The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-08 00:00:00

ARRIVAL OF MRS. PRITCIIARD
AN)) FAMILY.
(From the Patriot.)
We have great pleasure in announcing the safe arrival
of Mrs. Pritchard (the lady of Mr. Consul Pritchard),
with her three daughters. They came on board the
barque Cape Breton, Captain Cuerr, which left Valpa-
raiso on the 11th of June, and arrived at Cork on the
3,1 of October, bringing Government dispatches from the
master of the Basilisk, on board of which Queen Pomare
has taken refuge, and from Admiral Thomas on the
South American station. Mrs. Pritchard and her
daughters came over to Bristol on Saturday, and reached
London the same evening.
Mrs. Pritchard left Otaheite towards the end of April,
and arrived at Valparaiso on the Ist of June, staying
there ten days. The day before leaving Otaheite, she
went on board the Basilisk, and had an interview with
Queen Pomare. Her Mejesty had been very unwell, but
was then recovering. She is accompanied on board the
Basilisk by her husband and three children (ehe are
eight, six, and two years of age respectively), and ulso
by her mether, aunt, and household servants. She is
totally without money or provisions, the French Go-
vernor Bruat having strictly prohibited all communica-
tion with the shore. Whatever supplies, therefore, she
obtains through the loyalty and affection of her people,
must be conveyed by stealth, and at the imminent risk
of detection and consequent punishment. The com-
mander of the Basilisk, however, allowed the ketch's boat
to visit the shore, and bring off supplies of provision de-
posited there for the purpose.
The conduct of the French authorities towards Queen
Pomare continued to be extremely annoying, and even
threatening. Several reports had reached the sloop, of
an intention on their part to seize her Majesty by force,
and of course to imprison her on board their own ship ;
and the actual conduct of the French officers had, on
more than one occasion, been so audaciously insulting,
that Lieutenant Hunt felt it necessary to hold himself in
readiness for every contingency. In spite of all these
provocations, Queen Pomare still inculcated upon her
people a pacific and forbearing policy, invariably accom-
panying these instructions with expressions of her con-
tinued steadfast reliance upon the good faith and gene-
rosity of England. Under the circumstances, however,
her 'Majesty was entirely at the mercy of her barbarous
and unscrupulous enemies, the Basilisk being the only
armed vessel to defend her, and of course quite unable
to cope with the three French frigates supported by a
war-steamer and a corvette. Nevertheless, to whatever
extent the commander of the Basilisk might be able to
resist the French, her Majesty's reliance upon that officer
is well founded ; for he will not, in any circumstances,
surrender her person into the hands of her enemies with-
out a struggle. The probability is that she will not be
further molested ; since her constant inculcations of for-
bearance upon hr people preclude all pretext for an
attack ; and since, were the French to proceed to ex-
tremities, even our submissive Ministers might possibly
be roused to retaliation and resistance.

The information which Mrs. Pritchard brings of the
state of the island is most distressing. She confirms to
the letter, and indeed beyond it, the details given in our
last number, of the battle of Mahena, especially with re-
ference to the ultimate defeat and extensive loss of the
French. Nothing can surpass the courage and determi-
nation of the poor Otaheiteans. They protest that so long
as a single Frenchman remains upon the island, they
will fight; and, that even if they themselves were re-
duced to the last man, he and the rascal Mcerenhout,
were he the single survivor of the French invaders,
should fight it out. Such are the answers to all the
overtures of the French Consul. As an illustration of
the patriotic feeling, it may be mentioned, that the son
of one of the renegade chiefs, who made over the island
to the French, had declared that he would be the first to
shoot his perfidious parent. The number of natives who
have been induced to side with the invaders is very
small, not exceeding twenty ; while, as a counterpoise,
a much greater number of French soldiers had deserted,
and passed over with their arms to the ranks of the Ota-
heiteans. The mass of the natives were in the mountain
fastnesses, with plenty of provisions; and the fort, which
was abandoned by the French after the battle of Ma-
hens, was held, as before, by the advanced post of the
patriotic forces.
When Mrs. Pritchard left the island, nearly all the
missionaries had gone. The Rev. J. T. Jesson, with
his wife and family, and the Rev. Mr. Thomson, with
his wife and child, had gone to nuabine, intending to
leave them there and return. The Reverend Mr. Joseph
had taken his wife and family to Raiatea ; and the Re-
verend Mr. M•liean had taken his wife and family to
Tahaa. The only peraons connected with the mission
who were actually on the island at Mrs. Pritchara's de-
parture, were believed to be the Rev. Messrs. Moore and
Darling, Mr. Buchanan, schoolmaster, and Mr. Smee,
printer, who by the way, was compelled to print the
French proclamations. The people having nearly all
retired to the mountains, congregations formerly con-
sisting of 1,500 or 1,600 souls, were reduced to less than
twenty persons each. The mission, therefore, may be
regarded as in a state of complete suspension.
The Roman Catholic mission had been strengthened
by the arrival of four sisters of charity, who came in
good time to attend the wounded of their own country-
men, but of whose services, as of those of the priests, not
a singie native could be found willing to accept.
The sympathising disposition of the merchants, not of
the French nation, may be estimated from a single anec-
dote. One of the natives applied to a merchant to sell
him some gunpowder. lie was immediately referred to
the proclamation of Governor Bruat, forbidding the
sale of that article. The native, with ready wit, sug-
gested that the sale only, and not the gift of powder,
was prohibited ; when the good-natured merchant,
acknowledging the distinction, permitted him to help
himself. Such is the sense of insecurity, that nearly alt
the English and American merchants had placed their
families and their valuables on board the merchantmen
and whalers of their respective nations.

