The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-30 00:00:00

A SWEDISH BRIG RUN DOWN.

We have been favoured with the following letters de-
tailing the circumstances under which the Cumberland
ran down a Swedish brig, and the escape of her crew
"Her Majesty's Ship Cumberland, Baltic Fleet, at
Sea, Sunday, May 14.—We had the misfortune the
other night to run down a schooner of 160 tons burden.
It was very foggy at the time. She was laden with iron
for Hull, and in five minutes after we struck her she
went down ; in fact, we ran right over her, but, thank
God, we saved all her crew, seven in number. They
lost everything. We gathered 401. on the lower deck,
and divided it equally among them. They were Swedes.
You see common sailors are not afraid to help a fellow
creature in distress."

"Her Majesty's Ship Cumberland, off Gothland, May
9.—We left Elfshabben, where we were at anchor for a
day and a half, rather in a hurry, as a steamer came in
with a signal flying, Intelligence to communicate,' and
the fleet was ordered to prepare for sailing immedi-
ately. The Cumberland and Prince Regent were or-
dered to remain, as we were watering, our large boats
being on shore for that purpose. Not, however, ap-
proving of being left out of the scramble, we recalled
the boats, hoisted them in, and made the signal all
ready,' and were gratified by being allowed to go. It
was a fine sight seeing the stain. liners getting up their
steam rapidly, and all get under way together.
"The outlet from the anchorage is occasionally nar-
row, among numerous small islands, for about 15 miles.
It came on a thick fog very soon, and we lost sight of
everything but our steamer towing us—rather critical
work, so many ships all going out together, with the
chance of getting too near each other. One or two
ships anchored, but we got out, keeping the leader of
our division (the Neptune, Admiral Corry) in sight now
and then. About 5 o'clock it came on to blow a little,
about 10 I turned in, and about half-past 11 was roused
by the shock and cry of ship running into us.' I
hastened on deck, thinking, of course, that we were in
collision with one of our big ships, and found a boat
ready for lowering, sails all aback, and nothing in sight.
A Swedish brigantine, or schooner, had run into us in
the fog. She was laden with iron, and went down im-
mediately. The sea was rough, and would have en-
dangered our boat's crew, if lowered ; so, as we could
see nothing, and heard no. cry, we held on, and our
suspense was soon relieved by the whole crew of the
Swede coming aft to the officers, one at a time, as
they scrambled in over our sides. God's providence
was over them ; every man was saved, although their
vessel sank immediately, and it was nearly midnight.
It took such a weight off our minds there being no
life lost. The accident was unavoidable, from the dense-
ness of the fog, but the next day it cleared towards
evening, and the following morning we sent the crew to
a Swedish port by a steamer. Our men started a sub-
scription among themselves for the unfortunate Swedes,
seven in number, which, with a little addition from the
officers, made nearly 501., giving them nearly 71. each,
besides some clothes. You may mention this voluntary
act of the men as much as you like, as it is highly credit-
able to them. The accident occurred on the night of
Friday, the sth inst."