The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-09 00:00:00

occurred in the river Thames, off Woolwich. The
Chichester, having her station at Greenthithe,Js a well-
known asylum in which homeless and destitute boys,
rescued from the streets of London, are brought up and
trained for the sea, being draughted off,when theyreach the
proper age and have made sufficient progress, into the Royal
Navy or the merchant service. Yesterday morning the
ship's pinnace left the Chichester for Woolwich, in charge
of Mr. W. T. Roach, the boatswain, having on board
eighteen of the lads who were to be examined on board
the Fisgard, the flagship at Woolwich Dockyard, as to
their fitness for her Majesty's service. There were also in
the boat a clergyman, named Hind, from Gravesend, sup-
posed to belong to the Thames mission, and a lad in his
charge named H. Keating, whom he was also bringing to
the Fisgard. All went well till a few minutes before the
accident. The boat was under sail, beatiag up against
wind and tide, having foresail, mainsail, and jib set,
Roach, the boatswain, who was steering, states that when
off the Royal Arsenal Pier, the screw steamer Cormorant,
a vessel of about 500 tons burden, bound from London
lot Cork, ran into the boat, and cut her completely in
two under her bows. He says that one portion of the

wreck went on the port side of the steamer, and the other
to the starboard, and that the steamer had so much way
on her that she went for a considerable distance before
she rendered any assistance. Thirteen out of the
twenty-one were picked up by watermen's boats, and the
Queen of the Orwell, on her passage from London for
Ipswich, reversed her engines and lowered a boat to
assist in rescuing the immersed lads. The Nymph, belonging
to the Woolwich Steam Packet Company, also left Wool-
wich Town Pier to render assistance. The clergyman,
the youth who was with him, and six of the Chichester
boys' were drowned. ' One of those rescued was so
seriously injured by the collision that he was taken on
shore for surgical advice. The boatswain and eleven

lads were taken on board the Fisgard, where they
received every kindness from Staff Commander Inglis,
R.N., Mr. Webb, boatswain, and other officers and the
crew of the ship, who provided them with dry clothing and
necessary refreshment. Subsequently two of the lads
turned up at the Royal Gun Factories in the Royal Arsenal.

It appears they had clung to the sail of the boat after the
collision, and were afterwards rescued by some men em-
ployed in the Arsenal, in an exhausted condition. They
were taken into the gun factories, supplied with restora-
tives, and, having had their clothing dried, were for-
warded on to the Fisgard. Drags and creepers were sent
to the scene of the accident, and a number of boats were
engaged searching for the bodies up to a late hour
last night. Four of the Chichester boys drowned were
named William Whyatt, Alfred Read, William Bell, and
George Lowings, and they were all about 16 years of age.
The accident is said to have been caused by the sailing
vessel having missed stay, but, no doubt, the facts will be
fully elicited at the inquest. As the Cormorant passed
the Chichester at Erith she informed those on board of the
accident, in addition to which Staff Commander Inglis
conveyed the sad news to the commander of the Chi-
chester by telegraph.
Two of the bodies were picked up last evening at half-
past eight o'clock, and were taken to the Barge House,
North Woolwich, to await the inquest.