The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-04 00:00:00

ST. JEAN D'ACRE.

(From the IV orcester Journal.)
The following letter respecting the storming of Acre
has been received by a person in this city :
" h. M. Ship Edinburgh, Jean d'Acre,
November 5, 1840.

" Dear Brother,—lt is with pleasure I once more
take up my pen to inform you of my safety after
another engagement at this place (Saint Jean
d'Acre), which I shall relate to you as shortly as pos-
sible. We arrived here on the 2d, late in the after-
noon, came to an anchor off the fortress, and early next
morning we got under weigh ; our ships—seven line-of-
battle ships, two frigates. two sloops of war, three
brigs, five steamers, all English, under the command of
Admiral Stopford ; there were also three Austrian fri-
gates, and one Turkish line-of-battle ship. The wind
falling calm, we could not close on the town before
two o'clock, and then the action began as follows :
The Castor frigate being ahead of us, the town
opened fire upon her, and she let go her anchor,
and began to return it. We run past her farther in
shore, let go our anchor, brought our broadside to bear
on the town, and began to fire. But before this an
accident happened which damped our spirits a little.
Just as we were rounding to let go the anchor, a shell
came through one of our quarter-deck ports, burst, and
killed four rhen at once, and wounded seven more ; the
four that were killed were shattered all to pieces—two
sailors, the marine drumtner, and a marine private.
Our sails being got snug, our Captain gave orders for
all hands to quarters, and then at it we went until
about a quarter after four, the upper deck quarters
gave three cheers ; for the powder magazine on shore
blew up into the sky, and with it 1,200 Egyptians,
which made them slacken their fire, so that we had time
to look around us ; and then we saw what we had i
given and received ; we then saw some large guns
playing upon us, and to it we went again. By five
o'clock we had silenced their guns, after an action of
three hours; and then we went to supper. Next
morning we went on shore, and took charge of the
strongest fortress in Egypt. (What will the French
say to this ?) The only loss of life we bad was by
the bursting of the shell, which I mentioned before.
In all the ships I think there are about twelve killed,
and Ido not know how many are wounded on board
the other ships. I was on shore yesterday, and it is
shocking to see the dead and wounded lying in all di-
rections : no care is taken of the latter. I went up to
see the magazine, and the sight was terrible : there
were about 200 head of cattle all lying dead, and the
mangled bodies of hundreds of Egyptians lying about
the place and upon the fortifications ; the guns were
crowded with the dead bodies. An Egyptian officers
that we have taken- prisoner says, that he had charge of
a battery of seven guns, and that he had 200 men in
reserve to man them in case of death, and he says that
as soon as our ships opened fire his men were killed as
soon as they could get to the guns, and in two hours' time
from the commencement of our firing they were all killed.
' At one time he had pointed a large gun at our ship, and
had ordered one of his men to prime and fire her off ;
the man was shot, and then be sent another and another,
who were also served in the same manner ; and then the
officer himself took the powder-horn, and was in the act
of priming the gun himself, when a shot struck the
corner of the loophole ; a splinter struck his arm and
broke it in two places, and now he is on board of our
ship. We have received some damage in our rigging,
1 and we are now busy putting it to rights. A steamer is
going to bring the despatches to England of our victory,
and as we have received a shot right through our mizen-
mast we expect to get down to Malta to get a new mast.
Time is short, and the letter bag is about to close.
:MOSES COMBS."

THE NATIONAL SOCIETY.