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TRIBUNE (36) Built in 1796, taken from the French.
Wrecked in 1797.

  • Taken by Capt. Thomas WILLIAMS in UNICORN off Ireland on 8 June 1796.
  • Under the command of Capt. Scory BARKER she sailed from Torbay on 22 September 1797 as convoy to the Quebec and Newfoundland fleets.
    In Lat.
    49.14 Long 17.22.
    she fell in with and spoke HM ship EXPERIMENT 12 days out of Halifax.
    On 10 October she lost sight of her convoy.
    When they approached the harbour at Halifax, Cap.
    BARKER proposed that they should lay off until they could obtain a pilot but the master said "that he had beat a 44-gun ship into the harbour, that he had frequently been there, nor was there any occasion for a pilot since the wind was favourable."
  • Accepting these assurances, Capt. BARKER went below to arrange some papers he wished to take ashore; meanwhile the master assumed the pilotage of the ship, placing great reliance in a negro, John Cosey, who had formerly belonged to the place.
  • When the ship approached close to the Thrum Cap Shoal the master became alarmed and sent for Mr GALVIN, the master's mate, who was sick below.
    When he came up he heard the man in the chains sing out "by the mark five" and Cosey sing out "steady".
    GALVIN got up on a carronade to observe the situation and the master ran up to the wheel with the intent to wear ship, but before anyone could do or say anything, the ship struck.
    Capt. BARKER rushed on deck and said "You have lost the ship" to the master.
  • Distress signals were made and answered by the military posts and the ships in the harbour.
    The military boats and one of the boats from the harbour, with Mr RACKUM, boatswain of the Ordinary, reached her but the wind prevented the others.
    The guns, save one for signalling, were thrown overboard together with every other heavy article, and about 9 o'clock in the evening she was got off. She had lost her rudder some hours earlier, and was now found to have 7 feet of water in the hold.
    The chain pumps were manned and it seemed that they were gaining on the leaks, but a violent gale from the S. E. increased, carrying them on to the western shore.
    Little hope remained and Lieut. CAMPBELL escaped in the jolly-boat taking Lieut. NORTH into the boat through one of the ports.
  • At about half past ten the ship gave a lurch and sank, after which neither the Captain or the other officers was seen again, but more than 240 men, women and children were left floating on the water.
    Some, like a man named DUNLAP, and Mr GALVIN, gained the rigging.
    DUNLAP the fore-top, GALVIN the main-top.
  • At one time near 100 people were hanging in the shrouds and tops, but they gradually lost their strength through the long night and the severity of the storm and dropped off.
    Only eight survived although they were close enough from the shore at Herring Cove to converse with the inhabitants who had lit a large fire.
  • At eight o'clock the next morning a thirteen year old boy went out in a small skiff and brought off DUNLAP and a David MONROE, together with two others who wished only to perish as they lay and had to be lifted into the skiff.
    Later the jolly-boat and boats from the cove rescued four more.
    These eight, with the four who had escaped in the jolly-boat were the only survivors.


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