Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

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Turn we now to another and a sadder case, where the opposite qualities were most unhappily displayed, and the consequences of which were proportionately terrible.

On the 17th of June, 1816, the Medusa, a fine French frigate, sailed from Aix, with troops and colonists on board, destined for the west coast of Africa. Several settlements which had previously belonged to France, but which fell into the hands of the English during the war, were, on the peace of 1815, restored to their original owners; and it was to take re-possession that the French Government dispatched the expedition, which consisted of two vessels, one of which was the Medusa. Besides infantry and artillery, officers and men, there was a governor, with priests, schoolmasters, notaries, surgeons, apothecaries, mining and other engineers, naturalists, practical agriculturists, bakers, workmen, and thirty-eight women, the whole expedition numbering 365 persons, exclusive of the ship’s officers and company. Of these the Medusa took 240, making, with her crew and passengers, a total of 400 on board.