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    tfrifc THE Lr E A DURy [SATtr^pAyy ^

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    THE WBECE1 OF THE "ISAAC WRIGHT" EMIGRAN...

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    MISCELLANEOUS. Public affairs and tho en...

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    Tho periodical budget of new s from Jndi...

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    Ceiminal Record. The Records Of The Crim...

    night , and that the charge of robbery was only invented when he refused . Mr . A'Beckett dismissed the case . Sfon She Shantmalla , a native of Benares , tried to drown himself last week , but was saved . He was formerly in the service of the late Rajah of Coorg , but had been dismissed for intemperance aatd loose habits of life . Suffering from disease , despairing of cure , and friendless , the Hindoo attempted suicide . Brought before Mr . Broderip , at the Westminster office , he was charged-with the offence ; but at the suggestion of the magistrate , he was sent to a hospital instead of a prison . The ex-Rajah attended , and took an interest in the unfortunate . The man has been cured , and will be sent home .

    Another instance of the JTemesis which awaits criminals in . this age of steam and electricity has come to light . James St . Albin , a collector in the service of Messrs . Train , shipowners of Liverpool , decamped for M elbourne in 1852 -with 1300 ? . At Melbourne he entered business as a general merchant , and " made" 5000 ? . But a knowledge of his whereabouts having been communicated to his duped employers , a warrant was sent out , and St . Albin was brought home . On Tuesday he was committed for trial by the Liverpool police magistrate . Mr . Richard Turpin has re-appeared on our highways , last week , Mr . Hamlin , a solicitor of Redhill , near Bristol , was suddenly driving home in the evening , when ajjhorseman presented a pistol and demanded money . Another highwayman rode up at the same time ; and being an invalid , and a little frightened , Mr . Hamlin surrendered his property . His clerk was with him ; but what chance is there for a lawyer and clerk versus two highwaymen ?

    Tfrifc The Lr E A Dury [Sattr^Payy ^

    tfrifc THE Lr E A DURy [ SATtr ^ pAyy

    The Wbece1 Of The "Isaac Wright" Emigran...

    THE WBECE 1 OF THE " ISAAC WRIGHT " EMIGRANT SHIP . { To the Editor of the Leader . ) Me . Lovei . ady ' s Temperance Hotel , lit , Derby-street , WMtechapel , Liverpool , Oct . 7 , 1853 . At a Committee meeting convened by the passengers of the ship Isaac Wright , Mr . John Watt in the chair , for the purpose of g iving publicity to the main facts of the disaster and bad treatment sustained by the passengers from the officers and crew of that vessel . The Committee , with myself , were all second cabin passengers . . ;

    ___ , _ _ ,. . . ,, , The Isaac Wright , Black Ball liner , Captain Abeel , commander , advertised to sail on the 16 th of September , received t he majority of her passengers on board on Saturday , the 17 th , while she lay in the Waterloo dock ; removed out into the river on the 18 th , where the remainder of the passengers were taken on board , a great number of the last comers being Germans ; on the 20 th , p . m ., we were taken in tow for sea by the Constitution steamer , which left us on the 21 st , a . m ., near to Holyhead , with 600 passengers on board .

    We had a three days provisions served out to us on the 20 th , a . m ., while we lay in the river ; but on this occasion none received oatmeal , nor salt , and only a few received rice . We proceeded on our voyage , and received no more ship ' s provisions until the 27 th , when we again had p rovisions served out to us , amounting in quantity to not more on an average than a three days supply , consequently we were five days at sea without any supply of provisions from the ship . On the 25 th , we were not supplied with any water from the ship ; on another day , the water served out to us waa bad and unfit for use , being more like unto soapsuds than anything to which it could bo compared ; on another day , the water served out to many of the passengers was bad , being thick , and quite rod in colour ; the biscuit , too , received by many on the 27 th was quite unfit for food , being mouldy , and full

    of maggots . After being at sea for five days , we had experienced atrong equino ctial gales , from which tho ship sustained no injury , excepting the splitting of ono or two of her 8 ail 8- , 27 th . Up to this dato , seven of tho lower deck passengers had died ; in the morning of this day it was : i little foggy , but cleared out at noon , when the captain took the arm again ; it came in rather foggy for about two hours before dark , aftor which we had a beautiful star-light night . About half past eight O ' clock this ) night , a cry was heard upon deck of breakers a-head , which earned a great number of passengers to rush upon deck ; and to our

    consternation tho ship waH found to bo clo . so alongside of a stupendous rock , said to bo Mizenhcad , in tho neighbourhead of Cape Clear . Thin wan during tho hoc-oik mato ' H watch . Tho chief nuito instantly rushed on deck in bin shirt , and in a nio « t prompt manner succeeded in weighing tho ship oft" tho rook , tho captain now at tho holm ; notwithstanding , sho struck upon it heavily with her keel , which materially damaged hoi rudder and caused her to spring a leak . ( This disaster could bo attributed to nothing but ignorance and mismanagement—tho captain expecting , from what wo h tho matesthat clear

