A TRAGEDY AT SEA.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 176, 28 June 1859, Page 4

A TRAGEDY AT SEA.

The following horrible adventure is related by Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkie, as having occurred while he was cruising in the Archipelago:—. Continuing our cruise among the Islands, one morning,,just at break of day, we discovered a large polacca ship pretty close to ~us. She was soon brought to; I went oh board her, and witnessed one of the most horrible scenes that can be imagined; the men who were on deck alive were English sailors, but in such a state of frenzy and confusion, that I was at a loss to conceive what had happened; they appeared, so overborne by excitement that it was sometime before I could get an' explanation; the impression ,on my mind was, that the prize crew had risen on their officer or ■officers," and murdered them, and that they were now under the horror of detection and compunction; such;, however, was'not the case;' the disasters that .had befallen them were entirely owing to their own neglect. This vessel had been taken by the" Seahorse frigate some clays before, who had put into her a crew, consisting "of a gunner, a mate, a midshipman, and fourteen or fifteen seamen, with directions, to take the vessel down to Malta. Three Greeks, one of whom was sick, who had'formed part of the crew when she was taken, were left on board to help to navigate the prize.

On the night previous to the morning that I boarded her, the gunner had the first watch, and when he was relieved by the midshipman, he.went to bed in the cabin ; it would appear that the midshipman did not stay long on deck, but retired also to his berth, and his example was followed by the rest of the watch, leaving on deck the only Englishman, the man at the helm ; this blind cc 'urityoffered strong temptation to the three Greeks to recover their vessel, and they set, about with determination. They had quietly fastened down all the hatches, when the man at the helm was suddenly attacked by one ofthe Greeks, who endeavored to fell him with an axe, but he jumping on one side avoided the blow^calling out most 'lustily for his shipmates, from whom he received'no reply, he climbed into the boats high up in the centre ofthe vessel, and there seized the first thing that came to liis hand, which was a capstanbar ; in the mean time "one of the Greeks had gone forward and stood over ; the small trap in the forehatch, through which the sailors came on deck; it was only large enough to allow,one to.pass at a time.

Those who have been on board Turkish ■ or Greek vessels may recollect having seen a sort of tomahawk they use; it is made of iron with a tube at the back that terminates in the bowl of a tobacco pipe, which be-' comes a- smokng machine for all hands in common, while the other side ofthe instrument may put an end to the smoker by cutting off his head; with this murderous weapon, the Greek on the forecastle stood above the hatch, andas the English sailors, taking tlie alarm, raised themselves one after the other over the hole, their heads were split open by the Greek's tomahawk. ; While this was passing forward a similiar tragedy was being enacted abaft; the gunner,' who had, as already stated, been relieved from tlie watch,'was awakened by an attempt to cut his throat with a sharp dirk, which'failed only by the chance of both his arms, being, raised towards his head ;'they did hot succeed in cutting his throat, but they crippled both his arms for life ; had they succeeded in that instance, the assassins would pro.bablyhave continued to ■cut the : throats of all. the sleepers below, but the alarm occasion-■• edby their failure in the first instance] caused them to retreat on deck, where they took post above the companion ladder, ready to deal out clpa'h on whoever should attemnt to follow them, and were soon at the same murderous work as. their countrymen on the forecastle; whilst most of the English remaining below were in ignorance of what was passing above their heads, j

The single Greek forward, either fearing; that he should be overpowered by numbers,, or from, some other-cause, called loudly c for assistance to his friends abaft, and one of them running forward for that purpose passed close to th&boat in which the.solitary Englishman was perched, ivho being high above him,;dealt out such a swinging blow with his capstan bar, that he stretched hirri senseless on the deck, from whence he did not rise till.the vessel was again in pur. possession., The Greek force was .now: reduced'to, tw0..;.. The man; forward ignorantoi,what had befallen his, comrade, continued calling loudly, for: aid, and the noise, he made effectually roused all the English-, men below; his cries were so importunate that his comrade was forced to give up his position abaft and run to his assistance,' but; as he also passed the boat, the English sailor, wide-awake, gave him such a taste of the capstan-bar, that he in like manner lay sprawling on:the deck; the gallant fellow that dealt the blow now, leapt down from his perch to attack the remaining Greek, who yielded up his post, and as, those who had been kept down in the cabin came on deck the fellow was . soon secured. All the Englishmen who were. able now came on deck, and-being fully made acquainted with what had occurred, their revenge and savage fury knew no bounds; they literally cut and hewed the Greeks, and threw them piece-meal overboard.

-At daylight it was discovered that the leading Greek whose .arms and legs they had chopped off, and as they thought had thrown him overboard, was yet hanging on, the stump -of'his arm caught in the bight of the main-sheet, and he still alive! After such a state of terror and anxiety, and the gratification of such barbarous' vengeance, * the minds of the men seemed actually to have been overturned and prostrated; they remained stolid and stupified that was awful tobehold; the whole scene, so unexpected," made a most powerful impression on my mind ;'.it haunted me for days and nights afterwards, and is now as .fresh -in ray memory as'at the moment it occurred. We h_td.only;now to remove the wounded.

into our ship,.and send some men. in. their,, ; place on board the prize; in a few daya • afterwards we fell in with the Seahorse, and gave them the unwelcome intelligence already detailed; the wounded men, however,., were in such a precarious state, chiefly with compound fractures of the skull, that they could hot be moved, and they remained'! with us some, time, until, we. arrived at Malta, where we landed the gunner, and I '-■ forget how many men, aud sent'them to the hospital; they were still so ill ' f that they . were lowered out of the ship in cots. r . There were several instances during the late wars of prize crews being overpowered, both, French. and English, -but I think the. affair above related is the, most, remarkable - attempt on record of three men, one of whom was ah invalid, attempting to get the better \ of eighteen stout healthy men; it may serve., as a lesson to all future prize-masters not , to relax in their vigilance, or whatever may be the disparity of numbers, slacken in their '. attention ; the prize-master irithis case was ' ■dreadfully punished in his own.person, .but , that was small satisfaction for the-sufferings of others, produced entirely by. his neglect.' and that ofthe other officers;., had , the English sailor at the helm, dropped asleep, or had the attack on himsuc'ceeded/notone of the party would have been left to. tell the tale; he, and he ,alone, saved, the lives of , all his companions by his presence of mind <■. and courage.