The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-10 00:00:00

Terrible Disaster at Sea.

Futher details have been received of the burning of the
William Nelson, already announced by telegraph. The
French steamer Lafayette left New York on the morning
of the 23d June,iand nothing extraordinary occurred until
the afternoon of the 27th, when the look-out man signalled
two boats, apparently laden with men. The steamer bore
down to them and took on board the occupants, who proved
to be the captain, 23 men, and G women from the ship
William Nelson, of New York. The captain made the fol-
lowing statement :

"I am an American, and my name is John Levy;
my ship was of 1,039 tons burthen, and had on board
a crew of 30 men. I left Antwerp on the, 2d June, and
Flushing on the 4th, with 600 tons of rails, different
other merchandise, and 450 emigrants, bound for
New York. Yesterday, I had just taken an observa-
tion, which showed that I was in 40 deg. 21 min. north lat.
and 50 deg. 21 sec. west long. from Greenwich, when I
learned that my men, in fumigating the vessel, bad set her
on fire. I made every effort to extinguish the flames, but
they spread with such fearful rapidity that our labour was
unavailable. I then ordered the four boats to be
launched. In the disorder which had seized every one,
they were immediately filled by those persons nearest
at hand. I remained on board the vessel, but was soon
surrounded by flames, and was obliged to throw myself
into the sea, when I was picked up by one of the boats.
My ship was all on fire, and my unfortunate passengers
were perishing in the flames, or drowning, without my
being able to assist them. The scene was horrible. This
morning at four o'clock everything had disappeared. My
four boats were laden with people ; I ordered them to fol-
low, and proceeded in a north-westerly direction,
thinking I should have a chance of meeting with some ,
ships. The two other boats cannot bo far off."
The Captain of the Lafayette, in order to pick up the two
other boats, determinedtocruise around the spot for a time;
shortly after a sail was seen ahead, and at sunset a boat
was also observed at a great distance. Tho steamer bore
down upon the latter, but the sailing ship, which proved
to be the Ilmam, of Finland, being nearer, reached before
the Lafayette, and took on board the people in the boat,
consisting of a woman, four children, and nine men. An
officer was sent from the steamer to the Ilmam to inform
her captain of the saving of the people from the two other
boats. Tho 14 rescued from the third boat then went on
board the Lafayette, and declared that they had parted
company at four o'clock with the boat still missing, on
board of which were 37 persons. The Lafayette continued
to cruise about, firing a gun or sending up a rocket every
five minutes until 11 at night, but without success, when
she resumed her voyage, after having received from the
captain of the Russian ship the promise to remain all night
on the spot to endeavour to rescue the other boat. Tho
Ilmam was then bound from Havana for Marseilles. The
44 persons picked up received every attention on board the
Lafayette, and the Baroness de Stoecki, wife of the Russian
Minister at Washington, made a collection in aid of them,
which amounted to 2,862 fr. The whole were landed at

Havre on the arrival of the steamer the day before yester-
day. Among the episodes of the catastrophe is mentioned
that of a young woman only a few months married, and
expecting shortly to be a mother, who in the confusion
which prevailed while in the water clung to a seaman
whom she mistook for her husband. Tim sailor
swam away with his burthen to the boat, and they
were both picked up, but the young wife's stupefaction on
discovering her error was painful to witness. There are,
however, still hopes that the husband may have been
saved in the other boat. An emigrant was so fortunate as
to save his four children from both fire and water, and got
them on board one of the boats. His wife was, however,
still on the burning ship. He swam back to the William
Nelson, got on board, threw his wife into the sea, jumped
in after her, and again reached the boat with her, thus
saving his entire family.

THREE HOUSES BURNED DOWN AT TOTTENHAM
FROM WANT OF WATER.—On Saturday morn-
ing, about two o'clock, the inhabitants of the usually quiet
neighbourhood of Tottenham were thrown into a state of
the greatest excitement in consequence of the sudden out-
break of a most destructive firo in one of the newly-erected
buildings in the Seven Sisters-road, Tottenham. The
flames commenced from some unexplained causa in the
lower part of the building, and they spread with such
rapidity that in the course of a few minutes the build-
ing was on fire from the base to the roof. Information was
at once forwarded to the various fire stations, and nume-
rous engines of the London Brigade, with three of Shand
and Mason's land steamers, were early in attendance, but
unfortunately, not a drop of water could be obtained for
nearly one hour, and the consequence was that the flames
extended to two other buildings. Water was eventually
obtained, and the firemen went to work, but the fire could
not be extinguished until the three houses were burned
down. It is unknown whether the property was insured.
Another serious fire broko out at South Hackney Downs.
The flames commenced in a 12-roomed house, and although
the engines of the Brigade and the land steamers by Shand
and Mason were early in attendance, and a good supply of
water was readily procured, the fire could not be extin-
guished until the building was destroyed.

The Princess Clotilda, who has not accompanied
Prince Napoleon to Havre, will soon set out, it is said, for
Prangins with her two children. The Princess will after-
wards, in all pobability, go on to visit her family in Italy.

HOUSE OF COMMONS' KITCHEN.—In the Session
ust closed a list made up to the 26 Ai of June shows

that 5,234 dinners wero supplied in the dining-room of the
House of Commons, averaging 78 on each of the 67 days
on which any one dined there. Complaint is made of the
small size of the apartment and the want of ventilation.
The largest number of dinners served on any one day was
172, on the Bth of May.