The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-01 00:00:00

SPORTSMAN.

There are two spirited plates in this Number—once is
a portrait of " Coronation," the winner of the last
Derby; and the other is a representation of the " Cham-
pion" yacht. which gained the prize at the last grand
sailing match of the Royal Thames Yacht Club. With
regard to the literary contents, they all, of course, bear-
reference to sporting matters. The most amusing papex-
is " Piscator's" account of the mode of angling on tke
borders of Devon and Cornwall.

BELLE ASSEMBLEE.
There is a very touching portrait here of a 'young
" Widow," engraved by Robinson, from an original
painting by Boxall, which Mrs. Wilson has 'made the
subject of some agreeable stanzas. This portrait is the
best feature in the present Number, whose, prOse tales
are of the average order of common-place,.

FARMER'. MAGAZ'INE
Is embellished with two engraV,ags, one of which,
" The Deer-Stalker liefreshing,' 'exhibits a picturesque,
sylvan back-ground. In the litrJrary department of the
Number, we find an intelligent view of the past and pre-
sent state of agriculture in N'orthumberland.

HE PRESIDE;•IT STEAM-SHIP.
Captain Hosken, of the Great Western, has given the
following opinions respe'Aing the investigation which
had been instituted by Mr. Buchanan, the British Con-
sul at NeW York, touching the circumstances under
which the President left New York on the 11th of March

" Some of the opinions given in the course of the in-
quiry I differ from most distinctly, and those opinions
would, no doubt. have a strong, though very erroneous
impression on the public mind, if allowed to pass with-
out notice from some one placed in a similar position to
me, who, from very mr..ny years' experience of all de-
scription of vessels, sailing and steam, have had oppor-
tunity of forming a. good judgment on the subject.
" The opinions to which I allude are those of Captain
Cole, of the packet-ship Orpheus, who, by the report,
said, that the President then must have been shipping-
seas heavily and fast—that probably these huge bodies
of water worked through into the engine-room or fire-
room, and extinguished the fires. in which case tho
steamer would have been comparatively helpless." "
That the President was shipping water there is no
doubt ; but I do feel a perfect conviction she did not
ship sufficient to extinguish the fires. The fire places
are put upon the platform of the fire-room, and the -plat-
form put upon the bottom of the ship (in the Great
Western—the President's, I think, higher)—the open-
ings to the engine and fire-rooms are so small as to render
it quite impossible that a body e f water sufficient to over-
flow the fire-place could find its way below, even with
imprudence ; but with the necessary precaution, in
such weather, of battening the hitches, &c., down, the
supposition of such a result is perfectly chimerical. Cap-
tain Cole's opinion, appears (by the report) to have been
coincided in by other gentlemen, certainly good sailors;
but with every respect for Captain C. and those gentle-
men, I must say, they are not competent judges in this.
steam-ship case.

" I fully and entirely believe a good steam ship the
safest vessel that ever went to sea, and there are nume-
rous instances where they have been placed in situations
couldescHapeer..
lAiacjaessety,isn
Indies.sdlul
irpi during gw
were
ee
lyinglast
in
n tremendousc Carlisle
s.l e hurricane from which no sailing ship, however well managed,
spoteianmterocesuprirtedfireat
aßnarbadoes
ltoost or stranded ; the Spitfire split her cables and put
siinlipsthdleveramWaeansyt.,
sea in the face of the hurricane her decks were swept,
,
her boats Bay—the
and paddle-boxes washed away, yet she never
had her fires extinguished, but weathered it all by means
of the steam power, which alone saved her. If the
engines are damaged, still steam-ships are safe and
good sea-boats with their sails. I was once, in the
Great Western, compelled to stop the engines at a
moment, in a heavy gale of wind, which was heaving
her on the eastern edge of the bank of Newfoundland..
Immediately got storm aft sail on her, and for two hours„
the time we were stopped, she Jay to beautifully, as;
snug and as dry us any ship I was ever out in, in simi-
lar weather. I do not know the exact proportion or
losses between sailing and steam ships, but I ant quite
sure it is in favour of steam. lam not called upon, nor-
do I feel justified, in giving any opinion respecting what;
may have happened to the
above water, President, which I yet;
believe, is possibly a log working about at.
the mercy of the winds and waves. Captain Re.berts is a.
sailor, with o energy. - fcharacter and resources from long-
experience, which strong
~
is a inducement for hope that
the President will yet be heard of.
The steam-ship Columbia was entering the port of
Boston when the Acadia departed. The Columbia had
thus made the passage out in 121 days, decidedly the
quickest passage ever yet made across the Atlantic,—
Liverpool paper.