The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1850.

A lamentable proof has ju st been afforded of thetruth
of the old saying, " more haste, worse speed"—any such
ill-judged precipitancy being peculiarly perilous in
regard to navigation. By a singular coincidence the
Superb steam-vessel has perished on the sums 'unken
rocks lying midway between St. Maio and St. lleliers,
called the Alinquiere, off which only a few days pre-
viously the steamer Pollei had foundered—a mariner
of the name of PRIAULX having acted as captain on
both occa,ions. From the scanty particulars already
furnished in reference to this melancholy catastrophe,
it appears that eleven lives have been destroyed in con-
sequence of the most culpable negligence, the roost re-
prehensible temerity, and the most perverse blundering
on the part of those entrusted with the safety of the
vessel and her pas.iengers. Until more detailed ac-
counts have been furnished by the survivors it
would, of course, be invidioul to condemn by name
any particular individual. When it is considered
however, that the Superb, on leaving St. Maio to
proceed across the intervening portion of the channel
to the island of Jersey, was purposely directed out
of the ordiaary line of navigation—e hether to abbre-
viate the time occupied in the passage by a shorter
cut than usual, or to enable the captain to gratify the
curiosity of his passengers, by pointing out to them
the exact locality of his recent misfortune, it
would be difficult to conjecture— there cannot
remain a doubt but that the steamer was most shame-
fully and unnecessarily placed in a position of obvious
and extraordinary jeopardy. After running thus, as
it were, prepense into the very jaws of destruction,
no wonder the Superb met with her last and fatal
catastrophe. In fair weather, in broad noon-day,
with scarcely a breath of air stirring, the Superb
struck violently upon one of the crags of the Min-
quiers and began filling immediately. Considering
the suddenness of the calamity, it is by no means sur-
prising that thereupon a panic manifested itself among
the passengers. Orders being forthwith given by the
captain to lower the two boats belonging. to the
steamer, another accident shortly afterwards added to
the agonies already experienced. In consequence of
a by no means unfrequent oversight, one of the boats,
unprovided with the usual plug, on being hurriedly
pushed off from the Superb with eight men and three
women in It, slowly filled with water, and in the
presence of those still remaining on the steamer
gradually sunk, the sea all the while shining as
smoothly as a mirror. Besides the eleven un-
fortunate creatures who were thus drowned in con-
sequence of a petty act of forgetfulness (the recur-
rence of which might be readily obviated in
future by attaching the plug to each boat by a small
piece of chain), two children were thrown overboard
by the Bret shock of the vessel striking on the
Minquiers. O'herwis-e the crew and passengers re-
tutiiiir?ri by the c.iLinity, the steamer being
left con the rocks by the I,W;s4. tide, until by sig- '
Hats of ditress another steamer, called the Collier, at
leiag h came to their a-iistance.
One deplorable incident occurring prior to the
rescue of those whose lives were endangered by this
misfortune, must net he allowed to pass altogether
unnoticed. Oar allusion is made to the circumstance
of the commander of the Superb having attempted to
save his own existence by deserting the ship under
his charge in her most perilous predicament. For-
tunately for his. repute as a sailor, he was induced,
before it was too late, to return on board his steamer,
and there to await the arrival of the