The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-26 00:00:00

SHIPWRECK.

MORETON BAY, Ace. 13.—This port has again
afforded a place of refuge to a shipwrecked crew, cast
away among the numQrous reefs to the northward on the
17th of July last. The particulars of the loss of this
vessel are here subjoined : Schooner Dundee Mer-
chant, Owen Davis master, of and from Hobart own,
the sth of January last, upon a whal ng voyageT, was,
whilst cruising on the east coast of New Holland, set
(before daylight or the morning of the 11th ult.) by the
current upon the extensive reefs stretching out from
New Caledonia. Owing to the chronometer being broken,
and thereby rendered useless, the vessel ha 1, by being
worked by dead reckoning, got nigh upon 200 miles out of
her emu se ; no indication of the vicinity of danger was
observed the evening before the unfortunate occurrence,
nor was any broken water discovered by the watch pre-
vious to the v. ssel striking, and it was only upon day-
light breaking th ,y were enabled to discover their true
positi,,r. A very short time after the schooner grounded
she all hopes acre theretere at once abandoned
of saving the craft, and instant preparations made to
leave the wrcck in the three whale boats. A small
quantity of biscuit, about two cwt., was got into the
boats, with a few breakers of water, with which the
l4oats shoved off to a small sand) island lying about 12
miles distant, at which place they remained two days,
fitting their little crafts with canvas wash-streaks, to en-
able arm to contend against the boisterous waves. Finding
it impossible to get to windward so as to fetch New Cale-
donia, they bore away for New Holland, the Northum-
berland Isles wer. sighted on the 24th ult., and they were
enabled to land shortly afterwards on this coast, near
Kepple Bay, to procure water ; as usual, the blacks
watched an opportunity to attack the weary mariners, at
a moment when they were unfortunately unprepared,
their fire-arms being unloaded, having previously been
fired off at some birds ; upon the men retreating to their
boats, one poor fellow received a spear wound in
his breast, several others had very narrow escapes,
spears passing through their clothes, and the feet of
those who were very destitute of shoes were much
cut and lacerated with running over the oyster-shells ;
fortunately the whole got into the boats and pushed off
from this inhospitable shore, leaving behind some of
their water-kegs. After enduring incredible hardships
and privations, by land and sea, they made this
port on the 31 instant, when happily the schooner NUL
Liam was working up to the river; Captain Ereeman
immediately administered to their individual wants, and
brought the whole of them, 15 in number, to Brisbane.
Captain Allen, of the steamer Tamer, kindly gives a
passage to Sydney to the master and mate, with four of
the seamen. The distance traversed by these unfortu-
nate seamen, in their boats, is little short of 1;900 miles;
their escape at this particular season of the year, in the
Thesl 5y r er
late strong smith-west gales, may be considered almost
Miraculous. The Dundee Merc,alttv,.oarna
yt4.ohl.a—d
0 dtnhbe ay e
Herald
boatsel es r of
d
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yesterday, el. dcastay
sperm oiold l
at
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auction,boar d
of Aug. 19.

The Minister of the Interior has just sent a cir-
cular letter to the prefects of the departments, calling
upon them to exercise a very rigid surveillance over the
hospitals, for the purpose of preventing further attempts
at proselytism on the minds of the patients. The Mi-
nister regards these attempts as eontrary to the funda-
mental laws of the state, which guarantee liberty
of conscience and an equal protection to all persons,
whatever may be their religious faith.—Galignani.