Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-31 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE BLERVIE CASTLE

Anxious inquiries have been made daily at Lloyd's
and of the charterers of ' the ill-fated outward bound
Australian ship Blervie Castle, relative to the fate of the
unfortunate passengers and crew. Unhappily, not the
least doubt is entertained but that they must have all
perished in the ship, and this belief is confirmed by the
reports that have since been made .by the French
fishermen, to the effect that they had seen numbers of
dead bodies of men, women, and children floating
among the wrecked goods and cases.

That the catastrophe took place during Tuesday
night or Wednesday morning, and on either the
Vance or Ridge Sands, has now been satis-
factorily ascertained. It appears the wreck was first
seen about eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, by
the captain and chief officer of the General Steam
Navigation's Company's steamer Panther, while on their
passage from Boulogne to London, and who, from some
oversight or other, omitted on their arrival in the
Thames to report the fact either to Lloyd's or the Ship-
ping Gatzette, by which the loss of the Blervie Castle would
have been known 48 hours before it was actually an-
nounced. The wreck was observed to the eastward of
the Verne and Ridge Sands, and some 10 or 12 miles off
the French coast, the wind blowing hard at the time
from the south-west, with a high sea. The chief mate
at first perceived something large looming in the dis-
tance, right in the course of the steamer. His im-
pression at the moment was, that it was a species of whale
which is occasionally seen in the Channel, but soon after-
wards he detected it was the wreck of a 600 or 700 ton
ship, floating with her bilge out of water. The course
of the Panther was direct at it, and it was only by her
helm being put hard aport that she cleared the wreck,
otherwise she might have sustained serious damage.
The wreck was sheathed with yellow metal; and she
appeared to have been painted &buff colour inside her
bulwarks and stanchion; or rather, what remained
of them. Captain Russel, who was despatched to
the French coast by the Underwriters at Lloyd's to
collect all the authentic information on the melancholy
subject, writes to say "that the wreck of the BlerVie•
Castle was -seen on Saturday driving- tibotit^ twelve
miles N.H. of Calais. Four fishing boats had had it in,
tow for sixteen hours endeavouring to-get into some--plaer
on the coast, bat were 'at length obliged to relinquish
their charge on account of the strong wind. The fisher-
men describe the wreck to be much damaged in her
stern, that all her masts were gone, and she was lying
on one side." The next that is heard of the wreck is
from the officer of the Dover and Calais steamer, which
escaped coming into collision with it in the course of
Saturday night. On Monday night some Deal luggers
came up with the wreck between the Kentish Knock
and the Galloper, fifty or sixty miles from the Varne
Sand, and they got it in tow and succeded in getting it
on to the main to the eastward of Ramsgate Harbour.
From its shattered state, it was evident that some
vessel had struck upon it during the time it had been
driving about. Lloyd's agent at Ramsgate describes
it as the port side of a ship from the stem to
stern, of about 600 tons, broken off at the floor heads,
yellow metalled and fastened, all black outside, and
partly planked with oak or teak. It was painted with a
narrow white streak, and the poop and topgallant fore-
. castle appeared to have been newly coppered. The general
opinion is that the wreck is that of the Blervie Castle,
although as yet it has not been clearly identified as part
of the ill-fated ship. It may be remarked that some doubt
has been expressed. as to whether the wreck really is that
of the Blervie Castle, and an impression has been enter-
tained that it 'belonged to some other ship which had
come in collision with the Blervie Castle, and had met
the same fate. This conjecture has arisen from the
circumstance of pieces of wreck having been seen float-
ing in the Channel different from that of the Blervie
Castle, but its driving about for so long a period would
account for its somewhat altered character, and it is only
reasonable to suppose that it is part of the lost vessel.
There has been a large quantity of wrecked goods
landed, not only at several of the French ports, but at
Ramsgate, Dover, Margate, &c., seine of the cases
having the words " Blervie Castle" upon them, and
1 •
others only the figuye and marks. On referring to the
ship's manifest, however, it has been clearly ascertained
that the greater •bulk of the goods brought ashore
formed part orthe cargo of the Blervie Castle.
The circumstance that nothing has been heard of the
boats of the unfortunate ship has excited some attention,
and with a few of the relatives of those on board has
raised a kind of hope that some of the people might have
escaped from the, wreck, and have got on board some
outward bound:ship. This, however, painful as it is to
announce, is exceedingly doubtful. The Blervie Castle
was a first-class, stout, oak-built ship ; and, bearing in
mind how speedily she was broken in two, it is easy to
imagine that the boats could not have withstood the,
fury of the tempest with any better result. It is very
probable that they were crushed with the ship.
Most of the crew were residents of. the east end of
London, and many of them have left widows and families
to mourn their sad: fate. 'Captain Mg:lardy had been
for a long period in the• service of
.Messrs. Dunbar, and
his loss has excited the deepest regret. In connection
with the sad case, a telegram was received yesterday
from Marseilles, announcing the wreck of the Kindro-
diet at coringa, and that only one seaman and eight
passengers- were saved., Among those ,who perished was
the master,, Captaia M'llardy, who is stated to have
been a brother, of the unfortunate commander of the
131ervie Castle..

