The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-22 00:00:00

THE 11UIMICA.VE 711E11-EST INDIES.

The following letter is from an officer of the
Douro

ET. THOMAS, Nov. 5.
Very peaceful and ye, y beautiful looked the
town of St. Thomas when. 'first sighted at about four
o'clock in the afternoon of the 30th of October from
the deck of the Douro. the steatwsr from Southamp-
ton on the 17th of that month. Delightful hal been
the run during the m or ling, as with all sails up to
royals set we had st( anted by the low rocky beach
of Sombrero, an island without a tree, and inhabited
only by a few miners.----then the bold bluffs and the
reefs of Virgin Gord 3, and having coasted the chain
of islands which in qudes St. John's, Tortola, and
Peter Island, at last we let go our anchor in the
outer roads of St. Thomas, at a distance of about
two miles from the town. Still, calm and enjoyable
as bad been our progress during the morning of the
30th and the preceding day, signs of some recent at-
mospheric disturbance were not wanting. The
existence of a strong and unexpected current bear-
ing away to the south had been detected, and less
watchful eyes than those of the commander and the
officers of the ship had noticed a loss of brilliancy in
the water, which from the deep Atlantic blue had
changed to a dead black. Some one, too, thought
he made out a wreck under the land not far away ;
but, with the bright sun and the smooth water 1)e -
low, the idea that it could be recent occurred to no
one; and yet that mast with its one tattered sail
was all that remained above water of the illlFated
Rhone.

First impressions underwent a sad change when
we got sufficiently near to see the harbour strewn
with wrecks, the lighthouse gone, and many houses
roofless. A confused mass, near the middle of the
harbour, built up of crushed hulls, broken spars,
and loose cordage, was formed by the ship, British
Empire, lately out from England with 3,800 tons of
coal for the use of the steamers of the Royal Mail
Company; alongside her was the steamer Colombian,
belonging to the West Indian and Pacific Steam
Navigation Company, in from Liverpool but half an
hour before the awful crash came, with a cargo
valued at more than £200,000, and now showing
nothing but funnel, masts, and rigging abovewater ;
tight underneath these two were a French bark and
a brig. Nearer to the shore lay the Spanish war
steamer Nunez de Velasco, and a French mail
steamer. These two alone out of the many vessels
lying in the harbour lived through the hurricane,
having cut away their masts, and trusted for safety
to the strength of their cables, chains, and anchors.
Against the floating dock was the American brigan-
tine Nellie Gay--a pitiable object, every mast and
spar either carries overboard or lying on her deck.
The floating dock itself, just approaching comple-
tion, would in a few weeks have been available for
docking and repairing, but in common with every-
thing else belonging to this ill-fated town, it has
met with accidents, the Nellie Gay and the Colom-
bian having been driven against it. As a conse-
q'ience of this, one of its pontoons has sustained
some damage, which, though found by the divers to
be of no great consequence, prevents the dock being
made use of for some little time. Had it been pre-

served from injury, its value at the present crisis
would have been immense. Dotted over harbour
were masts showing a few feet above water, mark-
ing the spots where the various schooners and Other
craft had gone down ; and on the beach all round
lay other vessels, hurled by the force of wind and
wave far upon the land, some positively in the
streets of the town. A further survey showed more,
equally terrible, casualties. Round the island, to
the left of the town, looking from the sea, lay in
one cluster five large steamers, including the Der-
went, belonging to the Royal Mail Company,
so crushed together that to distinguish ma sts
and funnels proper to each was impossible. At
a distance of a quarter of a mile lay one
funnel thrown across and resting on the deck
of a large ship, some feet of whose stern
had been cut away sharp and square, showing her
decks in section. But cases like this repeated them-

selves on every hand, and the best idea of the terri

ble scene of destruction will be obtained by perusing
the following list :
SHIPPING DISASTERS AT ST. THOMAS BY THE
HURRICANE OF THE 29TH OF OCTOBER.

The British steamers Rhone and Wye, a total
loss; nearly all hands drowned.

The British steamer Conway, ashore.
The British steamer Derwent, ashore ; much
damaged.

The British steamers Tyne and Solent, partially
dismasted.

The British steamer Columbian, sunk in the
harbour.

ashore ; much
The British steamer Robert Todd,
damaged.

The British tugboat Itehen and the British ship
British Empire, sunk in the harbour.

The British barks Agnes Lamb and Howard,
distnasted ; much damaged.

The British brigs Her Majesty, Onesiphorus, P.
Scoles, Wild Pigeon, Princess Alice, and Hope,
ashore ; complete wrecks.

The British schooners Proctor, Elizabeth, Nor-
man, Ocean Queen, and the sloop Nimble, sunk in
the harbour.

The British schooner IVaterwitch, ashore, corn
plete wreck.l

The Danish barks Ludwig Holm and Nordskov
and the brig Valkyrien, complete wrecks.

