The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-18 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE AYENGEE.

Jan. 17.—The following letter from Mr. Larcom
(the gunner) to his wife, residing at this port, des-
cribing the loss of the Avenger, differs in some par-
ticulars from the statements made by Lieutenant
Rooke:— _ _

" Malta, Jan. 4.
" I take this most welcome opportunity of writing a
few lines to you to tell you I am safe, after suffering
the most dreadful shipwreck ever known, The
Avenger ran on a reef of rocks on the night of the
20th of December, about ten o'clock. I was in bed at
the time, but was awoke by.the shock. I jumped out.of
bed and began to feel for my clothes, but a very heavy
sea striking the ship hove her entirely on her beam
ends. I ran on deck without my clothes, when I was
ordered to get the cutters lowered, but there was such
a dreadful sea that not a man would clear away the
boats. At last some of the officers, together with
myself and the captain's steward, lowered cne of the
boats, and myself and seven others shoved off from
our ill-fated ship with hopes that we should be able
to render some assistance to our dear and lamented
shipmates, but I am sorry to say without success.
We had hardly shoved off from the ship when the
mainmast went over the side, taking with it the
funnel and mizentopmhst, which fell in-board and
must have killed a number of men. A minute or so
after this the foremast and bowsprit went, leaving the
ship a total wreck in less than twenty minutes. All
this time the wind and sea were driving our little
boat away from our ill-fated ship, which we lost sight
of in less than an hour and a half, and in this time the
wind blew a gale; and I then began to inquire N% ho
was in the boat, when, to my sorrow, I found that I
had not a man in the boat who could do a thing. It
must have been nearly twelve o'clock, when it came
on to hail and rain in such a way that I thought we
should have been sunk; one moment we were on the
top of the mountain wave, the next seemed the bottom
of the sea. Expecting every second to be our last,
we were all praying for daylight, and at last it came,
bringing to our gaze all the horrors of the previous
darkness. I then took a glance at my ill-fated com-
panions. Oh, what a sight to see! four of the eight
lying lifeless, or nearly so, at my feet, the wind still
increasing, and the sea running mountains high,which
broke over and nearly filled us a great many times.
At last land appeared right ahead, and our
little boat was tearing through the sea. We made
out the land to be the coast of Barbary ; we were-
forced to run right for the land; if we had not we
should have assuredly been lost. It was now about
ten o'clock, and I found my eyesight and strength
leaving me. Our boat was nearing the shore at an
amazing rate, and when within a few hundred yards
of the land our little boat was capsized, when four
sank to rise no more ; the other four reached the
shore and fell senseless on the beach, or nearly so, but
coming to our senses we got up and commenced
walking, we knew not whither. At last we fell in
with an Arab, who took us to his hut and gave us
some warm milk which brought us to our right senses,
when we tried to make him understand we wanted to
get a place where we could get a vessel to take to the
assistance of our lamented shipmates. We got a
vessel ourselves after travelling 100 miles, which we
did in two days with our faithful Arab for a guide,
but I am sorry to say when we got to the place where
our ship ran on shore she was gone down and every
soul had perished, being in all 256 persons."
The Avon steam-vessel, Lieutenant-Commander
Cator, left on Saturday for Cork,__ to be employed
under the orders of Rear-Admiral Mackay, the Com-
mander-in-Chief.

The Nautilus, 8, Lieutenant- Commander River,
arrived last night from a cruise for the protection of
the fishery on the coast of Sussex.
We have had a smart gale of wind to-day, with
squalls and heavy rain, varying from S.S.W. to S.W.
At 5 P.M. wind S.W. by S., fresh breezes and squally
weather, with rain, and every indication of bad
weather continuing through the night.

PROGRESS IN CIIRSTER.—A. • correspondent of the
Builder at Chester writes as follows:—We are proceed-
ing with the sewerage of the place as fast as the funds
placed at our disposal will allow, and I think it can be
shown cheaper than in any other place. We are now
engaged in cleansing our courts, alleys, &c., and in
removal of all nuisance likely to prove injurious to
health. An improved system of cleansing the streets
has also been suggested, and we are carrying out an im-
proved mode of paving, both of which, if generally
adopted, will also be conducive to health. A cemetery
company has also been formed. We are trapping all
our street gratings, and our sewers we are ventilating by
passing the rain water-spouts into them, which, if not
the most effective way, is the cheapest. It is useless to
trap sewers unless you afford the means for the escape
of the noxious gases generated in them. We want a
better and cheaper supply of both water 411c1 gas.