Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849Gilly, William O. S.
History
Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849
Gilly, William O. S.
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 18th century; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 19th century; Shipwrecks
'I am persuaded,' writes Captain Monke, in his narrative, 'that this
court will participate in my feelings, and would think me most
forgetful, if I did not here publicly express my grateful sense I
shall ever retain of the humane and liberal conduct of the Duchess of
Roxburgh and Mr. Manners, who in their hospitable mansion at Broxmouth
administered every sort of comfort and medical relief to the far
greater part of the suffering officers and people of the Pallas, many
of whose lives were thereby preserved to their country. In justice to
my own feelings, I cannot close my narrative without declaring to this
honourable court that no men under similar circumstances could behave
better than did the crew of the Pallas. So far from being dismayed by
their perilous situation, they manifested equal firmness and
subordination; and, in fact, from the first moment of the ship
striking the ground, to the time when necessity compelled every
individual to consult his own safety, they obeyed all the orders with
as much alacrity as cheerfulness, and (what is more) without either
noise or confusion. Hence, sir, I consider myself justified in
asserting that, notwithstanding the number victualled on board at the
time was reduced to one hundred and sixty, if any human exertion
could, in the first instance, have got the Pallas afloat, she would
not have been irrecoverably lost to the service. I must also beg leave
to add, that the officers set every example; and that from Mr.
Walker, the first-lieutenant, I derived, throughout this trying scene,
the most effectual support and assistance.'
The Nymph, which we have mentioned as being in company with the
Pallas, got on shore the same night, on a rock called the Devil's Ark,
near Skethard, misled by some irregularity in the lights on the Bell
Rock and Isle of May.
The crew of the Nymph were all saved, but the fine frigate was lost.
ST. GEORGE AND DEFENCE.
Among the many services in which the fleets of Great Britain were
engaged during the last war, none was more rife with perils and
hardships than that on which the Baltic Fleet was employed. During the
long winter nights the crews were continually exposed to intense cold,
and the ships were often enveloped in such impenetrable fogs, that
sometimes even the pilots were deceived as to their true position, and
those lamentable consequences ensued of which the loss of the Minotaur
was an example, (see page 154), her officers conceiving they were on
the coast of England, when they were actually stranded on the opposite
shore.
We will briefly mention two instances, which may give the reader some
idea of the severity of the climate in the Northern Seas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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