Saturday 25 September 2010

Naufragia

Following its circumnavigation of Australia (1801-1803) the Investigator was considered unsuitable for further survey work and Captain Flinders was offered use of HMS Porpoise. However, it was decided that this vessel was not up to the task so it was thought sensible for Flinders to return to England to find a vessel in which he could return to Australia. Lieutenant Fowler was in command of the Porpoise but Governor King, the British representative in New South Wales instructed Fowler to comply with any orders Flinders might give.
William Westall was on board when they set sail on 10th August, 1803 along with Captain Palmer of the Bridgewater and Captain Park of the Cato. A week later at 9.30 p.m. on 17th August Porpoise struck a coral reef and heeled over, the Cato was also shipwrecked but the Bridgewater was unharmed. However the next day the Bridgewater sailed away without attempting to assist the stranded survivors.

Westall’s account from Naufragia follows reports from Flinders and Fowler. They can be viewed on Google. Volume 1 of Naufragia has not been seen and is not on Google.
The use of capital letters by Westall is as published but quotation marks have been included to assist with the clarity of the report.
This account is probably the longest written document penned by William Westall during his life.

NAUFRAGIA, or Historical Memoirs of Shipwreck and the providential by James Stanier Clarke Vol 2 (1806)
P 385/8

Additional remarks communicated by Mr William Westall (re Shipwreck on Wreck Reef described earlier by Flinders and Fowler).

We were all assembled in the Cabin, when I suddenly heard the Crew in great confusion, and hurrying on Deck, beheld Breakers on her Larbord Bow. The Coral Reef showed itself in a long line of Foam, seen indistinctly through Gloom of the approaching Night.

When the Ship struck, one general Groan resounded throughout, for npt a possibility appeared that anyone could be saved. The Night was unusually dark, and for these Latitudes remarkably so. ‘Come, my Lads!’ said Lieutenant Fowler, whose accustomed calmness and serenity experienced no abatement, ‘I have weathered worse Nights than this: Come! Put a good face upon it. Cut away the mizzen Shroud and Stays!’ – The Mainmast not going, he then ordered it to be cut down, in order to ease the Ship.

During this dreadful Scene, after the first confusion had subsided, all was coolness, and prompt Obedience : nor did the smallest disposition for drunkenness, or plunder, appear amongst the Crew. It was then that the superiority of British Seamen, and their animated reliance upon Providence, was impressed on my mind in a manner that will never. Many of them, though drenched with the Sea, and exhausted with Fatigue, would only accept with moderation the Spirits served out to recruit their strength.

For about a quarter of an Hour after the Ship struck, it was doubtful whether we should be burnt, or drowned; for a Candle which had been left in the Gun Room, had set some Curtains on fire, and the flame quickly increasing, was rapidly gaining ground. Amidst this double death, if I may use the expression, immediate precautions were adopted, and with success. The whole of my attention was then divided, between many an anxious glance after the Lights of the Bridgewater, and then listening, with dread of the Ship’s parting, to every crash I heard. The crew laboured incessantly; and what is hardly credible, at least to Landsmen, after our men had done all they could, many of them had the resolution to go to sleep, and that soundly, in the gaping wreck of the vessel. Their example was contagious: for after some time, having jammed myself into a secure place, I was also rocked by the Tempest into forgetfulness.

As the Day broke, the horrid situation of the Cato, without the Surf, was disclosed to the Crew of the Porpoise:
when our Men, who had hitherto borne all their sufferings with firmness, were now overcome with apprehension for the fate of the other Crew, and burst into Tears: whilst they, poor wretches rejoiced to find, that we were so much better off than themselves, nobly gave us three distinct Cheers! There was an awful sublimity in this act of Heroism which I cannot describe. I watched their Fate with peculiar solicitude : every Sea that broke over the Wreck of the poor Cato, seemed to be their grave; and, to my agitated mind, their number appeared gradually to diminish.

One Man, more resolute than the rest, after continued exertions, and being overwhelmed repeatedly by the Waves, at length reached a part of the Reef, that was formed between the Coral Breakers and the Sand Bank; and with faltering steps, naked, and bleeding, gained the Wreck of the Porpoise, within the Surf. Great God! With what sensations did I behold him immediately extend his hands towards Heaven, and with uplifted eyes pour forth the fervent piety of a Shipwrecked Mariner. We immediately procured him refreshments and covering: but it was many minutes before he could inform us, that after Mr Park had made two fruitless attempts to get through the Surf, this Seaman, who was reckoned to be the best swimmer on board the Cato, had determined to perish, or surmount the threatening obstacles; yet he declared it to be his firm opinion, that few, or none of his Shipmates could escape. However towards Noon the Surf abated; and, with the exception of three, as mentioned in Lieutenant Fowler’s account, the Crew of the Cato left their perilous situation, and received support from the stores of the Porpoise.

When our whole Company had assembled on the Sandbank, Captain Flinders walked up to a Fire, which the Crew of the Porpoise had made, to warm the Cato’s people, who had been dreadfully bruised in swimming through the Surf; and asked the Carpenter, where he had procured his Fire-Wood? Mr Mark informed him, that it consisted of a part of the Stern Post of a Ship, which must have been nearly twice the size of a Frigate, and from every appearance, had remained there a considerable time. Few Ships of the size of this Stern-Post have ever been in those Seas, except the Ships under the command of Mons. De la Perouse: and besides, if we refer to the conclusion of that Navigator’s last Letter from New South Wales, we shall find, that his intended track would probably carry him towards the Reef, on which the above remains were found. It was therefore our general opinion, that we were cast away on the very same Bank, upon which poor Perouse had perished.

The translator of d’Entrecasteaux’s Voyage in search of the Perouse, inserts in the preface [printed in Debrett, 8vo Vol I page 23] the last letter written by that Navigator to the Marshall de Castries, then Minister of the Marine, dated Botany Bay, 7th Feb, 1788. The substance of it is exactly similar to those dated from Avatscha [printed by Johnson, 8vo Vol111 pages 395 & 364] Sept 7, and Sept 21, 1787, to Mons Fleurieu, and the same Minister.

“I shall [Perouse sailed from Botany Bay in the 5th of March 1788 ibid Vol page 414] again make a run to the Friendly Islands, and I shall strictly perform everything that has enjoined me by my Instruction, in regard to the South part of New Caledonia, Mendana’s Island of Santa Cruz, the Southern Coast of Surville’s Terre des Arsacides, and the land called by Bouganville, La Louisiade; and endeavour to ascertain whether this last makes a part of New Guinea, or is separated from it. Towards the end of July, 1788, I shall pass between New Guinea and New Holland, by a different channel than Endeavour Strait, provided such an one exist. During the month of September, and a part of October, I shall visit the Gulf of Carpentaria and all the west Coast of New Holland, as far as Van Diemaman’s Land; but yet in such a manner, that it may be possible for me, to get to the Northward, in time to arrive at the Isle of France in the beginning of December, 1788.”

On p. 396 of Naufragia during a report by Fowler he writes: A View of our desolate abode was taken by Mr Westall [whence one, on a reduced Scale, was made by that Gentleman for the Frontispiece].

(As this engraving is not in Vol II it must be in Vol 1. It would be interesting to know what view is used. RJW)

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