The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-30 00:00:00

on board they allowed us to proceed. Mr. James
Callahan, of the pilot lent William Ball, No. 21,
sass that his boat was captured by the yrivateer
Tallahassee on the 11th lost:, at 1 o'Ji ek, p.m.,
about 93 miles E S.E of Sandy Hook, after a chase
of nalf an hour, during which tile.) the privateer
fired two solid shots and one shell, the le.ttir ex-
p'oding about six yards astern. when he hove•to,
and in an hour she was in flames. They took Mr.
Callahan on board the steamer, together with Mr.
J. W. Hamblet, Nicholas Code, and a crew of six
inn, and subsequently transferred them to the
barque Suliote, which brought them to this city.
The above gentlemen state that, with a full head
of steam, the privateer: can make from 15
to 18 knots an hour. The William Bell,
when captured, was going at the rate of 10 knots,
and the steamer overhauled her with but 91b. of
steam. Captain Moore, of the ship Adriatic,
burnt by the Tallahassee, state s;:—" Left London
July 7, with a full cargo of merchandise and 163
passengers, consigned to Messrs. E. E. Morgan and
Co. Nothing of interest occurred during the pas-
sage until the 12th inst., 5 a.m., in lat. 40 40, long.
71 40, we were ordered to heave-to by an unknown
steamer, and wait until they boarded laF, which
they did, informing me at the same time that we
were a prize to the Confederate steamer Tallahassee
and that they were going to burn the ship, and
telling us to hurry up and get ready to leave. The
bark Suliote, of Belfast, lklaine, Captain Panno,
from Cow Bay (Cape Breton) for New York, was in
sight at the time. They boarded her, and the
captain was compelled to sign bonds for 5,000 dole.
on condition that he would take myself, passengers
and crew into New York. They commenced trans-
ferring passengers, and gave them such little time
that they were forced to leave almost all their lug.
gage on board, which was burnt, together with the
ship: In rounding the ship to we were so close
that we carried away the mainmast of the priva-
teer, and, had there been a little more wind at the
time, the probability is we would have sunk her.
After myself, crew, and passengers, and the crew
and two passengers of the pilot-boat William Bell,
N 0.24, which she had destroyed the day previously,
altogether numering 201 souls, were put on board
the Suliote, there was scarcely standing room, and
had there been a gale of wind, or even a heavy
squall, the lives of two-thirds of those on board
would have undoubtedly been sacrificed, as the Su-
liote'a decks were even with the water; 13th inst.,
off Fire Island, spoke and boarded the United
States steamer Su3quehanna, cruising for the privae
teer, gave them all the information we could, and
they supplied us with some provisions; 14th inst.,
arrived at New York. The Adriatic was 939 tons
burden, rated A 1, and was owned by R. H. Moore
(the master), Messrs. E. E. Morgan and Son, and
others of this city. A considerable part of the cargo
was on British account."

The Boston Herald contains the following :
"Captain Nathan A. Reed, master of the brig Bil•
low, of Salem, recently captured by the Tallahassee,
describes the piratical craft as an iron steamer, of
English build. She is schooner-rigged, and has no
yards or topmasts, and lost her mainmast in a colli-
sion with the ship Adriatic. She is a very long and
narrow vessel. She burns soft coal. She had about
100 men on board, who were subject to the discip•
lire and order of a man-of-war. All the officers
were Southerners. She had three or four negroes,
who did not appear to be very jolly. She carries one
pivot gun and three forward guns, with one brass
rifle gun of large calibre on the hurricane deck.
She had also several spare guns. Capt. Reed was
on board the pirate vessel two or three hours, and
held considerable conversation with the commander
of the Tallahassee, John Taylor Wood, which he re-
ports as follows He said he could steam 10 knots
and that he had crossed the British Channel (21
miles) in 72 minutes. He would not fight, he said,
unless compelled; he preferred to run, as his vessel
was fast. He averred that within one week he had
destroyed over 50 vessels. Within 30 hours of my
capture, he said, he had destroyed 16 sail—viz., three
ships, two barks, and the rest schooners and herma-
phrodite brigs. One was the ship Adriatic, of New
York, captured the same day he took me. He added
that he would slacken up the coasting trade so that
Uncle Abe would be glad to make peace.' He asked
me about the Nantucket lightboat, and afterwards
said, recurring to his designs, that there were more
afloat than the Florida and Tallahassee—meaning,
of course, Confederate ships of a similar character to
his own, and that Uncle Sam had better look out.
Capt. Wood appeared to be a very affable man, and
said he was doing what was not pleasant for him to
do.' "

