The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-10 00:00:00

DREADFUL SHIPWRECKS

FOUR HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN LIVES LOST.
Port Philip and Hobart Town papers received last week
give the melancholy details of the loss of the Cataraqui,
emigrant ship, upon the iron-bound coast of Kin's
island, in Bass's Straits, (between Australia and Van
Dieman's Land,) a locality in which, for want of light-
houses, it is said, the lives of hundreds are daily en-
dangered. The following particulars are condensed from
the account supplied by Mr. Guthrie, the chief-mate, who,
with his eight fellow survivors, reached the shore almost
in a state of nudity, having of course lost every thing
they possessed.

The Cataraqui, Captain C. W. Finlay, sailed from Li-
verpool on the 20th of April, for Van Dieman's Land,
with 369 emigrants, and a crew (including two doctors,
brothers, named Carpenter,) of 46. The emigrants were Sir Robert Peel completed the 58th year of his age on
principally from Bedfordshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Thursday
and Nottinghamshire. About 120 of the passengers were Mr. R. Cooke, a surgeon, was on Friday, in London,
married, with families, and in all 73 children. On the sentenced to seven years transportation' for bigamy.
3rd August, at seven in the evening, the ship was hove A Society is just formed in London, called "The So-
to, and continued lying to until three a.m. of the 4th. At ciety for Promoting Church Music."
half-past four, it being quite dark, and raining hard, blow- A ship has just left the Clyde, for the West Indies,
ing a fearful gale, and the sea running mountains high, with a cargo of metal coffins
the ship struck on a reef, situate on the W. coast of By a recent Treasury order British spirits may be bottled
King's Island, entrance of Bass's Straits. No observa- in bond for export under certain regulations.
tion to ascertain the ship's precise position could be taken On Sunday morning week, a fresh-grown mushroom was
for four days previously, and from the dead reckoning she gathered by the way-side, near Preston.
was presumed to be in 141 22 E. long., and 39 17 S. lat., A fine butterfly was seen near Bath the last week in
making her 60 or 70 miles from King's Island. When January.—Another was caught near Liverpool.
she s•ruck four feet water was found in the hold: The The personal estate of the late Isaac Cohen, Esq., in
scene of confusion and misery that ensued was indesclib- England. is sworn under £300,000.
able. All the passengers attempted to rush upon deck, On Sunday, through the upsetting of a boat at Yar-
and many succeeded in doing so, until the ladders were mouth, three persons were drowned.
knocked down by the working of the vessel, when the In the horrible case, at Greenwich, the chemists have
shrieks of men, women, and children, from below were found large quantities of arsenic in the body of the child.
terrific, calling on the watch on deck to assist them. The On Tuesday a fine lively infant was found in a basket
crew to a man were on deck the moment the ship struck, in the Hyde Park, London.
and were instantly employed in handing up the passengers. The number of converts to Romanism from the upper
Up ,o the time the vessel began breaking up it is sup- ranks of society, during the last few months, now exceeds
posed that between three and four hundred persons were one hundred. Nearly forty are clergymen.
got on deck by the extraordinary exertions of the crew. On Friday week a poor man at Kirkcudbright com-
At this time the sea was breaking over the ship on the miited suicide by hanging himself, in consequence of hay-
larboard side, sweeping the decks, every sea taking away ing had a quarrel with his (laughter, a worthless character.
more or less of the passengers. At five a.m. the ship fell The Post-office authorities have discovered that spud-
over on her larboard side, carrying away boats, bulwarks, ous postage stamps, to a considerable amount, have been
Sco. The captain ordered the masts to be cut away, in issued in London.
hopes of righting her, and getting the passengers stiff l be- During the performances at the City of London Theatre
low on de, k; and everything was done, but without avail. on Tuesday night, a man named Briton was killed by the
The ship became full of water, and the passengers below fall of a cannon, and another seriously injured.
decks were all drowned. Those above were directed to On utsday, Augustus Hopeton, of Holloway, aged
cling to the wreck above water till daylight. When day 14, was accidentally shot by his younger brother, while
broke it was found that the stern was washed in, and I firing at sparrows in their father's garden.
numerous dead bodies floating around the ship, some Within the last week the Trent has ,gain overflowed
hanging on the rocks. Several of the passengers and crew its banks, and laid a vast extent of land under water, the
(about 200 altogether) were still holding on to the vessel, marshes having been covered for miles.
the sea breaking over, and every wave washing somebody The associated mill-owners of Manchester propose, on
away. About four p.Ol. she parted amidships, at the Sir Robert Peel's measure becoming law, to reduce the
forepart of the main rigging, when immediately some 70 hours of factory labour from twelve to eleven.—Daily
or 100 were launched into the tumultuous and remorse- News.
less waves. The survivors ran ridge-lines along the side A spot is now traversing the sun's d which is e,
f

