The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-07 00:00:00

(Copy.)

" C. WYVILL,"

" STATEMENT OF DR. CIILHANE, OF HER MAJESTY'S
LATE STEAM. SHIP BIRKENHEAD,

" That her Majesty's steam-ship Birkenhead struck
the gouud at two A.M. on the morning of the 26th of
February, somewhere near Point Danger, and in twenty
minutes after filled and went down. The quarter boats
were lowered, and about 65 persons got into them; the
gig was also down. While getting the paddlebox boats
out, the heave of the ship in sinking washed them away.
Many were drowned below before they could effect their
escape to the upper deck. Dr. Culhane and eight men
landed in the gig, near Port D'Urban, where Mr. Phil-
lipson has a store about thirty miles from the wreck.
Nothing had been heard of the other two boats, except
that they pulled out to sea to get picked up by a sailing
vessel."

Lin: OF THE PERSONS SAVED FROISI THE BIRKEN-

HEAD BY THE THREE BOATS.

" Officers—Dr. Culbane, assistant-surgeon ; Mr.
Richards, master's assistant; Mr. Renwick, first-class
assistant-engineer; Mr. Hire, clerk
" Seamen and StAters—John Bowen, Thorns, Dunn,
George Till, John Smith, Charles Noble, Thomas Daley,
Thomas Langmaid, John Ashbolt, George Randall, John
King, Thomas Dew, Henry Cheeseman, Abel Stone,John
M'Cabe, William Chase, George Kelly, Martin Niole,
Robert Finn, George Windsor, Thomas Harris, John
Lewis, John Wood.

" Marines—John Drake (sergeant), William North-
oven (private), Thomas Daniels, John Cooper.
Boys—W. Gale, Charles Mathews, J. R. Howard.
" Total, 33 in number.
Soldiers.—John Moore, M. Maley, P. Peters, John
Peters, Thomas Chadwick, Robert Page, Henry Double,
Henry Vernon, James Gildea, Benjamin Worill, P.
M'Crery, 2d Regiment; Sergeant Teile, W. Bash, Wm.
Clark, Thns. Coa, James Goldin, John Herrich, James
Wade, William Welch, 6th Regiment; Daniel Waters,
Thomas Sangaw, John Irvin, James Johnson, Robert
Dolan, John Yale, John Simon, P. Ward, 12th Regi-
ment; John Herin. E. Ambrose, James West, 43d
Regiment; Adam Keating, 45th Regiment; William
Barlow, Thomas Nutall, Thomas Smith, W. Sooter, 60th
Rles; Sergeant iiilberry, W. Bushe, Thomas Casb,
James Fitzpatrick, W. Halfpenny, P. May, M. O'Brien,
P. Lynch, John Sullivan, William Wood, 73d Regiment;
Sergeant Harold, William Boyce, Charles Ferguson,
James Henderson, D. liirkford, Walter Taylor, John
Smith, Charles Walker, Daniel Shaw, 74th Regiment;
John Stanley, David Carey, P. Mullins, P. Canny nham,
John Gingham, 91st Regiment; John Lamb, John
Walmsley, Frederick Winterbottow, 9 Ist Regiment.
" Women —Mrs. Darkins, Mrs. Net,bitt, Mrs. Mullins,
Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Gwichar, Mrs. Spruce, Mrs.
Hudson.
" 13 children.

" Mr. Bowen, staff surgeon.
" Total-1 officer and 62 soldiers; 7 women, and 13
children."

"Colonial-office, March 1, 10 o'clock A.m.

" The following documents, received from Commodore
Wyvill, are published, as affording some further relief to
public anxiety.
" JOHN MONTAGU, Secretary to Government.
" Castor, Simon's Bay, March 1.
"To his Excellency Lieutenant-Governor Sir Harry
Smith, G.C.8., Governor and Commander-in-Chief,

&c., Cape Town,
" Sir,—l beg to report, for your Excellency's infor-
mation, the return of her Majesty's steam-vessel Rhada-
manthus from the scene of the melancholy wreck of the
Birkenhead at this anchorage, at three o'clock this
morning, having on board 68 of the survivors who had
succeeded in landing on the coast near to Point Danger,
of whom I send lists, and from Captain Wright's state-
ment I find that no others have been saved. The coast
bad been examined for upwards of 20 miles by a whale
soldiers very boat,rati by people on shore, and by the heats of the Rhada-
nthus.
instructioen7
Dyer's Island had also been searched. All
the
j%ff sufferers of this unfortunate wreck are on board her
ships Castor and Rhadamanthus, and the
thinly clothed. I have to request your
directions
may
to the disposal of the troops, and beg that
furnished. ybe given for the necessary clothing to be
I have the honour to be, Sir, your Excellency's

" C. WYTILL, Commodore."

