The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-17 00:00:00

pany, and then on the line between Dublin and London.
It will be remembered that the Thames was lost on the
Scilly Rocks during a heavy gale of snow, and the cap-
tain and all on beard, with the exception, we believe, of
the stewardess and a cabin boy, were drowned.

The following are the names of the eight persons who
escaped by getting upon the rocks at How th :—John
Williams, second engineer ; Patrick Dunne, fireman ;
Charles Mangan, seaman ; P. O'Brien, passenger ; John
Bendon, passenger ; Matthew M‘Guire, passenger, 3,
Shelbourne-place ; Joseph Salmon, passenger, Bth com-
pany first battalion Royal Artillery ; James Berming-
ham, passenger, Glenmore, King's County.
It is probable that this tragic event would not have
taken place if there were a fog-bell at the Bailey light-

house.
Mr. Charles Ralph, shipowner, gives the following
account :—" We left Liverpool at half-past three o'clock
on Monday afternoon. The wind was N.N.E., and the
weather was remarkably fine. We had a very prosper-
ous voyage, and every one thought we would have
arrived speedily at our destination, until half-past two
o'clock, when the snow, which had been falling for some
time before, came down very heavily. Before that I
distinctly saw the Kish light, and also the Bailey, which
was broad on our .bow at two. At half-past two or
thereabouts, the vessel struck right on to nor'ard of the
lighthouse. The first mate had charge of the ship, and a
minute before she struck he cried out 'Stop her, stop her.'
I suppose he had just seen the land. There was not time
to stop the ship, and she came on at full speed and dashed
against the rock. I was on deck when I heard the mate
sing out to stop her, and I immediately ran forward to
see what was the matter ; there was no time to stop her,
for, as I ran forward, she struck bow on to the rock, and I
was thrown on my face by the force of the concussion.
The next thing I saw was the captain, apparently much
excited ; he ordered the action of her engines to be re-
versed. The engineer did as he was ordered, and the
vessel immediately went out into deep water. Her head
was then turned towards the Bailey, and all speed put
on. I think the captain wanted to make the mouth of
the river, but finding the vessel fast sinking he again
turned her round, and endeavoured to rill her ashore.
The passengers were crowding on the deck, screaming,
praying, crying for help ; there were a great number of
women, some of whom had babies. The distress of the
poor creatures was dreadful. I never saw anything to
equal the horrors of that scene, and I trust in God I
may never be doomed to witness another like it.
Having some kr owledge of seamanship, I looked
about me to see if I could be of any service ; the
snow was falling fast ; the greatest confusion pre-
vailed ; the captain called out to the people to be
quiet—that there was no danger—and that all would
be saved.' There was little attention paid to him, as the
vessel was sinking fast, bow foremost, and the passengers
were crying out, 'For God's sake get out the boats.' The
starboard boat was lowered down full of people, but cap-
sized the moment it touched the water, and all in it were
drowned. A boat on the larboard quarter was then
lowered, and I jumped into it. Sixteen others also got
in. She immediately began to fill with water, and we
all expected death. A boy who was with us felt in the
bottom of the boat, and found that the plug was out ;
he put his fingers into the hole, and this partially checked
the leak. I then baled out the water with my hat. Then
we looked about us for oars, and found that they were
firmly lashed to the boat, but none of us had a knife to
cut the cords. By main force we broke the lashings and
got out two oars. I took one of them, and a man-of-
war's boy, named Kegg, another, and we pulled under
the lighthouse, and landed 14 people on the rocks. I and
Kegg, and the boy still keeping his finger in the plug-
hole, again pulled out towards the sinking ship, and in
doing so we saw the Roscommon steamer, and rowed to
her ; we got a cork from the Roscommon with which we
plugged the hole in the bottom of the boat, and we then
proceeded to the wreck. We found that she had disap-
peared, and that nothing but her masts were to be seen
above water."—Freeman's Journal.

RAIL WA Y INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.
(Continued from our Third Edition of last Evening.)

SPECIAL MEETING.

The meeting was then made special, to consider the
propriety of resuming the works on the Basingstoke and
Salisbury line between Andover and Salisbury, and of
applying to Parliament in the present session for an act
to sanction the completion by this company of the entire
line as authorised by the act of 1846.
The CHAIRMAN moved that the directors be authorised
to complete the line between Andover and Salisbury,
and to make such arrangements relative thereto, and to
prosecute such applications in Parliament for the neces-
sary powers for its completion, as they should see fit.
(Cheers.)
Mr. WOOD opposed the motion.

Upon the question being put,
Mr. LOCKE suggested that the' further consideration
of the question should be adjourned until Saturday,
maintaining that unless the line was further extended
into the west of England it would never pay one shilling
to the company.
After some discussion on the subject, in which it was
contended that if they did not make the line some other
party would, and most probably in opposition to them,
the resolution was carried with two dissentients.
A vote of thanks to the chairman dosed the proceed-
ings, which lasted nearly e hours and a half, and were
only hastened to a conclusion by one or two messages
that a party of 400 gentlemen were to dine in the room
at half-past five o'clock, and that a large portion of the
company had arrived.

The poll takei place this day and to-morrow, at the
York-road station.

EAST LANCASHIRE.

The eighteenth half-yearly meeting of the East Lan-
cashire Company was held at Bury, yesterday afternoon;
Mr. John Dugdale, of Blackburn, chairman of the di-
rectors, presided. The report, of which we have before
given an abstract, was taken as read. The Chairman
said, when he last had the honour of addressing the
shareholders, he stated that the property of this com-
pany was in a sound and improving condition, he
trusted that they would now consider that that estimate
was verified by the reports and accounts which had been
placed in their hands. During the past half-year, all
the arrears of calls upon shares had been received, and
the account for all calls made up to that time had been
closed. The mortgage-debt of the company had been
increased during the past half-year by 13,9741. at 31 per
cent. During the same peried they had paid off loans
of 57,8901., at 5 per cent. ; 2,0501., at 41 per cent. ;
and 24,8251., at 4 per cent. ; making a total of 24,7651,,
which had been replaced at 31 per cent. ; thus reducing
he average rate of interest on the whole of their
mortgage debt by about one-eighth per cent. since June
last. The directors were now refusing to take money
at 31 per cent. for any period less than five to seven
years. The chairman, after some further remarks in
elucidation of the report, concluded by moving the
adoption of the report and accounts. Mr. Riley (di-
rector) seconded the motion, which was carried with
one dissentient. The chairman then moved the divi-
dend of 3 per cent. per annum on the ordinary capital
stock to be payable, less dividend, on the 25th instant.
Mr. Blacklock, a director, in seconding the motion, said
when it was recollected that three years ago the com-
pany could hardly pay one per cent.—at least, he be-
lieved they did not honestly earn so much at the time—
and that now they were able to divide 3 per cent., which
was honestly earned, there was sufficient evidence of the
improving condition of their property. A shareholder
said this company had a reserve of 64,0001., whilst the
London and North-Western had but 90,000/. ; and he
proposed they should divide 4 per cent. The original
motion was carried unanimously. This concluded the
business of the meeting, and a vote of thanks was given
to the chairman.