The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-29 00:00:00

TWO VESSELS PLUNDERED AND BURNT.-

aertAuTION TO AMATEUR RowEas.—An accident
to.littr4'd yesterday, with narrow escape of the loss of lite,
beat,Mr. Searle,
wt,`) 30ung men, in a boat belonging to
when, rowing near the centre arch ~f
4111 V-bridge, applrently in deep conversation ; and
man
za
04 it not been for the timely warning of a young
,the bridge they must have gone down, for the next
i„elll,,at the boat went in hal': They had just time to
ta46' hold of the piles that form the starlings, anti were
St(.; qf in two boats. It required the exertions of three
rilaiit..;ng nlen to get the boat from the pier, as the tide was
very strong at the time of the accident. _
ecri FATAL ACClDENT.—Yesterday a fatal accident oc
-t9 abutuad of the train which left Bolton for
wtal•achesterothree o'clock. The unfortunate man,
se,()se natne is James Cooke, was seated in one of the
the
eotadclass carriages, and was putting on the brake, as
th, entered the tunnel ; but leaning too far overh
of the carriage, his head came in contact with
tor of the iron pillars of the tunnel, and with such
the e, owing to the speed of the train at the time, that
rollJ was dreadfully crushed and fractured. On
surgeon Prestolec the train stopped, and Mr. Turner,
into ,of Manchester, who was travelling by it, got
the tae carriage where the poor man was lying ; but
t",,ajuries inflicted on the brain were beyond surgical
bi and Cooke expired in about ten minutes after the
lt,r? had been received. There appears to be no blame
11`47ibutable to any one else ; the unfortunate man
flicien`,Z,. imprudently stretched his head out too far over the
bts,,,,ot the carriage. The deceased lived in Salford ; we
eve he was a steady man, and he has left a widow
clta several children to mourn their sudden bereavement.
e.tquest wit! in all prohib city be held
Gitsvdian
INT of SaturrSaturday.li,RAcT ion GAS LAMPS FOi 1112413"411.---
'be IL Clark, ironmonger and tinner, has
xh~en ale A • O.
uccesttil party in obtaining the contract tor ,
kin the whole of the lamps for the intendedh
be
rworice* in the city of na-abur About new'
s
d . 3,000 lamps will 1 on the 14th of injes.
the wreck, and the remams,.,

MASS CRE OF THE CREWS.
The recent arrivals from Sydney bring over the par-
ticulars of more horrible butchery by the natives of the
South Sea Island,. The discovery was made by the
crew of the brig Magnet, Captain Lewis, while on an
expedition among the islands for sandal wood, and the
subjoined statement of the facts is from a letter, dated
Sydney, May 6, signed by the chief mate, Henry Alex-
ander :
The Magnet, on coming to anchor off the north-west
end of the Liffore, one of the South '4ea Islands, on the
14th of January, was, as usual, boarded by a number of
natives to barter with us, and their dealings were just.
Their conduct throughout was so satisfactory, as to in-
duce Captain Lewis to go ashore and spend several
days with one of the chiefs. While the cap-
tain was absent, we were informed that a ship
had lately been taken, and the greater part of
the crew massacred by the natives at the island of
Maryee. The distance not being much, we determined
upon immediately proceeding to the island mentioned, and
endeavour to rescue the remainder of the crew and what
property might not have been destroyed. We accord
ingly weighed, and with a favourable wind succeeded in
reaching the place the following day. At four P.M. a
canoe carne alongside, with a missionary and three other
men, who had just come from the south-east extremity
of the island, and they confirmed what we had pre-
viously heard, The information they furnished us with
was, that all hands had been killed, and the vessel was
sunk ; but that the sails, ropes, and part of her stores
*ere ashore in a hole in a rock, abreast of which was the
spot where the vessel went down. They also, to our no
little alarm, stated that another vessel had either been
wrecked or taken, and that all the crew had met with a
similar fate. except two seamen, who managed to escape
to that island, where they still remained ; and they
added, that if we remained till the following day, they
would bring them on board. We accordingly did so,
and about mid-day the same men came &onside,
having with them one of the survivors, the other
the chief detained. The account he gave of the
transaction was, that he sailed from London in the
moagb of September last, in the brig Janet of Dum-
barton, Capt. Gorman, on a yOyase South Sea Is-
leas; to procure a cargo of sandal Wood and tprtoisp-
- `-eat was wrecked upon the coral reef dff-Calethinta,
""ooettibar seven of the crew peiiiheel' in
• 4". fotiltMlA NOW/ Payed

themselves in a boat, and landed on the same day on the
Isle of Pines. They remained there but a short time,
and sailed again, anticipating to fetch the other island,
inly.b',e,l by ~ dised raf•e of p,oir:e, *.ut unf rta-
nittely they touched -Ilaryee, where they were instantly
attacked by the natives, their boat destroyed. and four-
teen of their companions wounded. He and another
sailor, named William Richards, were saved, and they
afterwards succeeded in escaping to that part of the is-
land. We inquired of them whether they had heard
anything of the vessel that had been taken by the na-
tives. He replied in the negative, but said a great many
things had lately been distributed amongst the natives,
consisting of sails, clothing, mathematical instruments,
and various other articles. He said a boat manned
by natives left the island' A- felV days before, having
on board a great many articles, among them a
watch and chronimieter, but did not know how
they became -possessed of them. (Here Mr.
Alexander observes, that the conduct of the man excited
their .44iicion, for he refused to leave the island, which,
he could with ease have done, and accompanied them.)
As we could not learn anything further as to the fate of
the vessel, we determined on farther search, and lost no
time in making for the south-west end of Liffore Island,
where it was understood the boat full of goods had gone
to, and if possible to learn the particulars from Huila, the
chief of the tribe, whom we had some previous know-
ledge of. At seven A.M. the next day the Magnet
reached the place, and from the first boat that came
along-ide they a,certained the ill-fated vessel to be the
brig Two Sisters, a South Sea whaler, commanded by
Captain Bread. The account that was furnished to us
of her loss was, that two or three days after her arrival
off the coast, at the time there was a large number of the
natives of both sexes on board, and part of the crew
were employed at their respective duties, suddenly
they were all seized (it was stated on account of
one of them taking liberties with one of the natives'
wives), and horribly massacred. Not a single one es-
caped—none, not even the poor cabin-boy—all were but-
chered, and their bodies thrown overboard. The natives
then plundered the vessel of everything that was valuable,
and afterwards the ship was set fire to and consumed.
As some of the property had to our knowledge been
taken to that part of the island, and strongly su•pecting
these people to have been acce:sory vi the whole tran-
saction, we resolved to detain the chief's brother until

the rest went ashore and brought off what things they
had in their possession that belonged to the unfortunate
vessel. They consisted of a chronometer, greatly in-
jured, a jolly boat with the name " Two Sisters" painted
in yelfo .v over the stern, a quadrant, som, account books,
and the log, which was kept up till the 16th of December
last. We were prepared for an attack had any been
made, hut all passed off quietly ; and having freed the
chief's brother, we set sail from the island to Sydney.
Mr. Alexander concludes by stating, that he has strong
suspicion as to the truth of the seaman, Jon .t.'s state-
ment. We suspect that the vessel was not wrecked, but
that he, along with the other seaman, Richards, planned
with the natives her destruction for plunder, and mas-
sacred their brother messmates.

The atrocities perpetrated on these islands in the
South Sea have been very gre.A. Within the last two
years no fewer than three vessels have been destroyed
b‘ the natives, and upwards of fifty persons murdered.
DESTRUCTION BY FIRE OF THE ROBERT