The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-27 00:00:00

ROYAL CHARTER

AND
FOUR HUNDRED LIVES.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY MORNING.
From Mr. W. H. Gardener, who left the Royal
Charter at Queenstown (his wife coming on with
the vessel), along with about 10 passengers, we
learn that the vessel had about 450 souls on board,
and 79,000 ounces of gold.
She left Melbourne on the 26th of August. The
cabin passengers numbered 60 ; among those on
board were Edwin Fowler, John Murray, Mr.,
Mrs., and Miss Murray, three children, and aunts,
Walter Nugent, La Fargur, Rufford Welch,
Mellor, Watson, a captain who had lost his ship
on the Feejee Islands, Mr. Woodruff; the Rev.
Mr. Jenkins, wife, and four children ; Mrs.
Nahmur (a consul's wife), Mrs. and Miss Fowler,
Mr. and Mrs. Davis, two daughters, and a son ;
Mrs. Tweddale, Dr. Grundy, Mr. M'George, Rev.
Mr. Hodge (who had been presented with a
purse by the passengers), Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Fen-
wick and children, Mrs. Hutton D. Hatch (of
Farnham, Surrey), Mr. Pilchcr, wife, and two
children; Mrs. Beams, Dr. Wright (surgeon of
ship), Mr. Emery, Mr. S. T. Henry, Mr. and Mrs.
Grove, Mr. Carew Taylor, Mr. Molyneux, Mr.
Morse. These perions were from Adelaide, Syd-
ney, Melbourne, New Zealand, and. Tasmania.
Capt. Taylor, commander of the Royal Charter,
had been presented with money for a testimonial.

A communication from Moefra, Oct. 26, says :
" The Royal Charter was wrecked last night in a
terrific gale from the N.N.E. All hands lost ex-
cept, accoyding to my judgment, 25 ; all the officers
lost excepting the carpenter and boatswain's mate."
The communication, which was interrupted, is now
complete. The pilotboat No. 12 is now in the river.
A passenger from Holyhead reports that yester-
day a part of the breakwater was washed away,
and that a vessel had been in collision with the
Great Eastern. No damage, however, was done.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY MORNING:.

The public will learn with overwhelming grief
that the splendid vessel the Royal Charter was
totally lost yesterday, in Muffa Red Wharf Bay,
near Bangor.
The melancholy intelligence which nached us
late last night was brief, but we fear that it was
only too true. Of upwards of 400 persons on board
only 10 are said to have been saved. There is some
hope, however, that this is an exaggeration ; but
under any circumstances the loss of life, it is to be
feared, has been immense.
The Royal Charter, it was supposed, had about
half a million of gold on board. The gold will, of
course, be easily recovered, but, alas ! not so the
poor people who have perished.
The place where the vessel is understood to have
been wrecked is not unfavourable for diving opera-
tions in calm weather.

The precise time when the disaster took place is
net known, for the telegraph had ceased to work, and
so destructive has been the storm along the coast
yesterday that the Chester and Birkenhead Railway
had been destroyed in two places ; between Conway
and Holyhead an embankment has been washed
away, and near Rhyl about a dozen yards of the line
had been completely washed away, and 100 yards
damaged, the passengers having to walk in the first
case two miles, and in the last half a mile to get
to the train on either side of the disruption.

At Penmaenmawr 20 dead bodies had been
washed ashore.

The bay in which the catastrophe has occurred
is two or three miles to the westward of Puffi❑
Island, in Anglesea, and six or seven miles to the
north-west of Beaumaris. It has a shallow sandy
beaCh for several miles, and with promontories at
each end of the bay ; the country around is wild
and few houses are about.

The Liverpool pilot-boat No. 12 is reported to
have been lost, with all hands.

LIVERPOOL, OCT. 27.

A telegram has been received here from Bangor
stating that the Royal Charter, from Melbourne,
which touched at Queenstown on Monday on her
way to Liverpool, has been wrecked in Red-wharf
Bay, and that many lives have been lost. She would
have a large amount of specie on board, but the
quantity is not yet known, as she brings late ad-
vices.

Red Wharf Bay is situated about three miles to
the westward of Puffin Island, Menai Straits, and
six or seven miles to the north-west of Beaumaris.
With the exception of the bay, which is very sandy
and shallow, the coast is rocky and bold.
The place where the vessel is understood to have
Leen wrecked is not unfavourable for diving opera-
tions in calm weather.

The Liverpool pilot-boat No. 12 is reported to
have been lost, with all hands.

Some portions of the rails along the Menai
Straits are reported to have been washed away, and
some of the telegraph wires have been blown down.

LITERAI'URE.

Beatrice, or Six Years of Childhood and Youth.

By Mrs. S. Valentine. Tegg and Co.

The accomplished authoress of "The hansom,"
and " Kirkholmo Priory," and other novels which
some few years back enthralled the public has again,
we are rejoiced to see, resumed her pen. Her re-
cent works are of a less ambitious, but in reality of a
not less important character, being addressed to the
young—a department of literature in which some of
our celebratea writers have not disdained to engage,
witness'the tales of a Grandfather of Walter Scott and
the charming stories of Maria Edgeworth. Accord-
ing to the saying of that shrewd observer, " Let
me write the people's ballads, and let who will
make the laws," so we would say, let the literature
of the young—the books that are to influence the
plastic mind and the impressionable heart—be of the
highest character, and the press of another genera-
tion must of necessity be elevated in sentiment, and
purified in tone. One of the first elements of sue •
cess in works of this nature is interest. That is an
absolute essential. To be beneficial they must te
attractive. "To be good and disa.groable," it
has been happily said "is high treason
against virtue," and the didactic homilies to
which an unwise care at one time confined
the youthful reader, only served as a stimulus
to a forbidden curiosity which was too likely
when occasion offered to seek gratification in
unworthy channels. We are wiser now—all
novels, as such, are not absolutely excluded from
the juvenile library, and a book for the young is
often found to exceed in interest and ability far
more pretentious volumes. Of this attractive cha-
racter is " Beatrice," the story of six years of the
childhood and youth of a little girl from India.
Her various faults and virtues, and the happy influ-
ences of her education, with the varying adventures
that befell her, are most naturally portrayed. Her
perilous imprisonment in the unknown passage will
enthral many a youthful heart. A number of
different characters are the companions of her
history, foremost among them Mary Grey,
the little village girl, whose character and adven-
tures are hardly less interesting than those of Bea-
trice. One suggestion we might hint to the fair
authoress, that, if attended to, could only enhance
the value of her future productions, namely, to
avoid as much as possible whatever is beyond the
comprehension of young readers. as the occasional
remarks in French, and even in Italian, that are to
be met with in the pages of " Beatrice," which is
in other respects a charming juvenile tale, and one
well calculated to become a favourite.

LIFEBOAT SERVICES.—FILEY, Oct. 26.—Last
night beetween nine and ten o'clock, the sloop George and
Mary, of Hull, drove on shore opposite Filey. It was at
the time blowing a heavy gale of wind from the eastward.
The vessel failing completely to beat off from the shore,
having previously lost her jibboom, drove from her anchors.
She immediately afterwards showed signals of distress,
being at the time a quartar of a mile from the land. The
lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was
immediately manned by 13 men and launched; and just as
the vessel was taking the ground the lifeboat reached her,
and took off the whole of the crew in safety. The gallant
crew of the lifeboat have been promptly paid by the so-
ciety, £l3, for their valuable services. This station was
only a few days ago visited by the lifeboat inspector of the
society, and is reported to be in excellent order. Probably
there is no sin.;le lifeboat in the United Kingdtfta which
has saved more lives than the Filey lifeboat,