While this was going on, indeed, almost immediately after the ship first struck, the officers and crew very naturally became afraid of the coolies for the treatment they had received, and the captain ordered the boats to be lowered, not to save the coolies in whole or in part, but to preserve himself and crew. These boats, even under favorable circumstances, were not more than sufficient for the officers and crew, showing that no provision had been made for the poor coolies in case of disaster. The boats passed safely through the breakers, leaving the ship almost without motion, all her masts standing, her back broken, and the sea making a clear break over her starboard and quarter.
When the boats left the ship, and steered away, without making an effort to save the eight hundred and fifty coolies, or allowing them to do any thing themselves, with their last look toward the ship they saw that the coolies had escaped from their prison through doors which the concussion had made for them, and stood clustering together, helpless and despairing, upon the decks, and gazing upon the abyss which was opening its jaws to receive them. My friend assures me that he knows these poor creatures were completely imprisoned all the night these terrible occurences were going on, the hatches being "battened down," and made as secure as a jail door under lock and bars.
The ship was three hundred miles from land when it struck, and after fourteen days of toil and struggle, one of the boats only succeeded in reaching Towron, in Cochin-China. The three other boats were never heard of. Here the French fleet was lying; and the admiral at once sent one of his vessels to the fatal scene of the disaster, where some of the wreck was to be seen; but not a _single coolie_! Every one of the _eight hundred and fifty_ had perished.
FACTS IN RELATION TO COTTON--ITS GROWTH, MANUFACTURE, AND INFLUENCE ON COMMERCE, SLAVERY, EMANCIPATION, ETC., CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.
| Great Britain Annual Import | United States' Annual | YEARS. | and Consumption of Cotton, | Exports Cotton to Great | | from earliest dates to | Britain and Europe | | 1858, in lbs. | generally. | --------|-----------------------------|--------------------------| 1641 | Cotton manufacture first | | | named in English history. | | | | | | TOTAL IMPORTS. | | 1697 | 1,976,359 | | 1701 | 1,985,868 | | 1700 |} | | to |} 1,170,881 | | 1705 |} | | 1710 | 715,008 | | 1720 | 1,972,805 | | 1730 | 1,545,472 | | 1741 | 1,645,031 | 1747-48, 7 bags of | 1751 | 2,976,610 | Cotton were shipped from | 1764 | 3,870,392 | Charleston, S. C., to | 1771 |} | England. | to |} 6,766,613 | | 1775 |} | 1770, 2,000 lbs. shipped | 1781 | 5,198,778 | from Charleston. | 1782 | 11,828,039 | | 1783 | 9,735,663 | | 1784 | 11,482,083 | 71 bags shipped and | 1785 | 18,400,384 | seized in England, on | 1786 | 19,475,020 | the ground that America | 1787 | 23,250,268 | could not produce so | 1788 | 20,467,436 | much. | 1789 | 32,576,023 | | 1790 | 31,447,605 | | 1791 | 28,706,675 | lbs. 189,316 | 1792 | 34,907,497 | 138,328 | 1793 | 19,040,929 | 500,000 | 1794 | 24,358,567 | 1,601,760 | 1795 | 26,401,340 | 6,276,300 | 1796 | 23,126,357 | 6,100,000 | 1797 | 23,354,371 | 3,800,000 | 1798 | 31,880,641 | 9,330,000 | 1799 | 43,379,278 | 9,500,000 | 1800 | 56,010,732 | 17,789,803 | 1801 | 56,004,305 | 20,900,000 | 1802 | 60,345,600 | 27,500,000 | 1803 | 53,812,284 | 41,900,000 | 1804 | 61,867,329 | 38,900,000 | 1805 | 59,682,406 | 40,330,000 | 1806 | 58,176,283 | 37,500,000 | 1807 | 74,925,306 | 66,200,000 | 1808 | 43,605,982 | 12,000,000 | 1809 | 92,812,282 | 53,200,000 | 1810 | 132,488,935 | 93,900,000 | 1811 | 91,576,535 | 62,200,000 | 1812 | 63,025,936 | 29,000,000 | 1813 | 50,966,000 | 19,400,000 | 1814 | 73,728,000 | 17,800,000 |