Narrative of a Voyage to India; of a Shipwreck on board the Lady Castlereagh; and a Description of New South Wales
On the 8th or 9th of January, 1815, we proceeded, in the Princess Charlotte, Indiaman, to North-fleet Hope, and received on board our cargo. On February 28th, we sailed to Gravesend, in company with the Company's ships Ceres, Lady Melville, Rose, and Medcalfe, and arrived at the Downs on the 3d of March. Our dispatches not being expected for some time, we moored ship. Our time passed on very pleasantly till the 27th inst., when the weather became rather boisterous, and accompanied by a heavy swell. On the evening of the 28th, as the Hon. Company's ship Tarva, from Bengal, was rounding the Foreland, she struck on the Goodwin Sands, and was forced to cut away her masts to lighten her, and get her clear off. The Ceres drifted almost on board us; we slipped our cables, and with difficulty escaped the Goodwin Sands.
On the 1st of April the pursers joined their respective ships, and on the 3d we made sail with a fair breeze, and soon cleared the English channel. Nothing was now heard but confusion; the pilot having just left the ship, the hoarse voice of the captain resounded through a speaking trumpet, while the seamen were busy in making sail. We had a fine steady breeze till we made the Bay of Biscay, when we had a strong gale for three days.
After the hurry and bustle of the gale was over, we had a fine steady breeze; I then began to feel an inward pleasure, and to rejoice in the predilection I had imbibed from my earliest years.
We arrived on the equinoctial about eight o'clock in the evening of the 19th of April, when one of the oldest seamen is deputed Neptune; when he went into the head and hailed the ship in the usual form, Ship, hoa! ship, hoa! what ship is that? The chief officer replied, The Hon. Company's ship Princess Charlotte of Wales, and that he would be glad of his company on the morrow. Gladly would I have dispensed with it. On his quitting the vessel, as is supposed, a pitch cask was thrown overboard on fire, which had the appearance of a boat till lost to view.
W. B. Cramp
NARRATIVE
OF A
VOYAGE TO INDIA;
OF A
SHIPWRECK
ON BOARD THE LADY CASTLEREAGH;
NARRATIVE
OF A
VOYAGE TO INDIA,
SECTION I.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND—DESCRIPTION OF THE CEREMONY ON CROSSING THE EQUINOCTIAL LINE, AND HIS ARRIVAL AT MADRAS.
SECTION II.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS AND ARRIVAL AT BENGAL—DEPARTURE THEREFROM—HIS VESSEL RUNS ASHORE ON THE PULICAT SHOALS, AND GETS SAFE AFLOAT AGAIN, AFTER BEATING SIX HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES—HIS SAFE ARRIVAL AT MADRAS, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DIVERS—ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY—THE SHIP BEING DOCKED, THE AUTHOR IS SENT TO BUTCHER'S ISLAND WITH THE SHIP'S COMPANY—A DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTA—HIS JOINING THE SHIP AFTER HER LEAVING THE DOCK—HIS WORDS WITH HIS COMMANDER, AND BEING TURNED BEFORE THE MAST IN CONSEQUENCE—HIS DEPARTURE FROM BOMBAY, AND AFTER A SHORT PERIOD HE IS REPLACED IN HIS FORMER SITUATION—AND ARRIVES AT MADRAS.
SECTION III.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS, DESCRIPTION OF A WATER-SPOUT—HIS ARRIVAL AT ST. HELENA AND DEPARTURE THEREFROM, ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND—JOINS HIS MAJESTY'S TRANSPORT SHIP, TOTTENHAM, BOUND FOR NEW SOUTH WALES—HER RUNNING ON SHORE IN THE RIVER AND PUTTING BACK TO DOCK—HE AFTERWARDS JOINS HIS MAJESTY'S TRANSPORT SHIP, LADY CASTLEREAGH. HIS DEPARTURE FROM DEPTFORD AND ARRIVAL AT PORTSMOUTH—HIS DEPARTURE THEREFROM AND ARRIVAL AT NEW SOUTH WALES.
SECTION IV.
DESCRIPTION OF NEW SOUTH WALES—DEPARTURE THEREFROM—ARRIVAL AT VAN DIEMAN'S LAND.
SECTION V.
DEPARTURE FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND AND ARRIVAL AT MADRAS—AN ACCOUNT OF A SEVERE GALE, AND THE GREAT DANGER OF SHIPWRECK, TOGETHER WITH HER WONDERFUL ESCAPE FROM IT, AND HER SAFE ARRIVAL IN CUDDALORE.
SECTION VI.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CUDDALORE AND ARRIVAL AT PONDICHERRY—DEPARTURE THEREFROM, AND ARRIVAL AT MADRAS, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE SAME—ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS OF THE NATIVES—DEPARTURE FROM MADRAS, ON HIS ROUTE TO NAGPORE,—ARRIVAL AT PONAMALEE, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SAME—HIS DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL AT CUDDAPAH.
SECTION VII.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CUDDAPAH—DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT VILLAGES, AND ARRIVAL AT HYDRABAD—DESCRIPTION OF HYDRABAD, AND DEPARTURE THEREFROM—ARRIVAL AT NERMUL.
SECTION VIII.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM NERMUL AND ARRIVAL AT NAGPORE—HIS DEPARTURE, AND ARRIVAL AT JAULNAH—THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM JAULNAH AND ARRIVAL AT POONAH, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLAGES WITH THEIR RELIGION—HIS ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY, AND HIS DISTRESS—SKETCH OF BOMBAY AND ACCOUNT OF THE PERSIAN RELIGION—HE JOINS THE HONOURABLE COMPANY'S SHIP MARQUIS OF HUNTLY, AS CAPTAIN'S CLERK—HIS DEPARTURE FROM BOMBAY AND ARRIVAL AT BENGAL.
SECTION IX.
THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CALCUTTA, AND ARRIVAL AT CHINA—AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS, AND OF HIS BEING ROBBED ON DANES' ISLAND—THE AUTHOR'S DEPARTURE FROM CHINA AND ARRIVAL AT ANJURE POINT—THE CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE MALAYS—DEPARTURE THEREFROM, AND ARRIVAL AT ST. HELENA—DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S TOMB AND HOUSES—DEPARTURE FROM ST. HELENA, AND ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.
THE END.