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diff --git a/24745-8.txt b/24745-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1e640e --- /dev/null +++ b/24745-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1919 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Loss of the Kent, East Indiaman, in the +Bay of Biscay, by Duncan McGregor + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Loss of the Kent, East Indiaman, in the Bay of Biscay + Narrated in a Letter to a Friend + +Author: Duncan McGregor + +Release Date: March 3, 2008 [EBook #24745] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOSS OF THE KENT *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ESCAPING FROM THE BURNING SHIP.] + + THE LOSS + OF THE + KENT EAST INDIAMAN + IN THE BAY OF BISCAY. + + NARRATED IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND + + BY + + GENERAL SIR DUNCAN MACGREGOR, K.C.B. + + _NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS._ + + THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, + 56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; + AND 164, PICCADILLY. + + * * * * * + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + +The older I grow, and I am now in my 94th year, I am the more convinced +of the special interposition of Divine Providence in the winter +recorded, in the following Tract. + +The Author + + * * * * * + +THE LOSS OF THE KENT EAST INDIAMAN. + + +MY DEAR E----, + +You are aware that the _Kent_, Captain Henry Cobb, a fine new ship of +1,350 tons, bound to Bengal and China, left the Downs on the 19th of +February, with 20 officers, 344 soldiers, 43 women, and 66 children, +belonging to the 31st regiment; with 20 private passengers, and a crew +(including officers) of 148 men--in all, 641 persons on board. + +The bustle attendant on a departure for India is calculated to subdue +the force of those deeply painful sensations to which few men can refuse +to yield, in the immediate prospect of a long and distant separation +from the land of their fondest and earliest recollections. With my +gallant shipmates, indeed, whose elasticity of spirits is remarkably +characteristic of the professions to which they belonged, hope appeared +greatly to predominate over sadness. Surrounded as they were by every +circumstance that could render their voyage propitious, and in the ample +enjoyment of every necessary that could contribute either to their +health or their comfort, their hearts seemed to beat high with +contentment and gratitude towards that country which they zealously +served, and whose interests they were cheerfully going forth to defend. + +With a fine fresh breeze from the north-east, the stately _Kent_, in +bearing down the Channel, speedily passed many a well-known spot on the +coast dear to our remembrance; and on the evening of the 23rd we took +our last view of happy England, and entered the wide Atlantic, without +the expectation of again seeing land until we reached the shores of +India. + +With slight interruptions of bad weather, we continued to make way until +the night of Monday, the 28th, when we were suddenly arrested in lat. +47° 30´, long. 10°, by a violent gale from the south-west, which +gradually increased during the whole of the following morning. + +To those who have never "gone down to the sea in ships, and seen the +wonders of the Lord in the great deep," or even to such as have never +been exposed in a westerly gale to the tremendous swell in the Bay of +Biscay, I am sensible that the most sober description of the magnificent +spectacle of "watery hills in full succession flowing" would appear +sufficiently exaggerated. But it is impossible, I think, for the +inexperienced mariner, however unreflecting he may try to be, to view +the effects of the increasing storm, as he feels his solitary vessel +reeling to and fro under his feet, without involuntarily raising his +thoughts, with a secret confession of helplessness and veneration that +he may never before have experienced, towards that Being whose power, +under ordinary circumstances, we may have disregarded, and whose +incessant goodness we are prone to requite with ingratitude. + +The activity of the officers and seamen of the _Kent_ appeared to keep +ample pace with that of the gale. Our larger sails were speedily taken +in or closely reefed; and about ten o'clock on the morning of the 1st of +March, after having struck our top-gallant yards, we were lying to, +under a triple-reefed maintop-sail only, with the deadlights in, and +with the whole watch of soldiers attached to the life lines, that were +run along the deck for this purpose. + +The rolling of the ship, which was vastly increased by a dead weight of +some hundred tons of shots and shell that formed a part of its lading, +became so great about half-past eleven or twelve o'clock, that our main +chains were thrown by every lurch considerably under water; and the best +cleated articles of furniture in the cabins and the cuddy were dashed +about with so much noise and violence as to excite the liveliest +apprehensions of individual danger. + +It was a little before this period that one of the officers of the ship, +with the well-meant intention of ascertaining that all was fast below, +descended with two of the sailors into the hold, where they carried with +them, for safety, a light in the patent lantern; and seeing that the +lamp burned dimly, the officer took the precaution to hand it up to the +orlop deck to be trimmed. Having afterwards discovered one of the spirit +casks to be adrift, he sent the sailors for some billets of wood to +secure it; but the ship in their absence having made a heavy lurch, the +officer unfortunately dropped the light; and letting go his hold of the +cask in his eagerness to recover the lantern, it suddenly stove, and the +spirits communicating with the lamp, the whole place was instantly in a +blaze. + +I know not what steps were then taken. I myself had been engaged during +the greater part of the morning in double-lashing and otherwise securing +the furniture in my cabin, and in occasionally going to the cuddy, where +the marine barometers were suspended, to mark their varying indications +during the gale, in my journal; and it was on one of those occasions, +after having read to Mrs. ----, at her request, the twelfth chapter of +St. Luke, which so beautifully declares and illustrates the minute and +tender providence of God, and so solemnly urges on all the necessity of +continual watchfulness and readiness for the "coming of the Son of man," +that I received from Captain Spence, the captain of the day, the +alarming information that the ship was on fire in the afterhold. On +hastening to the hatchway, whence smoke was slowly ascending, I found +Captain Cobb and other officers giving orders, which seemed to be +promptly obeyed by the seamen and troops, who used every exertion by +means of the pumps, buckets of water, wet sails, hammocks, &c., to +extinguish the flames. + +With a view to excite among the ladies as little alarm as possible, in +conveying this intelligence to Colonel Fearon, the commanding officer of +the troops, I knocked gently at his cabin door, and expressed a wish to +speak with him; but whether my countenance betrayed the state of my +feelings, or the increasing noise and confusion upon deck created +apprehensions amongst them that the storm was assuming a more serious +aspect, I found it difficult to pacify some of the ladies by repeated +assurances that no danger whatever was to be apprehended from the gale. +As long as the devouring element appeared to be confined to the spot +where the fire originated, and which we were assured was surrounded on +all sides by the water casks, we ventured to cherish hopes that it might +be subdued; but no sooner was the light blue vapour that at first arose +succeeded by volumes of thick, dingy smoke--which speedily ascending +through all the four hatchways, rolled over every part of the ship--than +all further concealment became impossible, and almost all hope of +preserving the vessel was abandoned. "The flames have reached the cable +tier," was exclaimed by some individuals, and the strong pitchy smell +that pervaded the deck confirmed the truth of the exclamation. + +In these awful circumstances, Captain Cobb, with an ability and decision +that seemed to increase with the imminence of the danger, resorted to +the only alternative now left him, of ordering the lower decks to be +scuttled, the combings of the hatches to be cut, and the lower ports to +be opened, for the free admission of the waves. + +These instructions were speedily executed by the united efforts of the +troops and seamen; but not before some of the sick soldiers, one woman, +and several children, unable to gain the upper deck, had perished. On +descending to the gun deck with Colonel Fearon, Captain Bray, and one or +two other officers of the 31st regiment, to assist in opening the ports, +I met, staggering towards the hatchway, in an exhausted and nearly +senseless state, one of the mates, who informed us that he had just +stumbled over the dead bodies of some individuals who must have died +from suffocation, to which it was evident that he himself had almost +fallen a victim. So dense and oppressive was the smoke, that it was with +the utmost difficulty we could remain long enough below to fulfil +Captain Cobb's wishes; which were no sooner accomplished, than the sea +rushed in with extraordinary force, carrying away, in its resistless +progress to the hold, the largest chests, bulk-heads, etc. + +Such a sight, under any other conceivable circumstances, was well +calculated to have filled us with horror; but in our natural solicitude +to avoid the more immediate peril of explosion, we endeavoured to cheer +each other, as we stood up to our knees in water, with the faint hope +that by these violent means we might be speedily restored to safety. The +immense quantity of water that was thus introduced into the hold had +indeed the effect, for a time, of checking the fury of the flames; but +the danger of sinking having increased as the risk of explosion was +diminished, the ship became water-logged, and presented other +indications of settling previous to her going down. + +Death in two of its most awful forms now encompassed us, and we seemed +left to choose the terrible alternative. But always preferring the more +remote, though equally certain crisis, we tried to shut the ports again, +to close the hatches, and to exclude the external air, in order, if +possible, to prolong our existence, the near and certain termination of +which appeared inevitable. + +The scene of horror that now presented itself baffles all description;-- + + "Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell; + Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave." + +The upper deck was covered with between six and seven hundred human +beings, many of whom, from previous sea-sickness, were forced, on the +first alarm, to flee from below almost in a state of nakedness, and were +now running about in quest of husbands, children, or parents. While some +were standing in silent resignation, or in stupid insensibility to their +impending fate, others were yielding themselves up to the most frantic +despair. Some on their knees were earnestly imploring, with significant +gesticulations and in noisy supplications, the mercy of Him whose arm, +they exclaimed, was at length outstretched to smite them; others were to +be seen hastily crossing themselves, and performing the various external +acts required by their peculiar persuasion; while a number of the older +and more stout-hearted soldiers and sailors sullenly took their seats +directly over the magazine; hoping, as they stated, that by means of the +explosion which they every instant expected, a speedier termination +might be put to their sufferings.