The Danish schooners Maggie, West-end Packet,
Nanette, and Dos Hermanos, sunk in the harbour.
The Danish schooner Petrel and tugs Pigmy and
Urchin, ashore, may be got off.

The Danish tug Lilliputian, disappeared ; sup-
posed sunk.

The Danish tug Vice-Governor Berg, ashore and
dismasted ; can be got off.

The Danish steamer Dredger and the American
ship Sarah Neuman, ashore.

The American ship Charles Sprague, disappeared;
supposed sunk.
The American bc►rk Aberdeen ; and the Ameri-
can brigantine Mecosta. ashore ; dismasted.
The American brigantine Nelly Gray, dismasted
alongside floating dock.
The American schooner Clinton, capsized.
The French steamer Caravelle, dismasted and loss
of funnel.

French tug (?), sunk.
The French barks Bernice and Brune, ashore ;
wrecked.

The French bark Ireloz, sunk.
The French bark Gazelle, ashore ; dismasted.
The French bark Emma, sunk.
The French bark Gral de Lourmel and brigantine
Jacmel, wrecks.
The French sloop Sylph, sunk.
The Norwegian ship Veloz, ashore; dismasted.
The German brig Bertha, sunk.
The German brigs Helios and E lward, ashore.
The Bremen brig JohAune and the Prussian brig

Treffer, sunk.
The Dutch brigantine Maria Anna, ashore and

di2wasted.

The Dutch brigantine Antje and the schooner
Juliet, dismaited and damaged.
The Dutch schooner Annalia, sunk.
The Spanish war steamer Vasco Nunez, dis-
masted and damaged.

The Spanish steamers Pelayo and Camaguay,
ashore and badly damaged.

The Spanish schooners Uuion, Rapido, Formali-
dad, Tres Hermanos, Alta Gracia, Alfonso, Otilia,

and Manuela sunk.

The Spanish schooner Veloz dismasted and
damaged.
The Venezuela schooners Panchih, Joven, Pan-
chito, Oriental, and Concepcion, sunk.
All the lighters ashore or sunk, and a number of
island sloops and ballast boats are totally lost.
"No sooner was the Douro moored than anxious

inquiries rcse on every side as to the fate of the
Rhone; also of the Conway, the Wye, the Tyne,
and the Solent, steamers of the loyal Mail Com-
pany, employed in carrying on the branch services
to the islands, the Spanish mail, &c., and, although
information had already reached tin town of the
total loss of the Wye, it was not possible to hope
that as yet we bad heard the worst. The Rhon,-,
appointed to carry the homeward mail of the 30th,
had, it appe Ired, gone to Peter Island, about
20 miles away, in consequence of fever having
made is appearance at St. Thomas, leaving the
branch steamers to join her there and effect the
transfer of passengers, mails, and cargo. Strong
fears for her safety were felt, and the Conway was
believed to have run on shore at Tortola. About
8 o'clock the same evening news came. The Tyne,
sadly crippled, her foremast and its rigging lying
on the deck, steamed into the harbour; the Rhone
lost, and with her 150 poor souls hurried into eter-
nity; the WTye lying in splinters on Buck Island,
out of her ship's company of nearly 60 but six sur-
vivors. Such were the horrors of which the Tyne
brought word. Eager were the questions asked of
the seamen rescued from the Rhone, who sadly
paced the deck, walking like men in a dream, so
awful had been the shock of what they had gone
through. Their fate was short. During the lull
which occurred at all places over which the hurricane
passed, at about one o'clock the Rhone put out, she
had safely passed through a rocky channel leading
to the open sea, but more point. to round and she.,
was safe, "then hi a moment from the S.E.—whereas
previously it had blown from the N.W.—the cyclone
came down upon her with even more dreadful energy
than ever. Twice she struck, and boats and spars
and sheep-pens flew across the deck, then she parted
amidships, the stern portion swung round, and, the
waves rushing in between her decks, ripped them
up as though with an explosion of gunpowder. At
the time the hurricane commenced the Conway lay
alongside the Rhone, engaged in transferring pas-
sengers. Seven or eight had passed over, and one
was heard to say to his wife, Thank God, we're
safe here.' The large ship now lies a wreck upon
the shore. The smaller one, there is reason to hope,
will to-morrow drop anchor in St. Thomas's har-
bour; not a life having been lost in her !
"Of the scenes of desolation and destruction which
met the eye on landing it would be impossible to
give more than a very faint idea. The wharfs which
used to line the shore were gone, and every street
blocked up with broken rafters, zinc roofs, bricks,
boughs of cocoanut palms, household furniture, and
debris of every conceivable kind. Houses even were
to be seen standing erect which had bee❑ lilted from
their foundations many yards distant and dropped
down into some of the lanes running seaward out of
the main street. A dining room, forming the upper
story of a wing of the house belonging to Mr. J. B.
Cameron, superintendent of the Royal Mail Packet
Company at St. Thomas, had been in a similar man-
ner whisked through the air and carried into a
neighbouring garden; singular to say, on effecting
an entrance, the lamps and decanters in the room
were found to be unbroken. In one lane were to
be seen, among tons of broken woad, an anchor,
several cartwheels, a pianoforte, and slabs of marble,
which when the storm was at its height had been
seen whirling round in the air like sheets of paper.
Win lows, though protected by bobs and hurri-
cane bars—stout pieces of wool several inches

