Jersey Times 1848 - 1

The schooner-brig Hazard, Captain J C Pallot, and of which vessel Mr J Deslandes Jnr is owner, left Pernambuco with a cargo for London (and to call at Cork for orders) on 16 August last. About 24 September, whilst at sea, it was discovered that she leaked and had fully four feet of water in her hold. After the pumps had been working for five days the leak, wherever it was, only became worse and she was compelled to run into the nearest Irish harbour – Sneen in the Kenmare River.

There, she discharged her cargo, was hauled down and, strange to tell, it was then discovered that an iron chisel, 10 inches long and 1½ wide attached to a wooden stick of about three feet had, by some means, how or when can never be known, got into one of the pumps and that the consequence was, the more the pump was worked, the larger grew the hole cut by the chisel in the vessel’s bottom.

Her cargo was transhipped in another vessel, and the Hazard left Sneen in ballast for St Helier, where she arrived in November last and where she now lies. The damage done to the Hazard and her cargo by this singular and almost unprecedented accident is estimated at between £800 and £1,000

The shipping has undergone considerable change in the harbour during the last ten days and most of the outward-bound have sailed, chiefly colliers and trading vessels to France.

There were in the harbour on Wednesday – the steamer Courier; the ships Fisherman, Courier, Swift and Ringmahon Castle, all belonging to Jersey. The Atlantic of Liverpool, and Emmanuel of Newcastle, undergoing a complete repair; also one arrived the same morning with a cargo of timber for the Messrs Hemery, from Canada. The brigs were the Farmer, the Broad Axe, the Pallas, the Eliza, the Ocean, the Charles, the Britannia, all belonging to Jersey. There were also the schooners Swift, St Peter, Dit-en, Seaflower, Richard, Mary, P.R.C, Briard, Ariel, Caesarea, Lon, Newport, Favorite and Unity, all of Jersey, either laid up for the winter or preparing to go to sea; there were also the Tiphys discharging a mixed cargo, and the Emperor discharging coals, the Canopus under repair, the Aquila being tarred, the Mary Wetherall of Gaspé, the Union, the Five Sisters and the Victoria of Dublin.

There were eighteen cutters, fifteen of which belonged to Jersey, chiefly employed in the French and Plymouth trade among which, one, the Harmony, was loading apples. The total of vessels in the Harbour was 57, 47 of which belonged to Jersey. These measured 4,407 tons, were navigated by 221 men, and are valued at £20,634. The other ten vessels are the property of Liverpool, Dublin or other merchants. They measured 1,240 tons and are navigated by 55 men and are valued at £5,390.

Of the above, 8 ships, 2 brigs, and 1 schooner are undergoing repair. The total give employment, independent of the sailors, to upwards of 300 men as carters, porters, caulkers, ship-carpenters and day labourers.

Gentleman Cadet George Reid Lemprière, a nephew of the Seigneur of Rosel, is appointed to a Second-Lieutenancy in the Royal Engineers.

Mr Ph Gruchy is engaged to prepare the stones for the Le Cronier Monument ^[2]. They will, it is said, by the time they are ready to erect, cost £320.

We regret to have to record the death of this respected gentleman. He died on Sunday last at his residence, Whitehall, St Brelade’s, at a very advanced age. ^[3] He served in India in the British Army in 1796. In returning home on sick leave, the vessel by which he was passenger was captured by the French ship-of-war, Les Droits de l’Homme, off the coast of Ireland on 5 January, 1797. On the 13th of that month he was witness to a severe action between that ship and two English frigates, but which was without any decisive result; and the next day the Droits de l’Homme was wrecked on the coast of France. Mr Pipon escaped with his life and arrived safely in Plymouth on 7 March following.

Elias Bree begs to inform his friends and the public that, having undertaken the task of conducting the business of Bree’s Boarding House, ^[4] he has made several improvements in the house itself and feels pleasure in being able to state that he has given satisfaction to all those who have favoured him with their custom, among whom several were inmates during the time of the late owner and who have expressed themselves much pleased with the improved style both in the board and the domestic arrangements generally. Elias Bree further observes that no efforts will be spared on his part to secure this gratifying commendation. The above house is situated in the most airy and fashionable part of the Town of St Helier’s and is replete with every convenience.

The following table shows the number of letters received in Jersey during the year 1847:

• January - 44,275
• February - 62,063
• March - 40,027
• April - 38,376
• May - 39,612
• June - 42,080
• July - 49,750
• August - 44,619
• September - 44,073
• October - 44,931
• November - 39,790
• December - 42,640
• Total - 532,236

By the foregoing list is appears that upwards of half a million letters arrived in Jersey in 1847 – the most arriving in February, the least in April. The monthly average being 44,356, or about 3,700 each mail. The outward letters are rather more numerous than the inward ones. The newspapers legitimately arriving in the Island are about 2,000 each packet; and the outward ones, exclusive of those trickily printed in Jersey solely for the English market, about 800 weekly. The post office money orders average about £400 weekly.