[1] Several of the soldiers' wives and +children, who had fled for temporary shelter into the after cabins on +the upper decks, were engaged in prayer and in reading the Scriptures +with the ladies; some of whom were enabled, with wonderful +self-possession, to offer to others those spiritual consolations which a +firm and intelligent trust in the Redeemer of the world appeared at this +awful hour to impart to their own breasts. The dignified deportment of +two young ladies,[2] in particular, formed a specimen of natural +strength of mind, finely modified by Christian feeling, that failed not +to attract the notice and admiration of every one who had an opportunity +of witnessing it. On the melancholy announcement being made to them that +all hope must be relinquished, and that death was rapidly and inevitably +approaching, one of the ladies above referred to, calmly sinking down on +her knees, and clasping her hands together, said, "Even so, come, Lord +Jesus," and immediately proposed to read a portion of the Scriptures to +those around her. Her sister with nearly equal composure and +collectedness of mind selected the forty-sixth and other appropriate +Psalms, which were accordingly read, with intervals of prayer, by those +ladies alternately to the assembled females. + +One young gentleman, of whose promising talents and piety I dare not now +make further mention, having calmly asked me my opinion respecting the +state of the ship, I told him that I thought we should be prepared to +sleep that night in eternity; and I shall never forget the peculiar +fervour with which he replied, as he pressed my hand in his, "My heart +is filled with the peace of God;" adding, "yet, though I know it is +foolish, I dread exceedingly the last struggle." + +Amongst the numerous objects that struck my observation at this period I +was much affected with the appearance and conduct of some of the dear +children, who, quite unconscious, in the cuddy cabins, of the perils +that surrounded them, continued to play as usual with their little toys +in bed, or to put the most innocent and unseasonable questions to those +around them. To some of the older children, who seemed fully alive to +the reality of the danger, I whispered, "Now is the time to put in +practice the instructions you used to receive at the Regimental School, +and to think of that Saviour of whom you have heard so much." They +replied, as the tears ran down their cheeks, "Oh, sir, we are trying to +remember them, and we are praying to God." + +The passive condition to which we were all reduced by the total failure +of our most strenuous exertions, while it was well calculated, and +probably designed, to convince us afterwards that our deliverance was +effected, not by our own might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord, +afforded us ample room at the moment for deep and awful reflection, +which, it is to be earnestly wished, may have been improved, as well by +those who were eventually saved as by those who perished. + +It has been observed by the author of the Retrospect, that "in the heat +of battle, it is not only possible but easy to forget death, and cease +to think; but in the cool and protracted hours of a shipwreck, where +there is often nothing to engage the mind but the recollection of tried +and unsuccessful labours, and the sight of unavoidable and increasing +harbingers of destruction, it is not easy or possible to forget +ourselves or a future state." + +The general applicability of the latter part of this proposition I am +disposed to doubt; for if I were to judge of the feelings of all on +board by those of the number who were heard to express them, I should +apprehend that a large majority of those men, whose previous attention +has never been fairly and fully directed to the great subject of +religion, approach the gates of death, it may be with solemnity, or with +terror, but without any definable or tangible conviction of the fact +that after death cometh the judgment. + +Several there were who vowed in loud and piteous cries, that if the Lord +God would spare their lives, they would thenceforward dedicate all their +powers to His service; and not a few were heard to exclaim, in the +bitterness of remorse, that the judgments of the Most High were justly +poured out upon them for their neglected Sabbaths, and their profligate +or profane lives; but the number of those was extremely small who +appeared to dwell either with lively hope or dread on the view of an +opening eternity. And as a further evidence of the truth of this +observation, I may mention that when I afterwards had occasion to mount +the mizen shrouds, I there met with a young man, who had brought me a +letter of introduction from our excellent friend, Dr. G--n, to whom I +felt it my duty, while we were rocking on the mast, quietly to propose +the great question, "What must we do to be saved?" and this young +gentleman has since informed Mr. P. that though he was at that moment +fully persuaded of the certainty of immediate death, yet the subject of +eternity, in any form, had not once flashed upon his mind previous to my +conversation. + +While we thus lay in a state of physical inertion, but with all our +mental faculties in rapid and painful activity--with the waves lashing +furiously against the sides of our devoted ship, as if in anger with the +hostile element for not more speedily performing its office of +destruction,--the binnacle, by one of those many lurches which were +driving everything movable from side to side of the vessel, was suddenly +wrenched from its fastenings, and all the apparatus of the compass +dashed to pieces upon the deck; on which one of the young mates, +emphatically regarding it for a moment, cried out with the emotion so +natural to a sailor under such circumstances, "What! is the _Kent's_ +compass really gone?" leaving the bystanders to form, from that omen, +their own conclusions. One promising young officer of the troops was +seen thoughtfully removing from his writing-case a lock of hair, which +he composedly deposited in his bosom; and another officer procuring +paper and pens, addressed a short communication to his father, which was +afterwards carefully enclosed in a bottle, in the hope that it might +eventually reach its destination, with the view, as he stated, of +relieving him from the long years of fruitless anxiety and suspense +which our melancholy fate would awaken, and of bearing his humble +testimony, at a moment when his sincerity could scarcely be questioned, +to the faithfulness of that God in whose mercy he trusted, and whose +peace he largely enjoyed in the tremendous prospect of immediate +dissolution.[3] It was at this appalling instant, when "all hope that we +should be saved was then taken away," and when the letter referred to +was about being committed to the waves, that it occurred to Mr. Thomson, +the fourth mate, to send a man to the fore-top, rather with the ardent +wish than the expectation, that some friendly sail might be +discovered on the face of the waters. The sailor, on mounting, threw his +eyes round the horizon for a moment--a moment of unutterable +suspense--and waving his hat exclaimed, "A sail on the lee bow!" The +joyful announcement was received with deep-felt thanksgivings, and with +three cheers, upon deck. Our flags of distress were instantly hoisted, +and our minute guns fired; and we endeavoured to bear down under our +three top-sails and fore-sail upon the stranger, which afterwards proved +to be the _Cambria_,[4] a small brig of 200 tons burden, Captain Cook, +bound to Vera Cruz, having on board twenty or thirty Cornish miners, and +other agents of the Anglo-Mexican Company. + +[Illustration: The ship the Kent Indiaman is on fire--Elizabeth Joanna & +myself commit our spirits into the hands of our blessed Redeemer. + +His grace enables us to be quite composed in the awful prospect of +entering eternity D MacGregor 1st March 1825----Bay of Biscay] + +For ten or fifteen minutes we were left in doubt whether the crew of the +brig perceived our signals, or perceiving them, were either disposed or +able to lend us any assistance. From the violence of the gale, it seems +that the report of our guns was not heard; but the ascending volumes of +smoke from the ship sufficiently announced the dreadful nature of our +distress; and we had the satisfaction, after a short period of dark +suspense, to see the brig hoist British colours, and crowd all sail to +hasten to our relief. + +Although it was impossible, and would have been improper, to repress the +rising hopes that were pretty generally diffused amongst us by the +unexpected sight of the _Cambria_, yet I confess, that when I reflected +on the long period our ship had been already burning--on the tremendous +sea that was running--on the extreme smallness of the brig, and the +immense number of human beings to be saved, I could only venture to hope +that a few might be spared; but I durst not for a moment contemplate the +possibility of my own preservation. + +[Illustration: SAVED FROM THE WRECK.] + +While Captain Cobb, Colonel Fearon, and Major MacGregor of the 31st +regiment, were consulting together, as the brig was approaching us, on +the necessary preparations for getting out the boats, etc., one of the +officers asked Major MacGregor in what order it was intended the +officers should move off; to which the other replied, "Of course in +funeral order;" which injunction was instantly confirmed by Colonel +Fearon, who said, "Most undoubtedly, the juniors first; but see that any +man is cut down who presumes to enter the boats before the means of +escape are presented to the women and children." + +To prevent the rush to the boats as they were being lowered, which, from +certain symptoms of impatience manifested both by soldiers and sailors, +there was reason to fear, some of the military officers were stationed +over them with drawn swords. But from the firm determination which these +exhibited, and the great subordination observed, with few exceptions, by +the troops, this proper precaution was afterwards rendered unnecessary. + +Arrangements having been made by Captain Cobb for placing in the first +boat, previous to letting it down, all the ladies, and as many of the +soldiers' wives as it could safely contain, they hurriedly wrapped +themselves up in whatever articles of clothing could be found; and I +think about two, or half-past two o'clock, a most mournful procession +advanced from the after cabins to the starboard cuddy port, outside of +which the cutter was suspended. Scarcely a word was uttered--not a +scream was heard--even the infants ceased to cry, as if conscious of the +unspoken and unspeakable anguish that was at that instant rending the +hearts of their parting parents; nor was the silence of voices in any +way broken, except in one or two cases, where the ladies plaintively +entreated permission to be left behind with their husbands. But on being +assured that every moment's delay might occasion the sacrifice of a +human life, they successively suffered themselves to be torn from the +tender embrace, and with that fortitude which never fails to +characterize and adorn their sex on occasions of overwhelming trial, +were placed, without a murmur, in the boat, which was immediately +lowered into a sea so tempestuous as to leave us only to hope against +hope that it should live in it for a single moment. Twice the cry was +heard from those on the chains that the boat was swamping. But He who +enabled the apostle Peter to walk on the face of the deep, and was +graciously attending to the earnest aspirations of those on board, had +decreed its safety. + +Although Captain Cobb had used every precaution to diminish the danger +of the boat's descent, by stationing a man with an axe to cut away the +tackle from either extremity, should the slightest difficulty occur in +unhooking it; yet the peril attending the whole operation, which can +only be adequately estimated by nautical men, had very nearly proved +fatal to its numerous inmates. + +After one or two unsuccessful attempts to place the little frail bark +fairly upon the surface of the water, the command was at length given to +unhook; the tackle at the stern was, in consequence, immediately +cleared; but the ropes at the bow having got foul, the sailor found it +impossible to obey the order. In vain was the axe applied to the +entangled tackle; the moment was inconceivably critical, as the boat, +which necessarily followed the motion of the ship, was gradually rising +out of the water, and must, in another instant, have been hanging +perpendicularly by the bow, and its helpless passengers launched into +the deep, had not a most providential wave suddenly struck and lifted up +the stern, so as to enable the seamen to disengage the tackle. The boat +being thus dexterously cleared from the ship, was seen after a while +from the poop, battling with the billows,--now raised, in its progress +to the brig, like a speck on their summit, and then disappearing for +several seconds, as if engulfed "in the horrid vale" between them.