vice) to notice, with the most grateful acknowledgments, the exertions of that officer, in command of the field pieces and howitzers, which were served with the most masterly effect. The commanding officer requests, that the officers in command of corps and detachments, will communicate to the men his entire satisfaction of their conduct of yesterday; and they will not lose a moment in giving the strictest attention to the state of their arms and appointments, and to keep them in constant readiness for the further execution of our duties in this quarter. (Signed) N. WARREN, Brigadier major. His majesty's ship, La Chiffonne, Mus cat, 1st November. Honourable Sir,-We beg leave to notify to your honour in council, the proceedings of the armament under our orders up to this day. Early in the morning of the 15th of September, the honourable company's bomb ketch, Strombolo, foundered; by which melancholy accident two officers and fourteen men perished. The result of a court of enquiry on this unfortunate occurrence has been forwarded to the superintendant of the marine, for the information of go vernment. * On the 3d of October, in latitude 20. 29. north longitude 68. 04. east, the honourable company's cruizers, named in the margin, were detached partly to Muscat, and partly to Cape Mucksa, for the purpose of completing their water; and directions were sent to captain Gordon, of his majesty's ship the Caroline, to join the armament off the Bombareck Rock with all the force he could collect; as well as boats belonging to the Imaum for the purpose of landing troops and pilots for the several ships. On the 20th of October, being fifty leagues eastward of Muscat, from an Arab ship the unpleasant intelligence was gained, that the Caroline was not in that port five days before, neither had any of the cruizers been seen on the Arab's rout from thence. It therefore became absolutely necessary, that the original plan of proceeding against the pirates should be departed from, and that we should proceed to Muscat for information. We were strengthgreat reduction of water on board the ened in that determination from the transports, arising from the defectiveness of many of the casks, and beplied with orders to procure water at cause their commanders had not comBombay for their respective ships' companies, proportionate to the quantity which had been pnt on board for the troops. Accordingly the transports anchored at Muscat on the 23d instant, the detached cruizers arriving only at the same time. ed from Burka two days after, and armament has been unfortunately de- with Mr. Bunce, the resident, we had He, in fact, was very much averse Khima, on the presumption, that the to the armament attacking Rus ul force we had would be insufficient for the purpose. conld approach the town, and that He said, that none but small vessels assail it by land; because the pirates not less than ten thousand men could would be assisted by the Bedouin Arabs, to the number of twenty though given with apparent sincerity, thousand men. This opinion, alyour honour in council will conclude. could not alter our resolution to attack the port, unless insurmountable obsta'cles should prevent it. The great difficulty of procuring water has detained the ships in port till this time, but we have every hope, that on to-morrow we shall be able to put to sea, accompanied by twenty trankees, in execution of our orders. We have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obdt. humble servants, Capt. of H. M. S. La Chiffonne. LIONEL SMITH, Lieut.-Colonel. To the honourable Jonathan Duncan, Esq. governor in council, &c. Bombay. Extract of a letter, dated Rus ul Khima, 15th November, 1809. I am happy to inform you, that we arrived here safe on the 11th instant. The Minerva was then observed to be lying in much farther than we can approach; but on our anchoring, she got under weigh, and ran on the beach, when people from the shore were immediately sent to reinforce her; which, at this time, made us think we had no contemptible enemy to cope with. She was flanked by a town full of men, with matchlocks, and a ninepounder; however, after receiving two or three broad-sides from the Prince of Wales and gun-boats, sent in to the attack, the Arabs deserted her, and, in the course of an hour from the time the boats left the fleet, this unfortunate vessel was in flames, and completely destroyed by sunset. It is, however, to be regretted, that the Prince of Wales, in performing this essential service, got aground and received the enemy's fire till 10 P. M. when she got off with the loss of two lascars, and her foremast slightly wounded. The next day was passed in making arrangements to hnd the troops, and throwing a few shot and shells into the town from the gun boats; the enemy returned the fire with great coolness, but very little effect. On the 13th, at day break, the attack commenced by the marine battalion, at one end of the town, to attract the fire of the enemy, whilst colonel Smith, with the Europeans, landed at the other; a very smart fire was kept up from trenches along the beach; but as soon as the troops got footing, the enemy flew in all directions before them into the strong parts of the town, where they were completely concealed from us, and fired their musquetry from the houses, which considerably retarded the progress of our men. I shall not go on detailing what occurred on this most fortunate day; therefore you must be satisfied to hear, that the enemy were driven into the country, all their guns spiked, and the Union Jack Aying in the town by noon; about seventy