Barham, of 74 guns. Foundered July 29th, 1811, on the coast of Corsica.
Saldanha, frigate, lost on the Irish coast, December, 1811. 300 souls perished.
St. George, of 98 guns, and the Defence, of 74 guns, stranded on the coast of Jutland, and all souls perished, except 16 seamen, December 24th, 1811.
Seahorse, transport, near Tramore Bay, January 30th, 1816. 365 souls, chiefly soldiers of the 59th Regiment, and most of the crew, lost.
Lord Melville, and Boadicea, two transports lost near Kinsale, Ireland, when several hundred of the 82nd Regiment, and almost all the crew perished, January 31st, 1816.
Harpooner, transport, off Newfoundland, November 10th, 1816. 100 persons drowned.
Kent, shattered by a dreadful storm, February 28th 1825. Afterwards she caught fire; but the passengers and crew were providentially saved by the Cambria. There were on board 301 officers and men of the 31st regiment, 66 women, 45 children, and 139 seamen.
“The Kent, Indiaman, was making her way in the Bay of Biscay on the morning of the 1st of March, 1825, across the heavy swell common in that stormy entrance to the Atlantic, when her progress was arrested by a fatal accident. An officer, who was sent into the hold to see whether the rolling of the vessel had disturbed the stowage, perceiving that a cask of spirits had burst from its lashings, gave the lamp he had in his hand to a seaman to hold, while he should replace the cask. Unfortunately, in the continued rolling of the vessel, the man let the lamp fall near the spirits, to which it set fire in a moment. The flames spread; attempts were made to smother them by wet blankets and hammocks, but all was in vain, and they soon assumed an aspect so tremendous, as to show that it would be impossible to subdue them.
At this moment of despair, the man at the mast-head exclaimed that a sail was in sight; guns were fired, and a signal of distress hoisted. The gale, however, was so heavy, that it was for some time doubtful whether the strange vessel perceived the signals, or was likely to turn aside from her course; but this painful suspense was soon removed by her approach. The boats of the Kent were now got out and placed, not alongside, on account of the flames and the danger of staving the boats, but a-head and a-stern. In the latter many got out from the cabin-windows, but the chief part were let down from the bowsprit into the boat a-head, and the men sliding down by a rope, while the soldiers’ wives were lowered into the boat slung three together.
The fire had burst out about ten o’clock, and about twelve the signal of distress had been perceived by the strange sail, which proved to be the Cambria, outward-bound to Mexico, with mining workmen and machinery, shipped by the Anglo-Mexican company. It was two o’clock when the Cambria received the first boat-load of passengers, consisting of ladies and children, half clothed, and pale with fright and fatigue. The whole afternoon was passed in exertions on board the one vessel in sending off the sufferers, and in the other in receiving them. The Cambria had amongst her passengers several stout workmen, who took their station at the ship’s side, and were indefatigable in hoisting the poor sufferers on board; so that, out of 642 persons in the Kent, no less than 547 were safe in the Cambria before midnight. The remainder (95 in number) were lost, chiefly in getting out and in of the boats, the swell of the sea being very great all the time. The captain of the Kent was the last man to leave her. She blew up at a few minutes before two o’clock on Wednesday morning.