The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

X 32,985,760!

BANKING D:
Proprietors' Capi-
tal £14,553,000
Rest- • 3,100,999
Public Deposits (in.-
eluding Exche-
quer, Savings' •
Banks, Commis-
missioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-

counts) 6,130,265
Other Deposits 13,331,992
Seven Day and
other Bills 858,964

X 37,975,220
M.'

Dated Oct. 28, 1858.

AVERAGE PRICE OF SUGAR.

The Average Price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, com-
puted from Returns made in the week ending the 26th day
of Oct., 1858, exclusive of the duties of Customs paid or
payable thereon, on the importation thereof into Great
Britain :
Per cwt.
From the British possessions in America 27s 71d
MusCovado, the produce of the Mauritius 27s 2-1-2 d
Muscovado, the produce of the East Indies 23s 10d
Average price of the foregoing 27s 5d

BU.RNING OF THE AUSTRALAIN
STEAMER EASTERN CITY.

EXTRAORDINARY PRESERVATION OF TWO
HUNDRED AND THIRTY SOULS.

The thrilling details of the total destruction by
fire of the Eastern City, one of the Black Ball line
of the Australian passenger ships running from
Liverpool, were received at Lloyd's yesterday, and
created considerable interest.

The Eastern City was a fine ship of 1,368 tons,
and the property of Messrs. Baines and Co., the
well-known shipowners of Liverpool. She was
commanded by Capt. Johnstone, and on the 10th
of July she left the Mersey for Melbourne, having
on board 180 passengers, 47 men, officers, and crew,
and upwards of 1,600 tons of general cargo. The
ship made a successful run to the Equator, and all
went well for a rapid voyage, when on tie after-
noon of the 23d August it was discovered that a
fire had broken out in the forehold. Every effort
failed in extinguishing it, and preparations were
made for provisioning and launching the boats.
The sea, however, was _very high, and had the pas.
sengers been driven to put off in the boats there is
little doubt that theirs would have been a terrible
fate. But while the prospects of the distressed
men and women were most gloomy, and they had
indeed almost despaired of safety, a sail came in
sight. The transport ship Merchantman, Capt. G.
F. Brown, of and from London, with troops for
Calcutta, observed the signals of the burning ship,
and at once bore down to her aid. With the ex-
ception of one man, M'Lean, a steerage passenger,
the whole of the passengers and crew of the
Eastern City were taken off, and in about four or
five hours after they had, left the entire ship was in
one mass of fire; the masts wentoverboard, and
she was a blazing wreck. The unfortunate man
who perished was a native of Skye ; he had been
ill for some days, and was below in his berth when
the fire was first discovered, and he is supposed to
have been suffocated.

Mr. J. Fowler, a cabin passenger on board the
Eastern City, has furnished the following narrative
of the conflagration :
" We sailed from Liverpool for Melbourne on the
10th of July, having on board upwards of 1,600
tons general cargo, 180 passengers, and 47 officers
and crew; in all 227 souls. Notwithstanding a
long continuance of contrary and baffling winds we
made a very successful passage to the Equator,
which we passed on the 11th of August; and we
expected to arrive at Melbourne in 70 to 75 days
from Liverpool, for our vessel was a swift one and
in capital sailing trim.
" On the 21st of August the wind blew strong
from the north-east to the north-west. On the 22d
it increased to half a gale, with a heavy sea, the
vessel rolling about a good deal, and frequently
going from 12 to 14 knots an hour.
" On the 23d the wind veered round to the south-
west, but the sea still continued high ; and at about
two p.m. the same day an alarm of fire was raised,
and smoke was seen issuing from the forehatch.
" Captain Johnstone, the chief officer, and several
of the crew and passengers, endeavoured to reach
the seat of the fire, which was supposed to be in
the forehold, among the cargo; but in a few
minutes the smoke became so dense and suffocating
that we were driven up the hatchway.
" The passengers and crew were ordered on deck,
and we then believed they had all obeyed the order;
but it was afterwards discovered that one of the
steerage passengers, named Peter M'Lean, belong-
ing to the Isle of Skye, was missing, and he is sup-
posed to have been suffocated in his berth.
" The forehatch was then closed, with the excep-
tion of holes about two feet square; one on each
side of the hatch, through which passengers and
crew proceeded to throw vast quantities of water
from the engine pump, and by drawing over the
side from the sea. For some time the smoke did not
appear to increase, and we confidently expected to
be able to extinguish the fire, but after half an hour
it was evident we were making no progress, and it
was apparent our only chance was to endeavour to
smother it. For this purpose the hatch was covered
with blankets, shawls, plaids, and everything
woollen we could lay hands on, and the forecastle
and forward parts of the vessel with old sails.
" Meanwhile the captain had hauled up the
courses, and put the vessel before the wind, and
had got the boats provisioned, and ready to loWer
away at a moment's notice.
" The women and children, about 60 in number,
were removed to the poop, where the captain had
placed numbers of old sails, carpets, &c., and did
everything he could to make them as comfortable
as possible under such terrible circumstances.
" All that long and dreadful night both passen-
gers and crew continued to work without intermis-
sion, pouring tons of water down the hatches and
forepart of the vessel ; holes were also cut in the
deck, and engine-pumps and buckets went to work,
pouring down water into the hold, the captain
cheering us all the while, and never leaving the
deck even for a moment. I could not but admire
his calm courage, surrounded as he was on the poop
with so many weeping women and children, whom
he never ceased to comfort by the assurance that
they would soon be all safe in the boats.
" The majority of the passengers were fora long
time ignorant of the full extent of thei▪ r real
danger; but the more intelligent of us knew that
we were more than 600 miles from the nearest
land, that our boats could not carry more than
half of us, and that the sea was so high that no boat
could be launched in safety, or if got clear of
uot.st
the
• must
necessarily could not long live, deeply laden as
necessarily be ; our only chance was of bering picked
out l
o
up by some vessel—but we were now
route of all vessels, and we felt that o fades trucfttihe
destruction
Still was simply a question of hours.
we worked
without flinching ; but towards
finding its way into
the evident that ere long our efforts orning it be-
lvouldbein
vain, for, from the smoke now e
t h
th e
fifirste wasand
working second
icabins,ts w becameiaty
apparentecatrhgaot
Of the
in the afierhold. The doors,
dkoo_rsu, wafitndamowosn
second cabin were caulked
c
the bulkhead and doors ofseor wi mpe and the seams of
toh newspapers.
"The morning
state-rooms
in the first cabin pasted e24thv broke upon us, fortu-
nately, bright and
the
beautiful ; but still the sea ran
high, still we scudded before the wind, and still
we worked hard, with the energy of despair—for
now all felt that there was but little hope for us.
About noon the foreyard came down by the run,
but fortunately without injuring any one. Many
of the passengers and crew were now falling out
from the engine and pumps, completely knocked up
with the heat, smoke, and incessant work.
-time how
"During our short spells of breathing