The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-24 00:00:00

THE MEDITERRANEAN.

SOUTHAMPTON, MARCH 23.
By the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
• screw steam-ship Alma, Captain R. W. Evan's,
with the Indian, arid Mediterranean mails, in charge
of Lieut. Irwin, It N., Admiralty agent, we have
dates from Alexandria, March 11 ; Malta, 14 ;
Gibraltar, 18. The Alma brings 37 first-class pas-
sengers, 29 second, and 20 children. Among them
are Major Ruse, 9th Lancers ; Drs. Steele and
Harland ; Capains Rees, Toulon, and Ferris ;
Lieut. \Voolridge, R.N. ; Major and Mrs. Mere-
dith ; Lieut. the Hon. A. Pennington, Rifle
Brigade ; Lieut. Gould, 31st Regiment, and two
distressed British seamen. Ou freight the Alma
has 1 package of specie, value not stated, and a
cargo consisting of 3 packages of jewellery, 66 chests
and boxes of oranges, 91 packages of gum, 5 pack-
ages of elephants' teeth, 13 cases of shawls, 2 bales
of cinnamon, 24 packages of samples, 10 boxes of
dates, 219 bales of silk, 10 casks of Marsala, 84
packages of effects, and 122 packages of sundries.
Darin e, the voyage the weather was remarkably
fine, with light bead winds. On the outward voy-
age, on the 21 of March, when off the island of
Galita, 10 waterspouts wore observed near the
ship. After continuing for about half an hour
some gradually disappeared, while others burst and
discharged near the vessel. The weather during
the clay had been squally, with heavy rain. It is
seldom that so many of these phenomena are seen
so numerous in the Mediterranean. The Alma
passed several steamers and ships, but they did not
make their numbers.

At Alexandria were the Turkish steam-frigate
Hadji Baba, a steam-sloop, name unknown, and
the Pasha's yacht Faad Gahaad ; the Austrian
frigate Venus sailed from Alexandria on the Bth
instant.

At Malta were Her Majesty's ships Royal Albert,
Hannibal, Odin, Agamemnon, Princess Royal,
Caracoa, Tribune, Terrible, Gladiator, Miranda,
Hibernia, Medina, Firebrand, Triton, and Beagle,
the Dutch frigate, De Ruyter, a Turkish frigate,
and the Peninsular and Oriental Company's ship
Camila (steam-transport), Vectis and Euxiue.
Her Majesty's ships Viper and Medina sailed
for Kertch on the 6th inst. ; the St. Jean d'Acre
for Athens on the 10th, and the Highflyer for Con-
stantinople on the 11th inst.
Our dates from Gibraltar are' to the 18th inst.
Her Majesty's ship Ariel was lying in the bay. Her
Majesty's screw steam-frigate Cossack, which had
returned from a cruise to the eastward, sailed for
England on the 17th inst. The steam-transport
Sarah Sands, which arrived at Gibraltar on the
18th inst. from Liverpool, with artillerymen,
horses, &c., landed 21 of the animals sick and in-
jured ; and, having filled up with mules from the
depot in the garrison, started for her destination
on the 15th. The Earl of Durham steam-transport
sailed from Gibraltar for Malta and Constantinople,
with camp equipage and provisions for the British
army, ou the night of the 14th. The steam-trans-
port Norman, with, atillerymen and horses from
Woolwich for Balaklava, sailed the same evening.
The British steamer Karnak, seven days from .
Liverpool, arrived at Gibraltar on the 15th inst.
The steam-transport Hydaspes, six clays from
Southampton, with horse artillery, &c., for the
Crimea, reached Gibraltar on the 15th inst., and
after coaling, resumed her voyage on the following
day. The whole of the men were in excellent
health and spirits, but five of the horses had pe-
rished, it is said, chiefly owing to defective venti-
lation, want of drainage, and the rough weather
encountered on the passage. Two others died dur-
ing the night of the 15th, owing to the great heat
on the lower deck which existed after the steamer
had anchored. At Gibraltar every horse wag re-
moved from his stall, which was thoroughly cleansed,
and the animals were well groomed. Capt. Hyde
made every effort to remedy the defect in the venti-
lation and drainage, and it was believed bad so far
sneceededas to preventfurther casualties. Thesteam
transport Balbec, en route from the Crimea, sailed
from Gibraltar for Spithead on the 17th. The
Balbec brings 77 Russian guns, 132 barrels, 5
boxes, and 11 packages of gunpowder; which she
took cu hoard at Balaklava, and the following pas-
sengers :—Majors Hope and Penton, Lieutenants
Butler and Waller, Messrs. Hardinge, Belfield,
Parkinson, and 35 others. The Swedish sloop-of-
war Lagerbjelke sailed for the westward on the
morning of the 16th inst. The steam-transport
Jura, with troops for the Crimea, passed Gibraltar
on the 16th. The Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's mail steam-ship TiNus;with the Peninsular
mails, left Gibraltar for Southampton, calling at
Cadiz, Lisbon, &c., on the 15th inst.
A melancholy accident took place on the 17th
inst. at Gibraltar at one of the quarries on the
north front by the explosion of a mine, by which
two men were killed on the spot and another very
seriously wounded. it appears that the mine was
fired, but after some time, no explosion taking