NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 238, 15 March 1875, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

We extract the following items from our files by the Albion : Great destruction of rolling-stock has occurred at Rhyl station, by a collision between a goods and a coal train, which bruised many passengers. Similar results arose from a collision between a mineral and passenger train near Darlington. Seventeen persons were mutilated by a similar disaster about three miles from Glasgow, while the carriages were so smashed that the beams had to be cut to liberate the passengers. Other accidents are reported, with results more or less serious, from Dartmouth, Haughley Junction, Sheffield, Newton, Sunderland, Gorton, Trentham, Ratso, Albrighton, Tapton, Reading, and other places. At Brighton station, a Crystal Palace train ran into a city train. In America, near Washington, a train came into collision with an express ; the latter took fire, and the mails, with bank notes worth 70,000 dollars were burnt. Nearly £4OOO has been raised for the sufferers from the Thorpe railway accident. Numerous fires have occurred. Messrs Bedale and Syke’s premises, at Hull, were destroyed, with damages £20,000; Messrs J. T. and N. Hill’s premises, Hull, £30,000 ; Mr R. Briercliff’s spinning mills, near Bolton, damaged to the extent of £24,000 ; the Medlock Smallware Company’s mill, Manchester, with loss of £30,000; the saw-mills of Messrs Driver, Jennings, and Capper, and an adjacent block of ten houses at Southampton, loss £10,000; part of the extensive premises of Messrs Mayers and Baker, manufacturing chemists at Battersea, £60,000 ; the large hop warehouses of Messrs Luttre and Go, Southwark; Mr Bradley’s indiarubber factory, Blackburn, the place being stored with naptha, loss £10,000; Messrs William Thompson and Son’s worsted stores, Leicester; the biscuit factory of Messrs Gray and Dunn, Glasgow, damage £50,000, and 300 persons thrown out of employment. Guy’s Hospital was placed in great jeopardy. A fire broke out in the coal stores of the Royal Dockyard, Bermuda, which was unsubdued after burning two days. The cottages frequented by summer visitors on Mount Edgecombe have been destroyed by fire. On sth January eight colliers perished at Aldwarke Main Colliery, near Rotherham, belonging to John Brown and Co. Three hundred men were working at the time. Four miners were suffocated by afterdamp in a colliery near Dudley. Fatal boiler explosions, arising rrom freezing waterpipes, have occurred at Chartley, Fulwood, and other places. By a similar disaster in a chain and anchor manufactory at North Shields five men and a boy were killed, and thirteen wounded. Some buildings were totally destroyed. Columns could be filled with shipping disasters. The steamer Cortes, from Cardiff, foundered in the Bay of Biscay. Of twentynine on board twenty-five perished. The steamer Delfina struck a rock off the West Coast of,"South America, and nearly thirty were lost. The steamer Scorfia, from Cardiff, and Kathleen Mary, en route from Odessa, are thought to be lost. Several wrecks are reported from the Cape of Good Hope. There have been great floods in that colony, and much property damaged, several bridges carried away, and Alice Town nearly submerged. The estimated loss is £350,000. The project for a submarine tunnel under the Channel was the subject of a conversation between the Lord Mayor and the French Minister of Public Works during the Paris visit. The two Governments have sanctioned preliminary experiments. The steamer Faraday has returned home without succeeding in laying a direct cable. Four men were executed on the 4th January for murder in London, and three in Liverpool. One of the miscreants, Peter Campbell, guilty of the street murder of Richard Morgan, was repreived. Several other cases of brutality have occurred at Liverpool, and the authorities, roused by the reproaches of the press, are devising measures for the suppression of street outrages. One gentleman offered £IOOO as the nucleus of a fund for the object. In all our chief towns magistrates and judges are pronouncing in favor of severe prison discipline and flogging. Exasperated by the criticism of Post-office affairs in the press, Lord John Manners, suspecting the information given by employees in the Savings Bank department, has visited numbers with suspension or dismissal. The new Admiralty Board consists of Mr Ward Hunt, Admirals Milne and Hornby, Captain Lord Gifford, and Sir Massey Lopes. The distinction of 0.8, has been conferred upon Mr Cunliffe Owen for his services as secretary of the Royal Commission for the Vienna Exhibition. St Ives, in Cornwall, has returned Mr Praed, Conservative, by 617 votes to 552 polled for Sir Francis Lycett, the Liberal candidate. The vacancy was caused by the death of Mr Davenport, the Conservative member. Mr Disraeli, in reply to a memorial from the members of the Evangelical party, forwarded by the Earl of Shaftesbury, on various matters connected with the condition of the Church, expresses a hope that the Public Worship Bill will remedy the insubordination and lawlessness of some of the clergy, agrees with the memorialists that it is desirable to cultivate an intimate relation between the clergy and laity, and believes that under existing legislation a further expansion of the ecclesiastical machinery may be accomplished. Confused by this vague letter, the committee of the Evangelical Union advise suspension of all active efforts at Church reformation. Lord Lyttelton has announced his intention to introduce a bill for an increase of the episcopate. It is stated that Mr Baird, who lately gave half a million to the Church of Scotland, will receive a baronetcy. Dr Traill, Mr Gibson, Q. 0., and Mr Miller, will be nominated for the representation of Dublin University. A vacancy has been caused in the representation of Chatham by the appointment of Admiral Elliot to the post of commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. Lord Carnarvon has effected a final arrangement between Canada and British Columbia. The latter colony would consent to federation only on the pledge that the Dominion Government should construct a railway from the head of the Great Lakes to the Pacific. That engagement they could not perform, capitalists shunning so unprofitable an undertaking. Through the mediation of Lord Carnarvon, sixteen years is to be allowed for the completion of this great work, but in the interim the Dominion Minister is bound to open a local line into

