The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-12 00:00:00

THE ARMY

The strength of the force at present stationed in
the camp at Colchester is about 2,500 of all ranks.
At the half-yearly inspection made by Lieut.-Gen.
Sir J. F. Love, Inspector-General of Infantry, the
appearance presented by the troops was very cre-
ditable. Early in the spring a draught of men will
be forwarded from the camp for service in India.
A detachment of the Louth Rifles arrived in
Liverpool on Saturday afternoon, and proceeded to
the landing-stage, where they embarked on board the
steamer Falcon, for COrk. The detachment con-
sisted of eight officers—viz., Capts. Murray and
Chaplin, Lieuts. Towneley and Cormick, Ensigns
Smith and Kelly, Adjt. Billingham, and Paymas-
ter Burke ; also 235 non-commissioned officers and
privates, 24 women, 30 children, and four horses.
A detachment, consisting of Capts. Smith, Lang-
ton, and Murphy ; Lieuts. Lindsey, Standridge,
and Stans ; Ensigns Mason and Burke ; Surgeon
Dickson, and 273 non-commissioned officers and
privates, 23 women, and 27 children, embarked at
Liverpool on board the Cormorant the previous
Tuesday.
A notification was on Saturday received at Wool-
wich of the intention of the Commander-in-Chief to
increase the Regiment of Artillery from the present
strength of 14 to 16 brigades, in addition to the
already expressed design of mounting two extra
batteries, to be horsed and manned with 18-pounder
siege guns, to be attached to the depot brigade at
Woolwich.

TEE HEAVY GALES OF OCTOBER

AND IVOIEMBER LAST.

The unusual heavy gale or rather hurricane, of
the night of the 24th of October last was unexam-
pled in its work of destruction in our maritime re-
cords. During the whole of that day not a single
casualty, with one trifling exception, occurred
either on the shores or in the seas of the British
Isles. When the Royal Charter recommenced her
voyage from Queenstown on the morning of that
day every one on board calculated, almost to a cer-
tainty, on a safe arrival at Liverpool before the
evening closed ; indeed the noble ship was opposite
Holyhead when the gale began to freshen up, and
what subsequently happened to her and her unfor-
tunate crew and passengers has become " household
words" in the homes of these islands. But perhaps
it is not so generally known that during that aw-
ful night and following day 195 vessels were
wrecked, 113 of them breaking into thousands of
pieces, with the loss of 684 of our fellow creatures ,
including those who perished from the Royal.
Charter.
It is satisfactory to find, on the other side, that
notwithstanding the fearful and terrific character
of this now celebrated gale, 190 persons were saved
from the wrecks by lifeboats, the rocket apparatus,
and other means.
From the 20th to the 31st of October the total
number of shipwrecks was 248, aiirowning 686 per-
sons, showing that only two men perished from the
52 wrecks that occurred between the 27th and the
31st of the month, and their crews, amounting to
126 men, were safely rescued from their perilous
positions. On the Ist November, however, the gale
again was most furious ; 38 vessels were wrecked
on this day, from which 29 persons were lost and
73 were saved, 31 having been rescued by lifeboats
of the National Lifeboat Institution, and other
bodies. The shipwrecks that took place from the
2d to the 9th November did not exceed the average
rate of losses. But the summary of the whole
work of destruction, from the 25th October to the
9th November, is distressing in the extreme to con-
template. It is as follows:—Total shipwrecks 325,
total lives lost 748. It is gratifying to find that
on these occasions 487 lives were rescued by life-
boats and other means from the wrecks. _

It is only just we should acknowledge—and
what place more fitting ?—the noble assistance the
National Lifeboat Institution, the Board of Trade,
and local bodies have rendered in the cause of
humanity on these disastrous occasions, for through
their timely aid many of the men recorded above as
saved were snatched from death by their excellent
boats and rocket apparatus.
LAMENTABLE WRECK IN I)UNDRUM BAY.—
NEWCASTLE, CASTLEWELLAN, 6TII DEC., 1559.—0 n
the night of the 4th inst., the Austrian brig Tiky
ran on shore on the rocks off Tyrella, north side of
Dundrum Bay. The Newcastle Lifeboat Institu-
tion, was launched a little before daylight, and got
alongside the vessel about 10 a.m., which they
found to be abandoned ; it was blowing a gale from
S.W. at the time, with a heavy sea. The Coast
Guard boat at Tyrella, in trying to reach the vessel
(before the lifeboat came) was capsized, and the
boat's crew nearly drowned, having got on shore in a
very exhausted state. It was found afterwards that
the crew of the vessel had abandoned her in their
own boat directly she struck, and being outside the
broken water, they succeeded in getting off St.
John's Point in the morning, where they tried to
land, and in doing so their boat capsized ; six were
drowned, and nine saved by the Coast Guard of St.
John's Point station. Had the unfortunate fellows
remained by the vessel they would have been all
saved, as her masts held on and part of the hull
was above water until twelve hours after the life-
boat reached her.

LYTHAM, DEC. 6.—This morning intelligence
was brought hore by a fisherman that a vessel was
lying sunk on the edge of Salthouse Bank, near
the Ribble Lighthouse. The lifeboat of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution was promptly
launched, and proceeded off to the wreck, which
was found to be lying sunk, with sails flying loose
and in ribbons, but with no appearance of a crew.
The lifeboat continued to hover about the vicinity
of the wreck in the hope of discovering something
of the crew, but she was compelled to return with-
out success to the shore, concluding that they had
met a watering grave. In the meantime, however,
it was discovered that the crew had succeeded in
reaching the beach at the lighthouse, at midnight,
after having had a very narrow escape, and bees
four hours exposed in their boat.