The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-05 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

Commander George Blane (1846) to the Rapid, 8.
brig, commissioned this day at Portsmouth.
Master Alfred Messum (1851) to the Rapid.
Acting Paymaster and Purser George Shambler (clerk
of 1843) to the Rapid.
The Wildfire paddle-wheel steam vessel, in charge
of Second Master George Brockman, arrived at Wool-
wich to-day from Sheerness, to lye repaired at the fac-
tory here.

PLUNDER OF THE BRIG VIOLET,
OF WISBEACII, BY PIRATES-CAPTIVITY
OF HER CREW AMONG THE MOORS.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
In the shipping intelligence of yesterday it was re-
ported that the Violet brigantine, from Galatz to
Queenstown, supposed to be laden with a cargo of Indian
corn, was captured by a horde of pirate Moors in the
Bay of Botoya, to the west of Cape Tres Forces; that
one man was killed end the master wounded and detained
with the rest of the crew a prisoner for ransom by the
Moors, and that the brigantine and her cargo were de-
stroyed by the pirates owing to a quarrel respecting the
partition of the plunder. This ill-fated ship belongs to
tho port of Wisbeach, and stands A 1 at Lloyd's; her
owner, Mr. Edward Bailey Cross, the youngest son of
the late Rev. Samuel Cross, of Leverington, near Wis-
beach, has most unfortunately accompanied his ship on
this voyage. Mr. Cross joined the Violet at Glasgow,
in April, and chartered her with coals and iron from the
Clyde to Malaga, and to proceed from thence to Galata
for grain for the United Kingdom.
The Violet reached Galata on the Gth of August, and
sailed with a cargo of Indian corn for Queenstown on the
12th. She made Constantinople on the 28th, and a
letter was received from Mr. Cross stating the expected
to reach Queenstown ia six weeks. Latterly much anxiety,
has been felt respecting the Violet, as she was a re-
markably fast sailer, and American built, and also from
the fact of several vessels, which left Galatz later than
her having arrived at Queenstown. By the steam-ship
Montrose, advices have reached Southampton respecting
reprisals having been made by tha Janus upon the Riff
pirates for their capture of a Spanish ship, the Jouen
Emilia, and that the Janus had been beaten off ;by the
Moors. It is also reported that five British subjects are
held as captives by the Bedouins, who demand 100
piastres ransom for them. These five parties are, most
probably, Mr. Cross, Captain Layton, the master of the
Violet, and the survivors of the crew. As mention is
made that one man was killed and the master wounded,
great anxiety is felt by Mr. Samuel Massey Cross, of
the Horseshoe steam-mills, Wisbeach, as to the fate of
his brother, especially as mention is made of only five
British subjects being prisoners, the Violet's crew con-
sisting of eight, including the owner and captain. Cap-
tain Layton's wife resides at Newport, Monmouthshire.
By this time it is hoped that the authorities at
Gibraltar have released the Violet's crew, and that Lord
Palmerston will give orders for an example to be made
of the state which fosters hordes of pirates on its shores.
The French Government is about to bombard Sallee for
an outrage upon the wreck of a merchantman belonging
to Marseilles, but this atrocity committed upon the
Violet far exceeds that upon the French wreck. The
Violet is only partially insured.