CHRONICLE. 



133 



eJ, as the other apprentice had 

 previously been ; but they only 

 enjoined him never to divulge the 

 circumstance, and swore him to 

 that effect. On these conditions 

 he was permitted to live. The 

 ship w as afterwards scuttled by the 

 crew, and sunk, when they took 

 to the boats, being eleven in num- 

 ber, eight in one boat, and three 

 in another. They arrived at the 

 island of St. Thomas, from whence 

 they got on board of another ship, 

 and came to Liverpool, where 

 some of them are now in the hos- 

 pital sick, it seems, with a fever 

 and ague. 



30. Government having ordered 

 a light-house to be erected on 

 Tuscar-rock, near Wexford, Mr. 

 Needham, an architect, was sent 

 thither in the course of the sum- 

 mer, with about twenty-five per- 

 sons experienced in such works: 

 For their accommodation they con- 

 structed on the rock three small 

 wooden houses : these habitations 

 were at high water forty feet above 

 the level of the sea. On the 

 morning of the 19th it blew a per- 

 fect hurricane, the waves broke 

 over them, and the unhappy inha- 

 bitants were obliged to leave their 

 huts, of which in two minutes not 

 a vestige remained, and fasten 

 themselves by ropes to large stones 

 preparing for the building and 

 weighing a ton or a ton and a half 

 each; which ponderous stones 

 were nevertheless dashed about 

 by the waves like so many pebbles. 

 Some of the persons who had fas- 

 tened themselves to the stones 

 were killed, and others forced 

 from their holds into the ocean. 

 The survivors, after continuing in 

 this perilous situation during two 

 tides, were at length discovered 



(the weather having become more 

 mild) by the boat employed to at- 

 tend the rock. They had remain- 

 ed from Sunday noon till Wednes- 

 day morning without any suste- 

 nance. In the evening ten of the 

 unfortunate men were conveyed 

 to Wexford ; three were brought 

 to the hospital, one of whom had 

 his leg broken, and the others were 

 much hurt. 



31. A foot- pad robbery took 

 place about one o'clock in the day, 

 attended with very extraordinary 

 circumstances. Mr Robert Thor- 

 ley, on his way from town to his 

 residence to Petersham, sent his 

 servant forward from Wandsworth 

 with a message to his familj', and 

 instead of himself proceeding home 

 through Richmond-park, as was 

 his custom, he went by the private 

 road, which turns off" to Richmond 

 a little beyond the seven- mile-stone 

 on the Wandsworth road. When 

 Mr. Thorley had passed the first 

 gate a short way, he perceived a 

 female attired like a quakeress, and 

 a man following her at a short dis- 

 tance, on the side-path, which is 

 parallel with the horse road. The 

 man appeared to be a carpenter, or 

 mechanic, with an apron folded 

 round him^ as soon as Mr. Thor- 

 ley came opposite to him he sprang 

 suddenly from the foot-path into 

 the main road, which causing Mr. 

 Thorley's horse to startle, he in- 

 voluntarily struck him across the 

 breast with a rattan stick ; and sup- 

 posing the man to be intoxicated, 

 he inquired what he was about. 

 The robber on this took out a pistol 

 from his left side, which Mr- 

 Thorley observed was loaded up 

 to the muzzle, presented it, and 

 said, " I must have your money." 

 Mr. Thorley replie<l, " You can 



have 



