The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-08 00:00:00

JANUARY 8, 1852.

log only three—viz , the Oronoeo, Magdalena, and Pa-
rana—with which to perform the direct mail service be-
tween Southampton and the Lehmus of Panama, Se-
veral of the old ships will now have to be retained On
the main line till other vessels to replace the missies;
ships can he constructed, and in the meantime much in-
convenience will be experienced isy the disorganization
into which the general mail service will necessarily be
thrown by the non-employment of steamers of sufficient
power and speed with which to maintain the chain of com-
munication between this country and the West Indies,
Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, &c. We
have no doubt the directors will make every effort to
remedy this state of things without delay, but a consi-
siderable time will elapse before so great a blow can be
recovered, and the traffic will necessarily suffer to some
extent by the competition of the New York route, which
is found to be more speedy for the transmission of male,
passengers, and treasure from the Pacific and some other
points, than can be provided by the old West India
packets, which are, when compared with other ocean
steamers, so deficient in speed.
The West India Mail Company has been the most un-
fortimate of all the great steampacket associations in
the loss of their steam ships. Since the establishment
the company in 1841 no less than eight of their fleet
of steamers have been destroyed by casualty on the sea.
We lac ipitulate their names—the Medina, wrecked on
the 12th of May, 1844, on a coral reef, near Turk's Is-
lane.; the Isis, en the Bth of October, 1842, sunk off Ber-
muda, having previously struck on a reef; the Solway,
wrecked off Gunies, on the Bth of April, 1843; the
Tweed, on the 12th of February, 1847, on the Ala-
cranes reeks, Gulf of Mexico; the Forth, likewise lost
on the same rocks on the 15th of January, 1849; the
Actea sa lost in 1844 in the Negrelles, near earths-
g,ena; and the new steamer Demerara, stranded in the
river Avon, near Bristol, not long since. The wrecks of
the Tweed and Solway were attended with peculiarly
distressing circumstances, involving the loss of nearly
120 lives; and in the case of the survivors of the Tweed
with an extent of hardship and suffering which has
rarely found a parallel in the records of disasters at sea.
The catalogue is closed by the burning of the Amazon
on Sunday morning last, and by the harrowing occur-
rences whichit has been our painful duty to recount in
connexion with her destruction.

Great as the loss of the Amazon may be in a pecu-
niary point of view, and extensive as will be the incon-
venience arising from an interruption of the mail ser-
vice and the postponement of long-desired improvements
and accelerations in the transit which would have been
introduced into the working of this important line, these
considerations bear little comparison with the frightful
expenditure of human life which has attended the de-
struction of this stupendous vessel.
Among the passengers will be perceived the name of
Mr. Eliot Warburton, the well-known author, who was
deputed by the Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company
to come to a friendly understanding with the tribes of
Indians who inhabit the Isamu.) of Darien. It was also
the intention of Mr. Warburton to make himself per-
fectly acquainted with every part of these districts, and
with whatever referred to teeir topography, climate, and
resources—an intention that has been frustrated by his
untimely and dreadful death. Another of the passengers
by the Amazon was one of the deputies to the Congress
of Now Granada, who was returning to the seat of Go-
vernment in New Granada, as one of the commissioners
of the Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company, empowered
by them to negotiate for some modifications of the
very important concessions which were recently granted
by the Legislature of New Granada to the agents of
the company in reference to the construction of a ship
canal.

The wives, families, friends, and connexions of most
of the crew of the Amaz)n reside in Southampton, and
the melancholy event has caused a deep gkom in the
town. Many of the officers, engineers, seamen, &e.,
have wives and families depending upon their exertions
for support; and to the loss of their husbands, sons, and
brothers, as the case may be, is added, in several cases,
the proximate loss of the means of subsistence. While
widows and orphans are mourning, the voice of chariv
is making itself heard, and we have much pleasure in
stating that a subscription has already, been commenced
here for their benefit, the Mayor of Southampton, Mr.
R. Andrews, heading the list of donations with the sum
of 10/. It is hoped that subscriptions will not be con-
fined to this town alone, but that contributions from
other parts of the kingdom will flow in when a com-
mittee has been formed. In the meantime the following
notice has been issued to the public by order of the

mayor:—
" The total destruction of the %Vest India mail steam-
ship Amazon by fire, with the melancholy loss of upwards
of 141 persons, who were on board when she left the port
of Southampton on Friday last, thereby leaving numer-
ous widows, orphans, and fatherless children perfectly,
destitute, the mayor appeals to the gentry and inhabit-
ants of Southampton and its neighbourhood to assist him
in carrying out a general subscription, and invites them
to attend a public meeting to be held at the Guildhall, on
Monday next, the 12th inst., at 12 o'clock at noon, to
take such steps as may be deemed best for the relief of
the sufferers.

