(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)


I take the liberty of transmitting you an authentic, though somewhat
concise, narrative of the loss of the Hon. Company's regular ship,
"Cabalva," (on the Cargados, Carajos, in the Indian Seas, in latitude
16° 45 s.) in July, 1818, no detailed account having hitherto appeared.
The following was written by one of the surviving officers, in a letter
to a friend.

A CONSTANT READER.

The Hon. Company's ship, Cabalva, having struck on the Owers, in the
English Channel, and from that circumstance, proving leaky, and
manifesting great weakness in her frame, it was thought advisable to
bear up for Bombay in order to dock the ship. Meeting with a severe gale
of wind off the Cape, (in which we made twenty inches of water per
hour,) we parted from our consort, and shaped a course for Bombay; but
on the 7th of July, between four and five A.M. (the weather dark and
cloudy) the ship going seven or eight knots, an alarm was given of
breakers on the larboard bow; the helm was instantly put hard-a-port,
and the head sheets let go; but before it could have the desired effect,
she struck; the shock was so violent, that every person was instantly on
deck, with horror and amazement depicted on their countenances. An
effort was made to get the ship off, but it was immediately seen that
all endeavours to save her must be useless; she soon became fixed, and
the sea broke over her with tremendous force; stove in her weather side,
making a clear passage--washed through the hatchways, tearing up the
decks, and all that opposed its violence.