YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1941

A
NARRATIVE OF THE LOSS
OF THE
KENT EAST INDIAMAN,
BY FIRE,
IN
THE BAY OF BISCAY,
ON THE
1st MARCH, 1825.
IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND.

BY A PASSENGER.
FOURTH EDITION,
WITH ADDITIONS.

EDINBURGH :
PRINTED FOR WAUGH AND INNES;
M. OGLE, GLASGOW ; K. M. TIMS, DUBLIN ;
J. HATCHAKD & SON ; J. NISBET ; AND JAMES DUNCAN,
LONDON.

M.DCCC.XXVI.

CONTENTS.

Page
Narrative  7

APPENDIX.
Rescue of Fourteen remaining Sufferers by the Caroline... 7T
List of the Number Lost in the destruction of the Kent... 90
Iietter from Captain Cook ofthe Cambria to his Agents ib.
Letter from the Officers of the Slst Regiment and Private
Passengers to Captain Cobb ofthe Kent  9*
Captain Coed's Reply  96
Letter from the Officers of the Slst Regiment, Officers of
the Kent, and Passengers, to Captain Cook of the
Cambria  9R
Captain Cook's Reply  103
Letter from the Secretary of his lloyal Highness the Duke
of Yokk to Captain Cook ofthe Cambria  105
Captain Cook's Reply  106
Letter from the Secretary at 'War  lOT
Letter from the Secretary of the Honourable East India
Company to the Agents for the ship Cambria  109

VI CONTENTS. Page
List of Sums voted to Captain Cook and his Crew by the
lloyal Exchange Assurance — Royal Humane Society —
Subscribers at Lloyd's — and Underwriters to Liverpool 110
Letter from Colonel Fearon and the Officers of Slst Re
giment to the Committee of the Inhabitants of Fal
mouth  ,  Ill

NARKATIVE.

My dear E-

vViTH the twofold view of gratifying the lively
interest excited in the minds of our friends, by
the a'wful and afflicting calamity that has lately
befallen the " Kent" East Indiaman, and of
humbly recording the signal interposition of
that God, " 'who, in the midst of judgment, re-
membereth mercy," I am induced to transmit to
you — to be disposed of as you may think fit —
the followinff detailed account ofthe melancho-
o
ly event, 'which has at once deprived the coun
try of many valuable lives, and thereby plunged
numerous families into the deepest distress, and
involved, I fear, in pecuniary ruin, or reduced
to extreme embarrassment, most of the gallant
survivors.

8 LOSS OF THE KENT
You are aware that the Kent, Captain Henry
Cobb, a fine new ship of 1350 tons, bound to
Bengal and China, left the Downs on the 19th
February, with 20 officers, 344 soldiers, 43 wo
men, and 66 children, belonging to the 3 1st re
giment ; with 20 private passengers, and a crew
(including officers) of 148 men, on board.
The bustle attendant on a departure for In
dia, is undoubtedly calculated to subdue the
force of those deeply painful sensations to which
few men can refuse to yield, in the immediate
prospect of a long and distant separation from
the land of their fondest and earliest recollec
tions. With my gallant shipmates, indeed,
whose elasticity of spirits is remarkably cha
racteristic of the professions to which they be
longed, hope appeared greatly to predominate
over sadness. Surrounded as they were by
every circumstance that could render their voy
age propitious, and in the ample enjoyment of
every necessary that could contribute either to
their health or comfort, — their hearts seemed to
beat high with contentment and gratitude to
wards that country which they zealously served,
and whose interests they were cheerfully going
forth to defend.
With a fine fresh breeze from the north-east,
the stately Kent, in bearing down the Channel,

EAST INDIAMAN. g
speedly passed many a well-known spot on the
coast, dear to our remembrance; and on the
evening of the 23d, we took our last view of
happy England, and entered the wide Atlantic,
without the expectation of again seeing land
until we reached the shores of India.
With slight interruptions of bad weather, we
continued to make way until the night of Mon
day the 28th, when we were suddenly arrested
in lat. 47° 30', long. 10°, by a violent gale from
the south-west, which gradually increased dur
ing the whole of the following morning.
To those •who have never " gone down to the
sea in ships, and seen the wonders of the Lord
in the great deep," or even to such as have ne
ver been exposed in a westerly gale to the tre
mendous swell in the Bay of Biscay, I am sensi
ble that the most sober description ofthe magni
ficent spectacle of " watery hills in full succes
sion flowing," would appear sufficiently exag
gerated. But it is impossible, I think, for the
inexperienced mariner, however unreflecting he
may try to be, to view the effects ofthe increas
ing storm, as he feels his. solitary vesseL reeling
to and fro under his feet, without involuntarily
raising his thoughts, with a secret confession of
helplessness and veneration that he may never
before have experienced, towards that mysteri-

10 LOSS OF THE KENT
ous Being, whose power, under ordinary cir
cumstances, we may entirely disregard, and
whose incessant goodness we are too prone to
requite with ingratitude.
The activity of the officers and seamen ofthe
Kent appeared to keep ample pace with that of
the gale. Our larger sails were speedily taken
in, or closely reefed ; and about ten o'clock on
the morning ofthe Ist of March, after having
struck our top-gallant yards, we were lying to,
under a triple reefed main top-sail only, with
our dead lights in, and Mth the whole watch
of soldiers attached to the life-lines, that were
run along the deck for this purpose.
The rolling of the ship, which was vastly in
creased by a dead weight of some hundred tons
of shot and shells that formed a part of its lad
ing, became so great about half-past eleven or
twelve o'clock, that our main chains were thrown
by every lurch considerably under water; and
the best cleated articles of furniture in the ca
bins and the cuddy* were dashed about with so
much noise and violence, as to excite the live
liest apprehensions of individual danger.
It was a little before this period that one of
* The Cuddy in an East Indiaman is the large cabin or
dining apartment, which is on a level with the quarter deck.

EAST INDIAMAN. il
the officers of the ship, with the well-meant in
tention of ascertaining that all was fast below,
descended with two of the sailors into the hold,
where they carried with them, for safety, a light
in the patent lantern ; and seeing that the lamp
burned dimly, the officer took the precaution
to hand it up to the orlop deck to be trimmed.
Having afterwards discovered one ofthe spirit
casks to be adrift, he sent the sailors for some
billets of wood to secure it; but the ship, in
their absence having made a heavy lurch, the
officer unfortunately dropped the light; and
letting go his hold of the cask in his eagerness
to recover the lantern, it suddenly stove, and
the spirits communicating with the lamp, the
whole place was instantly in a blaze.
I know not what steps were then taken. I
myself had been engaged during the greater
part of the morning in double lashing and
otherwise securing the furniture in my cabin,
and in occasionally going to the Cuddy, where
the marine barometers were suspended, to mark
their varying indications during the gale, in
my.joui-nal ; and it was on one of those occa
sions, after having read to Mrs.  , at her
request, the 12th chapter of St. Luke, which
so beautifully declares and illustrates the mi
nute and tender Providence of God, and so so-
2

12 LOSS OF THE KENT
lemnly urges on all, the necessity of continual
watchfulness and readiness for the " coming
of the Son of Man," that I received from Cap
tain Spence, the Captain of the day, the alarm
ing information that the ship was on fire in the
after-hold ; on hastening to the hatchway,
whence smoke was slowly ascending, I found
Captain Cobb and other officers already giving
orders, which seemed to be promptly obeyed
by the seamen and troops, who were using every
exertion, by means of the pumps, buckets of
water, wet sails, hammocks, &c. to extinguish
the flames.
With a view to excite amongst the ladies as
little alarm as possible, in conveying this intel
ligence to Colonel Fearon, the commanding
officer of the troops, I knocked gently at his
cabin door, and expressed a wish to speak with
him, but whether my countenance betrayed the
state of my feelings, or the increasing noise
and confusion upon deck created apprehensions
amongst them that the storm was assuming a
more serious aspect, I found it difficult to pa
cify some of the ladies by repeated assurances
that no danger whatever was to be apprehend
ed from the gale. As long as the devouring
element appeared to be confined to the spot
where the fire originated, and which we were

EAST INDIAMAN. 13
assured was surrounded on all sides by the wa
ter casks, we ventured to cherish hopes that it
might be subdued ; but no sooner was the light
blue vapour that at first arose succeeded by
volumes of thick dingy smoke, which speedily
ascending through all the four hatchways, roll
ed over every part of the ship, than all farther
concealment became impossible, and almost all
hope of preserving .the vessel was abandoned.
" The flames have reached the cable tier" was
exclaimed by some individuals, and the strong
pitchy smell that pervaded the deck confirmed
the truth of the exclamation.
In these awful circumstances. Captain Cobb,
with an ability and decision of character that
seemed to increase with the imminence of the
danger, resorted to the only alternative now
left him, of ordering the lower decks to be
scuttled, the combings of the hatches to be cut,
and the lower ports to be opened, for the free
admission of the waves.
These instructions were speedily executed by
the united efforts of the troops and seamen; but
not before some of the sick soldiers, one woman,
and several children, unable to gain the upper
deck, had perished. On descending to the gun
deck with Colonel Fearon, Captain Bray, and
one or two other officers ofthe Slst regiment.

14. LOSS OF THE KENT
to assist in opening the ports, I met, staggering
towards the hatchw^, in an exhausted and
nearly senseless state, one of the mates, who
informed us that he had just stumbled over the
dead bodies of some individuals who must have
died from suffocation, to which it was evident
that he himself had almost fallen a victim. So
dense and oppressive was the smoke, that it was
with the utmost difficulty we could remain long
enough below to fulfil Captain Cobb's wishes ;
which were no sooner accomplished, than the
sea rushed in with extraordinary force, carry
ing away, in its resistless progress to the hold,
the largest chests, bulk-heads, &c.
Such a sight, under any other conceivable cir
cumstances, was well calculated to have filled
us with horror; but in our natural solicitude to
avoid the more immediate peril of explosion,
we endeavoured to cheer each other, as we stood
up to our knees in water, with a faint hope that
by these violent means we might be speedily
restored to safety. The immense quantity of
water that was thus introduced into the hold,
had indeed the effect, for a time, of checking
the fury of the flames ; but the danger of sink
ing having increased as the risk of explosion
was diminished, the ship became water-logged,
and presented other indications of settling, pre
vious to her goinff down.

EAST INDIAMAN. 15
Death, in two of its most awful forms, now
encompftsed us, and we seemed left to choose
the terrible alternative. But always preferring
the more remote, though equally certain crisis,
we tried to shut the ports again, to close the
hatches, and to exclude the external air, in
order if possible to prolong our existence, the
near and certain termination of which appear
ed inevitable.
The scene of horror that now presented it
self, baffles all description —
Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell ;
Then shriek'd the timid, and stood stiU the brave.
The upper deck was covered with between six
and seven hundred human beings, many of
whom, from previous sea-sickness, were forced
on the first alarm to flee from below in a state
of absolute nakedness, and were now running
about in quest of husbands, children, or pa
rents. While some were standing in silent re
signation, or in stupid insensibility to their im
pending fate, others were yielding themselves
up to the most frantic despair. Some on their
knees were earnestly imploring, with signifi
cant gesticulations and in noisy supplications,
the mercy of Him, whose arm, they exclaimed,
was at length outstretched to smite them; others

16 LOSS OF THE KENT
were to be seen hastily crossing themselves, and
performing the various external acts required
by their peculiar persuasion, while a number
of the older and more stout-hearted soldiers
and sailors sullenly took their seats directly
over the magazine, hoping, as they stated, that
by means of the explosion which they every
instant expected, a speedier termination might
thereby be put to their sufferings.* Several
of the soldiers' wives and chUdren, who had
fled for temporary shelter into the after-cabins
on the upper decks, were engaged in prayer
and in reading the Scriptures with the ladies,
some of whom were enabled, with wonderful
self-possession, to offer to others those spiritual
consolations, which a firm and intelligent trust
in the Redeemer of the world appeared at this
awful hour to impart to their own breasts. The
dignified deportment of two young ladies in par
ticular, formed a specimen of natural strength
of mind, finely modified by Christian feeUng,
that failed not to attract the notice and admi
ration of every one who had an opportunity of
witnessing it. On the melancholy announce-
* Captain Cobb, with great forethought, ordered' the deck
to be scuttled forward, with a view to draw the fire in that
direction, knowing that between it and the magazine were
several tiers of water casks ; while he hoped that the wet sails,
&c. thrown into the after-hold, would prevent it from com
municating with the spirit room abaft.

