Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.Anonymous
History
Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.
Anonymous
Mutiny; Pirates; Seafaring life; Shipwrecks
About five, we beckoned as much as possible for the captain to come
upon the rope, as this seemed to be as good an opportunity as any we
had seen; and many arrived in safety with our assistance. Some told us
that the captain was determined to stay till all the men had quitted
the wreck however, we still continued to beckon for him, and before it
was dark, saw him come upon the rope. He was closely followed by a
good able seaman, who did all he could to keep up his spirits and
assist him in warping. As he could not swim, and had been so many
hours without refreshment, with the surf hurling him violently along,
he was unable to resist the force of the waves, had lost his hold of
the great rope, and must inevitably have perished had not a wave
thrown him within the reach of our ropes, which he had barely
sufficient sense to catch hold of. We pulled him up, and after resting
a short time on the rocks, he came to himself, and walked up to the
tent, desiring us to continue to assist the rest of the people in
coming on shore.
The villains, (the Moors), would have stripped him, though, he had
nothing on but a plain waistcoat and breeches, if we had not plucked
up a little spirit and opposed them; upon which they thought proper to
desist. The people continued to come ashore, though many perished in
the attempt. The Moors, at length, growing tired with waiting for so
little plunder, would not suffer us to remain on the rocks, but drove
us all away. I then, with the captain's approbation, went, and by
signs made humble supplication to the bashaw, who was in the tent,
dividing the valuable plunder. He understood us at last, and gave us
permission to go down, at the same time sending some Moors with us. We
carried fire-brands down to let the poor souls on the wreck see that
we were still there in readiness to assist them. About nine at night
finding that no more men would venture upon the rope, as the surf was
again greatly increased, we retired to the tent, leaving by the
account of the last man arrived, between thirty and forty souls still
upon the wreck. We now thought of stowing every body in the tent, and
began by fixing the captain in the middle. Then made every man lie
down on his side, as we could not afford them each a breadth; but,
after all, many took easier lodging in empty casks.
The next morning the weather was moderate and fair.--We found the
wreck all in pieces on the rocks, and the shore covered with lumber.
The people upon the wreck all perished about one in morning. In the
afternoon we called a muster, and found the number of the survivors to
be 220; so that 130 perished on this melancholy occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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