Jacobus Johannes Reitz b4

• Reference: World Miscellaneous Births and Baptisms, 1534-1983 - SmartCopy: Oct 25 2019, 17:58:12 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 25 2019, 18:00:18 UTC

Boteler, T. (1835 ) Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia and Madagascar, performed in His Majesty’s ships Leven and Barracouta from 1821 to 1826 under the command of Captain F.W. Owen, R.N. in two Volumes, Vol. II, 479 pp. (New York Public Library).

records the following about Lieut. Reitz last days:

" Lieutenant Reitz was rejoined at Tanga by those of his suite who were left sick at Macoomba; and, on the 19th, the party proceeded to the town of Tangōlla, situated within five miles of the limits of the Mombas territory. Here, as in the other towns, although the pasturage was good, cattle were scarce. The people were obliged, during the night, to keep the few goats, sheep, and poultry, which they possessed, in huts elevated on long poles about ten feet above the ground, to preserve them from the tigers.

Early next morning, Lieutenant Reitz started from this place for Pungahney Bay, in an open boat, much against the advice of the Arabs, who wished him to wait till evening, when the wind would be fair, and the sea less rough. He was anxious to get thither, and therefore determined at once to make the attempt, during the torrents of rain that were falling; he finally succeeded after a most fatiguing pull of nine hours, but the boats which accompanied him were obliged to put back. The two pilots he had with him proved of no service, and in vain did the crew toil to enter the river against the ebb-tide, strengthened as it was by the accumulated supply from the inland floods. One Arab dropped from his oar from fatigue, and could not be prevailed upon to rise again. In the darkness of the night, about nine o’clock, a shower of rain falling at the time, the attention of all was suddenly aroused by the loud roaring of heavy breakers close to them; and on these it was evident that the boat was drifting fast. Fortunately they had a good anchor, which, in spite of the rapidity of the tide, held them secure during the night; yet they were in constant dread of the huge trees, which, floating down the river, threatened them from time to time with destruction. During this night of anxiety, several muskets were heard at no great distance from them, and light was observed in the same direction: these were supposed at the time to be signals made by a boat coming to their assistance; but, when the day dawned, it was discovered that they proceeded from a small vessel wrecked during the night within one hundred and fifty yards of them. She and her cargo were totally lost, but fortunately none of the crew perished. In the morning the wind considerably abated, and, favoured by it, Lieutenant Reitz found no difficulty in entering the river. The Bay of Pungahney, into which this river empties itself, is of no considerable extent, and is in great part choked up by sandbanks and reefs. The land on either side rises into high hills, but more especially to the southward, where, opposite to the entrance of the river, which is scarcely more than one hundred fathoms across, a lofty and perpendicular bluff extends itself, and hangs in towering majesty over the small and humble village of Whaney. On the other side, the point is formed by a low and narrow sandy ridge, on which, amid a grove of cocoa-nut trees, stands the town of Pungahney. There, during the last night, the inhabitants were too much engrossed by their own distress, to pay attention to the signals of the stranded dow. The accumulated water of the river formed another channel through the centre of the huts, and in its progress swept away many of them; the others the inhabitants quickly took down, and conveyed piecemeal to a higher situation, where they re-erected them. This mishaps was, however, trifling, when compared with that which occurred in the village of Whaney. The rain had so moistened the lofty cliffs above as to detach from its greatest height a huge mass, which overwhelmed and buried in its fall five huts and fourteen of their unfortunate inmates.

Lieutenant Reitz’s notes of his operations terminate at the place where, the day after his arrival (May 24th), he was seized by the fever. The disorder assumed from the first an appearance so virulent, that, on the second day after he was attacked, it was considered necessary to return with him immediately, as the only means of saving his life. He grew rapidly worse, and at eight o’clock on the morning of the 29th, just as they hove in sight of Mombas, he expired in a most awful state of raving delirium."

and about his burial:

"for the interment of the remains of this much-lamented officer, the interior of the ancient Portuguese cathedral was chosen. A grave seven feet in depth was dug near a ruinous piece of masonry, which alone indicated where the altar had once stood."