The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-08 00:00:00

711 E ARMY.

Major-General Bloomfield, Inspector-General of
Artillery, arrived at Portsmouth yesterday, and
commenced his annual inspection of the artillery in
the south-west district.
Lieut. C. E. Macdonald and 39 non-commissioned
officers and men of the Royal Marines and Marine
Artillery have embarked on board th 3 screw steamer
Barrosa , 21, 400-horse power, Capt. W. M. Dowell ;
and a detachment of 16 gunners and privates on
board the Eclipse, 4, 200-horse power, Commander
It. C. Mayne, both of which are lying at the Nore
awaiting their sailing orders from the Admiralty.
Yesterday, the 7th (Capt. Beaumont's) company
and the 50th (Capt. Sim's) company of Royal En-
gineers, which arrived at Chatham the previous
' day from Nova Scotia and Australia, were medically
inspected at head-quarters, Brompton-barracks, in
order to ascertain the number of men who are
physically unfitted for further service in the corps.
The remainder of the 22d company of Royal En-
gineers left head-quarters, Brompton-barracks,
Chatham, on Monday morning, under the command
of Lieut. A. C. Hamilton, and proceeded to the
Government rifle range, near Gravesend, to go
through a course of ball practice, the first portion of
the company having completed its course and re-
joined head-quarters. The 22d company has been
selected to proceed to China to relieve the Bth com-
pany, which latter will shortly return to England.

Orders have been received at the head-quarters
•f the Royal Engineer establishment, Chatham,
from the department of the Deputy-Adjt.-General,
directing the detachment of Royal Engineers selec-
ted to proceed to New Zealand, to form the survey-
ing expedition in that colony, to be held in readiness
to embark for their destination on the 20th inst.
The men selected for this duty are those who have
gone through a complete course of telegraphy, under
the direction of Capt. Schaw, the head of the tele-
graphic department of the Royal Engineer estab-
lishment. A party will take out a complete tele-
graph apparatus, the want of which has been for a
long time felt in the colony.

THE LOSS OF 7HE BARQUE CUBANA.

OFFICIAL REPORT.
Government House, Falkland Islands,
August 13, 1862.
To T. H. Ferrer, Esq., Marine Department, Board

of Trade.

Sir,—l have the honour to report to you the dis-
tressing case of the loss of the barque Cubans,
which was abandoned, on fire, off Cape Horn, on
the night of the 20th June last. I enclose a copy
of the statement of the captain and chief mate, with
a list of the crew, from which you will learn the full
particulars. 2. The crew were rescued and brought
into this port, after more than three weeks' inde-
scribable suffering. Two of them have since died ;
several have had their legs and fingers amputated ;
and every care and attention is extended to them
all in order to recover them sufficiently to enable
them to survive the passage home. 3. I have com-
municated with Rear-Admiral Warren, Comman-
der-in-Chief of her Majesty's naval forces on the
south-eastern coast of America, with a view to as-

certaining whether I shall be able to forward them
in a vessel of war, as they will, in their present sad
condition, require medical care during the voyage.
4. Those distressed seamen are under the charge of
Mr. Pyne, the acting colonial secretary and ship-
ping master, and the instructions of the board will
be attended to as regards this consequent expendi-
ture.—l have, &c.,

THOS. W. MooRE, Governor.