    had hoard throug , wo wore now of land , and far out into tho Western Ocean . ) The pumps wore sounded , and wo found tho ship to hsivo made some twenty inched of water , which afterwards increased to tbree ' feot . Tho pumps wore at once most willingly manned by the male passenger * , who formed themselves into gangs , and successfully pumped the Bhip night and day , up to tho 3 rd of October , when sho was again moored in Liverpool rivor . Tho salvation of the ship from sinking was solely and entirely owing to tho indefatigable oxortionH of the passengers , who also lent tho crew material aid all this time in otherwiHo working tho nlup . On . tho 28 th , tho Bhip ' u

    rudder went away entirely . During all this time , in justice to Mr . M'Gill , the chief mate , too much praise cannot be given to him for his praiseworthy conduct in managing and devising means for the navigation of our now disabled vessel . He immediately set about and had a temporary rudder constructed , which was shipped on the 30 th , and proved to be a good substitute for steering the ship , until we were taken in tow by the Constitution steamer , and , received a pilot on board , near to Holyhead , on the forenoon of Monday , the 3 rd of October .

    A few days after we had struck , being in a , hopeless condition , just at the mercy of the wind and waves , a flag of distress being hoisted , a ship from St . John ' s , bound for Liverpool , bore down upon us , with British flag—a joyous sight—and took on board from us a gentleman , with his family , servants , and luggage , Being first cabin passengers , who , on arrival at Liverpool , sent the steamer in search of us . While we -were still in the midst of our distress , and previous to the achievement of the erection of our new rudder , another ship bore down upon us , and hailed us , asking the captain if he wanted any assistance . This " model navigator" replied "No . "

    During the time we were at sea ; many of the passengers received most barbarous treatment at the hands of the crew ; for instance , the sailor ' s , or cabin cook , a man of colour , threw a quantity of hot water upon a poor Irishman , for just asking of him a little water ; another poor Irishman who , when in the act of stooping outside the cook-house , for the purpose of getting a little water from a tub , was kicked violently on the head by this black cook , and knocked down ; he then took a large iron ladle , and dealt the poor man a severe blow , as he rose , on the forehead , by which he was cut , and caused , to bleed profusely . The cook then , like a tiger , seized the poor man by the neck , when a number of the crew came to the cook ' s

    assistance with drawn knives . The Irishman was immediately put in irons , and imprisoned by the officers , but he was soon after released . 29 th September . —Fatal disease had now dreadfully set in amongst the steerage passengers , which began with the Germans ; and although it was as yet confined to the lower deck , we found the numbers of those who daily fell into the grim jaws of death to be rapidly increasing ; in fact , it was most alarming to

    witness , for , generally speaking , no sooner was it announced that there were so many more cases of disease than the poor creatu ' fes had swallowed Dr . HornbooJc ' s Panacea , breathed their last , and were consigned to the deep ; and notwithstanding that very many of the passengers were now confined to their miserable beds , from severe illness , which daily proved fatal , numbers of them , Avhile in this helpless condition , were pulled out by the hair of their heads and beaten with a wooden pin , or a piece of hard rope , by the merciless crew .

    From the inadequacy and bad condition of the passengers' cookhouse it was utterly impossible for so many to get the necessaries of life cooked daily , hence the only resource left for those who had money was to purchase hot water from the cabin cook , after the rate of Gd . for about three gills ; consequently numbers of the steerage passengers who had no money had to suffer the consequences of being deprived of hot water for tea , gruel , or any such warm preparation of food , and in this state many of them died . Many who survived are now ready to attest that , but for tho humane supply of food and water to them by tho second cabin passengers , they must have died also , for some who wo supplied had not tasted food or wator for one and two days , and many had not tasted anything warm for four and five d . ays .

    boon after we had sailed , the deck hospital was partly demolished by the second mate , and a sheep , Homo poultry , turnips , and hay wore put therein . Tho partition also in the steerage , which separated the young men from tho females , was totally taken away by the crew . The treatment of the dead also was most inhuman and barbarous ; they were generally sewed up and put overboard ere they were cold , and , in somo instances , nothing put on them to cause them to sink ; and for burial service tlio crew wero usually hoard to utter , in the spirit of tho most iniquitous levity , languago liko unto

    this- — " ( jo along , you old ; wo have had too much trouble with you ; ' and '' Good night , you old ;" at tho same thm > kicking tho corpse with their assaHflinlik « loot . ; then tho t : row proceeded to plunder tho dosul of what clothing and valuables they might possess . On one morning , when illness was at " its Insight , the whole ol tho second cabin and steerage passengers were driven on deck by the hccoikI matt ) and crew , for tho purport ot stoving tlio Hteerage deck with tar , and sprinkling the second cabin with a prepared liquid and lhno , which wo considered to bo quite requisite , but wo havo to complain that at thin time the cheats of several of the

    paHHongors wore hrokon open below decks , and robbed of then- clothing and money by the crow . Somo of tho pasHorigem applied to ' the captain and chief mate for redrew in ropjard of tho things stolon , when those officers cither coolly told us that " there was no r « droHH ~ they know the erow to be big rogues ; " or that You ought to have taken bettor oare of your things ; [ or rudely ordered tho applicant from tho quarter-dock .