[5] + +The _Cambria_ having prudently lain to at some distance from the _Kent_, +lest she should be involved in her explosion, or exposed to the fire +from her guns, which, being all shotted, afterwards went off as the +flames successively reached them, the men had a considerable way to row; +and the success of this first experiment seeming to be the measure of +our future hopes, the movements of this precious boat--incalculably +precious, without doubt, to the agonized husbands and fathers +immediately connected with it--were watched with intense anxiety by all +on board. + +The better to balance the boat in the raging sea through which it had to +pass, and to enable the seamen to ply their oars, the women and children +were stowed promiscuously under the seats, and consequently exposed to +the risk of being drowned by the continual dashing of the spray over +their heads, which so filled the boat during the passages that before +their arrival at the brig the poor females were sitting up to the waist +in water, and their children kept with the greatest difficulty above it. + +However, in the course of twenty minutes the little cutter was seen +alongside the ark of refuge; and the first human being that happened to +be admitted, out of the vast assemblage that ultimately found shelter +there, was the infant son of Major MacGregor, a child of only a few +weeks old, who was caught from his mother's arms and lifted into the +brig by Mr. Thomson, the fourth mate of the _Kent_, the officer who had +been ordered to take charge of the ladies' boat.[6] + +But the extreme difficulty and danger presented to the women and +children in getting into the _Cambria_ seemed scarcely less imminent +than that which they had previously encountered; for to prevent the boat +from swamping or being stove against the side of the brig, while its +passengers were disembarking, required no ordinary exercise of skill +and perseverance on the part of the sailors, and of self-possession and +effort on that of the females themselves. On coming alongside of the +_Cambria_, Captain Cook very judiciously called first for the children, +who were successively thrown or handed up from the boat. The women were +then urged to avail themselves of every favourable heave of the sea by +springing towards the many friendly arms that were extended from the +vessel to receive them; and, notwithstanding the deplorable +consequence of making a false step under such critical circumstances, +not a single accident occurred to any individual belonging to the first +boat. Indeed, the only one whose life appears to have been placed in +extreme jeopardy alongside was one of the ladies, who, in attempting to +spring from the boat, came short of the hand that was held out to her, +and would certainly have perished, had she not most happily caught hold +at the instant of a rope that happened to be hanging over the +_Cambria's_ side, to which she clung for some moments, until she was +dragged into the vessel. + +I have reason to know that the feelings of oppressive delight, +gratitude, and praise experienced by the married officers and soldiers +on being assured of the comparative safety of their wives and children, +so entirely abstracted their minds from their own situation as to render +them for a little while totally insensible either to the storm that beat +upon them, or to the active and gathering volcano that threatened every +instant to explode under their feet. + +It being impossible for the boats, after the first trip, to come +alongside the _Kent_, a plan was adopted for lowering the women and +children by ropes from the stern, by tying them two and two together. +But from the heaving of the ship, and the extreme difficulty in dropping +them at the instant the boat was underneath, many of the poor creatures +were unavoidably plunged repeatedly under water; and much as humanity +may rejoice that no woman was eventually lost by this process, yet it +was as impossible to prevent, as it was deplorable to witness, the great +sacrifice thus occasioned of the younger children--the same violent +means which only reduced the parents to a state of exhaustion or +insensibility, having entirely extinguished the vital spark in the +feebler frames of the infants that were fastened to them. + +Amid the conflicting feelings and dispositions manifested by the +numerous actors in this melancholy drama, many affecting proofs were +elicited of parental and filial affection, or of disinterested +friendship, that seemed to shed a momentary halo around the gloomy +scene. + +Two or three soldiers, to relieve their wives of a part of their +families, sprang into the water with their children, and perished in +their endeavours to save them. One young lady, who had resolutely +refused to quit her father, whose sense of duty kept him at his post, +was near falling a sacrifice to her filial devotion, not having been +picked up by those in the boats until she had sunk five or six times. A +man, who was reduced to the frightful alternative of losing his wife or +his children, hastily decided in favour of his duty to the former. His +wife was accordingly saved, but his four children, alas! were left to +perish. A fine fellow, a soldier, who had neither wife nor child of his +own, but who evinced the greatest solicitude for the safety of those of +others, insisted on having three children lashed to him, with whom he +plunged into the water; not being able to reach the boat, he was again +drawn into the ship with his charge, but not before two of the children +had expired. One man fell down the hatchway into the flames, and another +had his back so completely broken as to have been observed quite doubled +falling overboard. These spectacles of individual loss and suffering +were not confined to the entrance upon the perilous voyage between the +two ships. One man, who fell between the boat and brig, had his head +literally crushed to pieces; and some others were lost in their attempts +to ascend the side of the _Cambria_. + +Seeing that the tardy means employed for the escape of the women and +children necessarily consumed a great deal of time that might be partly +devoted to the general preservation, orders were given that along with +the females, each of the boats should also admit a certain portion of +the soldiers, several of whom, in their impatience to take advantage of +this permission, flung themselves overboard, and sank in their +ill-judged and premature efforts for deliverance. + +One poor fellow of this number, a very respectable man, had actually +reached the boat, and was raising his hand to lay hold on the gunwale, +when the bow of the boat, by a sudden pitch, struck him on the head, +and he instantly went down. There was a peculiarity attending this man's +case that deserves notice. His wife, to whom he was warmly attached, not +having been of the allotted number of women to accompany the regiment +abroad, resolved in her anxiety to follow her husband, to defeat this +arrangement, and accordingly repaired with the detachment to Gravesend, +where she ingeniously managed, by eluding the vigilance of the sentries, +to get on board, and conceal herself for several days; and although she +was discovered, and sent ashore at Deal, she contrived a second time, +with true feminine perseverance, to get between decks, where she +continued to secrete herself until the morning of the fatal disaster. + +While the men were thus bent in various ways on self-preservation, one +of the sailors, who had taken his post with many others over the +magazine, awaiting with great patience the dreaded explosion, at last +cried out, as if in ill-humour that his expectation was likely to be +disappointed, "Well, if she won't blow up, I'll see if I can't get away +from her;" and jumping up, he made his way to the boats, which he +reached in safety. + +I ought to state that three of the six boats we originally possessed +were either completely stove or swamped in the course of the day, one of +them with men in it, some of whom were seen floating in the water for a +moment before they disappeared; and it is suspected that one or two of +those who went down must have sunk under the weight of their spoils, the +same individuals having been seen eagerly plundering the cuddy cabins. + +As the day was rapidly drawing to a close, and the flames were slowly +but perceptibly extending, Colonel Fearon and Captain Cobb evinced an +increasing anxiety to relieve the remainder of the gallant men under +their charge. + +To facilitate this object a rope was suspended from the extremity of the +spanker-boom, along which the men were recommended to proceed, and +thence slide down by the rope into the boats. But as, from the great +swell of the sea, and the constant heaving of the ship, it was +impossible for the boats to preserve their station for a moment, those +who adopted this course incurred so great a risk of swinging for some +time in the air, and of being repeatedly plunged under water, or dashed +against the sides of the boats underneath, that many of the landsmen +continued to throw themselves out of the stern window on the upper deck, +preferring what appeared to me the more precarious chance of reaching +the boats by swimming. Rafts made of spars, hencoops, etc., were also +ordered to be constructed, for the twofold purpose of forming an +intermediate communication with the boats--a purpose, by the bye, which +they very imperfectly answered--and of serving as a last point of +retreat, should the further extension of the flames compel us at once to +desert the vessel. Directions were at the same time given that every man +should tie a rope round his waist, by which he might afterwards attach +himself to the rafts, should he be suddenly forced to take to the water. +While the people were busily occupied in adopting this recommendation, I +was surprised, I had almost said amused, by the singular delicacy of one +of the Irish recruits, who, in searching for a rope in one of the +cabins, called out to me that he could find