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
The weather was not particularly boisterous at the time she sailed. A
severe storm however, had raged in the morning and must have agitated
the water on the Banks more than usual. The wind too, blew strongly
from the north-west, and the vessel had to contend with the tide,
which began to flow soon after she passed the rock. When the steamer
arrived off the Floating-light, which is stationed about fifteen miles
from Liverpool, the roughness of the sea alarmed many of the
passengers.--One of the survivors stated, that Mr. Tarry, of Bury,
who, with his family, consisting of himself, his wife, their five
children, and servant, was on board, being, in common with others,
greatly alarmed for his own safety and the safety of those dear to
him, went down to the cabin, where the captain was at dinner, and
requested him to put back. His reply was, "I think there is a great
deal of fear on board, and very little danger. If we were to turn back
with passengers, it would never do--we should have no profit." To
another gentleman who urged him to put back, he is reported to have
said very angrily, "I'm not one of those that turn back." He remained
in the cabin two whole hours, and peremptorily refused to comply with
the repeated requests made to him by the more timid of his passengers
to return to Liverpool; observing that if they knew him, they would
not make the request. Before dinner, his behavior had been
unexceptionable; but, after he had dined, a very striking difference
was observed in his conduct. He became violent in his manner, and
abusive in his language to the men. When anxiously questioned by the
passengers, as to the progress the vessel was making, and the time at
which she was likely to reach her destination, he returned trifling,
and frequently very contradictory answers. During the early part of
the voyage, he had spoken confidently of being able to reach Beaumaris
by seven o'clock; but the evening wore away, night came on, and the
vessel was still a considerable distance from the termination of her
voyage. It was near twelve o'clock when they arrived at the mouth of
the Menai Strait, which is about five miles from Beaumaris. The tide,
which had been running out of the strait, and which had, consequently,
for some time previous retarded the steamer's progress towards her
destination, was just on the turn. The vessel, according to the
statement of two of the seamen and one of the firemen saved, had got
round the buoy on the north end of the Dutchman's Bank, and had
proceeded up the river as far as the tower on Puffin Island; when
suddenly the steam got so low that the engine would not keep her on
her proper course. When asked, why there was not steam on, the fireman
said that a deal of water had been finding its way into the vessel
all day, and that sometime before she got into the strait, the
bilge-pumps were choked. The water in the hold then overflowed the
coals; so that, in renewing the fires, a deal of water went in with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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