Edwardsville Spectator

DREADFUL NARRATIVE
Of the sufferings of the crew and passengers of the Frances Mary, from St. John's, New Brunswick, to Liverpool.

On the evening of the 7th inst. when the Blonde, Capt. Lord Byron, which left St. Helena on the 28th Jan. was going at the rate of twelve knots, with a strong breeze, a vessel to leeward, in distress, was providentially descried from the mast head, for which the Blonde immediately bore up and boarded. She proved to be the Frances Mary, a ship of 398 tons, of and from St. John's, New Brunswick, belonging to Capt. Patterson, and consigned to Campbell and Mackie, of Liverpool. She was a complete wreck, and water logged, and only kept afloat by her cargo of timber; her main mast and main topsail-yard were the only spars standing, and all her boats were washed away. It seldom falls to our lot to have to record such unparalleled and unheard of sufferings as those which the unfortunate beings of this melancholy and heart-rending circumstance have gone through. Two hours did not elapse from shipping the first sea, till the whole of the crew and passengers, in all sixteen souls, were compelled to get up in the main top, with only a few pounds of biscuit, where they remained five days; with the remainder of their scanty stock of bread, they kept themselves in existence five days more, when horrible to relate, the cravings of nature, scarcely supplied in any one way for the space of ten days, compelled them to live on the corpses of their deceased fellow-sufferers and drink their blood, and thus for the space of twenty-two days they subsisted in this horrible manner. When they were picked up, their number was reduced to six:—J. Kendall, (master) and his wife, John Clarke (mate); John Wilson, (carpenter); a seaman of the name of M'Intire, and a young woman, a passenger, named Ann Saunders. They were in the most deplorable situation when taken on board the Blonde, some
of them being scarcely able to move, and all being reduced to mere skeletons. It is scarcely possible to conceive, much less to describe the intensity of suffering these unfortunate individuals must have gone through, from the total want of food and water, which last they were without from the commencement of their disaster. All those that died had fallen victims to an unquenchable thirst and raving madness, produced from drinking salt water, which they could not resist indulging in. The two women were stronger than the men, some of whom would not have survived; even when on board the Blonde, but for the great care and attention shown them, and they all say, that a very few hours must have terminated their sufferings and their lives. They were picked up in lat. 44 43 N. and lon. 21 57 W. having drifted since their shipwreck, from lat. 43 30 N. and long. 36 30 W.

We have received, since the above was written, the following account of the occurrences on board the Frances Mary.

"Sailed from St. John's, Jan. 18.- Feb. 1, strong gale from W. N. W; carried away the main top-mast and mizen-mast head: hove to; got boat's sails in the main-rigging, to keep the ship to the wind. At 11 p. m. shipped a heavy sea, which washed away the cambouse, jolly-boat, and disabled five men. Feb. 2, cleared away the wreck, and made sail before the wind: strong breezes.- Feb. 5, 11 A. M. strong gales, with a heavy sea: clewed the sails up, and hove to-head to the southward; shipped a sea which carried away the long-boat, companion, tiller, unshipped the rudder, the best bower chain, and washed a man overboard, who was afterwards saved. At 10, 11, another heavy sea struck us, which stove our stern in. Cut away our foremast, and both bower anchors, to keep the ship to the wind: employed in getting what provisions we could--by knocking the bowport out, saved 50lbs. of bread and 5lbs. of cheese, which we stowed in the main-top: got the master's wife and female passenger up, whilst we were clearing away below, lightening the ship: most of the people lept in the top: at daylight found Patrick Cooney hanging by his legs to the catharpins, dead, from fatigue; committed his body to the deep. Feb. 6, at 8 a. m. saw a strange sail standing towards us, made a signal of distress; stranger spoke us and remained in company 24 hours, but received no assistance, the American making an excuse that the sea was running too high; made a tent of spare canvas on the fore-castle--people on a short allowance of a quarter of a biscuit a day.-Feb. 8, saw a brig to leeward: strong gales.-Feb. 9, 10 a. m. observed the same vessel to windward-made a signal of distress: stranger bore up and showed American colours.--Feb. 10, he spoke us, asking how long we had been in that situation, and what we intended to do-if we intended leaving the ship?--answered yes: he then asked if we had any rigging ?- answered yes: night coming on, and blowing hard, saw no more of the stranger. Suffered much from hunger and thirst, on about Feb. 11th, saw a large ship to the northward: did not speak her: wore head to the northward. At this time all our provisions were out: suffered much from hunger, having received no nourishment for nine days !- Feb. 12, departed this life, James Clarke, seaman; read prayers, and committed his body to the deep: we were at this time on half a gill of water a day, and suffering much from hunger: during the whole period of being on the wreck, we were wet from top to toe.--Feb. 22; John Wilson, seaman, died, at 10 a. m.-preserved the body of the deceased: cut him up in quarters, washed them overboard, and hung them on pins.-Feb. 23, J. Moore died, and was thrown overboard, having eaten part of him, such as the liver and heart. From this date to Saturday, the 5th of March, the following number perished from hunger:-

