The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-03 00:00:00

APPALLING CALAMITY-WRECK OF THE
CENTRAL AMERICA-500 LIKES LOST.

-
In our last American despatches the safety of
this United States mail steamship was despaired
of; and we have now, by the arrival of the Arago
at Southampton last evening, the melancholy par-
ticulars of the wreck of the vessel, with a fearful
loss of life, and two and a quarter millions of dol-
lars. The following is extracted from the New
York _Herald :
On Saturday last, the 12th instant, the United States
mail steamship Central America, Capt. Herndon, bound
to New York, with the Pacific mails, passengers and
crew to the slumber of some six hundred and twenty-five
persons, and treasure to the amount of over two millions
of dollars, foundered in a hurricane off Cape Hatteras.
On Tuesday, the Bth instant, the Central America, in
company with the Empire City, left Havana for New
York, and up to the evening of that day they were in
sight of each other ; but towards night the Central
America out-distanced her Companion. On the follow-
ing evening a heavy gale set in from the north-west, and
continued without abatement until Saturday, the 12th
instant, when it increased to a perfect hurricane.
It is supposed that when the ill-fated Central America
met the full force of the gale she was about fifty miles
ahead of the Empire City, and about a hundred and
fifty miles to the west of the island of New Providence,
between that island and the American coast. It is supposed
by Mr. Roberts that the Central America must have
broken her machinery and drifted up the Gulf Stream.
Her regular distance from the coast is about seventy-five
miles when running on her usual course.
There is little doubt that the hurricane had a circular
motion, or was, in fact, what is commonly called a whirl-
wind. From the direction it took, it is probable that
the Central America was caught in the very centre of
the whirl. The outer edge of the whirlwind doubtless
struck her on Wednesday, the 9th, the time which the
Empire City first experienced it, and from that time
until Saturday, the 12th, she must have gallantly battled
with it, until the centre reached her and she could no
longer hold out against the terrors of this awfu
phenomenon.

The extent of the gale must have been considerable,
for the Cunard steamship Persia experienced a heavy
touch of it on Friday, which literally swept her decks,
though her course was a good deal to the northward of
the track of the Central America and Empire City. Its
fury reached as far south at least as Wilmington, North
Carolina, where considerable damage was done to the
shipping from Friday to Saturday, and vessels continue
to arrive daily at this and other ports with the effects
experienced in that terrible blow.
Toe Central America was considered a stanch and
very good seaboat. She was built in this city
in the year 1853 byl William H. Webb, called the
George Law, and made her first voyage in September
of that year, Her construction was of the very best
description. She was diagonally braced with iron from
stem to stern, and was in all respects as stanch and safe
as any ship ;goat. There were on board of her six life-
boats, two of which were Francis's metallic boats, and
four with the patent air-tight tubes attached. Each one
was capable of holding fifty passengers. There were
also between five and six hundred life preservers on
board.

Her Captain, Commander Herndon, of the United
Staten navy, was a most prudent and efficient officer,
equal to any emergency; and it is satisfactory at least
to know that no danger which skill or forethought could
ward off, would have resulted so disastrously is the
unfortunate vessel. The Central America was not in-
sured, and the loss to the company cannot fall short of
$250,000, She is reported to have taken in $125,000
at Havana, in addition to the $1,600,000 she bad on her
original freight list ; and this added to say $300,000 in
the possession of passengers, would make the amount of
treasure lost little over two millions of dollars.
Not for many years has a gale of equal severity deso-
lated our coasts as this one by which the Central
America was destroyed. Every ship on the line of its
travel suffered severely, and the whole of the extent of
the damage done is not and never may be known. The
ocean for miles around was strewn with fragments of
',reeks ; and there is no doubt now that the portions of
wbeelhouges, door panel, and furniture, seen by the
ships Falcon and Commerce, belonged in part to the
lost Central America.

The Empire City, in her efforts tl get into shelter at
Norfolk, was compelled to bur❑ her wheel-houses, tables,
chairs, and every available article of wood work to keep
her fires going.

The Columbia, a steamship, which left New York
on Wednesday, the 9th, for Charleston, reached that
port with the greatest difficulty on Sunday. For 13
hours the tempest beat down upon her, and every mo-
ment of that time she was in imminent danger either of
capsising or foundering, every timber quivering under
the terrific force of tho gale. But terrible as was the
force of the storm encountered by both these steamships,
the unfortunate Central America, whose lose has in-
flicted so much misery upon so many families in this and
other cities of the Union, must have been delivered up
to the fury of the tetnpe6t infinitely greater, The detailed
horrors of the scene of destruction we have yet to learn ;
but we shudder to think of the revelations yet to be
made—the magnitude of the loss; the protracted agonies
of the sufferers ; the struggles between hope and despair;
the wild battling for life in the midst of death which

always characterises such saenca as this ; and, worst of
all, the end.esa sorrow which no balm can heal, that
must fad upon a thousand hearts and homesteads, as
each day's report confirms the dreadful anticipation, or
dashes into fragments the last remnant of a hope clung
to with that desperate tenacity with which affection
endows the mourner. Viewing this appalling calamity
in its most favourable phase, all these things must inevi-
tably result from it.

While too much regret cannot be expressed at the
fearful loss of human life by the foundering of the Cen-
tral America, it must not be forgotton that the loss of
the specie and mails will occasion much suffering. Aside
from the great inconvenience to the mercantile commu-
nity from the loss of the specie, there are hundreds of
letters from miners in California to their friends or fami-
lies here, containing remittances, the loss of which will
be deeply felt. Perhaps many families were depending
on these receipts for the payment of rent, or the pur-
chase of winter stores, the lack of which will occasion
much suffering, and form no little proportion in the un-
fortunate results of this terrible calamity.

TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES.
NORFOLK, Sept. 18.
The Central America foundered at sea on Saturday
evening last, at eight o'clock. Fifty passengers were
rescued from pieces of the wreck by a Norwegian barque
and brought into Hampton Roads. Twenty-six females
were taken from the ship by a brig three hours previously.
The officers were all lost except Mr. Frazer, second
officer. Chief Engineer Ashby took a boat and deserted
the ship. I start for New York with the surviving pas-
sengers at 10 a,m. _ _

J. M'GowlN,
Commander steam-ship Empire City.
The Empire City, with her sad freight, will be due
here this afternoon. It is positively stated that all the
ladies and children who were passengers in the Central
America were saved on board the brig Marine.
SAVANNAH, Sept. 18.
The bark Saxony arrived hero this morning with five
of the passengers of the Central America. She reports
the total loss of the vessel, treasure and mails, and about
500 of the passengers and crew. She reports that forty
women and children were saved by the brig Marine, of
Boston. The Pea was ♦ery heavy. Forty-nine other
passengers of the Central America were picked up by the
bark Elise.