The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-13 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE GANGES STEAMER.

The Athinian brings intelligence of the total loss
of the steamer Ganges, built by Sohn Laird, Esq.,
of Birkenhead, for the Oriental Inland Steam N-
avigation Company.
The Ganges was intended for the navigation of
the Indian rivers, and was a vessel of exceedingly
light draught of water. She foundered in a sudden
and unexpected manner on the 29th July, in lat.
35.10 N., lon. 13 W.

She left Liverpool on the 12th June, bound for
India. The crew upon abandoning her divided
themselves into three small boats, and steered a
course for the island of Madeira, but in consequence
of the high sea running at the time they all
parted company during the night. One boat;
containing seven of the crew, in the charge of the
second officer, made Madeira after being exposed to
' a tremendous sea for four days, and as the Athenian
was steaming out of port she passed another of the
boats, in charge of the chief officer. The lifeboat,
containing the captain and nine men, was °till
missing, and much anxiety was felt for them, five
days having elapsed since the loss of the Ganges.
The captain's boat was the best fitted out of. the
three. The Athenian brings home those saved in
the first boat. The names of those still missing
are :—James William Callan, master; Charles
William Humphries, chief engineer ; Wm. Charles
Thompson, carpenter; Lawrence Holland, steward ;
John River, seaman; William Edwards, seaman;
Thomas Brown, seaman ; William Braidwood, fire-
man; William Caddy, fireman.

LETTER FROM GARIBALDI TO QUEEhY
VICTORIA.

V

Your Majesty,—Called by my duty to my Italian father-
land to defend its cause in Sicily, I have assumed the dic-
tatorship of a generous people, who, after a long-continued
struggle, wish for nothing but to participate in the national

life and freedom under the sceptre of the magnanimous
prince in whom Italy trusts.
The envoy who presents himself to your Majesty in the
name of the Provisional Government which now rules this
country does not pretend to represent a special and distinct
State, but he comes as the interpreter of the thoughts and
sentiments of two millions and a-half of Italians. By this
title I beg your Majesty to deign to receive him, granting
a kind audience and attention to what he may respectfully
urge upon your Majesty in behalf of this most beautiful and

G. GARIBALDI.

noble part of Italy.
PLletmo, June 22.
To her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.

FUTURE NAVAL WARFARE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The application of steam and screws to
vessels of war has caused much speculation as to
what will be their effect in the first naval warfare
that occurs, and has turned men's minds to con-
sidering what defects may arise, and what is the
best means of overcoming them.
Sir Howard Douglas, in his able work on "Naval
Warfare," has pointed out the danger of the screw
becoming fouled from floating or submerged wreck,
or the ligging of disabled spars dragging astern
and fouling the screw ; and nothing can be ef
greater importance, for a vessel, when once her
motive power was gone, would be a useless log
upon the water, unable to alter her position, either
for her own advantage or at the order of the
commander-in-chief, and might thereby jeopardise
the result of a great naval action. In peace, also,
it is of the utmost importance. Two cases have
already occurred in which the masts going over
the side have fouled and disabled the screw, and
the vessels been lost. The first was the Prince, in
Balaklava harbour, the other the Royal Charter;
and in the latter case one of the principal officers
gave it as his opinion, on the Government inquiry,
that "in a screw•ship, whenever the mast goes over
the side, the screw would be disabled."
It is these disasters, and those which might occur
in our first naval action, that determined me to try
to find some means of preventing them, and I have
fitted to the model of a 50-gun screw-frigate, a.
guard, simple in the extreme, which would have
the effect of stopping and turning from the screw
all things likely to foul it, and at the same time
fits, when out of use, so closely to her side that it
would not depreciate her speed. I have shown it
to many eminent shipbuilders, and have received
from them all an approval of its merits and ease of
application, and some of them have given me writ-
ten testimonials, which I enclose, and which I hope
you will publish with this letter ; but others would
not do so, because they feared to get into disgrace
with the Admiralty—a sad state of affairs, when a
shipbuilder is afraid to recommend a simple and.
useful invention, one that might some day change
the fortune of a battle, for fear of receiving
censure instead of praise from the authorities at
Whitehall. There is now a plan of hoisting the
screw on board the ship, but it is doubtful, except
from fouling, whether it is safer from shot in that
position than under the water ; but in addition
to the time lost in lowering the screw when wanted
is the fact that under the counter, and in the place
vacated by the screw when hoisted, is the very place
where all the wreck would congregate, and the
rigging hanging to wounded spars drag itself ; and.
the screw when lowered (if not prevented from
being so by the wreck) would most likely be fouled
and stopped at its first revolution.
My plan would obviate these difficulties if the
Admiralty would only try it on a gunboat. I have
no wish to get anything for it; I am ready to pre-
sent it to the country, and content for reward to.
know that some day, if not in peace, yet in the first
war, I shall be acknowledged to be its benefactor.
It is for this reason I beg of you to publish this
letter, that the present Board of Admiralty may not
be allowed to reject without trial for the nation a
thing which, in the hour of need, may be of the
greatest service to our natural national defence and
safeguard—the British navy.—l remain, sir, your
obedient servant,

