The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-31 00:00:00

THE SNOW STORM.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
DovEn, DEC. 29.—The great fall of snow we ha\ e
experienced since Christmas day, has prevented any com-
munication with London, and indeed with the neighbouring
towns ; and the hurricane which began that afternoon, and
continued until Tuesday, has occasionA a sad loss of life
and property on this coost.
In the height of the gale on the %;tl,, the smack Prince
Fredcrick,a regular trader between Rotterdam and London,
with a general cargo, commanded by Captain Richard
Stevenson, a native of Polk-stone, came for the harbour.
There was a (Ireadful sea running, and she ivas carried by
one against the South Pier Head, and immediately sunk.
The master and crew were saved, since which every exertion
has been used to save some of the property, and to remove
-the obstruction that was caused to the navigation of the
harbour, but the sea broke so heavily on the wreck that the
greater part of her cargo was forced out of her, and the
ressel continues on her broadside, sunk, and each tide
breaking her up. The greater part of her cargo, beans,
pease, and clover-seed, all washed away : of the cheese
scarcely anything was saved. Some packages of gin and
wine, in bottles, have been secured, and some other packages
contr.ining goods, furniture, &c., but so much damaged that
it is estimated as a total loss.

About the same time we saw a fine ship crossing our
lyay, with signal 497 flying, indicating the greatest distress,
:and requiring immediate assistance. This proved to be the
_Harriet, Captain Warman, from Quebec to London, with
deals, timber, staves, &c. She had parted from anchors,
chai'as, &c., in the Downs—had cut away her mainmast, and
had become excessively leaky, and she ran on shore about
hP.'if a mile to the westward of our harbour, with a tre-
mendous sea breaking over her. Although all the men of
experience considered the ship as lost, they were in hopes she
would hold together for the tide, because at low water the
crew might be saved, and arrangements made for se-
curing the property, but unfortunately that was not the
case. About seven o'clock one boat got on shore, with ten
men, but from than time, notwithstanding every evertion,
there was no possibility of rescuing the rest of the crew.
Towards midnight she parted, and appeared to divide into
four pieces, from which the Captain and crew were succes-
sively washed in the sight of a vast assemblage of people
collected on the shore, in the hope, but without the means
of affording the unfortunate men any assistance. By great
exertions, Captain Warman and eight of the crew 'were
saved, but Mr. Holmes, a Dover pilot, who was highly
respected, and has left a widow and eight, chilthan, with a
Deal boatman and three of the crew, were drowned.

By three o'clock the following morning tlie ship was en-
tirely broken up, and the cargo has beer:, strewed along the
coast between this and Folkstone.

About the same time there v;as a very similar wreck of
the ship Dixon, of Hull, eardtain Slater, at Romney. She
was from St. John's tr) dull, timber laden—tbe Captain
was drowned, the 'vessel went to pieces, and the cargo
washed out. A great part of it has been washed on shore
between Romn'Jy and Dungeness lighthouse.
His Majr,sty's packet Crusader, Captain Lyne, from
Boulogne to Dover, came in sight the same afternoon, but
was driv en to leeward. We hear she got on shore at
D unge,,less, but succeeded in getting off, and afterwards
into 1' ye harbour.
Syaveral ships have put into this port and into Folkstone
en) ce Sunday, with loss and damage.
The accounts from the neighbourhood as to the weather
and the fall of snow are quite extraordinary, and we fear we
shall have sad communications of the loss of cattle, and per-
haps of life. We are very anxiously waiting these details.

