ST. HELENA 79 



gratuity. For the last six years he has been employed as a master 

 blacksmith, under the orders of the commanding engineer, and was 

 always considered a sober steady man. On the morning of his 

 death he absented himself from work, and was seen walking from 

 H. T. Hollow towards town with a man named Henry Leo. Police- 

 man William Smith and Private Hardy of the St. Helena Regiment, 

 who were at the upper part of Jamesto^vn, saw the deceased climb 

 over the wall, walk deliberately to the edge of the precipice in the 

 liighest part, and throw himself head foremost, a height of more 

 than 30 feet. His body was with difl&culty removed, and his remains 

 were interred between nine and ten o'clock that night in the Upper 

 Churchyard, Jamestown, without the rites of Christian burial. 



And now occurred the memorable rollers which caused 

 so much damage to the wharf and glacis, and destroyed 

 no less than fourteen ships in six hours, an account of which 

 will be found on page 250. 



In May Colonel Trelawney died, and was succeeded by 

 Colonel George Brodie Fraser, R.A., the senior officer com- 

 manding the troops, but shortly afterwards Colonel John 

 Ross came to take command of the St. Helena Regiment, 

 and as he was senior in the army he took the reins of Govern- 

 ment until November, when the newly-appointed Governor 

 Sir Patrick Ross arrived. 



The fine building of the present Civil Hospital was begun 

 in 1847, chiefly for the use of the merchant service. Many 

 poor stricken sailors owe their lives to this hospital, which of 

 late years, under the direction of Governor Gray Wilson, 

 was enlarged and fitted with many conveniences for the 

 comfort of the patients. In the Jubilee year of Queen 

 Victoria it was supplied with an ambulance stretcher, which 

 added greatly to the comfort of the patients, who were 

 formerly conveyed to the hospital in a chair carried by two 

 men. At every step the poor sufferer must in many cases 

 have endured great pain. (It was a sight which attracted 

 my attention just after I landed here, and has never left my 

 memory.) 



The arrival of the Governor was announced in the 5^. 

 Helena Gazette of November 22 as under : — 



His Excellency Major-General Sir Patrick Ross, Q.C.M.G. and 

 K.C.B., arrived on Sunday morning last at ten o'clock, in the sliip 

 Boyne from the Cape of Good Hope. He landed at one o'clock p.m. 

 under a salute of seventeen guns from Ladder Hill. Lieut. -Colonel 

 Ross, the senior ofi&cer in command of troops, and administering 