the Pacific colony, and to clear a road for ordinary wheel and baggage traffic from the head of the lakes to the coast. The annual expenditure will he two million dollars. By the death of old Mr Attwood, formerly of Birmingham, he is discovered to have been the donor of the £IOOO anonymous cheques which during several years have been dispensed to the extent of £350,000. He has left more than a million of money and no will. The Bessemer saloon steamer has made a successful trip from Hull to Scarborough and back. A speed of eighteen miles an hour was reached. It was resolved at a public meeting at Glasgow to form an Industrial mission settlement at the south end of Lake Nyas«a. as a memorial to Dr Livingstone. £IO,OOO are to be raised for the purpose. The Great-Western excepted, the rival railways have yielded to the pressure of the Midland Company, and have reduced their fares at all competiting points. The Midland Company’s receipts show a large increase, while the returns of other leading lines are unfavorable. Thenewreturn ticket system proves a mockery and a snare, and excites loud complaints. An indignation meeting of season-ticket holders was recently held at the Cannon street Hotel. A German expedition to the North Pole is fitting out. German emigration to America is decreasing. M. Ledru Rollin’s funeral at Pere la Chaise was attended by 50,000 persons. M Gambetta, who was present, was surrounded by a tumultuous crowd. The press is warned that the most stringent measures will be taken against any newspaper presuming to attack the Assembly or the President. The second balloting in the Haute Pyrenees placed M. Caseaux, a Bonapartist, 4107 votes above the Septennatist candidate. This result has produced a deep impression at Versailles. The workmen employed in the shipbuilding yards on the Wear have received notice that in February remuneration on time will be reduced 10, and by the piece 15 per cent. This will affect 7000 men. The platers, rivetters, and boilermakers in Hull yards have struck against a 10 per cent reduction. Several hundred men employed in the engineering works on the Chatham and Dover Railway have struck against a system of piecework. Funds procured from the federation of trades unions connected with the iron and building trades are to be used to oppose the powerful organisations of employers, Five thousand Tyne shipwrights have received notice of a 10 per cent reduction, which the majority have resolved to resist. The Durham coal-owners have resolved on a similar step, and are combining with the ironmasters to enforce a general reduction in both trades. Owing to depression in the chemical trade, the Newcastle Chemical Works Company propose to suspend operations for several weeks. The London cabmen have formed a trade union, and appointed a committee to consider the question of raising the fares. New Year’s Day ushered in a counter revolution in Spain. The movement, evidently longin preparation, was completely successful in three days. The daring step was initiated by General Martinez Campos, who with three battalions proclaimed Alfonso King of Valencia, and telegraphed to Ministers at Madrid what he had done. Almost immediately General Lovellar and the army of the centre signified their adhesion, and soon after the armies of North Catalonia recognised the new King. The fleet, under the influence of Admiral Topete, followed suit, and even some Carlist generals of repute resigned their commands. The grandees and middle classes everywhere testified their satisfaction, and even the restless democracy of the great cities abstained from all display of active opposition. Marshal Serrano, who was with the army of the north, frankly acknowledged the new sovereign, and received from the new Government a telegram, thanking him for having averted bloodshed by his generous self-sacrifice. The Belgian King sent congratulations to Alfonso, and the Pope transmitted bis blessing through the Nuncio. The Pr'nce being in Paris with his mother he became the object of interest to all classes, and at the opening of the Opera House he divided with the Lord Mayor of London the eclat of the evening. In reply to the congratulations of the Spanish embassy, he said that he wished to surround himself with the most able men of all parties, and with the co operation of the army and the people to pacify the country. He intended to be King of all Spaniards. He is resolved to be a Constitutional Sovereign, and will maintain religious liberty, though, unfortunately, some of the first acts of the new Government were to suppress two Protestant journals, and close a Protestant Church at Cadiz, but owing to a remonstrance from England and Germany, the chapel has been re-opened. On 6th January Don Alfonso left Paris for Marseilles, accompanied Jby Queen Isabella, where he embarked in a Spanish frigate for Barcelona. Here he landed on the 9th, and had an enthusiastic reception. He visited