u 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 18J7. 



[fm. 



loatled at Limerick with a cargo 

 of provisions, on account of Mr. 

 E. D. Hanitier's contract with the 

 Victualling Board, and bound to 

 London. 



From Captain Miller of the Police to 

 Mr.Spaight, Merchant, Limerick. 

 Kilrush, Feb. 24. 



Dear Spaight. — As I am now 

 in possession of most of the par- 

 ticulars of the wreck of the Inver- 

 ness, I shall detail them to you, as 

 follows : — 



She Went on shore on Wednes- 

 day night, the 19th instant, mis- 

 tiiking Rinevaha for Garrigaholt, 

 and would have got off by the 

 next spring-tide, had the peasantry 

 not boarded and rendered her not 

 sea-worthy, by scuttling her, and 

 tearing away all her rigging : 

 they then robbed the crew of all 

 their clothes, tore their shirts", 

 which they made bags of, to carry 

 away the plunder ; and then 

 broached the tierces of pork and 

 distributed the contents to people 

 on shore, who waited to convey 

 them up the country. The alarm 

 having reached this on Thursday, 

 a Serjeant and 1<2 of the police 

 were sent down, with the chief 

 constable at their head, and they 

 succeeded in re- taking some of 

 the provisions and securing them, 

 driving the mob from the wreck. 

 The police kept possession of what 

 they had got during the night j 

 but very eaily on Friday morning 

 (he people collected in some thou- 

 sands, arid went down to the 

 beach, where they formed into 

 three bodies, and cheered each 

 other with hats off^ advancing 

 with threats, declaring that they 

 defied the police, and would pos- 

 sess themselves again of what had 



been taken from them, and of 

 the arms of the police : the police 

 formed into one body, and, show- 

 ing three fronts, endeavoured to 

 keep them at bay, but in vain : 

 they assailed them with stones, 

 sticks, Scythes, and axes ; and 

 gave some of our men some severe 

 blows, which exasperated them so 

 much, that they were under the 

 necessity of firing in self-defence, 

 and four of the assistants fell vic- 

 tims, two of whom were buried 

 yesterday. During their skirmish- 

 ing, which began about 7 o'clock, 

 one of the men, mounted, was 

 dispatched to this town for a re- 

 inforcement, when Major War- 

 burton, in half an hour, with 20 

 cavalry and a few infantry mounted 

 behind them, left this, and in one 

 hour and a half were on board 

 the wreck, and took 12 men in 

 the act of cutting up the wreck : 

 one of them made a blow of a 

 hatchet at Major Warburton, 

 which he warded off, and snapped 

 a pistol at him ; the fellow imme- 

 diately threw himself overboard, 



wlien Troy charged him on 



horseback up to the horse's knees 

 in water, and cut him down. The 

 fellows then flew in every direction, 

 pursued by our men, who took 

 many of them, and wounded seve- 

 ral. Nine tierces of pork had been 

 saved. Her bowsprit, gaff, and 

 spars, are all gone, with every 

 stitch of canvass, and all the run- 

 ning rigging". The shrouds are 

 still left : two anchors and their 

 cables are gone, and even the 

 ship's pump. A more complete 

 l)lunder has seldom been witness- 

 ed. Yesterday the revenue- wherry 

 went down to Rinevaha, and re- 

 turned in the evening with the 

 Major and a small party, with 



thirty- 



