The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-24 00:00:00

FATAL BOAT ACCIDENT AT

.PORTSMOUTIT.

An unfortunate accident occurred off the Plat-
form Battery at Portsmouth yesterday, to the corn-
, mander's galley of her Majesty's ship Firebrand,
- lying at Spithead, which caused the loss of five
I lives. Between one and two p.m., the galley, with
her usual crew, six in number, and a stoker who
had obtained leave to go on shore to see his wife,
was despatched from the ship to the shore, for the
purpose of bringing off Commander Bruce, who
was on shore receiving his orders. It had been
blowing heavily all day from the south-west, with
a good deal of sea at times. In the harbour chan-
nel, where the ebb had made out strong at the
time the boat left the vessel for the shore, there
was a heavy sea caused by the meeting of the
tide and wind. As soon as the boat, under
a lug sail, got. into this broken water, she
buried her bow in the trough of the sea, and
was prevented rising again by the top of the sea
having hold of her stern, which-at once caused her
to broach and capsize. The men clung to the kcal,
and the boat turned over again, the coxswain get-
ting into her, and another man (Rogers) clinging
to the oppoSite gunwale. The remainder of
crew appear to have had hold -of the boat, but
dropped off one by one from exhaustion and the
heavy sea with the strong ebb before aid could
reach them. As soon as the accident occurred,
several boats put off from the shore to their assist.
ante, but were unable to reach them quickly,owin,,
to the strong breeze blowing on the shore and the
heavy sea. Fortunately, however, the master of a
steam-tug (W. Chambers) in the harbour be-
longing to Messrs. Smith the contractors, wit-
nessed the accident, and, hastening on board his
vessel, which was lying inside with her steam up,
he steamed out to the scene of the accident with a
boat in tow, and placing his steamer to windward
of the capsized boat, found he was in time to rescue
two of the men ; the remainder of the crew, with the
stoker, who was coming ashore on leave, were no-
where to be seen. As the men were much exhausted,
Chambers, as soon as ho had got them on board,
steamed alongside her Majesty's ship Britannia
(which had despatched one of her cutters to the
men's assistance), where the poor fellows were
taken on board and received the necessary atten-
tion. The two men saved are Henry Jones,
coxswain, and George Rogers, ordinary seaman.
The following are the names of the men who are
lost :—Peter Crofts, A. 8., E. Evrington, A. 8., W.
' Woonton, or Wilton, A. 8., and John Rule, ordinary
seaman, boat's crew ; and John Grant, stoker. The
foul weather flag, a blue and white triangular one,
was flying from the staff of the Semaphore in the
dockyard when the boat was despatched from the
Firebrand and when the accident occurred, and as
this flag denotes that" no communication is to take
place between the men-of-war at Spithead and the
shore by boats during the time the signal is kept
flying," it is difficult to imagine how the boat came
to be sent on shore in defiance of the signal plainly
visible from the tower of Semaphore. We are in-
formed this is the second time that Chambers, the
master of the tug, has succeeded in saving human
life by his promptness when other means, as in this
case, must have been unavailable.

TERRIBLE BO A7' ACCIDENT.-LOSS 01

FOUR LIVES.

WORCESTER, FRIDAY.—An accident, if it can be
so designated, happened here this morning, which
has caused much excitement in the city, and given
rise to some conjectures and perhaps hasty judg-
ments. It should be explained that the Worcester
and Hereford Railway has been opened some months
for passenger traffic from the west bank of the Severn
to Malvern about eight miles, but that at present
the bridge over the Severn has not been passed by
the Government inspector of railways, who does
not consider it sufficiently strong for. the purpoK.
In order to strengthen it the engineer has caused to
be placed six tiers of massive wooden piles or sup-
ports, three under each of the two arches. These
piers or pillars arc a considerable obstruction to the
traffic on the river, which is carried on in canal
boats and barges, there being just room enough for
the largest class of barges to pass through the inter-
vening spaces of clear water between the piers or
abutments. This obstruction has led to a most
serious calamity, causing the death of four persons,
an imperiling the lives of three others.
This morning, as the canal-boat Lady Wood was
bringing down a cargo of coal from Staffordshire,
in passing under the bridge the vessel fouled the
piles, throwing her out of her course, and almost
immediately capsizing her. At the time there,
were seven persons on board, viz., the captain,
named Whitehouse, his wife, three children,
and a sister of Mrs. Whitehouse, and a boatman
named Causer. The captain was steering, the
children were in the cabin. Mrs. Whitehouse was
washing in the hatchway, and Causer was rowing.
Whitehouse contrived to hold on by the piles, and
seizing his wife by the hair of her head held her
suspended until a boat came out to their assistance.
Causer swam ashore, but the three children and
Mrs. Whitehouse's sister, aged 15, were all drowned.
Three of the children's bodies have been recovered,
one of them having floated a distance of nearly a
mile. The parents of the children, who saw them
drowned before their eyes, are in a dreadfully dis-
tracted state, and refuse to be comforted. The
boat is sunk in mid channel, and offers an additional
obstruction to the traffic.

