The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-28 00:00:00

time, so that it was feared that all hands on board
must have perished, and this may account for no
tidings having been heard of the vessel. As I had
always been under the impression that tl,e strong,
fair wind which
blew for some time after the Pos-
sidhon left
bad carried her a long w.y down the
Mediterranean) I did not
even give a thought about
her when I first heard of a ship having been seen on
fire, so
that the subject was dismissed from my
thoughts in a few days after the 28th of April,
when I made my report to Mr. Black, who will no
doubt have forwarded it to Lloyd's. Now, how-
ever, the more I think of the matter, the more I
an, led to fear that the very worst has
happened to the unfortunate vessel. I shall
do my best to make further inquiries on the
subject, and let you know the result. In the mean-
while, allow me to say that I really think that you
are taking a very extreme view of the case, in
imagining that anybody can possibly think bad of
you on account of what has taken place. I sincerely
feel confident that the result will plainly show quite
the contrary ; but even supposing for a moment
that it finally appears that the captain had actually
committed an act of barratry, how could any blame
be possibly attached to you for his acts, which are
wholly without your control, and which if I mis-
take not, form one of the risks which the under •
writers expressly guarantee you against, and, now
I remember it, made the grounds for enacting a
heavier rate of premium from you. I have no time
to write at greater length to-day, but will resume
the subject next week if any new idea strikes me,
or if any fact comes to my knowledge respecting
the missing vessel which is likely to prove of in-
terest to you. (Signed) W. CALVERT.
" To W. Abbott, Esq."
Instructions were thereupon sent to Mr_ Calvert
to obtain certain documents in support of a claim
for a total loss against the underwriters. The answer
received was this :

" Dardanelles, Sept. 25, 1861.
" Yours of the 12th inst. reached me in due course
of post. I received at the same time originaltheeapress
letter from Major, of which you sent me
copy. I reply to him to-day that I will, when an
opportunity offers, communicate to the
shipper
of
the oil all that is requisite for him to doin order
to recover the insurance, should the Possidhon
doubt aware
,s ,
t o that
obtain
i at
it isn
behalf'
have been lost in the manner I have surmised. On
the other hand, you noare
of Llo
my duty, as acting on
whatever information I can collect on the sub-
ject, but rather with a view of protecting the
underwriters than assisting others to recover
money from them. I have on several occasions acted
very efficaciously on their behalf in this way, and
only very lately, at the instance of Messrs. Mordee
and Dixey, insurance brokers, of Cannon-street, I
was the means of saving several thousands of pounds
to the underwriters of a French steamer, called the
St. Felin, by means of the information I collected,
and received £144 for my trouble, or 2 per cent,
on the sum originally insured. In the same way,
if Major, in reply to my letter, authorises me to
incur expense in collecting information, I will set
to work in good earnest, and will leave it to the
underwriters to fix the amount of my personal re-
muneration according as I may eventually prove to
have been of more or less service to them. Turks
are sometimes very curious fellows to deal with ;
but in all my dealings with them—and they have
been, as you know, to a considerable extent—l have
always found if they once trust a person they gene-
rally place an almost unbounded degree of confi-
dence in him. I fancy it is the same case with
Hussein Aga, who will no doubt, before long, give
a good account of himself. What a great pity it
will be if the oil be, after all, lost in such an un-
satisfactory way, when the prospects for its sale are
so very favcurable ! Almost every telegram that I
receive now makes me hope, before opening it, that
it is to announce the unexpected arrival of the Pos-
sidhon in England, but I am losing hope every day.
I have sent Major an extract of my report for
Lloyd's, sent to Mr. Black on 23d April last.
(Signed) " W. CALVERT.
" To W. Abbott, Esq,"
The following is a letter of Mr. Calvert, men-
tioned in the last :

" Dardanelles, Sept. 25, 1861.
" I will not fail, as soon as I have an opportunity,
to inform the shipper of the oil per Possidhon of
the proof which it will be necessary for him to fur-
nish, in order to substantiate his claim on the under-
writers, should it unfortunately turn out that my
surmise respecting this vessel may prove to be but

too true.
" I shall endeavour, also, on my part, to collect
any information on the subject which may be of
interest to your underwriters ; but, previous to in-
curring any expense, it would be desirable that I
should have your authority to do so, if requisite, for
account of your friends, whose interests, I need not
say, will be well looked after.
" On referring to my reports for Lloyd's I find
that on the 23d April last I wrote, through Mr.
Black, as follows :—' An Ottoman bombard, which
arrived on the coast of Troy laot week, reports hav-
ing met with a vessel on fire, about 40 miles south
of Lemnos, on the night of Monday, the Bth inst.,
but it was blowing a heavy gale at the time from
the north, so that no boat could live in the sea, and
it is to be feared that all hands must have perished,
as the ship was completely destroyed.'
"To Major, Esq." (Signed) "W. CALVERT.
"Dardanelles, Oct. 10, 1861.
" I am still without any news to give you of the
Possidhon. I can learn nothing of her from Lem-
nos ; but another circumstance has lately tended to
make me believe still more in the possibility of the
burning vessel having been identical with her, and
this is that a baud of pirates have been infesting
the Archipelago for some months past, and have
been cruising between Mytelene, 'Penedos, Lemnos,
Imbron, Samothrace, &c. I see by the papers that
a Turki,ll Government steamer is cruising after
them, but has not yet succeeded in catching them.
They are commanded by an lonian. Now, it is
very possible that they may have boarded the Pos-
sidhon in the comparatively light winds and calms
which existed about the time when she sailed, and,
after plundering her of what they could carry away,
set fire to her to destroy all traces of their mis-
deeds. Some of her crew may even have
joined the band, so that if they are caught I
shall be on the look-out, and endeavour to be
present at their examination. But this is, after all,
only a presumption on my part. If the under-
writers authorise me to go to any expense to obtain
information, I dare say I shall he able to arrive at
some positive information on the subject; but, as it
is very probable that such information might be
solely beneficial to Hussein Aga, one can scarcely
expect them to incur additional expense. You might
therefore, I think, guarantee to them a return of
such expenses, should the result be to establish
Hussein Aga's claim. About /20 or £3O would, I
think, cover actual disbursements.
(Signed) " W. CALTERT.
" To. W. Abbott, Esq."

"Dardanelles, Oct. 23,1861.
"Yours of the 10th and Major's of the 4th inst.
both eat" 0
having been handkept
only to-day, the French packet
weather,
fivet days behind her time by the
We have, in fact, constantly
hexacdeasssivueccton
()the.
the last 10 days,
which
Severe
that I have satisfactorily ex-
plainedgales from the N.E. for
yesiellefl,o_setteivery trying weather for
' So much out of doors.
tyhoous
willew who,
of my reply to
os,eeli,kebym
the motive which led me
.._
Major's lust letter,
to k -
s which might sb him to gua-
rantee any expense
• 0 incurred in
getting the information required in order to enable
you to recover the insurance on Possiahotes
cargo
I never suspected the possibility of any foul prac..
tice on the part of any one concerned it, this un-
fortunate affair, until the tenor of your letters led
me to think about the matter, and then only it
was
the possibility of the crew having acted in cott,
plicity with pirates, and having destroyed the ves-
sel otter plundering her. But even if such a con-
tingency may have occurred, although I would, as
in duty bound, use my utmost endeavours to cause
the offenders to be - •
punished with the utmost
rigour of the law, and also to recover any of the
stolen property I could lay hands on for the
benefit of the underwriters, this fact would by
no means invalidate your claim for insurance, so
you need not be under any apprehension on that