Page:Loss of the Comet steam-boat on her passage from Inverness to Glasgow, on Friday the 21st October, 1825.pdf/3

 The steam-boat, commanded by Captain, sailed from Inverness for Glasgow, by the Caledonian Canal, at six o’clock on the morning of Tuesday the 18th of October, 1825. Besides the Captain, her crew consisted of eleven men and a boy; only six of whom were saved.

The number of passengers on board, at the time she sailed, cannot be accurately ascertained, as the steward, the only person who kept any record, was one of those who perished. There is good reason, however, to conclude, that at least sixty individuals took their departure in her from Inverness: and the number, by all accounts, was considerably augmented before she arrived in the Clyde.

On Tuesday evening, the Comet arrived at the western extremity of the Caledonian Canal; and the passengers, as usual, debarked, and remained for a night at Fort-William. On Wednesday morning, at ten o’clock, she proceeded on her voyage; and arrived at the Crinan Canal; where, as at Fort-William, the passengers slept on shore, at a small and inconvenient inn at the entrance into the canal. On Thursday morning, at six o’clock, they again got under way; but as the limited scale on which the canal is constructed precludes rapid progress, and a great number