The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-27 00:00:00

and the remainder in another ? One lighter could
take the first to the ship, where the stewards would
receive them; the remainder would go down the
hold. But there is too great a disposition en the

part of the officers to treat as real impedimenta the

luggage of those who have paid so large a sum for
- -

their passage, ar.(l I call the managing Directors'

particular attention to the subject, as some strin-

gent regulations are imperatively required. Again,
the most barefaced robberies take place in the tran-
sit across Egypt. No sooner is a vessel anchored
at Alexandria than all the luggage is bundled over
the side into barges, and the passengers see it no
more until their arrival at Suez, where they behold
a mass heaped on the ship's hencoops in glorious
confusion. In very numerous instances the boxes
of those on board the Simla were broken open and
valuable property stolen ; in others the packages
were altogether missing. Her Majesty's Embassy
lost two boxes of books. Captain Lindsay, Mr.

Doyne, Mr. Loch, Mr. Wortley, Mr.:Dodd, and
others had their boxes broken open or lost. I
feel sure that when this is brought under the no-
tice of Mr. Betts, who so ably manages the Egyp-
tian railway, he will remedy the grievance with-
out delay. A trustworthy Englishman should
be stationed at Alexandria to receive the luggage
In charge, and should be made responsible for its
safe arrival on board at Suez.

