individual interests on the part of the officers of the ship, and of the
31st regiment, was occasioned by no want of self-possession, nor even,
in all cases, of opportunities to attend to them; but to a sincere
desire to avoid even the appearance of selfishness, at moments when the
valuable lives of their sailors and soldiers were at stake. And this
observation applies with still greater force to the senior officers in
both services, whose cabins being upon the upper deck were accessible
during the whole day; and where many portable articles of value were
deposited, which could have been very easily carried off, had those
officers been disposed to devote to their own concerns even a portion of
that precious time, and of those active exertions, which they
unremittingly applied to the performance of their professional duty.
Notwithstanding the unexpected length to which I have already extended
this narrative, I cannot allow myself to close it without offering to my
late companions on board the _Kent_, into whose hands it may possibly
fall, a few very plain and simple observations, which I think worthy of
their serious consideration, and the importance of which I desire to
have deeply impressed upon my own mind. None of those soldiers who were
in the habit of reading their Bibles can have failed to notice that
faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is therein made the great pivot
on which the salvation of man hinges; that the whole human race, without
distinction of rank, nation, age, or sex, being justly exposed to the
wrath of Almighty God, nothing but the precious blood of Christ, which
was shed on the cross, can possibly atone for their sins; and that faith
in this atonement can alone pacify the conscience, and awaken confidence
towards God as a reconciled Father. If, therefore, "he that believeth in
Christ shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned," be
the unequivocal language of Jehovah, either expressly declared or
obviously implied in every page of that record which He has vouchsafed
to us of His Son; is it not a question of the deepest concernment to
every one professing any regard for divine revelation, whether he really
understands and believes that record, and whether he is able to give,
not only to others, but to himself, a reason of this hope that is in
him?
From the influence of education or example, the absence of serious
reflection, an attention to the outward ordinances of religion, a regard
to many of the proprieties and decencies of life, and a forgetfulness
that the religion of the Bible is a religion of motives rather than one
of observances, minds easily satisfied on such subjects may persuade
themselves that they are spiritually alive while they are dead--that
they are amongst the sincere disciples of the blessed Redeemer, and
fully interested in His salvation, while they may have neither part nor
lot in the matter. But if, at the hour of death, when all external
support shall slide away, the soul shall be awakened to the
consciousness of its real condition; if it should be made to see, on the
one hand, the spirituality and exceeding breadth of the divine law, and
be quickened, on the other, to a sense of its unnumbered transgressions;
if the mercy of God out of Christ, in which so many vainly and vaguely
trust, should become obscured by the inflexible justice and spotless
holiness of His character and if the solitary spirit, as it is dragged
towards the mysterious precipice, is made to hear, from a voice which it
can no longer mistake, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do them,"--how
unspeakably miserable must be the condition of the man who thus
discovers, for the first time, that the sand which he had all his
lifetime been mistaking for the "Rock of Ages" is now giving way under
his feet, and that his soul must speedily sink into that state in which,
"where the tree falleth, there it shall be;" where "he that is unjust,
let him be unjust still;" and where there is "no work, nor device, nor
knowledge," nor repentance.
But that I may not be misunderstood, or be supposed to favour principles
of barren speculation, more delusive and dangerous to their possessors,
and to the best interests of society, than absolute ignorance itself--I
would remind the gallant men to whom I am now more especially addressing
myself, that that faith which saves the soul not only "worketh"
invariably "by love," and gradually "overcometh the world," but that "it
is the gift of God," implanted in the heart by His Holy Spirit, even by
that Spirit which is freely given to every one that earnestly asketh.