" By order of the Mayor,
" CHARLES E. DEACON, Town Clerk.
" Audit-house, Southampton, Jan. 7, 1852."

FURTHER PARTICULARS.

A Southampton correspondent writes as follows:
The most disastrous intelligence of the destruction of
the magnificent steamer Amazon, by fire, reached
Southampton early yesterday morning by electric tele-
graph from London. Such a shock has scarcely ever
before been felt in this town. Only last Friday after-
noon she left this port, with every prospect of a fa-
vourable and successful voycge. It appears to be but
a few hours since that nearly the whole of the 159 per-
sons on board were standing on her deck as she was
steaming down Southampton water, and with waving
hats and handkerchiefs were bidding good bye to friends
and relatives. The Amazon was the largest mail packet
afloat; she was the first of the gigantic fleet of steamers
building for the Royal West India Mail Packet Com-
pany which was got ready. Must of the crew and
officers were picked men from the company's service,
and it was considered promotion to be transferred from
any of the West India packets to the Amazon. Among
the passengers who were lost in the Amazon was the ac-
complished Eliot Warburton, the author of the " Cres-
cent and the Cross," " Hochelaga," " Darien," Sec.
Captain Symons, the unfortunate commander of the
Amazon, was a most experienced officer. He was for-
merly in the Peninsular and Oriental Company's service.
During all the time ho commanded the West India
packets ho was enabled to boast that notwithstanding the
intricate and difficult navigation of the West Indies, the
Gulf of Mexico, and the central American coast, he
never met with the slightest accident. He had not long
been married. Had Captain Chapman, the commander
of the Tay, been in England, he would have taken out
the Amazon. Lieutenant Brady, the Admiralty agent,
was for many years the Admiralty agent on the Alex-
andrian line. He was a highly intelligent and most
amiable man. He was called on by the Admiralty au-
thorities, almost at the last moment, to take charge of
the mails on board the Amazon, in consequence of the
illness of a brother officer. Mr. Roberts, the chief
officer of the Amazon, was first in the company's service
for promotion to a command. Mr. Wm. Angus, the se-
cond engineer, was wrecked in the Acteou and Forth,
two of the West India packets. Most of tee
officers and crew of the Amazon have left families
or friends in Southampton. The task of revealing
the terrible calamity which has befallen most of them
has been of the most painful and affecting kind. It was
a long time before the news of the loss of the ship was
generally credited by the inhabitants of Southampton.
On the receipt of the London morning papers, however,n
the truth of the disastrous intelligence could no l n
West
be doubted. The utmost sympathy is felt for tar
extensive
dtn perfect
success.
The
and admirable
company
spared, to see
India Company. They have experiencedunparalleled
disasters, owing principally to the difficult
disasters would
an
duties they undertook to perform;
such
exercise
have broken the spirits and ruined the fortunes of almost
any body of men; but by the
submission to great sacrifices, and h(lisp,av of indomi-
table of great skill, the
t
dis-
patched c
again had their hopes temporarily
perseverance, they had recovefromred
übl.companies,
their mis-
fortunes, and were nearly equalling
and surpassing
m blighted by the most
cruel andt h
heartrendingnieP misfortune.emnn most
thatmanner. n her
No
constructionattention
re
x Pt
teinngse was They
n have
s p everything was
possibly done which could be suggested by the most
proved experience and advanced science to contribute
health tuondth
the the
safety
Up to the last moment of
her departure the most experienced officers of the com-
oanfdthhe ship,
of the passengers and crew,
.
com-
pany were examining and testing the Amazon. But the
most laborious efforts of man are sometimes frustrated
by the mysterious dispensations of Providence, all
human contrivances are oft' Imes vain in providing against
or controlling the furious elements of nature. The fire
on board the Amazon
broke out, it appears, in the gal-
ley- The galley, it is stated,
aft, different from what it is in most ships. It was
situated over the engine-room.
When operations were
going on in the galley before
the Amazon left South-
ampton the heat was most intense there.
The property sacrificed by the loss of the Amazon
cannot be less than a quarter of a million sterling.
By none of the West India packets which have been
lost has there been such a frightful loss of life as
has happened by the burning of the Amazon. In fact,
the lost of life in the latter, consisting of 128 persons,
is nearly as great as that of all the other wrecks put
together. The following are the names of the principal
West India packets which have been lost, viz.--The
Tweed, Forth, Solway, Isis, and the Medina. The
Amazon is the first belonging to the company destroyed
by fire.
SOUTHAMPTON,
WEDNESDAY NIGHT, JAN. 7.
The water tender on board the Amazon, who was
saved, has just reached Southampton. He states that
the chief and fourth engineers went the rounds of the
engine-room after midnight on Saturday, and found
everything right; within a quarter of an hour after they
left the water tender saw bits of something on fire fall
into the engine-room; he had only just time to get as-
sistance before ho was driven out of the engine-room,
owing to the intensity of the heat arising from the fire.
He describes the fire as most rapid and intense. He is
confident that many of those forward never could have
got out of their beds before the fire overtook them; he
only recollected distinguishing Captain Symons and
Mr. Roberts, the first officer, amongst those who
perished.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,---In the absence of any definite information re-
spcc ting the origion of the fire which in the space of a
few hours consumed this splendid steamer, and added to
the annals of maritime disaster the most deplorable ca-
lamity which has happened since the mysterious loss
of the President and the wreck of the Avenger, it is
very difficult to speculate with anything, like certainty
on the primary cause of the conflagration. It seems

