Loss Of The Ship Fame.
The Times, 1824-07-30T00:00:00

Ir c ensparlCa on tile 2at inst. in the Fame, ana sailed at day- light for ,England, with a fair wind and ever" tfp- -df'i'4uick b corofortable assagc. The ship was every. thing we6coufld?wi*h .9Cl m}vycharge here much olny t, i-t'wa one ol:lhe happiest days of nmylife. - e were, perhais:t6oo happy, for p, the eve.-ilgcame a sad reverse. Sshiiabhaedjustgone.to bed. and-t - h1ad throwo off' half my Clothes, when a cry of ' Fire, fire!' roused us from our cahn content, and in five mLinutes the whole ship was-nm- fnames-l 1 ran to examine whence the flames-principaly ssaed, and found that the fire had itS origin imniediately under our cabn. 'Dovwn with the boats; wherc is' Sophia?' *ere; the bildren?.heXe:aTopetothbside; lawerLady Rffics.' 'Givelier rooqne,- says one. I I'll take her,' says the captain. ' Throw the gunpowder overboard.' ' It cannot be got at; it is in the masgazine, os to the fire' Stand clear of the powder.' 'Sluttle the water- casks. ' Water, water !' 'Where's Sir Stamford?' 'Come into the boat, Nelson:u Nelson, come into the boat. Pash off, push off; stand clear of theafter-part of the shi !' " All this passed muc'o quicker than I can Kiriteit * we pushed off, and as we did so, the flames were issuing frtom our cabins and the whole of the af'ter part of the ship was in flamos r the masts and sails nowv taking fire, we moved to a distmce sufficment to avoid the immediate explosion) but the flames wvkre now coming out of the main hatchway, and seeing the rest of the crew, with the captain, &c., s:ill on board, we pulled back to her under the bowg, so as to be most distant from the poowder. As we approached, we perceived that the people from on board were getting into another boat on the op- posite side; she pushed off', we hailed her, ' Have you all on board ?" 'Yes, aU saveone.' ' Who is he?' ' Johnson, sickl in his cot.' Can we save himn?' ' No, impossible;' the flames were then is- suing from the hatchway; at this moment the poor fellow, scorched, I imagine, by the flames, roared out most iusttly, having run up on the deck. ' I will go for him,' says the captain. The two boats then came together and we took out some of the persons f'rom the captain's boat, which was overladen. He theit pulled under the bow- sprit of the ship, and picked the poor fellow up. 'Are you all safe?' IYes, we have got the man; all lives ssfe, thank God ; pull tpf ffom the ship ; keep your eye on a star, Sir Stamford; there's one barely visible.' " WII e then hauled close to each other, and found the Captain fortillhTaly had a compass, but we had no light but fromn the ship. Ouir distance from Bencoolen we estimiated to be from twenty to thirty miles in a S. W. direction. There being io landing-place.-o the southward of Bencoolen, our only chance was*o rcgain that port. The Captain theA u'tdertoolc to leatd, and we to follow-in a N. N. E. course as well as we couJd. No ehance, no possibiXity bebag lef that we cotmld again approach the ship, fbr Fhe was now one splendid flame fore and aft end aloft, her masts and sailsin a blaze; and rock. i ing to and fro, threatniug to fall it- al. instant. ' Thereegoes her mizen I mast; pull awHy, my boys; there gocs the gi:npowder, thank Got1l!' Y'ou mnay judgeofour situation wiLthout flurther particulars; tbe alarm I wasgiven atabout20 mi' utes past eight, undill less than ten iniutes she was in flamies; there was not a soul oii board at half:past eight, *and in less thani ten mninutes afterwards slie was one grand mass of fire. -NMy only apprehension wns the want of boats to hold the people, as there was not time to have got out a long boat, or make a-raft; all we had to rely upon were two small boats; which fortunately wetelowered without accident, and in these twvo simall apen boats, without a drop or water or a grain of fodd, or rag of' coverimg, except what we happemied at the moment to have on our backs, we embarked on the wide occan, thankcful ro (od for Iiis mercies. Poor Sopliia having been taken out of her bed, had nothling ou but a wrapper, neither shoes nor stockings; the children were j ust as taken out of bed, whence one had been snatched after the flames had at- t.acked it. In short, there w.s not time-for any one to tiik ot' more i than two things-can the ship be stved ? No; let us save ourselves then; all else was swallowed up in one great rain. I" To make thic best of our misfortune, we availed ourselves of the light from the shipl to steer a tolerably good course towards the shore; she continued to buria tUl a bout milinjgit, whien the saltpetre, of which she had 250 tons on board, took' fire, and sent up one of the most spendid find brilliant flamiles that was ever seen, illuminating