The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-23 00:00:00

THE DAMAGED LETTERS OF THE

NORTRAM.

Mr. Alfred Smee, of the Bank of England, in a
letter to a contemporary, says :—" Many letters
have been delivered by the Indian mail greatly
damaged, and in some cases perfectly illegible from
the action of the sea water, at the late injury of the
Northam. I have successfully restored the writing
of one of these letters by a process I believe to be
as old as the hills, though I am assured quite
unknown to our merchants and bankers. Having
been requested to publish this process for their
information, I have only to state that the recovery
of writing so obliterated is extremely simple. The
letter should be lightly once brushed over with
diluted muriatic acid, the strength as sold as such
at all chemists' shops. As soon as the paper is
thoroughly damped it must be again brushed over
with a saturated solution of yellow ferruginate of
potash, when immediately the writing appears in
Prussian blue. In this latter operation plenty of
the liquid should be employed, and care must be
taken that the brush be not used so roughly as to
tear the surface of the paper. This result is obtained
by simple chemical laws, as the iron which existed
in the writing ink is retained in the fibre of the
paper, and by the action of ferruginate of potash,
Prussian blue is formed, the use of the muriatic
acid being simply to place the iron under circum-
stances favourable to the action of the ferruginate
of potash. This letter should then be washed in a
basin of clean water and dried first between the
folds of blotting-paper, and subsequently by holding
it before the fire, when the letter is fit for the
counting-house. If the letter should be of much
permanent value, I recommend it to be carefully
sized with a solution of isinglass before being filed,
but if the paper has been much rotted the operation
requires care, and should not be done until a nota-
rial copy or photograph has been taken. Where
the operation is to be conducted by those having
some lo • Nledge of chemistry a little of the solution
of the red ferruginate of potash may be added to the
yellow, as in some cases it would render the colour
more complex."

TIIE NEW ZEALAND MAILS.—The fine clipper
ship Blue Jacket, belonging to Messrs. Wilson and Cham-
bers, White Star line of Australian packets, reachad Liver-
pool yesterday, after a rapid run from Melbourne, which
port she left on the 3d of July. She has 36,010 ounces of
golddust and £ll,OOO ou freight. The Blue Jacket has
brought the New Zealand mails, which were too late for
the Juno steamer from Melbourne.
THE EMPEROR OF TIIE FRENCH AND THE LIFE-
BOAT'S CREW.—On the Bth of March last the French br-
gantine Gonsalvo, of Nantes, got embayed off Padstow, and,
on making for the harbour, was caught by the eddy winds at
the entrance, and driven by the tide and heavy sea on to the
Doonibar Sand, when her crow were immediately placed in
extreme danger. The Padstow lifeboat, which belongs to
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, was launched with
great promptness, and, through a very heavy sea, which
repeatedly broke over and filled the boat, succeeded in rescu-
ing the crew of seven persons, and conveying them safely
to the shore. The vessel shortly after went to pieces. The
lifeboat was at the time under the command of Daniel Shea,
her coxswain, who is the commissioned boatman of the
coast guard. A short time ago the Emperor of the French
presented to Shea a large silver medal for his courageous
services on the occasion. His Majesty also gave a silver
but smaller medal to each of the men who formed the crow
of the lifeboat. On the 15th of March this same valuable
lifeboat rescued, during a terrific sea, the' crew of four men
and a pilot of the Prince Frederick William, of Ipswich.
For this awl the previous service, Shea was presented with
the silver medal of .he National Lifeboat gociety, in addi-
tion to the usual pecuniary reward which the lifeboat's
crews of the iustitatiou always receive for their services,