THE WRECK
ON
THE ANDAMANS:
BEING
A NARRATIVE OF THE VERY REMARKABLE PRESERVATION,
AND ULTIMATE DELIVERANCE, OF THE SOLDIERS
AND SEAMEN, WHO FORMED THE SHIPS’ COMPANIES OF
THE RUNNYMEDE AND BRITON TROOP-SHIPS, BOTH
WRECKED ON THE MORNING OF THE 12TH OF NOVEMBER,
1844, UPON ONE OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS, IN
THE BAY OF BENGAL.
TAKEN FROM AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS
BY
JOSEPH DARVALL, Esq.
At the request of
Capt. CHARLES INGRAM, and Capt. HENRY JOHN HALL,
Owners of the Runnymede.
————
| “The dangers of the sea, All the cares and all the fears, When the stormy winds do blow.” |
| (Song.) |
————
LONDON:
PELHAM RICHARDSON, 23, CORNHILL.
——
1845.
PELHAM RICHARDSON, PRINTER, 23, CORNHILL.
| PREFACE. | iii |
| THE DEPARTURE. | 7 |
| THE WRECK. | 17 |
| THE DELIVERANCE. | 27 |
| CONCLUSION. | 69 |
PREFACE.
The Author, owing to circumstances, hashad access to authentic documents andfacts, relating to one of the most remarkableshipwrecks which have ever happened,that of the troop-ships Runnymedeand Briton, on the morning of the12th of November, 1844, upon one ofthe Andaman Islands.
In reading these, it struck him forcibly,that the circumstances, if throwninto the shape of a narrative, would[iv]form not only an interesting publication,but would serve as a monument of thecool intrepidity and judicious presenceof mind of British officers, soldiers, andseamen, in a time of remarkable trial.
They also tend to illustrate in a verystriking manner the correctness of theclassic and poetical description of the“dangers of the sea,” contained in thatpassage of Scripture, which the Authorhas often observed to be listened to withgreat interest, when read in its course, inthe churches of our seaports, and which,on that account, he makes no apologyfor quoting in a work, not professedlyreligious.
“They that go down to the sea inships, and occupy their business ingreat waters; these men see the worksof the Lord, and his wonders in the[v]deep. For at his word the stormywind ariseth, which lifteth up thewaves thereof. They are carried upto the heaven, and down again to thedeep: their soul melteth away becauseof the trouble. They reel toand fro, and stagger like a drunkenman: and are at their wits’ end.So when they cry unto the Lord intheir trouble, he delivereth them outof their distress. For he maketh thestorm to ce