the horizor. in every direction-to an extent of not less than oOm'iles, and casting lliat kind of blue light over ys, which is. of all otbers most liridly lior4ible. ,She burned- and contined to flame in this style fbr about an hour br two, when we lost sight of the object in a cloud of smoke. N4either Nelson, nor Al r. Bell, our medical friend, who had accom]latiied us, had saved their coats: the tail of mnine, with a pocket-handkerchief, served to keep Sophia's feet warum; ana we -imaue Dreecnes tor tue chiltiren witl: our neck_l cloths. RaiR now came on, but fortunately it was not of long con- tnuanoce,and we got dfv aI3ain-tke night became serene and star- light. -We were now certamn of our course, an4 t'e men behaved mnanfully-they rowed incessantlv, and with good hlart and spirit, and never did poor mortals look out more tbr day-light and for hind thain ve did. Not th3t our sufferings or grounds of complaint were gny thin to what has often befallen others; but from Sophia's delicate heallh; as well as my own, and the stormy nature of our coast, I felt perfectly convirced we were unable to undergo starva- tion, -aid exposure to sun and weather many days, and, aware of the rapidity of the currents, I feared we might fitll to the southward of the port.. " At day-light-we recognized the coast and Rat Island, which gave us great spirits, and though we found ourselves much to the south- waTdofttheport, wveconsidered ourselves almost at home. Sophia had gone through thle night better than could have been expected, and we continued to pull on with all our streng h. About eight or nine o'clock we saw-a ship standing tous from iheRoads; they had secr the flame on shore, and sent out vessels in all directions tO oar relief; and here certainly came a iMIinister of P'rovidence in the character of a Mlliniisterof the Gospel. for the first person I recognized wasone of our Missionaries. They gave us a bucket of water, and we took the captain on board as a pilot. The wind, howevcr, was adverse, and w e could not reach the shore, and took to tie ship,where we got some re- freshmetit, and shelter from the sun. By thistime, Sophia was quite exhausted, fainting continually. About two o'clock we landed safe and sound. and no words of nme can do justtic to the expression of feeling, sympathy, and kindness with which we were hailed by every one. if any proof had been wanting that my administiation had bcen satistaCtOry, here we had it unequivocaLly from all; there was not a dry eye, and as we drove back to our former home, loud was the cry of God be praised.' But enotigh; and I will onlv add, that we are now greatly recovered, in good spirits, and busy at work in getting ready-made cothes for present use. *e went to }sed at threein theafternoon,andIdid not awaketillsixthis morning. Sophia had nearly as sound a sleep, and, with the exception of a bruise or two, and a little pain In the bones from fatigue, we have nothing to complain of. "The property which Ihave lost, on the most moderate estimate, cannot be less than 20,0001. 1 might almost say 30,0001. But the loss which I have to regret beyond all, is my papers and drawings: all my papers, of every description, including may notes and observa- tions, with memoirs and collections, sufficient for a full and ample history, not only of Sumatra, but of Borneo. and every other island in these seas-my intended account of the establishment of Sinca- pore; the history of my own administration; grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies; and last, not least, a grasd map of Sumatra, on which I had been employed since my first arrival here, and on which for the last six months I had bestowed almost my wholeun- divided attention. This, however, was not all-all my collections in natural history, and my splendid collection of drawings, up- wards of a thousiand in number, with all the valuable papers and notes of my friends Arnold and Jack - and to corclude, I will merely notice1 that there was scarce an unknown animal, bird, beast, or ish, or an interesting plant, which we had not on board. A living tapir, a new species of er, splendid pheasants, &c., aU doomeru. cated for the voyage. lWe were, in short, in.ihis respect, a perfect Noah's Ark. All-all has peribbed; but, tnank God, our lives have been spared, and we do not repine. " Our plan is t get another ship as soon as nossible, and I think yon lexpect us in .July. There-is a chance of a ship called theLay touching le on her way home, and there is a small ship in the Roads, which may be converted into X packet, and take us home, as I have a calptain and crew at cerorrand." , LOss oF tHE Sip FAMEB. DfXTnACT OF A LETTER FF031 Slit TUOMAS STAMPORM _; RFLES, DATED EENCOOLEr. FEBi. 4. 1824.