The barque Cabana, 492 tons register, sailed from
Caldera, May 27, 1862, with a cargo of copper
ore bound to Swansea, crew 17 in all, and one pas-
senger. Passed Cape Horn on the night of June
18, after experiencing very bad weather and heavy
southerly gales for six days previous. On the night
of the 20th June, 10.30 p.m., lat. 54 40 S., long.
59 25 W., wind N.W., strong, with snow squalls,
very dark, and high sea; whilst shortening sail the
chief mate, Mr. Hopkins, whose watch was below
at the time, ran up on deck nearly suffocated, and
retorted to me the cabin was full of smoke, and the
ship on fire in some part ; at the same time the car-
penter, cook, and boys came out of the half-deck in
their shirts, and said the half-desk was on fire. Im-
mediately called all the hands aft to draw water,
and ordered the man at the wheel to keep the ship
before the wind. Finding it impossible to get down
the after hatch, I went down into the cabin, when I
saw the flames rushing into the cabin through the
cracks in the bulkhead in the sailroom. I immedi-
ately broke down the bulkhead, when the flames
rushed into the cabin. I poured water on as fast
as possible, but to no purpose, and I was forced to
go on deck nearly exhausted ; and, thinking to
smother the fire, closed the companion, skylights,
hatches, &c. Ordered the second mate and his men
to clew the sails up, the chief mate and others to
get the boats cleared. Put the helm down and
brought the ship to the wind. Put the pinnace out,
and had just succeeded in 'getting the long-boat
over the side, when the flames broke through the
after-part about 11 p.m. After seeing all hands
safe into the boat, shoved off from the ship, all
the after-part in flames at the time. Put two
studding sails and one boom into the boat. The
men forward were able to save a few clothes, but
the mate, and others from aft, had only their shirts
and drawers. We had in the boats with us about
five pounds of bread, four gallons of water, a little
fresh pork, and two small pigs, one compass, spy-
glass, and binnacle-lamp, being everything saved
from the vessel. After leaving the vessel, finding
the sea too high for the boats, we secured the top-
studdingsail to the boom, and veered it away ahead
of the boats, to keep their head to sea. About 5
a.m. lost sight of the vessel, which must have gone
down towards daylight, wind N.W., smart gale, sea
very high, boat drifting about one knot per hour
to south, shipping large quantity of water occa-
sionally. All Saturday, and up to Sunday at noon,
the wind kept in the N.W., when it hauled to the
northward. Snowing the only chance of saving
our lives was in trying to make the Falkland
Islands, I was determined to try and get to the
northward as fast as possible. Served out to all
Ifor the first time one ounce of bread, one wine glass
of water, and a little raw pork. Made what sail we
had on the boat, and proceeded to the westward.
Latter part of Monday the wind came on heavy from
the southward, and sea rising very fast, the pinnace
filled with water. We succeeded in saving the
men out of her, and let her adrift. Finding the
longboat in danger of filling, put the boom and sail
over, and rode by it all night, but never expecting
to see daylight, our boat shipping so much water,
and we broke our two best oars steering the boat.
Our sufferings, at this time very great, with wet
and frost, and our feet swelling
forced to cut our boots off oar feet. Tuesday
very much,
Tuesday more
moderate ; proceeded northward ; difficult to get the
boat steered, the night being so long
and dark, and
no means of getting a light up to Friday morning
(27th). the weather variable and cold, all of us suf-
fering very much from swelled feet, but mostly
from the want of water, and not able to keep the
men from drinking salt water. At 8 a.m. sighted a
small rocky island, and about noon landed in a
small cove on the rock on the S.W., and found
plenty of water and saw plenty of penguins. By
, dark we managed to drag our boat about 30 feet up
i the rocks, and covered our boat with the sail, and
laid down, hoping to get a little sleep, but it is im-
possible to describe the horrors of that night. As
Soon our bodies began to get warm, the pains in
? feet were dreadful, and it was a night of groan-
ingat daylight and ___
ray.
mate and carp
hal6g fuofr
usdaywleigrehtuna. Sblaetutrodamy,ovJeu.neT2hBe,
enter went in search of something to
eat. After a time returned with some penguins, a
little wild celery, and limpets, which they served
out amongst; us. This
galenight
fr
em passedsuu
southward,
wl
aa
rs
dt
, night,wiwith
Sunday, a very hard
much snow, the water soaking
our sail, and adding
to our misery ; the breakers came very close to our
boat. Several of the men's feet completely burst in
different parts. Up to Thursday, July 3, the weather