Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of OntarioScadding, Henry
History
Toronto of Old: Collections and recollections illustrative of the early settlement and social life of the capital of Ontario
Scadding, Henry
Toronto (Ont.) -- Description and travel; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
We now passed the grounds and house of Chief-Justice Powell. In this
place we shall only record our recollection of the profound sensation
created far and wide by the loss of the Chief-Justice's daughter in the
packet ship _Albion_, wrecked off the Head of Kinsale, on the 22nd of
April, 1822. A voyage to the mother country at that period was still a
serious undertaking. We copy a contemporaneous extract from the _Cork
Southern Reporter_:--"The _Albion_, whose loss at Garrettstown Bay we
first mentioned in our paper of Tuesday, was one of the finest class of
ships between Liverpool and New York, and was 500 tons burden. We have
since learned some further particulars, by which it appears that her
loss was attended with circumstances of a peculiarly afflicting nature.
She had lived out the tremendous gale of the entire day on Sunday, and
Captain Williams consoled the passengers, at eight o'clock in the
evening, with the hope of being able to reach Liverpool on the day but
one after, which cheering expectation induced almost all of the
passengers, particularly the females, to retire to rest. In some short
time, however, a violent squall came on, which in a moment carried away
the masts, and, there being no possibility of disengaging them from the
rigging, encumbered the hull so that she became unmanageable, and
drifted at the mercy of the waves, till the light-house of the Old Head
was discovered, the wreck still nearing in; when the Captain told the
sad news to the passengers, that there was no longer any hope; and, soon
after she struck. From thenceforward all was distress and confusion. The
vessel soon went to pieces, and, of the crew and passengers, only six of
the former and nine of the latter were saved." The names of the
passengers are added, as follows: "Mr. Benyon, a London gentleman; Mr.
N. Ross, of Troy, near New York; Mr. Conyers, and his brother-in-law,
Major Gough, 68th regiment; Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Americans; Madame
Gardinier and son, a boy about eight years of age; Col. Prevost; Mr.
Dwight, of Boston; Mrs. Mary Pye, of New York; Miss Powell, daughter of
the Honourable William Dummer Powell, Chief-Justice of Upper Canada;
Rev. Mr. Hill, Jamaica, coming home by the way of the United States;
Professor Fisher, of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Gurnee, New York; Mr.
Proctor, New York; Mr. Dupont, and five other Frenchmen; Mrs. Mary
Brewster; Mr. Hirst, Mr. Morrison, and Stephen Chase."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account