The departure : of S. W. Prentice, ensign of the 84th Regt. & five others from their shipwreck companions in the depth of winter 1781. Mr Prentice was sent with public dispatches from Govr. Haldimand at Quebec to Sir Hen. J. Clinton at New York, who with 18 seamen & passengers were cast away on a desolate unhabited part of the Island of Cape Breton, december 1780. Five perished & several lost their fingers and toes by the severity of the cold. The survivors continued in their place several weeks when Mr. Prentice & such as were able, embarked in a small shattered boat to seek some inhabited country. They stopped the leaks of their boat by pouring water on its bottom till the holes were closed up with ice. During a votyage of two months in which they suffered incredible hardships; & at length worn out with fatigue benumbed, diseased and famished. They were discovered by some of the native Indians. These friendly savages afterwards went to assist those who had been left at the wreck of whom five only were found

Description only — contact the archiveBM007-2-D15-P008

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