01)---------F4(1.:FFICERS AND SOLDIERS
" LIST
DOEFDT
OHNE NroeiatNETs
iluther, W. Babb, J.
WHO
HER MAJESTY'S Snip BiliEß FROST THE WRECK OF
"John Dodd, 12th Lancer;IETEAD.
?went; J. Kitson,
APDonnell,
White, J. Boyden, J. Smith, 2cl.
R. Hunt, M. Battey, J. llobdy,
Bridges, G. Wells, W. Smith, L. aigatilill Regiment; G.
12th Regiment; J. G,,rim, G. Peterii:'d.'
Brachley, M. Hornett, P. Allan, J. wo,:ldLYons, G.
Regiment; Sergeant D. Andrews, A. Laek;:tld, 43d
J. Hanlon, 11. Maltier, J. Stanfield, 60th R,,Rl.7e_Vo„,
Sullivan, J. O'Reilly-, W. Dobson, P, Taylor, 7341 D.
ment; G. Taylor, M`Mullin, R. Hartle, J. Keatb,l:
Munroe, J. M‘Gregor, J. Miliree, 74th Regimens; J.
Holden, P. Flynn, J. Cordey, A. M`Kay, A. Hutson, j.
Laucev, J. Haggard, 91st Regiment.
" Officers—Captain Wright, 91st Regiment; Linte-
-1 rant Gerardot, 43d Regiment; Ensign Lucas, 73d Regi-
ment; Cornet Bond, 12th Lancers.
1 " Total, 46 soldiers and 4 officers.
"LIST OF OFFICERS AND SEAMEN OF THE BIRKEN-

HEAD TAKEN OFF POINT DANGER.
"Edward Closser, A.B ; Samuel Harris, A. 8.;
Thomas Handran, stoker; Edward Wilson, boatswain's
mate; James Weasum, sailmaker's irate; James LicY,
captain mizetitop; James M'Neel, cooper's mate; Henry
Maxwell, quarter-matter; A. Jeffry, paymaster and
purser's steward; E. Gardner, stoker; R. 'rig le, A. 8.;
John Hoskins, stoker; W. Luck, Private, R.M.; Thomas
h!arns, ditto; George Wyndham, B. first class; Benja-
min Turner, ditto.
I:Officers—Mr Barber, assistant-engineer; Mr. Ar-
chibald, gunner.
Teta!, 2 •
officers and 16 seamen."

The following report has been addressed to the
Commandant of Gipe Town by Captain Wright, of
the 91st Regiment, one of the survivors :
" Simon's Bay, March 1, 1852.
Sir)—l( is with feelings of the deepest Kegret that I

have to announce to you the loss of her Majesty's
steamer Birkenhesd, which took place on a rock about
two and a halt or thr.-.0 miles of Point Daugor, at 2 A.M.
26th Feuruary.
" The sea was smooth at the time, and the vessel was
steaming at the rate of ei.7,ht and a half knots an hour.
She struck the rock, and it penetrated through her bot-
tom just aft of th.: ioremast. The rush of water was so
great that there is no doubt that most of the men in the
lower troop deck were _ drowned in their hammocks.
The rest of the men and all the officers appeared on
deck, when Major Seaton called all the officers about
him and impressed on them the necessity of preserving
order and silence among the men. Ho directed me to
take and have executed whatever orders the commander
might give me. Sixty men wero immediately put to the
chain pumps on the lower afterdeck, and told off in three
reliefs; CO men were put on to the tackles of the paddle-
box boats, arid the remainder of the men were brought on
to tho poop, so as to ease the fore part of the ship. She
was at this time rolling heavily. The commander ordered
the horses to be pitched out of the port gangway, and
the cutter to be got ready for the women anti children,
who had all been colleted under the poop awning. As

I soon as the horses were got over the side, the women
and children were passed into the cutter, and under
charge of Mr. Richards, master's assistant, the boat then
stood off about 150 yards. Just after they went out of
the ship the entire bow broke off at the foremast, the
bowsprit going up in the air towards the fore topmast,
and the funnel went over the side, carrying away the
starboard paddle-box and boat. The paddle-box boat
capsized when being lowered. The large boat in the
centre of the ship could not be got at.
"It was about twelve or fifteen minutes after she
struck that the bow broke off. The men then all went
up on the poop, and in about five minutes more the ves-
sel broke in two, crosswise, just abaft the engine-room,
and the stern part immediately filled and went down.
A few men jumped off just before she did so, but the
greater ❑umber remained to the last, and so did every
officer bl3nging to the troops. All the men I put on
the tackles, I fear, were crushed when the funnel fell;
and the men and officers below at the pumps could not,
I think, have reached the deck before the vessel
broke up and went down. The survivors clung,
some to the rigging of the mainmast, part of which was
out of the water, and others got hold of floating pieces
of wood. I think there must have been about 200 on

