The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-10 00:00:00

FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE.

Last night, shortly after nine o'clock, a fire of a most
distressing character broke out upon the premises in the
occupation of Mr. John Sharp, a printer and bookseller,
carrying on business at 30, King-street, St. George's,
Southwark.

It appears that Mr. Sharp has lately been engaged in
manufacturing fireworks, and some of the combustible
matter must hare exploded, occasioning a terrible dis-
aster. The alarm was given by the front of the shop
being blown into the street with fearful violence, and at
the same time the interior was seen enveloped in flames.
Water was sreedily procured, and thrown on the fire.
Mr. Sharp, who had• left the place barely five minutes,
returned home, when his attention was attracted by hear-
ing violent screams proceeding from a back parlous.. He
forced his way through the dense Smoke, and found two
of his children almost suffocated. After considerable
trouble he succeded in getting them out, but "not before
one was terribly injured. It was then believed that no
person had perished, and the engines of the Brigade-and
the West of England Company coming up, the fire was
got
under.
As soon as the shop could be entered, an examination
was made, and the body of ,_a female was found beiteath
the counter, life being quite extinct, which proved to be
the eldest daughter of the proprietor, who had remained
in the shop during her father's absence, and unfortunately
perished by the explosion. Mr. Sharp is wholly uninsured.

e engines
unflinching
FIRE IN THE BOROUGH.
Last night, shortly before eleven o'clock, a destructive
fire broke out upon the extensive premises of Mr. T.
Cowper, mercer and haberdasher, 144, High-street,
Borough. Flames were first perceived in the lower part
of the premises, which are
.of considerable extent. In a
very short time after the discovery of the outbreak the
fire assumed an aspect of a most alarming character, the
entire premises exhibiting one body of fire. Information
was received at the several stations, and in a very short
time an engine of the London Fire Establishment, and
were got to work.
the Watling-street engine with Mr .Braidwood, were upon
the spot, closely followed by others. The water from
determination,
the Southwark mains was fortunately plentiful, and in a
Bybriefj,
dint
i space a c
and in the midst of great danger, the firemen continued
their efforts until the fire began to yield. Notwithstand-
ing their efforts, the house was gutted, and the whole of
the valuable stock and furniture completely
ofe of
perseveranceti m
s es r
andal
destroyed.
How the parties on the premises escaped, or whether the
adjoing buildings were injured, could not in the excite-
ment be gleaned, nor could any information be obtained
as to whether the parties are insured.

DEPRESSED STATE OF THE rEINTINO BUSINESS.—
The scarcity of employment which has prevailed for a
considerable portion of the present year amongst the
printers of the metropolis has scarcely ever been
equalled. During the last six months the compositors
of London have disbursed towards the relief of their
brethren out of work a sum exceeding 1,200/. Each
person has received 6s. a week, the number of recipients
ranging from 160 to 230. At this season of the year,
when the trade is generally good, the number out of
employ amounts to °lO. A large proportion of this use-
ful body of men have families dependent on their labour.
, and are still
enduring, need
privations they
nthoecyommumst
:nt. haveuunntdoerrtguonnaetely,
is no present prospe't of their amelioration.
`'"The Chancellor of the gtichequer returned to town too, there
yesterday.

THE GREAT BRITAIN.
LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY.-We have no further intel-
ligence of moment to-day with regard to the Great
Britain.

We subjoin the closing letter from a corresp
dent :

DUNDRUM BAY, TUESDAY AFTERNOON.
My communication to-day must necessarily be meagre
from the absence of any occurrence of note since the
dispatch of my last letter. One melancholy fact, how-
ever, it is my duty to state. There is now no hope left
that the Great Britain can be rescued, at least for the
present. To-day the spring tides reached their climax,
but again the violence of the seaway in the bay pre-
vented the approach of assistance. _

