One of the most frightful catastrophes ever recorded at sea
occurred on 18th November. The Cospatrick,' Captain Elmslie, was on 17th Nov. in lat. 37° 15' S. and long. 12' 25' E., or about 250 miles west of the Cape of Good Hope, with 500 souls on board, mainly emigrant families of the labouring blass, bound from England to New Zealand. Soon after midnight smoke was seen coming out of the fore-batch, and in a few minutes the flames burst out on deck. The passengers grew wild, and whether from their rushing about or from loss of nerve, the steersman lost control of the rudder, the ship turned head to wind, and smoke and flame were blown over the whole vessel. Eighty passengers, mostly women, got into the starboard boat, which filled, and
capsized, and drowned all on board of it. This boat was after- wards righted, and got away with 27 passengers. The masts fell, sihingnj!tny, and by degrees all the passengers except some sixty
'Angst ia-rt tiVoitittUlnkptvcs into the aea, at by four in the after- 'nolin'ot`flf‘e 119tft tit; glik.hhtibeetaufLitd."-diNyhati Ric copper," and went down. Just before trie fittirira4t:feli-P.i.i early on the morning ot.1116: lathr-tha.secoacl officer, Mr, Macdonald, jumped into thc pCoit:•fitoit;-;-•tiicii fall of passengers—and got away. He picked up a few nicire; &et •tbe starboard boat, and with two sailors transferred himself to that. Thirst killed all but him- self and four sailors before they were picked up on the 27th by the 'British Sceptre,' and two more of the survivors died mad on board that ship.
