Biographical Sketch 3 1 



wandering about till four o'clock. We then 

 obtained a guide who took us to the boats 

 waiting. One of the men took the guns and 

 specimens, etc., off to the boat and laid them 

 in the sternsheets, and as the water was 

 shallow, and the surf rising, the men, came 

 to carry us off. Mr Edmondston was carried 

 on the back of Thomas Stocker, coxwain of 

 the whaler. During the act of going off one 

 of the people in the whale boat entangled 

 the lock of the large rifle in the foot of his 

 trousers, and in lifting the hammer it ex- 

 ploded. The ball first passed through Mr 

 Whiffin'sarm, and then struck Mr Edmondston 

 on the right temple, coming out behind the 

 ear. He fell back off Stacker's shoulders 

 and went under the water, and he was lifted 

 quite dead. The boats proceeded on board, 

 and the remains of the beloved and lamented 

 young man were placed under a screen on 

 the half-deck, covered with the Union Jack. 

 Next day, he was laid a little way from the 

 beach, at the back of the right hand bluff." 



Another of the officers wrote : " Our 



feelings may be little imagined when our 



most amiable, most beloved, most admired 



and accomplished shipmate was handed up 



C 