    We ¦ . have to complain , too , of the improper conduct and seeming incompetency of the " ship surgeon . " He invariably prescribed one universal powder for all the sick ; but he never saw that his patients were supplied , Bay with gruel , of such like nourishment . We could , also , say much more about the base language generally used by this " surgeon" in regard of the dying and the dead , but we forbear . There were , also , some pigs kept in a house amidships , next dooi to the hospital , the stench from which was most odious , all the time we were at sea , and enough of itself to breed a pestilence .

    We have to notice , too , that the second cabin had attached to it a water-closet for the use of its passengers which was open for their inspection while the ship layin dock . When she removed out into the river it was fastened up b y the officers . The chief mate was asked , while we lay in the river , to open it for our use . He replied , it should when we got out to sea ; but when , we got out to sea , he coolly told us , in answer to repeated applications , that this water-closet had not been opened for the use of the passengers for two years , and that the Government Inspector would not allow one to be there ; consequently , the female portion of our cabin passengers especially were put to the most filthy inconvenience , the only places accessible , both for male and female , being amidships , and it was disgusting to be compelled to enter them .

    We lament to say , that up to the time of the passengers being taken on shore at Liverpool , fifty deaths had taken place , of which just two belonged to the Second cabin ; one of the number was a poor Irishman of the lower deck , who , it was said ^ went overboard in a fit of despair one night at sea in the midst of our distress . Efforts were made to save him , but proved fruitless . We could have enlarged upon many heads , but thought it wise to confine ourselves merely to a concentration of facts .

    It is due to the authorities of Liverpool , to state , that so soon as the calamity of the Isaac Wright-was known , the Government emigration agent , Captain Chamburg , waited upon the Mayor , when ample provision was at once made for the reception of our unfortunate passengers . Hence , on the ship being safely moored , the active chief constable gave the whole of our luggage into the charge of his men , which was safely delivered to us next day ; and then , under

    the guidance of his force , we were marched to the workhouse , where the wants of all were supplied—the sick being placed under medical care in the hospital . Of course , those of us having means withdrew to our respective places of abode ; but to the majority this benign reception was a great blessing , who told me , on inquiry , that they had every comfort . I noticed , too , that the utmost kindness and attention of the intelligent manager of the institution was universally rendered .

    And I now beg , in the name of the passengers , to tender to the authorities of Liverpool our most grateful thanks for this very humane and timely demonstration of their kindness . John Watt . Committee : Robebt Wilson . William C . Muik . Alexander Mutb . Frederick Gkaham . Thomas Kenna . James Gkaham . Samuel Aakon . John Hall . Isaao Simpbon Peacock . William Harbison . Robert M 'William Adams . James Bain . John Watt , Chaimiw .

    P . S . —It is alao due to the owners of the ship , to state , that their brokers , Messrs . Charles Hill and Co ., returned the passengers their passage money in full , with the exception of those who wished to be sent out in other ships ; and on being pressed , they also paid to each man 21 . Zd ., as a remuneration for having pumped tho ship . J . W .

    Miscellaneous. Public Affairs And Tho En...

    MISCELLANEOUS . Public affairs and tho entertainment of her guests have fully occupied the Queen since her arrival from t ' bleak hills of tho North . At tho Privy Council hold on Monday , Parliament was prorogued from tho 27 th inst . to tho 2 !) th <> t November . Mr . John Parker was sworn of tho Privy Council , arid a new Scotch representative P «« r ordered to ho elected in tho room of " Lord Salfcoun . A . Court followed , whon tho Persian minister , Sir Edmund Lyons , Sir William Hotham , Lords Aberdeen , Clarendon , Graaville , and Lord John ItufiHoll liaa audiences of tho Queen . Princo Albert has been out shooting with tho JJolffift " gentlemen , and Quoon Victoria riding and driving with the Duchess of Brabant . Both tho Queen aim her guests havo visited town during 1 tho weok . Lord Clarendon , Mr . Gladstono , Lord Aber (| ooi >> and tho Belgium and Austrian Ministers , havo < im - with hor Majesty . _

    Tho Periodical Budget Of New S From Jndi...

    Tho periodical budget of new s from Jndia , China , » Australia , has been roeoived . They point to «»« "" ' extensive disturbances . Our now Bumum tomtoiy in a state of war . Largo bodies of firmed men ,, Micro " robbers , " hut 14 , 000 utrong , won . m I ' ""!'"" . of fortified places , whonco tlwy wUliod to attauis

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1853, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29101853/page/8/