The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-17 00:00:00

THE CAVALRY.

The reinforcements which have been spoken of as
about to be sent to our cavalry division in the Crimea,
are not likely, as now appears, to leave England just at

present.

It is considered doubtful whether Lord Luoan could
at this time muster 1,000 sabres, although his division
nomikally consists of ten regiments. But we have at
home, besides the household troops, four regiments of
heavy and five of light dragoons, namely, the King's
Dragoon Guards, Queen's Bays, and 3rd and 7th Dra-
goon Guards, the 7th and 15th Hussars, the 3d Light
Dragoons, the Carabineers, and the 16th Lancers.
The difficuulty of finding transport accommodation is
assigned as the reason for the delay which is to take
place. The reinforcement is not to be effected by the
despatch of regiments, but of draughts to be assigned to
regiments in the Crimea most resembling those from
which they are taken ; dragoons to dragoons, lancers to
lancers, and so on, until the regiments in the Crimea are
raised to the war standard.

With the exception of the King's Dragoon Guards,
our cavalry regiments of the line consist of six troops of
45 men each, the regimental staff and officers making up
the entire number to something over 300.
Each cavalry regiment in the Crimea will, it is said,
be made up to eight troops of 75 men each, or 600 in
the whole, besides the regimental staff.

AUGMENTATION OF THE FRENCH ARMY,
A sixth company of the third battalion is to be
immediately added to one hundred regiments of the
line. A decree to this effect appeared in yesterday
morning's Moniter.

GALE OF WIND IN THE NORTH SEA.