the cathedral and reviewed the troops, and in the evening attended a state dinner, embarking again on the evening of the 10th. He landed at the port of Valencia about noon of the following day, the cardinal blessing him amid the cheering of vast multitudes on shore and afloat. A Te Deum was celebrated in the cathedral. The Virgin’s Chapel was visited, bouquets were showered on his path, and clouds of pigeons let loose as emblems of peace. On the IBth the King commenced his journey to Madrid, amidst tumultuous cheering, receiving ovations and loyal addresses at every restingplace. The entrance to the capital on Thursday afternoon was a magnificent success ; the weather was fine, and the crowds immense. The decorations were splendid, the King joyous, and the populace charmed with bis graceful bearing. One of the King’s first acts was to s s gn a decree for paying the overdue coupons, and another, granting the priests their back pay. Illuminations and fetes succeeded each other for several days, while business was neglected; On the 18th, he quitted Madrid for Sarragossa, en route to the Army of the North, of which he is to assume the chief command. The hopes at first entertained that the Monarchical revolution would end the civil war, have not been realised, Don Oarlos has fulminated a proclamation breathing defiance, and threatening continued hostilities. The war will consequently soon be resumed in earnest. The Carlists pretend to believe their chances are improved,

THE BURNING OF THE COSPATRICK. From our files to hand by the Phcebe, we extract the following full particulars of this melancholy event:— The Nyanza was sighted off Penlee Point, Plymouth, at about half-past seven on Thursday night, by the steam tender Sir Francis Drake, and was boarded by the vessel an hour afterwards. The three surviving men from the Cospatrick were found in a much better condition of health than might have been expected, considering the prolonged and tremendous hardships they have undergone. The second mate, Macdonald, is a man aged 31, and does not look older; Lewis is about 46, and Cotter 18. The elder man is small of stature, and weather-beaten aspect; but the lad is plump and full-faced, and, judging from appearances, but little the worse for the sufferings he, with the others, has undergone. The second mate appears to be in equally fair condition with the lad. A large number of newspaper correspondents boarded the vessel with the owners’ agents. The three survivors—Henry Macdonald, second mate, Thomas Lewis, and Edwaid Cotter—were landed at Plymouth at halfpast ten on Thursday night. They had just got into the Duke of Cornwall Hotel and ordered tea, when the principal agent of the owners of the Cospatrick came up in hot haste, and informed them that a special train was waiting for them, and they were at oace piloted to the railway station. The Standard says:—The arrival of these three terribly tried British seamen in their native country was characterised by such a baiting on the part of enterprising correspondents of the Press as the victims are never likely to forget. When, after a scene of confusion, little creditable to all concerned, Mr Macdonald, with Thomas Lewis, the able seaman, and Edward Cotter—not Cottes, as it seems to have been erroneously spelt in the ship’s articles—ordinary seaman, the three survivors, took their seats in a firstclass compartment of a carriage of the special train which left Plymouth at 11 o’clock on Thursday night. They were accompanied by two representatives of the London Press, and three or four provincial gentlemen, to whom, after much reasoning to convince him that he was not thereby violating an order of his owners, Mr Macdonald agreed to make a full statement in regard to the terrible episode in which he played so important a part. During the protracted journey to Exeter, the correspondents took down the following : STATEMENT OP MACDONALD. On Wednesday morning (18th) I was on my watch below ; I had just fallen asleep when the report of fire was given. I jumped up. I was not quite asleep. I ran to the door and met the captain. Said he to me—- “ There is an alarm of fire ; jump forward and see what is the matter.” I went forward. When I got there the mate was getting force-pumps and everything in working order. I saw flames and smoke coming out of the fore scuttle. When that was coming out I ran aft again. I put on my trousers, for I had been naked. The men and passengers were tumbling up by the time I came forward, and were plying the pumps in great alarm. But both the crew and passengers were behaving excellently. The truth I’ve got to speak, and nothing but the truth. We worked away at the fire until the flames burst out at'the fore-hatch. It seemed as if the fire was right forward in the ship. The great thing was to go down that fore-hatch if any man could have done it. The captain called for volunteers, and I and two men tried it, but we were beaten back by the flame and smoke and had to tell him we could not do it. All fell back a bit, but we managed to get on the “foksle” head, and the captain was taking the ship to keep her before the wind, but she would not answer her helm. She came head to wind, and this was what drove the fire aft on the foksle. We hauled the foresail up, but by this time the fire was aft between the fore-hatch and the main-hatch. The boats forward were on fire. I had asked the captain before this whether I should get boats out, but he said, “ No, in such a time as this do your very best to get the fire out, and leave the boats alone.” All had gone aft except those who were working at getting the fire out, and the women were in a terrible way. The fire began to come out of the main-hatch, and then there came a rush