The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-07 00:00:00

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)SAILORS SAVED FROM STARVATION BY A. DOG.4r4filr4 111111‘t :4
regret to announce the total loss of this valuable
chip, with, unhappily, many lives, which occurred on the
west coast of Van Diemen's Land, between Sandy Cape
and Arthur River, while on her passage to Sydney, from
London, with a cargo of wines, beer, and other articles.
She sailed from Gravesend on the 2d of last December,
in charge of Mr. Sheppard, the master, the number of
her hands consisting of about 30—Mrs. Sheppard ac-
companying. her husband. After starting, she encoun-
terelsonie very heavy gales,
and was obliged to put
intii Fowey (Cornwall), whence she sailed on the 18th
of January, and touched at the Cape Verd Islands for
provisions. On the 29th of April the ship reached the
west coast of Van Diemen's Land, and while sailing at
the rate of eight-and-a-half knots an hour, with the wind
north-west, steering north-east, she struck violently on
a reef—at 930 p.m. Her helm was immediately put
down, and mainyard put back, but she continued
to drive on shore fast, and within an hour was thrown
on her broadside, the sea washing completely over
her. The masts were immediately cut away, in the
hope that it would bring her upright, but that fail-
ing, a boat was lowered, and the second-mate and
Mrs. Sheppard, with a lad and seven seamen,
having got into it, pushed off, but almost immediately
after capsized, and, with the exception of three sea-
men, all perished alongside the wreck. The seamen
swam to the shore. About this time a tremendous sea
struck the vessel and swept off the longboat. The master
and the remainder of the crew remained on the wreck
till 4 o'clock the next morning, when, finding that the
ship was fast breaking up, they resolved to make an at-
tempt to reach the shore, only about a quarter of a mile
distant. In the attempt Captain Sheppard and several
others were drowned, the remainder reaching the beach
in a very exhausted state, through a heavy surf which was
running all the time ; and out of 30 men only 11 were
saved. The following day the bodies which were washed
ashore were duly interred. Search was then made
along the beach for food, the crew expecting to find
most of the ship's stores, but all that they could disco-
ver was a small portion of bread and seven small ties of
herrings. The crew then formed an encampment ; and,
having in the course of their travels along the beach
noticed on the sand the footmarks of men and animals,
proceeding in a southerly direction, it was resolved
to send a party in search of a habitation in that
course, but, after two days' absence, they returned
without being able to trace a single living creature.
During this time the allowance served out was only
one herring per day and a cupful of biscuit ; but
subsequently quantities of bottled ale and porter were
washed up from the wreck, which proved most accept-
able. They had no means of making a fire. It wail
then determined that two parties should start—one to
the south, and the other to the north—both of which
accordingly set out ; but these likewise proved fruitless.
After enduring great privations and suffering for nearly
a fortnight, they were surprised at the appearance of a
dcadonoougcgn:, i
iwhichotfF atehpaeprivgiernaairietdhhu:aaitliebod as the harbinger of their deliver-
ance.
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edt
tied
dt away,
iwt
aay,
roundgte hnethyl
gentleman
sm nawrote
enc k
n. a
an
The
dog,
who, with a party, was exploring the country
to the southward. The moment they heard of the
wreck, which was by the return of the dog, they set
Rebecca
out, and came up with the survivors of the on
the 23d day after the ship's loss. The poor fellwere
fast sinking when the exploring party came fellows and
through their attention and kindness their livis, were
preserved. On their recovery, they set out for Hobart
Town, which they eventually reached in safety. The
Rebecca was 550 tons burden, and is understood to have
been fully insured. Many of the crew who perished
have left families in the metropolis unprovided for.

THE RUSSIAN SQUADRON FOR JAPAN.

