ie 
bau, came and asked me what place it, 
~ 1808. ] 
was not possible to. come to an anchor 
under the island? I told him, no; for the 
ice would drift off with the wind and cut 
thecables; so he asked the captain what 
was best to be done, and he said he would 
stand to the leeward till 8 o’clock, and 
then come back to the island; but at 
eivht be would not tack, and at twelve at 
night he would not tack, It then blew 
‘agale of wind -from the west and a very 
‘high sea ; the vessel made much water, 
and the pumps were choaked with the 
ballast ; by this time the water was partly 
over the ballast, and the sadors would 
not bale but very little, by which means 
the water gained very fast, and the wind 
was low at west-north-west. At twelve 
o’ciock on the 6th Mr. Pollen came to 
me, and asked me, what was best to be 
done; if the vessel was fit to keep sea or 
not? [ toid him it was impossible for the 
vessel to live long if the sailors did not 
make better use of their baling, for there 
was already three feet water in the hold, 
and it still kept gaining on us, sol told 
him it was best to bear away for some 
port in Prussia, to save the vessel and 
lives. Yes, says Mr, Pollen, [ think-that 
is the best we can do. He then went to 
the captain, and told him he thought it 
necessary that we should bear away for 
some harbour. To which the captain 
readily complied, and recommended Lie- 
bau. But Mr. Pollen objected to Liebau, 
onaccount of Mrv Bening’s coming away 
without a pass from Prussia. So he 
agreed to go to Memel; forat Pilau there 
was too little water, and he said he had 
never been at Memel in his life. So he 
told Mr. Pollen, if he would take the ship 
into Memel he would give me charge of 
lier as soon as we came to the bar. At 
twoin the morning of the 7th got sight 
of land about fifteen miles tu the lee- 
ward of Memel, and got close in ona 
lee shore, through the captain’s careless- 
3 , g Pp 
ness of running so far in the dark, we 
hauled the ship to by the wind on the 
larboard tack: at four got sight of Me- 
mel, which the captain taking to be Lie- 
was. [told him it was Memel, which 
surprised him very much. 
into the cabin, and toll Colonel Pollen 
ITsaw Memel; he immediately came on 
deck full of vlee, and likewise Lord Roy- 
ston, and alk the other gentlemen. Mr. 
Pollen said to the captain, Now will you 
ive the mate the charge of the vessel? 
fic told him, Yes, he would, At five I 
took charge oi the vessel to carry her into 
Meuiel harbour ; at six came to the bar, 
« 
Narrative of the Shipwreck at Memel. 
I went down , 
103 
and the sea very high, two seamen at the 
helm; as soon as the captain saw the 
sea breaking on the bar, he was afraid, 
and ran directly to the helm, and put it 
hard-a-port, and all my striving was in 
vain against three of them. I begged, 
for God’s sake, to put the helm the other 
way, and save our lives, but all was in 
vain, for in ten minutes she was on the 
south sand; the third time she struck 
she was full of water, and a dreadful 
sight soon presented itself to our view, 
The wind was then at west-north-west, 
a gale of wind. There wasa wooden house 
oa deck. Lady Pollen aud Mrs. Barnes, 
and her three children, and likewise three 
gentlemen, a servant man, a Prussian 
boy, and a servant girl, got into this 
small place to save themselves from the 
sea. Colonel Pollen and I immediately 
began to clear the boat, and the sailors 
would not assist us; he soon got the small 
boat out, and three sailors got into her 
with the captain. Lord Royston would 
have got into the same, but I stopped 
him, and the captain came out again, and 
as soon as they got away from the ship 
she turned over, and the three sailors 
were all drowned. Then we cleared the 
large boat, but before we got her out she 
was washed away from us by the sea.. 
Then we could do nothing more than 
trust to God to send us some assistance. 
About 9 p. m. cut the mast to ease the: 
vessel, but -could not see the life-boat 
come out of the harbour, which gave the 
gentlemen a bad heart; for the sea was 
very high, and ,breaking right over all 
our heads, and it was so very cold, that 
it was impossible for any man to hold 
himself fast. Colonel Pollen asked me 
if the round-house, where the lady was, 
would stand fast. I told him it would 
stand as long as the bottom of the ship, 
and he said, That is right, we must. all 
hold as fast as we can, for the boat will 
soon behere. I then left them and went 
aft of the vessel, it was now about half 
past four, but still no boat to be seen, 
which we all thought long of her coming, 
for our situation was now dreadful to be- 
hold, and the vessel all under water ex- 
cept the round-bouse. Mr. Benney. cried 
out very much, but he was soon washed 
away, and after bim, about ten o'clock, 
Lord Royston, Colonel Pollen, Mr. Bai- 
ley, and Mr. Baker, one sailor, and the 
lord’s servant, were all washed away 
within three seas of each other, I saw 
the two servants washed away, and got 
hold of them both, but was obliged to let 
them go overboard, which grieved me 
very 
i 
