The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-24 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.

The last of the great handicaps to be decided comes off
to morrow. Since the Cesarewitch was run, Gratitude has
maintained her position firmly in the market; but, from a
favourable trial with Cambuscan, Brick has now become
first favourite, and, if in anything like his three-year-old
form, must be extremely dangerous. The field will likely
number between thirty and forty, to be selected from the
following probable

STARTERS AND RIDERS.
YrES St lb

Twilight a S 9 .. F. Adams
Miner
Blue Mantle
Gabrielle d'Eatrees

Donnybrook
Saceharometer .. 4 7 10 .. T. French
Deerfoot
Bacchus .. 3 7 10 .. Woodhouse
Prince Pleueible ....

Summerside, or 4 7 8 .. } Morgan
Birchbroom

Brick
Taje
Tomato
Leonora .. 5 7 4 .. Maidment
Accident
Tattoo 6 7 2 .. S. Adams
Queen of Trumps 5 7 0 .. Tomlinson
Ackworth
Rosa
Skeffington
Muezzin
Stockinger
Bayard
Planet
Valiant
Gratitude
Cathedral
Cadeau
Columba
HigLflyer dam colt
Trap
Columbia
Quarantine ..
King of Cluss .. 3 5 10 .. Carroll
Allbama

Charmian

Twilight had better remain in the stable, and the same
remark equally applies to the Miner. Blue Mantle, if he
would only run up to his three-year-old form, is cer-
tainly not out of the race, but ho is so uncertain
a horse that no reliance is to be placed on
him. Gabrielle d'Estrees run second for this race
three years ago. She is now six years old, and
not 5 yrs old, as quoted in all the sporting journals, and
even in the Racing Calendar. In 1861 Palestro won the
Cambridge, Gabrielle d'E,trees being second. In 1862
Sethilde won. In 1863 Catch'em Alive won. Consequently
she must be a six-yr•old, and with Fordham up she may
give the fielders the turn that he would have done had he
had the mount on Lille. Chantilly, when Weatherbound
won by the shortest of heads. Donnybrook has been kept
in reserve for a long time, but it does not look as if his day
had yet come. Saccharometer is one of the most dangerous
horses in the race. If they only let him try I should prefer
him to any other horse. Deerfuot, Bacchus, Prince Plau-
sible, Summerside, and Birch Broom will also run well, but
the next on the list, Brick, has a chance second to
none if his reported trial with Cambuscan should
turn out con eat. Lord Stamford, when in earnest,
is always to be feared. Accident is more of a coach horse
than a race horse. However, his forwari position in the
Chester Cup entitles him to respect. Lord Westmoreland
has so many horses engaged that it is impossible to foretell
which will carry the money bags. But of all his lot I
would certainly prefer Erin-go-Bragh with a start. Muezzin
will likely be the Simon Pure of William Day's lot. If
supported in earnest he will be extremely dangerous to the
favourites. Columbia I certainly prefer to Columba.
Gratitude has been very steady is the market since the
Cesarewitch. Mr Robinson has a second string to his bow
with Battaglia, who has been supported at outside prices ;
but the former is certainly most worthy of support. Trap
has retired to the outside division. Planet will like the
distance better than the Cesarewitch, and is sure to run
forward. Ackworth from running third in the Cesarewitch
has been heavily supported, but I think his forte is more
for staying than speed. Having gone through the horses
that are likely to take a prominent part in the race, I hope
my conclusions will be as successful as in the Cesarewitch,
when, out of the lice that I selected to beat the field, I ac-
tually named the first, second, and fourth, The winner on
the present occasion will come from the following five :
Columbia, Saccharometer, Brick, Gratitude, and Prince
Plausible; and the judge, I expect, will place

GRATITUDE
..
SACCHAROULTER ........................ 3
A FRESU JAN.

FATAL GUN ACCIDENT.—A young man named
Henry Beckford, belringing to the 22d Devon Rifle Volun-
teer Corps, died on Tuesday from the efficts of a gun acei-
deLt• lie viss returning frcr- a (193-'0 Olooting on Dart-
moor, when, feeling fatigued, he obtained a " lift" in a car
laden with earthenware. lie placed his double-barrelled
gun on the top of the ware, the muzzle pointing towards
him. No sooner had the horse started than the gun went
off. He was injured so eeYerely that ho died two hours