HER MAJESTY'S SHIP GORGON.

Extract of a letter from an officer of her Majesty's
ship Gorgon, dated 23d June, 1844, North-shore, Monte
Video Bay :
" For your amusement I shall write a rough account
of our plans. The pampara which drove us on shore
was the heaviest that has been experienced for twenty-
eight years, and the tide, which is always influenced (as
you well know) by the wind in this river, is proportion-
ably high. When the weather and tide abated, we
were firmly fixed upright on our keel in the sand,
to the depth of eight feet fore and aft. Nearly all
around the ship was quite dry, about four feet under
the stern, the surface of the water came up to
the eight feet water mark on our stern post, and as we
drew 16 feet of water you will observe that we are now
eight feet above, or higher up in the world than we wish
to be. The main difficulty in getting her off is, that
when the water rises three or four feet, so as to afford
prospect of heaving off, the wind must blow right in, sad
soon fills up all our excavations round the ship which
have been making for the purpose of freeing her from
the sand, the adhesion of which is very great ; however,
we persist in digging daily and improve our plans of
banking out the sand. You know the character of ori-
ginality and ingenuity by which sailors are so distin-
guished, and our operations here give us full scope for
them, We have two or three times dug away the sand
from the ship as far under her as was safe to go ; we
are driving piles on each side, to prevent fresh sand from
washing in ; that which we have removed being carried
high up the beach, and by measurement it amounts to
much more than 5,000 tons. Under the bilge on
each side we have placed ways of large timber
bolted together. About five yards astern of the ship
the sand ends and mud commences, so that should
we be enabled to move her about half her own
length, all will be safe, although she will not be
afloat until hauled out nearly a mile, as the water
now is ; but mud does not hold a ship's bottom in the
sucking and adhesive manner that sand does. To haul
off by we have two 24-inch cables, attached to
anchors of GO and 74 cwt. and backed by others of
50 and 35 cwt. ; one cable is taken to one paddle shaft,
and a single whip (the fall being a 17-inch cable), one
part secured low down to the stern post, and the other
paddle shaft. This manoeuvre is for tho purpose of
lifting her stern as well as hauling her on end ; the
engines of course work these our principal purchases.
We have two heavy treble purchases from our starboard
bow to anchors sunk in the sand near her starboard
quarter, and worked by two capstans and 100 men, the
capstans being sunk in the sand. As the ship is not end
on the beach, but nearly at an angle of 45 degrees with
it, her starboard being the inshore side, we have anchors
and cables laid out on the port quarter, which have pur-
chases on them, and are worked by the ship's capstans.
Under the bows we have six or eight powerful screws
(such as are used for lifting great weights, pressing wool,
cotton, &c., the largest lifts eighty tons, and the smallest
twenty tons), placed so as to lift and force the ship at
the same time astern. It would take sheets of paper to
describe them all, so you must use your imagination to
supply the place of a better description. The ship sits
upright on her ways, her masts and bowsprit are out, iu
fact everything but the engine. We have taken 400
tons out of her, and, should all other means fail, hers
engines must come out; they weigh 237 tons. lTeomn aut
then place the ship nearly on her broadside,
h h
plans succeed,
with battened hatches. If our present _
expect, we shall got off
cradle prepared for the purpose, and thus launc er
which there is every reason to
whenever it blows a good pampara, and as it is now be-
ginninghere weshall haveplenty of them soon.
It will then take us
of winter
us two months to refit for England, and
out, you may expect us about three months later. We
about the same time to get there. If the engines come
have every assistance from the foreign men-of-war ;
anchors, cables, &c., and 130 men from our own squadron,
in all about 320 living on board. We have also a mud
machine, clearing away astern of us, which has removed
300 tons of that commodity. The men and officers work
away cheerfully ; we are frequently at work both night
s bol eri b
e The
has wearbe i bi.e mostr is
and day, not Sunday excepted. This is Sunday, and
they are singing away, pile driving, mud heaving, and
ass e happyree. as
sa
oftennd digging
cold,
blit z n GeneralP°s
kind and attentive to us, the ship being
part of the bay which is in his Foss • ession.—Hampshire
Telegraph.

THE PRESIDENT STEAMER.-It seems the state-
ment that a bottle had been picked up twelve miles oti
Dover yesterday week, containing a note signed "Len•
nox," purporting to have been written on board this
fated vessel, and which we last Saturday gave as a ru-
mour merely, is unworthy of credit. Before we inserted
the rumour we saw the person (If. Drayson, Limekiln-
street, Dover), who says he picked up the bottle with
contents, as reported in our last, when he persisted in the
correctness of his statement before several witnesses;
but as he has not yet forwarded the original note so
picked up to our office, as he promised to do last week,
to convince us of the truth of his story, we conclude it
to have been altogether a cruel and wanton fabrication.
—Dover Chronicle.