Tenassarim - Visit to Mauritius to rescue survivors of the Letitia
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To the Colonial Secretary to the Government of the Mauritius.
Sir,-I have the honour to report to you the arrival of the Indian Government steam-vessel Tenassarim, and to state that in pursuance of order to proceed to the wreck of the ship Letitia, to rescue the survivors, I left Calcutta on the morning of 23rd ult., and arrived at Point de Galls on the 30th, where having coaled and procured canoes and wood for rafts, &c., I left on the 2nd instant at six, p.m., for the Cargados Carajos; and arrived at the place on Sunday, and having examined the establishment and islands northward, the same day I fell in with the schooner Eliza Jane, of this port, fishing, and having communicated with her, and learnt the object of our voyage had been already anticipated by that vessel bringing the ship wrecked to this port. I however passed close to Frigate Island, and saw the total wreck of the Letitia, some temporary huts, an old boat, a raft, &c., and passing the south end of the Cargados reef on the extreme of the Cocoa Island lay the hull and bowsprit of a large ship abandoned.
In consequence of the lamentable number of wrecks seen by me about these reefs, I would strongly suggest that their erroneous position in the charts by Horsburgh, should be brought to the notice of the Admiralty, for the greater security of life and property, as the whole group is about thirty miles west of the position on the chart. The correct position is given in his Directory, and in " Norie's Epitome of Navigation. "
I shall require about two hundred tons of coal to enable me to return to Ceylon.
I have. &c.,
A. P. Wall
Commander I.G.S.V. Tenasserim
"Mauritius. Dec. 10, 1846."
Note.- It may be remarked that upon several occasions lately inaccuracies in Horsburgh's charts have been discovered, which in Horsburgh's Directory are corrected.
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