. ,
It may be stated that the ship was provided with two
signal-guns and ropkets. Inquirieshave been made of
the keeper of the
,lighthouse: on . Cape; Grisnez as to
whether he had heard, any signals, of,distress.fired during
the night of Tuesday or :Wednesday morning, and he
answered that he had not.

CoNsmioumyrr.7-There,,, is a family, residing at
Hesket-NTy-Market, under one roof, named Walton
compoSed of six persons,. Rd; their consanguinity runs
thus:—One grandrnOlier,,fro pothers, one father, one
son, four daughters, two sisters, one brother, Tie uncle;
two attntZ, two granddaughters, two cousins, and two
nieces. The parish of, Caldbeck is remarkable, foo,,foi
containing pc; many nepbews and nieces clainiing seniority,
over their uncles and aunts.--Carlisle. Examiner. .
DEATH OF MR. PSBERT BAKER, WRIT±LE.-Death
(says the Chelmsford Chronicle) has
„just removed from
amongst us one who, for„upyrards of thirty years,, has
taken a prominentlizifinAltinif relates to;the,practical
operations and improvement,and welfare of the agricul-
ture of Essex, and indeed of the country generallyi4r.
Robert Baker, of Writtle, the father of the protection
societies, 'the, author ,of the PriAe Essay, of the ROyal
Agricultural Society,,on the farinipg system of the
county, and thelditor of a valuable edition of Bayld0;
Himself a tenant farmer,,g-r. Baker, was ever ready to
stand up for thp,f,ightnitt4everythin,g calculated to pro-
mote the prpii)er of, Ahe class to.. which he belonged ;
his sound 'judgment and integrity s.eeurecr for
him the confidence of all ,classes connected with the
land. His.habits of study end long, practical "eliperience
had stored his Mind with a fund of varied knowledge,
;which he 'often brought to bear ,upon the cause of -pro-.
gress, not only amongst the agriculturists but the
people generally, ,threugh the paeans of the speed' or
public lecture, or. the instrumentality ,Prhis pen ; and
the servieek.lier rendered to society were repeat-
edly_ acknowledge first by the award of the Royal
Agricultural Seciety's prize for the ability and sound in-
formation of the essay before alluded to; again, in 184.5,
,by the presentation of a silver salver and a purse of 300
guineas, for his tact and talent in forming and presiding,
over the first and, -1 protection society of the king.,;dom, which;thPug i beaten in the end, fought the battle
energetically, ably, and eloquently—and often. by
unanimous votes of thanks from public assembliei. Mr.
Baker long took a,leading part in thesproceedings of
the London Farmers' Club, of which he was one of the'
founders, but latterly ill-health had prevented his
giving active attention to public or Tractical affairs ;
and after a long, and, at one period, painful illness,
which brought out more strikingly the Christian virtues
of sterling piety-and calm resignation, he closed a well
spent and useful life on Saturday last, at the age of
sixty-seven.