none except the cordage +belonging to an officer's cot, and wished to know whether there would be +any harm in his appropriating it to his own use. + +The gradual removal of the officers was at the same time commenced, and +was marked by a discipline the most rigid, and an intrepidity the most +exemplary; none appearing to be influenced by a vain and ostentatious +bravery, which, in cases of extreme peril, affords rather a presumptive +proof of secret timidity than of fortitude; nor any betraying an unmanly +or unsoldierlike impatience to quit the ship; but, with the becoming +deportment of men neither paralyzed by, nor profanely insensible to, the +accumulating dangers that encompassed them, they progressively departed +in the different boats with their soldiers; those who happened to +proceed first leaving behind them an example of coolness that could not +be unprofitable to those who followed. + +But the finest illustration of their conduct was displayed in that of +their chief, whose ability and presence of mind, under the complicated +responsibility and anxiety of a commander, husband, and father, were +eminently calculated, throughout this dismal day, to inspire all others +with composure and fortitude. Never for one moment did Colonel Fearon +seem to forget the authority with which his sovereign had invested him, +nor did any of his officers--as far as my observation went--cease to +remember the relative situations in which they were severally placed. +Even in the gloomiest moments of that dark season, when the dissolution +of every earthly distinction seemed near at hand, the decision and +confidence with which orders were issued on the one hand, and the +promptitude and respect with which they were obeyed on the other, +offered the best proofs of the stability of the well-connected system of +discipline established in the 31st regiment, and the most unquestionable +ground for the high and flattering commendation which his Royal +Highness, the Commander-in-chief, has been pleased to bestow upon it. + +I should, however, be guilty of injustice and unkindness if I here +omitted to bear my humble testimony to the manly behaviour of the East +India Company's cadets, and other private passengers on board, who +emulated the best conduct of the officers of the ship and of the troops, +and equally participated with them in all the hardships and exertions of +the day. + +As an agreeable proof, too, of the subordination and good feeling that +governed the poor soldiers in the midst of their sufferings, I ought to +state that towards evening, when the melancholy groups who were +passively seated on the poop, exhausted by previous fatigue, anxiety, +and fasting, were beginning to experience the pain of intolerable +thirst, a box of oranges was accidentally discovered by some of the men, +who, with a degree of mingled consideration, respect, and affection, +that could hardly have been expected at such a moment, refused to +partake of the grateful beverage until they had offered a share of it to +their officers. + +I regret that the circumstances under which I write do not allow me +sufficient time for recalling to my recollection all the busy thoughts +that engaged my own mind on that eventful day, or the various +conjectures which I ventured to form of what was passing in the minds of +others. + +But one idea was forcibly suggested to me,--that instead of being able +to trace amongst my numerous associates that diversity of fortitude +which I should have expected would mark their conduct--forming, as it +were, a descending series, from the decided heroism exhibited by some, +down to the lowest degree of pusillanimity and frenzy discoverable in +others,--I remarked that the mental condition of my fellow-sufferers was +rather divided by a broad but, as it afterwards appeared, not impassable +line; on the one side of which were ranged all whose minds were greatly +elevated by the excitement above their ordinary standard; and on the +other was to be seen the incalculably smaller but more conspicuous +group, whose powers of acting and thinking became absolutely paralyzed, +or were driven into delirium, by the unusual character and pressure of +the danger. + +Nor was it uninteresting to observe the curious interchange, at least +externally, of strength and weakness that obtained between those two +discordant parties, during the day. Some whose agitation and timidity +had, in the earlier part of it, rendered them objects of pity or +contempt, afterwards rose, by some great internal effort, into positive +distinction for the opposite qualities; while others, remarkable at +first for calmness and courage, suddenly giving way, without any fresh +cause of despair, seemed afterwards to cast their minds as they did +their bodies, prostrate before the danger. + +It would not, perhaps, be difficult to account for these apparent +anomalies; but I shall content myself with simply stating the facts, +adding to them one of a similar description that sensibly affected my +own mind. + +Some of the soldiers near me having casually remarked that the sun was +setting, I looked round, and never can I forget the intensity with which +I regarded his declining rays. I had previously felt deeply impressed +with the conviction that that night the ocean was to be my bed; and had, +I imagined, sufficiently realized to my mind, both the last struggles +and the consequences of death. But as I continued solemnly watching the +departing beams of the sun, the thought that that was really the very +last I should ever behold, gradually expanded into reflections the most +tremendous in their import. It was not, I am persuaded, either the +retrospect of a past life, or the direct fear of death or of judgment, +that occupied my mind at the period I allude to; but a broad, +illimitable view of eternity itself, altogether abstracted from the +misery or felicity that flows through it--a sort of painless, +pleasureless, sleepless eternity. I know not whither the overwhelming +thought would have hurried me, had I not speedily seized, as with the +grasp of death, on some of those sweet promises of the gospel which give +to an immortal existence its only charms; and that naturally enough led +back my thoughts, by means of the brilliant object before me, to the +contemplation of that blessed city, "which hath no need of the sun, +neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten +it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." + +I have been the more particular in recording my precise feelings at the +period in question, because they tend to confirm an opinion which I have +long entertained--in common, I believe, with others,--that we very +rarely realize even those objects that seem, in our every-day +speculations, to be the most interesting to our hearts. We are so much +in the habit of uttering the awful words 'Almighty,' 'heaven,' 'hell,' +'eternity,' 'divine justice,' 'holiness,' etc., without attaching to +them, in all their magnitude, the ideas of which such words are the +symbols, that we become overwhelmed with much of the astonishment that +accompanies a new and alarming discovery if, at any time, the ideas +themselves are suddenly and forcibly impressed upon us; and it is, +probably, this vagueness of conception, experienced even by those whose +minds are not altogether unexercised on the subject of religion, that +enables others, devoid of all reflection whatever, to stand on the very +brink of that precipice which divides the world of time from the regions +of eternity, not only with apparent, but frequently, I am persuaded, +with real tranquillity. How much it is to be lamented that we do not +keep in mind a truth which no one can pretend to dispute, that our +indifference or blindness to danger, whether it be temporal or eternal, +cannot possibly remove or diminish the extent of that danger. + +Some time after the shades of night had enveloped us, I descended to the +cuddy, in quest of a blanket to shelter me from the increasing cold; and +the scene of desolation that there presented itself was melancholy in +the extreme. The place which, only a few short hours before, had been +the seat of kindly intercourse and of social gaiety, was now entirely +deserted, save by a few miserable wretches, who were either stretched in +irrecoverable intoxication on the floor, or prowling about, like beasts +of prey, in search of plunder. The sofas, drawers, and other articles +of furniture, the due arrangement of which had cost so much thought and +pains, were now broken into a thousand pieces, and scattered in +confusion around me. Some of the geese and other poultry, escaped from +their confinement, were cackling in the cuddy; while a solitary pig, +wandering from its sty in the forecastle, was ranging at large in +undisturbed possession of the Brussels carpet that covered one of the +cabins. Glad to retire from a scene so cheerless and affecting, and +rendered more dismal by the smoke which was oozing up from below, I +returned to the poop, where I again found, amongst the few officers that +remained, Capt. Cobb, Colonel Fearon, Lieuts. Ruxton, Booth, and Evans, +superintending, with unabated zeal, the removal of the rapidly +diminishing sufferers, as the boats successively arrived to carry them +off. + +The alarm and impatience of the people increased in a high ratio as the +night advanced; and our fears, amid the surrounding darkness, were fed +as much by the groundless or exaggerated reports of the timid as by the +real and evident approach of the fatal crisis itself. With a view to +ensure a greater probability of being discovered by those in the boats, +some of the more collected and hardy soldiers (for I think almost all +the sailors had already effected their escape) took the precaution to +tie towels and such like articles round their heads, previously to their +committing themselves to the water. + +As the boats were nearly three-quarters of an hour absent between each +trip--which period was necessarily spent by those in the wreck in a +state of fearful inactivity--abundant opportunity was afforded for +collecting the sentiments of many of the unhappy men around me; some of +whom, after remaining perhaps for a while in silent abstraction, would +suddenly burst forth, as if awakened from some terrible dream to a still +more frightful reality, into a long train of loud and desponding +lamentation, that gradually subsided into its former stillness. + +It was during those trying intervals of rest that religious instruction +and consolation appeared to be the most required and the most +acceptable. Some there were who endeavoured to dispense it agreeably to +the visible wants and feelings of the earnest hearers. On one of those +occasions, especially, the officer to whom I have already alluded was +entreated to pray. His prayer was short, but was frequently broken by +the exclamations of assent to some of its confessions, that were wrung +from the afflicted hearts of his auditors. + +I know not in what manner, under those circumstances, spiritual hope or +comfort could have been ministered to my afflicted companions by those +who regard works, either wholly or partly, as the means of propitiating +divine justice, rather than the evidence and fruits of that faith which +pacifies the conscience and purifies the heart. But in some few cases, +at least, where the individuals deplored the want of time for repentance +and good works, I well remember that no arguments tended to soothe their +troubled minds but those which went directly to assure them of the +freeness and fulness of that grace which is not refused, even in the +eleventh hour, to the very chief of sinners. And