The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-07 00:00:00

THE VICTORIA BELL AT THE LEEDS
TOWN HALL.

The Victoria Bell, cast for the Leeds Town-hall
by the well-known firm of Messrs. Warner and
Sons, of the Crescent Foundry, Cripplegate, London,
has this week been permanently fixed in the tower,
and can now be rung, tolled, or chimed,on special and
festive occasions, and applied to denote the hour to
the inhabitants of the borough, so soon as
the clock shall have been fixed by Mr. Dent.
The instruction to Messrs. Warner by the town-
hall committee was to provide a bell of 4 tons, and
they have produced one almost exactly that
weight, viz., 4 tons 1 cwt. 11b. The design for the
Victoria Bell was prepared by Mr. Boswell, the fore-
man of the establishment, under whose superinten-
dence it was cast. Its composition was three of copper
to one of tin ; the note produced, B natural, is rich,
full, and sonorous, and the tone has been acknow-
ledged by competent judges to be perhaps the bust
and purest of its kind in the country. The diameter
of the bell is 6 feet 2 inches, height 5 feet, thick-
ness of sound bow 6 inches, and weight of the
clapper (which is of wrought iron) 1 cwt.
'Upon one side of the waist of the bell there
is a profile of her Majesty, and upon the other
the royal coat of arms and Messrs. Warner's
patent. The bell was brought down to Leeds in
the last week of August, and successfully raised
and fixed temporarily for trial on the 30th of that
month, the framework on which it rested weigh-
ing between .three and four tons. It was deemed
advisable to raise the whole of the framework six
feetfrom the ground to allow of the expansion of
the sound and its ready escape from the tower, but
beyond this and the first trial nothing further was
done until the present week, when the bell was per-
' manently hung upon a wheel, and provided with the
apparatus by which it may be rung upon all festive
occasions. The wheel is ten feet in dameter, or thirty
feet in circumference, having two grooves for a
couple of ropes, by means of which the bell May be
effectually rung. All .the prelirninarieS having
been concluded, the trial ringing took place on .
Monday and Tuesday evenings. Six or eight
ringers from the parish church were engaged, and
it took them three minutes to raise or set the
bell, or, popularly speaking, to reverse the position,
the mouth upwards. The bell having thus attained
its full swing, it was rung on both evenings for an
hour and a half or two hours, the quality of tone
emitted being pure, clear, and powerful, and
it was tried both "right and wrong," to rest its
powers of bearing the weight of the clapper,
with the most successful result. On Tuesday the
night was considered favourable for the experi-
ment, and the rich and mellow sound was heard
fora considerable distance with a favourable wind,
the breeze blowing in the direction of Woodhouse-
moor and Headingley. It is believed that the bell
when rung will be heard a distance of about six
miles, and when tolled or chimed flute or four
miles. The Victoria Bell, by comparison, is far
from being a large one, but it has the advantage,
which the more unwieldy bells•do not possess, of
being perfectly under control, and of presenting no
impediment to its constant employment. The Great
Peter of York Minister, which, excepting Big Ben, of
Westminster, is the largest and heaviest in the
United Kingdom (weighing 27,0001b5., or nearly
three times the Victoria Bell, and having a diameter of
7 feet 7 inches), is practically rendered almost value-
less, owing to its ponderous weight, and can only
be tolled, not rung. Great Tom of Oxford was re-
hung in 1834, by Messrs. Boswell and Son, but it
was only rung three parts up, when the wheel gave
wv, and since then the bell has been chained down
by order of the church authorities, though occa-
sionally tolled, like the Great Peter, with a ham-
mer. Great Tom of Lincoln, which'wcighs 12,0001b5.,
and the great bell of St. Paul's, London, which
weighs l 1,5001b5., and bas a diameter.of 9 feet, and
a circumference of 2S feet, are in the same undigni-
fied condition, and simply strike the hours. All the
fittings and framework of the Victoria Bell, which
are composed of English oak, arc of so substantial
a character that they remove all cause of anxiety
for the safety of the tower. They were erected
under the direction of Mr. Boswell, to whom great
Ptaisejs due for the great care and workmanlike
ability with which he has superintended the com-
pletion of his difficult task. The cost of the bell and
fittings we understand will be about £l,OOO. When
used simply in connection with the clock the bell
will he struck upon the outside, with a hammer
weighing about two hundredweights,. and which
will be raised about nine inches from the sound-
bow. A suggestion has also been made as to the
desirability of a hammer being provided, by which
an alarm might be given in case of fire. This prin-
ciple is adopted pretty extensively by our trans-
Atlantic brethren, some of the signals being so
complete, that it is said they will indicate in what
part.of the city the fire has occurred. We have no
doubt the suggestion 'will receive every considera-
tion from the proper quarters.—Leeds Mercury.