dows (large and small) destroyed by fire, their magazines blown up, and every injury completed by 4 P. M. This was all done with the loss of one captain of the 65th, and three or four men wounded. The troops found considerable plunder in the town; and great quantities of dates and coffee were left there from the laudable anxiety colonel Sinith felt to get his men embarked off the burning shore, after the great point was settled. The troops are now all embarked, and we expect to sail to day for Kishme, where there is another nest of pirates. The miserable inhabitants of this place are now collected on the beach, deploring their situation, and burying their dead, which we suppose to amount to 150 or 200 men. The Sultan made his escape on the only horse in the place. Several charts, quadrants, and books, have been found with poor Hopwood's name in them. Mrs. Taylor had sailed for Bushire some days before our arrival here. It is supposed, by the military gentlemen, that there is an European here, who has instructed the inhabitants to throw up batteries, and dig trenches, as they are all done in our style. It is said, in private letters from the expedition under the command of lieut. colonel Smith, that several privates of the detachments, both native and Europeans, had been fortunate in securing considerable sums of money during the ransacking of the town of Rus ul Khima; one soldier, of his Majesty's 65th regiment, is said to have found 1,400 gold Mohurs. The following are some of the circumstances which attended the loss of the Diamond and Futteh Allebhoy. The vessels left Bussora, in company with the Bussora packet, on the 29th October last; and, after touching at Bushire, proceeded on their voyage to this place. On the 5th November, it began to blow a hard gaie; the weather was at the same time bazy and the sea very high. At four o'clock the next morning, the Diamond found herself amongst breakers, and the next moment struck on the reef that lies at the N. W. end of the Island of Nobflower. An attempt was made to wear the ship, but the rudder going away, the ship was driven on shore and laid on her beam ends. In about a quarter of hour the Futteh Allebhoy also struck and shared the fate of the Diamond. Both vessels succeeded in getting all the crew and passengers on shore, with the exception of the serang and one lascar, belonging to the Diamond, who were drowned. In the afternoon, the waters having fallen, and the sea abated a good deal, captain Benson, of the Diamond, went on board, with a few of the best lascars and the second officer, to try if they could save any of the treasure, provisions, and clothes. They found the captain's trunks broken open, and a great many things missing, which they suspected to have been done by the Arab horse-keepers, whose conduct, in other respects, dur ing the time of danger and calamity, is Some of the horses were found alive; ; prospect before them; the whole around them during the night. appeared in sight the next morning, To their great satisfaction, a ship which turned out to be the Bussora of the gale, had parted company. By packet, that, at the commencement the humane exertions of capt. Clement, who immediately went on shore to their assistance, they were all safely embarked on board the Bussora packet before night, except a few, which Benson till the next morning. Beremained with capt. Clement and capt. fore they finally embarked, they visited both ships, but found it was impossible to do any thing effectual towards saving them. PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. Shipwreck. JAN. 14. The following is an authentic account of the loss of the ship Dundee, belonging to this port. The Dundee sailed from Port Jackthe 13th, at 8 P. M. it came on to blow son on the 12th of August last, and on a very heavy gale from the S. E. the Under these circumstances, it was found absolutely necessary to bear up, in the hopes of getting fafe anchorage in the entrance of Hunter's river, as the only possible means of saving the ship, and preserving the lives of the people; being, however, unable to carry such sail as was necessary to keep the ship to windward, from the violence of the gale, and a strong fresh running out of the river, it was impossible to weather the breakers on the lee sand shoals: and, at about 8 A. M. the ship struck aft, the sea at the same time making a breach completely over her, where she lay until between 1 and 2 P. M., when she went to pieces. Notwithstanding every possible assistance was rendered from the settlement at Newcastle, after the ship had struck, two of the people's lives were unfortunately lost; and a number of them severely bruised. The brig, Elizabeth, from Otaheite and Goro, which touched at Norfolk Island, on the 8th of Oct. last, brought accounts of a large ship, supposed to be the Port au Prince, from the coast of Peru, having been cut off by the natives of Goro, and the crew, consisting of nearly one hundred men, killed and devoured by the natives. The same accounts mention, that the American brig, Eliza, captain Corrie, had been wrecked on a reef near the same island, and totally lost; and that one of her boats, with six men, had been cut off by the natives, while attempting to save some of the crew. The Eliza is said to have had on board sixty thousand dollars in spe cie. PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND, Occurrences for February. FEBRUARY 4. On Tuesday last, the 31st ultimo, an inquest was held on the body of Elizabeth Bennet, at her dwelling house in George Town. A jury having been summoned and collected, they proceeded with a coroner, to make an inquiry into the cause of the death. The state of the corpse, as it then appeared, might be more easily imagined than described. The deceased lay stretched on the floor of the bed-room, at the foot of her couch, with her skull shot through, and completely shattered; a pistol, apparently just before discharged, (and with which it was supposed the death was occasioned) was seen hanging on the curtain. A long and serious investigation ensued, and among the several witnesses who were examined, were Anthony Baptist, the servant of the deceased, and George Williams, a mariner.