The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-21 00:00:00

LONDON,

we:Y, tliere were sa:eral pEr3eas clustered, three WOrkield
on by one rep:. At this titre the companion
cover fl off, and three..prsor., eontri fed to keep up
Ly t n-til they Wi.;:c ZNet.zsd.
" Afxr being about half an hour in the water, a shore
boat came up and was about to pick me up. when I told
the men to get a lady, who appeared much exhausted,
in first; this was clone, my wife was tdten in next, and,
as quickly as possible, all supported by the mast were
speedily rescued.
" The boat then went to the mainmast, and took off
the captain and another man or two, and proceeded to the
shore, where we were met by a little girl, who said we
must come to her mammy's house, as they had a nice
fire to warm us, and would make us comfortable.
" When I first came on deck before returning to dress.
they were lowering the starboard quarter boat; but I
was below when they accomplished the somewhat diffi-
cult feat, as the ropes had got entangled.
"On coming upon deck the second time the captain,
who was in his drawers and shirt, said if they all stuck
to the ship there would be no danger. I accordingly
went down end told the ladies so, which calmed them
fur a little; but as the water rove and the lurch of the
vessel increased the alarm was soon renewed, and the
ladies all rushed on deck.
" Into one of the boats some four or five men got, and
rowed sway in spite of the cries and entreaties of those
on beard the sinking ship.
" Thee appeared to be great difficulty in launching
the boat;, as the tackles were all entangled, and when
launched they were in danger of filling as the plug holes
were all open; and as nu corks or plugs could be found,
the result was that although the passengers kept baling
the boats with their hats, they wore in danger of sinking
before the boats reached the shore.
" Into one of the boats a number of gentlemen had
crowded, when a cry arose that the ladies should go in
first; and accordingly a number of the gentlemen did get
out and admit ladies; but the boat had not left the ves-
sel's side when she swamped; but aftQr being emptied of
her first live freight she righted, and although half full
of water a number of others got into her, and I believe
ultimately reached land..
• " I am, however, unable to give any information on
this part of the melancholy narrative, 'as I was in the
cabin for some time, and when afloat my range of vision
was too limited to enable me to see what was passing
around.
" Mr. M'Neill, of Collonsay, his wife, two daughters,
and two sons were on board. The sons alone escaped.
The eldest daughter, though alive when she was brought
ashore, soon died. She was a handsome, joyous, happy
creature, and walked the deck till a late hour in all the
health and joyousness of youth. Alas! how. soon was
all changed; and ere a few hours elapsed she was a
corpse.

Mrs. Merrilees, of Liverpool, had a little child about
nine months old in her arms. When she was over-
powered with the waters sire sank, and, on rising to the
surface, her baby was dead, and floated away out of her
arms. The mother was saved, and when she recovered
herself so far as to recollect her loss she was bewailing
her sad bereavement, when the body of the little inno-
cent was brought into the house. The scene that ensued
may be imagined.
" Mr. Tait, baker, of this city, swam on shore with his
little boy on his back most of the way, and both were
saved.
" The Rev. Mr. Peughe, the Episcopal clergyman of
Paisley, had a little child en board, about 12 years of
age, which was given in charge to the stewardess. After
the alarm was given she proceeded to dress her little
charge and took her on deck, the poor child exclaiming,
I know you will not leave me.' `No, no! I never will,'
exclaimed the noble woman, but, alas! heroism availed
them not; the remorseless surge claimed them as its own.
"An immense quantity of luggage was recovered,
partly floating and partly thrown ashore. This may be
accounted for by the fact that most of it was on deck.
" Fuur instances came under my own observation
where husbands and wives were saved through their
mutual aid in circumstances of awful peril and almost
hopeless danger.
" There were about 20 bodies recovered when we left,
including Dr. Burns. Several of these were women, and
three of them children. The women had little else on
them than their night clothes, and some only their
chemises.
" Nothing could exceed the kindness of the villagers
to the wants of the survivors; their houses, their larders,
their wardrobes—their ell, were freely placed at our dis-
posal. Nor should Dr. Douglas, the medical gentleman
of the place, be omitted. He literally ran from one to
another from the hour of the wreck, administering re-
lief to those who required it, with a degree of kindness,
skill, and perseverance, which must ever be remembered
with gratitude by all.
" An investigation was at once set on foot by the au-
thorities at Portpatrick, and several of the passengers
were precognosced by the procurator-fiscal.
" The night was beautifully clear and calm. There
was a slight haze or fog crawling along the land, but the •
shore was quite visible and distinct; the lighthouse
loomed close over the vessel when she struck.
" The distance between the rock and the shore did not
appear above 150 yards, if so much, and would be about
the length of the division of Argyll-street from Queen-
street to Buchanan-street.
" The rock on which the Orion struck is well known
to all the seamen and fishermen of the place, and is a
very short distance from the mouth of the harbour."