FATAL SHIPWRECKS ON THE COAST

OF WEXFOR,D.

It is again our melancholy duty to have to record
a disastrous wreck, or rather wrecks, which have
taken place near here during the last few days, in
the one case involving a great amount of suffering
and the loss of one lite, in addition to the destruc-
tion of a large amount of exceedingly valuable pro-
perty. The first of these disasters which we have
to notice occurred at an early hour on Sunday morn-
ing in the neighbourhood of Bannow, where the
Arethusa, of Glasgow, from the Havannahs, was
driven ashore, and became a total wreck. The
Arethusa, which was a vessel of 322 tons burden,
built at Greenock in 1828, belonged to Messrs. R.
Dunlop and Co., of that place, and was commanded
by '1 Martin, in addition to whom there was a
crew of 15, including the chief mate and all hands.
The vessel had a valuable cargo of tobacco, ma-
hogany, and lancewood, consigned to Messrs. Hall
and C 0.5 Liverpool, which she shipped at the port
of Zarza, in the island of Cuba, which place she
left on her return voyage on the 10th Oct. last.
I Soon after leaving Zarza the ship grounded on a
bank, but came of without apparent damage, and
proceeded on her voyage, encountering, however,
very rough weather for the whole distance. On
the 19th Nov. she commenced making water very
fast, the crew being obliged to keep the pumps con-
stantly going; and to add t. their misfortune, in
consequence of their lengthened passage, the pro-
visions ran short. This continued up to Friday last,
the 30th ult., the captain in the meantime twice ob-
taining a supply of provisions from other vessels.
At 2 a.m. on that day, finding that he could not wea-
ther the Hook, his sails being all blown away, and
some of his crew sick, while the others were com-
pletely knocked up by fatigue and want of nourish-
ment, the captain let gothe starboard anchor in the
Bay of Fethard, off Begenbon, and hoisted his flag
for a pilot. The Coastguards and sonic fishermen
put off and boarded her, afterwards supplying him
with water and provisions; but none of the latter
could be induced to stay on board, as asked by the
captain, giving as a reason that she would not hold
to her anchors where she was. On Saturday morn-
ing the captain went ashore, in order to proceed to
Waterford to obtain the assistance of a steamer,
leaving the chief mate in charge, who, finding that
she was dragging, paid out more chain and let go
the port anchor, afterwards paying out all the
cable, which for a time had the effect of staying
her. At midnight, however, she commenced drag-
ging again, and at about 4 a.m. she struck heavily.
At about 7 o'clock the port cable broke, and she
went on the rocks. At very great risk to themselves
the fishermen and country people on shore, aided
by the coastguards, succeeded in forming a commu-
nication with the wreck, and by means of lines res
cued, with one exception, every soul on board. One
of the, seamen, named John McClean, not being able
to swim, lashed himself to a log of mahogany, in
the hopes of being washed ashore, but unfor-
tunately was drowned. In the course of Sun-
day and the following night the ship broke
up, the shore being s trewed, with portions of
the wreck and cargo. The tobacco, which
was of the finest leaf, consisted of more than 200
bales, the duty on which alone is estimated at over
£7,000, but none of it was saved, except that which
was washed shore. We understand that the oppor-
tunity was too tempting to some of the inhabitants
of that district, who are likely to get into trouble
for their over-partiality for the " weed," the reve-
nue officers having detcoted several parties taking
it away with them, even by car-loads. The second
wreck which we have to record took place at
ilmore, on Friday night, when the barque
Lady Rebow, of London, was run ashore
near St. Patrick's-bridge, Kilmore, in consequence
of the state of the weather precluding the captain
getting a sight of any of the coast lights. The
Lady Rebow, of 86 tons burden, was bound from St.
Michael's with oranges, and hopes are entertained
of her' being recovered, although the greatest por-
tion of her cargo will be lost. Fortunately no lies
were lost in this occurrence.— Wexford Constitu-
tion.

SINGULAR DEATH.—At an inquest on the body
of Edward Marsh, of Wigan, who died suddenly on Mon-
day last, held before the Wigan borough coroner on Wed-
nesday, the jury ieturned a verdict that "Deceased died
from suffocation, by eating black pudding and bread whilst
in a stata of intoxication."
BODY OF I MAN UNKNOWN FOUND AT Bow.—
The body of a respectably-attired man, about 33 years of
age, was found on Thursday morning in the river Lea, at
Bow, He was attired in a black reefing jacket, black cloth
vest with fancy brass buttons, pilot trousers, shirt marked
"A. H., 6," flannel shirt marked "T. Hearndon," with
grey stockings and blucher boots. Has dark curly hair,
with tuft of hair under his chin. In his pocket was found
an envelope, directed to Mr. Chesney, 3, St. George's-row,
Warwick-street, Pimlico, with an advertisement, concern-
ing a tobacconist's shop to be disposed of.