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To His Excellency Major General Sir Colin
Campbell K.C.B. Lieutenant Governor and
Commander in Chief in and over the Province
of Nova Scotia &c &c &c

The Petition of James Miller of Halifax.

Humbly Sheweth.

That your Petitioner has, for some time past, been employed as a Tidesman in His Majesty's Customs at Halifax and in the month of November last, he was applied to by one of the Commissioners of Sable Island, to proceed to the said Island to take charge of the Goods then there, wrecked from the Ship Eagle ~ That your Petitioner obtained the necessary leave from his duties in the Customs and accordingly engaged with the said Commissioners for the space of fourteen days at ten shillings per day; and on the Twenty second of November, he sailed from Halifax in the Schooner Elizabeth for the Island: That the said Schooner made the Island and three of the Men attempted to land, and in the attempt were lost, leaving on board the vessel your Petitioner and and another man. That the other Man being a seafaring man asserted that it was impossible for the said vessel either to get safely to the Island or to reach Halifax and steered her for the West Indies and arrived at Antigua after many dangers and privations, where your Petitioner was forced to remain until he could obtain as Passage for Halifax, at which which last mentioned place he arrived on the Twenty sixth day of April last after an absence of Five months and four days ~ That your Petitioner has a wife and family dependant upon him for Support and from the time he left Halifax, his pay in the Customs was stopped and according to the Agreement he made with the Commissioners of Sable Island, the Commissioners do not feel themselves authorized toallow your Petitioner more pay than for fourteen days, at the shillings per day ~

That in consequence of your Petitioner's absence, his family have contacted necessary debts for their support