The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-06 00:00:00

THE HAVANNAH AND MEXICO.

Captain Chappell, of the Royal Mail Steam-Packet
Company, ha+ obligingly forwarded, for the inform.dion of
our readers, the following letter from Captain Hag, of the
steam-ship Thames. It communicates additional particu-
lars of the hurricane at Havannah.

Royal Mail Steam-pacart Thames, Southampton, Nov. 4.
Captain Chappell, lt.N.—Sir,— I have the happiness of reporting to
you, fur the information of the Court of Directors, the e.fe arrival of
this ship, after experiencing on the llth ult., in the hirbaur n Ila-
emnah, the most tremendous hurricane ever known there attended
with a loos of shipping almost incredible in that beautifully land
locked toxin. It boo blown fresh ell the previous (key, and at aurate
not liking the ap;earanee of the weather, I hot struck the main and
misers topmastft and foreyard ; at midnight the second amebae
was let get, and otherwise all was ready to proceed to sea at day-
light, it bring arranged that the mail boat was to leave the ship
at 4 o'clock for the malls, but at that time the storm came
on from N.E., and continued with a force beyond conception until
10.30 ; it then lulled, veered round to north, then west, and
W.S.W., and blew most violently mail 4 r.a., afterwards gradually
moderating, leaving such a scene of devastation as, thank God,
seldom falls to the lot of any one to behold. The French frigate
Androme)de, of 60 guns, Rear-Admiral La Mee, ashore, and top-
mast, gone be the rap; the corvette Blonde on shore, on her beam
ends, totally disnmeed. The steamer Tonnerre at her anchor's, but
diamusted and funnel gone. Several of the Spanish men of war not
to be seen ; the harbour covered with all sorts of merchandise, and
upset vessels, and along the wharf, instead of ship hulk not
more than their lower masts to be seen above the water. At 7 A.m.,
the Thames drifted about half a cable', length, when MM.'s late
.hip Romney, in sheering to a tremendous squall, stove our pinnace,
but shortly afterwards, fortunately for us, that ship drove a goad cable's
length, leaving us the weathermost ship in the harbour, and to this
may be attributed our safety, for we were then enabled to veer, and
by keeping an equal strain on both cables, held our own ; the barer
meter at the height of the gale went down to 27.70, it was then
absolutely Impossible to stand upon the deck. With the
exception of the pinnace, the only loss sustained is that of
the mail boat, which although moored. close under the stern with
a stout hawser in addition to her painter broke adrift ; had she
been at the quarter the Romney would have smashed her. The Tay
left for Vera Cruz at 4 p.m. the previous thy, and must have been at
loot 120 unites to the westward before the heaviest strength of the
trale, and from the circumstance of a Bremen brig having arrived on
the 12th from the westward without experiencing the MAC PO violently,
I do not think the slightext fear may be entertained for her safety.
The Lee sailed for Ilondurus on the sth. I delayed sailing
from Ilavannah until the morning of the 13th at the urgent
request of MM.'s Consul-General, and with the perfect concurrence
(in smiting) of the Admiralty agent, to enable the merchants to add to
their European correspondence. In this I feel satisfied that the Court
of Directors will bear me out, the more so as we left Bermuda at the
proper time. I herewith enclose a list of casualties to the shipping,
and also the Ilavannah news rap rof the 12th. 1 trust I shall lac ex-
cused in stating how much I had reoon to be pleased with the exer.
Bona of every aftieer and man on board during the most anxious day
of my life. 'there was much heavy and wet work in ranging every
fathom of cable and getting the third anchor made for letting go; in
all this every one most cheerfully lent a willing hand.—l am, sir, your
obedient servant, PIItLIP lIAST, Captarn.
'Thee following details have also reached us :
On Sunday, the 11th ult.. Ilavannah was visit& by the
most violent hurricane ever remembered : it commenced in
the evening, and continued to increase in fury until it
reached its climax on the following day. The dam ago done
is immense, both on the water and on shore. The mis-
chief to the shipping in that beautifully land-locked har-
I hour proved most disastrous. Scarcely • vessel (and there
happened to be an unusual number at anchor) escaped the
dreadful havoc. A great number conk, and out of at least
120 sail, the Habenera, Spanish brig of war, the Royal
Mail steam-ship Thames, the English brig William
Rushton, of Liverpool, and two or three others,
at the termination of the gale, were the only vessels rid•
ing in safety. The immense sheers in the Navy-yard
were blown down, the whole of the wharfs torn up and
much injured, and entirely covered with wrecked property
of every description. The city suffered cotnparatively little,
but the suburbs, especially the Cerro, llorcon, Colon, and
San Lazaro very much. In Regis, the damage done was
frightful. Many houses were either unroofed, partially
blown down, or utterly destroyed. The most melancholy
addition to be made to this catalogue of casualties is the loss
of life. The people ran everywhere for shelter; but even
the strongest buildings quailed under the ruthless storm,
and soon became total ruins. The total number of lives
lost was not known when the Thames sailed. She left on
the 13th, two (lays after the catastrophe, and such was the
conful'on then prevailing, that it was next to impossible to
arrive at exact corclusions us to the number of lives sacri-
ficed. Eleven corpses wire dug out of one house. Con-
sidering the great loss of shipping, many persons on board
must have been drowned. The Theatre 'lawn has suffered
a great dial; and the Theatre Principal it entirely in ruins.
At the height of the hurricane the barometer was at 27-74.
In 1844, on the occasion of another storm, it was 2.4-42.
The following is from the Bermuda Gazette of the 20th of
October :

