Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall v2p2.djvu/463

 following are extracts from the official narrative of Captain Fellowes, published by authority soon after their arrival.

After giving an account of his sailing from Halifax, June 22, 1803, and the capture of a French schooner on the 26th, laden with salt fish, Captain Fellowes, thus proceeds:–

“Tuesday 28th June. Blowing hard from the westward, with a heavy sea and hazy weather, with intervals of thick fog. About 1 A.M., the ship then going by the log at the rate of seven miles an hour, struck against an island of ice, with such violence, that several of the crew were pitched out of their hammocks. Being roused out of my sleep by the suddenness of the shock, I instantly ran upon deck. The helm being put hard a-port, the ship struck again about the chest-tree, and then swung round on her heel, her stern-post being stove in, and her rudder carried away, before we could succeed in our attempts to haul her off. At this time the island of ice appeared to hang quite over the ship, forming a high peak, which must have been at least twice the height of our mast-head; and we suppose the length of the island to have been from a quarter to half a mile.

“The sea was now breaking over the ice in a dreadful manner, the water rushing in so fast as to fill the hold in a few minutes. Hove the guns overboard, cut away the anchors from the bows, got two sails under the ship’s bottom, kept both pumps going, and baling with buckets at the main-hatchway, in the hope of preventing her from sinking; but in less than a quarter of an hour she settled down to her fore-chains in the water.

“Our situation was now become most perilous. Aware of the danger of a moment’s delay in hoisting out the boats, I consulted Captain Thomas of the navy, and Mr. Bargus, my Master, as to the propriety of making any further efforts to save the ship; and as I was anxious to preserve the mail, I requested their opinion as to the possibility of taking it into the boats, in the event of our being able to get them over the ship’s side. These gentlemen agreed with me, that no time was to be lost in hoisting them out; and that, as the vessel was then settling fast, our first and only consideration was to endeavour to preserve the crew.

“Having fortunately succeeded in hoisting out the cutter and jolly-boat, the sea then running high, we placed the ladies in the former. One of them, Miss Cotenham, was so terrified, that she sprung from the gunwale, awl pitched into the bottom of the boat with considerable violence. This accident, which might have been productive of fatal consequences to herself, as well as to us all, was unattended by any bad effects. The few provisions which had been saved from the men’s berths were then put into the boats, which were quickly veered a-stern. By this time the main-deck forward was under water, and nothing but the quarter-deck appeared: then ordered my men into the boats: and having previously lashed iron-pigs of ballast to the mail, it was thrown overboard.

“I now perceived the ship was sinking fast, and called out to the men to haul up and receive me, intending to drop myself into the cutter from