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 convincedof the special interposition of Divine Providence in the winterrecorded, in the following Tract.
THE LOSS OF THE KENT EAST INDIAMAN.
My Dear E——,
You are aware that the Kent, Captain Henry Cobb, a fine new ship of1,350 tons, bound to Bengal and China, left the Downs on the 19th ofFebruary, 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 subduethe force of those deeply painful sensations to which few men can refuseto yield, in the immediate prospect of a long and distant separationfrom the land of their fondest and earliest recollections. With my[Pg 8]gallant shipmates, indeed, whose elasticity of spirits is remarkablycharacteristic of the professions to which they belonged, hope appearedgreatly to predominate over sadness. Surrounded as they were by everycircumstance that could render their voyage propitious, and in the ampleenjoyment of every necessary that could contribute either to theirhealth or their comfort, their hearts seemed to beat high withcontentment and gratitude towards that country which they zealouslyserved, and whose interests they were cheerfully going forth to defend.
With a fine fresh breeze from the north-east, the stately Kent, inbearing down the Channel, speedily passed many a well-known spot on thecoast dear to our remembrance; and on the evening of the 23rd we tookour last view of happy England, and entered the wide Atlantic, withoutthe expectation of again seeing land until we reached the shores ofIndia.
With slight interruptions of bad weather, we continued to make way untilthe 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[Pg 9]gradually increased during the whole of the following morning.
To those who have never "gone down to the sea in ships, an