Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

PHILADELPHIA, SEP. 17.

The following is a brief account of the unfortunate disaster which befell the ship Faithful Steward, Connolly M'Causland, master, from Londonderry, bound to this port; taken from a gentleman who was passenger on board.

On the 19th of July last, said vessel sailed from Londonderry, having on board 249 passengers of respectability, who had with them property to a very considerable amount. They had a favourable passage, during which nothing of moment occurred, the greatest harmony having prevailed amongst them, until the night of Thursday the 1st inst. Sept. when, at the hour of ten o'clock, it was thought advisable to try for soundings, and, to their great surprize, found themselves in four fathoms water, though at dark there was not the smallest appearance of land. The consternation and astonishment which then prevailed, is easier conceived than described; every exertion was used to run the vessel off shore, but in a few minutes she struck the ground, when it was found necessary to cut away her masts, &c. all of which went over-board. On the morning of the 2d we found ourselves on Rehoboth bank, near Indian river, about 4 leagues to the southward of Cape Henlopen. Every effort was made to save the unhappy sufferers, who remained in the wreck during the night, although distant from the shore only about 100 yards. The same evening she beat to pieces.

The sea running extremely high, the boats were with difficulty disengaged from the wreck, but before they could be got manned they drifted ashore, therefore all relief was cut off, except by swimming or getting ashore on pieces of the wreck, and we are sorry to add, that of the above only 68 persons were saved, among which were the master, his mates, and ten seamen. During the course of the day the inhabitants came down to the beach in numbers, and used every means in their power to relieve the unfortunate people on board, among whom were about 105 women and children, of whom only 7 women were saved. Several persons who escaped from the wreck are since dead from the wounds they received, and others are miserably bruised.

With great pleasure we learn, that several humane public spirited gentlemen are about raising a subscription, for the relief of the unhappy people who were saved from the wreck of the Faithful Steward: and there can be no doubt of their meeting with great success from the benevolent inhabitants, who have never been backward in affording assistance to the distressed.

In the most solemn--the most earnest manner--we beg leave to call the attention of the public --at least the humane--the compassionate--to the deplorable situation of those unhappy beings--the sad survivors of the loss of the Faithful Steward. The heart that can be steeled against sympathising in the calamities they have undergone, was never intended for a human being. Nature with it meant to animate some ravening wolf or prowling tiger, and the owner should fly to the forests, the woods--there to consort with the brute creation, whose nature is too congenial with his own. Let us for a moment view the situation of these people.--Just as they felicitated themselves on their arrival in this Canaan, this "land flowing with milk and honey," as their fond imaginations pictured it--to behold their little property, letters of recommendation, their most indispensable necessaries, their wearing apparel, all, all lost; their nearest and dearest relatives torn from their arms; and swallowed up in the watry grave--some of themselves with legs and arms broken ; all of them desolate and forlorn, not knowing which way to turn them to find "a good Samaritan" ready "to pour the wine and oil of comfort into their wounds."--Let us consider these circumstances; let us consider the frightful state, in which an unfriended stranger finds himself on his first arrival in a foreign land; let us, for a moment, make the case our own, and then every man who is not a disgrace to human nature, will undoubtedly contribute his mite to alleviate their misery!

Benefactions will be received by Mess. Campbell and Kingston, Conyngham and Nesbit, Dunlap and Claypoole, Francis Bailey, and Messrs. Carey and Co.

Ah! little think the gay licentious proud,
Whom pleasure, power, and affluence surround ;
They who their thoughtless hours in mirth,
And wanton, often cruel, riot waste :
Ah! little think they while they dance along,
How many feel, this very moment, death,
And all the sad variety of pain ;
How many sigh in the devouring flood.