EAST INDIAMAN. 17
ment being made to them that all hope must
be relinquished, and that death was rapidly and
inevitably approaching, one of the ladies above
referred to, calmly sinking down on her knees,
and clasped her hands together said, '? even
so come, Lord Jesus," and immediately propos
ing to read a portion of the Scriptures to those
around her ; her sister with nearly equal com
posure and coUectedness of mind- selected the
46th and other appropriate Psalms, which
were accordingly read, with intervals of prayer, '
by those ladies alternately to the assembled!
females. One young gentlemen, of whose promising
talents and piety I dare not now make farther
mention, having calmly asked me my opinion
respecting the state of the ship, I told him that
I thought we should be prepared to sleep that
night in eternity; and 1 shall never forget the
peculiar fervour with which he replied, as he
pressed my hand in his, " my heart is filled
-vyith the peace of God ;" adding, " yet though
I know it is foolish, I dread exceedingly the
last struggle."
Amongst the numerous objects that struck
my observation at this period, I was much af
fected with the appearanca and conduct of some
of the dear children^ who, quite unconscious in

18 LOSS OF THE KENT
the cuddy cabins, of the perils that surrounded
them, continued to play as usual with their
little toys in' bed, or to put the most innocent
and unseasonable questions to those around
them. To some of the older children, who
seemed fully alive to the reality of the danger,
I whispered, now is the time to put in practice
the instructions you used to receive at the Re
gimental School, and to think of that Saviour
of whom you have heard so much; they re
plied, as the tears ran down their cheeks, " O
Sir, we are trying to remember them, and we
are praying to God."
The passive condition to which we were all
reduced, by the total failure of our most strenu
ous exertions, while it was well calculated, and
probably designed, to convince us afterwards,
that our deliverance was effected, not " by our
own might or power, but by the Spirit of the
Lord," afforded us ample room at the moment
for deep and awful reflection, which, it is to be
earnestly wished, may have been improved, as
well by those who were eventually saved, as bv
those who perished.
It has been observed by the author of " the
Retrospect," that " in the heat of battle, it is
not only possible but easy to forget death, and
cease to think ; but in the cool and protracted

EAST INDIAMAN. 19
hours of a shipwreck, where there is often no
thing to engage the mind, but the recollection
of tried and unsuccessful labours, and the sight
of unavoidable and increasing harbingers of de
struction, it is not easy or possible to forget
ourselves or a future state."
The general applicability of the latter part
of this proposition, I am disposed to doubt;
for if I were to judge of the feelings of all on
board, by those of the number who were heard
to express them, I should apprehend that a
large majority of those men, whose previous
attention has never been fairly and fully direct
ed to the great subject of religion, approach
the gates of death, it may be, with solemnity,
or with terror, but without any definable or
tangible conviction ofthe fact, that " after death
cometh the judgpaent."
Several there were, indeed, who vowed in
loud and piteous cries, that if the Lord God
would spare their lives, they would thencefor
ward dedicate all their powers to his service ;
and not a few were heard to exclaim, in the
bitterness of remorse, that the judgments ofthe
Most High were justly poured out upon them,
for their neglected Sabbaths, and their profli
gate or profane lives; but the number of those
was extremely small, who appeared to dwell

20 LOSS OF THE KENT
either with lively hope or dread on the view of
an opening eternity. And as a farther evi
dence of the truth of this observation, I may
mention, that when I afterwards had occasion
to mount the mizen shrouds, I there, met with
a young man, who had brought me a letter of
introduction from our excellent friend Dr. G — n,
to whom I felt it my duty, while we were rock
ing on the mast, quietly to propose the great
question, " What must we do to be saved ?" and
this young gentleman has since informed Mr.
P. that though he was at that moment fully per
suaded of the certainty of immediate death, yet
the subject of eternity, in any form, had not once
flashed upon his mind, previously to my conver
sation. While we thus lay in a state of physical in-
ertion, but with all our mental faculties in rapid
and painful activity, — with the waves lashing
furiously against the side of our devoted ship,
as if in anger with the hostile element for not
more speedily performing its .office of destruc
tion, — the binnacle, by one of those many
lurches which were driving every thing move
able from side to side of the vessel, was sud
denly wrenched from its fastenings, and all the
apparatus of the compass dashed to pieces up
on the deck ; on which one of the young mates.

EAST INDIAMAN. 21
emphatically regarding it for a moment, cried
out with the emotion so natural to a sailor un*
der such circumstances, " What ! is the Kent's
compass really gone ?" leaving the bystanders
to form, from that omen, their own conclusions.
One promising young officer of the troops was
seen thoughtfully removing from his writing-
case a lock of hair, which he composedly de
posited in his bosom ; and another officer pro-
caring papery &c. addressed a short communi
cation to his father, which was afterwards care
fully enclosed in a bottle, in the hope that it
might eventually reach its destination, with the
view, as he stated, of relieving him from the
long years of fruitless anxiety and suspense
which our melancholy fate would awaken, and
of bearing his humble testimony at a moment
when his sincerity could scarcely be question
ed, to the faithfulness of that God in whose
mercy he trusted, and whose peace he largely
enjoyed in the tremendous prospect of imme
diate dissolution.
It was at this appalling instant, when " all
hope that we should be saved was now taken
away," and when the letter referred to was
about beiing committed to the waves, that it
occurred to Mr. Thomson, the fourth mate,
to send a man to the foretop, rather with the
ardent wish, than the expectation, that some

22 LOSS OF THE KENT
friendly sail might be discovered on the face of
the waters. The sailor, on mounting, threw
his eyes round the horizon for a moment, — a
moment of unutterable suspense, — and waving
his hat, exclaimed, " a sail on the lee bow !"
The joyful announcement was received 'with
deep-felt thanksgivings, and with three cheers
upon deck. Our flags of distress were instant
ly hoisted, and our minute guns fired ; and we
endeavoured to bear down under our three top
sails and fore-sail upon the stranger, which af
terwards proved to be the Cambria, a small
brig of 200 tons burden — Cook — bound to Vera
Cruz, having on board twenty or thirty Cornish
miners, and other agents ofthe Anglo- Mexican
Company. For ten or fifteen minutes we were left in
doubt whether the brig perceived our signals,
or perceiving them, was either disposed or able
to lend us any assistance. From the violence
ofthe gale, it seems that the report of our guns
was not heard ; but the ascending volumes of
smoke from the ship, sufficiently announced
the dreadful nature, of our distress ; and we
had the satisfaction, after a short period of
dark suspense, to see the brig hoist British
colours, and crowd all sail to hasten to our re
lief.

EAST INDIAMAN. 23
Although it was impossible, and would have
been improper to repress the rising hopes that
were pretty generally diffused amongst us by
the unexpected sight of the Cambria, yet'I con
fess, that when I reflected on the long period
our ship had been already burning — on the
tremendous sea that was running — on the ex
treme smallness of the brig, and the immense
number of human beings to be saved, — I could
only venture to hope that a few might be spar
ed ; but I durst not for a moment contemplate
the possibility of my own preservation.
While Captain Cobb, Colonel Fearon, and
Major Macgregor of the 31st regiment, were
consulting together, as the brig was approach
ing us, on the necessary preparations for get
ting out the boats, &c. one of the officers ask
ed Major M. in what order it was intended the
officers should move off; to which the other
replied, " Of course in funeral order ?" which
injunction was instantly confirmed by Colonel
Fearon, who said, " Most undoubtedly the ju
niors first — but see that any man is cut down
who presumes to enter the boats before the
means of escape are presented to the women
and children."
To prevent the rush to the boats, as they
were being lowered, which, from certain symp-

24 LOSS OF THE KENT
toms of impatience manifested both by soldiers
and sailors, there was reason to fear; some of
the military officers were stationed over them
with drawn swords. But from the firm deter
mination which these exhibited, and the great
subordination observed, with few exceptions, by
the troops, this proper precaution was after
wards rendered unnecessary.
Arrangements havingbeen considerately made
by Captain Cobb for placing in the first boat,^,'
previous to letting it down, all the ladies, and as
many of the soldiers' wives as it could safely
contain, they hurriedly wrapt themselves up in
whatever articles of clothing could be most con
veniently found ; and I think about two, or half-
past two o'clock a most mournful procession
advanced from the after-cabins to the starboard
cuddy port, outside of which the cutter was sus
pended. Scarcely a word was uttered — not a
scream was heard — even the infants ceased to
cry, as if conscious of the unspoken and un
speakable anguish that was at that instant rend
ing the hearts oftheir parting parents — nor was
the silence of voices in any way broken, except
in one or two cases, where the ladies plaintively
entreated permission to be left behind with their
husbands. But on being assured that every
moment's delay might occasion the sacrifice of a

EAST INDIAMAN. 25
human life, they successively suffered them
selves to be torn from the tender embrace, and
with the fortitude which never fails to charac
terise and adorn their sex on occasions of over
whelming trial, were placed, without a murmur,
in the boat, which was immediately lowered
into a sea so tempestuous, as to leave us only
" to hope against hope" that it should live in it
for a single moment. Twice the cry was heard
from those on the chains that the boat was
swamping. But He who enabled the Apostle
Peter to walk on the face of the deep, and was
graciously attending to the silent but earnest
aspirations of those on board, had decreed its
safety. Although Captain Cobb had used every pre
caution to diminish the danger of the boat's de
scent, and for this purpose stationed a man
with an axe to cut away the tackle from either
extremity, should the slightest difficulty occur
in unhooking it ; yet the "peril attending the
whole operation, which can only be adequately
estimated by nautical men, had very nearly
proved fatal to its numerous inmates.
After one or two unsuccessful attempts to
place the little frail bark fairly upon the sur
face of the water, the command was at length
given to unhook; the tackle at the stern was,
in consequence, immediately cleared ; but the

26 LOSS OF THE KENT
ropes at the bow having got foul, the sailor
there found it impossible to obey the order.
In vain was the axe applied to the entangled
tackle. The moment was inconceivably criti
cal ; as the boat, which necessarily followed
the motion of the ship, was graduaUy rising
out of the water, and must, in another instant,
have been hanging perpendicularly by the bow,
and its helpless passengers launched into the
deep, had not a most providential wave sud
denly struck and lifted up the stern, so as to
enable the seamen to disengage the tackle ; and
the boat, being dexterously cleared fi'om the
ship, was seen, after a Uttle while, fi-om the
poop, battling with the billows ; now raised, in
its progress to the brig, like a speck on their
summit, and then disappearing for several se
conds, as if engulfed " in the horrid vale" be
tween them.*
The Cambria having prudently lain to at
some distance from the Kent, lest s^e should
be involved in her explosion, or exposed to
the fire from our guns, which, being aU shot-
* I was afterwards informed, by one of the passengers on
board the Cambria, — for, from the great height of the India-
man, we had not the opportunity of making a similar observa
tion, — that when both vessels happened to be at the same tune
in the trough of the sea, the Kent was entirely concealed by
the intervening waves from the deok of the Cambria.

EAST INDIAMAN. 27
ted, afterwards went off as the flames succes
sively reached them, the men had a consider
able way to row; and the success of this first
experiment seeming to be the measure of our
future hopes, the movements of this precious
boat — incalculably precious, without doubt, to
the agonized husbands and fathers immediate
ly connected with it — were watched with in
tense anxiety by all on board. The better to
balance the boat in the raging sea through
which it had to pass, and to enable the seamen
to ply their oars, the women and children were
stowed promiscuously under the seats; and con
sequently exposed to the risk of being drown
ed by the continual dashing of the spray over
their heads, which so filled the boat during the
passage, that before their arrival at the brig, the
poor females were sitting up to the breast in
water, and their children kept with the greatest
difficulty above it.
However, in the course of twenty minutes, or
half an hour, the little cutter was seen along
side the " ark of refiige ;" and the first human
being that happened to be admitted, out of the
vast assemblage that ultimately found shel
ter, there, was the infant son of Major Mac
gregor, a child of only a few weeks, who was
caught from his mother's arms, and lifted into

28 LOSS OF THE KENT
the brig, by Mr. Thomson, the fourth mate of
the Kent, the officer who had been ordered to
take the charge of the ladies' boat.
But the extreme difficulty and danger pre
sented to the women and children in getting in
to the Cambria seemed scarcely less imminent
than that which they had previously encoun
tered ; for, to prevent the boat from swamp
ing, or being stove against the side of the brig,
while its passengers were disembarking from it,
required no ordinary exercise of skill and per
severance on the part of the sailors, nor of self-
possession and effort on that of the females
themselves. On coming alongside the Cambria,
Captain Cook very judiciously caUed out first
for the children, who were successively thrown
or handed up from the boat. The women were
then urged to avail themselves of every favour
able heave of the sea, by springing towards the
many friendly arms that were extended from
the vessel to receive them ; and, notwithstand
ing the deplorable consequence of making a
false step under such critical circumstances,
not a single accident occurred to any indivi
dual belonging to this first boat. Indeed, the
only one whose life appears to have been
placed in extreme jeopardy alongside, was one
ofthe ladies, who, in attempting to spring from

EAST INDIAMAN. 29
the boat, came short of the hand that was held
out to her, and would certainly have perished,
had she not most happily caught hold at the
instant of a rope that happened to be hanging
over the Cambria's side, to which she clung
for some moments, until she was dragged into
the vessel.
I have reason to know, that the feelings of
oppressive deUght, gratitude, and praise, ex
perienced by the married officers and soldiers,
on being assured ofthe comparative safety of
their wives and children, so entirely abstracted
their minds from their own situation as to ren
der them for a little while afterwards totally
insensible either to the storm that beat upon
them, or to the active and gathering volcano
that threatened every instant to explode under
their feet.
It being impossible for the boats, after the
first trip, to come alongside the Kent, a plan
was adopted for Ipwering the women and child
ren by ropes from the stern, by tying them two
and two together. But from the heaving of
the ship, and the extreme difficulty in dropping
them at the instant the boat was underneath,
many of the poor creatures were unavoidably
plunged repeatedly under water ; and much as
humanity may rejoice that no woman was event-

.W LOSS OF THE KENT
ually lost by this process, yet it was as impos
sible to prevent, as it was deplorable to wit
ness, the great sacrifice it occasioned of the
younger children, — the same violent means
which only reduced the parents to a state of
exhaustion or insensibility, having entirely ex
tinguished the vital spark in the feeble frames
of the infants that were fastened to them.
Amid the conflicting feelings and disposi
tions manifested by the numerous actors in
this melancholy drama, many affecting proofs
were elicited of parental and filial affection,
or of disinterested friendship, that seemed to
shed a momentary halo around the gloomy
scene. Two or three soldiers, to relieve their wives
of a part of their famiUes, sprang into the wa
ter with their children, and perished in their
endeavours to save them. One young lady,
who had resolutely refused to quit her father,
whose sense of duty kept him at his post, was
near falling a sacrifice to her filial devotion,
not having been picked up by those in the boats
until she had sunk five or six times. Another
individual, who was reduced to the frightful
alternative of losing his wife or his children,
hastily decided in favour of his duty to the for
mer. His wife was accordingly saved, but his

