The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-21 00:00:00

TILE SBA SERVICE IN THE EAST.

Among the passengers by the Pera, which ar-
' rived at Southampton
yesterday with the India
mail, were Captain Bown, of the Hydaspes, troop
steamer, and sonic of the crew of her Majesty's
steamer Cyclops, who were at the bombardment of
Jeddah, in the Red Sea. Capt. Bown commanded
the European and American Company's steamer
Hydaspes, which took out troops to India a twelve-
month ago. After she left St. Vincent a rumour
was extensively circulated in England that she was
lost. Near the Mauritius Captain Bown fell down
the saloon stairs, and he was found lying in a pool
of blood and insensible. He was landed at the
Mauritius, apparently in a dying state. His friends
in England never heard from him for two or three
months. The next, news was that the Ifydaspes
had passed the' Mauritius on her homeward voyage,
and that Captain Bown wished to bring his ship
home, but that his medical man did not consider
he was sufficiently recovered to do so. The cap-
tain therefore came home by way of the Red Sea
and Egypt, and arrived at Southampton just as the
arrival of the Hydaspes in the port of London was
announced. The.portion of the crew of the Cyclops
who came home in the Pera are invalids. The
climate for sailors in the Red Sea is frightful, espe-
cially for men in the engine
_department.
The thermometer under - awning on the deck
was at times at 130. At night they often slept
under heavy dews. To •be cool, firemen went
almost naked, and within a minute after they
were on duty at the fiers streams of perspiration
ran from them. Their joints chafed and became raw,
and they experienced great suffering. One poor
fellow, a fireman of the Cyclops, who came home in
the Pera, quite a young man, had apparently an
incurable asthma, The Cyclops men stated that the
bombardment of Jeddah would have been more
severe but that there was a scant supply of ammu-
nition on board. There was no possibility- of getting
more, except by going to Aden• for it. There was
only sufficient ammunition coa board to frighten the
authorities into executing the ringleaders of the
massacre. The Cyclops could not get near the town,
but the ball and shell practice on board, during the
bombardment,was exceedingly good. A shell dropped
in amongst about 500 menacing Arabs on the beach,
and did great execution amongst them. The cul-
prits condemned to be executed in the presence of
the English for the massacre were brought out on
a reef between the Cyclops and the town. Their
sentence was to be beheaded. The first who suf-
fered death admitted that he was a ringleader in
the massacre. All of them had their arms pinioned
and there was an opinion that a few were innocent
of the crimes for which they suffered. The decapi-
tation of the first was effected very skilfully. The
second was a negro, a tall and powerful fellow. He
made an energetic speech before he laid his head
on the block. The executioner first wounded
him in the neck. The culprit then made a
fearful struggle, and got his arm loose, and in de-
fending his neck he had his arm chopped off. It
was necessary to shoot him. The executioner
cut off the dead man's finger to get
at a silver ring on it. Some of the bunga-
lows destroyed off Jeddah were fitted up apparently
for the conveyance of slaves, and there would ap-
pear to be a great deal of slavery going on in the
Red Sea. A number of negroes swam off to the
Cyclops while she lay off there, and claimed the
protection of the captain, which was granted. Some
were entered on the ship's. books, and others were
to be sent to Bombay. The Red Sea, beiween Suez
and Jeddah, was surveyed near each coast and
down the centre. The bottom was found well
adapted for laying down a submarine cable. A
depth of 1,100 and 1,300 fathoms was found in
some parts. The Cyclops would, it was supposed,
lie three months at Suez, and then survey between
Jeddah and Aden. The bottom of the Red Sea was
of coral.