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<DATE>2012-11-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120813.apex.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A84975">
<STC T="W">F2313</STC>
<STC T="C">R201992</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">43663294</BIBNO>
<VID>172050</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A Full and True RELATION As well of the Blovving Up of the Ann FRIGAT As al&s;o of the Examination, Tryal, and Condemnation of <HI>John Adams</HI> THE GUNNER Thereunto Belonging: As the Occa&s;ion of that Accident by His DEFAULT.</P>
<P>For which he was on the 24^t^h of this in&s;tant <HI>DECEMBER,</HI> Sentenced BY A Councel of War To be Hang'd.</P>
<P>With Allowance.</P>
<P>Printed by <HI>A. Pur&s;low</HI> in the Year, 1673.</P>
<PB REF="2">
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>A Full RELATION Of the Blowing Up of the ANN FRIGAT; And of the <HI>Tryal</HI> and <HI>Con|demnation</HI> of the GVNNER, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>THe <HI>Ann,</HI> one of his Maje&s;ties Third-Rate Fri|gats carrying Sixty Guns, having been out at Sea a Cru&s;ing, not un&s;uccesfully off the Coa&s;t of <HI>Holland,</HI> came the la&s;t Month into the Dock at <HI>Sherne&s;s</HI> to Wa&s;h and Tallow, and provide other nece&s;&s;aries, having endured much bad weather, and &s;ome damage, being de&s;ign'd after that Recruit to have kept out all this Winter: For this purpo&s;e her Guns and (as it is generally reported by the Ships Crew) all her Powder was taken out of her, and &s;ecured on &s;hore, Being
<PB N="4" REF="3"> there in &s;hort time Refitted, &s;he was brought forth again, and when the dreadful Di&s;a&s;ter we are going to relate befel her: <HI>viz</HI> On the Second Day of <HI>December,</HI> was Riding at Anchor neer <HI>Quinborough Swail,</HI> expecting that very After|noon, to have her Stores again brought Aboard. During this time many of the Seamen that had belong'd to her a con&s;iderable time, were allowed to go on &s;hore, but the Pre&s;t-men and other new comers were kept on Board; where that morning about Nine a Clock they were Mu&s;ter'd, and after Dinner all hands apply them&s;elves with Diligence to get their Ship Rigged, looking every hour for their Stores coming in, for which the Gunner was gone, and the Cap|tain and mo&s;t of the Officers gone a &s;hore, except Mr. <HI>Agres</HI> the Pur&s;er, who&s;e Wife was now unhapily come on board, with an intent only to vi&s;it, but as it proved in the fatal Event, to dye with her Husband upon which little-thought of Errand &s;everal other women were al&s;o led thither by their own ill De&s;tinies, among&s;t whom &s;ome had brought their Children too, as if Fate had thought a Sacrifice of the &s;trength of Men, and beauty of Women not enough, without adding the Inocence of Babes to compleat the Tra|gedy.</P>
<P>Stop here good Reader! and think it no Digre&s;&s;ion to con&s;ider a little &s;eriou&s;ly what a bubble is Humane-Life! How &s;ilent are the approaches of Death? how unfore&s;een the Trap-doors of the Grave? Man that in pride of Health will needs now and then blu&s;ter as if he could pluck down Stars, or throw the world off from its poles, what is he &s;till but a little brittle Clay? kneaded at fir&s;t with Tears, and then hardned by the Sun-&s;hine of Pro&s;perity, into a lump of vanity, which yet a Feavers Fire can &s;corch into du&s;t, a &s;hower of Rhume wa&s;h away into durt, or a bla&s;t, in a moment &s;catter into irrecoverable Atoms.</P>
<P>Here might you have &s;een almo&s;t two hundred Souls, thinking of nothing le&s;s than their impending Fate, and in|deed