on to the poop. I came aft to see about the boats, with the chief mate, the third mate, and others, to try to put the boats straight. The starboard boat and the quarter boat were full of women, and a mad panic around. It was the women’s quarters on the quarter deck, but by this time it was everybody’s quarters. The starboard boat was lowered by the crowd anyhow by themselves, God knows who did it. It capsized when it touched the water ; the davits bent down with the weight that was on them. There were about eighty people, chiefly women and children in it. They were all drowned. Was there a trouble in the water I Great God ! what could I notice about this ? By this time the foremast was on fire, and blazing to the truck. All three masts fell aft and over. We had tried to lighten the starboard pinnace, the biggest boat in the ship, and we had to leave her when her bows caught fire. Not till then I stationed two men at the port quarter boat, with strict not to leave the ship’s side before the capt n gave orders. She was all right till after he captain gave the word, and then, my G„d, there was a rush. I was the last to make for her, except them that jumped overboard, that was the chief mate and a woman, an Irish girl, whose petticoat was afterwards used for a sail. I had tried to get a compass, but had to leave it. else I would not have got my passage. The passage was not paid and they were going without me. As 1 jumped in they were cutting away the tackle falls. I jumped to the helm and shoved her clear. We had thirty-four in the boat then, and we had to keep off because the people were pouring down the falls, and would have sunk her. She had not above six inches of a side. We were no distance off her. We pulled well off from the ship, and laid by until morning. But just as we were clear of the ship’s side, the mainsail came down after the stern blew out. This was the spirits. I had before thrown overboard the rockets in her. This, mind you, was all in the darkness. After we had backed off the scene was horrible—men throwing their wives overboard, and women their children. I saw one man throw thirteen children overboard, then jump in himself. They were praying, yelling, crying, but nobody got at these spirits. Nobody had, I should think, a thought of that, and another thing, they could not get at them. I did not personally see the captain and his wife jump overboard, but a man I picked up told me that he saw them jump, and also saw Di Cadle throw over his boy and follow himself. The captain, when I left, was

standing by the lee-wheel, and was as cool and composed as ever a man was. I wish you were done, for I have not had a blessed night’s sleep since the terrible time 1 was in the boat. I don’t think many were about her by this time, for she was burning from end to end. The mizenmast went overboard; this was about an hour and a half since the fire first broke out. We stood off from the ship until the next day to avoid the throng of people in the water and then the morning came, and still she was blazing inside, but the outside of her was to the good still. We were a good dis tance off, and we heard some cries of people on spars who had floated a good way out. We found that the starboard quarter-boat had floated, and the people hanging to the spar had uprighted her. They told me that they bad tried her six or seven times, and she had capsized as often, but ultimately they succeeded, and got her near. The cry was for an officer to come on board. “ For God’s sake, Mr Macdonald, come with us, and bring some men with you.” The men who went with me were Edward Davis and three others. I remember that I threw the magazine overboard the first thing. The women made awful shrieks. Many of them clung to me and entreated me to save them. We kept off from the ship, and we heard cries from people on spars floating away from her. We made towards them, and found they were the other men. They had no oars, They sang out they wanted an officer in the boat—Lewis. They asked for a man, and Lewis went first. They sang for an officer, and I agreed to go. Cotter and I went with Lewis, and that divided us, leaving thirty-two in each boat. We were deeply loaded then. A man was on a spar, and was taken in the other boat. The man’s name was Robert Banop, a Scotchman. We kept by the ship all that day and all that night. We saw people all around her, but we could not render them any assistance. We lay off till the next afternoon, about half a mile off, but after the ship sank it was no use. She was burnt down to the copper. My boat had no oars. The other boat gave me one and a half. We steered for the Cape of Good Hope ; but we had no compass or anything in the boat, and nothing to eat whatever. One of the men told me the captain threw his wife overboard, and jumped after her. The doctor threw the captain’s child overboard, and jumped after. The two boats kept company to the 20th and 21st, when it commenced to blow, and we got separated during the night. I whistled and shouted, but when daylight came we could see nothing of the other boat. Thirst began to tell severely on all of us. A man named Bentley fell overboard while steering the boat, and was drowned. Three men became mad that day, and died. We then threw the bodies overboard. On the 23rd the wind was blowing hard, and a high sea running. We were continually baling water out. We rigged a sea anchor, and hove the boat to, but it was only tied with strands to the boat’s painter, and we lost it. Four men died, and we were that hungry and thirsty that we drank the blood and ate the livers of two of them. We lost our only oar then. On the 24th there was a strong gale, and we rigged another sea anchor, tying it with anything we could get. There