A
Spanish prize, captured by the Melpomene frigate, while sailing from Havana
with a cargo of rum, sugar and cotton was wrecked at Annstown on 11 March 1805.[1]
The
Spanish vessel, the Sampson, which stranded at Annstown, has become a mere
wreck. Vast quantities of rum and brandy have been lost or destroyed. One
countryman unfortunately died from drinking those spirits to excess.[2]
Edward
Lee was captain of the Middlethird Cavalry in 1805, when one of his men, William
Joye, a farmer from Newtown Tramore, was injured in the incident. William, aged
40, stood 5ft 7” tall. He was discharged ‘on account of a compound fracture in
the right leg & contusion of the loins when protecting a Spanish prize from
being plundered at Bonmahon, fell from a rock and was jammed in between the
rock and the ship in the month of March last’. The discharge was witnessed by
Lee on 10 September 1805.[3]
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