Wreck
The loss of the Two Friends was unfortunate, but was nothing compared to the catastrophe which befell the Aeneas the following day. The heavy transport had become totally separated from the main body of the convoy some time before, and was relying on her own navigation to make the Canadian coast in appalling weather. Crammed into her hold were 347 people consisting of soldiers of the 100th, many women and children from their families and the ship's crew.
At 4 a.m. on 23 October, the ship went ashore somewhere near Cape Ray, Newfoundland in total darkness and raging wind. The exact location is unknown, but is believed to be a submerged reef close to the Isle aux Morts. The passengers poured on deck in a state of panic, which contributed to the disaster when a huge waves swept hundreds of struggling people into the sea. Within four hours, the ship had broken up, and 35 survivors were washed onto a tiny islet about half a mile from the scene of the disaster. An incredible back surge of water then carried any more survivors and all possible salvage from the ship far out to sea. Amongst this little band were two army officers, seven sailors and 26 soldiers, who spent the remains of the day building a raft.
By the next morning, five had died from exposure and three more were in a bad state when the raft made landfall on a desolate patch of coastline. Upon landfall, the three desperately ill men were abandoned by the main party, who walked south hoping to find succour. Two other sailors became separated from the group, and two soldiers volunteered to remain with one of the officers when he collapsed, whilst the remaining officer, Ensign Faulkner, led the remaining 21 survivors southwards.
A passing hunter, Michael Gilliam, who stayed in a hut during the summer collecting furs, discovered the three sick men, and with the help of the two detached sailors removed them to his hut, where the six remained for the winter. At some point they were joined by the two soldiers left guarding the officer, who had been discovered and rescued by a band of hunters after said officer perished.
In the spring of 1806, this band of hunters and survivors made their way to Fortune Bay, and from there to Quebec, where they were reunited with the remainder of their regiment and told the tale of the loss of the Aeneas. Of Ensign Faulkner and his band, there has never been any sign. It is believed they perished somewhere in the deep woods, either of starvation or due to the advancing winter.
Read more about this topic: Aeneas (troopship)
Famous quotes containing the word wreck:
“the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“And such the trust that still were mine,
Though stormy winds swept o’er the brine,
Or though the tempest’s fiery breath
Roused me from sleep to wreck and death.
In ocean cave, still safe with Thee
The germ of immortality!
And calm and peaceful shall I sleep,
Rocked in the cradle of the deep.”
—Emma Hart Willard (1787–1870)
“My belief is that science is to wreck us, and that we are like monkeys monkeying with a loaded shell; we don’t in the least know or care where our practically infinite energies come from or will bring us to.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)