were six more deaths that day. She shipped water till she was nearly full. On the 25th there was a light breeze, and it was awful hot. We were reduced that day to eight, and three of them out of their minds. We all felt very bad that day. Early on the morning of the 26th, not being daylight, a boat passed close to us running. We hailed, but got no answer. She was not more than fifty yards off. She was a foreigner. I think she must have heard us. One more died that day. We kept on sucking the blood of those that died. The 27th was squally all round, but we never caught a drop of water, although we tried to do it. Two more died that day. We threw one overboard, but were too weak to lift the other. There were then five left—two able seamen, one ordinary, myself, and one passenger. The passenger was out of his mind. All had drank seawater. We were all dozing when the madman bit my feet, and I woke up. We then saw a ship bearing down upon us. She proved to be the British Sceptre, from Calcutta to Dundee. We were taken on board, and were treated very kindly. I got very bad on board of her. 1 was very nigh at death’s door. We were not recovered when we got to St Helena. I had dysentry. They handed us brandy, and we were in such a state that we should have drank all of it. We made 540 miles in these eight days. We took a north half-east course. The latitude where it occurred was 37deg 15min S, longitude 12deg 25 min- E. That was at midday on the 17th. I know that we had kept in near the same longitude all the time. We knew we were to the northward of the Cape. My opinion is that the first boat never recovered the wind of that night. The woman in that boat was frantic, she leaped more than once. It was heart-rending to see the women when the first boat west down. They were about eighty in nvitnbev. The ship’s davits bent down with the weight of them. They went down with one shriek. In answer to a question, the men said the passing of the ship, which did not pick them up, did not reduce them to despair, but rather inspirited them, as they knew now they were in the track of ships. Cotter would have given in, but we stirred him up. Cotter could not stand. I had to crawl along. I found a seaweed with little crabs on it; we ale them and sucked the seaweed. I said, “We are in luck today.” We did eat away at it, I assure you. Lewis—For four or five days I felt neither hungry nor thirsty, but after that I was very bad. Cotter—l did not suffer either for four or five days. Lewis —I am forty-six, but this has made me ten years older than I am. I am trom North Wales. Macdonald—There was a woman in the mate’s boat with a child, eleven days old, sucking. Mr Macdonald’s narrative was completed some time before reaching Exeter, whence it was flashed over the wires to all parts of the United Kingdom. At Exeter the provincial correspondents took their leave, and after a long delay, caused by the night goods traffic on the line, the train carrying the Cape mail jogged on in very leisurely style to Bristol, where, at 8.30a.m., to the amazement of the passengers, they wore informed that no further progress could be made towards the metropolis nntil 7.50. Descending on to a platform a foot deep in snow, with an icy blast whistling through the deserted station, the shipwrecked men and their fellow travel* lers, under the guidance of a railway porter, were fortunate enough to find an hotel. London was reached about 11.30 on Friday morning, where an agent of the shipowners,' Messrs Shaw, Seville, and Co, was in waiting

to receive Macdonald and his companions, and take them on to their office. STORY OF THOMAS LEWIS. The narrative of Lewis, if it can be lo termed, is very confused. He is an old man, an Irishman apparently, and has an impediment in his speech. He was in charge o£ the wheel of the Cospatrick up to midnight j but the ship was making very little way, for the wind was very light, and against them. Not long after he had gone below he learned that there was something wrong, and was called up by the chief officer, who gave him and others orders to go forward and put out a fire. These and subsequent orders were given with great calmness, considering the circumstances ; but all that was done had to be effected in very little time, for the fire, which when he first saw it, was just appearing on deck,soon swept all before it, and quickly enveloped the whole ship “like a furnace.” The smoke prevented Lewis from seeing what the passengers were doing, but he could hear the screams as they struggled on deck, and were so suffocated that, staggering to the side, they leaped overboard and were drowned. So he learned from those who afterwards were in the boat with him, but they did not talk much about it—“they couldn’t bear to;” and most of them before long went mad. The women, of whom three, he thinks, were in the boat with them, had to be held, or they would have jumped into the sea; and when, one by one, they died, they were eaten. Beyond this it was almost impossible to get any particulars. Evidently it was most repulsive even to these strong men. On one point they were quite agreed, that no raft was made, or if made, could not have lived, and that no ether boat except the two of which they knew was launched, for the best of reasons, that they were all burnt. Lewis is certain of that. How he himself was picked up he scarcely knows, for although there was so little wind that the ship could not even bo brought before the wind, a ground sea was running that speedily hid from view all relics of the wreck. When, after ten days on that terrible boat, longing for death, and yet struggling so desperately against it, they were taken on board the British ship Sceptre, the three survivors were so utterly exhausted that in another two or three hours they are sure they would have died. SUFFERINGS OF THE BOAT’S CREW. With regard to the sufferings of the boat’s crew, the Telegraph correspondent gives the following colloquy ; Some one on board one of the tugs which met the Nyanza said to Cotter : “Well, Cotter, when you managed to get into the boat, and she was fairly off, how was it you could not pick up some of those who were floating away from the burning ship and being drowned ?”