H.M.S. DIAMOND ROCK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1985, 8 May 1885, Page 2

H.M.S. DIAMOND ROCK.

It may not be generally known that there was once included amongst. Tkjtigh • ships of war a ship that was no jijijsa{ alf! bfjt a sijlid roqji, fjjigwag pim'pndßpck in tlje West Indies, of which [lie fpllowing tale js tolcj. Lafe jn 1803, Sjr-'Sapijie) Wliwtjced tljat ilie French" %B.pf war, jn inalqng fpr Port Upyij} Hj>rjp iji Martinique, escaped from him by passing between Diamond Rock and pointe du Dinmantc, The rock rises sheer out of thesea some 000 ft, it is about amile round, and only accessible at a point to the lee: ward, anfl even til)en only when there ipnp ppf. In jjinujtry, 1304, jjieji, Hoo(|, ivjtfo the inspiration of gepijip, laid Aw ship, t|je a geyeiity-fpHr,'n]i^gSi^e' tßg #i »P4 by tjifi ajfj of hawsers, wjijch fig jnade fast tp t|ie §h}p and tP the tpp (if tjip I'Ppk, hauled pp high above liip masthead Ifll'Pt' 24'ppptlerp jind two 18-poundori, the sailors engaged in the work having the appearance of "mice hauling a little sausage,"and the ship below looking "like a cocoanut shell." Lieutenant Wilkie Maurice held the rock wifji 120 men ang hoys, and §wept tjie seas |iip g(ipp, until Ist June,' whep hi? ninpuipj: tion to short, and he had to surrender to a Frenph aqiiadvon cDiipistiiig of two pounders, a frjgnto, a corvette, a schooner and eleven gunboats, The surrender did not take place before seventy of the enemy had been killed on the rttfftilone, and three of their gunboats destroyed, while the English loss was but two killed and one wounded.