The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-13 00:00:00

ANOTHER VIOLENT GALE.

SilIP WRECK AND LOSS OF LIVES.
The heavy gales which prevailed last week were
Tenewed with great severity on Sunday night and
Monday, and in the Channel the weather was
awfully stormy, with tremendous seas running.
The most conspicuous disaster, as yet reported
(writes our Liverpool correspondent yesterday) is
'the foundering about eight miles north of the Bell
Buoy of the barque Prompt, Captain Whittle, bound
from Rangoon via Akyab to Liverpool (laden with
xice and other cargo), and the loss of 15 lives. The
'official despatch on the subject posted at the Under-
writers' Rooms, Liverpool, is as follows :
" The Prompt (Whittle), from Rangoon, bound
"'Liverpool, foundered eight miles N.E. of the Bell
Buoy at four p.m. yesterday, in eight fathoms of
water."
It is feared that the vessel was carrying too much
tail„ and that being struck by a tremendous sea
she was thrown upon her beam ends and went
down almost immediately. Ffteen of the crew
pei ished, and the remainder, consisting of the cap-
tain, mate, pilot, and boy, were rescued by the
steam-tug Brother Jonathan, and landed in Liver-
pool this afternoon. The gale was raging furiously
at the time, and it was not without great difficulty
and danger that the men were picked up. The
Prompt was a vessel of 767 tons burden, was built
at Quebec in 1853, and had a large quantity of
cotton on board in addition to the rice and other

cargo.
Captain Whittle (with whom our correspondent
had an interview yesterday afternoon) made the
following statement :e—" We left Rangoon on the
15th June, with a cargo of rice, and on the 6th
November we left Queenstown (where we called for
orders), for Liverpool. Our crew consisted of 18
men and boys, and one of the crew, Nicholas Johns,
was left at Queenstown unwell. We took on board
Shaw, of No. 3 pilot boat, at Point Lynas, on Sun-
day. We ran up to the north-west light-ship on
Monday morning, intending, if possible, to enter
the port when the tide answered. The wind at
this time was blowing very fresh from W. by S.,
with thick weather. We tried to work off the
ship to the N., with close-reefed topsails, so as to
clear the banks. At about noon, and while about
10 miles distant from the Bell Buoy, a heavy beam-
sea struck the vessel and at once disabled her. By
the pilot's advice we cut away the mizen mast to
ease the ship. About 3 o'clock, when the vessel
was on the point of foundering, the steam-tug Bro-
ther Jonathan hove up and tried to take us in tow.
She threw us a hawser line, and seeing that the
ship was likely to settle down forward, five of the
men tied themselves to it. The rope, however, got
entangled in the cat-head, and though one of the
men got on board the steamer, the other four went
down with the ship, which soon after went over on
her beam-ends, settling down for some time pre-
viously :at the bow. At this time I was in the
cabin with the steward, and he was trying to put on
a life belt, when the sea broke in upon us. He was
drowned in the companion way. I managed to
work my way up by the hold on the wheel house.
From there I was washed into the sea with
John Murphy, the first mate, and a little boy named
George Murray (who could not swim). While in
the !ea the wheelhouse broke from the ship with a
fearful noise, and with great difficulty we managed
to reach it. The sea capsized the wheelhouse seve-
ral times, but by obeying my direction. Murray
always managed to hold on, while I and Murphy
swam about at intervals. The ship drifted to lee-
ward, and soon foundered. I don't know what be-
came of the other men, for all the boats were
smashed, and the cargo shifted, while the sea was
fearfully high. At last the crew of the Brother
Jonathan threw life buoys to us, and
hauled us on board completely exhausted.
Nothing could surpass the kindness of the
captain and crew of the steamer, who lent
us dry clothes, and gave us hot coffee and other

food."
The following are the names of the saved
and drowned :—Saved—Captain John Whittle,
Murphy, Ist mate, George Murray, apprentice, and
Shaw. pilot. Drowned—Keisick Wood (of Mary-
port), 2d mte, Robert Mackenzie, carpenter, John
W. Hall, steward, 0:.:o Vigilant, cook, Thomas
Swainson, Hugh Letherick, Simon Hayes, 117 m.
Gill, John Fenson, Thomas Jenkins, and George
Nicholson, able seamen. Apprentices, Charles Ed-
Prosser, John Mackechny and Win.
The Prompt was owned by Messrs. E. Whittle

and Co,, of Liverpool, and was thoroughly refitted
when last in port. She was fully insured, and the
cargo of about 950 tons of rice was consigned to
Messrs. Sinclair, of Belfast.
Another sad occurrence was also reported yester-
day, but fortunately unattended with loss of life,
although the crew underwent much suffering from
cold and exhaustion. It appeared that the schooner
Young Gipsey, from Newport to Liverpool, with
a cargo of bar iron, was caught in the gale on Mon-
day, while off the port. For several hours the
vessel was knocked about in the most lamentable
manner, the sea making a clean sweep over her,
carrying all moveables overboard, and it was with
the utmost difficulty that the crew could keep them-
. .