if any of those to whom +I now allude have been spared to read this record of their feelings in +the prospect of death, it will be well for them to keep solemnly in mind +the vows they then took upon them, and to seek to improve that season of +probation which they so earnestly besought, and which has been so +mercifully extended to them,--by humbly and incessantly applying for +accessions of that faith which they are sensible removed the terrors of +their awakened consciences, and can alone enable them henceforward to +live in a sober, righteous, and godly manner, and thereby give the only +unquestionable proof of their love to God, and their interest in the +great salvation of His Son Jesus Christ. + +If, on reading this imperfect narrative,[7] any persons beyond the +immediate circle of my companions in misery (for within it I can safely +declare that there were no indications of ridicule) should affect to +despise, as contemptible or unsoldierlike, the humble devotional +exercises to which I have now referred, I should like to assure them, +that although they were undoubtedly commenced and prosecuted much more +with an eternal than a temporal object in view, yet they also subserved +the important purpose of restoring order and composure amongst a certain +limited class of soldiers, at moments when mere military appeals had +ceased to operate. + +I must state that, in general, it was not those most remarkable for +their fortitude who evinced either a precipitancy to depart, or a desire +to remain very long behind--the older and cooler soldiers appearing to +possess too much regard for their officers, as well as for their +individual credit, to take their hasty departure at a very early period +of the day, and too much wisdom and resolution to hesitate to the very +last. + +But it was not till the close of this mournful tragedy that +backwardness, rather than impatience, to adopt the perilous and only +means of escape that offered, became generally discernible on the part +of the unhappy remnant still on board, and that made it not only +imperative on Captain Cobb to reiterate his threats, as well as his +entreaties, that not an instant should be lost, but seemed to render it +expedient for one of the officers of the troops, who had expressed his +intention of remaining to the last, to limit, in the hearing of those +around him, the period of his own stay. Seeing, however, between nine +and ten o'clock, that some individuals were consuming the precious +moments by obstinately hesitating to proceed, while others were making +the inadmissible request to be lowered down as the women had been, +learning from the boatmen that the wreck, which was already nine or ten +feet below the ordinary water mark, had sunk two feet lower since their +last trip; and calculating, besides, that the two boats then under the +stern, with that which was in sight on its return from the brig, would +suffice for the conveyance of all who seemed in a condition to remove; +the three remaining officers of the 31st regiment seriously prepared to +take their departure. + +As I cannot perhaps convey to you so correct an idea of the condition of +others as by describing my own feelings and situation under the same +circumstances, I shall make no apology for detailing the manner of my +individual escape, which will sufficiently mark that of many hundreds +that preceded it. The spanker-boom of so large a ship as the _Kent_, +which projects, I should think, 16 or 18 feet over the stern, rests on +ordinary occasions about 19 or 20 feet above the water; but in the +position in which we were placed, from the great height of the sea, and +the consequent pitching of the ship, it was frequently lifted to a +height not less than 30 or 40 feet from the surface. + +To reach the rope, therefore, that hung from its extremity was an +operation that seemed to require the aid of as much dexterity of hand as +steadiness of head. For it was not only the nervousness of creeping +along the boom itself, or the extreme difficulty of afterwards seizing +on and sliding down by the rope that we had to dread, and that had +occasioned the loss of some valuable lives by deterring men from +adopting this mode of escape; but as the boat, which one moment was +probably close under the boom, might be carried the next, by the force +of the waves, 15 or 20 yards away from it, the unhappy individual, whose +best calculations were thus defeated, was generally left swinging for +some time in mid-air, if he was not repeatedly plunged several feet +under water, or dashed with dangerous violence against the sides of the +returning boat--or, what not unfrequently happened, was forced to let go +his hold of the rope altogether. As there seemed, however, no +alternative, I did not hesitate, notwithstanding my comparative +inexperience and awkwardness in such a situation, to throw my legs +across the perilous spar; and with a heart extremely grateful that such +means of deliverance, dangerous as they appeared, were still extended to +me; and more grateful still that I had been enabled, in common with +others, to discharge my honest duty to my sovereign and to my +fellow-soldiers, I proceeded,--after confidently committing my spirit, +the great object of my solicitude, into the keeping of Him who had +formed and redeemed it,--to creep slowly forward, feeling at every step +the increasing difficulty of my situation. On getting nearly to the end +of the boom, the young officer whom I followed and myself were met with +a squall of wind and rain so violent as to make us fain to embrace +closely the slippery stick (without attempting for some minutes to make +any progress), and to excite our apprehension that we must relinquish +all hope of reaching the rope. But our fears were disappointed; and +after resting for a little while at the boom end, while my companion was +descending to the boat, which he did not find until he had been plunged +once or twice over head in the water, I prepared to follow; and instead +of lowering myself, as many had imprudently done, at the moment when the +boat was inclining towards us--and consequently being unable to descend +the whole distance before it again receded,--I calculated that while the +boat was retiring I ought to commence my descent, which would probably +be completed by the time the returning wave brought it underneath; by +which means I was, I believe, almost the only officer or soldier who +reached the boat without being either severely bruised or immersed in +the water. + +But my good friend Colonel Fearon had not been so fortunate; for after +swinging for some time, and being repeatedly struck against the side of +the boat, and at one time drawn completely under it, he was at last so +utterly exhausted that he must instantly have let go his hold of the +rope and perished, had not some one in the boat seized him by the hair +of the head, and dragged him into it, almost senseless and alarmingly +bruised. + +Captain Cobb, in his resolution to be the last, if possible, to quit his +ship, and in his generous anxiety for the preservation of every life +entrusted to his charge, refused to seek the boat until he again +endeavoured to urge onward the few still around him, who seemed struck +dumb and powerless with dismay.[8] But finding all his entreaties +fruitless, and hearing the guns, whose tackle was burst asunder by the +advancing flames, successively exploding in the hold into which they had +fallen, this gallant officer, after having nobly pursued, for the +preservation of others, a course of exertion that has been rarely +equalled either in its duration or difficulty, at last felt it right to +provide for his own safety by laying hold on the topping-lift or rope +that connects the driver boom with the mizen-top, and thereby getting +over the heads of the infatuated men who occupied the boom, unable to go +either backward or forward, and ultimately dropping himself into the +water. + +The means of escape, however, did not cease to be presented to the +unfortunate individuals above referred to, long after Captain Cobb took +his departure; since one of the boats persevered in keeping its station +under the _Kent's_ stern, not only after all expostulation and entreaty +with those on board had foiled, but until the flames, bursting forth +from the cabin windows, rendered it impossible to remain without +inflicting the greatest cruelty on the individuals that manned it. But +even on the return of the boat in question to the _Cambria_, with the +single soldier who availed himself of it, did Captain Cook, with +characteristic jealousy, refuse to allow it to come alongside until he +learned that it was commanded by the spirited young officer, Mr. +Thomson,[9] whose indefatigable exertions during the whole day were to +him a sufficient proof that all had been done that could be done for the +deliverance of those individuals. + +[Illustration: THE MAGAZINE EXPLODED.] + +The same beneficent Providence which had been so wonderfully exerted for +the preservation of hundreds, was pleased, by a still more striking and +unquestionable display of power and goodness, to avert the fate of a +portion of those few who, we had all too much reason to fear, were +doomed to destruction. It would appear--for the poor men themselves give +an extremely confused, though I am persuaded not a wilfully false +account of themselves--that shortly after the departure of the last boat +they were driven by the flames to seek shelter on the chains, where they +stood until the masts fell overboard, to which they then clung for some +hours, in a state of horror that no language can describe; until they +were, most providentially, I may say miraculously, discovered and picked +up by Captain Bibbey, the humane commander of the _Caroline_, a vessel +on its passage from Egypt to Liverpool, who happened, to see the +explosion at a great distance, and instantly made all sail in the +direction whence it proceeded. Along with the fourteen men thus +miraculously preserved were three others, who had expired before the +arrival of the _Caroline_ to their rescue.