The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-05 00:00:00

" Bristol, Oct. 2.
"Gentlemen,—l telegraphed to you this after-
noon of the loss of the steamer Austria, from your
port, by fire. I now give details, as communicated
by Capt. Stempson, of the P. Pendleton.
" The P. Pendleton, arrived this day from Vir-
ginia, reports the destruction by fire of the steamer
Ha
-Austria, frommburg and-Southampton to New
York, on the 13th of Sept.,. at sea; with, it is feared,
the loss of .300 persons.
" A French b!.rqua had rescued 68 persons from
the Austria's boats and pieces of floating wood, &c.;
and on the 14th of Sept., in lat. 44.18 N,, long.
40 W., and the P. Pendleton supplied provisions to
the English barque Lotus, having on board 18 per-
sons who had been transferred from the French
barque, and -would be taken on by the Lotus -to
Halifax, whither she was bound froth Liverpool.
The other 30 persons rescued were still on board
the French barque, name and destination unknown
but intended to land passengers at Fayal.
The captain of the steamer jumped oTerboard,
and was drowned soon after the outbreak of the fire,
which is said to have been caused by fumigating
the ship between decks With boiling tar.
" Yours, &c., ' •

YAMES LEADEIi-
" Messrs. Croskey and Co., Boutiinmpton."
As was stated yesterday, further details of this
awful catastrophe were expected to be received by
the Vanderbilt steamer, advertised to leave New
York on the 25th ult.; but it now appears, from
advices received by Messrs. Dunlop and Schoales,
the agents of that line of steam vessels at this port,
that the departure of the Vanderbilt was delayed
for a week, she being appointed to sail from New
York on the 2d inst., with the mails for England,
France, and Germany.

THE CATASTROPHE AT PAGE BANK
COLLIERY.

DURHAM, MONDAY.
During the night of. Friday, after the whole of
the men had been got out, the fire blazed away in
the shaft with considerable intensity, notwithstand-
ing the engines and water-carts had unceasingly
continued to pour down immense quantities of
water. The fire was still burning on both sides of
the drift, but the chief danger arose from what is
termed a " blower" of gas, which came out of the
top scam, some Eft. or Bft. below the drift. The
rush of gas was so strong that the water had very
little effect upon it, and the great difficulty to lie
accomplished was to extinguish the light, and to
allow the gas to escape in its fluid form. With this
view various expedients were tried, but without
effect. The fire continued to burn throughout the
whole of Saturday, and early on Sunday morning
two explosions of gas took place in the shaft, the
first about one o'clock in the morning, and the second
about two. It was then resolved to try to knock
out the gas by an explosion of gunpowder, and for
this purpose one of the small cannons belonging to
Mr. W. L. Wharton, of this city, was procured.
After being rammed with powder to the very
muzzle, a fuzee was attached, and it was let down
the shaft as far as the " blower." Soon afterwards
it exploded with a terrible report, which shook the
houses in the neighbourhood. The rebound snap-
ped -the heavy chain to which the cannon was
attached, and the cannon fell into the water
at the bottom of the pit. Several blasts
of gunpowder were afterwards tried, and after
some barrels had been expended the light of the
" blower" was knocked out about four o'clock on
Sunday afternoon. Thirteen-engines were at work
on Sunday pouring their continuous streams of
water into the pit. An impression prevailed among
the men on Friday night that their bodily wants
had not been sufficiently cared for by the colliery
authorities, and during the night some miscreant
cut the hose of one of the engines. It was a most
providential circumstance that the fire was suffi-
ciently subdued on Friday morning to enable a
descent of the shaft to be made, for, had a few.hours
more elapsed, the whole 86 who were in the pit
must inevitably have perished. The whole ventila-
tion of the mine had been destroyed, and no fresh
air could be supplied, except what was carried
down by the water. Those who had congregated
round the bottom of the shaft breathed freely
enough ; but the men in the works were nearly ail
found in a comatose state, and presented the ap-
pearance of having been drugged. Very few, indeed,
were conscious of the efforts which were being made
to rescue them, for the heavy stagnant air had sent
most of them off into a profound sleep, which, but
for their timely rescue, would have ended in death.
Those in the workings who retained possession of
their senses dare not attempt to make towards the
mouth of the shaft, because, being in total dark-
ness, they were afraid of being lost in the intricacies
of the mine, or getting into places where they would
have been overpowered by the bad air. Those who
were found dead had evidently died a painless death,
having by an insensible gradation passed from sleep
into eternity. The statement:, of the survivors prove
this. for one young man named Grey says that he
slept from one o'clock on Thursday until three
o'clock on Friday, when lie awoke and tried to
arouse a companion who had gone off into the
same state of deep slumber. In this attempt Grey
again began to feel himself overpowered, when at
this juncture he was discovered by those who
were searching the pit. The fate of George
Robson, deputy overman, was exceedingly melan-
choly. He had been at the bottom of the shaft
up to the time 50 of the men and boys had been
got out, and had manifested the greatest anxiety
for those who had been under his control. He after-
wards wandered off unperceived into the workings,
and the impure air had, it is supposed, affected his
senses, for when found some time subsequently he
was lying in the water with his clothes off and his
watch under his head,having apparently laid down
with the belief that he was going to bed. Three
of the bodies were found lying about 50 yards
from the west of the shaft, four were in the north
district, and two in the west district. The air was
very impure in the places where they were found,
and with the exception of Robson, who it is pro-
bable was drowned, they had all been killed by the
stithe" or sulphurous emission from the fire. The
staple was filled with rubbish last evening. There
have not been any indications of fire this morning,
and it is doubtless completely extinguished.
The inquest on the unfortunate men and boys
was opened on Saturday by Mr. D. Trotter, deputy
coroner, at High Page Bank Farm. Witnesses
having been called to identify the bodies, the in-
quest was adjourned until Wednesday week.
The Bishop of Durham visited the scene of the
catastrophe on Saturday, and administered spiritual
consolation to those whose relations and friends
have been so- untimely cut off; and he also ad-
dressed a few earnest observations to those who
had been rescued from a terrible death.