EAST INDIAMAN. 31
four children, alas ! were left to perish. A fine
fellow, a soldier, who had neither wife nor child
of his own, but who evinced the greatest soli
citude for the safety of those of others, insist
ed on ha'ving three children lashed to him, with
whom he plunged into the water ; not being
able to reach the boat, he was again drawn in
to the ship with his charge, but not before two
of the children had expired. One man fell
down the hatchway into the flames, and ano-
other had his back so completely broken as to
have been observed quite doubled falling over
board. These numerous spectacles of indivi
dual loss and suffering were not confined to
the entrance upon the perilous voyage between
the two ships. One man, who fell between
the boat and the brig, had his head literally
crushed to pieces ; and some others were lost
in their attempts to ascend the sides of the
Cambria. Seeing that the tardy means employed for
the escape of the women and children neces
sarily consumed a great deal of time that might
be partly devoted to the general preservation,
orders were given, that, along with the females,
each of the boats should also admit a certain
portion of the Soldiers ; several of whom, in
their impatience to take advantage of this per-

.12 LOSS OF THE KENT
mission, flung themselves overboard, and sunk
in their ill-judged and premature efforts for de
liverance. One poor fellow of this number, a very re
spectable man, had actually reached the boat,
and was raising his hand to lay hold on the
gunnel, when the bow of the boat, by a sudden
pitch, struck him on the head, and he instantly
went down. There was a peculiarity attending
this man's case that deserves notice. His wife,
to whom he was warmly attached, not having
been of the allotted number of women to ac
company the regiment abroad, resolved, in her
anxiety to follow her husband, to defeat this
arrangement, and accordingly repaired with
the detachment to Gravesend, where she inge
niously managed, by eluding the vigilance of
the sentries, to get on board, and conceal her
self for several days ; and although she was dis
covered, and sent ashore at Deal, she contrived
a second time, with true feminine perseverance,
to get between decks, where she continued to
secrete herself untU the morning of the fatal
disaster. While the men were thus bent in various
ways on self-preservation, one of the sailors,
who had taken his post with many others over
the magazine, awaiting with great patience the

EAST INDIAMAN. 3S
dreaded explosion, at last cried out, as if in ill
humour that his expectation was Ukely to be
disappointed, " Well ! if she won't blow up,
I'll see if I can't get away from her :" and in
stantly jumping up, he made the best of his
way to one of the boats, which I understand he
reached in safety.
I ought to state, that three out of the six
boats we originally possessed, were either com
pletely stove or swamped in the course of the
day, one of them with men init, some of whom
were seen floating in the water for a moment
before they disappeared; and it is suspected
that one or two of those who went down, must
have sunk under the weight of their spoils, the
same individuals having been seen eagerly
plundering the cuddy cabins.
As the day was rapidly drawing to a close,
and the flames were slowly, but perceptibly ex
tending. Colonel Fearon and Captain Cobb
evinced an increasing anxiety to reUeve the
remainder of the gallant men under their
charge. To faciUtate this object, a rope was suspended
from the extremity of the spanker boom, along
which the men were recommended to proceed,
and thence slide down by the rope into the
boats. But as, from the great sweU ofthe sea,

34, LOSS OF THE KENT
and the constant heaving of the ship, it was
impossible for the boats to preserve their sta
tion for a moment; those who adopted this
course incurred so great a risk of swinging for
some time in the air, and of being repeatedly
plunged under water, or dashed against the
sides of the boats underneath, that many of the
landsmen continued to throw themselves out
of the stern windows on the upper deck, pre
ferring what appeared to me the more preca
rious chance of reaching the boats by swim
ming. Rafts made of spars, hencoops, &c.
were also ordered to be constructed, for the
twofold purpose of forming an intermediate
communication with the boats, — a purpose, by
the bye, which they very imperfectly answered,
— and of serving as a last point of retreat,
should the farther extension of the flames com
pel us to desert the vessel altogetbifr: direc
tions were at the same time given that every
man should tie a rope round his waist, by
which he might afterwards attach himself to
the rafts, should he be suddenly forced to take
to the water. While the people were busily
occupied in adopting this recommendation, I
was surprised, I had almost said amused, by
the singular delicacy of one of the Irish re
cruits, who, in searching for a rope in one of

EAST INDIAMAN. 35
the cabins, called out to me that he could find
none except the cordage belonging to an offi
cer's cot, and wished to know whether there
would be any harm in his appropriating it to
his own use. f ¦ ¦ »'
The gradual removal of the officers was at
the same time commenced, and was marked by
a discipline the most rigid, and an intrepidity
the most exemplary : none appearing to be in
fluenced by a vain and ostentatious bravery,
which, in cases of extreme peril, affbrds rathei
a presumptive proof of secret timidity than of
fortitude ; nor any betraying an unmanly or
unsoldierlike impatience to quit the ship ; but
with 'the becoming deportment of men neither
paralysed by, nor profanely insensible to the
accumulating dangers that encompassed them,
they progressively departed in the different
boats with their soldiers; — they who happened
to proceed first, leaving behind them an exam
ple of coolness, that could not be unprofitable
to those who followed.
But the finest illustration of their conduct
was displayed in that of their chief, whose
ability and invincible presence of mind, under
the complicated responsibility and anxiety of a
commander, husband, and father, were eminent
ly calculated, throughout this dismal day, to in-

36 LOSS OF THE KENT
spire all others with composure and fortitude.
Never for a moment did Cplonel Fearon seem
to forget the authority with which his Sovereign
had invested him; nor did any of his officers,
as far as my observation went, cease to re
member the relative situations in which they
were severally placed. Even in the gloomiest
moments of that dark season, when the dissolu
tion of every earthly distinction seemed near at
hand, the decision and confidence with which
orders were issued on the one hand, and the
promptitude and respect with which they were
obeyed on the other, afford the best proofs of
the stability ofthe well-connected system of dis
cipline established in the Slst regiment, and
the most unquestionable ground for the high
and flattering commendation which His Royal
Highness the Commander-in-Chief hais been
pleased to bestow upon it.
I should, however, be guilty of injustice and
unkindness, if I here omitted to bear my hum
ble testimony to the manly behaviour of the
East India Company's cadets, and other private
passengers on board, who emulated the best
conduct of the officers of the ship and of the
troops, and equally participated with them in
all the hardships and exertions of the day.
As an agreeable proof too, ofthe subordina-

EAST INDIAMAN. 37
tion and good feeling that governed the poor
soldiers in the midst oftheir sufferings, I ought
to state, that towards evening, when the melan
choly groups who were passively seated on the
poop,, exhausted by previous fatigue, anxiety,.
and fasting, were beginning to experience the
pain of intolerable thirst, a box of oranges was
accidentally discovered by some of the men,
who, with a degree of mingled consideration,
respect,, and affection, that could hardly have
been expected at such a moment, refused to
partake of the grateful beverage until they had
offered a share of it to their officers.
I regret that the circumstances under which
I write, do not allow me sufficient time for re
calling to my recollection all the busy thoughts
that engaged my own mind on that eventful
day, or the various conjectures which I ventur
ed to form of what was passing in the minds
of others.
But one idea, I remember, was forcibly sug
gested to me, — that instead of being able to
trace, amongst my numerous associates, that
diversity of fortitude which I should have ex
pected, a ¦priori, would mark their conduct, —
forming, as it were, a descending series, from
the decided heroism, exhibited by some, down
to the lowest degree of pusillanimity and frenzy

38 LOSS OF THE KENT
discoverable in others, — I remarked that the
mental condition of my fellow-sufferers was
rather divided by a broad, but, as it afterwards
appeared, not impassable line; on the one side
of which were ranged aU whose minds were
greatly elevated by the excitement above their
ordinary standard; and on the other was to be
seen the incalculably smaller, but more con
spicuous group, whose powers of acting and
thinking became absolutely paralysed, or were
driven into delirium, by the unusual character
and pressure of the danger.
Nor was it uninteresting to observe the curi
ous interchange, at least externally, of strength
and weakness that obtained between those two
discordant parties during the day. Some,
whose agitation and timidity had, in the earlier
part of it, rendered them objects of pity or con
tempt, afterwards rose, by some great internal
effort, into positive distinction for the opposite
qualities ; while others, remarkable at first for
calmness and courage, suddenly giving way,
without any fresh cause of despair, seemed af
terwards to cast their minds as they did their
bodies, prostrate before the danger.
It were not difficult, perhaps, to account for
these apparent anomalies ; but I shaU content
myself with simply stating the facts, adding to

EAST INDIAMAN. 39
them one of a similar description that sensibly
affected my own mind.
Some of the soldiers near me having casually
remarked that the sun was setting, I looked
round, and never can I forget the intensity with
which I regarded his declining rays. I had
previously felt deeply impressed with the con
viction that that night the ocean was to be my
bed; and had, I imagined, sufficiently realized
to my mind, both the last struggles and the con
sequences of death. But as I continued solemn
ly watching the departing beams of the sun,
the thought that that was really the very last I
should ever behold, gradually expanded into
reflections, the most tremendous in their im
port. — It was not, I am persuaded, either the
retrospect of a most unprofitable life, or the
direct fear of death or of judgment that occu
pied my mind at the period I allude to ; but a
broad, illimitable view of eternity itself, alto
gether abstracted from the misery or felicity
that flows through it, — a sort of painless, plea-
sureless, sleepless eternity. I know not whither
the overwhelming thought would have hurried
me, had I not speedily seized, as with the grasp
of death, on some of those sweet promises of
the gospel, which give to an immortal existence
its only charms; and that naturally enough led

iO LOSS OF THE KENT
back my thoughts, by means of the brilliant
object before me, to the contemplation of that
" blessed city, which hath no need of the sun,
neither of the moon to shine in it ; for the glory
of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof"
I have been the more particular in recording
my precise feelings at the period in question,
because they tend to confirm an opinion which
I have long entertained, — in common, I believe,
with yourself and others, — that we very rarely
realize even those objects that seem, in our
every day speculations, to be the most interest
ing to our hearts. We are so much in the habit
of uttering the awful words — Almighty, heaven,
hell, eternity, divine justice, hoUness, &c. with
out attaching to them, in all their magnitude,
the ideas of which such words are the symbols,
that we become overwhelmed with much of the
astonishmentthataccompanies a new and alarm
ing discovery, if, at any time, the ideas them
selves are suddenly and forcibly impressed up
on us ; and it is probably this vagueness of con
ception, experienced even by those whose minds
are not altogether unexercised on the subject
of religion, that enables others, devoid of all
reflection whatever, to stand on the very brink
of that precipice which divides the world of
4

EAST INDIAMAN. 41
time from the regions of eternity, not only with
apparent, but frequently, I am persuaded, with
real tranquillity. How much is it to be lament
ed, that we do not keep in mind a truth which
no one can pretend to dispute, that our indiffer
ence or blindness to danger, whether it be tem
poral or eternal, cannot possibly remove or di
minish the extent of it.
Some time after the shades of night had en
veloped us, I descended to the cuddy, in quest of
a blanket to shelter me from the increasing cold;
and the scene of desolation that there presented
itself was melancholy in the extreme. The place
which, only afew shorthours before, had been the
seat of kyjdly intercourse and of social gaiety,
was now entirely deserted, save by a few miserable
wretches, who wereeither stretchedinirrecover-
able intoxication on the floor, or prowling about
like beasts of prey, in search of plunder. The
sofas, drawers, and other articles of furniture,
the due arrangement of which had cost so
much thought and pains, were now broken in
to a thousand pieces, and scattered in confu
sion around me. Some of the geese and other
poultry, escaped from their confinement, were
cackling in the cuddy ; while a solitary pig,
wandering from its sty in the forecastle, was
ranging at large in undisturbed possession of

42 LOSS OF THE KENT
the Brussels carpet that covered one of the ca
bins. Glad to retire from a scene so cheerless
and affecting, and rendered more dismal by the
smoke which was oozing up from below, I
returned to the poop, where I again found
amongst the few officers that remained. Cap
tain Cobb, Colonel Fearon, Lieutenants Rux-
ton. Booth, and Evans, superintending-with un
abated zeal, the removal of the rapidly dimi
nishing sufferers, as the boats successively ar
rived for their conveyence.
The alarm and impatience of the people in
creased in a high ratio as the night advanced ;
and our fears, amid the surrounding darkness,
were fed as much by the groundless or exagger
ated reports of the timid, as by the real and
evident approach of the fatal crisis itself
With the view to insure a greater probability
of being discovered by those in the boats, some
of the more collected and hardy soldiers (for I
think almost all the sailors had already effect
ed their escape) took the precaution to tie
towels and such like articles round their heads,
previously to their committing themselves to
the water.
As the boats were nearly three quarters of
an hour absent between each trip, which pe
riod was necessarily spent by those in the

EAST INDIAMAN. 43
wreck in a state of fearful inactivity, — abun
dant opportunity was afforded for collecting
the sentiments of many of the unhappy men
around me; some of whom, after remaining
perhaps for a while in silent abstraction, would
suddenly burst forth, as if awakened from some
terrible dream to a still more frightful reality,
into a long train of loud and desponding la
mentation, that gradually subsided into its
former stillness.
It was during those trying intervals of rest,
that religious instruction and consolation ap
peared to be the most required, and the most
acceptable. Some there were, accordingly,
who endeavoured to dispense it agreeably to
the visible wants and feelings of the earnest
hearers. On one of those occasions, especially,
the officer to whom I have already alluded,
was entreated to pray. His prayer was short,
but was frequently broken by the exclamations
of assent to some of its confessions, that were
wrung from the afflicted hearts of his honest
auditors. I know not in what manner, under those
circumstances, spiritual hope or comfort could
have been ministered to my afflicted compa
nions, by those who regard works, either
wholly or partly, as the means of propitiating

