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gamle Kirke o g Kirkegaard ere ødelagte og ligge hen i
totalt Forfald, bestem te min Broder sig til at indsætte i
den nye Kirkes V æ g en Messingtavle med en Inskription,
saaledes som det er saa brugeligt i England, og som
Præsten ogsaa fandt vilde være det varigste. For T il
ladelsen hertil indbetaltes til Kirken ti Guineas, og In
skriptionen maatte forelægges for og bifaldes af Præsten.
D ette gik min Broder ind paa, og efter hans Hjemkomst
til England blev en stor Messingplade indsat paa den ene
Side af Muren ved Indgangsdøren i Kirken med følgende
Indskrift:
IN MEMORY OF
MATH IAS
d e
BILLE,
CAPTAIN IN THE RO YAL DANISH NAVY,
BORN IN DENMARK FE BRU A R Y
1
4 ™
1
7 3 6 ,
DIED AT NEWPORT, IRELAND , MARCH 1 7 ™ 1 7 8 2 .
Captain Mathias de B ille, in command o f H.
D .
A lls Frigate '»Bornholm
«-,
left Copenhagen f o r the
Danish West India Islands Dec. 17th 1781. The Fri
gate took the route north o f Scotland, encountered
tempestuous weather in the Atlantic, lost in a hurricane
Bowsprit and Foremast and suffered other damage.
The Frigate, driven by the storm towards the North
West coast o f Ireland, narrowly escaped being wrecked
on that shore, succeeded however, January 17th 1782, in
reaching Newport, where she remained to repair damages
till ordered back to Copenhagen in August that year.
A malignant fe ve r had during the voyage broken
out among the Crew. A large building, then standing
on Melcomb Point, was converted into a Hospital f o r
the Crew of the Frigate. Many o f the Sailors who died
from the fe v e r lie burried by the water-side in a fie ld
that adjoined the hospital.
Captain de Bille caught the feve r and died in the