The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-06 00:00:00

PITIA.TY.I

SE SEAS,

Th e foil owing letter has been received in Liver-
pool annciuncing the fate of the ship Parana and
her c ;re W : -

ft Hongkong, Sept. 24, 1863.

"Dear Sirs,—Referring you to enclosed press
copy of our last respects under date of the 10th
inst., it is now with most sincere regret that we
have to announce to you the reported loss of your
bark Parana, and the still more melancholy fact of
the murder of Capt. Morrish and the entire crew.
The following are the fullest particulars regarding
this most unfortunate affair.

As we wrote you on the 12th inst., Captain
3lorrish started on his homeward voyage from hence
on the 2d inst. Oa Saturday morning, the 12th
inst., news arrived from Macao (about 40 miles from
this), where the Parana loaded, that some mandarin
boats had had an engagement with piratical junks,
which ended in the former capturing one or more
of the junks, as also 20 prisoners. These they
brought over to Macao. On reaching the junk
it was found to contain about 300 cases of cassia,
which the agent of the Parana found to be marked
' O. and Ce,, Parana,' and a portion of the cargo
he had shipped by that vessel. On an examination
of the pirates by the mandarins, one of them stated
that when close by Latai they attacked end boarded
a foreign vessel, plundered her, and then set fire to
her, after having killed the captain and crew.
" Oar senior, with one of the firm of
officer d and
Co., the charterers, waited on the senior nave:
immediately after the receipt of the
uponnews which
out w and com-
municated the facts of the case to him,
he ordered the Opossum gun-boat with orders
to procure any tidings they
might be able to gain
of Capt. Me,rrish and the crew, or any other parti-
culars of the unfortunate
event. The gunboat re-
turned They had twice visited
the piratical haunt, de
on the 21st
jeets. troyed in all five of their
junks, and brought with them 13 prisoners, a small
quantity of cassia, a time
piece, and some ship's gear,
which has been proved to have belonged to the
Parana. 1
examination of these 13 men took
-place on lohneday, the 21st, at the Police court, in
the presence of our senior, when it was proved by
the China pilot of the gunboat that one of the 13
ledered to at least being cognizant of
men
tho a,clemove
whole circumstances attending the affair. His
story was that five boats had attacked a foreign
vessel, taken all her valuables out of her, put the
crew below, battened down the hatches and set fire
ee, the vessel. This, if true—which we have little
doubt of—is in its result the most barbarous pira •
tical attacks we have ever heard of, even in China.
We regret to say that after the conclusion of the
examination the magistrate thought there was
hardly sufficient evidence to convict them of mur-
der. He could only there commit them for
-piracy, but gave us the option of a remand for
further evidence, of which we have availed, and
have addressed her Britannic Majesty's Consul,
'Mr. D. B. Robertson, at Canton, with full de-
tails of the case, requesting that he would lay
the matter before the proper Chinese authorities,
in whose custody is the first batch of the pri-
soners taken by the mandarin boats, in order that
they Might, if possible, aid us with any evidence
tending to convict the above 13 men of murder. To
this we have not as yet received any official reply,
but from a private source we gather that six of the
20 taken by the mandarins have confessed to having
been in the piratical attack ; that the vessel was
boarded out at sea in the night, pillaged, and burnt,
all the Europeans on board doubtless perishing;
but of this there is no actual certainty. We shall
hope to hand you the official report per Peninsular
and Oriental steamer, which will, we trust, be of
srich a nature es will enable the authorities here
-without any difficulty to convict the whole of them
of murder, as also of piracy.
" The arrival of the English mail yesterday, so
close on the departure of the French steamer, pre-
vents our writing you at greater length, and trust-
ing to be able to give you further intelligence per
Peninsular and Oriental steamer on the 27th inst.
We are, dear sirs, in haste, yours faithfully.
" WALF.4I, BORItODAILE, and CO.
" Messrs. Tames Poole and Co., Tower-buildings,
Liv erpool."