<PB N="5" REF="3"> in the eye of Humane Rea&s;on they were &s;afe, being in Health, on board a good Ship, no Enemy neer, no Tempe&s;t, no Powder neither as they poor &s;ouls imagined, to hurt them: But alas! here they mi&s;take, and Death in a pri|vate corner lays his Ambu&s;cade; for about two a clock that Afternoon, as the Joyners (&s;everal being come from <HI>Sher|ne&s;s)</HI> were bu&s;ie at their work neer the powder room, and all the re&s;t aboard imployed, &s;ome managing and preparing the Tackle, other walking on the Decks, &s;ome merry with their Friends, and others &s;ecurely &s;noaring out their la&s;t breath in their Hammocks, behold! in an in&s;tant, &s;udden as a fla&s;h of Lightning, or the &s;pringing of a Thought, comes a dreadful bla&s;t that blows up all before it, and rends not only this Ship, but a Fire-&s;hip that lay neer her, to pieces, Heaven is eclip&s;ed with an a&s;cending cloud of Sulpher, and the bodies of men, women, and children pro|mi&s;cuou&s;ly hurl'd with a furious impetuo&s;ity a loft into the Air, &s;ome having their brains beaten out, with, or again&s;t the &s;hattered pieces of the Ma&s;ts and Decks, others di&s;ani|mated with the violence of the motion, or drowned at their fall. In brief, in the twinkling of an eye, there appear'd &s;uch a Scene of De&s;truction, and &s;pectacle of Horror as would puzle the able&s;t Orator to expre&s;s it fully; nor in|deed do we delight to agravate that Affliction in the Read|ers brea&s;t which all good Natures out of a generous com|pa&s;&s;ion, will be &s;ufficiently &s;encible of on &s;uch deplorable occa&s;ions: 'Tis too &s;ad a truth, that one hundred and thirty odd per&s;ons of the Ships Crew, &s;ix Women, four or five Children, about eight Joyners, and four Cawkers then imployed there, were hereby without a moments warning or con&s;ideration di&s;patcht into another world, and only &s;eventeen men, and one woman that were then Aboard &s;a|ved, of whom the greate&s;t part were wounded or grievou&s;ly hurt, but e&s;caped through infinite mercy with their Lives, being quickly taken up by the charitable a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;ome Boats from Ships that lay neer.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="4">
<P> To tell the manner how the Powder took fire, is more we conceive than can certainly be done by any, but it is thought &s;ome of the Workmen not imagining any Powder to be aboard at all, might be le&s;s careful then otherwi&s;e, and &s;o contributed to their own de&s;truction; For what ill end it lay there unhappily concealed may be gathered from the Sequel: For &s;oon after the Confu&s;ion of the Blow was over, the Officers coming together concluded to take in|to Cu&s;tody both the <HI>Gunner</HI> of the <HI>Ann,</HI> and of the Fire|&s;hip that peri&s;hed with her: But the <HI>Latter</HI> giving a very &s;atisfactory account of his <HI>Innocence,</HI> was &s;oon di&s;charged of his Confinement: But the former could not &s;o hand&s;omly clear him&s;elf, and therefore was continued under a Guard, and after &s;ome time &s;ent up to the <HI>Mar&s;hal&s;es,</HI> in Order to receiving his Tryal at a Councel of War.</P>
<P>Accordingly on <HI>Munday</HI> the 22. of this in&s;tant <HI>Decem|ber</HI> a Councel of War was held on board one of his Maje|&s;ties Yatches, lying over-again&s;t <HI>Towerwharf,</HI> where a|mong&s;t other things this bu&s;ine&s;s was Examined, and the Pri&s;oner charged with imbezelling his Maje&s;ties Stores committed to his Charge: and that by Concealing this Powder (which he de&s;ign'd to have di&s;po&s;ed of to his own advantage) he had been the Occa&s;ion of de&s;troying &s;o ma|ny of his Maje&s;ties brave Subjects, and of the lo&s;s of the Ship; but de&s;iring to Examine &s;ome other Witne&s;&s;es for clearing the matter, they Ordered him to be brought a|gain on the <HI>Wedne&s;day</HI> following.</P>