selves secure. Ultimately, however, the vessel

became ',unmanageable, and sunk when off Ithyl.
The schooner's boats had been washed away long
before, and the only hope of succour for the crew
lay in the rigging, where they, after much difficulty,
succeeded in gaining. While here, the sea continued
to make a clear breach over them, and with the ut-
most " determination and love of life," as one of
the poor fellows not inappropriately termed it,
they clung to their precarious support, in the hopes
that daylight would discover their position to some
vessels near. Their hopes were fortunately not des-
tined to be disappointed, for at an early hour they
observed a boat making towards them, and after
some time had elapsed they made her out to be the

Point of Ayr lifeboat, corning to their rescue. At
10 o'clock the boat reached them, and in a few
minutes after the poor fellows, seven in number,

were safe.

GREAT LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY.

A correspondent, writing from Bridlington-quay,
on Monday, says—The violent storm which swept
over the north-oast coast with such fearful results,
on Saturday week, has been followed by another,
within eight days, no less violent, and scarcely less
disastrous in its effects. Along the line of coast
running from the Humber to Flambro' Head it has
fallen with a severity unprecedented for many
Years, and the beach, within several miles of this
place, is literally covered with stranded vessels and
wreck.
the coast here forms a fine bay, bounded
on the north by
the •
chalk cliffs and sunken rocks of
Flambro' Head,
danadon the east and south by a low
line of clay cliffs
a sand beach, expoeed to the
full force of stormenre
fremthe north-east, east, south,
and south-east
Which sweep over it with irresistible
violence. Stretching frota
Head \llse Humber to within a
few miles of Flambro' znken shoal, called
the Smothwick Sands, over
the sea breaks
when the wit is on the iandleili
which crest the horizon withila belt of foam,
huge billows,
and within, along the southern edge of the b
are several knolls or shallows, which r ay,
a e easily
distinguished in heavy storms by the surf Which
The bay, though affording -
covers them. the
safest shelter on the coast with a north wind, thus
becomes almost one mass of broken water on
east and, as
the wind chopping
there, or
round to the ,this is
a frequent occurrence, vessels sheltering
steering a course within a tow miles of land, find it
almost impossible to work cif to sea, and arc drivai
upon the beach covered with foam, and shattered
by the waves as they break over them miles from
the shore. On Sunday the bay was a surging mass
of broken water, and as the wind swept on ward in
its mad career, rendered more feerful by showers of
pelting rain, the inhabitants became alarmed for
the safety of a fleet of small coasting vessels, lying
off the roadstead. Daring Saturday night there
were n
ere wild gusts of wind from the southeast, which
Sunday rose to a hurricane, and soon lashed the
iseat
forward
.n hugerasw. swelling billows, which, as they rolled
beach. Several ptd suecession, broke midway to the
of the vessels attempted to take the
harbour,
almost inatictehessible from the weight of the
sea breaking a"os
disabled, V? hilzt others, e b"'
and
were more or less
less fortunate, in vain tried

to sail out of the bay, and were driven upon the
beach at various points, until, within view of the
town, no fewer than thirteen wrecks could be
counted left stranded upon the sands.
The following are the names of vessels driven on
shore during the storm :—The Catharine Frazer,
Venus, and Dove, of Lynn; the Goodwill, Water-
witch, and ',Sylph, of Whitby ; the Undine, John
and Jane, and Petrel, of Yarmouth ; the Euphemia,
of Ipswich ; the William and Jane, of Inverness ;
the Hoop, of Holland ; and the Favourite, of Sun-
derland. The storm is still blowing fiercely.
Another correspondent says—On Sunday last a
very severe storm visited Bridlington and neigh-
bourhood, and considerable damage was done to the
shipping in the bay. It is not yet known exactly
what number of lives have been lost; but we fear
that at least 15 persons have found a watery grave,
as three vessels have sunk with all hands. The storm
began to rage at half-past six o'clock in the morn-
ing, and did not abate until three in the afternoon.
At eight o'clock a vessel went on shore on the north
side of the pier, and was much damaged. Two other
vessels shortly afterwards attempted to enter the
harbour, and in doing so, one of them (a schooner)
was dashed against the pier, and sustained consider-
able damage to her bulwark. The Self, from Lynn,
got into the harbour all safe. At half-past nine, a
schooner and a brig were observed to be ashore
north of the pier, both of them being much injured,
but all hands were saved by the rocket apparatus
of the coastguard. The attention of the spectators
was thus called to the south shore, where two other
vessels were observed to be in distress. One of them
was dashed against the jetty several times, and be-
came a complete wreck. To the credit of the coast-
guard all the hands were in this case also saved
by their rocket apparatus. The other, after being
thrown against the jetty, got into harbour much
damaged.