THE LATE CAPTAIN GRAY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1405, 31 January 1873, Page 2

THE LATE CAPTAIN GRAY.

The Melbourne Telegraph relates the following incidents in the life of tbe late Capt. Gray :— After the Great Eastern was built, and when the company to which she beloaged were looking out for a captain for her, Messrs Gibbs, Bright, and Co., thinking that if Captain Gray were at horne — he was in Melbourne at the time— he would have applied . for the position, sent in an application on ~lilj> Jiehali, stating that they would be very sorry to^ioßQljiia services, but that his duty to them had beeiraw well performed that they could not possibly stand in tlie_ way of his promotion. Captain Gray would have been appointed commander of the Great Eastern, were it not that it was found he could not reach England in time. On his return from Melbourne the correspondence on this subject was placed before Captain Gray, and he was so much affected by the kindness and consideration of his employers that he said that so long as he lived, and so long as two sticks of the Great Britain stuck together, he would never leave her. His employers have time after time pressed upon him to take a holiday, but he could never be induced to leave his vessel for any length of tune. He had not been well for two or three years before his melancholy death, and after his last voyage home, when the Great Britain underwent a month's overhaul, he was told that he must go away for that time, if he would not for a longer period, and he went to a place noted for tbe curative properties of its mineral waters; but he returned in a week, saying that if he drank such stuff it would kill him, and if he was to die, he would rather he died on board his ship. After tbat he refused to leave the vessel. Two years ago he had a severe attack of congestion of the lungs consequent upon catching a violent cold. From this he never thoroughly recovered, and ever since he has been Ivw-spirited, and has often expressed a belief that he would not be long here. When he left Melbourne, but two months ago, his haggard appearance was generally remarked upon by his friends, who noticed that he had lost much of his usual activity. During the bustle of the departure he took rest upon a couch— a thing quite unknown before. The unfortunate gentleman leaves a wife and seven children in Liverpool to mourn his loss, but it i& believed by those best acquainted with him that they are left pretty well provided for.