The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-13 00:00:00

WRECK OF TFIt STEAMER
FORFARSHIRE.

(FROM A SCOTCH CORRESPONDENT.)
Some intelligence of this disaster ha?, I ace, reached
you; but, as I have had opportunities of hearing the
statements of seven of the survivors, who passed through
Edinburgh (whence I now write) to their homes in the north,
I send you the remit of my personal inquirha from such
source.

The survivors are Mr. Ruthven Ritchie, farmer, Hill of
Ruthven, near Perth (cabin passenger), Mr. James Duncan,
sailing master or mate ; Mr. Allan Stewart, chief engineer ;
a coal trimmer, and three sailors. Mr. Ritchie arrived here
by the mail, from Belford, yesterday ( Monday), and left this
morning for Perth. The others arrived this morning from
Shields, by the Newcastle steamer Eclipse, and shortly after
sailed for Dundee. The Eclipse also brought three indivi-
duals from North Sunderland, connected with the 113 bing upon
that coast, who bi ing particulars from the wreck up to yester-
day (Monday) afternoon, about two o'clock.
It appears that the For farshire, Captain J,lin Humble, left
Hull for Dundee on Wednesday afternoon, at half-past six
o'clock, with a valuable cargo of bale goods, and about 100 tons
of sheet iron; 22 cabin passengers, nine steerage (including
four children), 22 of a crew, making in all 53
About four o'clock on Thursday morning, blowing hard from
N. E., and showering rain and sleet, the Iwiler gave way.
This being hastily repaired, the vessel proceeded on her course
till ten that evening, when the state of the machinery and
weather induced the Captain to put about and sail before the
wind. This took place near St. Abb's Head, and it is thought
the Captain intended to make Shields bar. The vessel sailed
or rather drifted in this direction till three o'clock on Friday
morning, when the light of the outer or eastern island of the
cluster called " The Fairns," or " Stapples," was observed
a short distance a-head ; and the Captain perceiving that he
would not be able to clear it, ordered the anchor to be
sill:ltd. This order, the seamen say, wes given to the mate
Duncan, and three of the men had proceeded to obey by haul-
ing out the cable, when Duncan ran to a boat and was followed
by others. The five of the crew who have arrived here, and
other two (one the second mate, who beloagel to Hull),
Duncan himself, and the cabin passenger, Mr. Ritchie, alter
drifting three or four hours, were picked up by a Montrose
sloop, and taken into Shields.

The warning to the passengers of their danger (who were
all in bed) must have been short, as Mr. Ritchie escaped un-
dressed with only his trowsers in his hand. The boat had just
left when the vessel struck and parted in two; the stern or
hinder part drifting southward, and the fore part remaining on
the rock. The captain was observed, with his wife in his
arms, clinging to the wreck, when a sea swept them off. A
woman, one of the steerage passengers, had two children
clinging to her, and appeared in a dreadful state of agony.
This woman was found in the course of Friday in one o the
fore-cabins, in a state of derangement, in which she continued
when the three persons mentioned left Sunderland yesterday.
Her being rescued from the wreck is owing to the lighthouse
keeper and his daughter having ventured in their coble. The
bodies of the two children have been picked up, and that of
a gentleman, who is supposed to be a clergyman,
belonging to Dundee. These were the only bodies found on
Monday afternoon. It thus appears that out of filly-three per-
sons only ten have been saved. Mr. Ritchie brought the ru-
mour that five steerage passengers and four of the crew were
taken off the forepart of the wreck on Friday ; but the men
who arrived this morniag heard nothing of this. There had
been a boat at the Island shortly before the three Sunder-
land men left, and there was no word of either bodies or
lives being rescued. There is much hope to warrant a belief,
that out of the forty-three missing, many (no saying how
many) may have been preserved. The numerous French fishing
tuggers, London steamers, and other craft, belonging to various
quarters, tacking about that coast in fishing season, favours
this assumption. There is no saying to what port they might
be driven after picking up individuals. And why have only
three bodies been found, supposing forty-three lost ? Pray
excuse these conjectures, as by the time you receive this they
may appear only to betray ignorance.
When the Eclipse passed the Stapples the forepart of the
vessel was still upon the rock. Amongst those missing are—
a gentleman belonging to Dundee, who, with his family, was
returning from St. Petersburgb, after a residence there of
fourteen years ; two or three gentlemen belonging to Perth,
one of them an uncle of Mr. Ritchie's, and another, a son
of Mr. Brown, shipbuilder there.
The Forfarshire was a new, vessel, having been little more
than two years at sea. She first sailed from Dundee in May,
1836 ; she sailed weekly between Dundee and Hull, is said to
have had one hundred and twenty or two hundred horse
power. The Captain (Mr. John Humble), belongs to Shields,
and served his apprenticeship to the sea in one of the collier
sloops trading between that place and Newcastle. The first
steamer lie was in was a small tug boat, which belonged to
Shields, called the Tarset ; he afterwards commanded another
steamer called the Neptune, vi hich sailed between Hull and New-
castle. He also was some time mate of the Eclipse, the New-
castle and Leith boat already mentioned. The time he has
sailed in steamers is six or seven years. He bad only been
three or four months with the Forfarshire. He was accounted.
a sober,and excellent man, and much esteemed. He was
about thirty-four years of age, and had his third wife. I can-
not say much for the mate, and perhaps the less the better for
him. His conduct, from what there is reason to believe is
truth, is subject of severe comment. Let us not-be rash, how-
ever, till everything is properly investigated.