IL B. POWELL,
Late Captain Grenadier Guards.
Foxleap Park, Lyndhurst.

Dunbar, of London, sailed
Godfrey, belonging to Messmer.
_Melbourne. Besides a full
CATTLE FOR AUSTRALIA.--The Copenhagen,CaPt.
from Plymouth on Saturday
and pipes, sho
general cargo (1,600 tons) -f fßritish manufactured goods,
apparatus,asthe entire blood-horse Lien,.
itnakeleusdlin3gehaeliaoregbeallurt ityeooofwgs
trperior prize mare and foal, lately
_sal Agricultural Society's Exhibition at
worth about aabtouthte£B3ooy,
fapnouiu,amtrybe,r of rams and sheep, a pair of swans,
sce. Most of the bulls are of the
Canterbury,
quantity
e
Durham breed--one (Duke Humphrey)
is
Humphwraeryt)hidsovuablie thatuedat Ls2nOnt,
won the second prize at the last Canterbury
show, against Royal Butterfly, brother to l‘laster Butterfly,
Thisand another,
bull Prince of Prussia,
which was taken out successfully by Captain Godfrey, in
1857. The Ramillies, Captain Wright, also belonging to
Messrs. Dunbar, left this port on the Bth instant, with 287
Government emigrants for Adelaide. Three ships are
licurly expected—viz., the Result, Captain Cow, belonging
to Messrs. Green, for .Melbourne; the Shah Jehan, Cap-
tain Cox, with Governintnt emigrants for Adelaide; and
the Lady Mtied, mild, Captain Lrumell, for Sydney.
THuNDEnsToBm —On Saturday morning, be-
tween 11 and 12 o'clock, there was a storm of thunder and
lightning in the metropolis, accompanied withhheaTL.
wasi
The storm did not last long, but one clap ovfet thunder
appalling. Several persons are said to heasteeplenoinfjßuroewd
and much damage done to property.
Church, Cheapside, sustained injury,
Bethnal-green appears to
tower of the Royal Exchange. q The
also the clock
ofby theligbsttnoirnmg.
in
nlat
lilfoi
rnri
rl
1a,nai41...
have suffered very much from
wathels3eaellcetsd
is stated that a labouring
while in charge of a flock of
also killed. 'Several minor:
field at Dagenham, Essemxa,n
sheep, several of which
tiir aatefigle,y I
ll°l qrch, Plaistow, West Ham, and other
casualties occurred in theWtdeanirlatßricetws,osf
Dalston, Clapton, rn
tham stow, North Woo
and in some parts rain fell in tor-
the grounds of the market gardeners were
parts, where much damageu has been caused by the unusual
violence 'of the storm,
inundated and
rents, whereby
much valuable property destroyed.