Historical records of the 91st Argyllshire ... - waughfamily.ca

9 1ST ARGYLLSHIRE HIGHLANDERS. 193most of them either sank from exhaustion, or were 1852.devoured by the sharks, or were dashed to deathon the rugged shore near Point Danger, orentangled in the death-grip of the longseaweed that floated thickly near the coast."arms ofAbout twenty minutes after the Birkenheadfirst struck on the rock, all that remained visiblewere a few fragments of timber and the maintopmaststandingabove the water. Of the 631souls on board, 438 were drowned, only 193 beingsaved ;not a woman or child was lost. Those whodid manage to land at Point Danger were CaptainWright and seven men, and, exhausted as theywere, they had to make their way over a ruggedand barren coast for fifteen miles before theyreached the residence of Captain Small, by whomthey were treated with the greatest kindness untiltaken away by H.M.S, Hadamanthus.Eight men of the 91st were saved inthe threeboats, which picked upas many men as theysafely could, and made forthe shore, but found itimpossible to land. They therefore pulled awayin the direction of Simon's Town. After a timethey were descried by the coasting schoonerLioness, the master of which, Thomas E. Kamsden,took the wretched survivors on board, his wife13