The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-17 00:00:00

from Butithwui Bridge with great didlathy, in eei;se-

queues of the large masses of floating ice on the river, and L -
moored off the burning premise.. A strong body of the go
metropolitan and city polio. are still stationed in ft..
Holland-street, and several engines, consisting of YZ,
the London fire brigade, are at work. At high it.
water the floating engine will be brought more :
efficiently into play, and will, no doubt, from its great
power, be' the means of entirely extinguishing the flames. It
Mr. H. Henderson now lies at his own residence in a very is
precarious condition. Several of the oldest men connected :
with both the brigade and_West of England, say that for go
many years they a saw a fire barn with such rapidity to
and fierceness and, destroy so much, valuable propertylin so CI
shorts period. to
It is lamentable to have to add, that the whole of the
large number of workmen employed at Sir John Hennie's
and the various other firms, will be thrown out of work by 2
this catutrophe. .5;

Thousands of pima' are grouped together at every spot
from which a view of the limes can be obtained.

DESTRUCTION OF THE SCREW STEAMER
MAURITIUS BY FIRE.

LA telegraphic summary of the following appeared in
rffithiday's Express.]
The General Screw Company's steamer Mauritius,
which 'week or two hence returned from the Crimea, was
yesterday utterly destroyed at Southampton, in the gigantic
graving dock, while repairing. A few officers and a limited
crew were on beard, and artificers were working in her
night and day to get her ready for sea. At night these men
worked by the light of large pans of fire, called by the
workmen devils. These pans are sometimes placed on tri-
pods, and sometimes they are hung from the ceilings, and
awing about filled with burning tallow. The Maurittus was
an iron ship, about 1,800 tons burden and 300 horse power.
Yesterday morning, at half-past four, there was an alarm of
fire on loud of her. Some of the crew who were
sestlit had wane difficulty in esesping. The of cars
e not gave their wardrobe,. The boatswain
= row toairll SOON of the Mei% and was nearly
Before five o'clock the is ebitants of the
meghbourbeed of Op docks were alarmed by the ringing of
the Ire bells es board every skip in the desks. Presently •
=mbar ellbeirgisse proessied to the &elm, sad all the
desk warm' ' sod the steemormbetoothaltiog were moo
on the te me what and& lee dew to chest the Are.
Fortafea jibe Mauritius beteg It **graving dock, she
was holidel. Fw half an hear gibe the fire broke
act poem odd walk bee desk, sod if she could
have beat Seeded she might have been saved from
total isminallika. When the sosiaso arrived it was found
that they add set play on the beesiag ship, because their
pipes sad bow won all frozen. Whim the dm first broke
out, the womplyi steam-engine, rime by the dock, was at
work to keep** dock dry. This engine was immediately
stopped, and the floodgates of the graving dock were
opened te float the Mamitina, and to enable parties to flood
the powder magazine of the vessel. The Sultan steamer,
which was in the next graving dock, we also removed to
the tidal dock, to be cut of danger. Beat attar five o'clock,
dense reams of white and yellow smoke rose from the
ship, and fiee ran like lightning up the rigging, and
in q few moments scores of ropes, rope ladders,
and spare were on fire. The ropes and ladders
were swinging to and fro, all in • blaze, and at length the
whole ship formed a magnificent conflagration. It wee
anon found that the fire-engines could render no service.
The mainmast burnt for a long time, and fell at half past 7
in the morning. An explosion took place at half past 10,
but it was evident the powder had been deteriorated by
water. The sound of the explosion was like that of a large
gun—it drove • piece of iron through the coat of a man in
the dock, but. did no other damage. The hull of the ship
wag of iron, eould not, of course, be consumed, but
is ki charred and twisted by the intense heat
he which it has been exposed. The amount of,
damage done by the fire is estimated at 80,0001
eating. There were not many stores on board, but
the saloon furniture was of a very costly description,
awl that, together with the plate, which was also valuable,
were destroyed. The fire was first discovered by smoke
issuing from both the main hatchways, and is suppo-ed to
have originated in the engine department. There are some
reasons for believing that the fire was the work of an in-
cendiary.

THE CHIEFS OF THE BALTIC FLEET.—Yehterdsy
the three chiefs, Rear-Admiral the Ron. R. S. Condos,
C. 8., Rear-Admiral H. Seymour, and Resr-Admiral
Baynes, C. 8., with the captain of the fleet, Captain F. T.
Pelham, met at the Admiralty.
THE New LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY.—Rear-
Admiral Henry Eden, late superintendent of Woolwich
Dockyard, and formerly private secretary to Lord Auck-
land, is likely to succeed Rear-Admiral Dundee u one of
the Lords of the Admiralty.
SUPERINTENDENT OF DEVONPORT DOCKYARD.—
It is reported that Reu-Admiral Plumridgeonc of the flag
officers of the Baltic fleet last year, is likely to succeed Rear-
' Admiral Seymour as superintendent of Devonport Dock-
' yard.
SUICIDE AT THE SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY
Tzuetrens.—Yesterday the door of one of the closets at the
terminus in the Waterloo station was found locked. On
, admission being forced, a gentletnanly•dreesed man was
limed on his knees quite dead a frightful gash having been
inflicted in the throat. The body was at once removed to
the dead-house, in High-strut, Lemhatis, where it awaits a
csrener's inquiry. The sum of El. 10s. in gold was found
on his perion,l2l. in silver, and 2d. in copper. He had also
a cheque-book in his possession on the Hampshire bank.
His hat bore the name of Clayton, Lymington. He au:
pealed to be about 52 years of age, 5 feet 9 leases high, and
was dressed in a brown overcoat and two vests. He wore a
silver watch and gold chain. Several invoices were found
in the pockets of the deceased, addressed to Mr. Fuller, of
French-street, Southampton, and the general impression is
that he was a wine and spirit merchant. either Musk to
/sport to, Cr hating just Masud hoe, that port.