THE
LOSS OF THE AUSTRALIA:

A NARRATIVE OF
THE LOSS OF THE BRIG AUSTRALIA, BY FIRE,
ON HER VOYAGE FROM LEITH TO SYDNEY.

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
THE SUFFERINGS, RELIGIOUS EXERCISES, AND FINAL RESCUE OF THE CREW AND PASSENGERS.

EDITED BY THE
REV. JAMES R. M‘GAVIN,
DUNDEE.

NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
285 BROADWAY.

1853.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.

The short and simple narrative which is introduced to public notice in the following pages, is a plain statement of facts; and is submitted with unaffected diffidence, as an humble memorial of “the loving kindness of the Lord, and his great goodness,” in a season of extremity. The only preface which can be necessary in a publication so inconsiderable, is to certify its authenticity, by avowing the name and affixing the responsibility of the author.

The following simple history of the narrative will, it is presumed, be sufficient to remove all scruples as to its truthfulness and reality. In the summer of 1844, Captain Adam Yule, of Dundee, committed into my hands a large manuscript, containing the substance of the following pages, with a request that I would use my utmost freedom with the materials, and give them to the world in any form that was most agreeable to myself. I learned that he had drawn up his account at the Cape of Good Hope, immediately after the occurrences detailed had happened, and that he had consigned it on his return to this country, into the hands of a venerable friend, who had retained it for two years, without finding the leisure necessary to correct and prepare it for publication. In the execution of the trust reposed in me, I considered it proper to reconstruct the narrative out of the materials with which I was furnished; retaining, at the same time, every important incident in its place, and in no case suppressing the utterance of the devout experience of the writer. For the fidelity with which I have adhered to the original facts, I hold myself responsible alike to Captain Yule and to the Christian public; and I am happy to acknowledge that I have received, both from himself and from several of his fellow-survivors in that disastrous voyage, the most pleasing assurances of the truthfulness of the statements. It is necessary that, in such circumstances, I should exonerate Captain Yule from all responsibility as to the manner in which these facts are now submitted to the public,—as I must be content, undividedly, to bear whatever censure criticism may condescend to offer on the literature of this publication.

The Editor dismisses his humble labours with satisfaction, that he has been permitted to aid in rearing this simple tribute on behalf of a class of men who must always hold a warm place in his interest and affections; and whose perilous sacrifices of personal comfort and of religious opportunities, in their calling, entitle them to the cordial sympathy of all Christians. He accompanies the brief narrative with his prayers, that it may be the instrument of spiritual benefit to many souls, and may fulfil the only design in its publication, in promoting piety among sailors, and confirming the promise of God, “that He is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”

JAMES R. M‘GAVIN.

Dundee, December, 1845.

LIST OF THE CREW AND PASSENGERS.

Adam Yule, master; Alexander Wallace, mate; John Yule, second mate; William Yule, carpenter; George Young, steward; Thomas Bisset, cook; George Davidson, Thomas Souter, William Hay, John Allan, seamen; Benjamin Aitken, Alexander Matthew, and James Hill, apprentices.

CABIN PASSENGERS.

STEERAGE PASSENGERS.

LOSS OF THE AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER I.

THE VOYAGE AND CATASTROPHE.

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”

The life of a sailor, beyond the lot of most other men, discloses to a reflecting mind an impressive series of divine mercies and judgments. In a calling so singularly chequered by varying scenes and changing incidents, life is spent amidst remarkable adventures and romantic deliverances, so as to invest its course with an unusual interest, and to crowd its experience with the most solemn and memorable instructions of Heaven.

The