The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-11 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE ATHENIAN.

Captain Gifford, of the packet-ship Patrick
'Henry, arrived at New. York, reports that on-Sep-
tember 30, lat. 46.16, long. 24.12, he fell in with
the British barque Athenian, Stephenson, of and
for South Shields from Quebec (timber) water-
logged and disabled. He took' from her Captain
Stephenson, his mate, and 15 seamen, and brought
them to ew York. The Athenian had expe.
rienced very heavy weather, and sprung a leak, so
the pumps would not free her by constant pumping;
from the effects of which the crew were entirely exe
hausted. Captain Stephenson expressed his sin-
cere thanks to Captain Gifford for his'kindness aria
attention to himself and crew while on board his
ship in the fallowing card :—"Captain Stephenson,
of the Atheniae, reports—We left Quebec on the
sth of September, and proceeded favourably foi
about a week towards South Shields. From this
time forward, however, the wind became boiste-
rous, so much so that on the 16th the ship sprung
a leak, and we had to keep both pumps going.
On the night of the 16th the wind increased,
and for two or three days the gale continued. The
22d Sept. brought with it a renewal of the gale,
I which had only subsided a day or two before, and
at 8 p.m. on the evening of that day two of the
barque's sails were rent to shreds. Almost all sail
was now taken in, the pumps wore worked con-
tinually, and the sea broke over the ship in a furious
manner. The 23d and 24th Sept. brought no
change. The leak, however, was visibly gaining on
the efforts of the crew, whose entire time was now
occupied at the pumps. On the 26th the crow were
very much exhausted, and became desirous of leav-
ing the ship altogether. The 27th and 28th were
not marked by anything very different from the
state of things on the 26th. On the 29th the barcine
was almost waterlogged,- the sea ran very heavy,
and the gale had increased. At two p.m. a tremen-
dous wave washed over the ship, sweeping away'
the bulwarks, railings, stanchious, &c., and fore-'
ing the men at the pumps almost overboard;
it also stove in several of the casks containing
the necessary supply of fresh water, literally
filling the cabin • and the forecastle, thereby
rendering them perfectly useless, and did much
more injury of a smaller amount. In addition to
the cabins being made useless, the stores which the
cabin contained were almost spoiled by being im
mersed in salt water. I then sounded the pumps,
and ascertained that there were 74 feet of water in
the hold, and perceiving that waterlogging was in-
evitable, ordered some provisions and water up to
the maintop, with the intention of having every
one retire there as they relieved each other at the
pumps, because no portion of the deck was dry,
and there was no place to retire to since the cabins
were filled. At noon the barque became altogether
unmanageable, and the 'violence of the waves
sweeping over her continually prevented the men
altogether from working at the pumps, for in
their now totally exhausted state they were swept
to leeward by every wave. On the 30th, the
wind, which bad lulled into stillness in the
course of the preceding day, again began to in-
crease, and was blowing a gale at five p.m., when.
a vessel was espied by one of the men at no great
distance to leeward. The rays of hope, which had'
almost deserted everyone, now returned, and in -
fused new and desperate energy into their
exhausted fratnee. lat once ordered out two of
the bolts, and although the sea was very heavy
the orders were obeyed with the greatest alacrity.
We then rowed in the direction which brought theta
in the course of the stranger, and with agitated
minds awaited her approach. Slowly and silently
did the stately ship near us every moment, and
when she was within speaking distance, I called
out to her, and the mate told vie to come on board,
which we did with much difficulty, after passing
under the stern of the vessel. Since then we have
hem treated well, and the men, with the exception
of two, are in a fair way of regaining their former
strength."

COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITS
AFRICA.

(From the Leeds Mercury.)

It will be recollected that during fire recent visit
of Dr. Livingston to this town that he met the
Leeds and Bradford Chambers of Commerce at the
Stock Exchange Hall, where he delivered an ad-
dress on " The commercial resources of Central
Africa." The result was the adoption, by both
Chambers of Commerce, of memorials to Lord
Clarendon, requesting him to use his in fluence with
the Portuguese Government to secure the free
navigation of the Zam.be.i, and to give that free-
dom of transit, and that freedom of commercial in-
tercourse in the Portuguese colonies, on both the
west and east coasts of Africa, which are necessary
in order to develope the resources of these colonies,
as well as of the native districts. The memorials
were presented on the sth inst. to Lord Clarenthin,
by Lord Goderich and General Thompson. The
result is explained by Lord Goderich, in .the fol.-
' lowing letter to John Jowitt, jun., Esq., of. this

town :

"1, Carlton-gardenr, Pall-mall, London, S.W.
Stb November, 1857. •

"Dear Sir,—l received this morning your letter of
yesterday, and I have now to inform you, in reply to it,
that General Thompson and myself had an interview
with Lord Clarendon this afternoon, at which I pre-
sented to him the memorial from the Leeds Chamber
of Commerce,

"Ho listened most attentively to the statement which
we made to bins, and gave very satisfactory assurances
as to the intentions of the Government. Dr. Livingston,
he said, would proCeed to Lisbon with the strongest re-
commendations both to the Kirg and Government of
Portugal, and he assured me that he. would receive the
hearty support of our Minister at that Court in his efforts
to secure the freedom of the navigation of the Zstubesi,
and the utmost facilities for commercial intercourse
with the interior of Africa.

" It appeared to me that Lord Clarendon entered fully
into the views of the Chamber an laid down in the memo-
rial, and he seemed to be particularly impressed with the
necessity of encouraging the growth of cotton by nil
practicable means.

" I also brought under his notice, in accordance with
the request cqntained in your letter, the important sub-
ject of the recent renewal of the internal slave-trade on
the West Coast of Africa in consequence of the proceed-
ings of the French, and I am happy to say that he told
me that the attention of the Government was strongly
directed to the matter, and that they were in communi-
cation with the French Government in respect to it.
" Lord Clarendou begged me also to assure the Cham-
ber that he was at all times glad to receive from such
bodies information as to their views upon subjects con•
nested with the commercial interest of the country.
" I remain, dear sir, yours faithfully,
"To John Jowitr, E•q., jun." • "GODEBICH.