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to regret the trouble which he had taken; as it proved the fortunate means of faving the fquadron under his immediate command, from

the unknown but dreadful calamity, which was to take place in the West Indies.

CHA P. III.

Dreadful hurricane in the Weft Indies. Deftruction and calamity in Barbadoes. St. Lucia, Granada, St. Vincents. Great loffes fuftained, and dangers encountered, by the British naval force in thofe feas. French flands. Humanity of the Marquis de Bouille. Hurricane in Jamaica. Town of Savanna la Mar overwhelmed. Large tract of rich country, in a great measure deftroyed. Diftreffes, and great loffes, of the inhabitants. Bounty of the crown and parliament. Liberal benefactions of individuals. New York. Negociation, between Sir Henry Clinton, and the American General Arnold. Major Andre employed in the completion of the fcheme. Is taken in difguife, on his return from the American camp. Avows his name and condition in a letter to Gen. Washington. Gen. Arnold efcapes on board the Vulture ship of war. Various letters written, and means ineffectually used, in order to fave Major Andre from the impending danger. He is tried by a board of American General Officers. His candour and magnanimity on the trial: is fentenced on his own confeffon, and the teftimony of the papers which were found upon him. Liberality with which he was treated, and his fenfe of it. His untimely death clofes the tragedy. Unusual Sympathy which he excited in the American army. Gen. Arnold is appointed to a command in the Britifk army. Publishes an addrefs to the inhabitants of America; and a proclamation, directed to the officers and foldiers of the continental army. Diftreffes in the American army, and fome of their caufes.

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HE West Indies were ow doomed to experience the weight of an enemy, far more irrefiftable and terrible, than any which the malice, or power of their own fpecies, could arm against them. This was a hurricane of fo dreadful a kind, that it feemed to be rather one of the last pangs and convulfions of nature, than any of those customary exertions, in which the happily produces general good, though at the expence of fome partial evil.

Although this tremendous fcourge of Providence, feemed to fweep the feas and the land with wild and

undistinguished fury, yet the antient colony, and till then flourishing ifland of Barbadoes, was more particularly the marked victim of its rage. The hurricane began in that island, on the morning of the 10th of October, 1780; and continued, with little intermiffion, about 48 hours. In the afternoon of the first day, the fhips were driven from their anchors, and obliged to encounter all the horrors of the most outrageous fea that the oldeft feaman had ever beheld. They could not, however, have envied, if they had known their condition, the fituation of those

whom they had left behind on fhore.

In the courfe of that dreadful night, Bridge Town, the capital of the island, was nearly laid level with the earth. The hiftory of the government houfe, will give fome idea of the fate of the other buildings in that town, and of the state of their inhabitants. That building, which, from its unufual trength, feemed calculated to brave all the outrages of feafons, was nearly of a circular form, and its walls above three feet in thicknefs. No means were neglected, betimes in the evening, to barricade the doors and windows in fuch a manner, as fhould render them proof to all outward violence. But before ten o'clock, the irrefiftable force of the tempeft burft its way through different parts of the houfe; and having in fome time carried off the roof, and the ruins tumbling on all fides, the governor's family were obliged to fly for refuge to the fouterrains; but they were foon driven from that afylum by the bursting in of the water, which, through the continued torrents of rain that fell, threatened nothing less than a deluge.

Nothing now remained, but an endeavour to gain the fields; an attempt, than which, except their prefent fituation, nothing could appear more dreadful or dangerous. It, however, fo far fucceeded, that they gained fome temporary fhelter, amongst the ruins of the foundation or platform, on which the flag-ftaff had been erected. But thefe, however maffy, became fo obedient to the increafed violence and aftonishing force of the wind, as to threaten inftant de

ftruction to the diftreffed fugitives, who were again compelled to encounter all the open horrors of the tempeft. The governor, and fuch others as had ftrength and recollection enough to keep together, after being frequently blown down, and rolled about in the mire and wet, at length gained a battery, and took fhelter under the gun carriages; where they fat in continual apprehenfion of being crushed to pieces, fo terribly were the cannon moved by the ftorm.

The other houfes of the town being much earlier deftroyed, the furviving inhabitants were of courfe expofed to the miseries of a longer night of continued danger and horror. Numbers were buried in their houfes; and the dreadful uproar of the tempest, was intermixed with the groans of the dying, the cries of thofe who were incapable of dragging their maimed and wounded bodies from the ruins, and the fcreams of wor men and children, whofe fate feemed only to be deferred for greater horrors, whilft they were lamenting, or calling for help to their loft friends.

