The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-16 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGEN, CE—This Day;

CITY BETTING.
TWO THOVSAND.
6to 1 agst Liddington. (taken and offered)
7to 1 agst Broomielaw (taken)
9to 1 agst Chattanooga (offered-10 to 1 taken)
10 to 1 agst Zambeza (off ered),

THE DERE Y.
sto 1 agst Liddington. (offered)
15 to 1 agst Chattanooga (offered) •
25 to 1 agst Bedminster (ta ken freely)
40 to 1 agst Congress (offert ‘d-50 to 1 taken)
RACING FIXTU

JANIT

Harrow

FEBIU

Birmingham l6
Lincoln Spring

Dorby Spring 2
Liverpool Spring
Shrowsbury Spring 9
Doncaster Spring ll

Northampton 4
Croxton Park 7
Newmarket Craven l7
Durham

Newmarket Ist Spring 1
Chester 9
York Spring
Salisbury lB

Manchester
Chelmsford 7
Ascot l3
Alexandra Park 2O
Hampton 2l
Newton

JU
Newmarket July
Carlisle
Worcester
Pontefract
Abingdon
Stamford

Brighton ............ AUG
Brighton Chi! , l-
Huntingdon
Reading 10
Egham l5
Oxford l7

6EPTE:

Leicester
Doncaster 12
Brecon lB
Richmond 19

Newmarket H 23
Worcester Autumn 3l.
IBER.
13
Shrewsbury

RES FOR 1865.
ARY.

.6... 31—
•A R.
Nottingham Spring ...... 28

Warwick Spring ..... 21
Chelmsford Spring 28
Barham .... ....

IL.
Catterick Bridge .., l9
Abergavenny
Thirsk 2l
Epsom Spring
Y.
Bath 23
Harpenden
1 Epsom ... 3O

Liverpool ...
Newcastle
_,
Odiham .....
Bidbury
Stockbridge

Hereford
Nottingham
Winchester lB
Southampton l9
Chesterfield
Goodwood
IUST.
York •'
Plymouth 24
Lichfield 2B
Devon and Exeter 29
Derby Summer 3O
Weymouth ' 31
mnzat.
Monmouth 2l
Manchester Autumn 22
Newmarket Ist Oct. .2G
Walsall 27

Northallerton
New-market 2d Oct 9
NOTE]

STEEPLE CHASE FIXTURES FOR 1865.
JANUARY.

Aberystwith Hunts, 24, 26 1 Harrow
FEBRUARY. . .

Harrow
I Carmarthenshire 7, 9 Datchet l6, 17

MARCH.
Liverpool
Shrewsbury
Scarborough l6, 17 Torquay 2B

AP
West Somerset 5

RIG.
I Abergavenny 20, 21.

The Powder-ship at Fort Fisher.

A writer in the Morning Post says—lt is strange
that amongst the many Germans who now hold
high rank in the armies of the Northern States of
America none should have thought of a passage in
Schiller's " Revolt of the Netherlands," in which a
remarkable instance is given of the awful effects of
gunpowder when closely confined, by which, as
every one knows, the explosive force is highly in-
creased. Had the idea which occurred to the engi-
neer of the 16th century been again acted upon, an
astounding waste of powder might probably have
been prevented, and the Northerners would not
have been subjected to the mortification of finding
their great scheme turn out to be an utter failure.
The occurrence alluded to took place during the
long siege to which Antwerp was subjected by the
Duke of Parma, who, by building a bridge across
the Scheldt, had prevented the besieged from re-
ceiving supplies, and had thus reduced the garrison
and city to the peril of starvation. Giambelli, an
Italian engineer, came forward at this crisis and
undertook to destroy this bridge by means of two
small vessels. His plan of operations I find described
as follows :