probable however, that an unhep-y anxiety to make "a
rapid run" may have rendered the officers and engineers
indifferent to the extreme danger of working new en-
gines head-sea at, a high pressere; that
tll”beaji4nnit a
g:grandeua:lfy heated, and that the woodwork
round the mnhinery having caught fire' the whole vessel
was soon in flames, at the acme tf:me that the evgincers
were driven from the engine-room.

It is to be observed,-that. when the Amazon was
going round Southampton, in ordinary weather, the
engine bearings became co hot on two Occasions that,
if I recollect rightly, she aas obliged to lie to till
the temperature was reduced. In the account you
have published of the fire it is distinctly affirmed that
from 9.30 to 11.20, nearly two hours, she lay to—as
I le nture to assert, to let her engines cool down. She
then proceeded, us it aFears, steering west by south
half south against half a gale from the south-west; and,
if it be true that she was bursting through the heavy
seas of the Bay of Biscay at ai knots an hour, it is
evident she was forced along at full speed. In little
more than one hour from the time she was set la motiou
she became from !ACM to stern one sheet of flames.
The greatest confusion seems to have prevailed, but the
noblest might well have lost head and heart at
such a tremendous moment. In the dark night, on a
turbulent ocean, and mid a howling gale, with the fire
fanned by the wiud into a furnace blast, the physical
end moral courage of the bravest sailor, no doubt, gave
way. Then came the awful " rush for the boats,"
which, under such circumstances, could only end in the
sad alternative of one death for another. Of the fate of
those who perished in their berths let us net speak.
It may have been less horrible than the lot of those
who, full of life and energy, ding for dear xistence,
were sucked dowa in the pitiless waters. Nice manage-
ment with falls and tackles is always required to
launch a beat in a heavy sea from a rolling ship. It is
toot a nb
which toe craw of the Amazon were placed,
all
watch on, deck just roused from their
smucheust
in
nt toh ► xpect common caution under the circum-
stances
hammocks by the cry of " Fire," and the officers unable
to preserve any control over the terrified passengers and
seamen, the last of whom knew besides that there was a
magazine beneath their feet surrounded by flames.
It is beyond doubt that, had the mail-boat, pinnace,
and second cutter been properly handled, every soul on
board could have been saved. For. hay an hour the
dingy, the smallest boat in the shy, lived in the sea,
with five men on board. Pinnace, mail boat, and life-
boat between them ought to have held nearly 100 persona
or even more; the first hung by the fore tackle from
inattention in lowering it from the deck; the second
was swamped, most likely by bad management; and, if
the lifeboat were a good one, as no doubt she was, she
could have held at least twelve persons more than were
actually on board. As to the second cutter, she was
hurriedly lowered away to a rising sea—the beat lifted,
the fore-tackle unhooked, the sea fell away, and down
came the boat, the boat's bow lot 'most, while her stern
was soil hooked up by the after tackle, and all the
people were washed out of her. Of the first cutter Ido
not yet despair, but alas! there were only five people on
board when she was last visible. Would it not bo well,
even at the risk of damaging beats, to exercise the crews
of our largo steamers in lowering them away y in rough
weather? Would it not be well, at any risk, to avoid
the danger which must arise from the heating of new
engines when worked full pressure against a heavy head
sea, and to save life and prep2rty at the hazard of losing
reputation as a "clipper."—Your very obedient servant,
QUESTOR.