The naval force of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor
of Russia now in the Chinese waters with the intention
of proceeding to Japan to watch the movements of the
American squadron under orders for that destination,
consists of the Pallas, 52 guns ; the Dwina, 10 guns ;
and the Vostock, 4 guns. After remaining at Hong
Kong for about a week, the Pallas and Vostock are to
proceed in search of the American fleet, supposed to be
about the Loochoo Islands, waiting for the Powhattan,
hourly expected. The editor of the Friend of China
was favoured with an invitation to go on board the
Pallas, and gives some interesting particulars relative to
that fine vessel and the Russian naval service :—" She
was built at St. Petersburg in 1838, and, as a specimen
of her sailing qualities, made the passage from the Cape
of Good Hope to Java Head in 32 days. Her armament
is composed of 4 63-pounders and 48 24-pounders, with
a beautiful stand of the newly-invented rifles, carrying-I
at blank-point range, a distance of 400 paces. Her
crew numbers altogether 400, including a brass band of
20. There are no marines—indeed every seaman is en-
listed in Russia, and has to do military as well as naval
duty if required of him. The period of service is in
some instances 18 y6rs, in others 22 years, at the ex-
piration of which they retire on a pension, but at any
time during the first five years afterwards they are liable
" to be called on to do duty should any emergency arise.
For this service they receive, besides food and clothing,
an annual payment, the average rate of which will asto-
nish the seamen of other navies--one guinea per annum ;
for foreign service two guineas. Of course everything
is found them ; and, according to their appearance, they
do not want for food or clothing. Besides this, the fa.
miliels of those who are married are maintained in bar.
racks, for every son an extra ration being allowed (for
daughters none), on the express condition, however, that
when of sufficient age—say 16 years—the male youth
does duty as a seaman or soldier. (The soldier's period
of service is, for cavalry 10 years, infantry 15 years.)
Children born during the five years after period are to-
tally exempt. A guinea per annum we have mentioned
as the average rate of pay. There are, however, seve-
ral classes of seamen— Ist, helmsmen ; 2d, topmen ; 3d,
able seamen ; and then ordinaries, as in the English
navy, with various grades of petty officers, as boatswains
and their mates. Among the list of principal officers,,
to be found below it will be seen that there is no pay-
master or purser. The duty devolving on that officer
in an English ship, in the Russian navy is attended to
by one of the lieutenants, the actual working of the
business being done by officers of the second grade. The
following are the officers of his Imperial Majesty's ship
Pallas :—Vice-Admiral, Putiatin ; Post-Captain, Un-
kofski ; Flag-Captain, Possiet ; Admiral's Secretary,
Goncharoff; Secretary of Legation, Goschkavitch ;
Chaplain (Archimandrite), Awvakoom ; First-Lieute-
nant, Tihmanoff ; second, the Baron Crudmer, aide-de-
camp to his Imperial Majesty the Grand Duke Con-
stantine ; third, Saevick ; fourth, Balavinetz ; fifth,
Schwartz ; first surgeon, Arefieff ; first master, Galls-
zoff ; second, Porfoff; gunner, Lasseff. There are three
passed midshipmen, four midshipmen, and one naval
cadet, the last mentioned a son of Admiral Lazereff,
who commanded one of the Russian ships of the line at
Navarino, and who at his death was commodore of the
Russian squadron in the Black Sea. We found the
Pallas in first-rate order, the decks and every part of
her as clean as we might expect to find, and cleaner than
we have found English frigates just from sea, and a
credit to any service. The squadron sent to the seas of
China and Japan by the Emperor of Russia is not with
any view of interrupting the squadron sent by America.
to Japan, but with instructions to co-operate with Ame-
rica, if necessary, and secure to Russia a share of the
advantages expected to be derived by opening a com-
mercial intercourse with that country. The Russians
say their Emperor thought of sending an embassy to
Japan long before the Americans did. Between Rus-
sian America and the most northern ports of Japan
there is still, and for a long time has been, some trade,
and it is in no way unreasonable to find his Imperial
Majesty desirous of improving and regulating it on such
terms as may be obtained by other Governments."

THE NEW ACT TO REGULATE PROFESSORSHIPEI IH
SCOTLAND.—The new act to regulate the admission of
professors to the lay chairs in the Universities of
Scotland, which attracted a good deal of attention in
its progress through Parliament, is now in force.
From and after the passing of the act on the 20th ult.,
it is declared not to be necessary for any person who
shall have been or shall be elected, presented, or pro-
vided to the office of professor, regent, master, or
other office in the universities or colleges in Scotland,
such office not being that of principal or a chair of
theology, to make and subscribe the acknowledgment
or declaration mentioned in an act passed by. her Ma-
jesty Queen Anne, entitled " An Act for securing the
Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Govern-
ment." The declaration substituted is to the effect
that the person will never endeavour, directly or in-
directly, to teach or inculcate any opinion opposed to
the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, or to
the Westminster Confession of Faith as ratified by
law in the year 1690, and that he will not exercise
the functions of the office to the prejudice or subver-
sion of the Church of Scotland as by law established,
or the doctrines or privileges thereof. In
.0e __
C3B
B
professor, at the time of passing the act,
statute
be
st
sued for not having complied with the
pAanrnede,
tiot wtaiklle be isuffi
the
deccileanrtatiton
issue a commis-
the declaration, and her Majesty may r
for violating
pleadnow tphoatvihded• e pre
Lord Advocate may present a complaint

sion.
EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.-oil Sunday night,. be-
tween 10 and 11 o'clock, a very singular accident oc-
curred on the road between Watford and Rickmans-
worth, which resulted in the drowning of a valuable
horse, and imperilled the life of the driver of a licensed
carriage belonging to an innkeeper at Watford. It
appears that the vehicle, a handsome dog-cart, was
being driven home, after having been discharged by a
party of Waltonians, who had gone to Ricktminsworth.
It is supposed that the driver (who could give no ex-
planation of the cause of the accident, himself) was
drunk at the time, and had fallen asleep on his box while
driving home. He allowed the horse to diverge from
the proper course, and to fake the carriage down A pre-
cipitous hill, into the bed of the canal, about two miles
passing on
from Rickmansworth, where the turn-out was found at
five o'clock the next morning,. by a bargeman
the tow-path. The. vehicle, horse, and driver, when
xn over.h
discovered, were all immersed in the water. The horse
was drowned. but the dog-cart had suffered. no material
i
insej uirtre ymm,
remained
hade.dadppf
aesatr notappear,
wsl eh
eebpne been turned
et
iubi
irasnr
begdoe
the hailed i Extraordinaryl
canal,e ( the
a driver,
situa-
tion in which he must have remained five or six hours,
during a rather cold. night. It is surprising that the
struggle of the horse in the canal had not caused the de-
struction of the carriage, or awakened the driver in
time to have extricated himself and his vehicle.