242 THE SEA. 



" From Captain Miller to Mr. Spaig-ht, Merchant, Limerick. 



" Kilrush, Feb. 24, 1817. 



" DEAR SPAIGHT, As I am now in possession of most of the particulars of the wreck 

 of the Inverness, I shall detail them to you as follows: 



" She went on shore on Wednesday night, the 19th instant, mistaking Rmevaha 

 for Carrigaholt, and would have got off by the next spring-tide had the peasantry not 

 boarded her, and rendered her not seaworthy 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 assisted to convey them up the country. 

 The alarm having reached this on Thursday, a sergeant and twelve 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 ; but very early on Friday morning the people 

 collected in some thousands, and 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 possess themselves again of what had been taken 

 from them, and of the arms of the police. The police formed into one body, and, 

 showing 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 assailants fell victims, two of whom were buried yesterday. 

 During their skirmishing, which began about seven o'clock, one of the men, mounted, was 

 despatched to this town for a reinforcement, when Major Warburton, in half an hour, 

 with twenty cavalry, and a few infantry mounted behind them, left this, and in one 

 hour and a half were on board the wreck, and took twelve 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 immediately threw himself overboard, when 



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 several. Nine tierces of pork had been saved. Her bowsprit, gaff, and spars 

 are all gone, with every stitch of canvas and all the running rigging. The shrouds are 

 still left ; two anchors and their cables are gone, and even the ship's pump. A more complete 

 plunder has seldom been witnessed. Yesterday the revenue wherry went down to Rmevaha, 

 and returned in the evening with the Major and a small party, with thirty-five prisoners, who 

 now are all lodged in Bridewell. The women in multitudes assembled to supply the men 



with whisky to encourage them. Nothing could exceed the coolness of Balfice and 



his party, who certainly made a masterly retreat to the slated store at Carrigaholt, where 

 I found them. He and Fitzgerald were wounded, but not severely. Fitzgerald had a 

 miraculous escape, and would have been murdered, but was preserved by a man he knew 

 from Kerry, who put him under his bed. "J. MILLER." 



A late case of plundei'ing on a large scale occurred the 26th September, 1817. The 