The day-light presented fuch a fcene of defolation as has feldom been equalled. That beautiful ifland, fo lately glowing in the richest bloom and verdure of continual fpring, now prefented the image of thofe broken and dreary polar regions, whose dismal wastes are buried in eternal winter. The fmaller towns experienced a fimilar ruin with the capital. It was. faid, that not one houfe or building in the ifland, however strong or fheltered, was exempt from damage; but that, in general, they were levelled to the ground, the

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plantations deftroyed, and the produce of the earth fo totally torn up and difperfed, as not to leave a trace behind. To increase the calamity, most of the living stock of the island, particularly of the horned kind, perished. And reputable and opulent families were, in common with the most indigent, expofed to the ftill unexhaufted fury of the tempest, without food, raiment, or cover.

The lofs of human lives was great, even among the Whites; but including the Blacks, amounted to fome thousands. The numbers could not, however, be accurately estimated. Befides thofe who fell victims to the violence and inclemency of the weather, and whofe bodies were eafily found, many were entombed in their own houses, and in the ruins of others, who could only be difcovered by time. Many were whirled by the force of the tempeft into the fea; many carried off by the waves, which being driven over their customary mounds invaded the fhore; and perhaps, not a fmaller number, by the torrents of fresh water which poured from the clouds. As the first object of the furvivors, next to the providing of immediate food and fhelter, was the guarding against a peftifence, by the speedy interment of thofe dead bodies which were eatily found, their number was little attended to, in that scene of hurry, diftrefs, and confusion.

Perhaps there is not in hiftory a more extraordinary inftance of the united force of the winds and waves, than was fhewn upon this occafion, in the removal of a cannon of twelve pound ball, from the fouth to the north battery:

being a distance of one hundred and forty yards: a circumstance which we should have been afraidof relating upon any lefs authority, than that of a public document, tranfmitted to the secretary of ftate by the governor of the island.

It happened most fortunately, and probably faved Barbadoes from utter ruin, that Gen. Vaughan, with a confiderable body of troops were then on the island. For befides that the Blacks were in a ra-. tio of four or five to one with refpect to the Whites, they were incumbered with above 800 prifoners of war; who, as well as the worst and most dangerous members of their own community, were all fet at large by the deftruction of the prifons. The general's houfe being early destroyed, he and his family underwent a full thare of the dangers and calamities of the night; his fecretary's thigh was broken, and he did not escape himfelf without many bruifes.

Such are the happy effects of order and difcipline, that although the barracks and hofpital were blown down, the lofs fuftained by the troops was very inconfifiderable; and though the rapine of the negroes during the general confufion, kept pace with the violence of the tempeft, yet the activity of the officers, and the alacrity of the private men, fucceeded fo happily, as nearly to fave all the ftores and provifions deftined for the fervice of the army and navy. It was no less fortunate, at a time when famine was staring the whole' ifland in the face, and that the moft dreadful confequences were to be apprehended from its effect upon the negroes, that the quan

tity of the latter was very confiderable.

It should be remembered, to the honour and praife of Don Pedro St. Jago, a captain of the regiment of Arragon, and of the other Spanish prifoners at Barbadoes, who were all under his immediate direction, that they acted the kind part of friends, inftead of behaving like enemies, or even with indifference, in this feafon of calamity; and that they omitted no labour or fervice within their power; for the affiftance of the diftreffed inhabitants, and the prefervation of public order.

The islands of St. Lucia, Granada, and St. Vincent, were likewife laid nearly defolate. In the firft, all the huts and barracks for the troops, as well as the other buildings of the island, were blown down. At Granada, the devastation was proportioned to the fuperior cultivation and improvement of that ifland; and of St. Vincents, it was faid, that not a houfe was left ftanding. Dominique, likewife fuffered greatly. Most of the fhips of war were driven out to fea from St. Lucia, in the beginning of the hurricane. The Vengeance, which was moored within the Careenage, a place, ever till now, confidered as affording the utmost security in all winds and weather, was, notwithstanding that, and every immediate effort for her further fafety, driven upon the rocks, and her efcape from utter destruction, exceeded all hope and expectation. The tranfports, victuallers, and traders, were at best difmafted, and moftly driven on shore.

