Narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Henderick Portenger, a private soldier of the late Swiss regiment de Mueron, who was wrecked on the shores of Abyssinia, in the Red Sea / by R. De May.

  • Portenger, Hendrick.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Henderick Portenger, a private soldier of the late Swiss regiment de Mueron, who was wrecked on the shores of Abyssinia, in the Red Sea / by R. De May. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    On the 4th of June the captain of our ship, after the cele¬ bration of the king’s birth-day, gave an entertainment to the officers and crew, of which we made a part, and it lasted the whole day. The 7th of June, in the afternoon, we saw high land, which proved to be the coast of Africa. At seven o’clock in the evening, the captain ordered the officer of the watch to be veiy caresul to keep the ship at the distance from land which he had pointed out to him, and to be careful to avoid some rocks at no great distance; a watch of four men was placed on the fore-top, with orders to be very vigilant and keep a good look-out, for fear of getting too near the land. But soon after, the sentry on the foretop cried out, “Breakers a-head ! on hearing which, the officer on watch, who seemed to be just awakened from a profound sleep, exclaimed, “What is that you say ? you lie, you scoundrel !” but at the same in- ftianf the men at the helm also cried out, that the ship became unmanageable, and did not obey the helm anv longer, which we found proceeded from the force of the waves breaking on the locks ; on this the officer of the watch ran to the compass; out ne seemed as much frightened as any one, so he sent for the captain immediately, who, depending on the vigilance of toe officer and the orders lie had given, had retired to take some rest; as soon as he came on deck, which he did imme¬ diately, lie saw what had happened, and g*ave what orders he judged necessary on this melancholy occasion ; but it was un* » ji V tb e ship was surrounded on every side with rocks and breakers, on which the sea broke tremen¬ dously ; he ordered the guns to be throw n overboard, but it couki not be effected, the ship filling so fast, that the water was already gaining* the main deck ; soon after, the ship struck on a lock, and the shock was so violent that the whole stern part of the vessel, with the mizen-mast, w as separated from the ship and broken to pieces: judge of our deplorable situa¬ tion ; all our boats destroyed, the night setting in dark and stormy, the land far off yet, surrounded by rocks and breakers, on which the sea broke mountains high, and was continually making over the wreck of our unfortunate vessel; which, how - evei, fortunately for us, stuck fast between the tw7o rocks, where it had struck the last time, when it wras broken in two; we had, therefore, no hope of preservation left, but that the wieck might hole together and be able to resist the waves unfd next morning’, when, wdtli the help of day-light, we might make an attempt to reach the shore. 4Ve spent the night in the best manner we could, and a horrid dismal night it w as for us all; at last, the so ardently wished-for day-light