the drift wood. I was on a large piece along with five
others, and we picked up nine or 10 more. The swell
carried the wood in the directio❑ of Point Danger. As
soon as it got to the weeds and breakers, finding that it
would not support all that were on it, I jumped off and
' swam on shore; and when the others, and also those that
were on the other pieces of wood, reached the shore, we
proceeded into the country, to try to find a habitation
of any sOrt, where we could obtai❑ shelter. Many of
the roen were naked, and almost all without shoes.
Owing to the country being covered with thick, thorn)
bushes, our progress was slow, but after walking till
about 3 P.M., having reached land about 12, we came
to where a waggon was outspanned, and the driver of it
directed us to a small bay, where there is a hut of a
fisherman. The bay is called Standford's Cove. We
arrived there about sunset, and as the men had nothing
to eat I went on to a farm-house, about eight or nine
miles from the Cove, and sent back provisions for that
day. The next morning I sent another day's provisions,
and the men were removed up to a farm of Captain
Smales', about 12 or 14 miles up the country. Lieu-
tenant Girardot, of the 43d, and Cornet Bond, of the 12;h
Lancers, accompanied this party, which amounted to 68
men, including 18 sailors.

" i then went down to the coast, and during Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday I examined the rocks for more
than twenty miles, in the hope of finding some men who
might have drifted in. I fortunately fell in with the
crew of a whale boat, that is employed sealing on Dyer's
Island I got them to take the boat outside the seaweed,
while I went along the shore. The seaweed on the
coast is very thick, and of immense length, so that it
would have caught most of the drift wood. Happily,
the boat picked up two men, and I also found two. Al-
though they were all much exhausted, two of them
having been in the water thirty-eight hours, they were
all right the next day. except a few bruises. It was
eighty-six hours on Sunday afternoon when I left the
coast since the wreck had taken place ; and as I had
carefully examined every part of the rocks, and also
sent the whale-boat over to Dyer's Island. I can safely
assert that when I left there was not a living soul on
the coast of those that ;,had been on board the ill-fated
Birkenhead.

"On Saturday I met Mr. Mackay, the Civil Com-
missioner of Caledon, and also Field. Cornet Villiers.
The former told me that ho had ordered the men who
had been at Captain Srnales' to be clothed by him, he
having a store at his farm. Forty soldiers received
clothing there. Mr. illacktor, the field-cornet, and my-
self; acoompani,d by a party of men brought down by
Mr. Villiers, went along the coast as far as the point
that runs out to Dyer's Island, and all the bodies that
were met with were interred. There were not many,
however, and I regret to say it could be easily accounted
for. Five of the horses got to the shore, and were
caught and brought to me. One belonged to myself,
one to Mr. Bond, of the 12th Lancers, and the other
three to Major Seaton, of the 74th, Dr. Laing, and
Lieutenant Booth, of the 73d. I handed the horses
over to Mr. Mackay, and he is to send them on to me
here, so that they may be sold, and that I may account
for the proceeds,

