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No. 19
Sir,
I am sorry to acquaint you for the information of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, that very shortly after my arrival
here on the 15th, information was transmitted by the telegraph that
His Majesty's ship Penelope which had been spoken in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence on the 28th April by a vessel since arrived, was lost
about eighteen leagues on this side of Cape Gaspé.
The report is given by the pilot of the transport ship Lord
Cathcart No. 471, which arrived this morning. He relates as I am
informed that he had seen a boat's crew belonging to the Penelope
at the River Matt and which was endeavoring to get vessels to
send down to her assistance.
They reported that all the officers and the greater part of
the ship's company were saved, and, the master of the transport
says, that he saw lights upon the southern shore near Mount St.
Louis as he came up the river.
Upon the weight of the intelligence, I dispatched Lieutenant
Scott, late of the St. Lawrence, in a transport schooner to find,
and give her what assistance he was able, and the government
schooner was likewise ordered for the same purpose.
I therefore hope that we shall have more accurate information
in a day or two.
In the meantime, as it appears by the information of the
master of the Lord Cathcart, that several transports are on their
way to this place for the purpose of conveying home the troops and
that for the greater dispatch, this vessel had been ordered to
proceed alone, and was, from the critical state of the affairs of
Europe, it would be improper to allow the troops they take to go
without a convoy. I have requested that His Excellency Lieutenant
General Sir Gordon Drummond will forward a dispatch immediately to
Halifax to give Rear Admiral Griffith notice of this unlucky
accident, and to request that he will send as soon as possible, a
ship of war to convey the transports which may be collected in this
river, in which every preparation is making to embark the troops
the moment orders shall arrive.
I avail myself to that conveyance to send likewise the
duplicates of several letters I have forwarded, but which cannot
yet have reached you. |
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