The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1866.

purer source, and the mortality by cholera was im-
mediately shown to have declined in the districts it
supplied ; but no great change was made in the
character of the water during the course of the epi-
demic, which was less fatal, and pursued its usual
cc,urse, culminating in September.
Nearly the same general law of development of
1866 was observed in the districts of the south, the
centre, the north, and the west of London, with this
exception, that in none of these districts did the
mortality approach the dimensions of previous epi-
demics. There it justified the anticipations that had
been indulged. In the midst of this calm the whole
of London was startled in three successive weeks of
July by 346, 904, and 1,053 deaths from cholera ;
and it was found that the great majority of deaths
happened in the houses supplied from the reservoirs
at Old Ford belonging to one company.
To make this investigation more exact, the deaths
happening on each day in each of the fields of water
supply have been taken out, and are given in the
table, p. 547. The dates of death extend from Ist
July to Ist Sept. Three deaths from cholera hap-
pened on Wednesday, 11th July, 6 on the 12th,
12, 11, 12 on the three following days in the dis-
tricts supplied by the East London Company, includ-
ing West Ham on the east side of the Lea. On
Monday and the six days following the deaths ran
up to 31, 54, 59, 83, 91, 104, 104. The 23d July was
again an increase ; the deaths were 130 on Monday,
144 on Tuesday, 166 on Wednesday, when there
was a slight subsidence ; but on Monday, 30th
July, the deaths were 141, on Tuesday, 171, and
on Wednesday, Ist August, 170.
It appeared then right to call attention at once
to the complete coincidence of the cholera field
with the field of supply of the East London Water
Company, in the hope that the state of its water
might be immediately looked to. The weekly
report was published on Wednesday morning,
Ist August ; on that day the engineer of the
company called at the General Register Office, and
on the day following he published a letter in the
daily journals, showing that he fully appreciated
the importance of the crisis. The supply might
have been changed on Wednesday morning,
but on that day no result appears ; the deaths were
170; on Thursday [the deaths fell to 155, on Friday
to 114, on Saturday to 112, on Sunday to 119, on
Monday, Aug. 6, to 115, on Monday, Aug. 13, to
44, on Monday, Aug. 20, to 31, on Monday, Aug. 27,
to 21, on Saturday, Sept. 1, to 8.
This coincidence between the intervention of Mr.
Greaves and the decisive declension of the cholera in
the week following deserves to be noted. It
strengthens the circumstantial inference that a part
of the supply between July 8 and Aug. 1 was drawn
from the uncovered reservoirs ; but the unclean
matter might of course have entered the water
through other unknown channels.
No corresponding rise or fall was observed on the
same days in the other fields of water supply.
The covered reservoir at Old Ford, said to be 2i
acres in area, and 10ift. deep, will Rot hold more
than about 7,126,100 gallons of water, and the com-
pany supplies 90,174 houses with 20i million gallons
daily. The uncovered reservoirs it is said cover nine
acres ; they are seen from the Great Eastern Rail-
' way, but are not depicted either in Mr. Milne's map
or in that of the Government engineers.
The depth of the uncovered reservoirs is unknown;
but they contain perhaps three times as much water
as the covered reservoir.
The system of the company consists of the water
in the reservoirs, in the mains, in the multitudinous
pipes, and in the butts of the consumers' houses;
through these channels the matter must have been
distributed irregularly; and it will bo shown subse-
quently how slowly any zymotic matter once intro-
duced is eliminated from the water or from the
population.

The only sure method is to let all the water run off
simultaneously, and to let the fresh supply be scru-
pulously pure. This, with complete drainage, gets
rid of the zymotic stuff most expeditiously.
Now the epidemic has partly subsided in the
east, and the company's water, as far as we can
judge of the effects, is returning to the normal
state, it is desirable that Mr. Greaves, who
is deservedly held to be one of the best practical
hydraulic engineers of the day, and whose truthful..
ness, in questions of science, no one would question,
should be permitted by the company to publish all
the facts of the case.
The difficulties of supplying 21 million gallons of
pure water daily from the Lea, with only one small
reservoir, holding a third part of the day's supply,
below, and in close juxtaposition to the tidal por-
tion of that river full of foul sewage, in all seasons
of the year, are im.nense ; and, in the conditions
given, casualties, which no skill can entirely avoid,
are almost inevitable.

