The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

glisctilantons.

A SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE, connected with the
wreck of a Prussian brig, came to light last week.
The brig was run down in the English Channel on
the 10th of last March, and nothing more was heard
of her till the other day a letter from the ship Sand-
ford, Captain Hughes, dated " Auckland, New Zea-
land, August 7th, 1856," reached the secretary of the
Underwriters' Association, detailing how, on the
morning of the 11th of March, while passing the
Start, the following circumstance occurred :
One of my passengers, Colonel Wyatt, her Majesty's
65th Regiment, directed my attention to a large quantity
of planking, spars, and other pieces of floating wreck.
Being at that time in the cuddy, shaping my course. and
taking the bearings of venous salient points on both coasts,
I forthwith proceeded to the poop, and, having stationed
myself in the starboard quarter-boat with my spyglass, I
soon perceived a large piece of wreck about one mile on
the starboard bow. From having a square framework of
wood, it appeared to be the afterpart of a quarter-deck,
with the companion-deck still on it, and a figure resembling
that of a human being was clinging to it. I forthwith
shortened sail, and, having brought my ship to the wind,
with the maintopsail to the mast, I lowered a boat and di-
rected the crew to overhaul the wreck and bring back what.
ever they found there. My orders were obeyed, and I had the
satisfaction of releasing an unfortunate man from a lingering
ani miserable death. Not perceiving any further vestiges
of life, or any spars or boats that could give a clue to this
disastrous collision, I hoisted up and secured my lifeboat
and proceeded on my course.

1187

The declaration of the rescued man, Michael Krat-
tiat, was appended, and is as follows :
I belonged to the brig Auorkua Month, W.l tickers, master,
belonging to the port of Memel, in the Baltic, which had
proceeded froin Londonderry, in Ireland, to Liverpool, and
there loaded a cargo of salt for Piliau. in Prussia. On the
evening of the 10th of March the brig above named was
working up the English Channel on the port tack, with the
wind fresh from E.N.E. at s p.m. On that night I turned
into lily bed to sleep, and was aroused between the hours
of 11 and 12 o'clock by a fearful concussion and shock. I
immediately rushed on deck, and perceived that another
vessel had rim into the Auorkua Month, and at the same
time I heard Captain Rickells order the mainsail to be
hauled up. I'revious to the concussion, from the motion
of the Auorkus Month, it appeared to me that the ship was
luffed well up in the wind, as if to avoid collision, and I
distinctly heard the officer of the watch shouting to the
other vessel, but they took no notice of it. The carpenter
bad, it appeared to me. gone forward, for he shouted out,
" Our ship is sinking ! and at the same time with his axe
proceeded to cut away, as well as he was able, the lashings
of the longboat in rnidships. Evidence had by this time
so far collected our faculties as to perceive that the vessel
which had run into us had square yards, and had been ap-
parently running down Channel, and I distinctly beard
English spoken by some person on board of her, and
answered by his captain. The Auorkua Month had fallen
off before the wind, and the vessels had separated, but the
vessel that had fouled us made no attempt to save life or
render any assistance to the disabled vessel; I cannot say
whether she had experienced any damage, as she had struck
us in the fore part of the fore chains, on the port bow. The
crew (including myself) perceiving the Auorkua Month
settling in the water, and that they could not get at the
lashings of the longboat and jollyboat (which were inside
of her) betook themselves to the rigging by various ways,
and I got tip to the maintopgallant crosstreea, but per-
ceiving that the hull had totally disappeared under the
water, which was nearly up to me, I struck off and swam
towards some small spars that were floating near me. On
reaching these they proved to be the boat's oars, and I
accordingly placed one under each arm, and thus floated
until daybreak, when I perceived part of the deck, with
the aftiroompanion hatch on it, was near me. and I left
my oars and swam towards it. and with some difficulty got
on it. In the course of that morning (March 11) •
schooner ran close to the wreck on which 1 was standing,
and 1 shouted to them, but they did not attempt to rescue
me. With despair at my heart, I sat down behind the
companion hatch to get some shelter from the cold biting
wind which chilled and benumbed my limbs, and in this
position I saw a boat pulling towards me, and, jumping
up, saw a large vessel hove to. In the course of a few
minutes the boat was alongside the wreck, and I was as-
sisted from it and taken to the Sandford, when I was un-
dressed and put into a bed, and carefully attended to until
1 recovered. "MICHAEL KRATTIAT."

A CAUTION TO RAILWAY TRAVELLERS bag been
going the round of the daily papers in the shape of
the following story :—A short time ago, a gentleman,
whose family is well known in the Channel Islands,
being about to proceed to India, was anxious to pay
a visit to his mother, who was at Reading, before he
left England, and he took a ticket for that place, by
the Great Western Railway. While he was in the
waiting-room he happened to show money in notes
and gold in his pocket-book, which be placed
in the breast-pocket of his inner cost. He
g')t into an empty compartment of a first-class car-
riage, and was followed by a fashionably dressed and
gentlemanly-looking man, who, as soon as the train
started, addressed some observations to the gentle-
man, the result of which was a polite conversation
between them upon a variety of matters, in which the
stranger showed that he was acquainted with a
number of well-known sporting men, and could con-
verse on all the topics of the day. Taking a small
case from his pocket, he took front it a flask and a
glass; into the latter he -poured some sherry, which
he drank, and was about to return the flask to the
case, when he suddenly begged his fellow passenger's
pardon for not asking him to take a glass tri.b him
at first, and hoped he would allow him the pleasure,
&c. The gentleman assented, and a glass was
handed to bim, the contents of which he drank. He
directly fell asleep, and did not wake until the train
arrived at Swindon, when be found himself alone ;
his pockets had been cut open, and he had been
robbed of 691., but fortunately a larger sum, which
was concealed on his person, had not been found by
the thief. It is supposed that the flask was a double
one, and that out of one part the delinquent helped
himself to a glass of real sherry, and that, having in-
duced his fellow traveller to take a glass with him,
he poured out drugged wine from another part, which
having produced its effect, the swell mobsman rifled
his friend's pockets, and got out at an intermediate sta-
tion. The gentleman is now on his way to India,
and the story is declared to be authentic, though the
concluding sentence that " the person wore large
whiskers and a moustache" looks suspicious.
THE WINE DUTIES REDUCTION CoststrrrEg, of
which Mr. Oliveira, M.P., is the chairman, have just
issued their annual report. The committee speak
in moderate terms of the success of their under-
taking, but acknowledge that their funds are low, and
require still further augmentation for renewed exer-
tions.