And however unable the simple soldier may be to explain either the
nature or the manner of its operation, he must not deceive himself into
the persuasion that he is possessed of this precious grace unless he
feels it bringing forth in his life and conversation the abundant fruits
that necessarily spring from it, and that cannot indeed be produced
without it. He will be steady and zealous in the performance of duty,
patient under fatigue and privation, sober amid temptation, calm but
firm in the hour of danger, and respectfully obedient to his officers;
he will honour his king, be content with his wages, and do harm to no
man. His piety will be ardent but sober, his prayers will be earnest and
frequent, but rather in secret than before men; he will not be
contentious or disputatious, but rather desirous of instructing others
by his example than by his precepts; letting his light so shine before
them, in the simplicity of his motives, the uprightness of his actions,
in his readiness to oblige, and by the whole tenor of his life, that
they, seeing his good works, may be led, by the divine blessing, to
acknowledge the reality and power and beauty of religion, and be induced
in like manner to glorify his heavenly Father. In short, in comparison
with his thoughtless comrades, he must not only aspire to become a
better man, but, from the constraining motives of the gospel, struggle
to be also in every essential respect a better soldier.
In conclusion, I would observe that if any class of men, more than
another, ought to be struck with awe and gratitude by the goodness and
providence of God, it is they who go down to the sea in ships, and see
His wonders in the great deep; or if any ought to familiarize their
minds with death and its solemn consequences, it is surely soldiers,
"whose very business it is to die." May all those then, especially, who
thus possessed the privilege, but rarely granted, of being allowed, in
the full vigour of health, and in the absence of all the bustle and
excitement of battle, to contemplate, from the very brink of eternity,
the awful realities that reign within it, as many of their departing
comrades were hurried through its dreadful portals, be now led, in the
respite which has been given them, to remember that this alone is the
accepted time, and this the day of salvation; for while some may defer
the subject "to a more convenient season," the message may come forth,
at an hour when it is least expected, "This night thy soul shall be
required of thee." The foregoing narrative may be fitly supplemented by
some particulars[17] of the events occurring after the departure of the
_Cambria_ from the scene of the wreck:--
"About twelve o'clock the watch of the barque _Caroline_, on her passage
from Alexandria to Liverpool, observed a light on the horizon, and knew
it at once to be a ship on fire. There was a heavy sea on, but the
captain, instantly setting his maintop-gallant-sail, ran down towards
the spot. About one, the sky becoming brighter, a sudden jet of vivid
light shot up; but they were too distant to hear the explosion. In
half-an-hour the _Caroline_ could see the wreck of a large vessel lying
head to the wind. The ribs and frame timbers, marking the outlines of
double ports and quarter-galleries, showed that the burning skeleton was
that of a first-class Indiaman. Every other external feature was gone;
she was burnt nearly to the water's edge, but still floated, pitching
majestically as she rose and fell on the long rolling swell of the bay.
The vessel looked like an immense cage of charred basket-work filled
with flame, that here and there blazed brighter at intervals. Above,
and far to leeward, there was a vast drifting cloud of curling smoke
spangled with millions of sparks and burning flakes, and scattered by
the wind over the sky and waves.
"As the _Caroline_ approached, part of a mast and some spars, rising and
falling, were observed grinding under the weather-quarter of the wreck,
having got entangled with the keel or rudder irons, and thus attaching
it to the hull of the vessel. The _Caroline_, coming down swift before
the wind, was in a few minutes brought across the bows of the _Kent_. At
that moment a shout was heard as if from the very centre of the fire,
and the same instant several figures were observed clinging to a mast.
The sea was heavy, and the wreck threatened every moment to disappear.
The _Caroline_ was hove-to to leeward, in order to avoid the showers of
flakes and sparks, and to intercept any boats or rafts. The mate and
four seamen pushed off in the jolly-boat, through a sea covered with
floating spars, chests, and furniture, that threatened to crush or
overwhelm the boat. When within a few yards of the stern, they caught
sight of the first living thing--a wretched man clinging to a spar
close under the ship's counter. Every time the stern-frame rose with the
swell he was suspended above the water, and scorched by the long keen
tongues of pure flame that now came darting through the gun-room ports.
Each time this torture came the man shrieked with agony; the next moment
the surge came and buried him under the wave, and he was silent. The
_Caroline's_ men, defying the fire, pulled close to him, but just as
their hands were stretching towards him (latterly the poor wretch had
been silent), the rope or spar was snapped by the fire, and he sank for
ever.