Henry Davis, a Welsh boy; Alex. Kelly, seaman; John Jones, apprentice boy, nephew of the owner; James Frier, cook; Daniel Jones, seaman, John Hutchinson, seaman, and John Jones, a boy: threw the last named overboard, his blood being bitter; also, James Frier, who was working his passage home, under a promise of marriage to Ann Saunders, the female passenger who attended on the master's wife; and who, when she heard of Frier's death, shrieked a loud yell, then approaching a cup from Clarke, (mate,) cut her late intended husband's throat, and drank his blood, insisting that she had the greatest right to it. A scuffle ensued, and the heroine (the words of the narrator) got the better of her adversary, and then allowed him to drink one cup to her two!-Feb. 26--on or about this day an English brig hove in sight-hoisted the English ensign downward-stranger hauled his wind towards us, and hauled his foresail up when abrcast of us, kept his course about one mile distance, set his foresail and we soon lost sight of him: fresh breeze, with a little rain the sea quite smooth, but he went off, having shown English colours. Had he at this time taken us off the wreck, much of the subsequent dreadful suffering would have been spared us. March 7. His Majesty's ship Blonde came in sight, and to our relief, in lat. 44 43 N. lon. 21 57 W. Words are quite inadequate to express our feelings, as well as those which Lord Byron and our deliverers most evidently possessed, when they found they had come to rescue six of their fellow creatures (two of them females) from a most awful, lingering, but certain death. It came on to blow during the night a fresh gale, which would, no doubt, have swept us all overboard. Lieut. Gambier came in the ship's cutter to bring us from the wreck. He observed to us, 'You have yet, I perceive, fresh meat;' to which we were compelled to reply, 'No, Sir, it is part of a man, one of our unfortunate crew! It was our intention to put ourselves on an allowance even of this food, this evening, had not you come to our relief.' The master's wife, who underwent all the most horrid sufferings which the human understanding can imagine, bore them much better than could possibly have been expected. She is now, although much emaciated, a respectable, good looking woman, about twenty-five years of age, and the mother of a boy seven years of age. But, what must have been the extremity of want to which she was driven, when she ate the brains of one of the apprentices, saying it was the most delicious thing she ever tasted! and it is still more melancholy to relate, the person whose brains she was thus forced by hunger to eat, had been three times wrecked before, but providentially picked up by a vessel, after being 22 days on the wreck, waterlogged: but in the present instance he perished, having survived similar sufferings for the space of 29 days, and then became food for his remaining shipmates! Ann Saunders, the other female, had more strength in her calamity than most of the men; she performed the duty of cutting up and cleaning the dead bodies, keeping two knives in her monkey jacket, and when the breath was announced to have flown, she would sharpen her knives, bleed the deceased in the neck, drink his blood, and cut him up as usual. From want of water, those who perished drank their own urine and salt-water; they became foolish, crawling upon their hands round the deck (when they could) and died generally raving mad."