tifkr wards,

evere Storm and Floods in the North,

LOSS OF LIFE AND GREAT DESTRUC.
TION OF PROPERTY.
The Wick correspondent•of the Scotsman writes
This coast has this week been visited by one of the
most severe storms which we have experienced for
many years. On Wednesday evening a fresh breeze
of wind sprang up frcm the north-east, and con-
tinued to increase till midnight, when it burst forth
with terrific fury, accompanied by torrents of rain,
raising a tremendous sea along the coast and in the
bay. Fortunately there were no boats at sea at the
time, else the consequences would have been terrible.
As it was,`however, an immense amount of damage
has been done on shore. The works at the new har-
bour, which have been carried on almost without
interruption for the last 12 months, have been sud-
denly brought to a stand still by the complete demo-
lition, in the course of a few hours, of the ponderous
wooden staging, which it has taken many months
to erect. The staging, which was constructed of
heavy logs strongly bound together by iron clasps,
and secured by chains and anchore,had been carried
seawards about 400 feet, about 80 feet of which was
added to it within the last week. It was some 40 or
50 feet wide, and had three or four lines of rails laid
on its surface for the locomotive and waggons to run
along with the stones necessary for the construction
of the breakwater. The work was so strongly fas-
tened and bound together that the contractors and
resident engineer had no fear of its ever giving way,
although those acquainted with Wick Bay had
grave doubts as to its being able to withstand
the fury of the winter storms on this exposed
coast. These fears, I regret to say, have been
fully realised. Early on Thursday morning the
waves began to dash over it, and in the course
of a few hours about 300 feet of the work was car•
ried away and strewed along the beach in broken
fragments. In order to give some idea of the force
of the waves, it may be mentioned that many of the
huge logs of which the work was constructed,which
were 2i feet long, were snapped in pieces, and the
rails and heavy iron bolts bent and twisted
as if they were pieces of wire. Many hen.
dreds of tons of stone, too, have been displaced
by the force of the storm and carried up to the beach,
several hundred yards distant. The loss entailed
by this most unfortunate disaster we have heard
variously at from £4,000 to £B,OOO, which, it is re-
ported, falls upon the British Fishery Society, and
not upon the contractors, It is a serious matter
for the town, too, as it will be the means of throw-
ing a large number of men idle, seeing that nothing
can be done without the staging, and that it is not
likely it will be again erected before spring. Fears
were entertained for the safety of the roads leading
to the quarries, which are constructed upon the
slope of the beach ; but the wind having veered
round more to the north in the course of the day
has been the means of running down the sea a
little ; so that with the exception of a piece of
the embankment which has been carried away
they are not likely to be seriously damaged.
The crops throughout the country will have
suffered severely from the fury of the storm,
A great quantity of corn is still in stock, and in the
upland districts a good deal of it is yet uncut, so
that the strong gale and heavy rains which have
literally deluged the fields and flooded all the atraths
and low-lying districts will, I fear, leave a sad tale
behind it of ruin and disaster to many a poor farmer.
It is feared that from the suddenness and awful fury
of the storm tales of serious disasters at sea on the
north coast may yet be to tell. There has been no
intelligence received here to-day from Scrabster,
where the storm would be felt in all its terrible
force ; and fears are entertained for the safety of
several vessels known to be in that roadstead.
FLOOD IN THE GLEN OF ROTHES.
The Elgin Courant of Friday says "We have
to record one of the most severe hurricanes that
has visited this part of the kingdom for many
years, the effects of which will no doubt be told
in tales of disaster for days to come. Rain
began to fall on Wednesday afternoon about four
o'clock, with the wind from the northward, and,
as the afternoon advanced, a strong breeze turned
into a perfect hurricane, with an incessant torrent
of rain. This continued all Wednesday night with-
out intermission, and, with the exception of a few
hours on Thursday morning,the storm has continued
to the present moment. Tne rivers are in higher
fl god than they havo been since 1820, The Spey,
the Findhorn, the Lossie, and smaller streams are
roaring from bank to brae, and in many places they
are over their banks, and flooding the haughlands
along their courses. Much damage has been done.
The Linkwood Burn, as it is called, whi:h rises in the
Manoch Hill, on the west side of the glen of Rothes,
came down on Thursday morning in a perfect tor-
rent, and carried away some 30 or 40 yards of the
railway at the as collen manufactory in the Glen of
Rothes, completely intercepting all intercourse on
the line. When the goods train from Elgic went
up the glen at twelve o'clock, and came near the
mills, the driver saw a man standing on the line
waving a red flag on a pole, and soon discovered it
to be Mr. Hay, the miller, who was giving warning.
The train was stopped in time to prevent an acci-
dent. At the break made by the burn, Mr. Hay
stood hours in the drenching rain to prevent an ac-
cident, and deserves the highest praise. The train
from Rothes was stopped by breaks in the line
before it got up to the woollen mill, and returned.
It is said that some days will be required to repair
the damage done to the line. The Lossie, as we
have said, has not been so flooded for 20 years.
Lossic-wynd, at the tan works, was impassable—
ducks swimming half up the street, and people
compelled to go by North-street on their way to
and from Bishopmiil. Many trees were seen pass-
ing down the torrent—even the Linkwood Burn
brought down trees from the Glen of Rothes, show-
ing a terrible fall of rain from the hills, for the barn
when in its normal state is a mere streamlet."
THE STORMS IN THE MORAY FIRTH.
The wind being from the northward, a truly tre-
mendous sea was rolling along the southern shore
of the Moray Firth the whole of Thursday. At
Lossiemouth it was impossible to face the storm
that raged with a violence which old fishermen said
had not been equalled for 30 years. The sea ap-
peared one unbroken sheet of white foam as far as
the eye could reach, The curling breakers extended
two miles out from the shore, to 12 fathoms water ;
and along the protection wall of the new basin the
spray was rising 30ft into the air. In the morning
a schooner was seen running up the Firth past Los.
siemouth, not far from the Sherries, and was ob-
served to be struck by several tremendous seas.
She soon passed out of sight in the thick fog that
covered the foaming ocean, and none on this part of
the coast can tell her fate. She must have cleared
the promontory of Barghead, and we hope she
reached Cromarty. Reports in Lossiemouth had it
that a vessel belonging to Hamburg, laden with
herrings from Lybster, was wrecked near Gar.
mouth, but that all hands were saved,
At Buckle, at one o'clock on Thursday afternoon,
15 boats were missing, but three or four of these ran
into Barghead Bay, under shelter of the head, and
the hands got off. We hope all the rest are safe,
but the excitement in Buckie was intense, so many
lives being in jeopardy. The alarm of the relatives
of the missing seamen was increased tenfold, in con•
sequence of some boat helms and kits being washed
ashore to the eastward, indicating disaster. At
Cullen the gale was felt very severely. The Port-
knockie boats were overtaken by it at the haddock
fi.hing, but they all made the harbour, with the ex•
ception of two. One of these was dashed upon a rock,
and drawn out to sea again, but the crew succeeded
in steering her to Craigenroan, a natural creek some
miles to the west, which has saved many a boat's
crew from a watery grave. The other is still missing.
The Cullen boats, happily, were not cut. On some
parts of the coast-side between Buckie and Banff it
was Pali but impossible to face the storm. The wind
was unroofieg farrn.steading„ blowing down stacks,
breaking and uprootio6, trees.
FIgIING BOATS LOST AND MISSING.
Early on Thursday morning a boat belonginglobelongingto
Portessie, named the Laurel, was driven ashore at
Whitehills. She is said to be manned by a crew of
nine men, six of them brothers, and tat must have
perished, for the boat was cast ashore empty, No
doubt it had been swamped among the breakers.
This is melancholy ease, their bin little hope of