Last night, at high water, it blew freshly from the
east ; but this morning the ship did not appear to have
materially altered her position, though it is probable she
had forged ahead in some degree. When the hour of
high water arrived, the ship appeared to float to some ex-
tent. The steam-tugs, however, which at daylight had
returned to the offing, could not near the vessel, and it
was evident to all practical men that there was little or
no chance of her being got off unless some extraordi-•
nary power of flotation were brought into requisition.
The ship's fore and aft sails were spread on her foremast
during the morning, apparently with the view of keep-
ing the head from forging upon the ledge of rock which
projects from the sands at the distance of some 70 yards
from the stern. I left the spot at the ebb of the tide.
The steam-tugs left in the course of the day. The
surf in the offing on their appearance this morning was
running very high, and one of them drew off towards
Annabay Point, about S.W. from the ship, and we
have since seen no more of her. The Dread-
nought, however, anchored a long way outside,
and, though she got her steam well up, she did
not venture to come in shore, although signals were
several times hoisted on the Great Britain's mizen to
bring to if possible.. The. _surf, caused by the gale and
the inset of the tide upon the rocky and dangerous coast,
rendered the attempt unadvisable, and Captain Hosken
was compelled early in the afternoon to signalise her
departure. It had been intended to dispatch the crew
and stores of the ship in her to Liverpool. The arduous
duties of these. two fine steamers have been well per-
formed, and their commanders have throughout acted
with the greatest skill and energy.
LIVERPOOL, FRlDAY.—Disastrous accounts have been
again received from Dundrpm Bay.; and these, accounts,
together with'the fact made known by Captain Claxton,
that the rivets in the ship's bottom started on Monday
last, have tended t.n ‘•,...4••••.• deebsg the
nave gained ground in the public mind,
that the ill-fated..vesser will -never- be rescued from
her present posltion. There can be little question
that the injuries announeed, in the managing director's
letter have been materially increased by the gale and the
heavy seas which had set in on Monday last upon the
shores of Dundruixt Bay.
We subjoin a letter from a correspondent:—
DUNDRUM BAY, WEDNESDAY NOON, OCT. 7.
My report to-day will be comparatively uninteresting.
The springs have now passed, and the opportunity of
getting the Great Britain off has been lost. Last night's
tide was accompanied with a heavy gale, and the Great
Britain this morning appears to have forged some fifteen
yards further up the beach, with her head pointing
N.N.W.- She is not now afloat, but high tide will again
make in about half an hour, and she may possibly then
move. . It cannot, however, be for the better. The
wind is now blowing almost a gale from the south; the
sea setting right into the bay lashes violently under the
ship's stern, and the salt spray is bursting in clouds
over half the length of her decks. The scene is grand
and impressive in the extreme. The bight of the bay
en the ncrth and west from the coast-guard station-
house, where I now write, presents, from the rolling of
a terrific and rapid succession of waves, a most sublime
appearance, as, indeed, does the whole of this rocky and
stony coast, extending from St. John's Point lighthouse
to Annalong Point to the south, where the lofty Mourne
Mountains terminate in the sea. The distance between
these two points, forming the outer boundaries of the
bay, is perhaps twenty miles.
The rudder of the ship has disappeared for some days,
and the screw-propeller appears to be considerably in-
jured. There can be no question that the vessel is
thumping on the shore, and she has made from time to

time during the last few days an immense quantity of
water.

The country people are still engaged in removing the
discharged coals from the beach, but some still, I learn,
remain on board.

ONE O'CLOCK, P.M.
The storm keeps increasing as the tide becomes nearly
full, and it is now accompanied by a heavy beating rain
and spendrift, which dashes against the look-out win-
dows of the station-house. The surf continues to wash
over the ship more and more violently, and she presents
a truly sad spectacle. The great probability is, that her
whole frame is strained and her bottom injured; but the
real facts cannot be ascertained until low water. She
has still several chain cables and anchors out astern, but
morning
iaepgpheaard
hteor
fbeerwsalardckg;afrans.adil
aosr st hp
ea
nskheirp s ehta,sla tl hi itnh ke
it likely that all hopes of getting her off are abandoned,
and that the object now is to forge her on as far as pos.!
sible upon the beach, in order that her position 'may be
rendered secure, or that if she be broken up the mate-
rials may be better secured. The ship rolls slightly,
and has apparently altered her position. Her bow lies
to the north. Her larboard quarter is most exposed to
the sea.

FOUR O'CLOCK, P.M.
The tide has fallen but little, if anything, from the
ship. She has shifted her stern to about N.W. I fear
she must have sustained sleplorable damage; and should
the gale continue, I cannot but apprehend that the tide
will be fumed beyond its prOper boundi,:and that the sea-
way may prove still more disastrous to the noble but ill-
fated vessel.

We annex the following from the Northern Tl'h;9 :
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NINE O'CLOCK, A.M.
Last night's weather hns'given a more severe trial to
the unfortunate Great Britain than she has had to en-
counter since she came ashore here. The wind is now
about due south, blowing stiffly, and the seaway in the
bay is absolutely terrific. There is not, except the
Great Britain herself, a single craft of any dimensions
within view, nor is there the slightest chance that any
can, during this, the last of the high tides, approach
her. The war of the waves dashing themselves into
minute particles of foam upon the rocks at the edge of
the coast, borders on the sublime, and the spray which
beats against the larboard side of the Great Britain,
which lies to seaward, falls in a shower into the tide on
the starboard side ; the waves, at intervals, rising over
her stern, and washing her so far fore as her main-
mast.