— The first of them deposed, that, in the morning he was desired, by his mistress, to go to the house of a friend of her's, and to request that she would spare her some gun-powder and pistolballs, for the purpose of shooting some mad dogs; that the deceased often used to shoot with a pistol, at birds, for amusement. He accordingly conveyed the message, and returned with six small cartridges, which he delivered to his mistress. He stated, that he had reason to believe, that the deceased was not in her right senses; that she frequently got into temporary phrenzies, and used to hold this witness, and suddenly grow angry with him without cause; and, also, that she frequently attempted to bite him. That, after having attended the deceased, and the said George Williams at breakfast, he was sent out, by his mistress, to call a tailor, (George Williams having left the house, and she at this time being alone therein); upon his return, he found several of the neighbours in, and near, the house, who had repaired thither in consequence of the report of the pistol. That this witness then pro ceeded to inform the police constables of what had happened. George Williams, a mariner, belonging to his majesty's ship Ceylon, being also called and sworn, deposed, that he had breakfasted with the deceased in the morning; that she seemed to be exceedingly affected, and very uneasy; that she scarcely spoke to him; but, while at breakfast, muttered in a low tone of voice, and now and then cried; that on asking her what was the matter, she shook her head, and he heard her once exclaim, "I am undone!" That after breakfast he went away, leaving the deceased and the above-named witness in the house; and, upon his return, some time after, he found the deceased lying in the condition before described; and some persons who had repaired to the spot, in consequence of the alarm given on the occasion among the neighbours, were there collected. Several other witnesses were like wise examined, as to the time the report of the pistol was heard, in which, as well as to there being nobody then seen in the house at that moment, they all agreed. From the above examination, it appeared to the jury, that, from a paroxism of grief, the deceased must have lost the use of her reason; and, having retired for a few minutes, they brought in a verdict of lunacy. PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND Occurrences for March. Sessions of Oyer and Terminer and general gaol delivery, Court of judicature of Prince of Wales's Island.-Friday, March 10, 1809. Kamoody, a sepoy, was tried upon an indictment, which charged him with having feloniously ravished Aleema, the wife of Toole Mahomed, a tailor, on the 8th of February last, at George Town, in this island.-Aleema, the woman, swore positively to the facts against the prisoner; she lives near the draw-bridge; prisoner came to her house about two o'clock on the day of the 8th of February last, and said he wanted her husband, who was a tailor, to make him a sepoy's hat, she told him he was not at home, and he went away, through the door leading to the street, by which he entered the house; she had then just lain in of a child, and was confined to bed. In a few minutes after, the prisoner returned to her house, offered a dollar, which she refused to accept of, and he dragged her out of her cot, threw her down, and committed the violence, which she particularly described, and swore to all the requisites necessary to complete the crime of rape. He remained two hours in her house with her, and went away; there were several houses and neighbours all about her house; she said she endeavoured to cry out, but the prisoner kept her mouth stopped with a cloth the entire time, so that she could not call for assistance; her mouth was stopped with the cloth for two hours after the prisoner left her house, she told what had happened to some neighbours, but the prisoner was not apprehended; her husband returned that night, at midnight, and she told him all that had happened, and he and she complained to the police; soon after which the prisoner was apprehended. Saddoolaw, who lived next door to her, deposed, that there was a passage from his house into the house of the prosecutrix, and there is another passage into her house from the road; that, through his house, conversed with him, about a month ago, prisoner passed and said he had some business with the tailor, the husband of the woman; that he went into her house and remained about an hour, and then returned through his house; and there was no noise during the time he remained there; that if there had been the least noise, or any person had cried out, he must have heard it; that soon after prisoner walked away, the prosecutrix came out, and charged the prisoner with having had forcible connexion with her; there were several neighbours and people all around, who would come to her assistance if any alarm had been given when the prisoner was in her house. |