We were a motley group at the old Mansion-
house Hotel on Tuesday evening, but there was no
vain repining. We resigned ourselves to our fate
and to the tender mercies of the Galle tailors and
haberdashers, whose appetite for English gold had
been whetted by a previous bleeding of unfortu-
nates from the wreck of the Ava. Mr. Bailey tele-
graphed to Bombay for another steamer, and I te-
legraphed you the news of the loss. The line, as
usual, was out of order, and though we sent an ex-
press to Colombo, no answer has been returned to
Mr. Bailey up to the moment I write. My own
telegram will probably never reach its destination.
Let me now return to the ship. No sooner was
she beached than Captain Grainger made every
effort to save the mails, Ina few minutes 84 boxes
and bags were got The sea then burst into the
mail-room, compl:etely filling it, and nearly drown-
ing the men :eh° were at work.
The fb.liowing list of English and Continental
saved and missing, will be of interest to many
e:t your readers. lam indebted for it to the Post-
master-General of Ceylon. From England for
Penang were one box and two packets, all of which
are missing. For Singapore 20 boxes, one bag, and
four packets, of which five boxes only have been
saved. The mail for Java consisted of 56 boxes, and
all but six are gone. Hong Kong has been more
fortunate., as out of 62 boxes, two bags, and two
packets, 40 boxes, two bags, and one packet are
sated. The British Admiral on the China station
pares worst of all ; there were 14 boxes for him,and
13 are gone. Out of seven boxes for the F reach ex-
pedition six have been saved. Including all the local
mails, the Malabar had 199 packages on board, of
which 84 are saved and 115 still in the ship.
About an hour after landing I returned in a canoe
to the Malabar. The sea was then completely over
her quarter deek, and the engine-room and stoke-
holes were full. The surf was increasing, and she
lay a complete wreck, her stern rapidly burying
itself in the sand, while her bow was high out of
water. Our escape was, indeed, Providential.
Had the anchor not held after we got on the rocks,
her engine compartment would have been the first
to fill, and had we escaped being blown up we
should have perished among the rocks. If proof be
wanted that this opinion is not exaggerated here
are the very words of Mr. Crawford, the chief en-
gineer :—" Had she grounded upon the engine-room
compartment we must have sunk within a quarter
of an hour, and there would have been the greatest
danger of the boilers collapsing." Had the wind
not come round to the southward and swung her
clear, it was simply a question of minutes whether
she broke in two or went down stern first. Had
the hole been somewhat larger we should have gone
to the bottom at once. Had it been less, we should
have gone to sea first, and to the bottom afterwards.
Had the screw been damaged we could never have
got across the bay to beach her. Had the broken
hawser been twisted the reverse way the engines
could not have gone ahead. She struck between
two vital parts, the engine-room and the screw, and
in the very nick of time she swung off the reef.
Her Majesty's ship Cyclops steamed into harbour
between 4 and 5, and took up her moorings near
the scene of our disaster. Captain Pullen was the
first who arrived to rescue the wrecked Almaites,
and here he is, anxious and ready to afford assist-
ance to those of the Malabar. The Cyclops had
been off the harbour a great part of the morning,
but the pilot refused to risk her in the intricate
navigation of the bay until the weather improved.
Captain Pullen at once placed himself in communi-
cation with Mr. Bailey, and it was determined to
hold a consultation next morning upon the wreck,
as to the measures to be adopted for saving the bul-
lion, mails, and baggage. This consultation was
held, and the following is a copy of the report :
" Point de Galle, May 23.
"In compliance with your order, we, whose Lames are
hereunto subscr;bed, have been on board the steamer Mala-
bar, and find as follows :
" That the ship is aground from aft as far forward as the
foremast, and embedded nearly 18 feet in the sand abaft, the
fore, compartment only being clear of water, the swell break-
ing over her as far forward as the funnel, with 14 feet water
aft and 18 foi ward.
" That as there is no chance of saving her, every endea•
your should be used toward saving the cargo, stares, &v.,
that can be got at. This done, we are of opinion that it may
be expedient to fill the fore eom-artment, with the view of
keeping her together as long as possible.
" To reach the truasuro-rooin it would be necessary to
blow up the poop and upper decks; even then with little
prospect of the recovery of the specie or cargo during the
present monsoon , this, therefore, we consider inexpedient,
as it would materially weaken the vessel.
" From the opinion of authorities long resident here as
to the weather to be expected, we think that there is every
chance of her holding together till the return of the north-
east monsoon will render working at her practicable, when
all may be recovered.
" JAS. W. ARMSTRONG, Lieutenant,
11.M.5.
Hr. D. HARR s, Master, j Cyclops.
J. W. FuLL.TAMES, Carpenter, )11
JOHN BLACK, Lloyd's Agent.
PETER UPTON, barque Waverley.
" To Captain W. 4. Pullen, H.M.S. Cyclops."
I shall only remark on this that the north-east
monsoon will not return before November. By that
time our baggage—if that be included in the " all"
that may be recovered—will be in a sorry state.
The Malabar had-on board 1,080 boxes of bullion,
worth nearly £300,000; 725 chests of opium, worth
upwards of £lOO,OOO, of which 216 have been re-
covered from the forehold. The remainder are aft,
and cannot be reached. The ship herself cannot be
replaced for less than £60,000, and the rest of the
cargo and passengers' baggage will swell the total
loss to half a million sterling. The whole of the
bullion will most probably be recovered, but the
salvage dues will be very considerable. Mr. Bailey
is determined not to throw away a chance. He has,
therefore, sent fur two divers from Colombo, with a
view of seeing what fifty can save, and I hope in a
Postcript to give some report of their proceedings.
And now comes the question,—Why was the
148.1abar lost, and who is responsible ? I have taken
every Pains to ascertain the facts, but there are
such glaring and important discrepancies that an
inquiry, ands
searching one, should be made with-
out loss of time.
The reel buoy On one point all parties agree.
near 'which we were anchored ought to
mark the east side of the Veluvaka or Hospital reef,
and it affords an indication
such a ship as the Malabar, of danger westward for
a
in four fathoms water bythick
buoy was moored
it
ed .
cable six fathoms
rive
long, attached to a clamp
down
e xa
tphl
eaprcretg lea.
tchard,
et
wi poeni
ee
kco es
of rock.
ago, and moored with a new cable,
n
the south-west monsoon. Commander
RN., was formerly master-attendant of Galle har-
bour, but in P ugust last he was removed to Comm..
bo, and his place has never been filled. Since his
Jantz, the senior nativepialoto,
Gallo
departure Mr.
been acting-master attendant. Ho was
18 years, and it is his duty to see that pilot during
are in their
. proper places. Amid the,
the buoys
mass of contradictions as to facts, and the very
numerous theories, I shall not attempt tantas com.
parere lites. I will merely state the evidence I have
obtained from personal examination of numerous
agent, applied to Mr.
persons. Mr. Black, Lloyds'