44 LOSS OF THE KENT
Divine Justice, rather than the evidence and
fruits of that faith which pacifies the conscience
and purifies the heart. But in some few cases,
at least, where the individuals deplored the
want of time for repentance and good works, I
well remember that no arguments tended to
sooth their troubled minds, but those which
went directly to assure them of the freeness
and fulness of that grace which is not refused,
even in the eleventh hour, to the very chief of
sinners. And if any of those to whom I now
allude, have been spared to read this record of
their feelings in the prospect of death, it wUl
be well for them to keep solemnly in mind the
vows they then took upon them, and to seek
to improve that season of probation which they
so earnestly besought, and which has been so
mercifully extended to them, — by humbly and
incessantly applying for accessions of that faith
which they are sensible removed the terrors of
their awakened consciences, and can alone en
able them henceforward to Uve in a sober,
righteous, and godly manner, — and thereby
give the only unquestionable proof of their
love to God, and their interest in the great
salvation of his Son Jesus Christ.
If, on reading this imperfect narrative, any
persons beyond the immediate circle of my com-

EAST INDIAMAN. 45
panions in misery (for within it I can safely
declare that there were no indications of ri
dicule) .should affect to despise, as contemp
tible or unsoldierlike, the humble devotional
exercises to which I have now referred, I
should like to assure them, that, although they
were undoubtedly commenced and prosecuted,
much more with an eternal than a temporal ob
ject in view, yet they also subserved the im
portant purpose of restoring order and com
posure amongst a certain limited class of the
soldiers, at moments when mere military ap
peals had ceased to operate with their wonted
influence. I must state, that in general, it was not those
most remarkable for their fortitude who evinced
either a precipitancy to depart, or a desire to
remain very long behind — the older and cooler
soldiers appearing to possess too much regard
for their officers, as well as for their individual
credit, to take their hasty departure at a very
early period of the day, and too much wisdom
and resolution to hesitate to the very last.
But it was not till the close of this mournful
tragedy that backwardness, rather than impa
tience, to adopt the perilous and only means of
escape that offered, became generally discerni
ble on the part of the unhappy remnant still on

46 LOSS OF THE KENT
board ; — and that made it not only imperative
on Captain Cobb to reiterate his threats, as
well as his entreaties, that not an instant should
be lost, but seemed to render it expedient for
one of the officers of the troops, who had ex
pressed his intention of remaining to the last,
to limit, in the hearing of those around him,
the period of his own stay. Seeing however,
between nine and ten o'clock, that some indi
viduals were consuming the precious moments,
by obstinately hesitating to proceed, while
others were making the inadmissible request
to be lowered down as the women had been ;
learning from the boatmen, that the wreck,
which was already nine or ten feet below the
ordinary water mark, had sunk two feet lower
since their last trip ; and calculating, besides,
that the two boats then under the stern, with
that which was in sight on its return from the
brig, would suffice for the conveyance of all
who seemed in a condition to remove; the
three remaining officers of the Slst regiment
seriously prepared to take their departure.
As I cannot perhaps convey to you so cor
rect an idea of the condition of others as by
describing my own feeUngs and situation un
der the same circumstances, I shall make no
apology for detailing the manner of my. indi-

EAST INDIAMAN. 47
vidual escape, which will sufficiently mark that
of many hundreds that preceded it.
The spanker boom of so large a ship as the
Kent, which projects, I should think, 16 or 18
feet over the stern, rests on ordinary occasions
about 19 or 20 feet above the water ; but in the
position in which we were placed, from the
great height of the sea, and consequent pitch
ing of the ship, it was frequently Ufted to a
height of not less than 30 or 40 feet from the
surface. To reach the rope, therefore, that hung from
its extremity, was an operation that seemed to
require the aid of as much dexterity of hand
as steadiness of head. For it was not only the
nervousness of creeping along the boom itself,
or the extreme difficulty of afterwards seizing
on, and sliding down by the rope, that we had
to dread, and that had occasioned the loss of
some valuable lives, by deterring the men from
adopting this mode of escape ; but as the boat,
which the one moment was probably close un
der the boom, might be carried the ilext, by
the force of the waves, 15 or 20 yards away
from it, the unhappy individual, whose best
calculations were thus defeated, was generally
left swinging for some time in mid-air, if he
was not repeatedly plunged several feet un-

48 LOSS OF THE KENT
der water, or dashed with dangerous, violence
against the sides of the returning boat, — or,
what not unfrequently happened, was forced to
tet go his hold of the rope altogether. As
there seemed, however, no alternative, I did
not hesitate, notwithstanding my comparative
inexperience and awkwardness in such a situ
ation, to throw my leg across the perilous stick;
and with a heart extremely grateful that such
means of deliverance, dangerous as they ap
peared, were still extended to me ; and more
gratefiil still that I had been enabled, in com
mon with others, to discharge my honest duty
to my sovereign and to my fellow soldiers ; —
I proceeded, after confidently committing my
spirit, the great object of my soUcitude, into
the keeping of Him who had formed and re
deemed it, to creep slowly forward, feeling at
every step the increasing difficulty of my situ
ation. On getting nearly to the end of the
boom, the young officer whom I followed and
myself were met with a squall of wind and rain,
so violent as to make us fain to embrace close
ly the slippery stick, without attempting for
some minutes to make any progress, and to
excite our apprehension that we must relin
quish all hope of reaching the rope. But our
fears were disappointed : and after resting

EAST INDIAMAN. 49
for a while at the boom end, while my compa-,
nion was descending to the boat, which he did
not find until he had been plunged once or
twice over head in the water, I prepared lo fol
low ; and instead of lowering myself, as many
had imprudently done, at the moment when
the boat was inclining toward us, and conse
quently being unable to descend the whole dis
tance before it again receded, I calculated that
while the boat was retiring I ought to commence
my descent, which would probably be com
pleted by the time, the returning wave brought
it underneath; by which means I was, I believe,
almost the only officer or soldier who reach
ed the boat without being either severely
bruised or immersed in the water. But my
friend Colonel Fearon had not been so fortu
nate: for after swinging for some time, and
being repeatedly struck against the side of the
boat, and at one time drawn completely under
it, he was at last so utterly exhausted, that he
must instantly have let go his hold of the rope
and perished, had not some one in the boat
seized him by the hair of the head and drag
ged him into it, almost senseless and alarming
ly bruised.
Captain Cobb, in his immoveable resolution
to be the last if possible to quit his ship, and in

50 LOSS OF THE KENT
his generous anxiety for the preservation of
every life intrusted to his charge, refused to
seek the boat, until he again endeavoured to
urge onward the few stiU around him, who
seemed struck dumb and powerless with dis
may.* But finding aU his entreaties fruitless,
and hearing the guns, whose tackle was burst
asunder by the advancing flames, successively
exploding in the hold into which they had fal
len, — this gallant officer, after having nobly
pursued, for the preservation of others, a course
of exertion that has been rarely equaUed either
in its duration or difficulty, at last felt it right
to provide for his own safety, by laying hold on
the topping-lift, or rope that connects the driver
boom with the mizen-top, and thereby getting
over the heads of the infatuated men who occu
pied the boom, unable to go either backward or
forward, and ultimately dropping himself into
the water.

• Some of those men who were necessarily left behind, hav
ing previously conducted themselves with great propriety and
courage, I think it but justice to express my belief, that the
same difficulties which had nearly proved fatal to Captain
Cobb's personal escape, were probably found to be insurmount
able by landsmen, whose coolness, unaccompanied 'with dex
terity and experience, might not be available to them iu their
awful situation.

EAST INDIAMAN. 51
The means of escape, however, did not cease
to be presented to the unfortunate individuals
above referred to, long after Captain Cobb took
his departure, — since one of the boats persever
ed in keeping its station under the Kent's stern,
not only after all expostulation and entreaty
with those on board had failed, but until the
flames, bursting forth from the cabin windows,
rendered it impossible to remain, without in
flicting the greatest cruelty upon the individuals
that manned it. But even on the return ofthe
boat in question to the Cambria, with the single
soldier who availed himself of it, did Captain
Cook, with characteristic jealousy, refuse to al-
\(M it to come alongside, until he learned that
it was commanded by the spirited young officer,
Mr. Thomson,* whose indefatigable exertions,
during the whole day, were to him a sufficient .
proof that all had been done that could be
done for the deliverance of those individuals.
But the same beneficent Providence which had
been so wonderfiiUy exerte4 for the preserva
tion of hundreds, was pleased, by a still more
striking and imquestionable display of power
and goodness to avert the fate of a portion of
• I ought to state that the exertions of Mr. Muir, 3d mate,
were tiao most conspicuous during the ivhole day.

52 LOSS OF THE KENT
those few who, we had all too much reason to
fear, were doomed to destruction.
It would appear, for the poor men themselves
give an extremely confused, though I am per
suaded not a wilfully false, account of them
selves, that shortly after the . departure of the
last boat, they were driven by the flames to
seek shelter on the chaiiis, where they stood
until the masts fell overboard, to which they
then clung for some hours, in a state of horror
that no language can describe ; until they were
most providentially, I may say miraculously,
discovered and picked up, by the humane mas
ter (Bibbey) of the Caroline, a vessel on its
passage from Egypt-to Liverpool, who happen
ed to see the explosion at a great distance, and
instantly made all sail in the direction whence
it proceeded. Along with the fourteen men
thus miraculously preserved were three others,
who had expired before the arrival of the Ca
roline for their rescue. *
The men on their return to their regiment
expressed themselves in terms of the liveliest
gratitude for the affectionate attentions they re
ceived on board the Caroline, from Captain
Bibbey, who considerately remained till day-
* See the Appendix.

EAST INDIAMAN. 53
light close to the wreck, in the hope that some
others might still be found cUnging to it ; — an
act of humanity which, it will appear on the
slightest reflection, would have been madness
in Captain Cook, in the peculiar situation of
the Cambria, to have attempted.
In reference to this last most melancholy
portion of my narrative, I feel it extremely
painful to be obliged to hazard an opinion, that
if the whole crew of the Kent had put forth,
from the beginning, the same generous and
seamanlike efforts, which several of them un
doubtedly did, the few soldiers who were thus
left behind would most probably have been
safely disposed of before the advance of the
flames, or their own terror, had incapacitated
them, in the manner I have endeavoured to de
scribe, from effecting their escape. But if,
apart from this grievous consideration, I only
recollect the lamentable state of exhaustion to
which that portion of the crew were reduced,
who unshrinkingly performed to the last their
arduous and perilous duties, — and that out of
the three boats that remained afloat, one was
only prevented from sinking towards the close
of the night, by having the hole in its bottom
repeatedly stuffed with soldiers' jackets; while
the other two were rendered inefficient, the one

54 LOSS OF THE KENT
by having its bow completely stove, and the
second by being half filled with water, and the
thwarts so torn, as to make it necessary to lash
the oars to the boat's ribs, — I must believe,
that, independently of the counteracting cir
cumstances formerly mentioned, all was done
that humanity could possibly demand, or intre
pidity effect, for the preservation of every indi
vidual. Quitting, for a moment, the subject of the
wreck, I would advert to what was in the mean
time taking place on board the Cambria. I
cannot, however, pretend to give you any ade
quate idea of the feelings of hope or despair,
that alternately flowed like a tide in the breasts
of the unhappy females on board the brig, dur
ing the many hours of torturing suspense in
which several of them were unavoidably held,
respecting the fate of their husbands ; — feeUngs
which were inconceivably excited, rather than
soothed, by the idle and erroneous rumours
occasionally conveyed to them, regarding the
state of the Kent. But stUl less can I attempt
to pourtray the alternate pictures of awful joy,
and of wild distraction, exhibited by the suf
ferers, (for both parties for the moment seem
ed equally to suffer,) as the terrible truth was
communicated, that they and their children

EAST INDIAMAN. 55
were indeed lefthusbandless and fatherless ; or
as the objects from whom they had feared they
were for ever severed suddenly rushed into
their arms.
But these feelings of delight, whatever may
have been their intensity, were speedily chast
ened, and the attention of all arrested, by the
last tremendous spectacle of destruction.
After the arrival of the last boat, the flames,
which had spread along the upper deck and
poop, ascended with the rapidity of lightning
to the masts and rigging, forming one general
conflagration, that illumined the heavens to an
immense distance, and was strongly reflected
upon several objects on board the brig. The
flags of distress, hoisted in the morning, were
seen for a considerable time waving amid the
flames, until the masts to which they were sus
pended successively fell, like stately steeples,
over the ship's side. At last, about half-past
one o'clock in the morning, the devouring ele
ment having communicated to the magazine,
the long threatened explosion was seen, and
the blazing fragments of the once magnificent
Kent were instantly hurried, like so many
rockets, high into the air ; leaving, in the com
parative darkness that succeeded, the deathful

.-,() LOSS OF THE KENT
scene of that disastrous day floating before the
mind like some feverish dream, *
Shortly afterwards the brig, which had been
gradually making sail, was running at the rate
of nine or ten miles an hour towards the near
est port. I would here endeavour to render
my humble tribute of admiration and gratitude
to that gallant and excellent individual, who,
under God, was undoubtedly the chief instru
ment of our deliverance ; if I were not sensible
that testimony has been already borne to his
heroic and humane efforts, in a manner much
more commensurate with, and from quarters
reflecting infinitely greater honour upon his
merits, than the feeble expressions of them
which I should be able to record. I shall
therefore content myself with appending to this
letter some of the gratifying testimonials to
which I refer. But I trust you will keep in
mind, that Captain Cook's generous intentions
and exertions must have proved utterly unavail
ing for the preservation of so many Uves, had
they not been most nobly and unremittingly
supported by those of his mate and crew, as
well as of the numerous passengers on board
• The brig was about three miles distant from the Kent at
the period of its explosion.

