The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-11 00:00:00

'HE BURNING OF THE SARAH SANDS.

We (Belfast News-Letter) are enabled to give the
following extracts from the letter of an officer on
board • the unfortunate Sarah Sands, when burned
on her passage to India :—Port Louis, Mauritius,
Nov. 24.—1 wrote you a hurried line yesterday to
let you know of our safe arrival. I had then only
time for a few words concerning our narrow escape.
I will now try to give you a detailed account, as
the mail has been kept back till 4 o'clock this after-
noon. The fire, as I told you, was first observed
on the 11th inst., about 3.45 p.m., the storekeeper
reporting to the third officer that he observed
smoke coming out of the after-hatch underneath
where the Grenadier company was posted.
The third officer immediately reported the cir-
cumstance to the captain (Castle), who
went down below, and, after seeing what it
was, he came on dock, and ordered the powder
to be got out, stop the engines, shorten all sail,
helm hard a-port.' Ete then went down below, and
returned with his sextant and two charts, one of the
Indian Ocean and one of the yof Bengal. He
then ordered the boats to boo wered, the ladies,
women, and children to be got into them, and the
boate to be kept clear of the side of the ship. At
the same time he ordered rafts to be made, which
was done by our men, under the superintendence
of the chief officer, Mr. Welch. The -conduct of the
'petty officers, ctc., is beyond all praise. All this
time our men were working cheerfully at the pumps
and manning a line of buckets. We kept all the
skylights and ports on the quarter-deck shut, and
had wet blankets placed over them, so as to prevent
the wind getting to the fire ; by this time, I should
say 6 o'clock, we had got all the powder out of the
port magazine, and as much as we were able out of
the starboard one ; the men at last being unable to
work, owing to the stifling effects of the smoke.
We were now driven off the quarter-deck, and had
to retire to a deck bridge just aft of the saloon. It
was now remembered that the colours were in the aft
part of the saloon, which had been quite forgotten
in our anxiety to get out the powder. It was then
that one of the quarter-masters of the ship (Richmond)
in the most gallant manner, volunteered to try and
save the colours. He went down and succeeded in
bringing up the Queen's, and,
,after giving it up, fell
down fainting. As soon as he recovered he again
insisted, with one of our privates (Wills), in trying
to get the regimental colours; again he succeeded,
and again fainted. The doctor was afraid, for some
time, he would not recover, but I am glad to tell
you he is now all right again. About 8. p.m. we
were driven off the briege ; it was now quite
dark ; for the first time the flames were visible
coming up the entrance to the monkey poop. The
captain now tried to set the mizen, in order to bring
the ship's head to the wind, so as to drive the smoke
and flames aft. Some of our men went up therigging
with him, and tried to set it, but it was of no avail,
as some of the stays were already on tire. The cap-
tain now said he had little hope of saving the ship,
but it behoved all to work to the last, and fall back
inch by inch, and try to keep in the ship till daylight.
The commanding officer now order d buoys to be
lashed to the rafts, and that, in case it should be ne-
cessary to take them, there was to be no confusion,
and the men were to embark as much a,4 possible by
companies. The mizen mast now blazed fearfully ;
the deck bridge was also in flames, and lighted up
the sea for a considerable distance round the ship.
It was now that Mr. Frazer, the chief engineer, pro-
posed to cut away the deck, so as to allow the hose
to be got down, to make a fight to stop the flames
abaft the ship at this part ; it was this suggestion
that saved us. About 11 o'clock we got the deck cut
through, and almost at the same moment the mizen
mast fell overboard, and shortly afterwards the
most part of the quarterdeck fell in. About 11.30
a fearful explosion took place, caused by the powder
that had been unavoidably left in the magazine ;
for one moment all were thunderstruck, but tke men
immediately returned to their work. Some of the
men were now working the hand-pumps, some di-
recting the hose of the donkey engine, and others
shovelling the coals from the bulkhead and throwing
water on them. It was down between decks that the
most daring courage was witnessed. The men were
sent down enveloped in wet blankets, and, even
with this precaution, some of them cowing up on
deck fainted ; they were carried to the windward
side of the ship, and, as soon as they recovered,
jumped down again to their work. The flames were
now gaining on and it was of the utmost import-
ance to get the ship's head to the wind. The main-
topmast-yard now caught fire, and also the bottom
of the main-mast (the Sarah Sands has four masts).
The chief officer, together with some of our men,
went up the rigging with wet blanket, and even-
tually succeeded in getting out the yard, after it
was half burnt through. If this yard had been
burned all would have been lost, as the ship would
have run before the wind. Till 3 a.m. on the 12th
the fire increased on us, when our endeavours were
blessed with success, and we gradually got the bet-
ter of it. At 6 o'clock we felt confident that the
worst was over, but it continued smouldering till
11 a.m. There was 19 feet of water in the after-
hold, and it took two nights and a day to pump
this out. The explosion broke a large hole in the
port side ; this was filled up with s tils, and then
banked up with rubbish and planks. Even now we
were anything but safe, bring hundreds of miles
from land, without any chronometers, and only'
one mast which we were able to set sail on. We
were blessed with the most favourable weather,
having a fair wind till we arrived here yesterday,
about 9 a.m. Great credit is due to Capt. Castle,
as he brought us here, having to work the whole
by dead reckoning ; and, to show you what a splen-
did navigator he is, he made the Island of Rodri-
guez only one hour before he expected, having
steered many hours without even a compass. All
the ship's officers behaved in the best manner. One-
third of the ship was burned to a shell. It seems
a miracle that we were saved."

