The wreck on the Andamans : $b being a narrative of the very remarkable preservation and ultimate deliverance, of the soldiers and seamen, who formed the ships' companies of the Runnymede and Briton troop-ships, both wrecked on the morning of the 12th of November, 1844, upon one of the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of BengalDarvall, Joseph
History
The wreck on the Andamans : $b being a narrative of the very remarkable preservation and ultimate deliverance, of the soldiers and seamen, who formed the ships' companies of the Runnymede and Briton troop-ships, both wrecked on the morning of the 12th of November, 1844, upon one of the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal
Darvall, Joseph
Briton (Ship); Runnymede (Ship); Shipwrecks -- India -- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
After a short time, it was discovered that the ship was thrown on a
reef of rocks, and had bilged; and although the water entered her
through the holes which the rocks had made, and filled her up to the
lower beams, yet that it soon smothered, and, the bilge pieces keeping
her upright, she lay comparatively quiet. But being fearful that she
might beat over the reef into deep water, they let go the larboard
bower-anchor, and shortly afterwards found the water leaving her.
After this all hands fell asleep, being exhausted with fatigue and
hardship. Captain Doutty and the military gentlemen were in Captain
Stapleton's cabin, which was the only one habitable. Captain Doutty
felt too anxious to rest long, but lay watching whilst all was still,
except the beating of the waves and the rain on the poop. He then went
out in front of the poop. He could discern nothing but the surf
breaking heavily on and around his unfortunate vessel. He then lay
down again, wishing earnestly for the break of day.
THE DELIVERANCE.
"The night is gone, and o'er the sea,
The morning sun shines peacefully;
Again 'tis calm, again 'tis still,
Noiseless as gentle summer's rill."
_Anon._
At length the morning broke, which was to introduce the ship's
company, just rescued from a watery grave, to a new era in their
existence. With the daybreak the hurricane also began to break, and,
though it rained heavily, the barometer rose rapidly until it stood at
29 deg. 45". The captain then beheld, to his great joy, the loom, or
land-mark of the shore, to leeward, rising like a black belt, above
the breakers. The land was an island, off the east coast of the Great
Andaman, in latitude 12 deg. 1" north, and longitude about 93 deg. 14"
east. The Andaman Islands, which are about eight in number, and covered
with trees, form a group at the entrance of the Bay of Bengal, and are
near 750 miles from the Sand Heads at Calcutta, and twelve degrees from
the Equator. That on which the vessel was driven was in point of latitude
about the centre, and may be easily known by a remarkable hill
somewhat resembling a puritan's hat, and being placed in a hollow of
the land, with much higher hills, both on the north and south of it.
The anchorage is good, and a ship may be sheltered from all points.
[Illustration: Hullmandel & Walton Lithographers.
No. 1.
THE POSITION OF THE SHIPS, AT DAYBREAK, MORNING, 12TH. NOVEMBER]
About 60 years ago an attempt was made on the part of the East-India
Company to form a settlement on the Andaman Islands for the
convenience of shipping. Their first settlement was called Port
Chatham, on the South Andaman. But, after about a year or two, it
was removed thence, on account of its unhealthiness, to the North
Andaman, where it was named Port Cornwallis, after Admiral Cornwallis,
who recommended the removal, and not long after that was finally
broken up, and the islands abandoned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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