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

..-
o ..re wreck, to enable them to hold on. The remains of mated* to be 26,000 miles broad, and to'
cover an area
the upper deck now began to break up and wash away. of 1,062,282.000 square miles, more than five times the
An attempt was made to get a buoy on shore, but it number of square miles on the surface of our globe.
stuck amongst the seaweed on the rocks, twenty yards off, A sad accident occurred at Messrs. Blackwell's Fur-
and there was no one on shore to secure it on the sand. naces, near Dudley, on Sunday evening week, by the
The waves broke with unabated violence. At five o'cicck falling in of the roof of the casting-house, whereby one
the wreck patted by the forerigging, and so many souls man was killed in endeavourinz to rescue his son.
were subme'ged that only 70 were left, who were lashed ExpLOSION.—On Friday week, an explosion of gas
to the wreck. The sea broke over hem, the wind raging, took place at the offices of Mr. Naylor, solicitor, Leeds.
and the rain falling heavy all night. Numbers died and A workman was dangerously injured, the window was for-
fell overboard, or sank, and were drowned at the places ced into the street, acd the house shook to its foundations.
where they were lashed; when day broke the following When the Duke of Buckingham was shooting on his
morning, it was discovered only about 30 were left alive. Wotton estate recently, he had a narrow escape. He
The sea was now making a clean breach into the fore- held his gun with the stock on the ground, and was talk•
castle, the deck of which was rapidly breaking up. About log to a gentleman, when it exploded in his hand, and the
this time, whilst numbers were helplessly clinging to the contents rose close to his face.
bows and continued dropping off without the possibility The other day, a man and two women, of Minster, ate
of succour, the captain attempted to reach the shore, but I the too of a wedding cake_ and ware in...PM:16.1v oftpr to _
. - _

was unab!e, and with some assistance regained the wreck.
! he lashings of the survivors were now undone in order
to give them the last chance of life. Mr. Thos. Guthrie,
the chief mate, now on the sheetsail yard, was washed out
to the bowsprit; he saw the captain, second mate and
steward clinging at the bows' with about 18 or 20 dead
bodies on the fragment of the wreck. Mr. Guthrie was
now driven to a detached part of the wreck, but soon
found it impossible to live with such a sea breaking over,
and seizing a piece of plank under his arm, leaped into
the water and was carved over the reef, and got on shore.
He found a passenger who had got ashore during the night,
and one of the crew, John Robinson, plunged into the
water when he saw the mate ashore, and partly swimming
and partly driven reached the land. Five other seamen
followed, and landed dreadfully exhausted. Almost im-
mediately after the vessel totally disappeared. Tbus,-out
of 423 souls onboard, only nine were saved.

ken ill, A surgeon was sent for, and on his arrival he
found that they had taken poison. Happily, however,
they all recovered.

The royal steam navy of Great Britain consists now of
156 steamers, with 38,788 horse-power. This is of course
exclusive of an immense number of steamers at this and
other ports, which may at any time be conyerted into war
steamers, with little delay or expense.
IRON TRADE.—So great and general is business in the
iron trade at the present moment, that there is difficulty
in executing the most triliing orders for casting. A cor-
respondent informs us that for weeks he has been unable
to get an order, even fur three grates, executed in the me-
tropolis.—RailwayChronicle.

AN EXPENSIVEPAUPER.—The parish of Longbope, in
the Westbury-on-Severn Union, has had a pauper of the
name of Elizabeth Duffield, in the Gloucester Lunatic
Asylum for more than 20 years. She has cost her parish
nearly £500; and what is most remarkable, she died on
the 24th inst., aged 102.
In order to gratify his constituents, Mr. Hudson caused
a special train to convey copies of the new morning paper
containing a report of Sir Robert Peel's commercial speech.
The paper was on the Mayor of Sunderland's breakfast
table, 268 miles fi on. the metropolis, at the same time as
in the London clubs.

The names of those saved are Thomas Guthrie, chief
mate ; Solomon Brown, emigrant ; John Roberts, Wm.
Jones, Francis Milan, John Simpson. John Robertson,
and Peter Johnson, able seamen; and William Black-
stock, apprentice. They had neither food nor drink from
the time the vessel struck (Sunday) to Tuesday afternoon,
when they found one small tin of preserved fowl; after
ating which they went and lay down in the bush, almost
destitute of clothes.

