The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-02 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

Commander—William P. Crozier (1847), to corn-
maw! the Wasp steam-sloop, commissioned this day
at Woolwich, for service on the coast of Africa, and
she will take out the mails of the Ist of November
next to that station.

Lieutenant—Sydney Wolridge (1848), to the Ex-
cellent gunnery ship, at Portsmouth.
Midshipmen—A. C. Couher, to the Centaur flag-
ship, on the west coast of Africa ; James B. Grove, to
the Hecate steam-sloop, at Portsmouth; James S. B.
Fraser, to the Albion (90 guns), at Devonport ; and
W. IL Shine, to the Hecate.
Naval Cadets—S. F. Shore, to the Hecate; and
Harrington C. Onslow, to the Victory flag-ship at
Portsmouth.

Second Master—William 11. Fetch (1843), to be
Acting Master of the Resistance troop-ship at Wool-
wich.

Gunner—Gcorge Green, to the Astrtea store-ship at
Falmouth.

PROMOTIONS.

Richard F. Moore, to be Acting Gunner; John
Millar, to be Acting Boatswain.
CHATHAM, OCT. I.—The Bonetta, 3-gun brigan-
tine, Lieutenant and Commander Frederick C. Forbes,
from the coast of Africa, was paid off this day into
ordinary. On board this ship is an African Princess,
who was made a present to the commander. She is
between seven and eight years of age. She sings
prettily, and her voice is very good for a child of her
years. The Queen has been written to concerning
this young lady, and her Majesty has 'directed the
commander to bring her to London. Nine privates
of the Royal Marines from this ship, joined the head-
quarters of this division this day. The corporal John
Stewart, belonging to the detachment, died on the
passage home • and 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, and 1
drummer, with 10 privates, Royal Marines, from the
Albatross, 12 guns, paid off, also joined this division.
Two privates from the same ship proceeded to Ports-
mouth, and two privates to Plymouth division.

THE EMIGRANT SHIP HARPLEY.
(From the Shipping Gazette.)
Some concern has been evinced in the City to-day
by the appearance in the Times of this morning of the
following statement, which was pieked.up in a bottle
off Hope Cove, near the Bolt Head, on Sunday
last :

" We, the passengers and crew of the ship Harpley,
bound for Australia, enclose this paper to inform our
friends that we are half starved on a raft, having
drunk the contents of this bottle, the only thing we
have drunk fur 24 hours.

" The vessel sprang a leak, and foundered Sep-
tember 24, 1850. "COURTENAY FOWELL."
Our agent at Salcom be has forwarded to us the
original paper, of which the Times must have received
a copy. The statement is written upon a leaf torn
from a copy-book, and is addressed " To the Editor
of the Times." The writer, Courtenay Fowell, was
a passenger on board the Harpley when she left Ply-
mouth, and we have ascertained that the signature to
the statement is the genuine signature of Fowell.
Still we agree with our agent, who has forwarded the
paper : he " very much doubts the truth of it ;" in-
deed, we do not believe a word of it.
The following letter on the subject is from the char-
terers of the ship:—

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE SHIPPING AND MERCAN

TILE GAZETTE.
" Sir,—We notice in the Times paper of this day's
date a communication from Mr. W. T. Smith, C. 0.,
enclosing an extract from a bottle picked up by one,
of the boat's crew connected with the coast-guard
station, and as the report in question is calculated to
engender considerable alarm among the friends of the
120 passengers on board the Harpley, we have to
request the favour of your inserting our reasons for
believing such report to be wholly false.
" The Harpley did not leave Plymouth until the
23d ult., on which day, at noon, Mr. Mallet, one of the
charterers, saw her under canvass, with light westerly
winds ; she could not, therefore, have been so far at
sea on the '24th as to have foundered without some
signs of the wreck or boats reaching the shore, none
of which have yet come to hand, upwards of seven
days ago. It is not probable that a raft could have
been constructed in so short a time as that given from
the ship first springing a leak, and the passengers
having been on board such a raft for twenty-four
hours. Nor is it very probable that, in the confusion
and distress attendant upon such a catastrophe, paper
and materials for writing could have been at hand.
" The document itself, although in the name of
We, the passengers and crew of the ship Harpley,'
is not certified either by the captain or the officer of
the ship ; is signed Courtenay Fowell,' a passenger
possibly addicted to intemperate habits, and who, it
is probable, when under the influence of intemper-
ance may have penned this document, which by ex-
traordinary means has found its way there thus early.
"The Harpley is nearly new, had just come out of
dock, and undergone strict examination by the sur-
veyors, and is, in all respects, a sound and seaworthy
vessel. We may add that, with ourselves, the Secre-
tary at Lloyd's believes the whole matter to be a base
fabrication, but we deem it our duty to the friends of
passengers to give thus early our opinions as to the
truth of the report in question.
" We are, Sir, your obedient servants,
" florcnKlN and Moßus, Co. Charterers.
"3, East India Chambers, Leadenhall-street,
Oct. 1, 1850."
The owner of the Harpley has also written to us
on the subject, and confirms the foregoing state-
ment :

TO TUE EDITOR OF THE SHIPPING AND MERCANTILE

GAZETTE.

Sir,—Observing a letter in this morning's Times,
stating that a bottle had been picked up at Kings-
bridge enclosing a letter from one of the passengers
of the Harpley, in which it was stated that that
vessel had foundered on the 24th ult., I beg to state,
I proceeded round to Plymouth in that vessel from
London, and that I left her at eleven A.M., on the 23d,
outside the Rame Head, with a very light breeze at
S.E., and during the whole of that night and the
next day the wind was light, and easterly ; she could
not have proceeded more than from sixty to seventy
miles, and if, as stated, the passengers and crew had
been on a raft, they must have been seen by the
numerous outward and homeward vessels passing in
the track, and picked up by some of them.
"I am now proceeding to Plymouth, and shall
hire a steamer, after making due inquiry, if necessary.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" T. B. MALLET.
"4, Castle-court, Birchin-lane, Oct. 1, 1850."