" HURRICANE OF TIIE 10TH OCTORER, AT HAVANNAII.—
The rapid fall of the heroin ter and the general appear-
ance of the weather from ten a.m. of October 10th, at Ha-
vannab, led the inhabitants to apprehend a coming storm.
At ten p.m. a terrible hurricane sLt in—the barometer,
in English inches, being at that hour at 29.68, the thermo-
meter 80. The wind blowing in strong squalls from N.E.
At midnight the barometer was 29.50. At four cm. of tht
11th, the barometer had fallen to 29.24, but the thermometer
still stood at 80. At that hour the wind had veered from
N.E. to N.N.E., and the squalls had become furious. At six
a m. the barometer was 29•14, with the wind very violent
and changing between N.E. and N.W. At nine cm., the
barometer was 28 5, and the thermometer at 79. The wind
by this time continued a hurricane until half-past ten. It
displayed its greatest fury with the wind at north, with the
barometer as low as 27.71. At eleven a.m., the wind was
W.N.W., with hard squalls. At noon the barometer hail
risen to 25.3.5. The wind was still blowing hard from N.W.
and W.N.W., with repeated squalls from there quarters. At
two p.m., the barometer had risen to 2S 91, with the wind at
W.N.W. and W. At four p.m., the wind still blowing in
squalls, and the barometer at 20.23, the thermometer again
at SO. At fire p.m., the barometer was at 29.30."

MEXICO, Seri. 26.
On the 14th of this month Santa Anna arrived
in the Capital, hut declined assuming the supreme power.
His answer to the offer of the dictatorship is a well-written
document., expressive of pure patriotism, but unfortunately
no one believes his fine words. He has declared for the
democratic party. The great impediment to every under-
taking, namely the total want of mancy, becomes every day
more perceptible, and all that is done bears the stamp of
insufficiency. General Ampudia with 6,000 men and thirty
six cannon is said to be shut up in Monterey. We are told
that General Taylor appeared before that city on the 19th of
this mouth, and there are two opinions as to the result—one
party hope for a valorous defence, and perhaps victory; the
other, I among the number, believe that the garrison will
surrender in a few day s. In this ease, the best part of the
Mexican army would be lost, and only the portion under
the immediate command of Santa Anna remain for the de-
fence of the country.
Sept. 28th. This morning Santa Anna left the capital at
the head cf 1,600 cavalry, 1000 infantry, and eight can-
non, and when the detachments now at San Luis Potosi and
other smaller cities, shall have joined him, he veal have
between 6,000 and 1,000 men under his command ; and this
is indeed the last remains of an army in the country. The
enemies of Santa Anna assert that he has already made a
bargain with the United States, and will commence
negociations for peace as noon as he arrives within a short
distance of the enemy. I cannot believe it, for if he had had
such intentions, he would have given orders to General
Ampudia to retreat from Monterey, that this important por-
tion of the army might have been raved ; if he were to gain
any, even the smallest, victory over the troops of the United
States, I have no doubt he would be willing to conclude a
peace as the only resource open to him. In the capital, as in
all the country, the ultra-liberal party is dominant, and the
elections for the next congress will be all decided in favour
of that party. The people, that is to say, the masses, are
utterly indifferent, and the middle and opulent classes, openly
express a wish that the United States may soon conclude the
cone ueet of Mexico, in order to establish peace and quietness
in',.he country ; even the clergy incline to this opinion, they
fr,ing threatened by the party now in power, with the loss of
'their property, and expect a guarautee for all they possess
from the victorious Yankees. During the last few days they
(the eleray) have been compelled to give security to the
merchants for the forced loan to the amount of 2,600,000
dollars, and if things continue thus they will retain but a
small portion of their former immense riches. The high-
ways are every where completely in the power of the robbers,
and even in the cities the security for life and property is by
no means great. The most daring robberies are committed
daily, and many of the richest families talk of leaving the
country. When Santa Anna demanded the loan of the two
millions from the merchants, offering the guarantee of the
clergy, he met with many difficulties, and on that occasion
the official paper, El Diario del Gobierno, inserted some ob-
servations in one of its leaders, of which I enclose you a
translation, which created great uneasiness, and I am told
that Mr. Bankhead had made some very serious
remonstrances against them. We are aware that
California and Nuevo Mejico are finally annexed to
the United States, and we daily expect to hear that Chi-
huahua has been also taken possession of. If the enemy
continue its march and its proceedings with anything like
vigour, they will meet with but little opposition, and mr.y
have taken possession of the whole country by the midd`,. of
December. In the beginning of October the Vosiiito gene-