Mr Smith, at present officially engaged in the British Colonies, is the gentlemen to whom has been offered the vacant office of Postmaster of Jersey. His decision is now daily expected and will, it is said, most probably be in the affirmative. ^[5]

We understand that for several days past the contractors for the Government works at St Catherine’s Bay have paid off numbers of labourers. On Tuesday evening past a great many of them arrived in town and on Wednesday morning applied to the Constable for a pass, either to send them to England or Alderney. The Constable refused them and they, demanding bread, were told if they would go to the Hospital they would be fed. Only five of them accepted the offer.

The Full Court met at St Catherine’s Bay where they were occupied in the examining the grounds of Mr C F Ramie, ^[6] required for Government purposes. Valuers had been called and awarded a sum of 10 quarters 4 cabots of wheat rent (£168) per vergee. Appeal from this award was made both by Mr Ramie and the Crown Lawyers before fourteen arbitrators. The Court, after viewing the locality, put off the examination of the witnesses until Tuesday 18 January.

Before the Lieut-Bailiff and Judges Bertram, Pelgue and Le Gallais: The mutual appeal of Mr Ramie and the Crown Officers against the valuation of some lands of the former, required by the government, was heard today. They had been appraised at 10 quarters 4 cabots the vergee.

The present Valuators were: Messrs J Horman (St Brelade’s), John Le Bas (St Peter’s), Thomas Le Cornu (St Ouen’s), Philip Godfray (St Clement’s), John De Quetteville (St Helier’s), John Aubin (St Helier’s), Philip Arthur (St Saviour’s), John Le Brun (St John’s), Thomas Gallichan (St Helier’s), Nicholas Arthur (Rondin, St Mary’s), Philip D'Auvergne (St Ouen’s), Isaac Falla (St John’s), Thomas Gallichan (Trinity), Thomas Dorey (St Helier’s).

After a host of witnesses and long pleadings on the part of Mr Godfray for Mr Ramie, and on the part of the Attorney-General for the Crown, the Valuators retired; and returned after an absence of about half an hour when their decision was declared by Mr Philip Arthur, as follows: They confirmed the award of the previous appraisers, with a sole exception to 1 vergee 30 perches of cotil, which the Crown Officers claimed as Crown property. This cotil land they only rated at 2 quarters the vergee, which made a reduction of about 11 quarters from the total of the previous valuation. The Valuators further decided that the costs of the appeal should be equally apportioned between M Ramie and the Crown.

A labourer was accidentally run over by several waggons on the rail of these works on Monday and dreadfully maimed in various parts of his body. A later report referred to the man having had his leg amputated.

On Monday afternoon, four of the workmen and a boy presented themselves at the house of Mr Centenier Sohier whilst only women were at home and insisted upon having something to eat. The women, all terror, gave them bread and butter and they then demanded potatoes, which were also given and the fellows then decamped. A few days previously, a kind of athlete, employed at the works, entered the house of Mr Philip Asplet, and, demanding to see a lady whom he heard playing the pianoforte, vowed he would not go out until he had had something to eat. The fair inmates cleverly bethought themselves of crying out 'Captain Robilliard'!, when the scamp, imagining that that gallant officer was at hand, made off with all speed. Happy the man whose very name can defend the ladies! It is stated that the inhabitants of the district, alarmed at all these marauding visits, contemplate petitioning the Lieut-Governor for a detachment of soldiers to be stationed in the neighbourhood to assist the parish police in the protection of public peace.

Mr Jurat Picot has had a conference with the Rev Mr Unwin, Minister of Zion Chapel, respecting the details of the Project Law, which is under consideration, to enable Dissenters to place their Chapels in Trust. We hope that as soon as the draft of the project is ready it will be submitted to the subscribers of the petition and others interested in the subject.

The three Jerseymen who have been in Avranches gaol for five months for smuggling in a small way have at length been liberated through the kind interference of Mr Turnbull, the British Consul at Granville.

The Anniversary of the Battle of Jersey, 6 January 1781, was yesterday celebrated with the usual convivial honours by various clubs and other friendly associations in both town and country. The ‘Wide Awake Club’ dined together at the Union Hotel ^[7] About 20 members sat down to a most sumptuous dinner, furnished in excellent style by Captain Jeune, the spirited host of the Hotel.