EAST INDIAMAN. 57
his brig. While the former, only eight in
number, were usefully and necessarily employ
ed in working the vessel, the sturdy Cornish
miners and Yorkshire smelters, on the approach
of tbe different boats, took their perilous sta
tion upon the chains, where they put forth the
great muscular strength with which heaven had
endowed them, in dexterously seizing, at each
successive heave of the sea, on some of the ex
hausted people and dragging them upon deck.
Nor did their kind anxieties terminate there.
They, and the gentlemen connected with them,
cheerfully opened their ample stores of clothes
and provisions, which they liberally dispensed
to- the naked and famished sufferers; — they
surrendered their beds to the helpless women
and children, and seemed, iu .short, during the
whole of our passage to England, to take no
other delight than in ministering to all our
wants. Although, after the first burst of mutual
gratulation, and of becoming acknowledgment
of the Divine mercy, on account of our un
looked-for deliverance, had subsided, none
of us felt disposed to much interchange of
thought, each being rather inclined to wrap
himself up in his own reflections; yet \s'e did
not, during this first night, view with the'

58 LOSS OF THE KENT
alarm it warranted, the extreme misery and
danger to which we were still exposed, by
being crowded together, in a gale of wind,
with upwards of 600 human beings in a small
brig of 200 tons, at a distance, too, of several
hundred miles from any accessible port. Our
little cabin, which was only calculated, under
ordinary circumstances, for the accommodation
of eight or ten persons, was now made to con
tain nearly eighty individuals, many of whom
had no sitting room, and even some of the la
dies no room to lie down. Owing to the con
tinued violence of the gale, 'and to the bul
warks on one side of the brig having been
driven in, the sea beat so incessantly over our
deck, as to render it necessary that the hatches
should only be lifted up between the returning
waves, to prevent absolute suffocation below,
where the men were so closely packed together,
that the steam arising from their respiration
excited at one time an apprehension that the
vessel was on fire ; while the impurity of the
air they were inhaling became so marked, that
the lights occasionally carried do'wn amongst
them were almost instantly extinguished. Nor
was the condition of the hundreds who cover
ed the deck, less wretched than that of their
comrades below; since they were obliged night

EAST INDIAMAN. 59
and day to stand shivering, in their wet and
nearly naked state, ankle-deep in water; * —
some of the older children and females were
thrown into fits, while the infants were pitiful
ly crying for that nourishment which their
nursing mothers were no longer able to give
them.-f Our only hope, amid these great and accu
mulating miseries was, that the same compas
sionate Providence which had already so mar
vellously interposed on our behalf, would not
permit the wind to abate or change, until we
reached some friendly port; for we were all
convinced that a delay of a very few days
longer at sea, must inevitably involve us in
famine, pestilence, and a complication of the
most dreadful evils. Our hopes were not dis
appointed. The gale continued with even
increasing violence ; and our able Captain,
* In addition to those who were naked on board the Kent at
the moment the alarm of fire was heard, several individuals
afterwards threw oif their clothes to enable them the more
easily to swim to the boats.
+ One of the soldiers' wives was delivered of a child, about an
hour or two after her arrival on board the brig — Both she
and the child, who has since received the appropriate name of
Cambria, are doing well.

60 LOSS OF THE KENT
crowding all sail at the risk of. carrying away
his masts, so nobly urged his vessel onward,
that in the afternoon of Thursday the 3d, the
delightful exclamation from aloft was heard,
" Land a-head !" In the evening we descried
the Scilly lights ; and running rapidly along
the Cornish coast, we joyfully cast anchor in
Falmouth harbour, about half-past 12 o'clock
on the following morning. *
On reviewing the various proximate causes
to which so many human beings owed their
deliverance from a combination of dangers, as
remarkable for their duration, as thej' were ap
palling in their aspect, it is impossible, I think,
not to discover and gratefully acknowledge, in
the beneficence oftheir arrangement, the over
ruling providence of that blessed Being, who
is sometimes pleased, in his mysterious opera
tions, to produce the same effects from causes
apparently different ; and on the other hand,
as in our o'wn case, to bring forth results the
most opposite, from one and the same cause.
For there is no doubt that the heavy rolling of
our ship, occasioned by the violent gale, which
was the real origin of all our disasters, con
tributed also most essentially to our subsequent
* i. e, half an hour after midnight.

EAST INDI.AMAN. 6l
preservation; since, had not Captain Cobb
been enabled, by the greatness of the swell, to
introduce speedily through the gun ports the
immense quantity of water that inundated the
hold, and thereby checked for so long a time
the fury ofthe flames, the Kent must unques
tionably have been consumed, before many,
perhaps before any of those on board could
have found shelter in the Cambria.
But it is unnecessary to dwell on an insulat
ed fact like this, amidst a concatenation of cir
cumstances, all leading to the same conclusion,
and so closely bound together as to force us to
confess,' that if a single link in the chain had
been withdrawn or withheld, we must all most
probably have perished.
The Cambria, which had been, it seems, un
accountably detained in port nearly a month,
after the period assigned for her departure,
was, early on the morning of the fatal calami
ty, pursuing at a great distance a head of us,
the same course with ourselves ; but her bul
warks on the weather side having been sudden
ly driven in, by a heavy sea breaking over her
quarter. Captain Cook, in his anxiety to give
ease to his labouring vessel, was induced to go
completely out of his course, by throwing the
brig on the opposite tack, by which means

62 LOSS OF THE KENT
alone he was brought in sight of us. Not to
dwell on the unexpected, but not unimportant
facts, ofthe flames having been mercifully pre
vented, for eleven hours, from either commu
nicating with the magazine forward,* or the
great spirit room abaft, or even coming into
contact with the tiller ropes, — any of which
circumstances would evidently have blasted aU
our hopes, — I would remark, that until the
Cambria hove in sight, we had not discovered
any vessel whatever for several days previous ;
nor did we afterwards see another until we en
tered the chops of the Channel. It is to be re
membered too, that had the Cambria, with ber
small crew, been homeward instead of outward
bound, her scanty remainder of provisions, un
der such circumstances, would hardly have suf
ficed to form a single meal for our vast assem-
blage ; or if, instead of having her lower deck
completely clear, she had been carrying out a
full cargo, there would not have been time, un
der the pressure of the danger and the violence
of the gale, to throw the cargo overboard, and
certainly, with it, not sufficient space in the brig
to contain one half of our number.
' The magazines in many of the Indiamen, contrary, I be
lieve, to the practice in ships of war, is under the forecastle.

EAST INDIAMAN. 68
When I reflect, besides, on the disastrous
consequences that must have followed, if, dur
ing our passage home, which was performed in
a period most unusually short, the wind had
either veered round a few points, or even par
tially subsided, which must have produced a
scene of horror on board, more terrible if pos
sible than that from which we had escaped ;
— and above all, when I recollect the extraor
dinary fact, and that which seems to have tbe
most forcibly struck the whole of us, that we had
not been above an hour in Falmouth harbour,
when the wind, which had all along been blow
ing from the south-west, suddenly chopped
round to the opposite quarter of the compass,
and continued uninterruptedly for several days
afterwards to blow strongly from the north-east;
— one cannot help concluding, that he who
sees nothing of a Divine Providence in our pre
servation, must be lamentably and wilfully blind
•' to the majesty of the Lord."
As little time as possible was lost, after our
arrival at Falmouth, in reporting to Colonel
Fenwick, the Lieutenant-Governor of Penden
nis Castle, the deplorable circumstances under
which we had returned to port, and the urgent
necessity there existed for our instant removal
ashore ; and with the tender sympathy which

64 LOSS OF THE KENT
characterizes that old and distinguished officer,
did he hasten, long before dayUght, to take
steps for the disembarkation and comfort of the
troops and sailors. Captain King, R. N., to
whose kind anxities and active exertions we had
also much reason to feel indebted, as soon as
our condition was communicated to him, called
into immediate requisition the numerous boats
at his disposal; and, in the course of the morn
ing, we all prepared, with thankful and joyful
hearts, to replace our feet on the shores of old
England. The ladies, always destined to form our van
guard, were the first to disembark, and were
met on the beach by immense crowds of the in
habitants, who appeared to have been attracted
thither less by idle curiositj', than from the sin
cerest de.sire to alleviate in every possible man
ner their manifest sufferings.
The sailors and soldiers, cold, wet, and al
most naked, quickly followed ; the whole form
ing, in their haggard looks, and the endless va
riety of their costume, an assemblage at once
as melancholy and grotesque as it is possible to
conceive. So eager did the people appear to
be to pour out upon us the full current oftheir
sympathies, that shoes, hats, and other articles
of urgent necessity, were presented to several

EAST INDIAMAN. 65
of the officers and men, before they had even
quitted the point of disembarkation. And in
the course of the day, many of the officers and
soldiers, and almost all the females, were par
taking, in the private houses of individuals, of
the most liberal and needful hospitality.
But this flow of compassion and kindness did
not cease with the impulse of the more immC"
diate occasion that had called it forth. For a
meeting of the inhabitants was afterwards held,
where subscriptions in clothes and money to a
large amount, were collected for the relief of
numerous sufferers. • The women and children,
whose wants seemed to demand their first care,
were speedily furnished with comfortable cloth
ing, and the poor widows and orphans with de
cent mourning. Depositories of shirts, shoes,
stockings, &c. were formed for the supply of
the officers and private passengers; and the sick
and wounded* in the hospital, were made the
recipients, not only of all those kindly attentions,
and medical assistance, that could remove or
sooth their temporal suffering, but were also
invited to partake freely of the most judicipuis
• Many of the oilicers and men were sevevely bruised, in
the course of their exertions on board the Kent, or in endea
vouring to effect their escape.

66 LOSS OF THE KENT
spiritual consolation and instruction. This un
interrupted march of charity was conducted
by the ladies of Falmouth, who were zealously
accompanied in it, by the whole body, in the vi
cinity, of that peculiar sect of Christians, who
have ever been as remarkable for their unassum
ing pretensions and consistent conduct, as for
unostentatiously standing in the front ranks of
every good work. And so strong is the reason
which I, in particular, have to associate in my
mind, all that is sincere, considerate, and cha
ritable, with the Society of Friends, that the
very badge of Quakerism will, I trust, hence
forward prove a sufficient passport to the best
feelings of my heart.
On the first Sunday after our arrival. Colonel
Fearon, followed by all his officers and men,
and accompanied by Captain Cobb, and the
officers and private passengers of his late ship,
hastened to prostrate themselves before the
throne of heavenly grace, to pour out the
public expression oftheir thanksgiving to their
Almighty Preserver. The scene was deeply
impressive ; and it is earnestly to be hoped,
that many a poor fellow who listened, perhaps
for the first time in his life, with unquestionable
sincerity and humility to the voice of instruc
tion, will be found steadily prosecuting, in

EAST INDIAMAN. 67
the strength of God, the good resolutions that
he may on that solemn occasion have formed,
until he be able to say, as one of the greatest
generals of antiquity did, " that it was good for
him to have been afflicted, for before he was
afflicted, he went astray, but that afterwards
he was not ashamed to keep God's word."
In the course of a few days, the private pas
sengers and most of the sailors of our party
were dispersed in various directions ; such of
the crew of the Kent as had not, by their pre
viously inhumane and insubordinate conduct,
forfeited all claim to the slightest indulgence,
having received from the proverbial liberality
of Captain Cobb, a sufficient sum to bear their
expenses to their respective homes. And tbe
troops, after having incurred to the excellent
inhabitants of Falmouth and the adjacent towns,
a debt of gratitude which none of them can ever
hope to repay, were embarked on the 13th for
Chatham, where they are at present enjoying,
through the kind consideration and sympathy
of His Royal Highness the Commander-in-
Chief, that degree of relaxation and quiet, of
which they seem so much to stand in need,
previously to their proceeding to their ulterior
destination.

68 LOSS OF THE KENT
I think you must be already sensible that the
circumstances of our situation on board the
Kent, did not enable us conscientiously to save
a single article, either of public or private pro
perty, from the flames ; indeed, the only thing
I preserved — with the exception of forty or
fifty sovereigns, which I hastily tied up in my
pocket handkerchief, and put into my wife's
hands, at the moment she was Ufted into the
boat, as a provision for herself and her com
panions, against the temporary want to which
they might be exposed on some foreign shore
— was the pocket-compass which you yourself
presented to me.
But I would have you to be assured, thatthe
total abandonment of individual interests on
the part of the officers of the ship, and of the
3Ist regiment, was occasioned by no want of
self-possession, nor, even in all cases, of op
portunities to attend to them ; but to a sincere
desire to avoid even the appearance of selfish
ness, at moments when the valuable lives of
their sailors and soldiers were at stake — and
this observation applies with still greater force
to the senior officers in both services, whose
cabins being upon the upper deck were acces
sible during the whole day — and where many
portable articles of value were deposited, which

EAST INDIAMAN. 69
could have been easily carried off, had those
officers been disposed to devote to their own
concerns even a portion of that precious time,
and of those active exertions which they unre
mittingly applied to the performance of their
professional duty.
Notwithstanding the unexpected length to
which I have already extended this little nar
rative, I cannot allow myself to close it without
offering to my late companions on board the
Kent, into whose hands it may possibly fall,
should you see meet to publish it, a few very
plain and simple observations, which I think
worthy of their serious consideration, and the
importance of which I desire to have deeply
impressed upon my own mind. None of those
soldiers who are in the habit of reading their
Bibles can have failed to notice that faith in
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is therein made
the great pivot On which the salvation of man
hinges ; that the whole human race, without
distinction of rank, nation, age, or sex,, being
justly exposed to the wrath of Almighty God,
nothing but the precious blood of Christ which
was shed on the cross can possibly atone for
their sins; and that faith in this atonement
can alone pacify the conscience, and awaken
confidence towards God as a reconciled Fa-
4

