Boon Island - Kenneth Roberts [31]
CHRISTOPHER LANGMAN
And the said Nicholas Mellen for himself saith, That the several Allegations, Matters and Things contained in the aforegoing Deposition of Christopher Langman, are just and true in every Particular thereof. And this Deponent saith, That at the Time they were chased by the said Privateers he was present, and did hear Mr. Charles Whitworth (then on board the said Ship, and adjudged Part Owner thereof) say, That he would rather the said Ship should be lost than obtain her design'd Port in Safety, having made 200 £. Insurance. And this Deponent saith, That the said John Dean at the same time declared, That his Brother Jasper Dean had made 300 £. Insurance; and immediately after said, If he thought he could secure the Insurance, he would run the Ship on Shore; and upon the same
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order'd this Deponent to hoist the Boat over the Side of the Ship, which done, the said John Dean put therein all his valuable Effects, with a Design to run the said Ship on Shore, but was prevented by the Deponent Christopher Langman, by whose Assistance the said Ship arrived at her Port of Killybags, and having reloaded departed for Boston in New England, upon which Coast making the Land, the Deponent being on the Watch, call'd up the said John Dean, and told him there was Land just to the Leeward of them, and the Deponent Christopher Langman being call'd up also, desired the said Ship might be put off from the Shore, which the said John Dean refus'd if she went to the Bottom; and for the said Langman's Advice threatned to fetch up a Pistol and shoot him, and did go down, and came up behind him and knock'd him down with a Loggerhead, by means whereof he lay dead for several Minutes, and the same Night the said Ship Nottingham run ashore upon a desolate Rock, and was stav'd in Pieces: And this Deponent saith, That if the Ship had missed that Misfortune, she would have run ashore on the Main Land, which he believes was the Master's Design: And on the said Rock we should have been lost our selves, had not the Mate Langman, who was then bleeding and cutting down the Mast (under God) sav'd our Lives; in which Island the Cook was frozen to Death, and the Carpenter dying next having been reduced to Hunger, the Master skinned him and cut him up, and they eat him, when Two of the Ship's Company went on Shore on a Raft, one of which was never heard of, the other was found dead in the Woods, by which means the Country understanding a Wreck, came off with a Shallop, whereby they had a Fire after the 22nd Day, with which they broiled the rest of the Man, until the 24th Day after their being arrived on the Island before they were relieved.
NICHOLAS MELLEN.
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And the said George White for himself saith, That on the 7th of August, 1710, they departed with the said Ship Nottingham from the Nore, on the Voyage to Killybags and New England, that in Prosecution of the voyage on the 21st Day of August, in the Year aforesaid, there appear'd off the Coast of Ireland two Ships to the Leeward, to which the said John Dean would have bore down, but that the Deponent Langman and the Men believ'd they were Privateers, and advis'd to the contrary, and would not consent to his bearing down. And this Deponent saith, That Mr. Charles Whitworth, then on board the said Ship, and said to be a Part Owner thereof, declared, That he had rather be taken than