CHRONICLE. 



39 



and impeded the sailing. The child 

 (the sea running higli) being afraid, 

 Mr. S. requested any man on board, 

 but they also declined the task ; on 

 which he jumped into the boat, 

 when just at that instant, the rope, 

 by which it was lashed, parted from 

 the vessel, and he was, by the force 

 of the tide, drifted to sea at a consi- 

 derable distance, when the boat, by 

 the surges, upset. In this perilous 

 situation, left at the mercy of the 

 waves, he had the presence of mind 

 to pull off all his clothes except his 

 nankeen trowsers and stockings, 

 keeping his station as well as he 

 could, sometimes on the keel of the 

 boat, and then, dashed off by a tre- 

 mendous wave, compelled to swim 

 and regain his former station. Giv- 

 ing up all for lost, previous to throw- 

 ing away his clothes, he wrote with 

 a pencil on a slip of paper, whicli 

 he put into his Vvfatch-case, the fol- 

 lowing label : — " Charles Sturt, 

 Brownsea, to his beloved wife." — 

 The watch, in the case of which 

 Mr. Sturt placed the label, was of 

 the most elegant kind, being en- 

 riched with diamonds, &c. and is 

 reported to be worth upwards of 

 .SOO guineas. It was a present from 

 his lady. This he preserved by fast- 

 ening it to his trowsers, the only 

 covering left himself. Some tran- 

 sports, which were intended to carry 

 the troops to Guernsey and Jersey, 

 by contrary winds being obliged to 

 put back ; all had passed, but the 

 last vessel, unnoticing him, when 

 one of the mates c.\claimed, "Good 

 God ! there is a man in distress !" 

 The transports could not bring-to, 

 as they lay full throe miles to the 

 windward, and a heavy sea, when 



four resolute fellows embarked in a 

 boat, Mr. Sturt only being occa- 

 sionally visible, andfollowed theline 

 in which they perceived him ; and, 

 after near two hours, they came up 

 with him, as he was only to be seen 

 within afewyards,nowalmostworn 

 out, when they lifted him into the 

 boat ; in which he had no sooner 

 arrived, than he grasped his kind 

 deliverers, lifting his hands to Pro- 

 vidence for this relief, and burst 

 instantaneously into tears. In Fe- 

 bruary, 1799, by his intrepidity, he 

 saved the lives of a ship's crew, 

 who would otherwise have perish- 

 ed :* being shipwrecked near his 

 seat at Brownsea-castle, within a 

 short distance of Poole. 



29th. The election came on this 

 day at Guildhall, for two proper per- 

 sons to be returned to the court of al- 

 dermen, for their choice of one of 

 them to be lord may or for the year en- 

 suing, when the show of hands was 

 declared by the sheriffs to be in 

 favour of the present lord mayor 

 and sir William Staines ; but a poll 

 being demanded by the friends of 

 Mr. Alderman Newman, the same 

 was granted, and immediately com- 

 menced. 



OCTOBER. 



3d. At a common hall this day, it 

 was unanimously resolved to peti- 

 tion the king to convene his par- 

 liament, to take into consideration 

 the present high price of provisions ; 

 and that the same shall be pre- 

 sented to his majesty on the throne. 

 And the sheriffs were directed to 



* See the Chronicle of our last volume. 



