she had finished, proceeded tow
ards L'AcuI, a small town about S miles
from the Cape, for the purpose of com
munlcatlng with the Government respect
ing the raising Of the blockade. Soon
afterwards, the rebel Aolilla, consisting
of the steamer "Voldroge,'' and four
schoonerS, were observed in chase of,
and firing at, a small steamer carrying
the English flag. Course was altered
IN their direction, and on closing the re-
bel steamer, a boat was sent on board to
inform their Captain, that Captain Wake
tOIA w lDNQlIC IuUO LlC UdUIOnaIIIV
OF the English steamer, and that if she
was Haitien, he could do as he pleased,
but if undoubtedly English, he would not
allow her TO be interferred with. The
steamer proved to be the "Jamaica Pack
ct" and Captain Wake having fully salts
fed himself as to her perfect right to the
flag she flew, gave her his protection.
"The next morning, on arriving at
Cape H~altien, an explanation of what
had occurred, was sent on shore to the
Consul, and shortly afterwards an officer
was landed on duty. He was repealed
by an armed force whereupon Captain
Wake sent a letter Of remonstrance to
General S%alnave, to which no reply was
y~ouchsated, and a public announcement
made, that no communication should be
held with the English Captain, and that
if he landed, he would be assassinated,
and therefore should not be permitted to
land. That evening the British Consul
late was forcibIy entered, and the male
refugees, who had been under the pro-
lection of the flag since the beginning of
the revolution, were taken to prison and
loaded with irons /; and the insult was re-
peated the next morning. The Bulldog
was then cleared for action, and all en-
deavours to bring the affair to "A peace
BILE termination having failed, all redress
having been positively refused, and init
nation given that correspondence was
closed, the Bull Dog left Cape Haitien
and proceeded to L'Acul to communicate
with the President; being forced to leave
the harbour by the threatening demon
s~tration made by the rebels, fresh guns
being got into position every day and
pointed against her.
"At 8-45 a. m. on Monday, October
23rd, the "Bull Dog" returned to Cape
Haitien with the intention Of destroying
the rebel ~1otilla, and afterwards. immedi-
ately proceeding to Jamaica. Strict or
ders were given that not a shot was to
be fired on the town, but only on the bat
teries which fired against her. On pass
ing Fort Plcolet at the entrance of the
harbour, a broadside was fired as warn
ing to those inside of what they were to
expect. The "Bull Dog then proceed
ed towards the steamer "Voldrogc" with
the intention of running her down, but
when within fifty yards of that vessel