The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-14 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE AMAZON.

SOUTHAMPTON, JAN. 12.—This morning, soon after
eleven o'clock, the Grand Turk steamer arrived from
Havre, with is of the crew and two ladies, Miss Smith
and Mrs. Maclennen, and child, a fine little fellow aboat
eighteen months old, who, after leaving the wreck of
the Amazon, had been picked up at sea and conveyed
to Brest. There was a very large concourse of people
assembled in the docks to witness their landing, and on
their coming on shore the excitement was immense, the
relatives and friends crowding round and clinging to them
with the greatest affection, and it was with difficulty that
some could escape from the crowd that surrounded them.
It will be recollected that Mr. Evans and Mr. Glennie
proceeded direct from Brest to Paris. The following
are the names of the crew brought over by the Grand
Turk:—

Jacob Allen Engineer.
William Stone.. ~. ditto.
George Harding ... ... Fireman.
Thomas Atwood ... ditto.
Charles Lang... ... ... ditto.
John Lamont ... ditto.
William Goodman ... ditto.
Henry Carter ... ditto.
George Tucker „. ditto.
William Lucas ditto.
John Rogers ... Seaman.
James Berryman ... ditto.
Daniel Brown ... ditto.
Joseph Wellman ditto.
Michael Gould Steward.
George Deal Quartermastsr.
Alexander S. Ling ... ditto.
Frederick Wall Sailor boy.
The whole of those unfortunate people, who escaped,
many of them i❑ a state of semi-nudity, have evidently
experienced great hardships since their providential de-
liverance from the burning ship, being exposed to the
inclemency of the weather, with insufficient clothing to
protect them from the cold and from the heavy seas which
constantly washed over them, nearly swamping their
frail boats. For 48 hours they were tossed about, hav-
ing no provisions or water to sustain their sinking
spirits, and being almost left to despair of ever reaching
a port of safety. Some of the men look very ill and bear
the appearance of having undergone much suffering and
trials. When nearly ready to give up their painful and
almost hopeless task at the oars, the men were sustained
and prompted to fresh efforts by the kind and oheering
words of tho ladies, whose painful situation, destitute of
all comforts and necessaries, it is almost impossible to
appreciate.
The sufferers were received and treated at Bruit with
the utmost kindness, attention, and hospitality, both by
the French authorities and also by the British Consul
and English residents. At Havre the British residents
made a subscription to the amount of nearly 201. for
their benefit, with which to support their most pressing
necessities.

The escape of Mrs. Maclennan was almost a miracu-
lous one—she was twice separated from her child, an
infant of tender age; yet the courage she displayed in
recovering it, in the midst of the scenes of horror at-
tending the rapid conflagration of the ship show the
enduring love of a mother, which no circumstances of
danger to herself could cause her to forget. We regret
to add that the husband of Mrs. Maclennan is among the
fearful list of the missing by this terrible catastrophe.
She, however, entertains a firm conviction that Mr.
Maclennan escaped in one of the boats which has yet to
be accounted for, and we understand expresses an ex-
pectation that ho may yet be heard of. Mrs. Maclennan
is severly bruised, and her health is considerably
shaken by the fearful sufferings through which she was
passed. On landing at Southampton to-day she was
powerfully affected. She was met by her brother-in-law,
and left Southampton to juin her relatives by the three
o'clock train.

Miss Smith, the other female passenger, has dis-
played a heroism and intrepedity throughout these pain-
ful scenes which place her almost in the rank of Grace
Darling. She is a very prepossessing young lady, and
we understand took a passage by the Amason to join a
family in Porto Rico, with whom she had obtained the
appointment of governess. Miss Smith states that,
after having retired to rest on the eventful night, she
was aroused by a sudden noise and a cry of " Fire 1"
She rushed out of her berth in her night dress, but
was met by some gentleman who conducted or carried
her back to her cabin, enjoining her not to be alarmed,
as the flames would soon be subdued. From the in-
creasing confusion she, however, thought it best to
provide for her own safety, and aceoroingly obtained
possession of a blanket and petticoat (snatching up the
first Knicks at hand) and rushed upon the deck,
The appearance of matters there, it appears.
impressed her with the conviction that Captain Symons
had lost all control over his crew, who were rapidly
launching the boats and getting away from the ship
as fast as they could. Miss Smith, therefore, formed
the resolve of saving her own life if possible, and set
about it with a coolness quite extraordinary. She put on
her petticoat, enveloped herself in the blanket, and then,
making last one end of the rope to some of the bulwarks
of the ship, and securing the other end to one of her
arms, she threw herself overboard with the intention of
getting into one of the boats, but, if unsuccessful in this
endeavour, to remain suspended as long as she could and
then to drop into the sea, preferring death by drowning
to the horrible alternative of perishing by fire. The
flames_were rapidly approaching the part of the vessel
from which she was suspended, when Miss Smith, ob-
serving a favourable opportunity, throw herself into ono
of the boats that happened to pass near her, and which
was geVing away from the blazing wreck; she fell heavily
on one of the seats or thwarts of the boat, and one of the
seamen fell upon her, her chest being thereby severely
bruised. She was, however, snatched from immediate
death, but only to encounter the horrors and uncertainties
of a stormy sea and a furious gale. In all the trying scenes
which followed her firmness and courage never deserted
her; in fact, on several occasions she took her place
at the oars, and helped manfully by her bodily exertions
to propel the boat. So destitute of clothing were the
crew of the boat in which this young lady was a fellow-
sufferer, and such an entire absence was there of any-
thing with which to make a signal, that she was obliged
to take off her petticoat in order that it might be at-
tached to an oar and hoisted as an emblem of distress to
invite the attention of passing vessels.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
MISS SMITH'S NARRATIVE.

Miss Smith has favoured us with the following nar-
rative :

" As near as I can recollect, it was about half. past
twelve o'clock on Sunday morning when I first heard
the alarm of fire. I was in my berth. I hastily
jumped out of bed and ran to the seats at the foot of
the companion stairs, and went forward to a gentleman
and asked him if he knew the cause of the alarm. He
told me the ship was on fire, but that there was not the
least occasion for alarm, and advised me to return to my
berth to dress. On refusing, he carried me to my berth,
and called the stewardess to attend me. She came out
of her room quite dressed, but, being much frightened,
she went forward without assisting me. Being
alarmed at seeing so much fear in others, I
immediately took up a blanket and two petticoats, and
rushed up the companion stairs aft. Tho flames at that
time were rushing through the after bulkhead. I stopped
f,
)r a moment to observe if there was any chance of the
fire being extinguished, and observed Captain Symons
undressed, with a bucket in his hand, surrounded
by his officers. Everything then was much confused.
consequent upon the fire breaking out so suddenly, I
immediately ran aft, towards the wheel, where I saw a
gentleman standing undressed, whom I believe to be
Mr. Warburton. I went to the side of the ship, and
seized a rope, and on looking round I saw an officer
running towards me in flames. He threw himself down,
and rolled over towarda me, with the endeavour, no
doubt, to extinguish the fire. I then asked Mrs. Scott,
Observingns a boat alongside,
the stewardess, who was close behind me, if there was
nny place I could put
my fo otiid e? ldrs.
Oh, yes, there!' and,
t ran to the other side, crying
holding a
' Save me! Save me.
by the rope fur some time, the boat
under me having capsizsd twice. At last, seeing a fa-
vourable opportunity, as the boat righted, and was again