The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-15 00:00:00

Shocking Lifeboat Accident.

GREAT YARMOUTH, Jan. 13.
A dreadful accident occured to the Gorleston life;
boat Rescuer this afternoon, resulting in the loss 0'
twelve hardy beachmen. It seems that a brig W",
observed passing through the roadstead with signals
of distress hoisted. Two of the Gorleston lifeboat°l
the Rescuer and the Friend of All Nations—whieli
belong to private companies and not to the Royal
Lifeboat Institution—were immediately launch 6"
and they proceeded under sail out of the harbour
towards the roadstead. Each boat was manned 1:4
about sixteen men, the Rescuer being under the
command of Coxswain Robert Spilling. There 0.4
a strong breeze from the S.S.W., and a heavy see
rolled over the bar—a spot at all times very danger-
ous, but more particularly so at low tide. At the
time the boats left the piers the tide was at three-
quarters ebb. The Friend of All Nations, by beating
to leeward, got out to sea ; but the Rescuer caught
upon the bar, and instantly capsized, turning bott°l3l
upwards. Four men out of the sixteen forming her
crew managed to scramble out and to hold on t''
the boat, but the other twelve remained under 0'
The accident had been observed from the Piel
which were crowded with spectators, and the utine%
distress prevailed. The Friend of All Nations lArt
down with a view of rescuing their comrades ; 1311,
by the time they reached the scene of the cat'a
trophe the twelve men under the capsized boat 135
sunk to rise no more, and the four others before 0
re-
ferred to only were saved, even these poor feliOt
being in a very exhausted state when landed.
the time of the accident the ill-fated men wore their
usual heavy dress and sea boots, so that in a rough
sea there was but little chance of their escape With
life. The names of the men saved are Woods, juili
Austin, Warner, sen., and Palmer. The names °f
the drowned men are James Woods, CharlesWn(t
Edward Woods (father of Woods, jun.), Andre"
Welton, Abel Newsome, Christopher Wililei'
Christopher Parker, William Dawkins, B°bei-aft
Spilling, William Manthorpe, James Fleming, and
Benjamin Harris. They leave eight widows 1111 ,0
twenty-seven children in a destitute condition v
deplore their loss. The Rescuer was built in 1866
,
on the prize plan adopted by the Duke of Nortbulll
berland, and not on the self-righting principle. Tijie
boat drifted later in the afternoon on to the beae
The heart-rending occurrence has created a Pr°
found sensation in the town.

It is currently reported that Mr. Stansfeld, ALP,.
/
for Halifax, will succeed Lord Clarence Paget o
Secretary to the Board of Admiralty.—Army and Nal'
Gazette.

SAD EFFECT OF THE RECENT SNOW AND RAIS'-'.l
Yesterday (Sunday, the 14th of January instant
the waters of the Grand Junction Canal began visibly to
rise, and towards noon rose so high as to cause part of
town of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, to be entirely
inundated with water to the depth of several feet ; sO f
so, that people were prevented attending the aftern°e"
Divine service at the parish church, the railway statioil:
also the meadows adjoining, and the vicarage, the 1
donee of the Rev. Alleyne H. Barker, the vicar of the
parish, together with a new road called Talbot-road, el°,s
to the church, in which the new police-station and save
houses are erected, being entirely under water. Should
the flood not speedily abate a sad amount of damage °e
bo done to property, and it will seriously impede ~i 0
traffic of passengers to and from the railway station.
ACCIDENT ON THE METROPOLITAN RAILIV-0.--:
On Saturday evening the 6.5 train leaving FarriPV
don-road for Hammersmith, from some unexplained al es')
got off the metals before reaching King's-cross, and ect
pletely blocked the line. For upwards of three hour° ti
thousands of people who form the usual Saturday rilfo-p
traffic flocked into the sation only to wait in expectiu",;„-0
for a time and then depart. At about 10 o'clock the "-
was got clear, and trains began again to run.
PRIVATE BILLS IN PARLIAMENT.—The 310511 i
Vacher, of Parliament-street, have just publisll,,
their annual list of the private bills deposited for the 1)'11,
liamentary session of 1866. The different projected r3io
ways, improvement, gas, and water bills are arranged 0
two divisions, alphabetically and in numerical ordei fret.,
the Examiner' 4
s list, so that reference for any Pa
cular scheme is rendered more than ordinarily et''.
The fact of this being its twentieth annual appear
speaks highly in favour of its utility. lie
THE RAILWAY AND BANKING ALMANACIC fort °f
present year will be found to contain a great varie%° i I
useful and interesting information to the connuer''.,.
•al
world. It is, in fact, an annual record of the mato.; ,
terests of the United Kingdom, to which is attacb°d bpi;
tices of cotton, iron, and agricultural machinery. Setc,„ila
the varied contents of the almauack that it will be
of great assistance to the merchant, the manufacturer'
well as to the general public.