HOW THE ACTESONS CAME TO THE GASCONS

By Margaret G MacWhirter

Through out the two Provinces of Canada there was in the year 1838 no name better known or more frequently mentioned than that of Sir John Colbourne. The uprising against the Government that had broken out in 1837 flared up again in the lollowing year, and Sir John, as Commander-in-Chief of the forces in Canada, was the man of the hour. Before his military operations the flame of insurrection was soon stamped out, although it has been charged that in some occasions he was unnecessarily severe. However, this is not under consideration here.

In order that he might have a table service in keeping with his high position and style of living, he caused to be sent out from England a valuable collection of silver plate, and by a rather remarkable coin-

cidence, the plate was shipped on a vessel that bore Sir John's name, "The Colbourne of Hull, England."

The "Colbourne" was a barque of 350 tons, commanded by Captain Kent, an experienced seaman. During August 1838, she took on her cargo at London, and considering the smallness of the vessel, it was one of the most valuable cargoes ever shipped out of the Thames, consisting of general merchandise, wines, spirites, sperm oil and spices.... Besides Sir John Colbourne's valuable plate, there was a large collection of costly ornaments for churches in Lower Canada and forty thousand pounds in specie in boxes, each box containing one thousand sovereigns. A large portion of the money belonged to the Government, and much of it was intended to be used in paying the troops in Canada. Some of the gold was for the Canadian banks. The crew of the "Colbourne" consisted of seventeen men, and besides the crew there were thirty-eight passengers. Among the passengers were a number of British officers going out to join the forces in Canada, and their wives and children. Cap't James Eliot Hudson, his wife, five daughters and four sons; Mr William Walker, of the Royal Navy, brother-in-law to Cap't Hudson; Cap't Bucket and wife, and others of like rank. A number of Canadians were also on board; Mr W Scobell, of Hamiltion, Ont.; Mrs Wilson of the same place; Mr Keast, of Toronto; Mr George Manley, Deputy Sheriff of Quebec and others. The passengers were, with few exceptions persons of means such as today are to be found in the first class cabin of an ocean liner. On August 30th the "Colbourne" sailed brom London.

Just as the vessel was swinging out from her dock, a young Englishman jumped on board. He proved to be a sailor, and as two boys had deserted from the crew a short time before sailing, he was at once engaged to do the work to which the boys had been assigned. The wind was most favourable; the "Colbourne" passed quickly down the Thames and was soon at sea, buffeting with the waves of the Atlantic, with her bows turned towards the distant shores of Canada. The "Colbourne" never again entered port. She reached Canada but only to be stranded on the rockbound coast of the Gaspesian Peninsula. Of the fify-five souls who sailed on the Colborne out of London harbour, only twelve ever set foot on land again, and the greater part of her cargo of gold and silver plate and valuable merchandise went with the forty-three victims of the wreck to the bottom of the Bay of Chaleur

The loss of the Colbourne was one of the saddest tragedies of the Gulf. On the night of October 15th, forty-five days after sailing from London, the "Colbourne" was well in the Bay of Chaleur and close to the Gasp'e Coast. Her destination was Quebec and therefore, instead of being in the Bay of Chaleur, she would have been passing up the Gulf of St Lawrence. That she was so far out of her course shows that a fatal and inexcusable error had been made in the reckonings. As night came on, the Captain sighted a light which he said was on the Anticosti Island in the Gulf.

"I strongly maintained to him" said one of the survivors in relating the tragic story of that awful night "that at the time no such light was kept up. The light seen was probably on Mount Ste. Anne in Perce'. There in lay our trouble"

This survivor was Joseph Jones Acteson, who for many years after the wreck resided at l"Anse-aus Gascons, a small Gasp'e Coast village not far from Port Daniel and near the scene of the loss of the "Colbourne." Thirty-three years after the wreck, Mr Acteson was visited by Sir James Le Moine and to that well known Litterateur he gave an account of the disaster.

"Close to twelve o'clock at midnight on October 15th." said Mr Acteson, "while Cap't Kent and Cap't Hudson were taking a glass of wine together in the cabin, the watch was called; while aloft, reefing topsails, one of the hands sung out 'Breakers ahead'. Before the ship could put about, she struck heavily, starting stern-post and unshipping rudder."

"In an instant the ship was a scene of wild confusion and distracting terror, the women and children fleeing from their berths to the cabin and some to the deck, sobbing and overcome with fright. The pumps were tried and eight feet of water was found in the hold. The first mate asked permission to cut away the masts and get the boats ready for launching but Cap't Kent refused. "There is no danger" he said "I am the master and the masts must not be cut"... The rudder had been carried away, but by shifting the sails the vessel was swung into deep water. Finding that she was filling rapidly, an attempt was made to get her in near the rocky shore, which was not more than a stone's throw distant when she first struck. Being without a helm, the effort to work the vessel shore-ward failed. In the meantime the wind freshened, and half-an-hour after the ship first struck she went on the rocks again, this time falling on her side, throwing passengers and crew into the sea. Many of the struggling wretches were soon swallowed up by the waves.