Another of the passengers saved, whom we have seen
and conversed with, a seaman named Hugh M‘Gill, gives
the following account of the occurrence and of his own
fortune in connexion with it:—" I am a seaman, and was
a steerage passenger on board of the Orion at the time
she went down off Portpatrick. lum not ono of her
crew, but I saved myself, along with Captain Hender-
son and the mate, by climbing up the rigging to the
topmast at the time she went down. The hour, as near
as I can recollect, would be about half-past one o'clock,
and at that time there was no fog; I am sure of that, for
I could see the shore as clearly as I now see the other
side of the river Clyde, and the di,tance was so short
I could have cast a penny piece from the one to the
other. The mate's name is Langlands, and on going up
the shrouds he and I had a struggle which should first
get to the top. Captain Henderson also was there, but
whether he was up before us, or came up after I cannot
say, on account of the confusion going on. The Orion,
I think, went down in seven fathoms water. I was in
the bulk in the forecastle when she struck. At first
when I heard the noise of her striking I thought she
would not go down, but I found I was mistaken. The
life-boat was hoisted out as fast as possible after the
passengers came on deck, and I lent a hand to get her
out. As the ship was settling down forward the
water rushed over her bows. The passengers then
made for the quarter-deck& as fast as possible, and it
was thought that her stern parts might remain above
water, but we were mistaken; the air which had
collected below burst out there, and then she
settled down. At 'this time I had one of my feet
on the gunwale of the boat alongside that capsized, the
tackle of which I endeavoured to clear away, but as I
found her going over I clung with my left hand to the
shrouds, and by exertion reached the cross-trees of the
mast, and then got up to the topmast. Great confusion
was caused when she went down forward at first by the
passengers and crew making for tho qu.irter-deck. I
think it would be from ten to fifteen minutes after she
struck befOre going down."
From the account given by Langlands, the mate, and
others of the survivors, we have reason to assume that
there were 120 to 130 cabin passengers on board, and 40
t..) 50 passengers in the steerage. This calculation, it
seems, gives a larger number than usual, and a smaller
proportion of parties in the steerage, and iv is said that
a large proportion of those in the cabin were ladies and
young persons. The number saved by clinging to the
wreck, and otherwise, is variously estimated at 50 to 60
persons, but in consequence of the list of those who took
their places on board being lost in the vessel, it is im-
possible to say with any degree of certainty what may
be the actual amount. The Fenella steam-ship from
Fleetwood caught sight of the Orion about five on Tees.
day morning, and went into Portpatrick, staying there
a considerable time, and taking off the passengers saved
from the unfortunate vessel, to whom the utmost kind-
ness was shown by Captain Wheeler and his crew,
who very liberally took the passengers to Troon free of
charge, whence they were dispatched to Glasgow by a
special train, arriving at half past one o'clock.
We believe the whole of the crew have been saved
with the exception of Mr. Graham, the head steward, a
female stewardess, and one sailor boy. Graham, it is
said, got on shore, but died soon afterwards. About a
dozen persons in all of the survivors arrived in Glasgow
yesterday, at two o'clock, along with Mr. Fleming; and
all of these, while differing slightly as to details, agree
in the main facts of the catastrophe which are given
above.

In the absence of a detailed list of the parties belong-
ing to Glasgow who have been saved, we are authorized
to state that Mr. Tait, baker, of GO, George-street, and
his son, have been saved; also Mr. Goldie, Mr. George
Fleming and his two nephews, previously referred to;
Hugh M'Gill, a seaman, of 136, Piccadilly-street; a Mr.
Belson and a Mr. Lyle. We also learn from our Gree-
nock correspondent that four Englishmen, who were
passengers on board the Orion, arrived in that town on
Tuesday afternoon and put up at the Tontine Hotel, who
stated that three individuals belonging to Greenock were
reported with the drowned. Amongst the providential
occurrences which are narrated in town as the moans of
having prevented a number of individuals belonging to
Glasgow going by this ill-fated vessel, wo have heard of
the tollosving : —The family of a respectable Glasgow
banker, consisting of two sons and one daughter, were
on the eve of taking their passage by the Orion, from
Liverpool, but were prevented solely by the im-
portunities of one of the sons, a mechanical genies, who
insisted, in spite of all remonstrances and intreaties to
the contrary, on remaining in town until ho had been
gratified with a view of some inventions and machines
which had caught his attention. Forced almost against
their inclinations to accede to the desires of the young
man, the family remained in Liverpool, and in this way
were preserved from the accident by which S 3 many
others have perished.
(From the Liverpool Times.)
We have just seen Mr. Henry Anderson, of Clifden-
park, Birkenhead, who, together with his wife and
daughter, were passengers on board the Orion. Mr.
Anderson is confident that there were at least 220 per-
sons on board the Orion, and the results of his inquiries
have satisfied him that not more than 120 persons have
been saved, and that upwards of 100 have lost their lives.
He further says that he himself and a few other gentle-
men took the trouble to ascertain the names of parties
saved, that a complete list amounting to upwards of
ninety-five names was made out and forwarded to Glas-
gow, with a request that it should be immediately pub-
lished, but for some unaccountable reason this list has
been • suppressed, but we know not by whom. Mr.
Anderson's statement is to the following effect :
"We left here about four o'clock, and made
the Point of Ayr in six hours. The sea
was as smooth as a millpond until we struck,
which was about half-past one o'clock. I was in bed,
but not asleep. I never saw a more happy company on