The Loss of the Kent, East Indiaman, in the Bay of Biscay

The Loss of the Kent, East Indiaman, in the Bay of Biscay, by Duncan McGregor, recounts that the Kent, Captain Henry Cobb, bound to Bengal and China, left the Downs on the 19th of February. An author's note says that the older the author grows, now in his 94th year, the more convinced he is of the special interposition of Divine Providence in the winter recorded.

The text tells how an officer, after going down with two sailors into the hold, unfortunately dropped the light, a cask stove, and the spirits communicating with the lamp left the whole place instantly in a blaze. The writer says the devotional exercises were undoubtedly commenced and prosecuted much more with an eternal than a temporal object in view, yet also served the important purpose of restoring order and composure amongst a certain limited class of soldiers. The text records that the Royal Exchange Assurance gave Captain Cook fifty pounds, and that the subscribers to Lloyds voted him a present of one hundred pounds.