The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-23 00:00:00

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN NEW ORLEANS.—On the
11th ult a fire broke out in the New Orleans " Cotton
Press", and destroyed an immense quantity of Cotton.
By the least .calculation 4500 bales were burnt—with
200,000 dollars. The building was considered the largest
in the world. It fronts upon the Mississipi, and on
Roffigne and new Levee streets, and is 632 feet in front,
by 308 in breadth. It was built by an incorporated com-
pany, at a cost of 753,000, and is capable of eoring thirty
thousand bales of cotton, which amount, we understand,
was under the roof at the time of the fire.
SINGULAR SUBTERRANEOUS EXPLOSIONS.—A letter
from Lisbon, dated March 26, contains the following:—
" An explosion of subterraneous water took place lately
in the district of Vizeu, by which the soil was torn up,
and earth and stones thrown up to a great bight, for the
distance of more than a league, between the small river of
Oleiros and the Douro. All the cultivated ground over
which the explosion passed was destroyed, and in many
places it created ravines 40 feet in depth, and 30 tathoms
wide. It carried away and shattered to fragments in its
course, which was of extreme rapidity, no fewer than 50
wind and water mills, choked the Douro with rubbish,
and caused the death of nine persons including one entire
family. The loss to the poor farmers and labourers is
calculated at 60 coatons, or £34,000.—0n the same day a
similar explosion took place in the mountain of Marcelim,
in the same district, arising from the same source, but
branching off in the direction of the river Bantanza. It
carried away a farm-house, four cows, and some sheep
and goats.
DREADFUL CALAMITY IN THE BALEARIC ISLES. The
following dispatch from the Deputy Alcalde of Felantix to
the Political Chief of the Belearic Isles, gives an account
of a frightful accident which occured on the 31st ult. by
which many hundred persons were either killed or wound.
ed : Constitutional Corporation of Felantix.—This after-
noon, at six o'clock, a dreadful catastrophe occurred in
this town. On account of the procession that takes place
yearly on the evening of this day, an immense crowd of
spectators had assembled at the place called the Old Ce-
metery Wirnenario Viejo,) opposite the door of the
churc:. Santa Rossa, in order to hear one of the twelve
sermons that are preached near the churchyard. During
the preaching the wall that separates the old cemetery
from the Calle Mayor fell down upon the assembly who
were congregated in the street, the whole (more than 300
according to calculation) remained buried under the wall
and the adjacent earth. In union with the most influen-
tial persons of this town, I am taking the necessary mea-
sures. The Alcalde Don Francisco Bonnasser and six of
the members of the corporation (who are only installed
to-day) have been buried. The deputy Alcalde JUAN
CALDENTE.—Further particulars of this accident are
contained in the following letters from the same place :
Felantiz, April I.—My dear friend,—This accident has
been more horrible than we at first believed. 414 persons
killed; 72 wounded, 22 contused, and 27 with fractures ;
this is the result of this dreadful catastrophe over which
the inhabitants of this town are now shedding tears of
blood. What we have witnessed yesterday afternoon and
during the last night seems to us a dream. The Political
Chief arrived at six o'clock.—l can give you no further
particulars."— Times.

DESTRUCTION OF A SOUTH-SEA WHALER AND MUR-
DER OF THE CREW.—By the arrival of the Sussex whaler,
Hanmer, from the South Seas, we learn the fact of the
loss of the Harriette, Banker, of London, a South Sea
whaler, (the property of Messrs. Boulcot, of St. Paul's
Wharf, London,) which sailed from the Thames, in June,
1839, and of which no tidings had been heard for about
two years. It appears that while she was at the small
island called Strong's Island, in N. lat. 6, E. long. 163,
she was seized by the natives, that the captain and the
whole of the crew were murdered, and that the vessel was
plundered and burnt to the water's edge. The following
are such stray particulars as could be collected from a few
of the natives and others, by Captain Rounds, of the Pa-
cific, from New Brunswick, who, with other navigators,
visited the island on the 30th of April last :—The Harriet
had put into the island for wood and water, and the inter-
course between her crew and the natives was apparently
carried on in the usual friendly manner. A deep plot,
however, seems to have been laid by the natives, which
was at the same time wholly unsuspected by Captain
Bunker. One day, shortly after their arrival, the captain
and the surgeon went ashore shooting—two boats' crews
being engaged in collecting wood, and one in taking in
water. Out of a crew of 27 to 30 persons, only five re-
mained on board the ship, and this fact doubtless being
observed by the natives, who were anxiously watching an
opportunity, they simultaneously attacked the different
parties, killing each almost instantaneously, Resistance
would appear to have been hopeless, for, although the
island is not more than 27 miles in circumference, it is
very thickly populated, and from 300 to 400 natives were
frequently seen on the shore at one time by Captain
Rounds. The five persons who were on board ship at the
time observed the attack on their comrades, and seeing a
number of canoes putting off towards the vessel, they
hastily embarked in a boat and have not since been beard
of, the probability being that, as Strong's Island is situ-
ated at a long distance from any other, they also must
have perished in the course of the few following days. In
the course of Captain Rounds' investigations on the inland
he fortunately discovered four or five leaves of the Har.
riet's log, from which it appeared that the ship had re-
cently been to Port Jackson for the purpose of undergoing
some repairs, and the captain had made an entry to the
effect that he had had some trouble with his crew. Find-
ing all their endeavours fail to procure more information
the several ships above alluded to bore up and stood away
from, the island together—parting company some days
subsequently. The owners of the Harriet had recently
effected an additional insurance of £1,500, making a total
£7,500. Many of her crew left her at Sydney, whose
places were supplied by others ; it is therefore impossible
to give the names of these lost correctly. It is generally
believed that three olber vessels have been destroyed in a
similar manner at the same island, information to that
effect having been obtained by Captain Rounds. These
vessels are supposed to have belonged to some of the Sand-
wich islands—ships from that locality visiting Strong's
Island for the purpose of collecting the beach le mar, a
species of worm, in which a considerable trade is carried
on with China. Captain Hanmer states it as his opinion,
that although there may be no Englishmen resident on
the island at present, there must have been at some pre-
vious time, as the natives are so well versed in the Eng-
lish language. He adds that the natives appeared ex-
tremely desirous to prevent his becoming acquainted with
any of the circumstances of the affair, affecting a degree
of indifference with regard to the American captains. On
entering the harbour it was suggested to him that it might
be advisable to hoist the American standard at the mast
head, instead of the union jack. This however he de-
clined to do. The Sussex brings home a cargo of 1,500
barrels.