70 LOSS OF THE KENT
ther. If, therefore, «' He that believeth in
Christ shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned," be the unequivocal lan
guage of Jehovah, either expressly declared,
or obviously implied in every page of that re
cord which he has vouchsafed to us of his Son;
is it not a question of the deepest concernment
to every one professing any regard for divine
revelation, whether he really understands and
beUeves that record, or whether he is able to
give, not only to others but to himself, a reason
of this hope that is in him ?
From the influence of education or example,
the absence of serious reflection, an attention
to the outward ordinances of religion, a regard
to many of the proprieties and decencies of life,
and a forgetfulness that the religion ofthe Bible
is a religion of motives rather than one of ob
servances, — ^minds easily satisfied on such sub
jects may persuade themselves that they are
spirituaUy alive while they are dead, — that
they are amongst the sincere disciples of the
blessed Redeemer, and fully interested in his
salvation, while thpy may have neither part nor
lot in the matter. But if, at the hour of death,
when aU external support shall sUde away, the
soul should be awakened to the consciousness
of its real condition ; if it should be made to

EAST INDIAMAN. 71
see, on the one hand, the spirituality and ex
ceeding breadth of the divine law, and be
quickened, on the other, to a sense of its un
numbered transgressions ; if the mercy of God
out of Christ, in which so many vainly and
vaguely trust, should become obscured by the
inflexible justice and spotless holiness of his
character ; and if the solitary spirit, as it is
dragged towards the mysterious precipice, is
made to hear, from a voice which it can no
longer mistake, " Cursed is every one who con
tinued not in all things that are written in the
law to do them," — how unspeakably miserable
must be the condition of the man who thus dis
covers, for the first time, that the sand which
he had all his lifetime been mistaking for the
" Rock of ages," is now giving way under his
feet, and that his soul must speedily sink into
that state where " the tree for ever lieth as it
falleth ;" where " he that is unjust must be un
just still, he that is unholy, unholy still;" and
where there is " nb work, nor device, nor know
ledge," nor repentance.
But that I may not be misunderstood, or be
supposed to favour principles of barren specu
lation, more delusive and dangerous to their
possessors, and to the best interests of society,
than absolute ignorance itself, — I would remind

72 LOSS OF THE KENT
the gallant men to whom I am now more espe
cially addressing myself, that " that faith which
saves the soul," not only " worketh" invariably
" by love," and gradually « overcometh the
world," but tha;t " It is the gift of God," im
planted in the heart by his Holy Spirit, even
by that Spirit which is freely given to every one
that earnestly asketh. And however unable
the simple soldier may be to explain either the
nature or the manner of its operation, he must
not deceive himself into the persuasion that he
is possessed of this precious grace, unless
he feels it bringing forth in his life and con
versation the abundant fruits that necessarily
spring from it, and that cannot indeed be pro
duced without it. He will be zealous and
steady in the performance of duty, patient un
der fatigue and privation, sober amid tempta
tions, calm but firm in the hour of danger, and
respectfully obedient to his officers ; he will
honour his king, be content with his wages,
and do harm to no man. His piety will be ar
dent but sober ; his prayers will be earnest
and frequent, but rather in secret than before
men ; he wiU not be contentious or disputatious,
but rather desirous of instructing others by his
example than by his precepts; making his light
so to shine before them, in the simplicity of his

EAST INDIAMAN. 7s
motives, the uprightness of his actions, in his
readiness to oblige, and by the whole tenor of
his life, that they seeing his good works, may
be led, by the Divine blessing, to acknowledge
the reality and power and beauty of religion,
and be induced in like manner to glorify his
heavenly Father. In short, in comparison with
his thoughtless comrades, he must not only
aspire to become a better man, but, from the
constraining motives of the Gospel, struggle
to be also in every essential respect a better
soldier. In conclusion, 1 would observe, that if any
class of men, more than another, ought to be
struck with awe and gratitude by the goodness
and providence of God, it is they who go down
to the sea in ships, and see his wonders in the
great deep; or if any ought to familiarize their
minds with death, and its solemn consequences,
itis surely soldiers, " whose very business it is
to die." May all those then, especially, who
lately possessed the privilege, but rarely grant
ed, of being allowed, in the full vigour of
health, and in the absence of all the bustle and
excitement of battle, to contemplate, from the
very brink of eternity, the awful realities that
reign within it, as many of their departing com
rades were hurried through its dreaded por-

74 LOSS OF THE KENT
tals, be now led, in the respite which has been
given them, to remember, that " this alone is
the accepted time, and this the day of salva
tion ;" for while some may defer the subject
" to a more convenient season," the message
may come forth, as it lately did, at an hour
when it is least expected, " This night thy
soul is required of thee."
I am,
My dear E  ,

Very affectionately yours.
London, April, 1825.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.
No. I.
RESCUE OF FOURTEEN REMAINING SUFFERERS.

The follamng Narrative records the proceedings on
board the Caroline, Captain Bibby, relative to ihe
preservation of fourteen men who were left on the
wreck qf the Kent East Indiaman. The detaih
' are exceedingly interesting, and may be relied upon
as authentic. The scenes here described took place
after the departure of tke Cambria from the burn-
•ing remains ofthe Kent,

About twelve o'clock at night on the first of
March last, a bright light was observed in the
horizon by the watch of the bark Caroline on
her passage from Alexandria to Liverpool,
proceeding apparently from a ship on fire.
It having blown strong the preceding day, the
Caroline was at the time under double reefed
main and fore-top sails, main trysail, and fore-
top-mast staysail, close upon a wind with a

78 APPENDIX.
heavy sea going. Word was immediately pass
ed to Captain Bibby, who instantly bore up,
and setting his main-top gallant sail ran down
towards the spot.
About two o'clock, when every eye was in
tensely fixed upon the increasing brightness in
the sky, a sudden jet of vivid Ught darted up
wards, evidently caused by an explosion,
though they were as yet too far distant to hear
any report. In half an hour the Caroline had
approached sufficiently near to make out the
wreck of a large vessel lying head to wind, of
which nothing remained but the ribs and frame
timbers, which, marking the outlines of a double
line of ports and quarter galleries, afforded too
much reason to fear that -the burning skeleton
was the remnant of a first class East Indiaman
or line-of-battle ship. The flames, however,
had so completely consumed every other ex
ternal feature, that nothing could be ascertain
ed with accuracy. She was burned nearly to
the water's edge; but becoming gradually Ught
er as the internal timbers and fallen decks and
spars were consumed, she still floated, pitching
majestically as she rose and fell over the long
rolling swell of the bay. Her appearance was
that of an immense cauldron or cage of buoy
ant basket-work, formed of the charred -and

APPENDIX. 79
blackened ribs, naked and stripped of every
plank, encircling an uninterrupted mass of
flame, not, however, of uniform intensity, as
from two or three points, probably where the
hatchways had suppUed an additional quantity
of looser fuel, brighter emissions were burst
ing upwards. Above, and far to leeward, the
atmosphere was a cloud of curling smoke, the
whole sprinkled with myriads of sparks and
burning flakes of lighter materials, thrown up
without intermission, and scattered by the wind
over the sky and waves.
As the Caroline bore down, part of a mast
and some spars were observed rising and fall
ing, and almost grinding under the starboard,
or what might be called, the weather-quarter
of the wreck; for although, as has been stated,
it rode nearly head to wind, in the course of
drifting, these spars being fast to the afterpart
in some degree gave the stern-frame a slight
cant to windward.
The Caroline coming down right before the
vyind was, in a few minutes, brought across the
bows of the wreck, and as near as was consist
ent with safety. At that moment, when, to all
appearance, no human being could be supposed
to retain life within the sphere of such a con
flagration, a shout was heard, and almost at the

80 APPENDIX.
same instant several figures were observed
clinging to the above-mentioned mast and
spars. From their low situation, almost upon
a level with the water, and the rapidity of the
bark's motion, she could not have been visible
long before they hailed; — what then must have
been their feelings, when (no rational hope of
rescue remaining) they suddenly beheld within
a few yards the hull and sails of a large ves
sel, brilliantly illuminated by the glare; but
whatever those feelings were, a fearful pause
ensued, for, with equal rapidity, gUding athwart
the bows of the Kent, the stranger disappear
ed, leaving them to their own conjectures as to
the possibility of being saved, even if the at
tempt were made, in consequence of the heavy
sea and probable disappearance of the wreck
before a boat could reach them.
Captain Bibby saw the hazard, and with ex
cellent judgment immediately decided upon his
plan of operation. The top-gallant-saU was
taken in, the fore-topmast stay-sail lowered,
and the ship's course continued under the top
sails and trysail to leeward, at such a distance
as to avoid the danger of falling flakes and
sparks, but, at the same time, so near as to ad
mit of rendering every possible assistance to
the forlorn sufferers, and then the fore top-sail

APPENDIX. 81
was braced aback, and the vessel hove to. This
course to leeward was farther determined up
on, in the hope that if any boat or raft was
hanging near the wreck, it might be cast off
and steered towards the Caroline ; it being ob
vious that in such a sea it would be impossible
for rafts or spars, or even boats, if much over
loaded or imperfectly manned, to make their
way to windward. In the mean time, the jolly
boat was lowered down from the stern, and
manned by Mr Matthew Wallen, the mate,
and four seamen, who pushed off without hesi
tation, and pulled for the wreck. It is almost
unnecessary to add, that in their progress these
gallant fellows were exposed to very consider
able danger, for, situated as they were to lee
ward, the sea in all directions was covered
with articles of every description and size.
Masts, spars, chests, packages, furniture, &c.
were dashing about, now in, the hollow and
trough of the sea, now on the summit of high
waves, threatening destruction to whatever
they might come in contact with, but fearlessly
and skilfully the men persevered, and, having
approached within a few yards of the stern,
they caught sight of the first Uving being — a
man was observed writhing as he clung to a
rope or portion of wreck close under the ship's

82 APPENDIX.
counter — so closcj indeed, that, as the stern
frame rose with the swell, he was jerked up
wards, and suspended above the water, to meet
a more dreadful fate, for, with few and short
intervals, streams of pure flame gushed forth
through the casings of the gun-room ports,
and scorched the poor sufferer, whose cries of
agony they could distinctly hear, and which
only ceased when, as the surge passed on the
descending stern frame, plunging downwards
it buried him in the waves. Imminently dan
gerous, not to say hopeless, as was the chance
of saving this man, alternately exposed to the
horrors of the contending elements, Mr. Wal
len made up his mind to run every risk, and
accordingly the men pushed at once under the
stern frame, without attending to their own
safety, exposed as they were to the danger of
these successive jets of flame. " He," said
Mr. Wallen, " appeared to be the worst off,
and therefore the first it was our business to
look after." The gratification of rescuing a
fellow-creature from such an unparalleled si
tuation of suffering, was, however, withheld;
for when almost within their grasp, when the
poor fellow (if faculties and sense then remain
ed, which may be doubted, for latterly he had
been silent) looked for preservation, the fire

APPENDIX. S3
severed the rope or spar connecting him with
the wreck — he sunk, and was seen no more.
Their efforts were then directed to the men on
the mast," from which, in a few minutes, by
cautiously backing in their boat, six of the
nearest were secured and carried ;bff, but not
without considerable difficulty, ^s the swell
rendered all approach extremely hazardous.
To have taken more would have risked the
safety of the whole, for it may be easily con
ceived that in a small merchant's jolly boat,
about eighteen feet in length, and, in many
respects, inferior to the generality of boats of
this description, eleven persons in a heavy sea,
and under such circumstances, were even more
than it was consistent with strict prudence to
<5arry, and, in fact, when returning, they were
warned, by a heavy wave which nearly swamp
ed them, of the consequence of overloading so
small a conveyance. The first trip occupied
a space of about half an hour; and no sooner
were the six passengers disposed of than Mr.
WaUen again shoved off for the wreck, from
which the CaroUne by drifting had now in
creased her distance. No surviyors having
been observed on other parts, or near the ves
sel, those on the mast under the weather-quar
ter became the exclusive objects of attention,

84 APPENDIX.
and accordingly, as before, the boat was back
ed in, and with equal success — six more were
taken on board.
During this second trip, Mr. Wallen had re
marked, from the state of the remaining works
above water, that in all probability, before he
could make a third attempt, the mass would go
down, in which case there was too much rea
son to fear, that the survivors on the mast must
be sucked under by the vortex, and inevitably
lost. Exertions were, therefore, redoubled ;
and although, as has been stated, the distance
between the vessels had materially increased,
the second trip did not occupy more time than
the first, and no sooner had the additional six
been placed in safety, than for the third and
last time, the little jolly boat pushed off. But
when struggling against the head sea, before
they could reach the mast, the anticipated and
dreaded event took place. The fiery pile was
observed to settle slowly on the waves, and
gradually disappear. In another instant, the
hitherto bright and burning atmo.sphere was
involved in utter darkness, rendered still more
awful by the contrast; a dense cloud of black
smoke lingered like a shroud over the spot,
and to the loud crackUng of burning timbers
and rustling of flames a death-like silence had
succeeded.