[10] + +The men on their return to their regiment expressed themselves in terms +of the liveliest gratitude for the affectionate attentions they received +on board the _Caroline_, from Captain Bibbey, who considerately remained +till daylight close to the wreck, in the hope that some others might +still be found clinging to it--an act of humanity which, it will appear +on the slightest reflection, would have been madness in Captain Cook, in +the peculiar situation of the _Cambria_, to have attempted. + +But when I recollect the lamentable state of exhaustion to which that +portion of the crew were reduced, who unshrinkingly performed to the +last their arduous and perilous duties,--and that out of the three boats +that remained afloat, one was only prevented from sinking, towards the +close of the night, by having the hole in its bottom repeatedly stuffed +with soldiers' jackets, while the other two were rendered inefficient, +the one by having its bow completely stove, and the second by being half +filled with water, and the thwarts so torn as to make it necessary to +lash the oars to the boat's ribs,--I must believe that, by those who +thus laboured, all was done that humanity could possibly demand, or +intrepidity effect, for the preservation of every individual. + +Quitting, for a moment, the subject of the wreck, I would advert to what +was in the meantime taking place on board the _Cambria_. I cannot, +however, pretend to give you any adequate idea of the feelings of hope +or despair that alternately flowed, like a tide, in the breasts of the +unhappy females on board the brig, during the many hours of torturing +suspense in which several of them were unavoidably held respecting the +fate of their husbands,--feelings which were inconceivably excited, +rather than soothed, by the idle and erroneous rumours occasionally +conveyed to them regarding the state of the _Kent_. But still less can I +attempt to portray the alternate pictures of awful joy and of wild +distraction exhibited by the sufferers (for both parties for the moment +seemed equally to suffer), as the terrible truth was communicated that +they and their children were indeed left husbandless and fatherless; +or as the objects from whom they had feared they were for ever severed, +suddenly rushed into their arms. But these feelings of delight, whatever +may have been their intensity, were speedily chastened, and the +attention of all arrested, by the last tremendous spectacle of +destruction. + +After the arrival of the last boat the flames, which had spread along +the upper deck and poop, ascended with the rapidity of lightning to the +masts and rigging, forming one general conflagration, that illumined the +heavens to an immense distance, and was strongly reflected by several +objects on board the brig. The flags of distress, hoisted in the +morning, were seen for a considerable time waving amid the flames, until +the masts to which they were suspended successively fell like stately +steeples over the ship's side. At last, about half-past one o'clock in +the morning, the devouring element having communicated to the magazine, +the explosion was seen, and the blazing fragments of the once +magnificent _Kent_ were instantly hurried, like so many rockets, high +into the air;[11] leaving, in the comparative darkness that succeeded, +the deathful scene of that disastrous day floating before the mind like +some feverish dream. + +Shortly afterwards, the brig, which had been gradually making sail, was +running at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour towards the nearest +port. I would here endeavour to render my humble tribute of admiration +and gratitude to that gallant and excellent individual, who, under God, +was undoubtedly the chief instrument of our deliverance; if I were not +sensible that testimony has been already borne to his heroic and humane +efforts, in a manner much more commensurate with, and from quarters +reflecting infinitely greater honour upon his merits, than the feeble +expressions of them which I should be able to record.[12] I trust you +will keep in mind that Captain Cook's generous intentions and exertions +must have proved utterly unavailing for the preservation of so many +lives, had they not been most nobly and unremittingly supported by those +of his mate and crew, as well as of the numerous passengers on board his +brig. While the former, only eight in number, were usefully and +necessarily employed in working the vessel, the sturdy Cornish miners +and Yorkshire smelters, on the approach of the different boats, took +their perilous stations on the chains, where they put forth the great +muscular strength with which Heaven had endowed them, in dexterously +seizing, at each successive heave of the sea, on some of the exhausted +people, and dragging them up on deck. + +Nor did their kind assistance terminate there. They and the gentlemen +connected with them cheerfully opened their ample stores of clothes and +provisions, which they liberally dispensed to the naked and famished +sufferers; they surrendered their beds to the helpless women and +children, and seemed, in short, during the whole of our passage to +England, to take no other delight than in ministering to all our wants. + +Although, after the first burst of mutual gratulation, and of becoming +acknowledgment of the divine mercy for our unlooked-for deliverance, had +subsided, none of us felt disposed to much interchange of thought, each +being rather inclined to wrap himself up in his own reflections; yet we +did not, during the first night, view with the alarm it warranted, the +extreme misery and danger to which we were still exposed, by being +crowded together, in a gale of wind, with upwards of 600 human beings, +in a small brig of 200 tons, at a distance, too, of several hundred +miles from any accessible port. Our little cabin, which was only +calculated, under ordinary circumstances, for the accommodation of eight +or ten persons, was now made to contain nearly eighty individuals, many +of whom had no sitting room, and even some of the ladies no room to lie +down. Owing to the continued violence of the gale, and to the bulwarks +on one side of the brig having been driven in, the sea beat so +incessantly over our deck as to render it necessary that the hatches +should only be lifted up between the returning waves, to prevent +absolute suffocation below, where the men were so closely packed +together that the steam arising from their respiration excited at one +time an apprehension that the vessel was on fire; while the impurity of +the air they were inhaling became so marked, that the lights +occasionally carried down amongst them were almost instantly +extinguished. Nor was the condition of the hundreds who covered the deck +less wretched than that of their comrades below; since they were +obliged night and day to stand shivering, in their wet and nearly naked +state, ankle deep in water:[13]--some of the older children and females +were thrown into fits, while the infants were piteously crying for that +nourishment which their nursing mothers were no longer able to give +them.[14] + +Our only hope amid these great and accumulating miseries was that the +same compassionate Providence which had already so marvellously +interposed in our behalf would not permit the favourable wind to abate +or change until we reached some friendly port; for we were all convinced +that a delay of a very few days longer at sea must inevitably involve us +in famine, pestilence, and a complication of the most dreadful evils. +Our hopes were not disappointed. The gale continued with even increasing +violence; and our able captain, crowding all sail, at the risk of +carrying away his masts, so nobly urged his vessel onward, that in the +afternoon of Thursday, the 3rd, the delightful exclamation from aloft +was heard, "Land ahead!" In the evening we descried the Scilly lights; +and running rapidly along the Cornish coast, we joyfully cast anchor in +Falmouth harbour, at about half-past twelve o'clock at night. + +On reviewing the various proximate causes to which so many human beings +owed their deliverance from a combination of dangers as remarkable for +their duration as they were appalling in their aspect, it is impossible, +I think, not to discover and gratefully acknowledge, in the beneficence +of their arrangement, the overruling providence of that blessed Being, +who is sometimes pleased, in His mysterious operations, to produce the +same effect from causes apparently different; and on the other hand, as +in our own case, to bring forth results the most opposite, from one and +the same cause. For there is no doubt that the heavy rolling of our +ship, occasioned by the violent gale, which was the real origin of all +our disasters, contributed also most essentially to our subsequent +preservation; since, had not Captain Cobb been enabled, by the +greatness of the swell, to introduce speedily through the gun ports the +immense quantity of water that inundated the hold, and thereby checked +for so long a time the fury of the flames, the _Kent_ must +unquestionably have been consumed before many, perhaps before any, of +those on board could have found shelter in the _Cambria_.[15] + +But it is unnecessary to dwell on an insulated fact like this, amidst a +concatenation of circumstances, all leading to the same conclusion, and +so closely bound together as to force us to confess, that if a single +link in the chain had been withdrawn or withheld, we must all most +probably have perished. + +The _Cambria_, which had been, it seems, unaccountably detained in port +nearly a month after the period assigned for her departure, was early on +the morning of the fatal calamity pursuing at a great distance ahead of +us the same course with ourselves; but her bulwarks on the weather side +having been suddenly driven in, by a heavy sea breaking over her +quarter, Captain Cook, in his anxiety to give ease to his labouring +vessel, was induced to go completely out of his course by throwing the +brig on the opposite tack, by which means alone he was brought in sight +of us. Not to dwell on the unexpected, but not unimportant facts of the +flames having been mercifully prevented, for eleven hours, from either +communicating with the magazine forward, or the great spirit room abaft, +or even coming into contact with the tiller ropes--any of which +circumstances would evidently have been fatal,--I would remark that, +until the _Cambria_ hove in sight, we had not discovered any vessel +whatever for several days previous; nor did we afterwards see another +until we entered the chops of the Channel. It is to be remembered, too, +that had the _Cambria_, with her small crew, been homeward instead of +outward bound, her scanty remainder of provisions, under such +circumstances, would hardly have sufficed to form a single meal for our +vast assemblage; or if, instead of having her lower deck completely +clear, she had been carrying out a full cargo, there would not have been +time, under the pressure of the danger and the violence of the gale, to +throw the cargo overboard, and certainly, with it, not sufficient space +in the brig to contain one-half of our number. + +When I reflect, besides, on the disastrous consequences that must have +followed if, during our passage home, which was performed in a period +most unusually short, the wind had either veered round a few points, or +even partially subsided--which must have produced a scene of horror on +board more terrible if possible than that from which we had escaped; and +above all, when I recollect the extraordinary fact, and that which seems +to have the most forcibly struck the whole of us, that we had not been +above an hour in Falmouth harbour, when the wind, which had all along +been blowing from the south-west, suddenly chopped round to the opposite +quarter of the compass, and continued uninterruptedly for several days +afterwards to blow strongly from the north-east,--one cannot help +concluding that he who sees nothing of a Divine Providence in our +preservation must be lamentably and wilfully blind to "the majesty of +the Lord." + +In the course of the morning we all prepared, with thankful and joyful +hearts, to place our feet on the shores of Old England. + +The ladies, always destined to form our vanguard, were the first to +disembark, and were met on the beach by immense crowds of the +inhabitants, who appeared to have been attracted thither less by idle +curiosity than from the sincerest desire to alleviate in every possible +manner their manifest sufferings. + +The sailors and soldiers, cold, wet, and almost naked, quickly followed; +the whole forming, in their haggard looks and the endless variety of +their costume, an assemblage at once as melancholy and grotesque as it +is possible to conceive. So eager did the people appear to be to pour +out upon us the full current of their sympathies, that shoes, hats, and +other articles of urgent necessity were presented to several of the +officers and men before they had even quitted the point of +disembarkation. And in the course of the day, many of the officers and +soldiers, and almost all of the females, were partaking, in the private +houses of individuals, of