Throughout Sunday and Sunday night men were
actively employed in filling up the staple, 25 fa-
thoms in depth, which communicates with the drift.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S.-YESTERDAY.

For the Cesarewitch 12 to 1 was offered on the field, and
half a point more agst Prioress. At one time offers were
made to back Malacca for £l,OOO agst anything, but subse-
quently 14 to 1 was laid agst him. Not more than 20 to 1
was obtainable about the English Rose. 12 to 1 was
offered on the field for the Cambridgeshire.
A new candidate for Derby honours was introduced in
Polonius, about whom the quoted odds were taken to £3OO.
He is by Jericho, or Weatherbit, out of Guaracha.

12 to
8161 agataag.gagstsa Malacca
PrioressortanEpilaspac- tynLCEiata:annffki Candle (*i f f re d )
11000140 ttt 000
d
100 to 6 agst English Rose (take 20 to 1)
20 to 1 agat Rocket (offered)
20 to 1 agst Underhand
1000 to 30 agst Turned Loose (taken and offered)
40 to 1 agst Queen Bess (taken)
40 to 1 agst Julia (taken)
40 to 1 agst Courier (taken)
50 to 1 agat Pretty Boy (taken)
4000 to 60 agst Zouave (taken)
1000 to 10 agst Satinstone (taken)
1000 to 10 agst Odd Trick (taken)
1000 to 10 agst Lifeboat (taken)

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
12 to 1 agst Leontes (offered)
11 to 1 agst Blanche of Middlebie (offered)
25 to 1 agst English Rose (taken)
30 to 1 agst Happy Land (taken)
50 to 1 agst Ethiopian (taken)
1000 to 20 agst Brother to Bird-on-the-Wing (taken)

DERBY.

1000 to GO agst Marionette (taken)
30,000 to 300 agst Polonius (taken)

The bar :silver brought by the last West India
steamr has been sold at 61kd. per ounce. This is an ad-
vance of Id. on the price realised a'sout the middle of last
month, but 61d. had been the current rate during the past
ten days.
[ADVERTISEMENT.j—HoIIoway's Pills for the Cure of
Dropsical Affections.--The causes of this direful disease are
various. It is often engendered by the morbid state of the
system, whereby the free circulation of the blodd is impeded,
or it may originate from some preceding complaint. The
first thing to be done to effect a cure is to remove any ob-
structions by purifying the blood and causing the discharge
of the superabundant fluids from the body; for this purpose
take Holloway's pills, as they possess such cleansing pro-
herties that the dropsical patient is gradually restored to
ealth, and the whole frame is permanently renovated.
These pills may be safely taken by male or female, at all
periods of life