The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-02 00:00:00

AUGUST 2, 1844.

prices of marine stores, which continue very dull of sale. Some
sales of Archangel have been made at 8 rupees, and of coal at
6 rupees per barrel.
Saffron.—We have no sales reported, and prices are no-
minal.

Corks have declined since last publication lr. 10a. per
gross: a sale of 694 gross has been reported at that price.
Bottles still maintain the quotations of last month, and are
scarce. A sale of 150 gross, at lir. per dozen, has been re-
ported.

Beer.—Of Bass's and Allsop's the importations have lately
been very large, but nearly the whole is in execution of orders
hence. the only sales that have been reported are 335 hhds.
of Bass's, at 60r. to 65r. ; 200 hhds. of Allsop's at 64r. per
hhd. ; and 100 hhJs. at 65r. A sale of 100 hhds. Tennant's
beer, and 10 hhds. porter, has been reported at 50r. per hhd. ;
and 50 hhds. Saunders' beer at 55r.

Spirits.—There is a scarcity of brandy and gin, and both
are ready of sale at 2r. to 2ir. per Bombay gallon.
Sundries.—Red and white lead are in good demand at llir.
per cwt. White paint is still scarce, and would meet with
ready sale at 15r. to 16r. per cwt. A sale of 100 lb. cochineal,
at 2r. 9a. per pound has been reported ; also of 3,5001 b. hams
at 6a. per pound. 272 barrels pork, at 324 r. per barrel. 40
kegs ox tongues, at 10r. per keg.

EASTERN PRODUCE.
Cotton.—The prices of this staple have slightly declined,
but the rains which fell the first two days of the month
caused the holders to store the whole in godowns immedi-
ately thereafter, and prices have in consequence been kept
firm at our quotations. Transactions to a pretty large
amount have, however, been made during the month, both
for England and China, previous to the receipt of the late
unfavourable advices from those places.
Coffee.—Prices of Mocha declined in the end of last month
to 9r. per maund, at which purchases to a fair extent were
made. The accounts by the last mail from England of the
reduction in duty upon it to 6d. per pound caused an im-
mediate advance of 8 annas per maund, and transactions
took place at that rise. The imports of late have been large,
and prices are drooping. We believe it may now be bought
at 9ir. Of Berbera there is very little here ; it has been
sold as high as llir. per maund.
Opium has advanced 105 r. per chest ; the present price
being 1,390 r.
Pepper.—Purchases of Malabar to some extent were made
in the beginning of the month at 51ir. to 52r. Since then it
has been firmer, and 53r., we believe, have been paid. In
Bhutcole there is very little doing.
Wool.—All descriptions of wool continue at our former
quotations.

FREIGHT.

Freights have slightly given way within the last eight days,
and may be quoted for London and Liverpool at 2/. 15s. to
3/. for first-class ships, and at 2/. 10s. second class ; and for
China at 14r. per candy.