the most liberal and needful hospitality. + +But this flow of compassion and kindness did not cease with the impulse +of the more immediate occasion that had called it forth. For a meeting +of the inhabitants was afterwards held, where subscriptions in clothes +and money to a large amount were collected for the relief of the +numerous sufferers. The women and children, whose wants seemed to demand +their first care, were speedily furnished with comfortable clothing, and +the poor widows and orphans with decent mourning. Depositories of +shirts, shoes, stockings, etc., were formed for the supply of the +officers and private passengers; and the sick and wounded in the +hospital were made the recipients, not only of all those kindly +attentions and medical assistance that could remove or soothe their +temporal suffering, but were also invited to partake freely of the most +judicious spiritual consolation and instruction. This march of charity +was conducted by the ladies of Falmouth, who were zealously accompanied +on it by the whole body, in the vicinity, of that peculiar sect of +Christians, who have ever been as remarkable for their unassuming +pretensions and consistent conduct, as for unostentatiously standing in +the front ranks of every good work. And so strong is the reason which I, +in particular, have to associate in my mind all that is sincere, +considerate, and charitable with the society of Friends, that the very +badge of Quakerism will, I trust, henceforward prove a full and +sufficient passport to the best feelings of my heart. + +On the first Sunday after our arrival, Colonel Fearon, followed by all +his officers and men, and accompanied by Captain Cobb, and the officers +and private passengers of his late ship, hastened to prostrate +themselves before the throne of the Heavenly grace, to pour out the +public expression of their thanksgiving to their almighty Preserver. The +scene was deeply impressive; and it is earnestly to be hoped that many a +poor fellow who listened, perhaps for the first time in his life, with +unquestionable sincerity and humility to the voice of instruction, will +be found steadily prosecuting, in the strength of God, the good +resolutions that he may on that solemn occasion have formed, until he be +able to say, as one of the greatest generals of antiquity did, that "it +was good for him to have been afflicted; for before he was afflicted he +went astray, but that afterwards he was not ashamed to keep God's word." + +In the course of a few days the private passengers and most of the +sailors of our party were dispersed in various directions; and the +troops, after having incurred to the excellent inhabitants of Falmouth, +and the adjacent towns, a debt of gratitude which none of them can ever +hope to repay, were embarked for Chatham. + +I think you must be already sensible that the circumstances of our +situation on board the _Kent_ did not enable us conscientiously to save +a single article, either of public or private property, from the flames; +indeed, the only thing I preserved--with the exception of forty or fifty +sovereigns, which I hastily tied up in my pocket handkerchief, and put +into my wife's hands, at the moment she was lifted into the boat, as a +provision for herself and her companions against the temporary want to +which they might be exposed on some foreign shore--was the pocket +compass, which you yourself presented to me.[16] + +But I would have you to be assured, that the total abandonment of +individual interests on the part of the officers of the ship, and of the +31st regiment, was occasioned by no want of self-possession, nor even, +in all cases, of opportunities to attend to them; but to a sincere +desire to avoid even the appearance of selfishness, at moments when the +valuable lives of their sailors and soldiers were at stake. And this +observation applies with still greater force to the senior officers in +both services, whose cabins being upon the upper deck were accessible +during the whole day; and where many portable articles of value were +deposited, which could have been very easily carried off, had those +officers been disposed to devote to their own concerns even a portion of +that precious time, and of those active exertions, which they +unremittingly applied to the performance of their professional duty. + +Notwithstanding the unexpected length to which I have already extended +this narrative, I cannot allow myself to close it without offering to my +late companions on board the _Kent_, into whose hands it may possibly +fall, a few very plain and simple observations, which I think worthy of +their serious consideration, and the importance of which I desire to +have deeply impressed upon my own mind. None of those soldiers who were +in the habit of reading their Bibles can have failed to notice that +faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is therein made the great pivot +on which the salvation of man hinges; that the whole human race, without +distinction of rank, nation, age, or sex, being justly exposed to the +wrath of Almighty God, nothing but the precious blood of Christ, which +was shed on the cross, can possibly atone for their sins; and that faith +in this atonement can alone pacify the conscience, and awaken confidence +towards God as a reconciled Father. If, therefore, "he that believeth in +Christ shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned," be +the unequivocal language of Jehovah, either expressly declared or +obviously implied in every page of that record which He has vouchsafed +to us of His Son; is it not a question of the deepest concernment to +every one professing any regard for divine revelation, whether he really +understands and believes that record, and whether he is able to give, +not only to others, but to himself, a reason of this hope that is in +him? + +From the influence of education or example, the absence of serious +reflection, an attention to the outward ordinances of religion, a regard +to many of the proprieties and decencies of life, and a forgetfulness +that the religion of the Bible is a religion of motives rather than one +of observances, minds easily satisfied on such subjects may persuade +themselves that they are spiritually alive while they are dead--that +they are amongst the sincere disciples of the blessed Redeemer, and +fully interested in His salvation, while they may have neither part nor +lot in the matter. But if, at the hour of death, when all external +support shall slide away, the soul shall be awakened to the +consciousness of its real condition; if it should be made to see, on the +one hand, the spirituality and exceeding breadth of the divine law, and +be quickened, on the other, to a sense of its unnumbered transgressions; +if the mercy of God out of Christ, in which so many vainly and vaguely +trust, should become obscured by the inflexible justice and spotless +holiness of His character and if the solitary spirit, as it is dragged +towards the mysterious precipice, is made to hear, from a voice which it +can no longer mistake, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all +things which are written in the book of the law to do them,"--how +unspeakably miserable must be the condition of the man who thus +discovers, for the first time, that the sand which he had all his +lifetime been mistaking for the "Rock of Ages" is now giving way under +his feet, and that his soul must speedily sink into that state in which, +"where the tree falleth, there it shall be;" where "he that is unjust, +let him be unjust still;" and where there is "no work, nor device, nor +knowledge," nor repentance. + +But that I may not be misunderstood, or be supposed to favour principles +of barren speculation, more delusive and dangerous to their possessors, +and to the best interests of society, than absolute ignorance itself--I +would remind the gallant men to whom I am now more especially addressing +myself, that that faith which saves the soul not only "worketh" +invariably "by love," and gradually "overcometh the world," but that "it +is the gift of God," implanted in the heart by His Holy Spirit, even by +that Spirit which is freely given to every one that earnestly asketh. +And however unable the simple soldier may be to explain either the +nature or the manner of its operation, he must not deceive himself into +the persuasion that he is possessed of this precious grace unless he +feels it bringing forth in his life and conversation the abundant fruits +that necessarily spring from it, and that cannot indeed be produced +without it. He will be steady and zealous in the performance of duty, +patient under fatigue and privation, sober amid temptation, calm but +firm in the hour of danger, and respectfully obedient to his officers; +he will honour his king, be content with his wages, and do harm to no +man. His piety will be ardent but sober, his prayers will be earnest and +frequent, but rather in secret than before men; he will not be +contentious or disputatious, but rather desirous of instructing others +by his example than by his precepts; letting his light so shine before +them, in the simplicity of his motives, the uprightness of his actions, +in his readiness to oblige, and by the whole tenor of his life, that +they, seeing his good works, may be led, by the divine blessing, to +acknowledge the reality and power and beauty of religion, and be induced +in like manner to glorify his heavenly Father. In short, in comparison +with his thoughtless comrades, he must not only aspire to become a +better man, but, from the constraining motives of the gospel, struggle +to be also in every essential respect a better soldier. + +In conclusion, I would observe that if any class of men, more than +another, ought to be struck with awe and gratitude by the goodness and +providence of God, it is they who go down to the sea in ships, and see +His wonders in the great deep; or if any ought to familiarize their +minds with death and its solemn consequences, it is surely soldiers, +"whose very business it is to die." May all those then, especially, who +thus possessed the privilege, but rarely granted, of being allowed, in +the full vigour of health, and in the absence of all the bustle and +excitement of battle, to contemplate, from the very brink of eternity, +the awful realities that reign within it, as many of their departing +comrades were hurried through its dreadful portals, be now led, in the +respite which has been given them, to remember that this alone is the +accepted time, and this the day of salvation; for while some may defer +the subject "to a more convenient season," the message may come forth, +at an hour when it is least expected, "This night thy soul shall be +required of thee." The foregoing narrative may be fitly supplemented by +some particulars[17] of the events occurring after the departure of the +_Cambria_ from the scene of the wreck:-- + +"About twelve o'clock the watch of the barque _Caroline_, on her passage +from Alexandria to Liverpool, observed a light on the horizon, and knew +it at once to be a ship on fire. There was a heavy sea on, but the +captain, instantly setting his maintop-gallant-sail, ran down towards +the spot. About one, the sky becoming brighter, a sudden jet of vivid +light shot up; but they were too distant to hear the explosion. In +half-an-hour the _Caroline_ could see the wreck of a large vessel lying +head to the wind. The ribs and frame timbers, marking the outlines of +double ports and quarter-galleries, showed that the burning skeleton was +that of a first-class Indiaman. Every other external feature was gone; +she was burnt nearly to the