APPENDIX. S5
With a presence of mind well fitted for the
service he was upon, Mr. Wallen, as the last
flash quivered upon the water, set the spot by
a star — aware, but for this precaution, his re
maining exertions might yet be vain ; for even
with the bright light, not inferior to that of
mid-day, his approaches to the wreck had been
attended with considerable danger, but now,
involved in darkness, these dangers were in
creased an hundred fold; floating pieces of
wreck could no longer be seen and avpided,
and a single blow would have annihilated his
frail boat. As a last and only chance of rescu
ing such as might possibly be still floating, he
resolved to wait for day-light — but to keep up
their spirits, an^d show that they were not de
serted, loud and repeated shouts were raised
from the boat. For a time none were returned,
and they despaired of being further useful ; but
at last a feeble cry reached their ears, and then
again the boat's crew cheered loudly and glad
ly. For an anxious hour, during which they
hung upon their oars, or occasionally moved
to keep their position, with his eye steadily
fixed upon the friendly guiding star, Mr.
Wallen remained in suspense.
At length the dawn began to break, and the
mast again became visible in the very line in

86 APPENDIX.
which its bearings had been taken, and four
forms were still seen amongst the cordage and
top work ; but they were motionless, and it
was doubtful whether life remained. On near
ing them, however, anxiety was in part reliev
ed, for two ofthe four showed symptoms of ani
mation — ^they raised their heads, looked up, and
stretched their arms towards their deliverers,
who, pulling up, again backed their boat upon
the wreck, and succeeded in securing them,
though in a state of almost perfect exhaustion,
from the length of time they had been exposed
to the waves, with which they had been every
moment nearly overwhelmed; but the other
two made no signs ; one had attached himself
firmly to the spar, and grasping it in his arms,
rested his head upon it as if asleep. The other,
reared between the cheeks of the mast, stood half
upright with his arms extended, and his face
turned towards the direction of the boat, but he
was motionless — both were dead — and, of course,
no efforts were made to detach their bodies from
the wreck. On Mr. Wallen's return, one of
the Indiaman's boats was observed drifting at a
short distance, and as it was possible that some
survivors might be in it, they pulled along-side,
but found it empty. This boat was, however,
taken in tow, with the hope of being secured on

APPENDIX. 87
board the Caroline, but it soon became necessary
to cut her away, for as the dawn advanced, the
windward sky assumed a stormy aspect; the
wind, which had during the night been com
paratively moderate, though strong, began to
blow in gusts, and the long sw^ells, instead of
rolling on in one unbroken mass, began to curl
upon their summits, and break in feathery sprays
— sure indications of approaching mischief. Not
a moment was therefore to be lost, and, true to
the lowering signs of the morning, before the
jolly boat could be well secured, the wind had
freshened considerably, and all hands were en
gaged in preparing for an expected gale. In
fact, had the boat been half an hour later, thereis
every reason to suppose that she could not have
regained the vessel. How long these fourteen
survivors had been floating on the mast, can
not be ascertained with certainty, for their ac
count is confused and imperfect; but it is known
by the letter of Mr. Thomson, published in
the newspapers, that the cutter, under his com
mand, did not quit the Kent till after midnight,*
when it was considered impossible to remain

' About which time the fire had been observed by the Caro
line, and when, in fact, she was bearing down towards the
Kent.

88 APPENDIX.
longer in consequence of the flames from the
gun-room, ports, and cabin-windows. At that
time the spanker-boom was crowded with sol
diers, whose perilous situation was, notwith
standing, insufficient to overcome their fears of
leaping from that height into the water. The
masts and greater part of the rigging remained
standing, when the Cambria quitted the wreck,
and the decks were not finally deserted until
their heat became excessive, and the fire be
gan to burst forth stem to stern -with over
whelming fierceness, and a general rush then
took place towards the masts, spars, and such
parts of the rigging as offered the slightest
prospect of temporary safety. The work of
destruction must, however, have gone on from
that period most rapidly ; and as the lower ex
tremities of the masts and bowsprit must soon
have been consumed, they probably all fell
about the same time : but, dreadful as was the
situation of those who still clung to the span
ker boom and mast, which seem to have been
entangled together, the fate of those on the
other spars cannot be contemplated without
the keenest feeUngs of horror and commisera-
tion. It is conjectured that some rope (as the
floating mast on which the survivors were found
rounded the stern, and was brought up under

APPENDIX. 89
the starboard quarter) must have got foul of
the keel or rudder irons, thus attaching it to
the hull of the vessel, whereas other spars fall
ing clear, drifted bodily away. In their fall,
no doubt, those who clung to them must have
been washed off; but it is equally probable
that many must also have regained them, and,
drifting to leeward, could have been at no great
distance when the Caroline, running down to
wards them, suddenly luffed up and hove to
under the lee of the Kent. Every prospect of
preservation being thus annihilated, we can on
ly hope that, in such a state of utter despair,
the sufferings of these wretched beings were
not long protracted.

The humanity and meritorious efforts of Cap
tain Bibby and Mr. Wallen are above all
praise, and well deserve to be extensively
known.

90 APPENDIX.

No. II.
LIST OF THE NUMBER LOST IN THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE KENT.
Men. 'Women. Children.
31st Regiment 54 1 20
Seamen 1 — 5 Marine Boys.

Total . 55 1 25=81 individuals.

NO. III.

LETTER FROM CAPTAIN COOK TO HIS
AGENTS. • *
Brig Cambria, Falmouth, March 4, 1825.
Messrs. Wm. Broad & Sons Agents to Lloyd's.
Gentlemen,
You are aware of my leaving this port on the
24th ult. with passengers and goods for Mexico,
and I beg to acquaint you of my retnrn here
this morning, at 1 a. m. under the following
circumstances :
On Tuesday last, the 1st instant, being in
latitude 47° 30', and longitude 9° 45', laying to
with a strong gale from the westward, under a

APPENDIX. 91
close-reefe4 piain top-sail, we discovered a large
sail to the westward, and 6n approaching found
her to have a signal of distress flying, which
induced me immediately to render every assist
ance in my power, and on nearing, found her
to be on fire. About 3 p. m. being then on her
bow, we succeeded in getting the first boat
from the vessel, which proved to be the Ho
nourable Company's ship Kent, Captain Cobb,
of 1400 tons, for Bengal and China, with troops
and passengersj amounting, with the crew, to
637 souls. From 3 to 8 p. m. the boats were
constantly employed in bringing the people to
the Cambria, and succeeded in saving 301 of
ficers, non-commissioned ditto, and privates, of
the 31st regirnent, 46 women, and 48 children
appertaining to ditto, 19 male and female pri
vate passengers, and Captain Cobb, and 139
of the crew, amounting in all to 554. The
flames now becoming exceedingly fierce, I could
not urge the sailors again to return to the ship,
nor deem it at all prudent, for the preservation
ofthe lives already on board my vessel, to re
main longer near the Kent, expecting her in
stantly to blow up. By accounts since made
up, it is supposed that 64 soldiers, 1 woman,
21 children, and 4 ofthe crew, were left when
Captain Cobb quitted the vessel, whose conduct

92 APPENDIX.
during the trying occasion is beyond my hum
ble praise, displaying the greatest coolness and
intrepidity ; and by his exertions, and those of
Colonel Fearon, the commander of the troops,
who were the last to quit, the women, children,
and passengers were got into the boats, and
they did not leave themselves, until their in
fluence to induce any more to go into them was
useless. At 2 a. m. the Kent blew up, after
being completely enveloped in flames for four
hours previous. — The fire originated in the
after-hold, where spirits were stowed for the
use of the troops, a cask of which breaking
adrift and bursting, the contents unfortunately
ignited by a candle in a lantern.
I feel the greatest gratification in stating
that the gentlemen and their Cornish miners,
in all 36, with my own crew, 1 1 more, behaved
throughout the trying period with the greatest
kindness, in getting the people from the boats,
soothing their sufferings, giving up their own
clothes and beds to the women and children,
volunteering to go into the boats, (which I had
good reason to prevent,) and leaving nothing
undone to make them as comfortable as the li
mited size of my brig would allow (only 200
tons.) It would be pleasing also could I speak

APPENDIX. 93
as highly of the crew of the Kent ; but I can
not refrain from expressing my great disap
pointment of their conduct, (in which I am
borne out by Captain Cobb,) derogatory in
every respect to the generaUy received charac
ter of a British seaman, by refusing to return
to the Kent for the people after the first trip,
and requiring my utmost exertions and deter
mination to compel them to renew their endea
vours to get out the soldiers, passengers, and
the remainder of their own shipmates who
were left behind ; ahd it was only by using co
ercive measures, in conjunction with my own
crew and passengers, and telling them I would
not receive them on board unless they did so,
that they proceeded, though reluctantly, in
their duty. I must, however, except the offi
cers, particularly Mr. Thomson, fourth mate,
and Mr. Philips, the boatswain, whose conduct
and behaviour, in every respect, justifies my
warmest praise.
It may not be amiss to state, that two hours
after the ship blew up, a soldier's wife was de
livered of a fine boy on board the Cambria,
and both mother and child are doing well.
I remain. Gentlemen,
Your raost obedient Servant,
(Signed) W. COOK.

94 APPENDIX.

No. IV.
LETTER FROM THE OFFICERS OF THE
31eT REGIMENT AND PRIVATE PASSEN
GERS TO CAPTAIN COBB.
Falmouth, March 6, 1825.
Dear Sir,
We the undersigned officers ofthe 31st regi
ment, and private passengers on board the Ho
nourable East India Company's late ship Kent,
under your command, deeply impressed by the
signal interposition of Divine Providence in
rescuing our persons from the two destructive
elements to which so many of our shipmates
have lately fallen 'victims, cannot separate to
proceed to our respective destinations, without
performing an act, dictated rather by palpable
justice than by partial friendship, in recording
some expression of our lively gratitude to you.
Sir, as a powerful instrument employed by Al
mighty God, for the preservation not only of
our own lives, but of those of our beloved fa
milies, and of the gallant men with whom many
of us stand so closely associated.
From the moment that the alarming an
nouncement of fire was given, you remained
steadily at your post, directing the efforts of
those around you with a degree of self-posses-

APPENDIX. 95
sion and ability, which equally contributed to
animate their exertions, and to extend the
means of escape to the numerous human be
ings committed to your charge.
If those qualities, so conspicuous in your
conduct during the whole period of our awful
suspense, were observed to change their com
plexion, from moment to moment, it was by
their assuming a loftier and nobler character
as the imminence of our danger increased ; and
amid the vain counsel of some, and the noisy
and conflicting suggestions of many on board,
we could not but admire how calmly but
promptly you improved every opportunity of
preserving your ship, which the varying cir
cumstances of our situation presented; how
humanely and affectionately you lent your per
sonal aid and valuable counsel in early remov
ing from the scene of destruction, the numer
ous helpless women and children belonging to
the troops ; and how obstinately you adhered
to your vessel until every individual, whom
despair did not incapacitate from attempting
their escape, had quitted it.
If our sense of gratitude to you for these
signal services did not absorb for the present
every other feeling, we should derive unfeign
ed pleasure from dwelling largely on our obli
gations to you for your unobtrusive but sub-

96 APPENDIX.
stantial kindness to us during our stay on board,
as well as for your considerate and liberal at
tention to the wants and conveniences of even the
humblest individual placed under your protec
tion. Whether, therefore, you return immediately
to professional employment, or retire for a time
to private life, you must rest assured, that you
carry along with you the sincerest good wishes,
and the liveliest gratitude of.
Dear Sir,
Your very faithful friends and servants,
(Signed hj the Military Officers and private Patsengers )

No. V.
CAPTAIN COBB'S REPLY.
Albany, London, March 8, 1825.
My dear Sir,
The kind and by far too flattering letter,
put into my hands, at the moment I was leav
ing Falmouth, by Captain Sir Charles Farring
ton, demands my instant and grateful acknow
ledgments. Although I should be wanthig in
good feeling indeed, did I not fuUy appreciate

APPENDIX. 97
the approbatipn of such friends, who, in the
moment of severe trials stood forward so man
fuUy to meet it, I have not the 'vanity to think
otherwise, than that personal friendship, and
being mutual fellow-sufferers, - your feelings
have. led you very much to over-rate my endea
vours to do my duty. A lively and thankful
recollection ofthe support and assistance I re
ceived from yoil all on that occasion, I S'haH
ever cherish with the best feelings of my heart,
and carry with me to the grave. I ardently
and sincerely hope there is some good in store
to recompensCi you in some measure for past
misfortunes; and, in that earnest hope, let me
subscribe myself. Your obliged fri^hdj
H. COBB.
Ta CidomljFemony ^.c^

No. VL
LETTER! FROM THE OFFICERS OF THE
318T REGT. OFFICERS OF THE KENT,
AND PASSENGERS;, TO CAPT. COOK.
Sir, -
It is with feelings to which no language can
do justice, that we, the undersigned officers of

98 APPENDIX.
the Slst regiment, and private passengers on
board, and officers belonging to, the Honour
able the East India Company's late ship Kent,
attempt the gratifying duty of pouring out the
inadequate indeed, but unfeigned expressions
of our liveliest gratitude, for the signal, the
immeasurable obligation we owe you, as the
willing instrument employed by the Father of
Mercies, for the preservation from destruction
of hundreds of lives, invaluable to their fami
lies, and not uninteresting, we trust, to their
country. At a time when the awful dispensation, with
which it pleased an adorable but mysterious
Providence to visit our ship, had assumed an
aspect so appalling and hopeless, as to exclude
from the most sanguine minds every prospect
of deliverance ; and when even the most auda
cious and unreflecting amongst us were com
pelled to read, as distinctly, in the signs around
them, as if it were written by a sun-beam,
" This night thy soul shall be required of
" thee," — that God, " who in the midst of judg
ment remembereth mercy," had designed your
bark as an ark of refiige for us, and had com
missioned you. Sir, to the high and honourable
duty of opening the door to take us in.
jLt the present moment, especiaUy when our

appendix;. 99'
minds are peculiarly humbled and affected by
the unmerited goodness of Him, "whose won
ders we have so recently seen in the great
deep ;" and while we are lamenting the prema
ture and Sudden bereavement of so many gal
lant men, bound to most of us by ties which
sailors and soldiers can only fully appreciate,.
it would ill become us, by conferring undue-
commendation upon a fellow-mortal, to rob
our Heavenly Deliverer of any portion of the-
praise and the glory that belong to him alone;.
but, in our solicitude to cherish a permanent
sense of devout gratitude to the fountain of all
good, we persuade ourselves, that we are per
mitted at the same time to express our honest-
adimiration of your conduct, as the channel by^
which this goodness has been made to' flbw
upon us ; — for whether we reflect qn the promp
titude, with which you boi-e down to us, in an
swer to our signal of distress, or on theskill
and heroism you diisplayed in effecting our de
liverance, forgetting, with a noble disinterest-
ednessj the peril in whichiyou thereby involv
ed your own vessel; whether we remember the-
extraordinary perseverance and anxiety with:
which you watched and adhered to bur burn
ing ship, until the last ray of hope seemed to
be quenched, in the darkness that succeeded its