SHIELDS, Wednesday Night.—This morning a fearful
gale of wind from the S.E. and E.S.E. broke upon this
coast, and caused a tremendous sea outside. It came
on with great violence and about 5 o'clock in the morn-
ing, but fortunately a fleet of at least 150 vessels from
London and various ports of the north of Europe arrived
safe in the harbour before that time. As the tide rose,
however, another considerable fleet of vessels appeared
in the offing, including several light ships, which would
have gone into Seaham and Sunderland, but for the sud-
den storm, and they all made a dash for the 'harbour.
It was a beautiful sight to witness them rushing one
after the other across the bar, and then, after a struggle,
reach within the narrows in safety. The Pilot steam-
boat ran out to sea when the gale came on, with a number
of pilots, and they were of great service in bringing strange
vessels throughthe dangerous passage to Shields harbour.
A considerable number of vesselshad come in from sea,and
had passed through the crowded harbour without damage,
when, aboutlo o'clock in the forenoon, as three schooners
were entering the estuary of the Tyne, they all ran u;)on
a reef of rocks on the north aids, known as the Battery
Rocks, and the sea made a complete breach over them.
The Shields pilots launched their splendid lifeboats,
which were soon manned with willing volunteers, and
they were pulled down to the assistance of the seamen
on board the schooners, who by this time had taken to
the rigging. The sea, however, was breaking with such
tremendous violence on the rocks, and over the stranded
ships, that the boats could not approach them ; Manby's
apparatus was sent from the Spanish Battery, and an
attempt was made to fire rockets with a line zo the ves-
sels. After several ineffectual attempts, a line was car-
ried on board of the innermost ship, and a steut warp
with a cradle sent from the shore, and some scores of
seamen and boatmen plunged up to their middle in the
water to assist in bringing the shipwrecked to land.
It was an affair of some difficulty, however. The
poor fellows on board the innermost schooner appeared
to be so benumbed with cold, that for some time
it was thought that they would be unable to take
advantage of the assistance sent to them, and great
anxiety was felt lest the vessels should go to pieces and
drown them before they got to laud, as the schooners
appeared to be much twisted and knocked about by th e
the sea, which leaped in fearful waves over their masts.
However, after somo little time two men got into the
cradles, and, after a perilous passage from the vessel to
the shore, being plunged into the sea and then lifted
into the air, as the vessel tightened or slackened the
warp, they were landed in safety. A sailor was ready
with a bottle of spirits, and, after administering a dram
to each as they were landed, the shipwrecked mariners
were led to the Bath Hotel, or Mr. Carr's Tavern, at
the Lew Lights, where dry clothing and comfortable
refreshments were provided for them by the Shipwrecked
Mariners' Society. The crews of the two innermost
vessels, the Lively, of Lynn, laden with corn flout that
port to Sunderland, and the Napoleon 111., a Prussian
brig in ballast from London, were thus safely landed in
about two hours after the 'vessels ran on the rocks ;
but the Kate Robertson, an American built schooner
belonging to this pert, coal laden, which was putting
back, having left the port on the previous day, lay fur-
ther out iu the sea. Her crew made several attempts to
float a cork fender across with a line, and the people
ashore tried to make a communication with her from the
shore by Manby's apparatus, ltut failed. At last, after
three or four shots had been fired, a line was thrown
over the vessel, and at about a quarter past 2 in the
afternoon the last of her crow was landed, though in a
very exhausted condition. The tide was falling while
these operations were going forward, otherwise there
seemed little prospect of saving the poor fellows. If
the vessels had been stranded on a flood tide there would
have been but alight chance of saving the crews. The
vessels will become wrecks.
Several ships got into the harbour after these vessels
ran on to the rocks, and some light brigs have been
observed to run by the bar to Leith Roads. The wea-
ther has somewhat moderated this evening, though the
sea is still breaking with considerable violence outside.
The Tyne is crowded with shipping, light and laden.
TYNEMOUTH, Thursday (Noon).—There seems nol)ros-
pect of saving the three schooners ashore here ; one, the
coal-laden schooner, has broken up. The sea is mode-
rating a little.
SUNDERLAND, Thursday Afternoon.—The gale of yes-
terday has been much more severe here than at the
mouth of the Tyne. Fifteen sail of ships are ashore
between Roker and Whitburn Steele, north of the har-
bour, and nine or ten sail are aground upon the Potato
Garth, inside the piers.
It appears that, between 3 and 4 o'clock yesterday
morning, the sea off Sunderland was illuminated with
the lights of vessels running for the coal ports, and that
about 100 sail made for the Wear ; but, as the gale
came on and the wind got more to the eastward, about
50 of them ran for the Tyne, which they reached in
safety. The other 50 sail, as the tide began to
make, made for this port, and, as the sea had
they risen, many of them in taking the har-
bour ran with great violence against the north
pier, sustaining considerable damage, and, as several
vessels got athwart of each other inside, there was
a serious loss of spars and bowsprits. All of the 50
vessels did not take the bar so well ; the 15 sail kept
too far to the northward, aid were stranded in
Whitburn Bay. They ran ashore during the fore-
noon ; but fortunately the tide began to ebb about noon,
and there was not much danger to the crews. The 'life-
boats were launched about 9 o'clock on the North
Sands, and were manned with crews of pilots,
sailors, and landsmen. Mr. Hodgson, a carver and
gilder, a young man of great courage, had the stroke
oar of the leading boat, and they first took off the crew
of a little schooner, which went to pieces half an hour
afterwards, and then made out to a large bark, the
Calypso, of London, which was lying with both top-
masts carried away. They brought the men from off
this vessel, and two other ships' companies were saved
by Manby's apparatus. The other crews came ashore
as the tide receded in the afternoon.
The names of the 'vessels ashore outide are, the John
Wesley, of Arundel ; the Coldstream, of Sunderland ;
the Isabella, of Torquay ; the Belmont, of Sunderland ;
the Jean Arnaide, a French lugger ; the Star, Conqueror,
Auckland, and Independent, of Sunderland ; the Equiva-
lent, and four small schooners, whose names have not
been given. The stranded vessels are in a good posi-
tion, and, as the weather has considerably moderated, it
is anticipated most of them will be got off without any
very serious damage. No lives have been lost. The
vessels aground inside the harbour have not sustained
much damage.