water's edge, but still floated, pitching +majestically as she rose and fell on the long rolling swell of the bay. +The vessel looked like an immense cage of charred basket-work filled +with flame, that here and there blazed brighter at intervals. Above, +and far to leeward, there was a vast drifting cloud of curling smoke +spangled with millions of sparks and burning flakes, and scattered by +the wind over the sky and waves. + +"As the _Caroline_ approached, part of a mast and some spars, rising and +falling, were observed grinding under the weather-quarter of the wreck, +having got entangled with the keel or rudder irons, and thus attaching +it to the hull of the vessel. The _Caroline_, coming down swift before +the wind, was in a few minutes brought across the bows of the _Kent_. At +that moment a shout was heard as if from the very centre of the fire, +and the same instant several figures were observed clinging to a mast. +The sea was heavy, and the wreck threatened every moment to disappear. +The _Caroline_ was hove-to to leeward, in order to avoid the showers of +flakes and sparks, and to intercept any boats or rafts. The mate and +four seamen pushed off in the jolly-boat, through a sea covered with +floating spars, chests, and furniture, that threatened to crush or +overwhelm the boat. When within a few yards of the stern, they caught +sight of the first living thing--a wretched man clinging to a spar +close under the ship's counter. Every time the stern-frame rose with the +swell he was suspended above the water, and scorched by the long keen +tongues of pure flame that now came darting through the gun-room ports. +Each time this torture came the man shrieked with agony; the next moment +the surge came and buried him under the wave, and he was silent. The +_Caroline's_ men, defying the fire, pulled close to him, but just as +their hands were stretching towards him (latterly the poor wretch had +been silent), the rope or spar was snapped by the fire, and he sank for +ever. + +"The men then, carefully backing, carried off six other of the nearest +men from the mast. The small boat, only eighteen feet long, would not +hold more than eleven persons, and indeed, as it was, was nearly swamped +by a heavy wave. In half-an-hour the boat bravely returned, and took off +six more. + +"The mate, fearing the vessel was going down, and that the masts would +be swallowed in the vortex, redoubled his efforts to get a third time to +the wreck. While struggling with a head sea, and before the boat could +reach the mast, the end came. The fiery mass settled like a red-hot +coal into the waves, and disappeared for ever. The sky grew instantly +dark, a dense shroud of black smoke lingered over the grave of the ship, +and instead of the crackle of burning timbers and the flutter of flames, +there spread the ineffable stillness of death. + +"As the last gleam flickered out, Mr. Wallen, the mate of the +_Caroline_, with great quickness of thought set the spot by a star. +Then, in spite of the danger in the darkness of floating wreck, he +resolved to wait quietly till daylight, and ordered his men to shout +repeatedly to cheer any who might be still floating on stray spars. For +a long time no one answered; at last a feeble cry came, and the +_Caroline's_ sailors returned it loudly and gladly. What joy that faint +cry must have brought to those friendly ears! With what joy must the +boatmen's shout have been received! + +[Illustration: WHEN DAY BROKE THE MAST WAS VISIBLE.] + +"When the day broke the mast was visible, and four motionless men could +be seen among its cordage and top-work. They seemed dead, but as the +boat neared, two of them feebly raised their heads and stretched out +their arms. When taken into the boat, they were found to be faint and +almost dead from the cold and wet, and the many hours they had been +half under water. The other two were stone dead. One had bound himself +firmly to the spar, and lay as if asleep, with his arms around it, and +his head upon it, as if it had been a pillow. The other stood half +upright between the cheeks of the mast, his face fixed in the direction +of the boat, his arms still extended. They were both left on the spar. +One of the Indiaman's empty boats was also found drifting a short +distance off. The wind beginning to freshen and a gale coming on, it was +all the jolly-boat could do to rejoin the _Caroline_. There could be no +doubt that when the _Caroline_ hove-to and luffed under the lee of the +_Kent_, it must have passed men drifting to leeward on detached spars. +They of course all perished in the rising storm. + +"A piece of plate was presented to Captain Cook, of the _Cambria_, by +the officers and passengers of the _Kent_, and the Duke of York publicly +thanked him for his humane zeal and promptitude. The Secretary of War +(Lord Palmerston) authorized a sum of five hundred pounds to be given to +the captain and crew of the _Cambria_, and the agents of the ship were +also paid two hundred and eighty-seven pounds for provisions, two +hundred and eighty-seven pounds for passengers' diet, and five hundred +pounds for demurrage. The East India Company awarded six hundred pounds +to Captain Cook, one hundred pounds to the first mate, fifty pounds to +the second mate, ten pounds each to the nine men of the crew, fifteen +pounds each to the twenty-six miners, and one hundred pounds to the ten +chief miners for extra stores, to make their voyage out more +comfortable. The Royal Exchange Assurance gave Captain Cook fifty +pounds, and his officers and crew fifty pounds. The subscribers to +Lloyds voted him a present of one hundred pounds; the Royal Humane +Society awarded him an honorary medallion; and the underwriters at +Liverpool were also prominent in their liberality." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Captain Cobb, with great forethought, ordered the deck to +be scuttled forward, with a view to draw the fire in that direction, +knowing that between it and the magazine were several tiers of +water-casks; while he hoped that the wet sails, etc., thrown into the +after-hold, would prevent the fire from communicating with the +spirit-room abaft.] + +[Footnote 2: The late Lady MacGregor, and the late Mrs. Pringle, of +Yair, Whytbank, Selkirk, N.B., who are also mentioned in the letter on +page 23.] + +[Footnote 3: This bottle, left in the cabin, was cast into the sea by +the explosion that destroyed the _Kent_. About nineteen months +afterwards the following notice appeared in a Barbadoes (West Indian) +newspaper:-- + +"A bottle was picked up on Saturday, the 30th September, at Bathsheba (a +bathing-place on the west of Barbadoes), by a gentleman who was bathing +there, who, on breaking it, found the melancholy account of the fate of +the ship _Kent_, contained in a folded paper written with pencil, but +scarcely legible." The words of the letter were then given, and a +facsimile of it will be found on the next page. The letter itself, taken +from the bottle thickly encrusted with shells and seaweed, was returned +to the writer when he arrived, shortly after its discovery, at +Barbadoes, as Lieut.-Colonel of the 93rd Highlanders, and the +interesting relic is still preserved by his son (at that time called +"little Rob Roy"), who is not mentioned in the letter, but was saved as +related in page 33.] + +[Footnote 4: Two shipwrights, dismissed from their situation because +they would not work on Sunday, were employed by the father of a friend +of the writer. He engaged them to build their first vessel, the +_Cambria_, and this was her first voyage, starting from Deptford before +the _Kent_ sailed from Gravesend. + +Captain Cook many years afterwards commanded in the disastrous "Niger +Expedition." He was a splendid sailor, and a humble Christian, whose +death-bed, long years after, was attended by the youngest passenger he +had helped to save from the burning _Kent_.] + +[Footnote 5: I was afterwards informed by one of the passengers on board +the _Cambria_--for from the great height of the Indiaman we had not the +opportunity of making a similar observation--that when both vessels +happened to be at the same time in the trough of the sea, the _Kent_ was +entirely concealed by the intervening waves from the deck of the +_Cambria_.] + +[Footnote 6: "The _Rob Roy_ Canoe on the Jordan" (Murray) gives some +other experiences of watery dangers in after life.] + +[Footnote 7: This narrative has been translated into the French, +Spanish, Swedish, Italian, German, and Russian languages, and the author +(born March 16, 1787) still enjoys good health (1880) while writing the +preface to this edition, of which a _facsimile_ is given at the +beginning of the book.] + +[Footnote 8: Some of those men who were necessarily left behind, having +previously conducted themselves with great propriety and courage, I +think it but justice to express my belief that the same difficulties +which had nearly proved fatal to Captain Cobb's personal escape were +probably found to be insurmountable by landsmen, whose coolness, +unaccompanied with dexterity and experience, might not be available to +them in their awful situation.] + +[Footnote 9: I ought to state that the exertions of Mr. Muir, third +mate, were also most conspicuous during the whole day.] + +[Footnote 10: See page 83.--One of the men saved after the +explosion (which had burned off both his feet) was met thirty years +afterwards by the individual who was first saved in the _Cambria_. This +man was wheeling himself in a go-cart on the race-ground at Lanark, +dressed in sailor's costume, and selling papers with a picture of the +_Kent_ upon them and some doggerel verses below. As honorary secretary +of the "Open-Air Mission" (which provides preachers for streets in +towns, and for races and fairs in the country), the "first saved" from +the wreck and burning then preached the Gospel to the "last saved" from +the scorched embers, and to a large and motley crowd, all of whom will +assuredly meet once more "at that day."] + +[Footnote 11: Besides 500 barrels of gunpowder, there was on board +several hundredweight of highly explosive percussion powder. The brig +was about three miles distant when the _Kent_ exploded.] + +[Footnote 12: Captain Cook afterwards rendered distinguished services in +the Niger expedition, and died in London a true Christian sailor, after +several visits from one he had helped to save.] + +[Footnote 13: In addition to those who were naked on board the _Kent_ at +the moment the alarm of fire was heard, several individuals afterwards +threw off their clothes to enable them the more easily to swim to the +boats.] + +[Footnote 14: One of the soldiers' wives was delivered of a child about +an hour or two after her arrival on board the brig. Both survived, and +the child received the appropriate name of "Cambria."] + +[Footnote 15: There were lost in the destruction of the _Kent_, 54 +soldiers, 1 woman, and 20 children, belonging to the 31st Regiment; 1 +seaman and 5 boys--total, 81 individuals.] + +[Footnote 16: A little Testament was also saved. Only one officer's +sword was saved, and that belonged to him who afterwards led the 31st +regiment in the battles on the Sutlej.] + +[Footnote 17: From _All the Year Round_.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Loss of the Kent, East Indiaman, +in the Bay of Biscay, by Duncan McGregor + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOSS OF THE KENT *** + +***** This file should be named 24745-8.txt or 24745-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/4/24745/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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