"The men then, carefully backing, carried off six other of the nearest
men from the mast. The small boat, only eighteen feet long, would not
hold more than eleven persons, and indeed, as it was, was nearly swamped
by a heavy wave. In half-an-hour the boat bravely returned, and took off
six more.
"The mate, fearing the vessel was going down, and that the masts would
be swallowed in the vortex, redoubled his efforts to get a third time to
the wreck. While struggling with a head sea, and before the boat could
reach the mast, the end came. The fiery mass settled like a red-hot
coal into the waves, and disappeared for ever. The sky grew instantly
dark, a dense shroud of black smoke lingered over the grave of the ship,
and instead of the crackle of burning timbers and the flutter of flames,
there spread the ineffable stillness of death.
"As the last gleam flickered out, Mr. Wallen, the mate of the
_Caroline_, with great quickness of thought set the spot by a star.
Then, in spite of the danger in the darkness of floating wreck, he
resolved to wait quietly till daylight, and ordered his men to shout
repeatedly to cheer any who might be still floating on stray spars. For
a long time no one answered; at last a feeble cry came, and the
_Caroline's_ sailors returned it loudly and gladly. What joy that faint
cry must have brought to those friendly ears! With what joy must the
boatmen's shout have been received!
[Illustration: WHEN DAY BROKE THE MAST WAS VISIBLE.]
"When the day broke the mast was visible, and four motionless men could
be seen among its cordage and top-work. They seemed dead, but as the
boat neared, two of them feebly raised their heads and stretched out
their arms. When taken into the boat, they were found to be faint and
almost dead from the cold and wet, and the many hours they had been
half under water. The other two were stone dead. One had bound himself
firmly to the spar, and lay as if asleep, with his arms around it, and
his head upon it, as if it had been a pillow. The other stood half
upright between the cheeks of the mast, his face fixed in the direction
of the boat, his arms still extended. They were both left on the spar.
One of the Indiaman's empty boats was also found drifting a short
distance off. The wind beginning to freshen and a gale coming on, it was
all the jolly-boat could do to rejoin the _Caroline_. There could be no
doubt that when the _Caroline_ hove-to and luffed under the lee of the
_Kent_, it must have passed men drifting to leeward on detached spars.
They of course all perished in the rising storm.
"A piece of plate was presented to Captain Cook, of the _Cambria_, by
the officers and passengers of the _Kent_, and the Duke of York publicly
thanked him for his humane zeal and promptitude. The Secretary of War
(Lord Palmerston) authorized a sum of five hundred pounds to be given to
the captain and crew of the _Cambria_, and the agents of the ship were
also paid two hundred and eighty-seven pounds for provisions, two
hundred and eighty-seven pounds for passengers' diet, and five hundred
pounds for demurrage. The East India Company awarded six hundred pounds
to Captain Cook, one hundred pounds to the first mate, fifty pounds to
the second mate, ten pounds each to the nine men of the crew, fifteen
pounds each to the twenty-six miners, and one hundred pounds to the ten
chief miners for extra stores, to make their voyage out more
comfortable. The Royal Exchange Assurance gave Captain Cook fifty
pounds, and his officers and crew fifty pounds. The subscribers to
Lloyds voted him a present of one hundred pounds; the Royal Humane
Society awarded him an honorary medallion; and the underwriters at
Liverpool were also prominent in their liberality."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Captain Cobb, with great forethought, ordered the deck to
be scuttled forward, with a view to draw the fire in that direction,
knowing that between it and the magazine were several tiers of
water-casks; while he hoped that the wet sails, etc., thrown into the
after-hold, would prevent the fire from communicating with the
spirit-room abaft.]
[Footnote 2: The late Lady MacGregor, and the late Mrs. Pringle, of
Yair, Whytbank, Selkirk, N.B., who are also mentioned in the letter on
page 23.]
