| |
The business of the Trio, is doubtless the most interest of the
sort, that has hitherto occurred, or that perhaps may again occur
in this country, on whatever direction it be regarded. Having had
occasion to attend, during the various times in which evidence was
given in this case, and upon which the award of the arbitrators
(the preface to the present statement) was made, I may be excused
in stating some of the principal facts, that were then clearly
incontrovertibly established. It appeared, and it also appears by
the award, that Mr. Fraser, in a late and inclement season of the
year, with some of his tenants, leave their habitations on Green
Island, in an open boat, for the bona fide purpose of yielding
succour, or of saving a ship richly laden, stranded at the shoal
off Mille Vaches, upwards of fifteen leagues distance from Green
Island, and upon a wild and inhospitable coast, open to the sea,
and exposed to frequent gales of wind from the east. On arrival at
the place, they find the Trio, high upon the shoal, totally
deserted, with her sails loose and flapping, her hold full of
water, her hatches open, and her deck strewn with merchandise, the
apparent vestiges of plunder, her anchors on her bows, her rudder
knocked away, but her hull otherwise perfectly sound. Mr. Fraser,
not having sufficient hands to clear the ship by pumping, judges it
more expedient to scuttle her at low water, taking care to caulk up
the aperture at return of tide: by this means, after three or four
tides, the water is drained from her hold, and at high water the
Trio is completely afloat. Mr. Fraser, after securing the ship at
anchor, to prevent her driving further at high water, sets his men
to work at a temporary rudder, for the purpose of steering the Trio
across the river, in order to lay her up in a place of safety for
the winter, or to bring her to Quebec, if the wind permitted,
which, it appeared, could have been easily effected. At these
exertions they are continuously employed for a week, exposed to
frequent gales of wind, in which the people would frequently have
abandoned the Trio, had not Mr. Fraser, by encouragement, and the
example of his own perseverance, which few less robust than he,
could have supported, prevailed upon them to stand by the ship.
Such was the posture of affairs on board the Trio, when the captain
arrived from Quebec, with some small craft, who, disappointed to
find the Trio so favourably situated, and ashamed, perhaps, at
having too precipitously abandoned her; after some parley with Mr.
Fraser, proceeds to violence, and assisted by his men, disposes Mr.
Fraser and his people, maltreat, and threaten them with criminal
prosecution as plunderers, which was indeed afterwards attempted
without success. Here all further exertions for earnestly saving
the ship are arrested; part of his cargo is trans-shipped into the
smaller craft, and the Trio is hauled up on the shore, and without
further deliberation is abandoned, and delivered up to the agents
for the underwriters, to be sold as a total loss. It appears also
in evidence, that Mr. Fraser, so far from plundering, or committing
any act of negligence while in charge of the Trio, had evinced the
greatest caution and care for the preservation of the articles
found loose on the decks upon his arrival, proven to have been
plundered by Indians and others, needless to mention. A liberal
public has, however, done ample justice to Mr. Fraser's injured
reputation: a man of real property, and whose integrity has stood
high in the opinion of his fellow-citizens for more than forty
years before the name and the industry of Messrs. Hamilton gave
lustre to our commercial world, was not to be wantonly ruined, by
the envy of individuals. Mr. Fraser, just indignant at the
treatment he has experienced, proceeds to law for the recovery of
salvage upon the Trio, as well as for the re-establishment of his
character; which he conceived to have been injured by those likely
to enjoy the fruit of his danger and fatigue in saving the Trio.
Here he is gallantly opposed by Messrs. Hamilton, who, after a
series of dauntless resistance, agree to refer the affair to three
Magistrates, who, after hearing the foregoing, and other matters
not less substantial in evidence, award Fraser £30 for work and
labour, and £34 10s to pay his people, six or eight in number, in
all £64 10s with cost, for having saved a property which, upon
enquiry, they would have found worth between fifteen and twenty
thousand pounds, having no doubt taken into consideration their
loss of time, expense for provisions, distance of their voyage,
season of the year, and above all, the danger and success of their
enterprise. The arbitrators have condescended to apologize for the
small sum awarded to Fraser, in consideration of his intoxication,
(and a better apology would not be amiss:) but his men, not faring
better then he, are punished for having been, we presume, in evil
company. It appears, however, that Fraser, while in charge of the
Trio, was at all times, capable of giving the necessary orders, and
that, had he not been dispossessed, he would have succeeded in
laying up the Trio in a safe place on the south shore during
winter, and that it was quite probable he might even have brought
her safe to Quebec last autumn.
The arbitrators have, I am
persuaded, exercised the best of their judgement, but with
submission to their superior opinion, I will hazard another: I
conceive, that Mr. Fraser's intoxication was totally foreign, and |
|
