The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-24 00:00:00

THE 4.ItHY.

The Secretary of State for War, Sir Geo. Corns-
wall Lewis, accompanied by Cal'Actin figf".
C.b., the Director of Stores, paid a visit yesterday
to the Military Store Department at the Tower,
and was conducted through the several storehouses
b y the Military Store-officer in charge.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge and
Staff, consisting of the Quartermaster-General, Sir
R. Airey, Adjutant-General, Col. Bingham, and
the private secretary to his Royal Highness, paid an
unexpected visit to Sheerness on Tuesday last. The
party arrived at the Sheerness station by the train
at 11 48 a.m., and were received by Col. Nedham,
8.A., Commandant ; Col. Freeth, R.E., Command.
ing Chief Engineer; Vice-Admiral W. J. Hope
Johnstone, and other heads of departments. His
Royal Highness proceeded to inspect the several
batteries of Royal Artillery stationed at Sheerness,
after which he examined the new works in progress
at No. 1 bastion, and proceeded to the old barracks,
which he inspected, as well as the new quarters for
married Men in course of completion, after which he
inspected the soldiers' barracks, messes, &c. The
troops were also exercised at the Armstrong guns
from the batteries. His Royal Highness left Sheer-
ness by the 1 45 train.

THE LATE RAILIvA Y ACCIDENT AT

LYDA EY.

Dr. Teague, one of the coroners for the county of
Gloucester, held an inquest, on Monday and Tues-
day last, en the body of Mr, Samuel Bennett, tea
merchant, of bekh, who was accidentally killed by
the engine of an express train on the South Wales
Railway running off the line at Lydney, on Satur• '
day last. The engine and tender turned upside
down on the slope of the line on the up rail, and
the driver and stoker were buried underneath and
badly bruised, burnt, and scalded, while the driver
also sustained the fracture of a rib. The train con-
sisted of three carriages, two of which were thrown
across the down line, and one of them (that in
which the deceased was sitting) came into violent
collision with the corner of the goods shed, the side
of the carriage was knocked away, and also the
corner of the shed, and several of the passengers
were thrown out on the line. The deceased was
found on the ground, his head resting on the spoke
of one of the wheels, one of his legs was cut off, and
there were two wounds on his head, from which the
blood gushed out, but he was sensible. He was taken
to the waiting-room, where he soon afterwards ex-
Pl'ed• The deceased was an invalid, aged 58 or 59, and
had Loto Cardiff with his housekeeper for the
benefit of,his health, and was returning home to
Bath, eia'salo.ester, when the aceident happened.
He complained, • • •
of
eauat. the. time of his departure from
Cardiff,
esei,Tiai ng of the train, which he con-
sidered exc
and . atNewport he spoke to the
guard, who, te Zi
him, told him he would have
no further Caine onat
plaint. Deceased spoke of
changing to the of:. plaint.
but demurred-to the
.expense. Had he chmelass,
..,imrl carriages his life would
hew° been spared, 1,,Q et
as, e-utat-class carriage did not
leave the rails, and
tnheatra
. hating scarcely felt the
shock, the coupling c-Zog broken. Within
e place
wood where the accident hap-
s few yards of t
pened there are two Rea, one over the
level at
and a
Lydney canal, and another over
questions
avesttriunNva
aiyon on a
second tramway crosses the ra
the same place; and the main. q
by the jury were whether the
gnatal of these
bridges or the breaking of the frontradi e
IL considered
es of the
Evidence was given
that caused the accident. en
"sprang" When
running the engines of the express train on
locomotive
superintendent; over the bridges, but Mr. Gooch,
of the district,
not Mr. Owen, engineer
connected with tho company, gave satisfactory.
and conclusive evidence as to the safety of the line,
and showed that the occurrence was accidental.
The guard, driver, and other witnesses also proved
that there was no unusual shaking of the train be-
fore the accident. The jury returned a verdict of
ssAccidental death," accompanying their verdict
with a recommendation that the company should
improve their gradients near Lydney, and also take
lzakasures to prevent apprehension by passengers of
the safety of the express trains in passing Lydney. J

LOSS OF THE STEAMER EUPHROS YNE

A letter from a passenger had been roreived in
Liverpool, which gives some information with refe-
rence to, the loss of this steamer, and we make the
following extract from the communicz ion :—" We
left Gibraltar on the 9th, with the wiT d ahead. On
Sunday morning, the 13th, at 4 o'clock, we were off
Cape Finisterre, with a strong head wind and heavy
sea, and for the next four hours we did notmake any
progress, but rather went backwards, and about 11
o'clock the captain resolved to make for Vigo, and
take in some coal and start for Liverpool as soon as
the weather should moderate. We arrived at Vigo
in the evening, and having taken on board some
coal, on Tuesday we left Vigo at noon. When we
had got out to sea the wind began to increase, and
the ship pitched a good deal. Abont 4 p.m., we were
25 or 30 miles from Vigo, and 10 miles from land,
when the ship struck on a sunken rock. She struck
three times, and the last time very heavily. After
striking the first time she rose with the sea, and it
is supposed that, had the sea been smoother, we
should have passed over without feeling the rocks.
She was now filling fast, and when the chief engi-
neer sprung out of his bed to stop the engine he was
up to his knees in water. The captain gave orders to
lower the boats as soon as possible; all was confu-
sion and excitement ; there was no time to be lost•
We succeeded in launching the gig, pinnace, and
jolly boat, which got away all right. There were
still 24 of us left on board, and our endeavours were
to lower the starboard lifeboat ; but this was a very
difficult task, as the pulleys would not work, and
the carpenter having gone off in another boat, we
could not get the tools that were needed. At last,
having found an axe, by great perseverance we
knocked away one of the chocks, and succeeded in
getting her into the water; and when all remain-
ing on the vessel had got into her, there was no
room to spare. When we left the sea covered the
decks, and swept over with great force. In three
minutes after we saw the Euphrosyne go down
head foremost, and not a vestige of her was to be
seen. By keeping our boat right she rode the sea
well. In about half-an-hour we saw a fishing-boat
put off from the shore and pick up the pin.
coLi taining the captain and some of the passengers;
and shortly after she picked up the lifeboat. The
two boats:were for some time towed astern, with a
man in each, but every now and then they rushed
past us from the top of the wave and were in great
danger of being knocked in. One broke her line
and got adrift, with a man in her, and we had to
put about and pick him up. After this it was
thought better to let them both go. The wind was
in our favour, and we arrived safe at Vigo about
12 at night. The rest of the crew and passengers,
who had been picked up by another fishing-boat,
arrived a short time before us, and we were all:glad
to find that there was no one missing. The ship
went down in 13 or 20 minutes after she struck,
and no one except two or three of the sailors had
saved anything except the clothes they had on.
Some of the passengers were without shoes, or
caps, or coats. We called upon the British con-
sul, and he succeeded in getting us all comfor-
tably housed for the night. He has been very
kind in furnishing the crew with what clothes
they needed. A screw steamer that had got
half-way across the Bay of Biscay had to put
back with her propeller broken, and arrived
here yesterday. She is from Lisbon, and is to
start for London on Saturday. There are 50 of us,
including the crew and passengers, and it will be
some time before we can all get away to England.
We had on board five of the crew of the screw-
steamer Queen Victoria, which was wrecked about
90 miles from Alexandria, seven weeks ago. The
chief officer, Mr. Carr, commanded the lifeboat.
He had a very narrow escape, as he endeavoured to
swim to one of the boats, which he found too far
off. He managed to reach the ship again, which
was fortunate both for him and us."