Ihipwreek of the Netherby Emigrant Ship,
________,_

Piracy .fn, the Chinese Sees.

ong Kong papers contain an account of a very
successful encounter with Chinese pirates which has
just taken place. A severe blow, says the account,
has been struck at the pirates by the gunboats
Osprey and Opossum. These two vessels, under
Commander Menzies in the Osprey, Lieut. Main-
Waring having charge of the Opossum, left Hong
Kong on the 12th June, having a Chinese mandarin
on board and a native merchant who had been de-
spoiled, to recognise the pirate junks when they
should be found. The expedition was planned by
concert with the mandarins of Kowloon, and the
place to which the gunboats proceeded, in accord-
ance with the information they had received, was
Quang-chow-wang, but when this place was reached
the junks were found to have disappeared. In point
of fact, news of the expedition had in some way
leaked out, as usual when gunboats co-operate in
any way with the mandarins. To do anything in
concert with the native authorities appears useless
and mere waste of time. It is not easy to suppose
that they are deliberately supporting the pirates all
they are incapable of concealing from them any
ptlliaenwohfileo, but it is impossible to avoid seeing that
i ot
ns
which may be formed. If the
gunboats had on the present occasion limited their
performances to the original programme, they
would have come back without having seen a
pirate. As it was, however, being so far down the
coast, it was decided to go on to Hainan, to draw
a few covers in that direction. A very tempting
account to the officers of the gunboats of the
island generally,
the scenery of which is
rich aid tropically luxuriant, with cocoa

nut trees growing to the water's edge and hills co-
vered with vegetation. At a village called Yu-lin-
kan, on Wednesday, th 3 20th, a fisherman came off
and gave information that in the next bay, Sa-ma-
creek, there was a fleet of 12 piratical junks. The
gun-boats immediately went in search, and up a small
inlet discovered their prey. They were not 12, but
22 junks, and the pirates must have belonged to a
bolder race thaa those who frequent this neighbour-
hood, for they showed fight, and no sooner saw the
gun-boats than they prepared for action, and opened
fire with their guns,
although at the same time they
combined discretion with valour, and set to work
passing their valuables and all portable cargo on
shore as fast as this could be done. They were very
large junks, with an average of more than 10 guns
each. One mounted 15, and the pieces ranged in
sizes from nines to thirty-twos. Altogether it was
computed that the fleet
carried 240 guns, a tolerable
match for two boats with six guns between them.

deration. In the meantime, it would be premature
for any one whom it may concern to conclude that
the suggestion will be adopted.
The Committee, on their rising, in deference to
the express wish of the Lord Mayor, adjourned until
Thursday.
•

The following is the official return of deaths.in
London from cholera and diarrhoea registered on
Sunday and Monday, Sept. 16 and 17:—
Cholera. Diarrhoea.
West districts ... 1 2
North districts ... 3
Central districts ... 3 1
East districts ... 12 ...
South districts ... 12* ... 8

Total ... ... 31 ... 21
The return for the sub-district of St. Giles, North,
was not received in time for publication.

* Four of these 12 deaths were registered in tho sub-
district of St. Nicholas, Deptford; one at 80, New-street,
one at 3, Rope-walk, and two in Old Bing-street. Ten
deaths from cholera have occurred in Old King-street dur-
ing the present month.

