GehejmelegationsraadBilleSteenAndersen

7 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 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 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 .