184 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



tain PiimCj 4th Royal Veteran 

 battalion, and Lndy ; Lieut. Mii- 

 rea, ditto, eldest daughter and 

 son ; Paymaster Scott, ditto ; 

 Mrs. Wilson, and eldest daugh- 

 ter ; Miss Armstrong, Captain 

 Willock, 103d regiment : Ensign 

 Gleeson, ditto. 



Cabin passengers lost. — Sur- 

 geon Armstrong, 4th veteran bat- 

 talion, his lady, son, and two 

 youngest daughters ; Lieutenant 

 Wilson, ditto, son and two daugh- 

 ters ; Mrs. Milrea, and two young- 

 est daughters ; Miss j'ilmore, and 

 three sons of Captain Prime. 



The following affecting narra- 

 tive of the melancholy disaster 

 has been sent by one of the sur- 

 vivors : — 



" On the '--eth October, detacl\- 

 nients of the 4th Royal \'eteran 

 Battalion and their families, with 

 a few belonging to other corps in 

 Canada, in all 380, embarked on 

 board the ship Harpooner, Joseph 

 Bryant, master, and sailed from 

 Quebec on the afternoon of the 

 27th, boimd to Deptford ; in 

 cliarge of Captain Prime. On the 

 passage to the Gulph of St. LaAv- 

 rence, moderate weather and fa- 

 vourable winds prevailed ; but on 

 arriving in the Gtdph, the weather 

 proved boisterous, and the wind 

 contrary ; not a sight of land, 

 nor an observation of the sun, 

 could be depended upon for se- 

 veral days. On Sunday evening, 

 November 10, a few minutes after 

 nine o'clock, the second Mate, on 

 watch, called out ' The ship's 

 a-ground;' at which time she 

 lightly struck on the outeimost 

 rock of St. Sbotts, in the island of 

 Newfoundland. She beat over, 

 and proceeded a short distance, 

 when she struck again and filled ; 

 encircled among rocks^ and the 



wind blowing strong, the night 

 dark, and a very heavy sea, she 

 soon fell over on her larboard 

 beam ends ; and, to heighten the 

 tenor and alarm, it was perceived 

 a lighted candle had communi- 

 cated fire to some spirits in the 

 master's cabin, which, in the con- 

 fusion, was with difficulty extin- 

 guished. The ship still driving 

 over the rocks, her masts were 

 cut ciway, by which some men 

 were carried overboard. The 

 vessel drifted over near the high 

 rocks towards the main. In this 

 situation every one became ter 

 riKed ; the suddenness of the sea 

 pushing in, carried away the birtlis 

 and staunchions between decks, 

 wlien men, women, and chiklren 

 were drowned, and many weie 

 killed by the force with which 

 tliey were driven against the loose 

 baggage, casks and staves, which 

 floated below. All that possibly 

 could, got upon deck, but, from 

 the crowd and confusion that pre- 

 vailed, the orders of the officers 

 and master to the soldiers and 

 seamen were unavailing — death 

 staring every one in the face — 

 the ship striking on the rocks as 

 though she would instantly upset ! 

 The screeching and pressing of 

 the people to the starboard side 

 was so violent, that several were 

 much hurt. About eleven o'clock 

 the boats on the deck were washed 

 overboard by a heavy sea : but 

 even from the commencement of 

 the disaster, the hopes of any in- 

 dividual being saved were but 

 very slight, and, from this cir- 

 cumstance combined with it ap- 

 })earing, that the bottom of the 

 •siiip was separating from the 

 upper deck, while the surf beat 

 over her most violently, it was 

 considered as impossible. From 



thitf 



