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

BANK OF ENGLAND.

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
cap. 32, for the week ending on Wednesday, the 27th day
of October, 1858:

ISSUE DEPARTMENT.
Notes issued £4985,760 Government Debt £11,015,100
Other Securities .. 3,459,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 18,510,760
Silver Bullion .... -

X32,985,760'
/LINKING D'
Proprietors' Capi-
tal £14,553,000
Rest
Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
lionks, Commi -
miqsioners of Na-
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-
counts) t1,130,265
Other Deposits 13,331,992
Seven Day and
other Bills 858,964

ZV,055,760

,EPARTMENT.
Government Seen-
rifles (including
DeadWeightAn-
nuity) £10,809,407
Other Securities 14,783,137
Notes
Gold and Silver

Coin

621,716

£37,975,220
31.

237,975,220
:ARSHALL, Chief Cashier.

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 importatien thereof into Great
Britain :
Per cwt.
From the British possessions in America , 27s lid
Muscovado, the produce of the Mauritius 27s 21d
Muscovado, the produce. of the East Indies 23s 10d
Average price of the foregoing 27s 5d

BURNING: 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 elbourne, haying
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 the after-
noon of the 23'd August it AVIS 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, *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 hadleft the entire ship was in
one mass of fire ; the masts went overboard, 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 for a long
time ignorant of the full extent of their 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 the
i c kelt
vessel could not long live, deeplylaodfebneiasngipt Inn
necessarily be ; our only chance was
up by some vessel—but we were now fardoesuttruoefttiohne
route of all vessels, and we felt that our
was simply a question of hours. Still we worked
efforts would be
evident that ere long our
without flinching ; but towards morning it be-
came.tn
vha
ei vain,
first
tr waynt intoha t
finding its itsare,afrnclonisectohnedsnicanbkinesn, iotwbeficna
windows,
, of the
in the afterhold. The doors,
the fire was working its way aft anion" the cargo
second cabin were caulked up, and
the bulkhead and doors of some of
the seams of
the state-room
in the first cabin pasted over with newspapers.
" The morning of the 24th broke upon us, fortu-
nately, bright and 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.
6‘ During our short spells of breathing-time how