Of the fhips of war which were driven out to fea, the Montague VOL. XXIV.

returned, without maft or bowfprit ftanding, and eight feet water in her hold-the Ajax, greatly damaged the Beaver's prize, of 18 guns, was wrecked on the back of the island, and all the officers and crew, except 17 men, perifked. The prefervation of the Amazon, after being overfet in the utmoft violence of the hurricane, notwithstanding the praifes justly due, to the undaunted refolution, and the unequalled efforts and activity of the officers and crew, feems fo little fhort of being miraculous, that, at a greater diftance of time, it would have been deemed incredible. The Andromeda and Laurel, of 28 guns each, were not fo fortunate they were both foft on the coaft of Martinique, none of the officers, and very few of the crew's being faved. The Deal Caftle, of 24 guns, fuffered the fame fate; and the Egmont of 74, arrived at Jamaica, without a maft, and in all other refpects little better than a wreck.

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The fquadron under the command of Admiral Rowley, which convoyed the Jamaïca trade on its way to Europe, experienced no lefs calamity, and fuftained fill greater lofs. Of this fquadron, the Admiral, with five more, returned to Jamaica, moftly dismasted, and 'all difabled. The Ber wick, being feparated, and difmafted, found it lefs difficult, or thought it lefs dangerous, to proceed alone to England, than to return. But the Stirling Castle, of 64 guns, was totally loft on the coaft of Hifpaniola, and only about 50 of the crew faved. The folitary fate of the Thunderer, of 74 guns, under the conduct of [C]

Comy

Commodore Boyle Walfingham, was still more calamitous; the being fo completely fwallowed up in this conflict of the elements, that no memorial or particulars of her catastrophe can ever come to light. The Phoenix, of 44 guns, Sir Hyde Parker, was wrecked on the island of Cuba; but the officers, and most of her crew, were happily saved. The Barbadoes and Victor floops of war, with the Cameleon, Scarborough, and La Blanche frigates, became likewife, upon different fervices, and with a partial or total lofs of men and officers, victims to the rage of this merciless season.

The French iflands, feem to have fuffered even more than the English, excepting only Barbadoes. At Martinique, the beautiful town of St. Pierre, built upon the shore, was faid to have been entirely overwhelmed and washed away; and the town of Baffeterre, in Guadaloupe, was reported to have fhared the fame fate. About fixty fail of tranfports from France, which had arrived that morning at Martinique, with ftores, and 2,500 troops on board, were all driven out to fea; and both fhips and foldiers fuffered extremely. Several were entirely loft; and fome were taken, by thofe who had themfelves juft efcaped the danger, and who were itill fuffering under the effects of the common calamity. The Experiment of 50 Guns, and the Juno of forty, with fome other Royal French frigates, were entirely deftroyed; and 19 fail of loaded Dutch veffels, were dafhed to pieces on the ifland of Granada. Nor did the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, efcape the general effects of the hurricane ; the damage there

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being eftimated at not lefs thar 150,000l. fterling.

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The humanity of the Marquis de Bouille, affords fome relief to thefe fcenes of horror and devaftation. That governor fent 31 Bri. tifh failors, (being the poor remains that were faved of the crews of the Laurel and Andromeda) under a flag of truce, to Commodore Hotham, at St. Lucia, accompanied with a letter or meffage, in which he declared, that he could not confider in the light of enemies, men who had fo hardly efcaped in a contention with the force of the elements but that they, having, in common with his own people, been partakers of the fame danger, were, in like manner, entitled to every comfort and relief which could be given, in a season of fuch univerfal calamity and diftrefs. He only lamented, he said, that their number was fo fmall; and particularly, that none of the officers were faved. Thus did that eminent commander, and magnanimous enemy, fuftain the high character which he has fo juftly attained, as well with the English as his own nation, in the courfe of the prefent war; and to which, or more properly, to thofe great qualities from which it is derived, he is perhaps no lefs beholden for fome of his acquifitions, than to the fuperiority of his arms.

When it is recollected that the hurricanes of this feafon, fwept the coats of Europe and America as well as the Weft Indies; and that even a beautiful part of the country, on both fides of the Thames, between London and Richmond, fuffered very much (about the time of the devaftation in the Leeward Iflands) by a hur

ricane

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