A Brief Sketch of the Long and Varied Career of Marshall MacDermott, Esq., J.P. of Adelaide, South Australia

WRITTEN SOLELY FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION AMONGST
RELATIVES AND SPECIAL FRIENDS.
ADELAIDE:
WILLIAM KYFFIN THOMAS, PRINTER, GRENFELL-STREET.
1874.
OF THE
LONG AND VARIED CAREER
Marshall MacDermott, Esq., J.P.
OF ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
The following pages were written very recently, under a degree of pressure from some members of my family; and as I possessed no memoranda whatever to aid me in such a work, I have had to rely entirely upon memory; therefore errors in details may reasonably claim excuse, after the lapse of so long a period of time. These papers are written solely for private distribution amongst relatives and special friends; and, as my family is rather numerous and dispersed, the necessity arises of having them printed.
I obtained a Commission in the Army of His late Majesty King George III., at a very early age, through the influence of Lord Hutchinson, at that time British Ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg, and joined the 2nd Battalion of the 8th (or King’s) Regiment of Foot, in the year 1808, at Chester. Being anxious to be employed on foreign service, I obtained leave in the same year to join the 1st Battalion of the Regiment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and towards the close of that year embarked again with a division of troops under Sir Geo. Prevost, to attack the French islands of Martinique, Guadaloup, &c., in the West Indies. The Halifax Division consisted of the 8th, 13th, 7th, and 23rd Fusileers, with Artillery and Engineers; and we joined the West Indian Division under the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Geo. Beckwith, at Barbadoes.
During the voyage from Halifax, the convoy, including a large fleet of transports, encountered a “white squall,” which only lasted about fifteen minutes. From the fury of the tempest the sea could not rise; it was smooth as a table, but covered with a dense white foam. The fleet had been carrying a press of sail, especially the dull sailers; when, like a clap of thunder, it was suddenly thrown on its beam ends. Sails were torn into ribbons and small spars and wreck were flying in all directions. Heavy rains then descended, followed by a dead calm, when an enormous sea arose—ships on the crest of the waves, finding others in the gulph below them under no control, and in imminent danger of crushing each other. Damages were repaired, and without any serious losses the fleet proceeded on its voyage.