"On the 28th of February her Majesty's ship
ithadamanthus was seen al" Gandford'a Cove. I
went down there, and found that Captain Bunce,
the Commander of the Castor frigate, had landed
and gone up to Captain Smiles, to order the men
down to the Cove so as to embark in the steamer
to be conveyed to Simon's Bay. On Sunday, when
I was down on the coast, the field-cornet told me that at
a part where he and hie men had been a few bodies were
washed up and buried; also a few boxes, which were
broken in pieces and the contents strewed about the rocks.
I then ceased to hope that any more were thing, and
came down to the Cove to join the other men. We
arrived there at about 6 P.m.
" The order and regularity that prevailed on board,
from the time the ship struck till she totally disappeared,
far exceeded anything that I thought could be effected
by the best discipline; and it is the more to be wondered
at, seeing that most of the soldiers had been but a short
time inthe service. Every one did as he was directed,
and there was not a murmur or a cry among them until
the vessel made her final plunge. I could not name any
individual officer who did more than another. All re-
ceived their orders, and had them carried out, as if the
men were embarking instead of going to the bottom;
there was only this difference, that I never saw any em-
barkation conducted with so little noise or contusion. •
" I inclose a list of those embarked, distinguishing
those saved. I think it is correet, except one men of the
91st, whose name I cannot find out. The only means I
had of ascertaining the names of the men of the different
draughts, was by getting them from their comrades who
are saved. You will see by the list inclosed, that the
loss amounts to nine officers and 349 men, besides those
of the crew; the total number embarked being 15 officers
and 476 men (one officer and 18 men were disembarked
in Simon's-bay).
"I am happy to say that all the women and children
were put safely on board a schooner that was about
seven miles off when the steamer was wrecked. This
vessel returned to the wreck at about 3 r m., and took off
40 or 50 men that were clinging to the rigging, and then
proceeded to Simon's Bay. One of the ship's boats, with
the assistant-surgeon of the vessel and eight men, went
off, and landed about 15 miles from the wreck. lied
the boat remained about the wreck, or returned after
landing the assistant-surgeon on Point Danger—about
which there was no difficulty—l am quite confident that
nearly every man of the 200 who were on the drift wood
might have been saved, for they might have been picked
up here and there, where they had got in among the
weeds, and landed as soon as eight or nine were got into
the boat. Where most of the drift wood stuck in the
weeds the distance to the shore was not more than 400
yards, and as, by taking a somewhat serpentine comae,
I managed to swim in without getting foul of the rock,
or being tumbled over by a breaker, there is no doubt
the boat might have done so also.
" One fact I cannot omit mentioning. When the vessel
was just about going down the commander called out,
" All those that can swim, jump overboard, and make
for the boats." Lieutenant Girardot and myself were
standing on the stern part of the poop." We begged the
men not to do as the commander said, as the bout with
the Women must be swamped. Not more than three
made the attempt.

" Oa Sunday evening, at six P.M., all the men who
were at Captain Smales', and the four I had with myself
on the coast, were embarked in boats and taken on board
the Rhadamadthus, and we arrived in Simon's Bay at
three A.M. on Monday, the Ist of March; 18 of the men
are bruised and burnt by the sun, and the Commodore
has ordered them into the Naval Hospital. The rest are
ail right, and 70 require to be clothed. I need scarcely
say that everything belonging to the men was lost.
" I have, &c.,
" EDWARD W. C. WRIGHT, Captain 91st Regt.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Ingleby, R.A., Com-
mandant of Cape Town.
" P.S.—I must not omit to mention the extreme
kindness and attention shown by Captain Smales to the
men at his house; and by Captain Ramsden of the
Li&n schooner, and his wife, to those taken on board
his vessel. " E. W. C. W."

" LIST OF PERSONS DROWNED.

" The following is a correct list of the name of the
persons drowned:—

Co'lpDorraalugm%2danours,Qvuereivna'stes m Regiment—Ensign,Ki
n sey,
,B
Go yel
oarngdo,
Marsh, James
James
CO
Roley, Jos. Burke, Charles Cornell,
Coull,
Forbes, e, Richard Coleman, William Clay, William
xn, , Green, John Greenleaf, john Howard, George
'gra. Patrick
Jame.
NuLaverey, John Martin, Chas. Mooney,
Price, Jobtx"Muiichael O'Connell, James Oxley, George
nes,,y, Nathaii 7, Timothy Simmonds, Frank Shock-
Walker, Thop,iiro Thomas, Samuel Vesse, Webster,
Zwyker,' band- masot,dfall, Geo. Weller, W. M. Wheller,
" Draught 6th Royalohn Mills, William Day.
Abraham BID-Iv,, Michael
-1-Igiment—Ensign Mendford,
John Begon, Putrick Begon, Beckett, Witham Brown,
Bromley, Dennis Cofieht gi°ant'riWilliam Begon, Joseph
son, Thomas Firm, W'inia_ Patrick Corrigan Hugh Dick-
Joseph Hudson, Henry ii.-Zin Fletcher,John John Grady,
Kitchen, Henry Lorebuart, John ma Kell Willitan
Cornelius Maloney, Patrick Maloney,y ,
rhos.Rugh Murray,
Michael Morgan, John Olrensha, Charles irlltal Maloney,
trick Ryan, John Ryder, John Reanunington, nen'oinPa.
Spicer, ;lark Somerton,_ Michael Star, John Smith'
Edward Tobey, George Tully, John Terne
Y, George
Worth, West, Thomas White, Jamesi a. 4;
---.lbarn, Henry Jacobs, John Lewis, Patrick Ma ann, jo,„ „.,
t--, uarris,
Alfrcd Clifford, John Croker, James Hanley,
" Draught 12th Lancers--Cornet Ruh, Sergeant John
Straw, G. Hutchins, G. Euglison, Coalborn.
" Draught 12th Regiment—Privates Thomas Archer,
Armatrog, Barrett, ]3ellinghao, P ()swell, George