The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-31 00:00:00

The Burning of the Ship Simla, from India.

Bordeaux, Captain Francis Got, and safely landed
at this island. Captain Got very kindly treated us,
and we would wish publicly to make it known that
he did all in his power to make us comfortable and
to sympathise with us in our distress."

The following letters have been received ac the
Board of:Trade, reporting the total loss by fire of
the ship Simla, from Calcutta for Liverpool, with a
valuable cargo :
" Ship Sovereign of India, Nov. 30.
" Lat. 35 S, long. 17 E.
" Sir,--I have the honour to inform you that at
noon of the 31st ult., in lat. 4 4 N, and long. 21 15
W., we fell in with the ship Simla, of Liverpool,
Captain J. Dyer, with the signal ' I am on fire,'
!lying, and at his request I went on board to examine
the state of the vessel. On taking off one of the
hatches, which had been securely battened down to
smother the fire, a dense volume of smoke issued
from below, and we could actually hear the fire
cracking. I subsequently advised Captain Dyer to
leave the ship at once, as from the nature of her
cargo (jute) the fire might at any moment break
out, and preclude the possibility of their saving their
lives. The boats were therefore got out, and the
seamen with their effects and some provisions put
into them, but before the last boat with Captain
Dyer left her side she was in flames fore and aft, and
in half an hour her masts fell in sheets of flame. It
was blowing hard and a heavy sea on at the time,
but I am glad to say everything was effected and
the crew received on board the Sovereign of India
without the slightest accident. The officers and
crews of both vessels behaved in a most exemplary
manner. Being bound to Hongkong I proceeded on
my voyage in hopes of falling in with some homeward
bound vessel that might have taken the unfortunate
men to England; but having met none I consi-
dered it my duty to laud them at Pernambuco if
possible, that being the nearest port from which
they could procure a passage home ; but when we
got within 30 miles of that port the weather was
very bad, blowing and raining and a heavy sea on.
I considered it imprudent to venture nearer to the
land, and consequently hauled off. we have just
fallen in with a French barque, homeward-bound,
which has relieved us of nine of our passengers, and
the captain promised to land them at the Cape or
St. Helena.
(Signed) " W. SCOTT,
" Master of the ship Sovereign of India.
"The Secretary of the Board of Trade, London."
The following is from the captain of the Simla:—
" St. Helena, Dec. 16.

HEALTH OF THE METROPOLIS•

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Report.)

The following is the weekly return of the Regis-
trar-General of births and deaths in London and in
12 other large towns of the United Kingdom.
In the week that ended on Saturday, January 27,
the births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,681 ; the
deaths registered 3,243. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 28 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,090 boys and 1,059
girls, in all 2,149 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of 10 years
1856-65 the average number, corrected for increase
of population, was 2,110.
The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,363. It was the fourth week of the year,
and the average number of deaths for that week is,
with a correction for increase of population, 1,605.
The actual number is less than that obtained by com-
putation by 242.

Nearly equal numbers of deaths were referred in
the week to phthisis and bronchitis ; to the former
169, to the latter 171. The corrected average for
phthisis is 170 ; that for bronchitis is 245. The low
rate of mortality from bronchial disease is appa-
rently due to the mild character of the season.
There were 15 deaths from smallpox, 43 from
measles, 37 from scarlatina, 47 from whooping-
cough, 56 from typhus, 12 from. diarrhcea.
At 52, Clarendon-square, Somers-town, on the
17th Jan., the daughter of a commercial traveller,
aged six years, died of " cholera morbus, accelerated
by a clot of blood in the heart." (Inquest.)
On the 24th January, at the London Hospital, a
turner, aged 30 years, died of " hydrophobia from
the bite of a dog."

At 6, Chamber-street, Whiteehapel, on the 25th
January, the son of a tailor, aged three weeks, died
of " exhaustion from want of nourishing food."
An engineer, aged 18 years, died in St. George's
Hospital of " haemorrhage from the bronchial artery
severed by the glass of a skylight." The deceased
slipped when removing snow from the skylight, and
died in 11 hour. A man, aged 36 years, died in the
same hospital from "thrombus of the basilar artery."
The two following deaths by carriage accidents in
the streets were registered in the week :—A porter,
aged 61 years, run over by a cart in Fleet-street ;
(lied on the 23d January. The daughter of a la-
bourer, aged one year, run over by a cart ; died on
the 22d January in Whitefriars-street, Fleet-street.
The deaths in the city of New York in the two
weeks ending on the Ist and Bth January were 406
and 433. The population in 1860 was 805,658.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 23
per 1,000 in London, 28 in Edinburgh, and 27 in
Dublin; 42 in Liverpool, 33 in Manchester, 34 in
Salford, 26 in Birmingham; 38 in Leeds, 31 in Shef-
field, 33 in Bristol, 33 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 26
in Hull, and 29 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna
was 37 per 1,000 during the week ending the 20th
inst., when the temperature was 10.6 deg. Fahren-
heit lower than in the same week in London, where
the rate was 26 per 1,000.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 30.138 in.
The mean daily reading was above 30 in. on every
day after Monday. The barometric pressure fell to
29•G3 in. on Monday, and rose to 3050 in. on
Thursday. The mean temperature of the air in the
week was 43.1 deg., which is 5.3 deg. above the ave-
rage of the same week in 50 years (as determined
by Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was
above the average throughout the week, and on the
first two days this excess was about 11 deg. The
thermometer fell to the freezing point of water on
Wednesday, and to nearly the same point on the
two following nights. The difference between the
mean dew-point temperature and air tempera-
ture was 3.6 deg. The mean degree of humidity
of the air was 87, complete saturation being repre-
sented by 100. There was rain to the amount of
0.23 in., all of which fell on Monday.

" The ship Simla, under my command, was burnt
at sea by spontaneous combustion, after being 92
days at sea on a passage towards London, when
she was abandoned in a volume of flame in the
North Atlantic, 4N. and about 22 W., and the
crew rescued by the ship Sovereign of India, Capt.
Scott, bound from London to Hong Kong. We
remained on board the Sovereign of India 30 days,
and were carried back as far as the latitude of 35
S., 16 E., when myself and eight others were put
on board the French barque Vaillant Bonne, of

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 31, 1860.

said, "The police tell me they can detect bloodafter
the clothes are washed. lam glad o 1 it, and hope
it will be found out."

It being now late, and several other. -witnesses to
examine, the inquiry was adjourned to• Friday. This
morning the prisoner was removed to Bridgenorth
by train ; crowds of people at the stations passed to
see him. There is a general belief in his innocence
of the foul crime charged against hint.