The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-05 00:00:00

NOTICE.—C. F. HANCOCK, SON, and Co.,
JEN ELLY.K.4 and mILV ERNM ITHS to the QUEEN
and PRINCE and PRINCESA of WALES.
and by Special .Ippointutent to the Principal Sovereigns and
Court% of Europe, beg respectfully to Mate that
THEIR ONLY ADDRESS
N.M. 30 and lite, DR' YON-ST., CORNER of BOND-ST.
Awarde.l to C F. Hancock, (treat Exhibition, 1831, Council Medal
.• for originality cud taste." Puri% Exhibition, lex', Gold )fedailk
d'Hoonictir lottcroational Exhibition, twit. hire Medal "for
great excellent— of design :col inanufacturc."—Maunlacturera of
the Victoria Cr...

EUROPEAN ASSURANCE SOCIETY.
Empowered by special Act of Parliament.
sinwan --1 ;corral Mr FICEDEItII' SMITH, EAT, F.R.S.
Policies payable during indisputable, not liable to
forfeiture.
The Royal Naval, Military, alai East India Life Department
atinriling pveuliar all vantages Ili I ,thcers and others In the Navy
and Army, is under tie especial patronage of
lies Host Ur :WINO Mainly the QUEEN.
Annual Premium Revenue, upwards of 0.310.000.
New Premium Income In Unit exceeded £nt.ooo
Life. Fire. Guarantee, and Annuities at advantageous rates.
The European is the only Society authorised by the Imperial
Parli.uolent t.. guar:Oat,: the fidelity id itinernMent
Full particulars of the popular prlnciplesof this Society will be
fuel it, the New Provisevtus, which will be forwarded to appli-
cants post free.
Itegent ntreet Waterloo-place, Pall-mall
and OD, King Williamstreet, City.
HENRY LAKE, Manager.

THE QUEEN INSURANCE COMPANY
InritAs API'LIcATIONS fur AGENCIES In Land..n rod
oulnn
:1111,9, dlr..' capital .
Reserre sad surpin6 fund% . . ....
Annual inmate ..... .
Apply to the .4etretary. tV),tlreetchurch.street, E C.

THE ROYAL INSURANCE COMPANY
Is open to appoint a FEW A ODI VONA L AGENTS.
Applieations are invited only from gentlemen of adequate pont
titan. and possessing the requisite inguenee and energy.
THE ROYAL IS ONE OF THE LARDY:iT INSURANCE
OFFICES IN THE ViiIRLD.
Capital Two Milhous :sterling.
Amount of lie Premiums in 186.5 .... 4414,7=
New Life. Policies issiissi lu is6i7. f0r....
Life Rummies the largest over continuously declared by any
Compsny.
Policies for g LOUD effected in isss now increased to
PERCY M DOVE, Manager.
J. It .1011 NS r 4 iN, Secretary In London.
Royal insurance Buildings. Lianbard•strect. London.

LONDON and LANCASHIRE INSURANCE
Fire Capital +:00.,000. Life Vapital, PlOO,OOO.
Corner ot Leaalenhall-street,
FIRE awl LIPP: Insurances on favourable tenni.
W. P. CLIRGHI'OII. General Manager.

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, 1867.

which also foundered mysteriously at
Early in 1866 the present plot was con-
cocted by HOLDSWORTH and BERWICK, who ac-
tually contrived to get into their hands a good,
sound, strong, seaworthy vessel without expending
a shilling in cash, to insure the ship and
her freight far beyond their value, to send
her out to Shanghai, and to sink her
lin fine weather off the coast of Brazil.
The series of transactions by which the ship
became the property of these men without
paying a penny out of pocket, through a
nominal purchaser who received 501. for the use
of his name, is a curious study for the ingenuous
reader. However, on the 17th of last May the
Severn left Newport, Wales, chartered to convey
a cargo of coals to Shanghai. She met with nothing
but the ordinary weather across the Bay of Biscay,
and was making a fair passage. On June 14 the
ship sprang a leak, and on the following day
was abandoned, the captain and crew taking to
the boats, and ultimately reaching, some Pernam-
buco, and some Rio Janeiro. According to Cap-
tain LEYLAND'S evidence, HOLDSWORTH, in offering
him the command, had told him that the ship was
not " expected" to reach her destination, and that
WEss had been appointed his chief mate for a
particular purpose, and that if the ship did not
reach Shanghai it would be 7001. in his pocket.
The Severn was provisioned with extraordinary
liberality, and the crew had a very good time
of it, as it was desirable that they should give the
ship a good name. WEBB, the chief mate, care-
fully kept his cabin from observation, and was
very busy getting the boats in good seaworthy
order from the beginning of the voyage, and in
keeping a false log for the inspection of the under-
writers. When the leak was discovered and the
ship was abandoned, two of the crew who
were keeping near the stern of the
ship in one of the boats, observed two
holes in the stern, which had been evidently bored
with an auger from the inside, and could not have
been ordinary wear and tear of weather. The
pumps were found to be choked with rubbish, and
the captain threw the handles into the sea.
On board the ship Arequipa, which picked them
up, WEBB rewrote his log, and on the voyage home
to England in the Oneida he told the captain
he had bored holes in the ship " now and
" again," put plugs in, and taken them out 8.8 he
liked. The second mate, who was honest, kept
a log of his own, very different from that of the
chief mate's composition, in which there was no bad
weather to account for the loss of the ship. Of
course, on the return of the captain and mate to
England, it was endeavoured by HoEnswoare to
keep things quiet, and to make the captain
safe. Captain LEYLAND was threatened with
prosecution for having insured his own effects
on board the Severn at double their value ; but
he told HOLDSWORTIi that what he had done
was at his suggestion, and it seems that when
he received this warning from Houiswoara he re-
solved to give evidence against his accomplices. On
his evidence they are convicted. The case for the
defence was miserably weak, for the number of ac-
complices was fatal to their chances of escape.
The defence set up by each destroyed all the rest.
Every one insisted that every one else was guilty,
and that he alone was innocent. It was doubtless
the best, probably the only, defence that could be
made, but it was all that the prosecution could
desire. The Jury had no difficulty in convicting
the prisoners, and the mercantile community are
indebted to Lloyds' Salvage Association for insti-
tuting the prosecution, not for the sake of the
comparatively insignificant amount of the insurances
. effected on the Severn, but to deal a blow at a
. systematic combination of fraud and crime.