50 SCRAPS f)F LOCAL HISTORY. 



considerable quantity of silver plate for the use of his Canadian 

 household, which he ma'ntnined on a scale in keeping with his 

 high position. In due cour.se, the plate was purchased in London 

 and placed on hoard a bark, which, by a rather remarkable coinci- 

 dence, bore the name of the great man in Canada to whom the 

 silver was being sent. The bark was called the (3olborne, a vessel 

 of 350 tons, belonging to parties in Hull, England, commanded by 

 Capt. Kent, an experienced seamnn, and sailing on this 

 occasion out of London for Quebec and Montreal. The story of 

 that voyage forms one of the darkest sea tragedies of Eastern 

 Canadian waters. The Colborne never reached port. She was 

 lost in the Baie de Chaleur, and of the 54 souls on board all ex- 

 cept twelve found watery graves. Most of the valuable cargo 

 was lost, and a part of it was Sir John C )ll3orne's silver plate. 

 On the Gaspe coast, and ne-dv the scene of the wreck, is a little 

 fishing village known as L'Anse-au-Gascon, and here for many 

 years lived one of the survivors of the disaster, Mr. Joseph 

 Jones Acteson, a Justice of the Peace and one of th"^ principal 

 men of the place. His graphic and absolutely reliable account of 

 the wreck has been preserved by Sir James Le Moine, the well- 

 known historian and literateur of Quebec. In its essential features 

 Mr. Acteson 's story is here told. 



SHIP STRUCK HEAVILY. 



' 'The bark Colborne set sail from London on the last day of 

 August, her first port of call to be Quebec . Her cargo was 

 unusually rich, consisting of British merchandise, wines, spirits 

 and spices. Sir John Colborne's valuable silver plate, and ten 

 boxes of specie, each containing £1000, some consigned to banks, 

 but most belonging to the Government, and intended to be used 

 in paying the troops. The crew numbered 17, and of the 

 13assengers there were 38, among whom were Capt. James E. 

 Hudson of the British army, his wife, five daughters and six 

 sops ; Mr. Wm. Walker of the Royal Navy, brother-in-law to 

 Capt. Hudson ; Mr. W. Scobel, of Hamilton. Ont. ; Mr. Hawkins 

 of Toronto, and Mr. George Manly, Deputy Sherifi" of Quebec. 

 Those were the days of slow voyages, and six weeks had passed 

 when the Colborne entered the Gulf of St, Lawrence. The tragic 

 cha^.ter. opjBned op October 15th, a foggy day. Towards evening a 