—“ We did pick up as many as our boat would hold. If we had taken in another we should have gone down ourselves. Such a high sea was running that we could not see many of the people when they once threw themselves over the ship’s side to avoid being burnt.” “ Where are the rest of those who went in your boat 7”— “ They all died, sir, every one, except us three and the man who went mad before he landed from the British Sceptre, and who afterwards died too.” “ Did any more go mad beside this one 7” —“ Yes, sir; most of the men did before they died.” “Did they jump overboard7”—“They would have done so, but we prevented them; but they did not last very long alive after the madness took them.” “ What provisions had you on board the boat 7 What did you eat?”—“We had nothing in the boat, and we ate one another,” was the horrible reply, given, however, with a practical earnestness which showed that this dreadful step was only resorted to as a matter of dire necessity.” “ But you did not eat one another alive?" —“Oh, no; no one was eaten until he was dead.” “ Because,” said the questioner, “ the other day we had a story of a shipwreck in which the men in a boat had to cast lots as to who should die, and an Italian was killed in order to be eaten.”—“ We did not do that, and I do not think we should ever have done it.” By the time this much too short, but still real conversation was spoken, the poor lad was ordered to get ready to go on shore. “Have jou any luggage with you?"— “ Nothing but what I have got on, sir; I lost everything, and that was not much.” “ Well, now you have got to England, depend upon it what you have lost will be made up to you, and a good deal more too.” EXAMINATION OF THE SURVIVORS. On Friday the three survivors were examined by the owners of the versel, but the statements did not differ from those given above. Mr Temple asked the mate an important question, “ How was it that when there was a regulation that each boat should always have a keg of water in it, there was no water in the boat which lived 7” The first answer was that the boat which was saved had at first capsized, and that was the case. But it was confessed that there was no water in either boat. The kegs had been taken out of each that very day when the boats were cleaned, and had not been put back. “ Was it not the duty,” said Mr Temple, “of the captain or somebody to inspect the boats and see that they were restored after being cleaned?” The mate could not say. He afterwards said that soon after leaving port he was told off to one boat and the first officer to the other. Neither of the boats had its keg, but the boat of which we have not heard had about a gallon of water in it in tins, which the immigrants brought up. The latitude and longitude are decisively fixed by Macdonald. He and the chief officer used to work it out independently every day at noon, and if they differed the captain worked the reckoning over again. At noon on the 17th Macdonald took the reckoning, and found latitude 37deg. 15min. south, longitude 12deg. 25min. east. This would make the scene of the calamity about 400 miles from the Cape of Good Hope. An important ,document was produced by Macdonald—-namely, the diary, which ha said he kept at the time, and wrote up day by day in pencil, except the last two days. His fingers were too swollen then. But he made an entry referring to the last day after he had been saved 18th On Wednesday morning, at one o’clock, caught a-fire. About 2 took to the boats. At noon fell iu with the second boat. All night lay-to with a drag. Thursday, 19th—We pulled up to the ship. She was still burning. About 4 p.m she sank. All this time both boats have kept together. We have had nothing to eat since we left the ship. Friday, 20th—Nothing in sight. Saturday, 21st—Fine‘ weather. Nothing in eight. Men commence to complain for

' water. Nine o’clock, lost sight of the other boat. Sunday, 22nd—'Very dull, and a heavy sea. Still shape for the Cape. One man fell overboard, and three died. Monday, 23rd—Strong gale, with a heavy ■ea running. Five deaths. Cut a couple for the blood and flesh. (Here, the mate paused in bis reading to say that they ate no flesh, but only the liver.) Tuesday, 24th Strong gale ; hove to. Some more men died. Wednesday, 26th— Light breeze. More died. Reduced to eight men, and three of them mad. We all felt bad, Friday, 27th.—Rescued by British Sceptre. Macdonald and Lewis kept watch and watch. He was nearly dead on board the Sceptre. The men in the boat were only partly dressed. Cotter had a serge shirt and trowsers, but no hat. Lewis cut bis own hair in the boat with a passenger’s scissors. He said that was to take the beat off bis head. Macdonald had bis boots on, and the madman who bit him when the British Sceptre was in sight, which none of the others saw, for they were dosing, bit or pinched his toes through the boot. This man had recently attempted to jump overboard. He was quite harmless, but he seemed to think he was going to be taken as a soldier, “ Don’t let them take me,” ha would say, “ I’ll jump overboard.” He would go about and pull the button of anyone’s coat. At St Helena the officer of the Board of Trade gave them some clothes : and on Friday they were furnished by the owners with