the crew being saved by any other boat near her at
the time. At Barghead, such a tempest has rarely
been witnessed. There, on Wednesday evening,
the first premonitions of a coming gale were no-
ticed by the wind shifting from south to due
north. It was not till Thursday, however, that
the hurricane was at its height, and few of
the inhabitants of Burghead but were at the
pier before the first streak of day till the tempest
abated. On Thursday evening, about four
o'clock, two boats belonging to Buckie were
driven on the sands—the first about six in the
morning, the other about midday, The fishermen
in the boats were so exhausted and benumbed with
the cold that they could make no exertions to save
themselves, and had the Burghead fishermen not
used the means they did they must have perished.
The brave fishermen of the Broch joined hand in
hand, and waded into the sea until the waves were
breaking over their heads. In this way, with almost
superhuman exertions, they reached the boats and
saved their struggling brethren. Three of the res-
cuers were so much exhausted that they had to be
borne home, or carried to the nearest dwelling. In
the forenoon, just as the other boats were being
saved from destruction, a boat was seen about a
mile to the west, now rising and now going under
the boiling sea, till at last a tremendous wave
was seen to break over the ill-fated boat, and she
went down with the whole of her unfortunate crew.
The name of the boat is unknown, and also the num-
ber of hands, but it is, supposed she belonged to
Buckle.

A sloop, name unknown, but supposed to belong
to Kirkwall, was seen east of Burghead, evidently
making for the shore. From the time the vessel
bore in sight she evidently was struggling despe.
rately with the heavy sea. There were only three
hands on board, and they seemed to cling with
desperation to the rigging, to which apparently
they had lashed themselves, else the waves, as
they broke over the mast, would have washed them
off. It was a heartrending sight to see the poor
fellows on the top of the sails tossing first to one
side and then to the other, and at every moment
likely to be engulfed by the waves. At one time it
was thought that nothing could save them, but,
fortunately, at a point not far from the shore, she
gave a tremendous lurch, which carried her over a
sharp rock, and she landed on the sand at the
only spot on the shore where it was possible she
could do so with safety between Burg-
head and Lossiemouth. Here, again, the fisher-
men of Burghead came to the rescue, and with
commendable courage succeeded in reaching the
sloop and bringing the hands on shore.