The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-17 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF TILE SUN.

Sin,—ln no part of the world are there so many
shipwrecks as on the east coast of England.
During the year 1857 there wero no fewer than
600 casualties between Dungeness and the Pent-
land Firth, being more than 50 per cent upon the
whole number on the entire coast of the United
Kingdom

This very large proportion is attributable to the
vast number of ships passing and repassing along
these shores.

It is calculated that not less than 40,000 sail,
exclusive of vessels engaged in our fisheries, an-
nually pass and repass through Yarmouth Roads;
most of them being engaged in carrying the
produce of our collieries to London and other mar-
kets.

This roadstead is the only natural harbour of
refucr°e on the eastern coast, and it is not uncom-
mon to see many hundreds of vessels there at the
same time ; whilst on some occasions a long con-
tinuance of adverse winds, either way, will cause a
much larger number to remain at anchor.
But Yarmouth Roads are surrounded by a natu-
ral breakwater of very dangerous sands, which in
foggy weather, or when heavy gales sweep the
coast, occasion many fearful shipwrecks.
During the last three years more than 500 ves-
sels were stranded, wrecked, or lost off this coast,
or compelled to put into Yarmouth harbour with
damage.

Asa necessary consequence the loss of life is also
great; and the number of shipwrecked mariners
who are landed at Yarmouth, year after year, is
very considerable.
Formerly the unfortunate siilor who lost his
vessel lost his wages also, and being utterly desti-
tute he had to depend upon casual charity, and
could only be passed to his parish as a vagrant:
The law is now more humane, "The Shipwrecked
Fishermen and Mariners' Benevolent Society" has
done an immense amount of good by enablini, the
sailors themselves to claim, when shi epwrecked, to
be clothed, fed, and forwarded to their homes, if
subscribers to it.

The benefits which this society has rendered at
Yarmouth, have long been readily acknowledged,
but it has been felt that something more was re-
quired.
The survivors of a wreck, or the crew of a foun-
dered vessel, arc brought on shore always wet and
weary, frequently exhausted by cold and hunger,
often more dead than alive. There was no place to
which they could be carried but the public-house,
where it was impossible to obtain, on the instant,
those appliances which were so necessary to re-
store suspended animation, and such other remedies
as circumstances required.
To obviate this evil an institution was founded
at this port about 12 months since, having for its
object the social and moral improvement of the
fishermen, beachmen, and seafaring population of
the town, and combining the advantages of a
Sailors' Home (so far as the same are required
here), and especially providing a place of refuge
for the shipwrecked, and destitute mariners of all
nations..

Hitherto the business has been conducted by a
committee of gentlemen having G. S. Harcourt,
Esq., for their honorary secretary, in hired rooms
near the beach, with very marked success ; 288
shipwrecked and distressed mariners having al-
ready been received and relieved. Of this num-
ber 204 were British seamen, and 84 foreigners of
all nations.

The inadequacy of the present establishment has,
hoNrever, been made most painfully apparent dur-
ing the recent gales which have desolated our coast.
In twelve days only, one hundred and nine ship-
wrecked mariners were brought to the Home, and
relieved so far as the present limited resources
would permit. Of these 91 were British subjects
and 18 foreigners. Forty men were brought in on
one day, of whom 33 slept at the home.
In order, therefore, to meet the very urgent de-
mands now made upon the committee, it has been
proposed to erect upon a most eligible site, frontit,
the sea, lately granted by the Town Council for the
purpose, a building fitted with baths and all other
necessary appliances, to which shipwrecked
mariners can be brought at any hour of the day or
night, and at which there will be the certainty of
finding not only food and shelter, but also good
beds, warm and dry clothing, and all other things
necessary to restore them to health and strength;
and it is firmly believed that by such means many
a valuable life (as has already been the case in three
instances) may be saved.
The cost of a building to contain all the required
accommodation is estimated at £2,000, of which the
sum of £BOO, besides the site, has been obtained ;
and at a public meeting lately held in our Town-
hall, it was determined to appeal to the humanity
and generosity of the public generally to assist the
inhabitants of Great Yarmouth in establishing an
institution which may be considered as partaking
of a national character.
I therefore take the liberty of placing these facts
before you, in the earnest hope that tria appeal of
the shipwrecked mariners may not be in vain, and
that you will be disposed to lend your aid in sup-
port of the undertaking to which I have ventured
to direct your attention.—l am, Sir, your obedient
servant,
Great Yarmouth, Nov., 1859.

WILLIAM WORSHIP, Mayor

* * Donations will be thankfully received by
the Mayor of Yarmouth; by the Town Clerk ; by
G. S. Harcourt, Esq., Hon. Sec., Sailors' Home; by
James Venning, Esq., Treasurer ; by Sir E. K.
Lacon, Bart., Lacuna, Youell and Co. ; and by
Messrs. Gurneys,- Brightwen and Co., bankers,
Great Yarmouth ; by the Secretary of the Sailors'
Home Society, Adelphi, London ; or by Messrs.
Barclay and Co., and by Messrs. Glyn and Co.,
bankers, Lombard-street.

SACRILEGE AT PLYMOUTII.—Four seamen be-
longing to her Majesty's ship Trafalgar, Thomas Brown,
Joseph Dennis, James Harris, and James Ellwood, were
brought before Mr. Derry, magistrate at Plymouth, on
Tuesday, charged with having entered St. Andrew's Church
and stolen therefrom the communion cloth and two covers
of cushions. A portion of the stolen property was found
on each, and Solomon Zeferdd, a Jew residing in South-
side-street, stated that the prisoners came to him on Sun-
day morning and sold a piece of plush velvet. The prisoners
say they found the property : they were remanded.
REMARKABLE LONGEVITY.—In the obituary of
the Times of Tuesday were recorded the names of seven
deceased persons whose united ages amounted to the high
number of 604 years, giving an average of more than 86f
years as the term of each life,