The Susquehanna and the )lus were sent to sea
by Admiral Paulding in search of the Tallahassee.
The Grand Gulf was preparing for sea, and the
Juanita was to be despatched from Hampton Roads.
The gunboat Merrimac, cruising to Labrador, was
also under orders to look out for the Confederate
vessel.

A Washington despatch of the 16th gives the
following intelligence respecting the recent fight at
Dutch Gap :
"The mailboat Keyport reports a movement of
the 2d corps up the James River on Saturday night,
resulting in the routing of a large rebel force at
Dutch Gap, and the capture of over 500 prisoners,
besides seven pieces of artillery, The position oc-
cupied by the enemy is said to have been a strong
one, and is now occupied by our troops, who are
able to hc'd it. The Key port took down from Ber-
muda Hundred to Fortress Monroe over 100 pri-
soners from the fight, about 40 of whom claim to be
deserters. There was but little hard fighting. Ge-
neral Hancock accomplished his end by skilful ma-
noeuvring and surprise, consequently our loss was
small—less than 100 men. Previous to the move-
ment up the river the troops were placed upon
transports and moved down ostensibly to below
Harrison's Landing, thus completely deceiving the
rebels, who at once supposed the siege of Peters•
burg and Richmond was being raised. Under cover
of the night the troops were turned up the river
again, and the result was a complete surprise to th,
enemy. Our troops have now gained an important
position, 'within two miles of Fort Darling."
The Baltimore American contains a despatch
dated Bermuda Hundred, of the 16th, which says z

" Yesterday the 2d corps (Hancock's) were
going on to transports at City Point all day,
apparently for Washington, and started down the
river, their bands playing gaily. or course the
rebels were watching from the shore, and no doubt
felt much interest in the movement. The trans-
port went down the river 10 miles, when they put
about under cover of the darkness and returned
under full speed. At the same time the 10th corps,
with the artillery of the 2d corps, were crossing to
the north side of the James River, and were all
landed up the river within 12 miles of Richmond
before 3 o'clock this morning. This force, Ni ith
Gen. Foster's, makes quite a respectable army. It
is understood that the first move will be to destroy
the rebel pontoons above Fort Darling. It this is
done Lee will be unable to transfer his army to the
north side of the James without marching by way
of Manchester, more than 20 miles. Thus far all
works well. Musketry firing was heard in the
direction of the movement this morning.'
From Weishington, the 16th, another despatch
states :

"On Saturday Hancock'i corps was put in mo-
tion on James River, and by a circuitous route
reached the north side of the river at Deep Bottom,
in the rear of Dutch Gap, on Saturday night. Tur-
ner's and Terry's divisions of the 10th corps also
crossed over to Deep Bottom on the same night.
Forster's division, which had been for some time
posted at Deep Bottom, was advanced by Gen. Bir-
ney a little after sunrise on Sunday morning, push-
ing the rebel line of skirmishers before them some
considerable distance, when the 24th Massachusetts
Regiment, Col. Osborne, charged and captured 70
prisoners. Meantime Gen. Gregg's cavalry had
cleared the roads for Gen. Hancock, and he got his
(the 2d) corps into position on Gen. Birney's right
on the Newmarket-road, which leads from the vici-
nity of Malvern-road directly to Richmond. The
position taken by Gen. Hancock is 18 miles from
Richmond. Gen. Birney made an assault on his front
and carried the line of works which guards the
approaches to Richmond in that quarter, capturing
six pieces of artillery and mortars. Some advices
state the number of mortars at four pieces.
The New York Commercial has a statement that