“Lieut.-Colonel Fearon,
“Thirty-first Regiment, Falmouth.”
It was two hours after midnight when the ‘Kent’ blew up; all the individuals of the regiment and of the crew that it had been possible to save were now on board the “Cambria;” their number, however, was diminished by sixty-eight men, one woman, and twenty-one children:—about twenty of the former were left on the poop of the vessel, when it became unsafe for a vessel to approach her; whence, abandoning themselves to despair, they would make no exertion to escape; it was absolutely necessary therefore to leave them: others had thrown themselves into the sea, and were drowned before help could be extended to them, or had come in contact with part of the wreck and had been killed; while the anxiety of some few to board the “Cambria” lost them their lives;—they were jammed to death between the brig and the boats. The only woman lost was suffocated in the orlop deck, with her three children; she was not able to escape. Among the children lost there were four, three girls and a boy, the family of Serjeant Jack, an old and deserving soldier, who had seen much service with the second battalion in the Peninsula. While the women and children were being lowered into the boats, Mrs. Jack fell overboard; the serjeant leaped into the sea to save his wife, and was not able to return to the ship. In the confusion unavoidable on board, the children were overlooked; missing their parents, they had sought refuge, it is supposed, in the Colonel’s cabin, and no one knew, until it was too late, that they were still on board; for the soldiers were not backward in giving their aid to save the families of their comrades; there were instances of men who tied the children of their brother soldiers on their backs, and, leaping overboard, swam with their burdens to the boats. There were indeed proofs among the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of a fortitude, courage, and good-feeling that would have done honor to the highest station. It happened, however, that fourteen of the men, who had remained on the wreck, were picked up the following morning, clinging to some portions of it, by the “Caroline,” a vessel bound from the Mediterranean to Liverpool, and carried by her into that port. The lives lost amounted, therefore, to seventy-six, being two serjeants, two corporals, one drummer, forty-nine privates, one woman, and twenty-one children, as specified at [page 82]. The “Cambria” was of 200 tons only; notwithstanding her crowded state, she providentially reached Falmouth on the third day (the 4th March), when the regiment landed.
It is needless to observe that nothing was saved from the wreck, and many had found it difficult to preserve even the clothes they happened to have on at the time; the motley and forlorn appearance the corps presented on its landing, was never equalled,—at any rate, in the British army. The kind exertions of the gentry and residents generally in Falmouth, to soften the sufferings of the women and children, must ever be remembered with gratitude by the regiment; the officers are more particularly indebted to this calamity for the brotherly attention and friendship it procured for them from the officers who then belonged to the Division of Royal Marines at Chatham, where on the 26th of March it arrived, having sailed on the 16th of that month in the “Diadem” transport from Falmouth.
The following letter from the Military Secretary, Major-General Sir Herbert Taylor, conveying the sentiments of his Royal Highness the Duke of York of the conduct of the officers and men of the regiment, will show that the discipline received approbation from the quarter from which it was most valuable:—
“Horse-Guards, March 9, 1825.
“Sir,
“The Court of Directors of the East India Company having transmitted to the Commander-in-Chief the report made to them by Captain Cobb of the circumstances attending the destruction of the ship ‘Kent’ by fire, on the 1st instant, I have received his Royal Highness’s commands to assure you of the high sense his Royal Highness entertains of the admirable conduct of the detachment of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment embarked in that ship under your command, and, more particularly, of the steadiness and coolness which you evinced, under circumstances so critical and trying. His Royal Highness is well aware that no occasion could offer in which the effects of a well-established system of discipline and subordination would be more apparent, or in which they would in a more important degree tend to assist the efforts of those who so nobly afforded their aid towards preserving the lives of all concerned;—and he desires that you will convey his thanks to the officers and soldiers forming the detachment embarked, under your orders, in the ship ‘Kent,’ and assure them that he gives them due credit for their orderly and meritorious conduct. He considers his thanks to be due more especially to yourself, for the example which you set them, and for the persevering and gallant exertions which contributed so essentially to lessen the sad result of the catastrophe.
“His Royal Highness orders me to add, that he shall deem it his duty to report to his Majesty a conduct, on your part and that of the officers and men committed to your charge, which so well deserves his Majesty’s approbation.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) “H. Taylor.
“Lieut.-Colonel Fearon, 31st Regt.”