[Footnote 3: This bottle, left in the cabin, was cast into the sea by
the explosion that destroyed the _Kent_. About nineteen months
afterwards the following notice appeared in a Barbadoes (West Indian)
newspaper:--
"A bottle was picked up on Saturday, the 30th September, at Bathsheba (a
bathing-place on the west of Barbadoes), by a gentleman who was bathing
there, who, on breaking it, found the melancholy account of the fate of
the ship _Kent_, contained in a folded paper written with pencil, but
scarcely legible." The words of the letter were then given, and a
facsimile of it will be found on the next page. The letter itself, taken
from the bottle thickly encrusted with shells and seaweed, was returned
to the writer when he arrived, shortly after its discovery, at
Barbadoes, as Lieut.-Colonel of the 93rd Highlanders, and the
interesting relic is still preserved by his son (at that time called
"little Rob Roy"), who is not mentioned in the letter, but was saved as
related in page 33.]
[Footnote 4: Two shipwrights, dismissed from their situation because
they would not work on Sunday, were employed by the father of a friend
of the writer. He engaged them to build their first vessel, the
_Cambria_, and this was her first voyage, starting from Deptford before
the _Kent_ sailed from Gravesend.
Captain Cook many years afterwards commanded in the disastrous "Niger
Expedition." He was a splendid sailor, and a humble Christian, whose
death-bed, long years after, was attended by the youngest passenger he
had helped to save from the burning _Kent_.]
[Footnote 5: I was afterwards informed by one of the passengers on board
the _Cambria_--for from the great height of the Indiaman we had not the
opportunity of making a similar observation--that when both vessels
happened to be at the same time in the trough of the sea, the _Kent_ was
entirely concealed by the intervening waves from the deck of the
_Cambria_.]
[Footnote 6: "The _Rob Roy_ Canoe on the Jordan" (Murray) gives some
other experiences of watery dangers in after life.]
[Footnote 7: This narrative has been translated into the French,
Spanish, Swedish, Italian, German, and Russian languages, and the author
(born March 16, 1787) still enjoys good health (1880) while writing the
preface to this edition, of which a _facsimile_ is given at the
beginning of the book.]
[Footnote 8: Some of those men who were necessarily left behind, having
previously conducted themselves with great propriety and courage, I
think it but justice to express my belief that the same difficulties
which had nearly proved fatal to Captain Cobb's personal escape were
probably found to be insurmountable by landsmen, whose coolness,
unaccompanied with dexterity and experience, might not be available to
them in their awful situation.]
[Footnote 9: I ought to state that the exertions of Mr. Muir, third
mate, were also most conspicuous during the whole day.]
[Footnote 10: See page 83.--One of the men saved after the
explosion (which had burned off both his feet) was met thirty years
afterwards by the individual who was first saved in the _Cambria_. This
man was wheeling himself in a go-cart on the race-ground at Lanark,
dressed in sailor's costume, and selling papers with a picture of the
_Kent_ upon them and some doggerel verses below. As honorary secretary
of the "Open-Air Mission" (which provides preachers for streets in
towns, and for races and fairs in the country), the "first saved" from
the wreck and burning then preached the Gospel to the "last saved" from
the scorched embers, and to a large and motley crowd, all of whom will
assuredly meet once more "at that day."]
[Footnote 11: Besides 500 barrels of gunpowder, there was on board
several hundredweight of highly explosive percussion powder. The brig
was about three miles distant when the _Kent_ exploded.]
[Footnote 12: Captain Cook afterwards rendered distinguished services in
the Niger expedition, and died in London a true Christian sailor, after
several visits from one he had helped to save.]
[Footnote 13: In addition to those who were naked on board the _Kent_ at
the moment the alarm of fire was heard, several individuals afterwards
threw off their clothes to enable them the more easily to swim to the
boats.]
[Footnote 14: One of the soldiers' wives was delivered of a child about
an hour or two after her arrival on board the brig. Both survived, and
the child received the appropriate name of "Cambria."]
[Footnote 15: There were lost in the destruction of the _Kent_, 54
soldiers, 1 woman, and 20 children, belonging to the 31st Regiment; 1
seaman and 5 boys--total, 81 individuals.]
[Footnote 16: A little Testament was also saved. Only one officer's
sword was saved, and that belonged to him who afterwards led the 31st
regiment in the battles on the Sutlej.]
[Footnote 17: From _All the Year Round_.]