100 appendix.
explosion, or whethenwe dwell on the humar
nity and hospitality we experienced during our
sojourn with you, or on the abiUty and deci
sion with which you steered us, imder the most
critical circumstances, into a most friendly port;
we cannot help regarding you as eminently pos
sessed of the numerous qualities that adorn
and characterise a British seaman.
Fully sensible, however, that no temporal
remuneration can liquidate the debt we have
incurred to you, we shaU not vainly presume
to estimate it by any pecuniary compensation ;
but we trust you will aUow us the gratification
of presenting you with a piece of plate comme
morative of an event that wiU henceforward
enable you to lay your head upon your piUow,
with the sweet consciousness of having perform
ed a brilliant achievement, that has brought
unmixed joy into the bosom of many a grateful
family; We cannot take leave of you, Sir, without
expressing our sincerest acknowledgments to
Mr. GonoUy, your mate, in particular, and to
your crew generally, who so eagerly and inde-
fatigably supported your efforts; and we trust
that.) Mr. GonoUy wUl accept of the trifling
mark of our gratitude which wiU accompany
that J designed for yourself.

appendix. 101
To Messrs. Lucas and Parker, and to the
other gentlemen on board your vessel, we beg
you will convey our warmest thanks for their
individual benevolence and unweariedness in
administering to all our wants ; and we should
be guilty of a most unpardonable omission if
we refrained from confessing how deeply we
feel indebted to the brave and kind-hearted
Cornish miners, who were proceeding with you
to prosecute their industrious calling in another
hemisphere, for the very conspicuous and ho
nourable part they bore on the calamitous oc
casion in question, and for the various import
ant services they gratuitously rendered to us
on our passage to Falmouth.
That yourself, and our other benefactors be
longing to the Cambria, may be carried in safe
ty to your distant destination, under the Divine
protection, and that you may unceasingly en
joy a large measure of that consolation and
gladness which you have been the means of im
parting to others, is the sincere prayer of,
Sir,
Your most grateful Servants,
R. B. FEARON, Lieut..Col. Slst Foot.
H. COBB, Commander Hon. C. late ship Kent.
V. M'GREGOR, Major 31st Regt.

102 appendix.
J. SEXTON, Chief Officer H. C. S. Kent..
C. FARRINGTON. Capt. Slst Kegt.
E. W. BRAY, Capt. Do.
W. M. BOOTH, Lieut. Do.
i). PRINGLE, Prirate Passenger.
J. GRANT, Do.
B. SHUCKBURGH, Do.
J. HAY, 2d Officer H. C.late ship Kent.
R. M'INTOSH, Surgeon Do.
JN. CRAMMOND, Asst. do. Do.
JOHN THOMSON, 4th Officer Do.
CHA. M'RAE, Sth Officer Do.
B. MUIR, 3d Officer Do.
— BIRCH, Private Passenger.
R. C. GREEN, Capt. 31st Regt.
A. DOUGLASS, Lieut. Do.
J. SPENCE, Capt. Do.
RONALD CAMPBELL, Lieut, Do.
R. TOWNSEND, M. D. Private Passenger.
G. BUXTON, Lieut. Slst Regt.
J. W. WATTERS, Quar. Master Do.
— HATCHETT, Private Passenger.
— SCRIVEN, H. C. late ship Kent.
H. EVANS, Ensign Slst Regt.
THOS. TAIT, Do. Do.
E. H. GENNYS, Lieut. Do.
CHAS. SHAW, Lieut, and Adjt. Do.
E. S. GRAHAM, ai. D. Asst. Surgeon Do:
A. SHAW, Ensign Do.
T. TIGHE, 6th Officer H. C. ship Kent.
ANTHY. TRAIL, Midshipman Do.
W. C. BROWN, Purser Do.
W. CORP, Midshipman Do.
R. ELTON, Do. Do.
GEO. BALDWIN, Lieut. Slst Regt.

appendix. 103
RICH. MONK, Paymaster Slst Regt.
B. DODGIN, Lieut. Do.
To Capt, W, Cook, commanding the Cambria
Brig, Falmouth Harbour,

No. VIL
CAPTAIN COOK'S REPLY.
Falmouth, March 12, 1825
Gentlemen, 
With feeUngs of sincere gratitude, 'I beg
leave to acknowledge the receipt of your truly
valuable letter, of the Sth inst Permit me to
assure you, that if any thing could possibly add
to the gratification I already experience, it
would be this very flattering testimony, of your
esteem, — to me, of infinitely greater value than
any pecuniary compensation whatever, and
which has been presented to me with feelings
so highly creditable to yourselves, as men and
Christians, — feelings which, I trust, I truly ap
preciate, and shall always cherish.
According to your request. Gentlemen, I
have communicated your grateful acknowledg
ments to Messrs. Lucas and Parker, and the
other gentlemen on board, as also to Mr. Co-
nolly, the mate, and the crew of the Cambria ;

104 appendix.
and I am sure that they are all, with myself,
highly gratified with the very flattering manner
in which you have been pleased to notice the
hpmble services, which it has pleased the aU-
wise Disposer of events to enable us to render
to so many of our feUow-creatures, and for
which I shaU not cease to offer up my grateful
acknowledgments at the throne of grace.
Before I take my leave of you, Gentlemen,
I beg you will accept of my best wishes for
your welfare; and, whether you are employed
in the honourable profession of arms, or ih the
humble, but noless honourable pursuits of pri
vate life,- may that' God, whose almighty arm
has been se miraculously stretched out fox
your deliverance, still aid and support you ;
and may each and all of you be long spared to
ornament your several professions, and to par
ticipate,- in the bosom of your families of every
ddmestie^comfort. With these sentiments, I
jb^ -leave to subscribe myself.
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient Servant,
(Signed) W. COOK.
'^ To^Lieut,-CoL Fearon, and Officers of
the 31it Regimenti and Captain Cotb,
Qfflcert, and private Patsengers, erf Hon.
ouralle Company's late ship Kent,

appendix. 105

No. VIII.

LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF HIS
ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF YORK
TO CAPT. COOK.
Horse Guards, March 9, 1825.
Sir,
The Commander in-Chief having received
from the Court of Directors of the East India
Company, and from Lieutenant-Colonel Fearon
of the 31st Regiment, reports of the circum
stances attending the destruction by fire, on
the 1st instant, of the Honourable East India
Company's ship Kent, I am directed by his
Royal Highness to assure you of the high sense
which his Royal Highness will not cease to en
tertain for the meritorious zeal and promptitude
with which you came to the assistance of the
ship Kent, under circumstances so critical and
trying; and of the exemplary, gallant, andper^
severing exertions made by yourself and those
acting under your direction, to which, under
providence, his Majesty and the country are
indebted for the preservation of so many valu
able lives.
His Royal Highness having understood from
the Agents of the ship Cambria, that you are

106 APPENDIX.
about to proceed on your voyage, has felt anx
ious not to lose any time in conveying to you
his sincere thanks for the services which you
have rendered to the. officers and soldiers of
his Majesty's 31st regiment, and to their wives
and children, upon this melancholy occasion.
I have the honour to bcj
Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) HERBERT TAYLOR.
Captain Cook, ship Cambria.

No. IX.
CAPTAIN COOK'S REPLY.
Falmouth, March 11, 1825.
Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your let
ter of the 9th inst. conveying to me the senti
ments of his Royal Highness the Commander-
in-Chief has been pleased to entertain, in con
sequence of the services I have been enabled
to render (by the interposition of a Divine Pro
vidence) to the sufferers on board the Honour
able East India Company's ship Kent, at the
period of her conflagration.

APPENDIX. 107
Permit me, Sir, most respectfully to state,
that, next to the heartfelt satisfaction I expe
rienced at having had the opportunity of being
useful in the cause of humanity, I value the
approbation his Royal Highness has done me
the honour so graciously to express ; and I beg
leave to request, that you will have the kind
ness to tender to his Royal Highness my most
humble, but very sincere thanks, for this dis-
ting uished mark of _ his condescension and
goodness, rendered still more valuable to me
in noticing those under my command, by whom
I was so ably assisted.
With the greatest respect,
I have the honour to be.
Sir,
Your very obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) Wm. COOK.
To Sir Herbert Taylor, Bart., Sfc. <Sfc.

No. X.
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
War-Office, March 30.
Sir,
The Secretary at war having taken into con
sideration the resolution passed at the Board

108 APPENDIX.
of the Anglo-Mexican 'Association on the Sth
inst. relative to the imperlant services render-,
ed by Captain Cook and the crew of the Cam
bria, to the Kent East Indiaman, whereby 557
persons were saved from the wreck of the lat
ter vessel, I am directed to acquaint you, that
his Lordship will authorise the sum of L.580
to be granted to the master, mates, and other
persons on board the Cambria, in the under
mentioned proportions, Captain Cook stating
to this office to whom he would wish the same
to be issued.
I am, at the same time, to state, that Lord
Palmerston feels the greatest satisfaction in of
fering to the Captain and his crew this acknow
ledgment, for their humane and meritorious
exertions in rescuing so many persons from the
fate, which, without the assistance of the Cam
bria, would have been inevitable: —
To the master L.I 50, mate L.50, acting se
cond mate L.30, crew, nine men, each L.IO,
L.90 ; miners, 26 men, each L.lO, L.260 ; mak
ing in all L.580. I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Sei-vant,
(Signed) W. MERRY.

APPENDIX. 109

No. XI.

FROM THE SECRETARY OE THE HON.
EAST INDIA COMPANY TO THE AGENTS
FOR THE SHIP CAMBRIA.
East India House, March 17, 1825.
Gentlemen,
In reference to your communication of yes
terday, I am instructed to acquaint you, that
the Court of Directors of the East India Com
pany have resolved, that as agents to the own
ers of the ship Cambria, and to Captain Cook,
you be paid the under-mentioned sums, in com
pensation for the losses and expenses occasion
ed to them by the assistance rendered to th^
passengers and ship's company , of the Kent
East Indiaman, viz. —
On account of the Captain —
For payment of bill for provisions,
&c  L.287 11 0
For diet, &c. ofthe passengers  287 10 0
On account of the owners —
For demurrage, &c  »  300 0 0
Warrants for the sums above mentioned are
now payable to you at the treasury in this
house ; also, warrants for the following sums.

no APPENDIX.
which the Court have resolved to present to
Captain Cook, his officers, passengers, and
crew, and regarding which a communication
has been this day addressed to Captain Cook,
viz. — To Captain Cook  L.600
To his first mate  100
To the carpenter, acting as second mate 50
To the crew (nine persons) each L.IO 90
To the miners (26 persons) each L.15 390
The Court have also authorised their agent
at Falmouth to present the ten persons pro
ceeding in the capacity of miners of a superior
class with such cabin stores as may contribute
to their comfort and convenience during their
intended voyage, to the extent of L.IOO.
I am.
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
(Signed) J. DART, Secretary.

No. XIL

The Royal Exchange Assurance have also
paid to Messrs. Dobson and Baker L.50 as a
present to Captain Cook, and L.50 to be di
vided among his officers and crew.

APPENDIX. in
The Royal Humane Society have awarded
to Captain Cook an Honorary Medallion.
The Subscribers to Lloyd's voted the sum of
L.100 to Captain Cook for saving the lives of
the officers and soldiers of the 31st Regiment,
and the crew ofthe Kent East Indiaman.
The ¦ Underwriters at Liverpool have ' also
shown their accustomed liberality on this occa
sion.

No. XIII.

LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE
INHABITANTS OF FALMOUTH.
Falmouth, March 16, 1825.
Gentlemen,
In tracing the various links in that ample
chain of mercy and bounty with which it has
pleased a gracious Providence to surround the
numerous individuals lately rescued from the
destruction of the Honourable Company's ship
Kent, we, the Lieutenant-Colonel commanding,
and Officers belonging to the Right Wing of
the Slst Regiment cannot but reflect with un
ceasing gratitude on the beneficence of that ar
rangement, whereby ourselves and our gallant

Wi APPENDIX.
men after the awful and afflictingcalamity that be
fel us, were cast upon the sympathies of the inha
bitants of Falmouthand.tbeadjacenttowns, who
have so widely opened their hearts to feel, and
munificently extended their hands to provide
for our numerous and pressing wants.
We were thrown, upon your shore as penny-
less strangers, and ye took us in ; — we were
hungry, and ye gave us meat ; — naked, and ye
clothed us ; — sick, and ye relieved and com
forted us. We have found you rejoicing with
those of us who rejoiced, and weeping with
such of us as had cause to weep. You have
visited our fatherless and widows in their afflic
tion, and sought by unceasing acts of the most
seasonable, effective, and delicate charity, to
alleviate the measure of our sufferings.
Under such circumstances, what can we say,
or where shall we find words to express our
emotions? You have created between us andour
beloved country an additional bond of affec
tion and gratitude, that will animate our future
zeal, and enable us, amidst all the vicissitudes
of our professional life, to point out Fal
mouth to our companions in arms, as one of the
bright spots in our happy land, where the
friendless shall find many friends, and the af
flicted receive abundant consolation.

APPENDIX. 113
In the napie and on behalf of the Officers of
the Right Wing of the 3Ist Regiment,
R. B. FEARON, Lieut.-Col. 31st Foot.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Commiteejbr the relief of the sufferers
ly ihe destruction of the Honourable
Company's ship Kent, ^c. ^c. Falmouth,

THE END.

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