LATEST EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 247, 14 March 1855, Page 9 (Supplement)

LATEST EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE.

THE HURRICANE IN THE BLACK SEA. (From the Liverpool Mail, Dec. 91k.) The disasters of the I4th are greater even than we anticipated. The following names may be added to the list of thosef totally lost at Balaklava: Gertrude, Pride'^f the Ocean, Pyrenees, and Ganges. The total loss at Balaklava is: —• tost. Dismasted. ' British 18 .' 12 ; French 12 4or 5 "Eighteen more British are said to be lost or [dismasted at Eupatoria or the/Katcha. I Commander Bayntun,R.N., perished in [the Prince. Dr. Spence is also said to be [lost. He came out to inquire into the state [ofthemedical service. y I The Saihsori, Retribution, arid Vesuvius jwill come down to Constantinople for repairs. The last is leaky, her beam-ends are started, and she is not trustworthy for sea. I A Turkish line-of-battle ship is a total >vreck off Eupatoria. Their flag-ship is dismasted. The Henri Quatre is on shore : there is no hope of getting her off; her crew are to be in the hands of'the Russians. jN umbers of French and English sailors were taken by the Cossacks on the west coast. . The Bellerophon rode out the gale at Eupatoria, and is quite safe. L The Britannia, 120, -and the Marengo newly fouled ; each is slightly injured. . The rudders of the Queen, 110, and the London, 90, are badly wrung ; but they may be kept at sea, at least for a time. , * ive French Une-of-battle ships have lost jeir rudders aud received other injuries; yy wdl be brought down to Constantinople m tow. .General Liprandi broke up from BalakWW a t his army on th 3 14th, and retired .^ond the Tchernayaj breaking down the l fee- ■ . '

The Danube steam-tender is thrown up high and dry in Kamisch Bay. It is said to be decided that Admiral Stop ford shall proceed with the British sailing vessels to Sinope to pass the winter. Captain loglis, of the engineers, was lost in the Prince. It is said that several officers are lost in the vessels off Balaklava. The following are extracts from another letter, dated" Constantinople, November 19 :—-We have just had the most distressing news from the Crimea—the total loss of a great many of bur transports in a heavy gale of wind. I send you a list of the vessels lost ;—The Prince, screw steamer, went down, and only five saved out of 150 ; the Melbourne, dismasted ; her Majesty's steamer Retribution lost all her guns; her Majesty's steamer Samson,- .dismasted; the Resolute, gone down, and all hands lostcargo, gunpowder ; the Rip Van Winkle, lost; the Wild Wave, lost—one boy saved; the Kenil worth, all- lost; the Progress, lost, ■ a few saved: the Wanderer, all lost; the Mary Anne foundered at her anchors —-all hands : lost; the Pride of the Ocean, the Medora, the Sir Robert Sale, the Lady Valiant, and the- Caduceus—-all dismasted. The unfortunate ships were lost just outside Balaklava. It is a fearful coast, and a ship once on shore would jiot have the slightest chance, there being not a foot of beach anywhere—nothing but perpendicular rocks. " We,?lucliily, had gone put of the Golden Horn, above what they call the Bridges,'where only the ships that want repairing go. We dragged in the middle of the night, and had to let go our other anchor, and then we could only hold our own. We got steam up immediately, but the breeze moderated. The Himalaya dragged also, and very nearly got on shore at the Turkish arsenal. "This was last Tuesday. The Sunday before we had very heavy weather in the Horn-—torrents of rain, and so cold. There was the most fearful smashing. going on among the shipping. - A large transport /with'stores bri board (the Wynnstay) went on shore outside Constantinople, off St. Sterario Point, and has become a perfect .wreck", ''. The following is an extract of a letter, written by the captain of the Andes, belonging to the British arid North American Royal Mail Steamship Company, dated Constantinople, ;20th November, and received in Liverpool on Monday evening :— "There was a fearful loss of life and property at Balaklava on the 14th inst. The Jura, very fortunately, got into harbour before the gale came on. The following is a list of the ships lost in the outer roads: —Screw steamer Prince, total loss, and. 143 drowned; ship Resolute, lost, and all hands; Rip Van Winkle, lost, and all hands, Wild Wave, lost, one boy saved ; Kenilworth, lost,, and all'hands ; Progress, lost, a few hands saved; Wanderer, lost, and all hands; French ship, lost, and all hands; Satana, a Frerich ship, lost, and all hands; Mary Ann, of Bristol, foundered. The ships, Pride ofthe Ocean, Medora, Sir Robert Sale, Minister, and Lady Valiant, all dismasted. Ship Cadmus, dismasted. Her Majesty's steamer Samson cut away her masts. The Retribution hove her guns overboard. All tents blown away, and I believe there is a deal of suffering. There is a report of some loss at Eupatoria, but we have no authentic account. A seaman on board of the Valorous writes as follows:— "I never saw it blow so hard in all my life. Steam was got up on board our ship, and we paddled up to our anchors at 11a.m., the wind still increasing,, our ship then being only about her own length from a rocky beach. They let go the sheet anchor; hayK^ch^p^Uhj,^ppgp,y.og ?! ;^cMphairipm

