Optical Character Recognition
W In the rank close behind me was an officer of one of the lhips> whose name was Carey, and who had behaved with much bravery during the siege: (his wife, a fine wouiiii; though country born, would not quit him, but accompanied
him into the prison, and was one who survived.) This poor wretch had been long raving for water and air ; I told him I was determined to give up life, and re- commended his gaining my station. On my quitting,’ he made an attempt to get my place-; but- was supplanted. ‘” Poor Carey expressed his thankfulness,
and laid, he would give up life too ; but it was with the utmost labour we forced our way from the window, (several in the inner ranks appearing to me dead standing ^.) He laid himself down to die : and his death, I believe, was very sudden ; for he was a soort, full, sanguine man: his strength was great, and, 1 ima- gine, had he not retired with me, I should never have been able to have forced my way-.’
” I was at this time sensible of no pain, and little uneasinels. I found a stupor coming on apace, and laid myself down by that gallant old man, the reverend Mr. Jerves Bellamy, who lay dead with his son the lieutenant, hand in hand, near the southermost wall of the prison.
” When I had lien there some little time, I still had reflection enough to suf- fer some uneasiness in the thought, that I ffiould be trampled upon, when dead, as I myself had done to others. With some difficulty I raised myself, and gained the platform a second time, where I present- ly lost all sensation : the last trace ef sensibility that I have been able to recol- lect after my lying down, was my fasti being uneasy about mv waste, which I un- tied and threw from me. Of what pas- sed in this interval to the time of my re- surrection from this hole of horrors, I can give you no account; and indeed, the particulars mentioned by some of the gentlemen who survived (solely by the number of thbsc dead, by which they gained a freer accession of air, aiid ap- proach to the windows) were so excel- lively absurd and contradictory, as to corivince me, very few retained their ‘seri- fes; or, at least, lost them soon after they came into the open air, by the sever they carried out with them.
, – * A black Chrifhan foldier; ufually termed . f Unable to fall by the throng and equal pref-
fabjv’cTs’of .Portugal. I . .”i: , …- [j ifurcround, ” When
Sup.”1757. Letter from the Piirfer of the Coventry, 280 ” Whenthe day broke, and the, gentle-
men found that no intreaties could pre- vail to get the door opened, it occurred to one of them (I think to Mr. Secretary Cooke) to make a search for me, in hopes I might have influence enough to gain a release from this scene of misery. Ac- cordingly Melsis. Lufhington and Walcot undertook the search, and by my shirt discovered me under the dead upon the platform. They took me from thence; and imagining 1 had some signs of life, brought me towards the window I had first possession of.
” But as life was equally dear to eve- ry man (and the stench arising from the dead bodies was grown intolerable) no one would give up his station in or near the window : so they were obliged to carry me back again. But soon after Capt. Mills (now captain of the compa- ny’s yacht) who was in possession of a seat in the window, had the humanity to offer to resign it. I was again brought by the fame gentleman, and placed in the window.
“At this juncture the Suba, who had .received an account of die havock death -had made amongst us, sent one of’his Jem- mautdaars to enquire if the chief survived. They shewed me to him ; told him I had .appearance of life remaining; and belie- ved I might recover, if the door was o- ,pened very soon. This answer being re- turned to the Suba, an order came im- mediately for our release, it being then .near six in the morning,”, • .. – .
For what followed, we refer to the pamphlet itself.
A letter from the purser of the Coven- try to his brother’ in Scotland.
I Dear Brother,
BEfbre-we left Plymouth last, I wroteyou of our in tendedcruize to the west- ward, with the America of 64 guns.and
„ the Brilliant frigate of 36 ; and, as there seems to be some variety therein, I ima- gine the following journal of the fame may not be disagreeable.
On the 2 5th November, our two con- sorts sailed from the Sound for their sta- tion, 200,leagues W. of Scilly, between lat. 48 and lat. $0; we, being then not
quiteready, failed (only on the 30th, in or- der tojointhem. On the :4th December we fell in with the Kenniogtqn 20 gun ship, 27 days from America, who law the French fleet, off Louisourg making fail home, which necessitated us to. car- ry, the news to Admiral Hawke,, who was then in the Bay or about Cape Fini- sterre, waiting their motion. On the loth, in lat. 46, we met with the Leostaff fri- gate going an expresif to the, fleet; we delivered our message to him, and,, with a great deal of iatistaction, proceeded for ourstation. On the nth, inthe evening, we met the Brilliant and Americay who had run to the southward in chase of an English snow, who had been taken by the Samson French privateer, and which they retook and sent into Plymouth; we now intended to keep company together, and bore away for our station ; but that night blowing a mere hurricane of wind and rain, we parted) company, and did not meet again till the 17 th, when we found ourselves much about our statiom On the loth, observed a – Hiip to wind- ward, steering S. E. by S. and the Ame- rica our Commodore made the signals for chace, made fail, but falling easy wea- ther and night coming on, got within a league of her: soe ffiewed French colours, which the Chace answered,’ and fired a gun to leeward, as a signal of friendship.’: the Commodore repeated the same, and .after that fired some guns to make her bear down, but (he would not, and kept her wind j the night being calm, saw her next morning, and at night came up with her: she is a Ihip about 250 ton, from Louisourg; has a letter of marque, load- ed with fish for Bourdeaux; had 40 men, and mounted 12 guns; we mann’d her) and sent her home to Plymouth by her- self. . On. the 2 r It in Che morning, spied two sails plying to the S. E. whom the Brilliant, and us were ordered to chace ; ours happened to be,a Dutchman bound for Amsterdam ; and about three o’clock the Brilliant came up with hers, and fired herbow-chaces to bring her to,; theChace
. lioistedFreuch col ours, and fired her stern- chaces on the Brilliant, on which her magazine blew up ;’ and in two minutes, 1.think, instead of a sliip we could only
observe
1
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“A genuine account of the deplorable deaths of the English gentlemen and others, who were suffocated in the Black-hole at Calcutta, on the night of the 20th June 1756, in a letter from J. Z. Holwell, Esq.”, Edinburgh Magazine. December 2, 1757. 384-3846. http://login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tru e&db=h9h&AN=34864516&site=eds-live&scope=site&ppid=divp32&lpid=divl7
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