The Portland daily press., 1870-10-25

BURNING OF THE WHALE-SHIP ROBERT Ed
WARDS. Charles Pardoe, Charles Meridith.
Frederick Allen and Samuel Duncan are on
trial before Ia UNITED States Court in New
York on charge of setting fire to whale ship
Robert Edwards, Capt. Pease of New Bedford,
on the 10th of May last, while on a cruise
The crime of which the accused are charged is
punishable with death.
The leader in the plot to destroy the vessel
was Pardoe, large and muscular man, who
served as an English convict in the mines in
Australia. Soon after leaving port he formed
a plot for the destruction of the vessel He
then induced Allen, who boasts Of his escape
from England, in consequence Of crime, and of
in the bold undertaking. Jansen, Meredith
and Duncan, the latter a mere boy, were soon
in league with the two conspirators, and it was
determined to kill the officers and scuttle the
ship. They attempted to sink the vessel by
boring holes in her hull, but subsequently stop
ped them up in time to escape suspicion
About ten p. NJ, however. on the Goth of July,
when the Edwards was in mid-ocean, 800 miles
away from Bermuda the nearest point of land,
the alarm of fire was raised and flames were
discovered in the lower hold between the fore
and main matches u All hands, were immedl-
ately mustered, and all means employed to
avert the danger. Seamen handed buckets
and barrels of water, but were unable to sub
due the progress OF the flames. They succeed
ed, however, in filling between decks, with
the matches battened and holes cut in the up
per deck to throw down water. The crew
worked all night and the next day, and on the
next night apparently seemed masters of the
fire, the lower hold being full of water. The
the sides of the ship. The plank shear was
then cut near the rail, and the water was soon
down in the hold. The flames were cxtin-
guished in this way on the larboard side, but
continued to increase in intensity on the
otheri side. At o'clock P. NJ, on the 22d
ions collected for them, and they all
abandoned the ship with the exception Of the
captain and one man, who remained cupboard,
steering the ship, until 10 2. M. AT that time
spread to the sails and masts. The captain
andSthe sailors then embarked in small boat.
They stood by the burning craft all night, in
company with the other boats. Shortly after
midnight the ymasts fell, and in the morning
the ship had burned amidships to the waters
edge. The occupants of the whale boats were
in lat. SO degrees porth, and Ion. 81. 40 de-
grees west, at the time they left the wreck,
and steered toward Bermuda. On the follow
ing day they were picked up in the open sea
Pratt. from Baltimore, bound to Rio Janeiro.
Previous to leaving the Robert Edwards, Capt
Pease, suspecting something wrong, called Par.
doe, and asked him if he had fstarted the fire.
The latter said that he and two others had
committed 1.-THE act but refused to give their
names. He said his faccomplices had gone into
the hold with him. During the efforts to stay
the flames two men jumped overheard. One,
named Daniel Burns, was rescued, but John
Jansen, Dane, was drowned. Pardoe SUISSE
quently told the Captain that Meredith and
Jansen were the persons who went down into
the hold with him. On coming onboard of the
spirators, and they told him that they had no
fault to find with the ship, and that they
could not tell what had prompted them to fire
the ship. Allen said he had stuff already
prepared for the fire and that Pardoe, Mere
dith and the "Dane" ignited it. Duncan de-
clared that he was afraid ito expose the plot for
fear of his life. The accused were examined
before Vice Consul Cordiuo at Rio, and then
sent home