The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-28 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

Saturday being the anniversary of the blab. of Prince
Albert, the ships in commission were dressed in colours,
with tho Royal standard at the mainmast head. The
standard was also hoisted at the dockyard citadel, and the
several other public establishments. At noon Royal salutes
were fired, as customary.
The Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, Capt. the Hon.
Joseph Denman, and the Fairy tender, returned to Ports-
mouth harbour from Cowes yesterday morning.
The fine now transport-ship Baraguay d'ETilliers, Capt.
R. Izod Downes, sailed on Saturday from Deptford, for
the conveyance of French troops in the .Baltic, Govern-
ment having•,altered her name from Hougomont in compli-
ment to our allies and the French general commanding
there, with the sanction of her owner, Mr. Duncan Dun-
bar.

SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO THE COMMANDANT OF ROYAL
MARINES.—We regret to announce thas a serious accident
occurred to Colonel Coryton, on Thursday afternoon
last. The gallant officer was in his boat, which ran foul of
the Sir Francis Drake, steam•packet, in Stonehouse Pool,
by which the mast of the boat was carried away, falling on
Colonel Coryton's head. The blow was very severe, laying
the head open, but we are glad to find no serious result is
anticipated.—Plymouth Mail.

CAPTAIN HALL AT HELSINGFORS.—Private letters state
that W. King Hall, in the Bulldog, during a late recon-
noitre of the fortresses of Sweaborg, went within a mile
and a half of the Russian fleet ; and that, had that offi-
cer's information been acted upon immediately, it is prob-
able a successful attack might have been made upon the
Russians without interruption from the batteries. The
oversight on the part of the Russians has no doubt been
rectified ero this.—Berwick Warder.

DEVONPORT, AUG. 27.
Yesterday the troops were embarked from the Eudy-
moir hulk on board the Lord Auckland transport, which
had been delayed in consequence of having the cholera on
board. She is uow ready to resume her voyage to the
East Indies.

DESTRUCTION OF THREE SHIPS BY
FIRE, AND LOSS OF LIFE.

•- -
Among the numerous casualties reported in the course
of the last two or three days to Lloyd's were three bad
losses by fire, attended with a melancholy sacrifice of
life, the particulars of which, althofigh brief, are as
follow :—The barque Townsend, Captain G. E. Wood-
son, outward bound to Valparaiso, was totally lost by
fire on the 13th of May, two days after rounding Cape
Horn. The fire was supposed to have originated in the
main hold amidships, and was detected about nine o'clock
in the morning by smoke issuing forth from the forward
ventilator. The hatches were immediately removed,
and all hands employed to get at the seat of the fire ;
hut the captain, finding it impossible -for the men to re-
main below on account of the intense heat, had the hatches
battened down, and with sail cloths laid over in order to
stifle the fire. This also failed, and soon after 5 o'clock
in the evening they were compelled to take to the boats,
and abandon the ship. For six days and nights they were
exposed to the greatest possible privation. Two out
of the four boats were capsized, and 12 of the crew met
with a watery grave. The survivors eventually succeeded
in reaching Massafulra, where they got on board the
Peruvian barque Andes, bound for Valparaiso. The
cause of the fire is not mentioned.

The second loss was that of the barque William the
Conqueror, from Barbadoes, bound to London. She was
entirely destroyed by fire on the 9th of July. The crew
had a miraculous escape. They remained by the burn-
ing wreck till the mast fell overboard. The chief mate
got entangled among the flaming rigging, and was
severely burned before he could be extricated. They (the
crew) remained in the boats till the succeeding day, when
they were picked up by the Precursor, which landed
them safely in Liverpool on Wednesday last.
Accounts from Singapore, dated the 30th of June, de-
tail the loss of a brig of war called the Sumatra belong-
ing to the Netherlands Government. She was on a
cruise in the Molucca Seas, and put into Kema harbour
to procure some medicines and provisions, and whilst
the crew were so engaged a fire broke out in the store-
room, and spread throughout the ship with such fearful
rapidity that within an hour she was enveloped in flames.
She was burnt to the water's edge. Her loss is corn-
puted at 30,0001.

MURDER.—On Saturday a warrant was forwarded to
London for the apprehension of Emma Bunham, a single
woman, charged with having thrown her illegitimate
child into a chalk-pit at Thurston, Suffolk. The police
have every reason to believe that the accused has arrived
in London for a situation. She is about 28 years old, 5
feet 2 inches high, light eyes and eyebrows, round chin,
thick lips, and an awkward rolling gait when walking.
The accused was dressed in a lilac-dress, tuscan bonnet,
and brown-shaded ribbon, when she left Thurston.
THE ESHER MURDERS.—On Saturday Mr. John
Keene, the governor of Horsemonger-lane Gaol, re-
ceived an order from Lord Palmerston, the Secretary of
State for the Home Department, for the removal of
Mary Ann Brough, the murderess of her five children
at Esher, and who was tried for those offences at the
last Surrey Assizes, at Guildford, and acquitted by a
merciful (?) jury on the ground of insanity, when she
was ordered by the learned judge to be kept in confine-
ment during her Majesty's pleasure. As usual with
such prisoners her destination was Bethlehem Hospital,
St. George's-fields, to which place Mr. Keene conveyed
her on Saturday afternoon, when he delivered her over
to the custody of Dr. Hood and the matron, and she
was placed in the criminal ward. Since the trial and
her return to Horsemonger-lane Prison her conduct has
been very good and cheerful, but several times she men-
tioned the subject of the murder, and regretted that her
life was spared. Her health is exceedingly good, and
she is likely to be a sane inmate of Bethlehem Hospital
, for many yearn.