square—had been dashed in, and not a wall but
showed marks of the hail of stoner and bricks
which had battered it. A bombarded town could
never have presented a worse picture of ruin and
desolation. Plantations of whitened sticks cover-
ing the hills alone indicated that trees had at one
time grown there, and of the palms which had
graced Cocoanut-square and the approach to the
Lutheran Church but few torn fronds still clung
to their native . stems. At various points along
the beach crowds of people were collected, and
from each was carried away with dreadful regu-
larity strings of rough coffins containing the dead
which the sea gave up. By four o'clock oa the
afternoon of the 30th 292 bodies had been washed
on shore and buried, and the systematic way in
which the people worked under the guidance of the
police was a sad proof of the practice they had had
by that time at this mournful occupation.
" At St. Thomas, the hurricane appears to have
commenced at ten minutes past 12, and to have
lasted with one break--at one o'clock, lasting 13
minutes—till half-past three. The barometric in-
dications of its coming were feebler until it had
absolutely broken ; then the downward progress of
the mercury could be distinctly seen. One or more
shocks of earthquake were experienced, and in a
moment the awful conflict had begun. So dense
was the body of rain and spray which rushed
through the streets that objects 20 yards away were
rendered invisible by it, and persons seeking their
homes and families held on to lamp-posts, door
handles, or whatever promised temporary security,
uncertain which way to turn in the darkness. At
one o'clock the storm blowing from the north-west
ceased, and the 13 minutes' lull took place. Again
it broke forth with yet more dreadful energy from
the opposite quarter, and tore away many vessels
which up to then had ridden securely. The harbour
master, and an officer of the Nunez de "Vel tsco,
vied with each other in their heroic efforts to save

life. Sad to say, the former perished ; the latter
only escaped in an almost miraculous manner, for
his boat being capsized he himself was thrown upon
the beach, and there lay till the day following
before being found."

SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday Evening.
Immediately the telegraph wires reported the
arrival of the Douro at Plymouth the loyal Mil
Company's flag was hoisted as a signal at the com-
pany's offices in Canute-road, one or two of the
principal hotels, and at other places, so that the
intelligence of her arrival was soon made known all
over the town. Anxious groups of people speedily
gathered around all the company's premises, the
electric telegraph office, and the several newspaper
establishments, waiting with avidity the receipt of
any news that might be sent up from Plymouth.
During the afternoon the following list was posted
outside the Royal Mail offices of those reported
to be saved from the steamers Rhone and
Wye.--

Saved from the Rhone.—E. Sherwood, boat-
swain ; George Holdeman, captain of hold; Charles
Moody, boatswain's mate; John Eaton, A.B.
Samuel M'Cane, A.B. ; George Wallace, A.B. ;
Frederick Hansford, A.B. ; John Palmer, A.B ;
Charles Dimmick, A.B. ; John Bailey, ship boy ;
John Askell, ship boy ; John Minus, ship boy ;

Henry Buckle, fireman ; David Rees, fireman : John
Jones, ' coal trimmer ; Thomas Ingram, coal
trimmer ; Frederick Pearce, engineers' servant ;
Francis Brewer, yeoman ; Charles Berry, store-
keeper ; Robert Barter, ordinary seaman ; Auguste
Gaurion, assistant fore-bedroom steward ; Joh n
Bryan, saloon boy.
Saved from the Wye.—Charles Ho,lgson, chief
officer; Edward Hill, Wm. Jules, John Mackin,
and John Holland.

Copied of the lists were prepared and exhibited in
various other places, and in every instance they
were scanned over by hundreds of anxious eyes to
ascertain whether the name of a husband, a son, a
brother, or a friend was enrolled among those who
bad happily escaped with their lives. The dejected
countenances unmistakably proclaimed that the
large majority looked in vain. The excitement of
the past fortnight seems now wrought up to its
highest point, and the further details are looked for
with an increasing interest.

The Mayor has now fixed the public meeting at
the Guildhall, postponed from to-day, for Monday
next, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, to organise ar-
rangements for subscriptions for the relief of the
widows and fatherless children of those who have
perished. A communication has been received by
Mr. J. P. Hoare, a gentleman residing in the neigh-