Broadside entitled 'Minerva of Leith!'

Transcription

Minerva of Leith !

A Full and Particular Account of the Loss of the Brig
Minerva of Leith, belonging to Messrs Stenhouse,
bound from Dublin to Glasgow, with Grain, which
violently Struck on the Horse Island, off Ardrossan,
Ayrshire,   on   Tuesday   Morning   18th   December
1821, by which one of the Crew, Peter Porter, and
Three Passengers, were unfortunately Drowned ;
also, an Account of the Ingenious manner by
which the Master, Charles Gibbon, a Seaman, Mar-
tin Horn, and a Young Lad, John Campbell,
were Providentially Saved, with the Names, &c.
of those who were Drowned !

ON Tuesday the 18th December 1821, the people of Ardrossan,
and the surrounding country, were thrown into much con-
fusion and painful feeling, by the loss of the brig Minerva of Leith,
she property of Messrs Stenhouse there, bound from Dublin to
Glasgow, with upwards of 70 tons of grain. About six o'clock in
the morning, the wind blowing very strong from the south, and
the sea running excessively high, she struck upon the Horse Island,
about a mile off the coast of Ardrossan. As soon as she was
observed from the shore, a pilot, with the Eglinton life-boat, and
ten men, immediately went to her assistance. On account of the
very high wind, and the tremendous breakers by which they were
assailed, they found it impossible to approach the wreck ; and but
for the ingenious suggestion of Alexander Reid, of the Mary Anne
of Irvine, to carry a fishing-boat across the Island, to which it was
moored, they could not have got to the wreck at all.

When they did approach it, it consisted of nothing but a rafter
or spars and deals, providentially kept together by the entangle-
ment of the sails and cordage ; and from this, where they had re-
mained four hours, they happily succeeded in rescuing from a
watery grave, though much exhausted, Charles Gibbon, the master,
Martin Horn, a seaman, and John Campbell, a lad ; Peter Porter,
the other who completed the crew, was drowned,

It would be gratifying if this paragraph could be concluded,
however serious the loss may be to the owners, by saying that the
vessel was a perfect wreck, and that the cargo was completely lost.
But, alas ! four other lives were lost ; one man, said to be a private,
Robert Clark, of the 78th regiment, who had purchased his discharge,
and was on his way home somewhere in Aberdeenshire, who slept
in the forecastle, was doomed to instant death the moment the vessel
struck. A woman, whose name is said to be Maddin, and who was
on her way to join her husband, about twenty miles from Glasgow,
with a fine child, a boy about three years old, also perished. Mrs
Ord, of the Dublin Circus, where she had left her husband, and
was proceeding to Glasgow on business, was the other sufferer.
                                                                                                                                                                                 
It must have been a heart-rending sight to see these poor creatures
sitting upon the deek, almost naked, and where they remained about
two hours contemplating their approaching fate! Maddin clinging
with one hand, and grasping her beloved child in her other arm to
her breast, till one tremendous effort of the raging ocean swept the
whole three into the immense abyss ! The Earl of Glasgow (whose
name must ever be coupled with all that is good as well as great)
kindly desired that every attention should be paid to the survivors,
who are comfortably put up at the Ardrossan Hotel ; and that every
were should be saken to prevent any smail remains of the vessel
from being plundered.

A female body has since been brought ashore, and from some pa-
pers found on her person, bearing the address of " Mrs Ord, No. 9.
Charlotte lane, Glasgow," it is persumed there is no mistake as to
the individual. A small Box containing the Master's papers has
also been found.-?"Ayr Advertiser."

PRICE ONE PENNY.

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