<P>On which day the Judge Advocate and Councel of War &s;iting in the place afore&s;aid, the Pri&s;oner was again brought aboard, and upon a full Examination it was proved by Two Witne&s;&s;es that he ordered them to lay in Sixteen Barrels of Powder in a private unu&s;ual place, to be concealed, which he intended &s;ecretly to have got out and &s;old; and this was the quantity of Powder which gave the Fatal Blow: Be&s;ides; another gave Evidence that a
<PB N="7" REF="4"> Hundred and Forty Barrels of Powder were delivered out of the Ship, whereas he had placed only One Hundred and Thirty Barrels to Account, &s;o that it was evident he had &s;lighly de&s;igned at lea&s;t the converting of no le&s;s then Twenty &s;ix Barrels of Powder to his own u&s;e, and was thereby the unhappy Cau&s;e (by Accident) of all this mi|&s;erable di&s;a&s;ter: whereupon the Councel finding him Guilty, the Honourable Judge Advocate proceeded to give Sentence again&s;t him, <HI>That for &s;uch his Offence he &s;hould be Hanged.</HI></P>
<P>This Thunderbolt leveld again&s;t his life, he received with a becoming &s;ubjection, yet with a Courage that might ca&s;t blu&s;hes on the Gallantry of a dying <HI>Roman;</HI> and though all Spectators could not but Applaud the di|&s;creet proceedings and ju&s;tice of the Councel of War, yet at the &s;ame time they no le&s;s heartily Commi&s;erated the Pri&s;oners unhappy Fate; many that Abominated his Offence, haveing a love for the man, who was indeed a per&s;on before reputed hone&s;t, and of a quiet, indu&s;trious, obligeing Temper, quallities that much recommended him to the Affections of all the Common Seamen con|cerned with him: be&s;ides, what added much to the Scale of Compa&s;&s;ion, he had a di&s;con&s;olate Wife, and Four or Five &s;mall Children to leave behind him: But we &s;ee how far that cur&s;ed de&s;ire of Money prevails even upon the be&s;t Natures, &s;o as to prompt them for the &s;malle&s;t advantage, to pro&s;titute their Hone&s;ty, Honour, Con|&s;cience and all, and venture on the mo&s;t Nefarious Crimes, <HI>Fellonies, Burglaries;</HI> and other too common violations of Law, though Heinous and In&s;ufferable in them&s;elves, are yet but <HI>Private</HI> Injuries, and Damnifie only &s;ome parti|cular per&s;ons, but Embe&s;eling or Purloyning the <HI>Stores</HI> or <HI>Munitions</HI> of War, e&s;pecially in &s;uch a junct<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="3 letters"> (be&s;ides the Horrid Ingratitude of abu&s;ing his <HI>Maje&s;ties</HI> Graci|ous Tru&s;t) is a kind of <HI>Civil Sacriledge,</HI> and of a more
<PB N="8" REF="5"> mi&s;cheivous con&s;equence in Relation to the <HI>publique,</HI> than any thing el&s;e (almo&s;t) in the whole Catalogue of Villany; If there be yet <HI>Any</HI> (as for the Honour of our Country we mo&s;t pa&s;&s;ionately wi&s;h &s;he may never be guilty of producing one of that viperous brood) who Traiterou&s;ly prefer their own <HI>Private Lucre</HI> and <HI>Emolument</HI> before the Honour, Safety, and Advantage of their <HI>King</HI> and Country, who &s;hall endeavour to mi&s;di&s;po&s;e publique provi&s;ions, or by mixing the Du&s;t of Sea-coals with their Powder render it more weak, and le&s;s effectual, to the un&s;peakable abu&s;e of his Maje&s;ty, and prejudice of his Service again&s;t his Enemies, or that u&s;e any &s;uch or the like helli&s;h cheating devices. Oh! may they with Confu&s;ion behold their errors timely di&s;covered by the prudent vigilancy of our Superi|ors, and as they have lived without any true Honour, be proceeded again&s;t without mercy, and dye without Pitty.</P>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS&punc;</TRAILER>
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</TEXT>
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