The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-15 00:00:00

LETTERS FOR ARCTIC SHlPS.—Letters for officers,
seamen, and marines serving on board the Enterprise,
Rattlesnake, and Plover, in Behring's Straits, are to be
sent to the Admiralty on or before the 30th of November.
LIPSON v. HARRISON.—On Thursday, in the court of
Queen's Bench, Mr. Atherton moved for a rule to show
cause why the nonsuit which had been entered in this case
should not be set aside, and a new trial granted. The
plaintiff was a sailor on board the Swiftsure, which sailed
from Liverpool to the coast of Africa. The action was
brought to recover salvage in respect of the lady Worsley,
a vessel of which the defendants were the owners, and
which sailed to the same part of the world. It appeared
at the trial, which took place at Liverpool at the last
assizes, that while the Swiftsure was lying in the river
. Bonny, the Lady Worsley was on shore at the bar of that
river, at a distance of 14 miles. The master of the Swift-
sure, at the request of the master of the Lady Worsley,
sent several of his men to render assistance, and by their
aid the stranded ship, which had already been partly
plundered by the blacks, was brought into a place of
safety. The action was brought by the plaintiff in respect
of the service so rendered ; but the judge who presided at
the trial (Mr. Justice Wightman) thought the action could
not be sustained, and so non-suited the plaintiff. Three
questions were thus raised—first, whether an action
would lie for salvage ; secondly, if so, by whom must it be
brought—by the owner, master, or the men rendering the
assistance ; and thirdly, if the action would lie, and might
be brought by the actual salvors, must they bring the
action jointly, as on an implied contract which was joint
in its nature. Lord Campbell said he was of opinion that
no rale ought to be granted. It could not be said in this
case that there was any contract, either express or im-•
plied, to employ the labour. If there was any contract at
all, it was between the master of the two vessels. The
claim should have been made in the Court of Admiralty,
which had great facilities in adjudicating upon questions
of this nature.
MASSACRE OP A BRITISH CAPTAIN AND CREW ON THE
AFRICAN COAST.—The Castletownsend correspondent of
the Shipping Gazette writes on the 3d :—" The schooner
Heroine, Stafford, of London, arrived in Castletownsend
harbour about noon this day. This vessel has been the
scene of a tragical event on the coast of Africa. She
sailed from London about 18 months ago, on a trading
voyage to Africa ; her owner, Captain Cormack, being
master. He traded with the king of Tabou and his
people, on credit, to be paid by palm oil, &c., and, after
every exertion, failed in getting what he was promised.
He then took the king and some of his people, and kept
them on board his vessel until their part of the contract
should be• fulfilled. The king's subjects felt indignant at
this, and were determined to have revenge, and came off
in their canoes with a number of casks filled with water,
and only two of palm oil, and got on board the vessel.
Captain Cormack was completely thrown off his guard,
although well armed, and when in the act of stooping
over the side of the vessel, looking into the canoes, laden
with oil, as he thought, he was stabbed from behind by
the king's son, and pitched overboard. They then attacked
and murdered the remainder of the crew, except one boy
from Ireland, who has remained at the American settle-
ment on the coast, in expectation of getting a passage to
America, where his father and mother reside. The king
and his men took the vessel close in shore, determined to
burn her for her copper and iron ; but in two days after
the brig Tweed, Boaden, of Bristol, chanced to anchor at
night at the same place, and, hearing of what had hap-
pened, went on board and induced the natives to give her
up to him on paying something for her. He ran her to
a place of safety by part of his crew, and subsequently
gave her in charge to Captain Stafford, first officer of the
Chalco, of Bristol, to bring her home, with a crew of three
white men and Kroomen, and on the 22d of October she
was dismasted in a heavy gale, near the Western Islands.
Captain Stafford deserves great praise for his exertions in
getting the vessel to a harbour of safety, contending with
heavy gales in its disabled state, and having nothing to
subsist on but salt meat and bread for a great part of the
voyage, and the men being kept at the pumps almost
constantly. It is supposed that Captain Cormack's widow
resides in London."