The Express.
London, England, 1850-06-17 00:00:00

DESTRUCTION OF FOURTEEN VESSELS BY

ICEBERGS.

UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED LIVES LOST.

The arrivals during the last few dal • from the
Atlantic have brought sad intelligence respecting losses of •
number of revels amidst the floatina fields of icebergs in the
western latitudes ; and among the number, we regret to add,
one was from one of the Irish ports with between eighty to
One hundred persons on board, every soui of whom is sup-
posed to have gone down in the unfortunate vessel and
perished. Great quantities of ice are g Ily locked for
by tne traders in those parts of the Atlantic about the months
ot April and May, the result ot the break up of the
'rose in the Arctic seas, and driven down to
the southward by the force of the currents.
The misses that have appeared this season exceed
anything of the kind that has for years been met
with. Fields of ice some hundreds of miles in extent,
towering up in all manner of forms to a very great elevation,
have swept the waters of the Atlantic; and there is too
much reason to fear that the losses appended form a very
few of the mishaps that occurred. The ill-fated vessel in
which so many are believed to have perished, was from Lon-
donderry, bound to Quebec. Ten dave prior to her being
discovered entangled in the ice—the 27th of April—she was
spoken with by the molter of the Oriental, from Liverpool.
She was scarce of water, having had boisterous weather, and
on account of the number of passengers seen on deck, it was
supplied her. On the 27th the Oriental was beset in the ice,
together with two other vessels, and perceived her some ten
miles to the westward. She was in a most perilous position,
evidently stove in by the ice, and sinking. Signals of
distress were hoisted without the remotest chance cf gaining
assistance. For two days she was seen in the same forlorn
condition, when she anadenly disappeared. Subsequently •
gaent many bodies were seen intermingled with the ice, to-
gether with some portion of the cargo ; the latter led to the
discovery of the pert to which the vessel belonged and her
intended destination. The Oriental was detained for eleven
days before she got clear of the ice. Another similar catas-
trophe was witnessed on the 29th of March, about 20 miles
to the westward of St. Paul's, by the ship Signette, M.
Mowatt, from Alloa for Quebec. The vessel was apparently
an English brig heavily laden, with painted portholes. She
had got fixed in the ice, and had been cut
down by it to the water's edge, admitting •
rush of water into the hold. Her crew wen observed
wotking at the pumps, evidently in the hopes of keeping her
afloat in the expectation of assistance arriving : however, she
soon sank, as d all on board met with a watery grave. The
exact number who petished was not learned. Letters have
been reoeived communicating the total loss of the Ostensible
also in the lee. She was from Liverpool, bound to Quebec,
with several passengers. Up to the kb of May she expo-
rienced heavy weather, when they fell in with an enormous
field of ice, and got fixed in it for five days and nights, in
the course of which her hull was pierced. Pumps were kept
going till the arrival of the brig Duke, Capt. Welsh, also fur
Quebec, which, after considerable working, succeeded in
making through the ice to the sinking vessel, and rescued the
whole of them. The Ostensible went down within twenty
minutes after. Two other yawls from Liverpool, the Con-
servator and the Acorn—wen both lost near the same time.
The former was on a passage to Montreal. She got pinched
by the ice within three days after losing sight of land, and
filling, immediately went down ; the crow were lucky
enough to save the ship's boats, in which they were picked
up. The Acorn met with her destruction within 30 miles
of St. John'e, Newfoundland ; the crew were saved by the
Blessing schooner, of Sunderland. Among the other lessee
in the the reported are enumerated the Hibernia, from Glas-
gow for Quebec; the British schooner Collector, from St.
John's, Newfoundland, for Ldridon ; the brig Mire', of
Weymouth the Wilbelmina, of Aberdeen; the Gosnell,
of Newcastle; the Sylph, of Leith, and three other',
names of which an unknown. With the exception of the
latter, the crews ROTS saved. Most oldie unfortunate vessels
o
were heavily
I,oootladen, and their losses in total cannot be far
short

Goons Is TitaNstru.—A number of regulations
providing fur the emancipation of the transit commerce from
the ohetruetions of the present custom-house system has just
received the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury. Con-
structive warehousing is abolished. and a transit ►ond is to
be entered into for the cargo. Six days will be allowed
for the transhipment of all coeds, except for silks, spirits.
aatawas, us, and tobacco, for which thaw days only
will be greeted.