EDINBURGH, DEC. 27.—Extract from a letter We
got the London mail here this morning at half-past 3, A.M.,
in the midst of a most calamitous and awful fire, quite close
to and under Calton Hill, in Leith-street. Twenty tene-
ments are consumed, several very large shops in Leith-
street, and as many houses in the back street ; 100 families
sent ad:iift, and immense property is burnt in a cabinet-
maker's warehouse, and nothing could stop the conflagra-
tion. Leith-street presents an awful appearance ; the en-
gines were still playing on the smoking ruins at eleven this
forenoon. The Monarch, Captain Bain, got in here last
night (Monday), having been out since Wednesday. They
bad a most perilous passage, and nothing but the good con-
duct of the veteran commander could have saved the vessel.
Crew and all gave themselves up for lost. After contend-
ing against the storm as long as possible, they fortunately
got ;Into the Humber."
'SEVERE SrOB.M.—We have been visited during the
greater part of three days and nights with a storm of almost
unprecedented severity. The snow began to fall on Satur-
day, accompanied by gurly boisterous wind, which had sud-
denly changed from west to north-west, and with a keen-
ness of temperature more suited to the Arctic regions than
to the latitude of Edinburgh. The fall was partial during
the day, but by nine o'clock at night the streets were co-
vered to a considerable depth. Since that time up to the
present moment the storm has raged with unabated violence,
thr.:re scarcely being a few minutes interruption to the
dreadful swirls of drift that darken the atmosphere, and
pile the streets with almost impassable wreathes. The
penetrating sharpness of the cold is remarkable, even at
this season of the year. Since the great snow storm of Fe-
bruary, 1831, we have not experienced anything nearly ap-
proaching the present in duration and severity. For the
last two days the usual arrival of the mails has been inter-
rupted. On Sunday the curricle from Morpeth did not
reach the Post-office until past seven in the evening, hav-
ing been dragged some part of the way by six horses. At
that hour, neither the heavy London mail by Berwick, nor
the Carlisle mail had arrived. Last night the Dumfries
bags were brought into town on horseback, and were de-
spatched at the regular hour in the same. manner ; but at
twelve o'clock no intelligence of the London mail had
reached the Post-office. On the rrJads to the north and
west there seems to have been ).-ass obstruction, the mails
from those quarters not being long beyond their ordinary
time.—Edinburgh Advertisc;..
Since our last, the wePAher has been of the most intense
severity, with a coldl4eak wind from N.N.E., accompanied
with a heavy fall ofi snow, which continued with but slight
intermission up to last night. In consequence of the heavy
falls of snow south of Carlisle, the London Mail since Sa-
turday has laaen several hours behind her time.—Glasgow
Scots Tin',es, Dec. 28.
Owi7ag to the dreadful state of the weather, the ground
being covered with snow, scarcely any of the country Mails
arrived at the Post-office this morning, and the London
I\l'ail of Monday remained due when we were going to
press.—Dublin Evening Mail of Wednesday.
The weather, which had been intensely cold and severe
since Sunday, cleared up with a gleam of sunshine about
two o'clock yesterday, but commenced to snow soon after.
—lVaterfbrd Chronicle, Dec. 29.
With the single exception of Dover, the communica-
tion with the country mails and by coaches was gene-
rally resumed yesterclay.
The accounts received last night still represent the Dover
road as blocked -up, notwithstanding the great efforts made
by the militircy about Chatham. With great exertions
coaches have got to Fevershatn, and thence the mail by
land has IrJen forwarded on horseback to Canterbury, but
beyond t.'ne roads are said to be impracticable.
The. coaches on most roads, the Dover and Exeter ex-
cepted, were sent out last night. Several of the long stages
had a rider on the fore horses.
The Hope, Halifax coach, due on Monday morning, came
in sit 3 o'clock yesterday morning.
The four Hastings mails, due on Thursday, were brought
up the greater part of the distance in a chaise and four.
The guard of the Leeds mail up reports that they had
desperate work to get through the country.
The guard of the last Glocester up mail says, that where
the road had been cut through hills, the impending snow
bung over so frightfully that he was momentarily expecting
that the rolling of the coach-wheels would bring down an
avalanche upon them.
The guard of the Birmingham, via Banbury, gives the
following particulars of his journey down on Sunday night :
—About two miles from Aylesbury, on the London side,
the horses, ran into a drift of snow, which caused the off
leader to fall, and he got under the pole. The off leading
rein, two traces, and a splinter-bar were broken. After
.getting all right, they made another effort to get on, but it
was of no use, as the snow got deeper the further they
went ; the drift at places was full a mile long, and it was
blowing a perfect hurricane, with a fall of small snow. The
horses shook with extreme cold. They took the horses off,
and led them back a quarter of a mile to the stable at a
farm-house, thence the guard taking with him the mail-
bags, walked to Aylesbury ; he expected every minute to
sink into a ditch or drift. At Aylesbury he saw the fore-
man of Mr. Hearn, who procured men, and they went
bank and dug the coach out, and made a road for it across
some fields. A team of waggon-horses came to their as-
sistance, and dragged them into Aylesbury about noon on
Monday. There were five passengers by the mail, who
left the coach at three o'clock in the morning, and got with
great difficulty to the farm where the stall horses had been
put up. They there got breakfast, and came on to Ayles-
bury by the track cleared by the mail. They went to the
George Inn, where the guard left them at 1 o'clock on
Monday afternoon.
Before he left, the up-guard arrived with two post bags
and four horses. He had left the post-chaise in the snow
four miles on the London side of Bicester. The guard-
down obtained fresh saddle-horses, started onward with the
bags, leaving the coach and passengers at the George Inn.
There was a strong wind, and the snow kept drifting all
day. He arrived at Bicester at 10 o'clock at night. Mr.
Deacon refitsed to risk his horses and men for the guard
to proceed, it being dark, and the road worse than in the
morning. The guard was compelled to stop all night.
The next morning he started for Banbury on horseback,