Shipping News.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 636, 11 December 1858, Page 4

Shipping News.

ARRIVED.' Dec. S, s. s. Lord Ashley, 290 tons, A. Stewart, from Wellington. Passengers—Mr. and Mrs. Ross and four children, Mr. and Mrs. May, Mrs. Bnorman, Messrs. Scott, Smith, Cobb, Thomson, Malpas, Cross, Vennell, Turrell, Firth, Hitehens, and McLend. Same day, schooner Palinurus, 15 tons, Watts, from Akaroa. Same day. ketch Caledonia, 18 tons, Davys, from Akaroa. Dec. 9, schooner Mary Louisa, 30 tons, Toohig, from Wellington. Same day, schooner Emerald Isle, 30 tons, Oakes, from Auckland. Same day, brigantine Marchioness, 177 tons, Hammond, from Melbourne via Wellington. Passengers— Mr. and Mrs. L. Martin, Miss Fyfe, Messrs. G. Alpen, E. Ingles, aud 12 in the steerage. SAILED. Dee. 9, brig Gil Bias, for Auckland. (Cargo reported in our last, except 60 bushels barley, E. J. Jones.) Same day, barque Indiana, 852 tons, J. McKirdy, for Wellington. Passengers, from London—Messrs. S; and 3. Powdrell, J. W. Stenhonse, D. and A. Lillburne, H. Dobben, and 5 in the steerage. From Lyttelton—Messrs. Langford, and Rowlands. Same day, s. s. Lrrd Ashley, 290 tons, A. Stewart, for Otago. Passenceis—Mr. and Mrs. Ross and 4 children, Messis. Scott, Thompson, Turrell, and McLeod. CLEARED. Dec. 9, schooner Mary Louisa, 30 tons, Toohig, for Weilinston, from (he river. Same day, schooner Matilda Hays, 22 tons, Carman, for Wellington, from the river. IMPORTS. In the Lord Ashley, Miles, Kington & Co., agents; 4 ' pken., Waitt; 36 pkgs. furniture, Coleman; 3 eases,' 8 trunks, F. N. Campbell & Co.; 5 hhds. rum, 6 qr. casks, 2 cases brandy, 22 horses, and sundry merchandise, Order! In the Palinurus, J. M. Heywood, agent; 4 000 feet timber, Rhodes. ' In the Caledonia, K. Genet, agent ; 32bags flour. 14 do. bran, Miles, Kington and Co.; 8 bags flour, Genet- 39 cheeses, Davis & Co. ' ' In the Mary Looisa, 13,000 feet timber, .Tones, j In the Emerald Isle, 24,000 feet timber, order.' In the Marchioness, Miles, Kington & Co., agents • from Melbourne, 7 cases, 2 trunks, 3 hhds., 33 casks, Daltretv Buckley, & Co.; 6 cases, bales, 30 boxes, 3 casks, C. Robertson; 32 cases, 92 kegs, 7 bales,-2 trunks, 12 casks' 2 qr. casks, 66 hoxes, 3 pockets hops, Miles.-Kington* Co.; 164 bags sugar, 50 bags salt, order From Nelson, 4 boxes tin, 5 bundles iron; order. From Wellington, 1 ease, 4 cask*, 3 boxes, 1 pkg. tobacco, 74 bags sugar, J. G. Fyfe • 2 qr. casks rum, order. ' EXPCB.TS. In the Indiana, R. Latter, agent; part original cargo from London, In the Lord Ashley, Miles, