The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-04 00:00:00

SHIPWRECKS.

The following shipwrecks are detailed under our mari-
time intelligence:—
The Gem, schooner, of Belfast, wrecked on a sunken
rock about 12 miles N.W. of Arran Isles, on the 21st
ult. The master, his son, and a Frenchman, from
Limerick, drowned; mate and one man saved, the former
being very much injured.
_ _

The Betsy, Gilbert, of Falmouth, wrecked near Isigny
on 19th ult.; crew drowned.
The Elizabeth, of and for Molde, from Stettin, stranded
on the Scaw Reef, on the night of the 13th ult. ; be-
came a wreck; crew saved.

The Teardina Cornelia was lost prior to the 24th ult.,
on the Niewo Braak; cart of cargo saved.
The Antoine was lost on the 23d ult., at the entrance
of the port of Cette.
The Nostra Signora della Guardi (Sardinian brig),
in entering the port of Toulon on the night of the 23d
ult., struck, and broke up the next morning; crew saved-
SLIA WITcI.—We extract from the Guernsey Star
tne following detailed and interesting account of the late
shipwreck and loss of life on board this vessel, which
were adverted to in our marine intelligence on a former
day :
" Friday morning, between four and five o'clock, the
brig Sea Witch, of London, 199 tons, John Henry
Freeman, master, from Sierra Leone, bound to Lon-
don, with a cargo of African oak anel ground
nuts, was totally wrecked near the spot known
as the Polies, in Portinfer Bay, on the north-west
coast of Guernsey, at a short distance from the Grandes
Rocques barracks; and we are grieved to add that the
master and seven of the crew were drowncd, three men
only being saved. The brig, which was a remarkably
well built and strong vessel, coppered and copper-
fastened, and strengthened throughout by all the
resources of the ship-builder's art, sailed from
Sierra Leone on the 4th October last, with a
crew of twelve men, one of whom, named James
Fountaine, died on the 9th of this month. This, we
believe, was the only casualty sustained by the vessel till
the fatal morning of Friday. Owing to a long continu-
ance of cloudy weather no observation had been
taken for several days, nor had lights been
seen either at Scilly, the Lizard, Portland, or
the Caskets, and the crew were consequently, to a
great extent ignorant of their position, although
they believed themselves to be steering a mid-
channel course, and had certainly to suspicion
that they were in proximity to our dangerous coast.
During the greater part of Thursday there was
a fresh breeze from the southward, and the brig
was proceeding steadily along under close-reefed top-
sails; as night came on, however, the wind shifted to
the N.W. and N., and blew nearly a gale. This
change of wind, co-operating with the powerful in-
draft which always exists in the gulf in which
Guernsey is situate, and is but too little
known to the generality of navigators, necessarily
drove the vessel towards our coast; but at no
time were those on board aware of being near land.
At about half past three o'clock in the morning a single
light was seen on the starboard bow, and soon after on
the lee quarter, which was supposed by those on board
the brig to be the light of a steamer, and of course gave
them no information as to their position. In this state
of uncertainty they remained till between four and five
o'clock, although there can be no doubt that, under the
influence of the wind and the indraft, they must have
been rapidly nearing the shore ; and at the time above-
mentioned the vessel struck violently against a rock—the
effect of the blow, as described by the survivors, being
almost apparently to shake her to pieces. Recoilibg
from this shock, the brig was taken by another wave—
the sea then running furiously into the bay, which car-
ried her into a trough of rocks, where her bottom was
broken to pieces ; when, being again taken up by a sea,
she was heaved up and dashed down headforemost into
a cleft in the rock, and was at the same time fairly
broken in halves somewhere about the foremast. This
was a fatal moment for the vessel and her crew. The
master and seven men who had run to the alter part of
the vessel, were, with that portion of the brig, swept
away by
.the fury of the wind and waves ; and men,
masts, spars, rigging, and fragments of the hull were
scattered, in utter darkness, iu the mighty flood which
was then boiling amidst the gigantic rocks by which
the wreck was surrounded. Through the raging of the
elements no cries could be heard, nor, had they been,
could any human aid have been rendered to the auffaers.
To have attempted their rescue would have been certain
destruction to those who might have ventured on it. The
three men who were ultimately saved were in the bows
of the ship when she was broken, as above-mentioned;
and, although this part was fixed nearly perpendicularly
in the cleft of the rocks into which it had been thrown,
they succeeded, by holding on to the bits of the bow-
sprit, to keep themselves from being washed away till
break of day, when the tide having receded, and left the
fragment of the wreck high and dry, they were enabled
to make their way to the shore, and communicate to the
persons residing near at hand the calamity that had oc-
curred.

" As a proof of the extreme violence of the first shock
which the Sea Witch sustained, it may be mentioned
that is striking against the rock she broke off a block of
granite supposed to weigh five or six tons."
A correspondent of the Sherborne Journal says:—" I
visited the scene about six hours after. It was very
grand—one little episode I mention—much might be
made of it. I found a monkey between two rocks—it was
just dead. Poor Jacko ! he was most likely a pet of
the ship, or perhaps intended as a present for some
friend in England. The countenance of the poor thing
was peculiarly melancholy, and appeared as though it
had struggled for life like its unfortunate masters."

BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, DEC. I.—The market is

extremely dull, and luwer prices have again been ac-
cepted this week for the small quantity disposed of. The
refined market does not improve. Rum has been more
inquired for.—Bristol Mercury.
THE GRAVES AT CULLODEN.—The scheme of erect-

ing a memorial over the graves of the slain at Culloden,
which was proposed in 1846, is revived, and is about to
be prosecuted. Upwards of 52/. have been already sub-
scribed —Scotch paper.
SECESSIONS TO ROBLINISM.— The Rev. J. C.
Robertson, M.A., Oxon, who seceded some years since
from the English Establishment, and has been officiating
as minister of the Scottish Episcopalians at Dalkeith,
Scialand, has finally joined the Roman schism, having
been received into that communion a few days since by
the Rev. Mr. Brownbill. Rumour is rife, in Tractarian
circles, that this secession will shortly be followed by
that of a distinguished member of the same party, who
has taken a somewhat active part in the dispute between
the Committee of the National Society and some of its
members; but, in the recollection of how frequently the
lay communion secession, and even aFostacy, has been
threatened, evith a view to extort from members of the
episcopal bench concessions of a questionable kind, we
must hesitate to go farther than notice the report as cur-
rently circulated at Oxford, as well as in the dioet se to
which the rev. waverer belongs.—Church and State
Gazette.

HOSPITAL FOR GYNSUMPTION, BROMPTON. —On
Friday a quarterly general [fleeing of the governors and
directors of the above hospital, for the treatment of
con,utnrion and other di eases of the respiratory or-
gans, was held in the heard-room of the institution at

Brompton. From the report read by the secretary, it
appeared that since the opening of the western wing in
November, 1846, the resi,lc::t patients had numbered
610, of whom 425 were discharged more or less relieved,
and 75 now remain in the wards. During the same pe-
riod the outpatients amounted to 4,187. The report
having barn adopted, a re.-organization of the building
committee was determined upon, with the vi ,w to faci-
litate the extrusion of the hospital, after which thanks
were accorded to the chairman, and the meeting sepa-
rated.