An inquest is to be held on the bodies, at which
he most searching examination will take place.

TIIE BU.R.RADON COLLIERY EXPLO-

SION.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, FRIDAY.
The coroner for South:Northumberland resumed.
the inquiry at Burradon yesterday, into the cir-
cumstances of the explosion in the pit there, by
which 76 persons were killed, on the 2d of March.
There was a croweed attendance, as at all the for-
mer sittings of the court.
William 'Williams, a hewer, who had wrought in
a board at the face of the coal, on the morning of
the explosion, and who was succeeded by Maddox, at
whose light the pit subsequently fired and killed
the men and lads, was called, and in consequence
of some information that he had received, re-exa-
mined by the coroner. The witness said that
while employed in his board on the morning of
the explosion, two small blowers or bags of gas
came away from the coal and fired at his light,
and that he was afraid ; but that when Maddox
came to relic:Ye him at nine in the morning he did
not speak to him about it, nor did he mention
the circumstance to any of the officials of the pit.
The coroner was proceeding to remark on the
shocking conduct of the witness in leaving .130
men and lads to their fate, without thinking it
proper to make it known to the deputy or under-
viewer, or even to the men about the pit, that two
blowers had fired at his board, when he replied
that the deputy and under-viewer knew as well as
him.
_ _

The inquest has been adjourned for a fortnight.

It is said that the parties who have lately been
in communication with the Turkish Government on the
subject of a new loan contemplated an attempt to raise a
net sum of £5,000,000 by a six per cent. steck at 55. All
negotiations of the kind are now, however, alleged to have
terminated.

The next issue of Victoria Six per Cent. Deben-
tures is still expected to take place about the 15,11 of April,
but the precise day will probably not be named until after
the arrival of the next Australian mail. The question
whether the £3,000,000 should .be offered at once or be
divided, half being put forth now and the remaining half
six months hence, will most likely be determined by the
advices then to be received.
It is stated that the submarine cable between
Batavia and Singapore has again broken.
The Champion of the Seas has arrived from Mel-
bourne with 44,020 ounces of gold, worth about £170,000.
The Euxine, from the Peninsula, has brought 20,035 oz.
PASSENGERS FROM BOMBAY. The Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamship Delta, Captain Black,
which is expected at Southampton on Sunday or Monday,
with the heavy portion of the Bombay mails, brings the
following passengers from Bombay •—Colonel the Hon. C.
D. Plunkett, Captain and Mrs. Schreiber and servant, Miss
Penny and servant, Mrs. Dann and two children, Mrs.
Atkinson, infant, and servant ; Mrs. Mason, Rey. Mr. and
Mrs. Harrison and two children, Rev. Mr. Farrer, Mrs.
Rance and child, Dr. Arden, Mr. Dover, Mr. Bates, Mr. and
Mrs. R. F. Young, three children, and servant ; Mrs. Guerin,
Miss Atkinson, Mrs. Swaffield, and Mr. Croughan.
THE INDIAN DUTY ON YARNS.—The directors of
the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, at a recent meet-
ing, passed a resolution strongly condemning the increased
rate of duty on yarns, proposed by Mr. Wilson as part of
his system of Indian finance. They have also requested an
interview with Sir C. Wood, the Secretary of State for
India, for the purpose of expressing to him their opinions
on the subject, and we are informed that Sir C. Wood has
appointed to receive a deputation from the Chamber on
Tuesday next.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES IN RUSSIA.—Under
this heading, the Daily News says--The appointment
7tthoef
Count Panine, Minister of Justice, to the Presidency
Commission for the Emancipation of the Peasantry, is re-
garded by the Liberal party as an omen of a serious changeinere
of policy on the part of the Emperor. Count
presents the absolutist and oligarchical party,. and his se-
lection is considered to forebode a return totlle systep of
the Emperor Nicholas. The sudden " indisposition
of
Prince Gortschakoff, rendering probable his retirement
from the Ministry of Foreign
.Affairs, would appear to
herald a reconciliation With Austria.
THE CAFES-CONCERTS IN PARIS.—The Mine
et Gazette des Thdatres says :—" The attention of the
Minister of State has for some time past been attracted.to
the encroachments of the cafes-concerts in Paris. At first
these establishments confined themselves to causing per-
formers to sing detached airs ; they then gave duos, then
trios, and then, little by little, entire scenes. The singers,
too, who at first figured only in plain clothes, afterwards
d in costume; and eventually appeareentire operettas were
executed. In this manner more than one cap became a
veritable theatre, in spite of the formal directions of the
authoritim