Acteson and five sea-men managed to get into a jolly boat, but almost the next moment the boat was struck by a huge wave and the men hurled into the water. Coming to the surface, Acteson found himself near the ship's yard, which now reached into the sea as the vessel was floating on her beam ends. Here he was joined by three of the men, who had been with him in the jolly boat and they succeeded in reaching the long boat, which lay between the masts in the wather. After clearing the long boat from the rigging, they tried to reach the wreck to pick up such of the passengers and crew who might still be aline, but having lost their oars, they had to drift at the mercy of the waves. They managed, however, to take from the rigging, hanging down into the water two sons of Cap't Hudson. With some board found in the boat headed to the sea, and thereby saved it from being capsized, and thus they drifted about through the remainder of the cold and dismal October night.

Several of the crew and passengers clung to the rigging for some time, until exhausted and benumbed by the cold they slipped into the sea, or were carried away by a wave of unusual height that reached the spot to which they had managed to climb.

"We were in the nighborhood of the ship" said Mr Acteson and could hear all night particularly loud and melancholy cries on boards; this was a powerful young sailor who never ceased moaning until he sank exhusted about dawn, uttering even from under the waves a scream for help. None was ever to come to him. This 'powerful young sailor' was the man who had jumped aboard the 'Colbourne' just as she was leaving her dock in London. A moment more and he would have been to late- he would not have perished on the Gasp'e Coast."

"At five O'clock next morning" continued Mr Acteson, "our long boat was towed by the natives into Anse-aux-Gascons. Some of us were quite insensible, but by the unremitting attention shown us by the French and English fishermen, they after some hours brought us round. The 'Colbourne' drifted about, water-logged, from Monday night until the following Saturday, when the numerous boats which the news of the shipwreck had attracted, succeeded in towing her ashore in Harrington Cove, a mile and three-quarters distant from Port-Daniel."

"Some of the crew were found in the rigging, dead. The body of Cap't Hudson was fished up from the wreck with a boat-hook, also those of two children and Mr Walker. From the tangled rigging were taken other bodies, among them being those of Cap't Kent and a couple of other sailors. These bodies were taken ashore at Port-Daniel to the store of Mr Wm Carter, where an inquest was held. For several days after the wreck, the bodies of other victims were found along the shore, or picked up floating in the bay. It was some time before the body of Mrs Hudson was secured, as it had been carried some distance across the bay. On the moring following the disaster, the beach of the little bay was strewn with wreckage, among it being much of the valuable cargo that had already been washed ashore. As the days passed, more was fished up from the sea ~the trunks of the travellers containing fine clothing of all kinds, cases of wine, spirits and spices, other goods from the general merchandise and furniture and fittings from the ship"

"There was some attempt to collect the wreckage on behalf of those interested, either as owners or insurers, and some of it was sold at auction on the spot, articles worth many pounds being knocked down at a few shillings. Scattered along the shore, much of the wreckage was never accounted for, although it was put to good use by those who found it."

"In some of the little homes along the Port-Daniel and Anse-aux-Gascons shore can today be found furniture and sea chests that were saved from the 'Colbourne' a hundred and twenty-six years ago" said a former resident of the Gasp'e shore when speaking of the wreck a few days ago. "I have often seen pieces of the furniture in use in fishermen's homes, and one piece I especially remember, it was a hug oak sideborad, massive and handsomely carved and what do you think the owner had one with it? He had painted it ~ actually covered that rich old English oak with coats of cheap paint."

"Not all of the gold that was on the 'Colbourne" was recovered. Some of the boxes containing the sovereighs, were however, fished up. Some of them were accounted for, others it is said along that shore, were appropriated by the finders. Long after the wreck, certain lucky and persistent treasure hunters found boxes of sovereigns, about which the government and the banks heard nothing."

"Immediately after the disaster five boxes, each containing a thousand sovereigns were secured. It was thought that the gold should be counted before forwarding it to Quebec, but every time the sovereigns were counted their numbers grew less, until orders were given to stop the counting and send the gold onto Quebec."

This tragic story is linked with the history of several of the people of the community of l'Anse-aux-Gascons today, for they were their very descendants as follows: The long boat in which Acteson, three other sailors and a few of the passengers drifted about throughout the night, was brought ashore in the early morning by a party of natives of Ans-aux-Gascons who gallantly put out to their rescue as soon as daylight dawned. Among the rescuers was a man named Chedore. He had a daughter named isabella, and not long after the wreck she became the wife of Acteson, the man whom her father had rescued. To this marriage were born five sons and three daughters, of whom there are grandchildren and nieces and nephews living today in Anse-aux-Gascons and elsewhere.

This is the interesting answer to the question: "How the Actesons came to Gasons?"

note: We are most thankful to the Rev R A Carson, M A Anglican Incumbent of the Mission of Port Daniel-Shigawake-Gason for his contribution to our Review. This is a text taken from the book entitled: TREASURE TROVE IN GASPE. It refers to a shipwreck which only a few persons survived. Supplementary details have been added from a conversation with Arthur Chedore and Fred Acteson of Anse-aux-Gascons, June 1964"