our officers called comparatively safe. The French steamers and transports were fouling each other in-all directions. The snow storms were quite awful. By 1 p.m., four French transports were wrecked, and two steamers and a frigate on shore, and the small steamer Danube, bought by bur people at Constantinople, bilged. At about 7, p.m., the heart of the gale broke. The news we got the following day from Balaklava was very melancholy. The list of ships [ lost arid dismasted in that road, and the loss of life,-is dreadful; ..'■•'l have got a list ofthe ships, which I now send you, as follows:-—" The Resolute, powder ship, full of powder, was lost, with all hands; the Rip Van Winkle, transport, and all hands; the Wild Wave,, one boy only saved; the Kenil worth, all hands lost; the Wanderer, all hands lost; the Prince, steamer, six saved out of 150; the Pultowa, all hands saved; the Mary-Ann gone down. "The following ships were dismasted; The Pride of the Ocean, the Caduceus, both abandoned ; the Medina and the Melbourne steamers, Sir Robert Sale, Minche, Lady Valiant. All these vessels were at Balaklava roadstead. The Retribution threw her giiiis overboard, and got to sea with the fleet. Thirteen transports are reported lost, most Frerich, but we have not the fu'l particulars about names, &c. The Turkish Admirals ship was totally dismasted, and the Samson cut away her masts. The French lost five transports, and had two steamers on shore. Both the steamers and the frigates were got off again. The English have lost in all 23, tho French have lost five. There are eight English ships dismasted, and three or four French. They are getting the engines put of the Danube. The powder ship is a great loss, and also the warm clothing. You must think the loss of life is very; great with all these vessels. We hear that the French Hne-of-battle ship Henri IV. was lost at Eupatoria, and that; to prevent the Russians getting hold of her, she had been set on fire, and burned at a jolly rate. The poor Frenchmen were taken prisoners by the Russians, who sent down field-pieces to pitch into the ship,as she lay. .'* At the least there could not be less than 300 souis perished during this gale. We: hear the troopsfared very badly ; their tents were all blown down, and several sick men died from the frost and snow to which they were then exposed. With respect to the behaviour of the Russians, a Times correspondent says :— -.-:". The shore is teeming with soldiers, who however, seem very friendly ; so much so, that . an order has been given not to fire upon them, fearing they should murder the poor shipwrecked wretches, if we do. They are, of course, takiuginto Sebastopol all the men or plunder they can get; but I suppose that is all right. "5, p.m.—The Firebrand has just fired on the coast. .It seems the wretches were prevented from doinf harm by their impotence, not their will, for they have just brought down field pieces, and fired on the wrecks, and the, Firebrand is trying to keep them off. We were rather preI mature in supposing that the Russians had become civilized all of a sudden. "Thursday, 16th.—To-day broke very fine, 1 with still a stormy breeze from S.W..;' the Firebrand still busy keeping off the Russians, who continue hovering about the shore; aud some capital shots she makes, dropping shot and shell riirht into groups of eight or ten, and scattering them most effectually : the boats are all busy getting men off the wrecks, and we hope that very few lives are lost here. About half-past I eight, a.m., the captain of the Lord Raglan, a i most intelligent sailor-like man, came on board ; I he has «reat hopes of saving his ship, which is i nearly "unhurt, and he says that the Russians were most anxious to persuade hhn yesterday to "-o ou shore, but he declined, very fortunately, as every poor fellow they caught, i.fcalfcdrowned, : aadiunawned -as he was, they handcuffed^ and ililt that directly he: lighted his

lamp they opened a fire at his skylights, hut, fortunately, without doing any damage ; he says too, that his men, of whom he has 30, behaved most splendidly, and he has brought them all off. On leaving us, he returned to his ship, and, if any man can save her, he will do it. One French barque is full of soldiers, and at them the enemy keep up a continued fire : the poor -wretches could not leave their position, owing to everything being washed away, so that they -had to cling to the bulwarks'for safety, thus affording an excellent mark for the Russians, who took great advantage of it. And yet the savages «all themselves Christians." Another correspondent, describing the fearful scenes he witnessed during the highest fury of the gale, says —" Then began the most horrible part of the scene. The brutal Russian soldiers began firing upon us from the cliffs. I did not care for their muskets, as we could get below under shelter, but the poor French and Maltese could not get out of their way. They then brought two field-pieces to bear on some ofthe ships,, but I have not heard whether they killed any more than the captain of one of the French ships. Towards 8 o'clock they went away. At 3.30 next morning, finding the gale to have abated, and the sea gone down, I called my men out quietly, andjgot the long-boat out, and the jolly-boat and gig down; the cutter went with the masts. The" Russians were on the watch, and, before we got away from the ship, began to muster thick-on the cliffs over us. Fortunately, they did not fire, and we got away and reached the Britannia before daylight, where we were most kindly, received, and have received the kindest treatment'ever since."

The Times correspondent wtites—" The French fleet have either all taken their departure, or are on the eve of doing so. The admiral we hear is almost heart-broken with the great loss and disabling of his splendid ships. It is rumoured, too, that we are to go into winter quarters, leaving the steamers and Bellerophon, which, with French screws, will make us a match for anything Russian, if they dare show their noses outside Sebastopol."