Coquille

Last evening, at four o'clock, a dreadful fire broke out on board La Coquille French frigate, lying at the moorings, at the foot of Milbrook Lake; it was first discovered to proceed from about the gun-room in the after part of the ship, and in less than five minutes an explosion took place, which blew up the quarter-deck, and the mizen-mast fell over the side; the flames then ran along the main deck, and caught the main mast and standing rigging, and from thence the fire extended itself to the fore-castle and fore mast, so that in half an hour the ship was wholly in flames from stem to stern, and the conflagration, heightened by the darkness of the evening, together with a very strong easterly wind, became awfully grand. As the ship lay surrounded by a number of other ships, it became absolutely necessary to, remove her from her moorings, to prevent the flames from communicating its destructive influence, and the Dockyard boats and others cut her adrift, and towed her to the Mudbank, to the north-eastward of South-down, where she grounded: she providentially passed every ship that lay afloat without doing the least damage; but the Endeavour brig, of Scarborough, laden with coals, bound to Guernsey, had unfortunately grounded on the mud, close to the spot where La Coquille first brought up, by which means she caught fire, and together with her cargo was totally destroyed.

A sloop belonging to Jersey, bound from Southampton to Jersey, laden with malt and flour, which lay near the Endeavour, had a very narrow escape. The fire reached her jib boom, but by the assistance of boats from other vessels, she was towed off to a place of safety, and the fire on board her extinguished.

La Coquille continued burning with incredible fury till the ship was destroyed to the surface of the water, which was about eleven o'clock; but the fire "was not wholly extinguished this morning at nine o'clock; and the coals in the bottom of the brig aground on the bank were then in a strong body of fire. All the crew of the Endeavour were saved; but many lives were lost on board La Coquille by the explosion ; the number is not yet exactly ascertained. The missing are, Mr. Drury, Mr. Evanson, and Mr. Bate, midshipmen; ten seamen, a woman, and John Jellico, a custom-house officer, who are supposed to have been in the gun room at the time the accident happened, and of whom no remains have yet been found. Three men and one woman were picked up, and carried to the Royal Hospital dreadfully burnt, and twenty seamen and marines were saved by the boats attending. From the midst of the flames a woman was seen to jump into the water, and was saved by the Naiad's boat. Four men were also seen to put their arms through a scuttle, and shrieks were heard, but no assistance could be rendered them.

All La Coquille's moveable stores had been taken ashore, except the ballast, and three large anchors; and it seems she had been surveyed and valued for the public service. She was a very large handsome frigate, only three years and a half old, and it is said will be £10,000 loss to the captors. The accident is variously accounted for: that it happened by means of gunpowder amounts to a certainty; and that the gunpowder must have been concealed for some improper purpose, as the agents to the captures of ships of war always obtain permission to land their powder at the magazine immediately on their arrival, to prevent accidents, which might otherwise frequently happen, if the article was left to the depredation of the crews and others.