DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0210
184
LOSS OF THE ABERGAVENNY INDIAMAN.
one an hour hence.”—“ Be that as it may,” replied the
officer, <{ let us die like men.” It is a circumstance hardly
to be accounted for, that in the midst of all this distress,
the boats were never attempted to be hoisted out.
When the passengers and crew were acquainted with
their situation, they made several efforts to save their
lives; some laid hold of pieces of the wreck, and com-
mitted themselves to the mercy of the waves. Mr. Forbes,
one of the cadets, stripped off his clothes, and being
an excellent swimmer, plunged into the sea, and was
one of those who was picked up by a boat from the
shore. A great number ran up the shrouds. About
eleven a heavy sea gave the vessel a sudden shock, and
in an instant she sunk to the bottom, in twelve fathoms
water. Many of the unfortunate persons who had run
up the shrouds for safety, were unable to sustain the mo-
tion of the vessel in going down, and suffered with their
unfortunate companions below. Between eighty and
ninety persons, however, were still able to maintain their
situation, and were ultimately saved. For some time
after the vessel had gone down, she kept gradually sink-
ing deeper in the sand, so that several persons were under
the necessity of climbing higher up the masts. The
highest mast was estimated to be above the water about
twenty-five feet, and the persons aloft could plainly dis-
cover the end of the bowsprit.
When she sunk, she did not go down in the usual
way that vessels do, by falling first upon her beam ends ;
this deviation was supposed to have arisen from her being
laden with treasure and porcelain ware.
Several boats were heard paddling about the wreck,
at half-past eleven, and although they were hailed by
the unfortunate persons on the shrouds and masts, they
could not be prevailed upon to take them on shore. The
reason which was afterwards assigned for this apparently
inhuman
LOSS OF THE ABERGAVENNY INDIAMAN.
one an hour hence.”—“ Be that as it may,” replied the
officer, <{ let us die like men.” It is a circumstance hardly
to be accounted for, that in the midst of all this distress,
the boats were never attempted to be hoisted out.
When the passengers and crew were acquainted with
their situation, they made several efforts to save their
lives; some laid hold of pieces of the wreck, and com-
mitted themselves to the mercy of the waves. Mr. Forbes,
one of the cadets, stripped off his clothes, and being
an excellent swimmer, plunged into the sea, and was
one of those who was picked up by a boat from the
shore. A great number ran up the shrouds. About
eleven a heavy sea gave the vessel a sudden shock, and
in an instant she sunk to the bottom, in twelve fathoms
water. Many of the unfortunate persons who had run
up the shrouds for safety, were unable to sustain the mo-
tion of the vessel in going down, and suffered with their
unfortunate companions below. Between eighty and
ninety persons, however, were still able to maintain their
situation, and were ultimately saved. For some time
after the vessel had gone down, she kept gradually sink-
ing deeper in the sand, so that several persons were under
the necessity of climbing higher up the masts. The
highest mast was estimated to be above the water about
twenty-five feet, and the persons aloft could plainly dis-
cover the end of the bowsprit.
When she sunk, she did not go down in the usual
way that vessels do, by falling first upon her beam ends ;
this deviation was supposed to have arisen from her being
laden with treasure and porcelain ware.
Several boats were heard paddling about the wreck,
at half-past eleven, and although they were hailed by
the unfortunate persons on the shrouds and masts, they
could not be prevailed upon to take them on shore. The
reason which was afterwards assigned for this apparently
inhuman