winter raiment at an outfitter’s in Leadenhall street. They did not sight Tristan d’Acuoha on the way out in the ship, but Trinidad. They were much baffled by contrary winds, and were out of the course of New Zealand ▼easels and in the course rather of ships going to India. When they were in the boat, they thought by going eastward they would fetch the Cape somewheie, but Macdonald knew they were north of the Cape by the warmth of the weather. There is a northerly current around the Cape. The other boat might have got to the Cape, but when it was put to him privately, whether he thought she had, he said bethought not, and he assented to Mr Temple’s suggestion that it she had been picked up by a vessel going to India or Australia, she would have arrived by this time at some point whence there was telegraphic communication with England. On this a gentleman suggested Mauritius as a place where there is no such mode of communication. The vessel sank at 4 p.m. on the second day, and the fire was still burning then. There was as much flame on the second as on the first night, and there was still flame when she sank. In Captain Forster’s report that there were no “ combustibles” on board, the word "combustibles” must be understood in a peculiar sense as referring to such Inflammable and explosive substances as are forbidden by the Passengers Acts to be conveyed in emigrant ships. Undoubtedly there was among the measurement cargo much merchandise that would burn. The Custom Bouse specification shows this. It contains in the list of goods such items as paperhangings (14 bales), corks (17 bales), candles (25 boxes), stationery, seed oil, oil 0.5., t ir, pitch, cottons, hempen rope and lines, linseed oil, painters’ colours, turpentine, hair, printing paper, varnish, colza oil, paraffin candles, palm oil, and whiskey, brandy, wine, beer, rum, and geneva in considerable quantities. Macdonald says he threw overboard at once, with the help of Nurse Jones and Dr Cadle, all the fifty rounds of ammunition and the rockets on board, and the explosion in the poop has been attributed to vaporisation of some of the liqnors which were carried; At first Macdonald had no watch in his boat, and his early statements of time in his diary must be taken as merely approximate; bnt afterwards, on the death of one of the occupants of the boat, a gold watch was brought to him, and from that time he searched the pockets of the dead before throwing them overboard. In this way he collected about £3O, besides a ring, which came from the finger of the baker, Peter Cope. The watch had the maker’s name, L. Woog, Geneva, and has an inscription on it describing it as “ patent lever, fifteen jewels ” The npper number on the inside of the case is 14,613 ; the lower is 17,715, Above the number is scrawled the came “ A. Scott.” THE OFFICIAL ENQUIRY. The official enquiry was held on Saturday at the Costern House, Lower Thames street, into the circumstances attending the loss of the Cospatrick, by taking the depositions of the survivors of that ill-fated vessel. There was considerable excitement manifested in the neighborhood of the Custom Bouse, and a large crowd of persons early gathered around the doors, eagerly endeavoring to catch a glimpse of the survivors. Sdward Cotter is a Chichester boy. He left the training ship with a certificate four years ago, and has served for eighteen months in New Zealand, getting good wages in the coasting trade and on shore. Although he is a gardener’s son from Kensington, he has a brother on the sea as well as himself— James Cotter, of her Majesty’s ship Vulture; He was working his way back to New Zealand to re-commence his coasting life- His statement was similar to that given by Macdonald as above, and these statements reveal a more methodical series of arrangements for extinguishing the fire than at first appeared. Cotter’s memory appeared very good. He said the pert boat, under Romaine, had thirtytwo passengers in her, of whom eight or nine were women. There were William and Catherine Harvey, brother and sister, of Belfast; Mr Marsh and his wife, Mr Whitehead and his wife, with their baby eleven days old, Mr Carey and bis wife, Mary Shea, the elder Maher, aged twenty-one, a son of the Lewis who was in the other boat, Colley, a. constable among the single men; Bryne, Byron, or Barron, a Scotchman, picked np on a spar, and a boy named Wray. One of the immigrants told them that Wray threw his thirteen children overboard and then jumped in himself. However, Wray, the father, is in the official list of emigrants only credited with nine children, and this boy reduces still more the number who were thrown in. He was not picked up on a spar; he was on the boat which was safely lowered. Of the crew there were in the boat, besides Charles Bomaine, first officer; Thomas Dougherty, quartermaster; Charlie Cunningham, quartermaster, of Bristol, who left a wife and children; Turvey, A. 8., of London; Boscobie, A. 6., a Greek, whose name has been previously given as Rusken; Frank Belllfanti, A. 8., a Greek: Nicolls, A. 8.; Hancock, A. 8., of Richmond; Langdon, A.8,,*b4 Wood, • I*4 fcapb torn tbs Oblcbeptex,