" In the hold of each vessel he built a hollow chamber
of freestone, Mt. broad, 3-1 feet high, and 40ft. long. This
magazine he filled with GO cwt. of the finest powder, and
covered it with as heavy a weight of large slabs and mill-
stones as the vessel could carry. Over these he also added
a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and pro-
jected six feet above the ship's side, besides which he loaded
the decks with all kinds of destructive missiles. Several
small apertures were left in the chambers for the matches
which were to set fire to the mine. Fur greater certainty
he had also contrived a piece of mechanism which, after
the lapse of a given time, would strike out sparks, and even
if the matches failed would set the ship on fire. When the
magazine of one of these vessels took fire on reaching the
bridge an explosion took place just as if the earth had burst
or the vault of heaven given way. The duke and his whole
army fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes
elapsed before they recovered consciousness. But then
what a sight presented itself! The waters of the Scheldt
had been divided to its lowest depth and driven with a
surge which rose like a wall above the dam that confined it
so that all the fortifications on the banks were several feet
under water. The earth shook for three miles round.
Nearly the whole pier on which the fire-ship had been
driven, with a part of the bridge of boats, had been burst
and shattered to atoms with all that was upon it—spars,
cannon, and men, all blown into the air. Even the enor-
mous blocks of stone which had covered the mine had, by
the force of the explosion, been hurled into the neighbour-
ing fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug out
of the ground at the distance of 1,000 paces from the
bridge. Six vessels were buried ; several had gone to
pieces."
But still more terrible was the carnage which the
murderous machine had dealt amongst the soldiers,
for it is stated that from 500 to 800 men were
killed on the spot, besides an immense number
maimed and mutilated. The bridge also was utterly
destroyed, all the shore batteries were placed under
water, and the besieging army suffered a loss in
killed and wounded of over 1,200 fighting men.
This devastation was caused, be it observed, by the
firing of one vessel, containing only three tons of
gunpowder ; but this small quantity was used with
the greatest judgment, and was made to do its ter-
rible work to the uttermost ; while, so far as the ac-
counts I have read of the explosion at Fort Fisher
show, our Northern friends, prodigal of their re-
sources, seem to have simply stuffed their vessel with
as many barrels and bags of the villanons compound
as they could get under the hatches, and thus, al-
though we are told that she contained 215 tons, and
• was exploded within 500 feet of the fort, the great
gunpowder plot of 1864 failed.

Foreign Mail Packet List.
Australia and New Zealand, via Southampton..... Jan. 18.
BrazDilititnod, vciaap Marseillesnlrerda, b
y lcb. 12.
British pac. et .......... Feb
Ditto, by British packet
. 3.
.•
.......
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and :it.. Helena.• ..Feo. 10.
China, Penang, and Siugap,ire, via Sou hampton..Jan 18.
Ditto, via Marseilles .................... • . ..... Jan. '.
Faikland Islands ........... Jan. --.
...
Gibraltar, via Southampton .......... . ........ .• • ...lan. S.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via ScuthampWn.... Jan. 18.
Ditto, via 111arzeilles .................... . Jan." 18.
India (Bombay), via Southampton.. Jan. 26.
Ditto, via SI arseides ....................... Jan. 20.
Mauritius, via Southampton ........... Feb. 11.
Ditto, via Marsell c .... .................... • • •Feb. 5.
Newfoundland Jan. 18.
Portug 1 .................. • . • •
.• • • Feb. 3.
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon._ .
.... •••••••
tin.ted States and British North America, by Bri-
tish packet ..... .•
• • • ' .'3 an' is.
Ditto, by United States packet,
via Southarnp-

t........ • ....... ............
Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry. Jan. 20.
West Ccast of Africa, Madeira, and Ttneliffe Feb.
West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba,
and Mexico
Tia C:rk
Jon. 28.
Mimi:tat: via New lork. Feb 9.
Bermuda, ditto Jan. 18.
Cuba and Al.t.xico Jul; iB.

King Leopold of Belgium, the Duchess de Bra-
bant, and the Count de Flandre were present two night
back at the first Court Ball of the season given at the
Palace in Brussels. About 1,500 persons were invited, be-
longing to the diplomatic body, the administration, the
national guard, the army, &c. Dancing was kept up til
one o'clock in the morning, the balls in the Belgium capi-
tal always terminating early.
General Bosco, the last defender of Gaeta, is said
to have received a command in the Spanish army of Santo
Domingo. . .

According to the - Vigie de Cherbourg, there is
some question of forming at that port a new naval division,
to be placed under the command of Vice-Admiral Le Ron-
ciere le Noury, and to consist of the ironclad ship of the
line Magenta, now in the roadstead, carrying the flag of the
vice-admiral, and of the ironclad frigates Flandre, Heroine,
and Valeureuse, preparing for sea at Cherbourg, Lorient,
and Bochfort.