THE RECENT WRECK OP THE EARL OP
CARRICK STEAMER.

The Ayr Advertiser gives a narrative compiled
from the statement of John Lyon, one of the two
survivors of this ill-fated steamer, of the circum-
stances attending the wreck. Mr. Lyon says :
" I went below about half-past 12 o'clock on Sun-

day morning, when the steamer was midway be.
tween the Mull of Galloway and the Point of Ayr,
At that time everything was going on well ou deck,
although we had had a very rough passage. At
half-past four o'clock our watch was again called
by William Lawson, and I went on deck and found
the morning dark, wet, and stormy. James Watt
ways. steering ; and in a minute or two Lawson cried
out, 0, men, bear a hand up, or the ship'll be
ashore 1' The second mate s dd. Dear me, and us
keeping so good a watch 7' I then perceived high
laud and a light on our port-quarter. I asked what
light it was, and hair, the second mate, said it
must be the Calf of Mau. I said, This is a stupid
job," and called out to Watt to heave the helm
hard a-port, with the view of running the ve,esel
out to sea. The steamer was at this time going at
the rate of Si or 9 knots an hour; and I feel confi-
dent that had the helm been kept a pore, we would
have got safely out to s-a. The captain, however,
at this time went astern, and, apparently confused
at finding us in such sudden peril, told the helms-
man to keep his helm hard a-starboarl. In a few
minutes after this the vessel struck, stern on, on a
sunken rock off Nharbyl Point, about a quarter of
a mile from the mainland. On the first alarm the
stewardess rushed on deck in her night-clothes. An
attempt was made to launch the quarter boat, into
which the boy M‘Guffie and the stewardess had
gone; but one of the seamen having cut through the
after-tackle, the stern fell, and the boy was precipi-
tated into the sea, and was never seen again. Miss
Cameron we succeeded in bringing on deck. I
feel persuaded that no small boat could have lived
for a moment in such a sea. After beating on the
rock for about twenty-five minutes--every sea rais-
ing the vessel several feet, and bringing her down
again with a thump when it retired! she parted in
two, when her bow canted to the port side, and
disappeared in deep water. As th.e captain, David
Bailie, and James Carnelty, were notseeri after teiA,
I believe they mus', have gone clown with the bows.
Eleven of us were now lett on the stern quarter, out
of these, James Watt, Macmillan (the chief enee
neer), both of whom had provided themselves with
life-buoys, and the stewardess, were soon swept
away—Watt alone reaching the shore alive. Myself
and the other seven survivors clung to the stern for
upwards of two hours, and at every sweep the sea
wade over, each looked anxiously around to see
whether any of his cog anions were swept away.
Most of my Companions were in great distress of
mind, hope having apparently entirely deserted
them. They at times cried loudly for help—and
their shrieks, as well as those of the poor stesvaid ss
b efore she was was off, still ring in m ears. Bet
though the shore was crowded withypeoipnl.e and
they had boats, all hope
rocksfr man was vain. The
sea was raging, and the.were
irregular
and
high, and no boat could have lived a minute in the
boiling surge. Captain Paton,
me, and who remained ceovnaeepr,awlevo was close to
reach tely calm and
resigned, said—' If youthe shore,
John, remember me to my poor andwifeedeaufghter ;
fur lau old man, and have little lopando being
saved. I then cast off my sea boots
leggings, retaining nothing on my limbs but- myn
wide canvass trousers. I would have taken off
these too, but was afraid of being washed away
in the act, before I got clear of them. I then
took off my waistcoat and threw it high over
the stern, as a signal to the people who crowded
the shore. Hardly was this done, when a ter-
rible sea came surging up the incline of • the
deck towards the stern, and struck me on the