BORNEO.
MURDER OF THE HON. MR. MURRAY.
By the arrival of the Young Queen, Captain Hart, the total
failure of the expedition fitted out at this port by the Hon.
James Erskine Murray and Mr. C. W. Bowra, to open a com-
mercial communication-with the island of Borneo, had been
confirmed. We regret. to state that the report of Mr. Mur-
ray's having been killed in an engagement with the natives
is also too true. We have been enabled to acquire some of
the particulars from an authentic source. After their arrival
on the coast the two vessels, the schooner Young Queen and
the brig Anna, entered the river Coti for about 80 miles, and
anchored off Tongarron. During the ascent no opposition
was offered ; and on arriving at the town named, where the
Sultan resides, he expressed himself gratified by the visit, and
willing to trade with the vessels. Deceived by these friendly
appearances, they were moored ; but after some time having
elapsed, there appeared no intention on the part of the in-
habitants to buy or sell. From the large body of armed
men congregating around the Sultan's house suspicions
began to be entertained that all was not right. These
suspicions were soon confirmed by attempts being made to board
on two several nights, which were prevented by the vigi-
lance of those on the watch. The Sultan had now thrown
aside every appearance of :friendliness, and there was no
longer any doubt of his intention to destroy the vessels, if
possible. Mr. Murray, deeply impressed with their dangerous
position, addressed a letter to the captains of the Young
Queen and the Anna, stating his conviction that they could
only escape by fighting their way through the gun-boats and
floating batteries with which they were surrounded ; he
also endeavoured to get hostages from the Sultan, for a
safe passage down the river : in this he failed. The attack
commenced upon the vessels on the 16th of February,
while they were still at anchor, by masked batteries
from the shore and gun-boats. They slipped their
cables, and commenced their almost hopeless attempt
to fight their way out of the river, surrounded by numerous
boats, which kept up an incessant fire from their long brass
guns. On every turn of the river they found a fresh battery
to contend with, the boats keeping up the pursuit out of
range of the swivels, but not of the long guns, from which,
in the Young Queen, there were fired 550 shot, and a pro-
portionate number from the Anna. At one time the Anna
got on a mud bank, but her consort nobly bore up and ranged
alongside -for her protection, until she got off. But for this
she would inevitably have been taken. The night being
calm, with a strong ebb tide, the two vessels were lashed
together, and allowed to drift with the current, determined
to escape or perish in company. Ahead of each was a boat
to pull them round when they got broadside on to the cur-
rent; the men in these boats state positively that they heard
English voices hailing them from the shore. After thirty-
six
hours of continuous fighting, they reached within a few
miles of the mouth of the river, and escape appeared certain.
But they found a numerous fleet of boats ahead of them which
had entered through some unknown creek. This was the last
and most desperate attack, and the number of pirates killed
must have been immense. With personal safety almost
within his grasp, here poor Murray was killed. He was
fighting the midship guns when he was struck by a two-
pounder on the breast; death was instantaneous. They at
length passed the bar and flats at the mouth of the river,
though at sunset the boats were still in chase. During the
whole affair the conduct of the officers and men was excel-
lent. An unflinching determination was evinced to escape
or die in the attempt. Mr. Murray was the moving spirit
by which they were all influenced, and it is deeply to be
regretted that he was cut short in the very vigour of
life : with his talents and energies he might have done
much to retrieve past mifortunes. We regret to state
that on the 23d of March an attempt at mutiny was
made on board the Young Queen, in which one man
was shot. He is still a prisoner on bard. As a matter of
course, the Admiral upon this or the East Indian station
will not permit this daring affair to pass unpunished.
There is not a sufficient depth of water for heavy ships
to carry them to the town of Tongarron; but the small
iron steamers. of which there are several in India, and
one here, are admirably fitted for the service. After their
escape, the Young Queen fell in with her Majesty's ship
Samarang, Captain Sir Edward Belcher; this energetic
officer will, no doubt, put himself in communication with Sir
William Parker, if he be still on the Indian station, and with
Sir Thomas Cochrane, who is unfortunately absent from this
port. We do not suppose that Sir Edward Belcher will at-
tempt anything with his own vessel ; her draft of water
would render the chastisement, which must be ample and
complete, impossible. The following is a list of the killed
and wounded on board the two vessels

—kn,LEn.—Hon. James Erskine Murray, Young Queen ;
James Dance, seaman, Anna; and John Thomson, boat-
swain, Anna.

WOUNDED.—Mr. B. C. Hart, Anna; Mr. M‘..Nyles, Anna;
John Miller, gunner's mate, Young Queen ; William Thom-
son, gunner, Anna; and Constance, boy, Anna.—Friend
of China, April 20.

CAPTAIN WARNER'S INVENTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—l read in your paper a statement made on the
information of some Shoreham pilots, extracted from
the Brighton Herald, which the editor of that paper
thinks to be " calculated to throw a suspicion upon the
genuine character of my experiment." A Mr. Young, " a
well known and respectable inhabitant of Shoreham," went
on board the John o'Gaunt, from which no person was
excluded, as soon as she arrived in Shoreham-roads,
and " remarked a quantity of new warp (a rope about
three inches round) lying on the deck, and wondered
what the rope could be for." This mysterious rope was
simply a coil, consisting of two new tow ropes, for the
purpose of towing the ship. Other ropes, which seem
to have perplexed these Shoreham visitors, were
merely guy ropes, for conducting the large or tow
ropes on board the steamer ; others were man ropes,
hanging over the sides, for the more convenient
escape of the crew ; and I dare say there were ropes tow-
ing overboard, both ahead and astern, as will hap-
pen in slovenly ships, and the John-o'-Gaunt was
slovenly enough, I dare say ; though I pledge you my
honour I never was on board her from the time she
left Gravesend, ten days before. To remove the real
doubts of every sceptical spectator of my experiment, or
to answer the pumping questions of every insidious in-
quirer, would be either an endless or an unprofitable
task to me ; for to do so effectually would be tantamount
to explaining how the John o'Gaunt was destroyed, an
explanation which I shall not impart to Mr. Young, of
Shoreham, however respectable, nor to his four pilots,
who convert a few common tow and side ropes into a
formidable " apparatus," as Don Quixote mistook wind-
mills for giants.
This visit proves one thing, at any rate—that every
one was not excluded from the John o' Gaunt, one of the
many false assertions under which I am for the present
doomed to labour.

I perceive many of the correspondents of the public
ournals suggest a variety of methods and materials by
which my experiment off Brighton might easily, " with-
out any difficulty whatever," to adopt their own phrase,
be performed. I invite these gentlemen to "go and do
likewise."—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
London, July 29, 1844. S. A. WARNER.