DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0185
PRESERVATION OF LIEUT. SPEARING.
163
REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF LIEUTENANT GEORGE
SPEARING, WHO FELL INTO A COAL-PIT, WHERE HE
REMAINED SEVEN DAYS AND NIGHTS WITHOUT FOOD.
The following narrative of the circumstances attending
the misfortune of Lieutenant Spearing are particularly inte-
resting, as coming from his own pen. They are given in a
letter to a friend, written by him in Greenwich Hospital,
and dated August 1, 1793; and though twenty-four years
had then elapsed from the accident which he describes, it
will not excite any wonder, that he should still retain so dis-
tinct a recollection of what he might justly consider as the
most remarkable event in his life.
You have so often importuned me to commit to writing
the story of my misfortune and providential preservation,
that I have now determined to comply with your solicitations.
From the long lapse of time since it happened, it will not
appear surprising if some circumstances should escape my
memory, but you may depend upon it that I will relate no
more than the truth, so far as recollection can justify the
assertion.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1769, between three and four
o’clock in the afternoon, I went into a little wood called
Northwoodside, situated between two and three miles north-
west of Glasgow, with a design to gather a few hazel-nuts.
I think that I could not have been in the wood more than a
quarter of an hour, nor have gathered more than ten nuts,
before I unfortunately fell into an old coal-pit exactly seven-
teen yards deep, which had been made through solid rock.
I was some little time insensible. On recovering my recol-
lection, I found myself sitting nearly as a tailor does at his
work, the blood flowing pretty fast from my mouth; and I
thought that I had broken a blood-vessel, and consequently
had not long to live; but to my great comfort, I soon disco-
y 2
163
REMARKABLE PRESERVATION OF LIEUTENANT GEORGE
SPEARING, WHO FELL INTO A COAL-PIT, WHERE HE
REMAINED SEVEN DAYS AND NIGHTS WITHOUT FOOD.
The following narrative of the circumstances attending
the misfortune of Lieutenant Spearing are particularly inte-
resting, as coming from his own pen. They are given in a
letter to a friend, written by him in Greenwich Hospital,
and dated August 1, 1793; and though twenty-four years
had then elapsed from the accident which he describes, it
will not excite any wonder, that he should still retain so dis-
tinct a recollection of what he might justly consider as the
most remarkable event in his life.
You have so often importuned me to commit to writing
the story of my misfortune and providential preservation,
that I have now determined to comply with your solicitations.
From the long lapse of time since it happened, it will not
appear surprising if some circumstances should escape my
memory, but you may depend upon it that I will relate no
more than the truth, so far as recollection can justify the
assertion.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13, 1769, between three and four
o’clock in the afternoon, I went into a little wood called
Northwoodside, situated between two and three miles north-
west of Glasgow, with a design to gather a few hazel-nuts.
I think that I could not have been in the wood more than a
quarter of an hour, nor have gathered more than ten nuts,
before I unfortunately fell into an old coal-pit exactly seven-
teen yards deep, which had been made through solid rock.
I was some little time insensible. On recovering my recol-
lection, I found myself sitting nearly as a tailor does at his
work, the blood flowing pretty fast from my mouth; and I
thought that I had broken a blood-vessel, and consequently
had not long to live; but to my great comfort, I soon disco-
y 2