Next morning the beach was strewed with fragments of the wreck, and
upwards of two hundred of the bodies of the unfortunate sufferers were
washed ashore. One man--and one only--out of the three hundred, was
ascertained to have come ashore alive, but almost in a state of
insensibility. Unhappily there was no person present to administer to
his wants judiciously, and upon craving something to drink, about half a
pint of whisky was given him by the people, which almost instantly
killed him! Poor Pakenham's body was recognised amidst the others, and
like these, stripped quite naked by the inhuman wretches, who flocked to
the wreck as to a blessing! It is even suspected that he came on shore
alive, but was stripped and left to perish. Nothing could equal the
audacity of the plunderers, although a party of the Lanark militia was
doing duty around the wreck. But this is an ungracious and revolting
subject, which no one of proper feeling would wish to dwell upon. Still
less am I inclined so describe the heart-rending scene at Buncrana,
where the widows of many of the sufferers are residing.
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