ig4 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [ANNO 1792. 



hours before the boat reached the wreck, but the 2 masters had been long dead, 

 and this added to the sympathy for their loss, a curiosity to inquire into its cir- 

 cumstances and causes. When the following particulars came to be known, this 

 curiosity was increased. Both the masters were strong and healthy men, and 

 one of them a native of Scotland, in the flower of life, early inured to cold and 

 hardships, and very vigorous both in body and mind. On the other hand, 

 several of the survivors were by no means strong men, most of them were 

 natives of the warm climate of Carolina, and the person among the whole who 

 seemed to have suffered least was a negro. 



What is extraordinary is seldom long unaccounted for in one way or other, and 

 the death of the two masters was said to have been owing to their having taken 

 possession of a keg which had contained cherry-brandy, and which still contained 

 the cherries ; — these, it was reported, they had kept to themselves, and eaten in 

 large quantities after the shipwreck ; and this having produced intoxication was 

 supposed to have hastened their death. Some experienced seamen were satisfied 

 with this account, which indeed seemed very rational ; for though spirituous 

 liquors may fortify the body against the effects of heat combined with moisture, 

 and may perhaps support it for a short time under great fatigue, they are, I be- 

 lieve, uniformly hurtful when taken under severe and continued cold. Pleased 

 to see a doctrine becoming popular which has been so ably supported by Dr. 

 Aiken,* and others, I believed it might receive a striking confirmation from this 

 catastrophe, into the particulars of which I determined to examine accurately. 

 I therefore obtained access to the survivors of the crew, and from them, but 

 more especially from Mr. Amyat, the mate, I received the desired information. 



In repeated conversations with this intelligent young man, I learnt that Capt. 

 Scott, the master of the vessel, died in about 4 hours after the ship struck ; and 

 that Capt. Davison, the passenger, died in about 7 : but that the incident of 

 their having eaten cherries infused in brandy was entirely without foundation : 

 of this he was certain, for he saw the keg, which contained the cherries, staved, 

 while Capt. Davison was endeavouring to fill it with water to make grog for the 

 crew ; the cherries fell on the wreck, and were immediately washed into the sea. 

 Mr. Amyat expressed his surprize at the early death of the 1 masters, but could 

 not assign any cause for it. He said there was no liquor of any kind saved, nor 

 any sort of food ; that the whole crew were on an equality in all points, except 

 that some were deeper in the water than others, but that the 2 masters had the 

 advantage in this respect, for they sat on the only part of the wreck that was out 

 of the sea, whereas the poor negro, who escaped almost unhurt, was perhaps 

 deepest in the sea of any. He explained this in the following manner. When 

 the ship struck they cut away her masts to prevent her from oversetting, and 

 * See Transactions of the Philosophical and Literary Society of Manchester, vol. 1. — Orig. 



