The third company, of sixty strong, under Lieutenant Gregory, R.E., embarked at Woolwich, 26th February, on board the ‘Shipley’ transport for the West Indies, and was wrecked on the morning of the 19th April on the Cobbler’s Rocks near Barbadoes. The ship had made the land at half-past ten o’clock the preceding evening, and, hauling up to S.S.E., the agent on board counselled that the ship should stand off till 3 o’clock. Soon after 12 at night, the master, contrary to the naval officer’s advice, ordered the ship to stand for the land, and went to bed, leaving in charge a man who soon became intoxicated and fell asleep. Thus left to herself, the vessel got out of her course, and about 3 A.M. dashed with a frightful crash upon the reef. At this time it was pitch dark, and the frequency of the shocks split and tore the ship in every direction. While the crew and the sappers were getting tackle ready to hoist the long-boat out, the cook-house caught fire, but it was promptly extinguished with wet blankets and sails. The freshness of the wind driving the sea against the shore, and the steepness of the cliffs which were higher than the ship’s royal mainmast, made it impracticable to land a boat; but the boatswain, taking with him a deep sea-line, gained a craggy pinnacle on the rocks, and throwing it to a black fisherman on the top, who chanced to reach the spot at the moment, a six-inch tow-line was quickly passed to him, by which the troops, with their wives and families, in slings and cradles, worked themselves to the summit of the precipice. In ten minutes after the ‘Shipley’ became a total wreck, and the company lost its entire baggage, equipment, &c. Lieutenant Gregory was the last to quit the sinking ship. Being almost naked and barefooted, a number of greatcoats and ample land-carriage were sent for the company; and in this state, under an oppressive sun, they reached their quarters at St. Anne’s on the evening of the 19th April.[252] A party of this company was constantly detached to Berbice for the service of the engineer department; and second-corporal Thomas Sirrell, an able artificer, superintended the construction of the iron hospital at Antigua, where he died. To acquire a knowledge of the application of iron to be used in the erection of barracks in the West Indies, he had been specially employed for six months under Lieutenant Brandreth in the foundries at Birmingham. ----- Footnote 252: ‘Morning Herald,’ June 5, 1826. ----- 1827-1829.