•
The ship Netherby, 1,220 tons, belonging to the
Black Ball line, from London for Brisbane, with 452
Government passengers on board, and also a large
cargo of railway iron, was wrecked on the night of
the 14th of July on the coast of King's Island.
The sh ip had arrived almost at her destination after
avery favourable voyage, having reached the Straits,
but the weather for some days previously had been of
such a character that no observations could be ob-
tained. At half-past seven p.m., while the ship was
going about five knots an hour, land was seen, but
so close that in less than three minutes from the time
when the first sign of danger was observed, the Ne-
therby struck on the rocks in Fitzmaurice Bay, on
the western shore of King's Island, almost at its ex-
treme southern end, and about 35 miles from the
lighthouse. After the ship struck on the rocks, find-
ing the water gaining on the vessel, the captain set
all hands to work to get up stores from the hold, but
before much had been done in this way the lower
decks were flooded, and at last the only thing to do
was to wait for the day. The night was passed in
great suspense. The general expectation was that
the ship could not live it out, but there was no con-
fusion. Sunday morning breaking found them still
safe, and the fog lifting, showed them the shore,
about a quarter of a mile distant. Even then their
look out was awful, for with sunken rocks, breakers,
lines of surf, and a rugged, inhospitable shore before
them, the aspect of affairs remained imminently
dangerous. The ship had five boats, Mit one broke
up before it could be used, and two others were
smashed before all were landed, for the weather be-
came stormy. The getting on shore was at last
achieved by fastening a line to the land and work-
ing the boats along it like a ferry-boat running on
a wire. Even then the boats could not be taken
further than the outside of the lines of surf, so the
passengers had either to wade waist deep to the
shore or be carried thither. It was raining, too,
and when, after many hours, the nearly 500
souls on board reached the land, they were in a
wretched plight. The ship was almost under
water, but many things floated ashore, to their com-
fort. Among other matters were some sails, and
those furnished tents. But the greater number
sheltered themselves beneath such impromptu mia
naias as they could manufacture out of the thick
scrub. The worst they had to endure were the cold
nights and the short provisions. Altogether about
25 barrels of flour, oatmeal, and biscuit floated
ashore, and these, though injured, were the staple
means of subsistence, eked out by a few walleby,
&c., which were caught. There would have been
more, but though guns were plentiful powder was
scarce. One boat remained serviceable, and the
captain managed to pay visits to the wreck, when
all in the way of stores that could be reached was
thrown overboard, that they might be washed on
shore. It was thus that some cases of preserved
meat, wine, and beer, and some passengers' luggage
were recovered. The meat, which provided but a
short allowance, was mainly kept for the women and
children, and served out in daily ilb rations. At
first the daily allowance was a ilb of flour or oak-
meal to each person ; but later it was increased to
ph. Unless more had been got from the wreck this
would have lasted but a short while, for just before
relief arrived it was found that the remaining flour
was in great part damp and useless. Luckily good
water was found a mile and a half from shore. It
was in this miserable plight that the poor people
waited for succour, Capt. Owen and his officers
doing all they could, and Dr. Webster, the ship's
doctor, never ceasing his attentions or care for the
general health. Happily, there was no sickness, and
the only remarkable event was a birth, one of the
female emigrants (Mrs. Cubbins) being brought to
bed of a girl on this desolate spot. After a week's
exposure the shipwrecked people were gladdened
by the sight of her Majesty's steamer Victoria
coming to their succour. One of the Netherby's
crew the day after the wreck volunteered to make
for the lighthouse, at the further end of the island
—a most difficult task. He however succeeded in
reaching it, where he procured a whaleboat, and
with two others pulled off for Barwon Heads.
This they luckily reached, and by this means reached
Geelong, where the Victoria and Pharos steamers
were at once despatched to the scene of the wreck.
As soon as the Victoria and Pharos had anchored,
all boats were at once employed in bringing the
poor creatures off the island, bnt most of them had
to wade through the surf up to their waists before
they could get to them, All, however, were safely
got on board.
The Netherby was insured at Lloyd's.

On this occasion, however,they did not remain
at a
distance, firing with the largest ordnance only while
out of the pirates' range, but they advanced as near
as the shoaling water in the creek would allow, the
Osprey to within 1,200 yards and the Opossum to
within 700, at which latter distance, of course, she
was well within the range of the Chinese. Indeed,
the great majority of their balls passed over her,
though some struck her hull. Fortunately, no casu-
alties occurred. This cannonading went on for about
two hours, when a new turn was given to the course
of events by means of a landing party from the gun-
boats. About 45 men were quietly put on shore,
and, under cover of the jungle, made their way round
to the part of the creek at which the pirate vessels
were lying, without being observed until they came
close to the junks. From those lying close along shore
the pirates immediately fled,sculling in their sampans,
or swimming ashore to the opposite side of the creek,
and gradually as the landing party took possession of
the junks along shore, and by means of boats, be-
gan to board those which were anchored out in the
creek, the pirates gave up, and even from the
vessels lying furthest out the crews slipped over
the sides, and disappeared with or without the as-
sistance of sampans. The Opossum's and Osprey's
boats made a good many prisoners while this was
going on, but most of them were wounded, and it
was afterwards found better to turn them adrift
rather than bring them away in a state which would
have required medical treatment. During this time,
while the boats were pulling about, the mandarin
who was with the gunboats made himself conspi-
cuous by his zeal in the pursuit and capture of pri-
soners, but his boldness drew upon him a great deal
of attention from the pirates, and they fired at him
so perseveringly with small arms as they were
escaping that he was at last struck in three places.
One of the wounds was in the stomach, and this
proved mortal, so that poor old Ly-ang—blue-but-
ton mandarin of Kowloon—ended his career in this
engagement, falling the only victim to the pirates.
One man on board the Osprey was wounded, but
none were killed.