The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-02 00:00:00

DREADFUL GALE.

The London papers have lately teemed with disas-
trous accounts of suffering and damage from heavy
gales that have devastated the country and destroyed
her shipping.
There has also been great loss in the Mediterranean
from the effects of a cyclone that has lately been blow-
ing. On the 20th and 21st inst. upwards of 40 vessels,
of all nations, sought shelter in our harbour, which,
from their shattered hulls, bulwarks, stanchions, and
masts, present an appearance of ruin frightful to con-
template.
The principal damage done is related in the following
list ; we have been fortunate in having nothing of local
suffering' to lament :
English Flags.—The brig Seaton Sluice, from Tenedos
for Cork, leaky, and rigging damaged ; the brig Colches-
ter, of Liverpool, from Constantinople for Cork, with
loss of bulwarks, stanchions, &c.; the brig Hawk Hill,
from Smyrna for Cork, leaky, and rigging damaged ;
the bark Niagara, from Alexandria, for Liverpool, pumps
choked and has lost her bulwarks ; the brig Lord Ra-
vensworth left Malta on the 9th inst. for Cork, and has
returned with loss of topmasts ; the brig Pearl, from
Galatz for Cork, left Malta on the 15th inst., and put
back leaky on the 21st inst.
American Flag.—The barque Sultana, from Smyrna for
Boston, much damaged from fouling a vessel near the
Balearic Islands, has put in for repair.
French Flag.—The brig Heureuse Adele, from Smyrna
for Marseilles, has thrown a large portion of her cargo
overboard ; the brig Albreda, from Alexandria for Mar-
seilles, has her stern, bulwarks, and stanchions washed
away.
Russian Flag.—The Enterprise, from Odessa for Hull,
was entirely dismasted on the 18th inst., off Cape Bon,
by a heavy sea, which also carried her bowsprit away.
She has lost her longboat.
Norwegian Flag.—The barque Peter Schroeder, from
Bourgas for Constantinople, has lost a part of her bul-
warks.

Belgian Flag.---The shit► Clotilde, from Odes fur
Cork, is leaky, and has lost sails and bulwarks. A heavy
sea broke over her and carried away her wStercasks from
the deck. _ _

-----
There are several other vessels in port, with loss da-
mage, leaky, &c., and cargoes shifted.
The Jerusalem bombard Due engine, which left MR,lta
on the 24th ult. fur Mcsurata, sprung a leak on the 14th
inst. in the Gulf of Sidra, 18 m;les from land.
The vessel was abandoned, and foundered a few mi-
nutes after, and the crew reached Mesurata on the fol•
/owing morning. Captain Ellul and a part of his crew
have reached Mala by the Ottoman schooner Meshoud,
from Mesurata.

The schooner Honor is a total wreck at Zante.

In a recent letter we were informed that the Wasp had
been on shore when on her passage from Corfu to Con-
stAntinople. This vessel, on her arrival here, was docked
for repair, and, on examination, was found to have suf-
fered far greater injury than was at first supposed. She
must, indeed, have struck heavily, having carried away
her fore foot, her false keel, and a portion of her main
keel.

A court of inquiry was held in the early part of the
week, which has terminated in acquitting Lord Hay and
his officers of all blame, but reprimanding the pilot,
Papolardo.

THE CAPTAINS' GOOD-SERVICE PENSION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD.

Sir,—You have generally remarked on the bestowal of

the good-service pension. -I
have seen none on Commo-
dore Seymour. You quote from " O'Byrne," by which
it appears he was made a lieutenant in September, 1822,
a commander in December, 1824, a captain in August,
1826 ; so that, in less than four years, he obtains three
steps, and ranks with a " lieutenant-colonel." Now, he

holds the appointment of commodore, with 1,0951. a-year,
allowances for stationery, &c., with a good house and
garden. The only services I find of his recorded, since
he was a mere child, are the losing of the Challenger.
He also is. Secretary and Registrar of the Bath. Whe-
ther he is paid for that I know not. Surely his being
put over the heads of many to get 1,0951. a,-year, house,
garden, &c., is enough, without the good-service pension.
'Tis too bad !
London, March 31. A CONSTANT READER.

THE FEVER ON BOARD THE AGAMEMNON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD.

Sir,—What an awful warning does not the fatal fever
which is now unhappily decimating the crew of the Aga-
memnon hold out to us all, and to public writers in par-
ticular. And who so much to blame as those writers in
the Times who now endeavour to fasten the responsibility
on a public department with hasty upbraidings ? Who
so much as those self-sufficient writers who have for
years scoffed at every one who presumed to have a well-
grounded fear that unless proper quarantine precautions
were established and judiciously enforced, the virulent
fever of the West Indies, South America, and Africa
would some day visit with fatal effects even this northern
latitude ? Any one who presumed to differ from that
paper on this subject was instantly assailed as a stupid
day-dreamer of impossibilities, and now, forsooth, instead
of humbly and sorrowfully acknowledging its own errors,
bespatters others with abuse for not having done that
which itself deprecated. What abuse would not the
Times have heaped, day after day, on the Admiralty, if
the department had insisted on the wisd.)m of establish-
ing safe lazzarettos and quarantine regulations to protect
us from the fatal visitation which the poor fellows of theby,will
precautions
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ANTI-Fz:vER.

SINGULAR FUNERAL OF A SLAVE.—At a funeral of an
aged and faithful slave, which recently took place at
Lynchburg, Virginia, five hundred coloured persons at-
tended. Nearly all of those were slaves who had been
released from labour by their masters in order that they
might pay the last tribute of respect to fidelity, honesty,
and duty well discharged. In the procession there were
also some dozen private carriages of the citizens, sent by
their owners as a token of their respect to fidelity, how-
ever humble may have been the occupation in which it
was exhibited.—New York Courier.

RAISING WHEAT.— A singular discovery has been
made in France by a M. Fabre, a humble gardener of
Ayde, but of some local note as a botanist. The herb
cegilops, heretofore considered as worse than useless,
grows abundantly on the Mediterranean. It produces a
species of grain resembling wheat in form, but much
smaller. In the year 1839 M. Fabre sowed a quantity
of this grain, and he was struck by observing that the
produce of it seemed to bear a close affinity to wheat.
The produce he sowed the next year, and the yield was
still more like wheat. He went on sowing the yield in
that way, year after year, and each year found a marked
improvement in the produce, until at last he had the
satisfaction of getting as fine a crop of wheat, and of as
good quality, as could wish to be seen. At first he pro-
duced his crops in a garden, but his later sowings
were
made broadcast in an open field. Thus then a wild and
barley
mischievous
crops, herb
can , wh
beich
educated is p into excellent wheat, articularly destructive to
lantial§ gauge.