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"You will ere this reaches you, have been informed of the fate
and sufferings of many friends and others who belonged to the
battalion. I cannot enter into a detail of the circumstances that
attended us, but you may judge from the annexed nominal list, what
must be the misery and distress of the fallen and of those that
have survived this melancholy catastrophe. Captain Willock and
Ensign Gleeson are not yet arrived from Trepassey, they are
expected by the boat looked for tomorrow. On my leaving them to
come forward with the reports to the Admiral, Captain Willock
desired me to communicate to all your family that he was well and
that you would say so to Mr. Thatcher. Miss Armstrong is not yet
come forward. To Captain Willock, she owes, with many others,
their safety; his exertions to save were unbounded. I was
miraculously, after letting go the rope and being so frequently
immersed in the water, saved by being thrown on the surf toward the
rock, caught hold of by the sailors and dragged in a state of
insensibility to the top where I lay for some time discharging the
salt water I had imbibed. The Governor, Admiral Pickmore, and the
Commandant Major King, are deeply concerned in our behalf. The
sufferings and distress of the survivors cannot be equalled; not a
shilling scarcely among us, nor a covering but that which was on
when the accident happened. Mr. Wilson and daughter are with Major
King's family; Captain and Mrs. Prime are in the quarters of the
aide-de-camp adjoining; Lieutenant Mylrea, Mrs Mylrea and brother
are at Commissary General Lane's; I am at Major Morris's, late
Newfoundland Regiment, all receive the kindest treatment. The
ladies of the garrison and town are furnishing clothes and mourning
for those who have lost their relatives and parents. The quarter
master sergeant could have saved himself but was not desirous, he
could not be persuaded to leave the child of Craig's. Forrest was
narrowly saved, he got half away across the rope from the wreck to
the shore when presence of mind forsook him; he let go the rope
with his hands and was dragged through the water and hauled up into
the ship. After coming to, he, a few moments before she totally
broke up, tried again, when he succeeded and was literally dead
when he reached the rock. Captain Prime, Lieutenant Mylrea, and
myself are better and so is everyone than can be expected. I
understand a vessel is to be contracted to carry us to our
destination. |
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Men: Lieutenant Wilson; Surgeon Armstrong; Q.M. Sergeant John
Asher; Sergeants Migginson, Harvey, John Chasney; Corporals Keele,
Oxler, Conway, Whelton, Wrea, Price, Edward Heacock; Privates,
Thomas Rosewell, Gabriel Urie, Alexander McBean, Thomas McCarthy,
Thomas Streets, Benjeman Radcliff, George Dibdia, Francis McGowan,
David Holks, L. McAlair, R. Murphy, George Kent, Samuel Haily,
William Burk, George Barber, William Cripps, John Callow, Stephen
Cole, Thomas Savage, John Cooper, Thomas Fielding, George Hall,
Thomas Reddett, David Hushton, Samuel Sear, Thomas Foster, Daniel
Gorman, Michael Reiley, James Miller, Edward Mooney, James
Shellivere, William Weavers, H. Williams, Thomas Youll, Samuel
Thomas, Robert Jones, John Perkins, William Crumpton, R. Oldham,
John Dailley, James Flauman, Edward Spinks, Edward Renney, Francis
Leadbeater, P. Riels, George Thorchill, John Stevens, Joseph
Sarecen, Thomas Jury, John Davis, Thomas Pregiar, George Beaner,
Daneil Goodwin, William Lane, Patrick Holland, Hugh Hagan, William
Heath, M. Sheelry, Thomas Stone, Charles Goulding, Patrick Whelan,
James Smith, James Mathews, James Field, John Loinas, Thomas
Johnston, John Dillon, John Kernahan, William Quinlan, John Davis,
Joseph Pass.
Women: Mrs. Rebecca Armstrong, Elizabeth Price, Eleanor Heacock,
M. Mylrea, Mrs. O'Brian, Eleanor Jackson, Sarah Dean, Susan Thomas,
Mary Thomas, Elizabeth Jones, Margaret Perkins, Ellen Crumpton, Ann
Smith, M. Kernahan, Jane Quinlan, Sarah Pass.
Children: John Wilson, Louise Wilson, Jane Pilmore, Sydney
Armstrong, Louis Armstrong, Francis Armstrong, John Asher; James,
Mary and Sophia Harvey; John Thomas, Donald and William Price; Mary
and Thomas Heacock; Rose and Sophia Mylrea; Joseph, Jackson, George
Dean, Ann, William and Mary Thomas; James, John and Henry Prime;
El. and Han. Shepherd; John Cuff, William Atcott; Robert and Ann
Thomas; George and Mary Perkins; William Quinlan. |
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"I wrote you a few days ago in a hasty manner; I was necessitated
to break off, the vessel by which I sent the letter, sailing before
I had concluded the melancholy subject treated therein. Thanks be
to Almighty God for his divine assistance, I am once more rescued
from the jaws of death. I am quite recovered of the fatigue, which
for a week I was exposed to. I believe I was useful and made the
instrument of good to many, for had I not gone forward to Trepassey
and endeavoured to stimulate the people, to go to the relief of the
distressed at the rock, 14 Irish miles from the place where the
accident happened, several must have perished. The account in the
papers is somewhat correct in respect to the schooner; it was
myself that engaged them to bring the unfortunate sufferers to St.
John's, about 40 in number. Captain Willock, Ensign Gleeson and
the distressed Miss Armstrong have not yet arrived; they are
expected in a few days. I have sent a list of the people who did
belong to the battalion, you will observe the names of many, and
some I know. You will be extremely sorry for that of poor Doctor
Armstrong's family who have suffered much, not any of their
property saved. Two days have passed in procuring a supply of
necessaries, all purchased at an intolerable expense.
On the ship's first striking, a number had retired to rest, and
the sea pouring in between decks carried away the berths, floating
them, and in the violence of the shock, dashed the unfortunate
creatures to pieces against the side of the ship.
The Admiral has directed a vessel to be contracted to carry us to
our intended destination." |
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