The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-17 00:00:00

THE HASTINGS ON SLIME.

[LETTER FROM AN OFFICER.]
"Her Majesty's Ship Hastings Sept. 27-
" My dearest —, —I sent you a hasty line on Mon-
day last to let you know we had received our orders for
England, where we were required for urgent service, and
I had just time to tell you what a scrape we bad got
into ; but now I have a little more time to enter into
details I will give you the events. On Tuesday week
the Ho4ue, 60, was sent with our mails and sailing
orders to relieve us at Baro Sound. While threading
her way through the numerous rocks and islands she
ran on a sunken reef. We immediately got our boats
out, weighed, and went to her assistance, anchored two
cable's length to windward of her, and sent her our
hemp cables, by which she got off. During the night
we put on board her all the Provisions, stores, its., we
could spare, and at daylight on Wednesday morning, in
company with the Russell, 60, we started on our passage
to England. The breeze from the we=stward soon
freshened considerably, and at last made our small aux-
iliary of no avail ; so we made sail to single reefed top
sails, and with our crew hard at work made excellent
working down the gulf, leaving the Russell hull down
eat ly in the afternoon, when she bore up to anchor un-
der the lee of Nargen Island. However, the race is not
always to the swift. At a quarter before 3 the same
night, just as we were in the act of putting the helm
down to go on the other tack, to our great astonish-
ment we ran on shore on the Nyborg reef, going WI
knots (you will see it marked on any decent chart of the
Baltic, not far from Port Baltic). I was awake at the
time, and rushed on deck, thinking to myself, 'Now,
my boy, you have got your work cut out. I found a
fresh breeze on the starboard beam, and the sea
breaking over a reef about a cable's length is the same
direction, but the sea very moderate where we were.
The ship had listed considerably over to port. The cap-
tain was instantly on the bridge. I immediately
turned the hands up and hove all aback, with the en-
gine reversed, and there was but one opinion—that
there was no time to lose in setting to work. The boats
were at once hoisted out, and the stream anchor laid out
two cables' length on the weather quarter. Unfortu-
nately there was nothing but rock all round us, and
hardly any strain brought it home with its stock. broken.
We put in.a new one, and laid it out again as a `guess
warp' to haul our boats out to,. and then with some
difficulty (having no launch) we got one of our bower
anchors hung on two spars between the barge and pin-
nace, and attempted laying it out. Before the boats had
got half way the spars, which were both found rotten in
the heart, snapped, and down went the anchor. We got
the boats under the other bow, end lashed the jibboom
across them ; then started our other bower anchor off to
try its fate. This, with great trouble, we got out astern
to the end of our hemp 'sheet cable (23-inch), and let it
go ; but very little •heaving on it brought it on its way
home also. However, it was sufficient to keep the ship
from driving when lightened ; and. as nothing could be
done before that end was gained, the water being still
more shallow to leeward, we commenced preparing to
lighten the ship as soon as assistance should arrive from
the Admiral at Nargen, for which one of our cutters,
with a lieutenant, had been despatched shortly after we
struck. We started our water, blew the boilers out,
slung and bunged the guns for throwing overboard, and
at 5 p.m. the Driver came down to us, and let go both
her anchors near our stream anchor, and veered towards
us, when we immediately sent her our hemp stream (14-
inch), and received her hemp sheet (also 14-inch). As
soon as these were taut we set to lightening the ship ;
the boilers were blown out, the fresh water started, all
the cables run up and started overboard under the bows,
keeping only the end of one chain cable fast inboard ; at
the same time all the boats were engaged transferring
e our shot to the Driver, About 9 pas, the Cossack ar•