THE FINDING OP THE BOAT’S CBBW. The following is the description by Captain Jahnke, master of the British Sceptre, of his finding the men:— These men were picked up by me on the 27th of November, in latitude 28.50 S., 12.4 B. Haying had a severe gale from south after passing the Cape of Good Hope, during which I ran dead before it, we had got into the south-east trades, wind fresh and squally. At 1.30 p.m. saw something afloat at a distance on our lee bow, having passed a great deal of driftwood imagined it was another piece of the same, but after another look I kept the ship towards it, and found it was a boat with human beings in it, but with no oars. A piece of board was erected as a mast with a cross piece nailed on, on which was extended a piece of rag as a sail. I motioned them to run the boat before the squall to our lee quarters, which they did, and having shortened sail and thrown the ship flat aback, I backed right up to the boat which answered well for we soon had her alongside. The sight was something horrible, There were five men in her alive, and one dead body. One man was stripped naked up to his waist, his feet swollen, full of sores, himself raving mad, one colored man barely alive, but still in his senses. Mr Macdonald, late second mate of the Cospatrick, in charge. They were soon passed on deck and every kindness and attention was shewn them. Warm water baths, weak brandy and water, nourishing food and medicine adapted to their symptoms, has been the treatment adopted. Notwithstanding all our care, the poor passenger, who never regained his senses, died last Sunday, and was buried on Monday morning. The colored man died yesterday, and was buried this morning. Mr Macdonald has been very ill, but is now improving, and the other two men are improving. For fear they should have a relapse, I shall call at St. Helena. The passenger’s name was unknown, but I here give a description, by which his friends might recognise him :—Height, 5 feet 10$ inches, stout built, fair complexion, blue eyes, light brown hair, slight tawny moustache, light whiskers, inclined to red towards the beard, age apparently about 22. Supposed to belong to the county of Cork, to be a farmer’s son, from what I could learn from the surviving seamen. THE CREW AND STEERAGE PASSENGERS. With respect to the crew, which consisted of 43 men, the highest opinion is given of them as steady and good seamen. 'Their names were as follow :—First mate, Charles Bomaine ; second mate, H. McDonald ; third mate, Brusher Jones ; carpenter, J. Fidler ; boatswain, William Symons; steward, T, Wakefield ; engineer, A. Bennett; cook, J. Wilkins. The able-bodied seamen : F. Belforth, P. Turvey, J. Langdon, H. Prank, R. Hamilton, G. Peach, C. Hancock, C. Paren, G. Mills. J. Cunningham, M. Doogery, M. De Mache, J. McNeil, J. Welsh, H. Buskin, C. Smith, H. Crompton, A. Nicoll, T. Lewis ; butcher, A. A, Dutton ; sailmaker, J. Smith ; baker, Peter Cope. 0.5.: Thomas Gillon, E. Cottes, C. Atwell, W. Wood, G, Lockett, W. King (chief immigrants’ cook), Peter Hopkins (second ditto) ; Robert Goadlowton (emigrants’ steward) ; A. F. Barrow, Corry Harrison, and W. A, Lane, apprentices ; Alfred Lopez, cuddy servant. There were four steerage passengers, named respectively W. Simister, W. Nelson, G. Mason, and Edwin Bickersteth ; and for the rest the people on board were emigrants from all parts of Great Britain. MISCELLANEOUS. Her Majesty has made anxious inquiries about the facts connected with the loss of the Cospatrick. Great kindness was shown to the three survivors at St Helena. They were eight days at the hospital in the island, and recovered rapidly. For a long time their skin kept peeling off, but they were soon able to take regular meals, and on board the Nyanza they were treated simply as second-class passengers. While the survivors were at the owners’ on Friday there came a messenger from Cotter’s mother, who was ill in bed, had heard of the loss of the Cospatrick, and would not believe her son was saved till she saw him. The messenger was his elder brother, a laborer, and when the two young laboring men met after such an eventful separation they first grasped hands and then kissed each other on the lips. Macdonald was interviewed on Wednesday in his own house at Montrose. He said that numbers of the relatives and friends of the passengers and crew of the Cospatrick bad called continually on him in London eager for information, which it was out of his power to give, and it was fully past midnight before he could get home to his lodgings. Referring to the statement in the letter of the Governor of St Helena to Lord Carnarvon, that there were over 200 tons of spirits on board the vessel, Mr Macdonald said he knew for a fact that the quantity on board did not exceed forty tons, and that these did not ignite until the fire had made great progress. His attention being called to the suggestion that if they had kept themselves continually wet with salt water they might have suffered less from thirst, Macdonald said that while in the boat they were never dry. He also mentioned that about two hours before the fire broke out the wife of a schoolmaster named Fitzgerald gave birth to a child. He had been one voyage before in the Cospatrick with Captain Klmslie. If he continues at sea he is to go back to the employ of Messrs Shaw, Saville, and Co,; but he would now prefer to quit the seafaring profession and to take work on shore if possible. The owners maintain a wholly different opinion as to the fire from that held by the despatching officer of the New Zealand Government, Mr Edward A. Smith, R.N. They think the fire was not necessarily in the lower hold, and they point out that the obstacle.which the thick teak deck opposed to the downward spread of the flame was neutralised by the hatchways, four in number, on the main deck, which were closed by light pine flaps spread over, for the purpose of keeping out water, with an inflammable material, tarpaulin. A telegram from Madeira on Monday says Two steamers have arrived here from the southward—The Windsor Castle, from the Cape, and the Syria, from St Helena ; but neither of them brings any further tidings of of the Cospatrick, and the fear is thus strengthened that the second boat in which Mr Romaine and thirty-two passengers took refuge has been lost.