The country people are still engaged carting off the
coals, a considerable heap of which lie on the beach yet.
That she can never leave the spot she now occupies
amounts to all.but an absolute certainty. The captain is
still in charge of her, and continues on board. One of
the crew just now informed me that a number of the
hands leave her to-day ; but Ido not pledge myself to
the accuracy of the statement. I have heard rumours
also respecting handing her over to the insurance com-
pany's agents, but as I hid no opportunity of informing
my self in authentic sources, I do not feel myself at liberty
to state them.

Two O'CLOCK, P.M.

The tide has been now something better than ,an hour
on ebb ; but it has not receded the length of the Great
Britain's bow. Her stern is shifted north-west, or in the
direction of the coast-guard station-house, from the
window of which we have been taking observations for
the: last two hours, as the rain is falling heavily. The
water does not, from this, appear to have made any im-
pression on her works ; but, as I mentioned before, there
is no point on shore whence one can see her larboard
quarter, the part exposed, in the greatest degree, to the
violence of the waves. A portion of the gangway, used
for the purpose of getting on board at ebb tide, was
loosened, and drifted on shore last night. This, of
course, is not a fact of any great importance, inasmuch as
it may not have been secured very strongly to its berth.
She cannot, however, were she every inch of steel, stand
much longer, in such a sea.
The captain keeps up the foregaffsail still ; but it can-
not well be imagined that she can drift ranch nearer the
beach than she is at present. It is blowing nearly a gale
now, and the rain is falling in torrents. The only cir-
cumstance which could make any of the succeeding
_tides at all high enough for the purpose of floating her
off, namely, a stiff breeze to the land, would render it a
task of impossibility for any craft to come near her ; so
that, viewed as it may be, there; is nit the slightest chance
left for it.

FOUR O'CLOCK, P.M.
The tide has now rececled %bout half-way, and leaves
the Great Britain much the worse for the beating of. the
heavy sea to which she has been exposed. She is Cii-
dently in a very bul and Beaky Condition ; some of the
salines stated to me to7daythat water was nearly as high
within her as it rose on her outside. One of the sails on
her foremast has been set during the day, at least since
ten o'clock ; and the effect of this has been to put her as
far as she can be expected to come upon the shore. Tho
wind has settled considerably ; but the idea of endea-
vouring to get her off seems to have been entirely giren
up. The only course now left is to get what she con-
tains as expeditiously ashore as possible.
The following is an extract from a private letter with
which we have been favoured by a gentleman residing in
town. The letter was written at Dundrum, on Monday;
and we may mention, that its author is an experienced
seaman :—" The gale of the last two days has decided
her fate ; all sail is now set to harden her higher up on
the beach. She sprung a leak last night, and makes
now two feet water per hour. I believe they intend to
let her remain here until next summer."

THE MAILS. SOUTHAMPTON, OCT. 2. The
Madrid, Captain Bingham, arrived here at four- P M.,
and landed the Peninsular and other mails. Her dates
are—Gibraltar, Sept. 28, Cadiz, 29, Lisbon, Oct. 2. She
has 24 passengers, and good cargo. The Madrid has
experienced very ad weather, both out and home. The
Royal Tar, Captain Hamilton, with Penh-War and
other mails, and 30 passengers, left the dock at three
P.M, OR Wednesday, but, from the severity of the gale,
she was compelled to anchor for the night in Yarmouth-
roads, in the course of which she broke from Ler moor-
ings, losing two anchors and cables. The Royal Tar
returned to this port, and procured new anchors, &e.,
and proceeded at noon en route' for Gibraltar. The
storm of wind and rain with which this port has been
visited without intermission since Friday last has been
most tremendous, and at present does not seem likely to
abate. The Lady de Saumarez, Guernsey mail-packet,
left the pier on Tuesday evening, with the mails and 53
passengers, but was obliged, in consequence of the
weather, to come-to off Calshot Castle. She returned
to Southampton on Wednesday night, and left again at
seven P.N. yesterday. The Achilles, Captain Wilson, is
due to-morrow frois Alexandria, with East India and
China mails. It can hardly be expected she can be here
to time. The Transit steam-vessel, belonging to the
New South-Western Company, daily expected from
Vigo, with a cargo of cattle. - •