The beach was strewed with fragments of the wreck,
mingled with numerous corpses. They could find no
water that night, and slept on the beach. The next morn-
ing found a cask of water, but were unable to make a fire.
Soon after they observed a smoke, which they thought
arose from a fire of the natives, and immediately a white
man approached, which turned out to be Mr. David
Howie, residing on the island. He observing a portion
of the wreck, arranged to reconnoitre the island, but as
his own boat was wrecked he could not leave the island.
The party, therefore, constructed a hut, and remained
five weeks, hospitably provided for by Mr. Howie and his
people, according to their means, the supplies having to
be carried for! y miles over a difficult road. On the 7th
of September, they saw the Mudge bearing for the island,
which t, ok them off with much difficulty. and htr the .; A

A QUEER CUSTOMER.—On Thursday, a racoon of an
unusuilly large size, was discovered in the hen-roost cf
Air. Clark. farmer, at Watnall, near Nottingham. On
examination, it was found that the intruder had made a
meal of two game ocks, five fowls, and one duck. Where
the animal bad cre from, or how it got there, nobody
knows.

At Greenwich police-court, on Wednesday, a workman
employed in Deptford Dockyard was charged with steal-
ing an old iron staple, the property of Her Majesty, the
value of which was estimated at five-sixteenths of a far-
thing. As the man had been dismissed from his employ-
ment in consequence, the magistrate considered that suf-
ficient punishment for the offence without inflicting any
penalty.
A FICKLE SPOUSE.—A couple were married, a few days

of Mr. Howie, on Tuesday, September 9 They landed
at Hobson Bay September 13. Most of the ship's papers
and the mail (except 35 letters) were lost.

armington, Northamptonshire ; and, not many
hours after the nuptial knot had been tied, an old sweet-
heart made his appearance. The wife, on seeing him,
immediately pulled off her ring, and threw it at her hus-
band, told him she had bad quite enough of him, did not

Loss OF THE AMERICAN SHIP SCOTLAND.--The
Scotland, Captain Snow, sailed from Liverpool 17 h Jan.,
bound for New Orleans. On the night of the 19th, du-
ring a gale, and thick weather, she struck on Arklow,
or some of the neighbouring banks of Ireland. The
pumps were tried, and it was discovered she had two feet
water in her hold. The ship was then steered up the
Channel, in hopes of gaining some port, but the water
gaining fast, and the ship steering with much difficulty,
(ha%ing five feet water in her hold,) all the after sails
were taken off to make her steer, both pumps being kept
going, at the same time baling out of the fore and after
hatchways. At four in the morning she broached to,
every exertion being made to get her again -before the
wind, but in vain, ber lee rail at the time lying in the vva-

aim Ina iT b seven tee, water in tier hold. Orders were
then given to cut away the mainmast, which was done,
carrying the mizenmast along with it. The ship then
stood in for the Welsh coast, which they made at day-
light, and kept on till within a quarter of a mile of shore,
when the best bower anchor was let go, but finding the
ship sinking, and no one to relieve them, the anchor was
slipper}, with the intention of running her on shore, but
she became completely water-logged, and would not steer.
Guns were fired, and signals of distress made, but no one
came to their assistance. The ship ultimately struck, and
the crew succeeded in getting on shore.
DREADFUL SHIPWRECKS.—On the 14th ultimo, the
new ship Montreal, laden with flour, &c., a trader be-
tween London ami Montreal, was lost during a snow
storm, near Cape Chat, and all hands perished. On
shore, the bodies of the captain, wife, and child were
found, the latter being clasped in its mother's arms.
Four other bodies were after afterwards discovered en-
tangled in the wreck. They were buried in one grave.
The Saxon of 367 tons, from Boston to London, was ob-
served on the '24th ultimo, on a reef of rocks, and was a
complete wreck. Her crew consisted of twenty hands,
all of whom perished. The brig Laurel left Quebec on
the morning of the 29th of December, with a cargo of
400 barrels of flour, and twenty-eight of butter. On ar-
riving off Cacona, on the banks of Newfoundland, she
was met by a large field of ice, and every effort to steer
clear of it proved abortive. The ship becoming fixed in
it, she was shortly driven ashore on Green Island, where
she immediately became a wreck. The crew suffered se-
verely for three days. The barque Universe, of Boston.
was lost under similar circumstances ; fortunately the
crew were saved. The ship Cambrillge, from Liverpool,
on the 23d of December, saw a vessel in distress, which
proved to be the Lord Lynedoch. of London, in a sink-
ing state. They took off the crew, thirty-two in num-
ber, who were in a dreadful state. The vessel foundered
shortly afterwards. The East India Company have re-
ceived information of the total loss of one of the com-
pany's war sloops, named Coote. The brig Merlin, of
Newcastle, was fully destroyed, by fire, on the 3;d in-
stant. She was laden with wine and fruit, and within
twelve hours after leaving Oporto Bar she caught fire.
The captain and crew were soon forced to take to the
boat and abandon the vessel. They were afterwards
picked up. On the books are also reported the total loss
of the ship City of Shiras, in the Mindora Sea, with
forty persons drowned; and also the wreck of the Gus-
tave Edward, a French lndiaman, 650 tons burthen ; and
another vessel, name not exactly known, both attended
with melancholy results.