Departing St John’s, Newfoundland, in January 1825, the Francis and Mary ran into trouble in early February, losing the long boat, companion, tiller in a swift gale and soon cut the foremast and bower anchors. The boat drifted for the better part of a month, during which time seven sailors died from hunger. It was on February 22nd that hunger prevailed and the first of the deceased was eaten by the survivors.
“Also James Frier [a cook], who was working his passage home, under a promise of marriage to the female passenger [Ann Saunders], who attendedd on the master’s wife; and who, when she heard of frier’s death, gave a loud shriek, then snatching up a cup from the mate, cut her late intended husband’s throat and drank his blood! insisting that she had the greatest right to it…” The folding plate depicts the bloodthirsty scene in vivid detail. The ship was relieved on March 7 by HMS Blonde.
The pamphlet includes yet another account of a shipwreck, that of a Dutch East Indiamen the Vrheid bound for Batavia in 1782.
Rare. There were several pamphlets published, this being no. 5 in the series. Just one copy in OCLC. Not in Huntress but cf Huntress, 234C.
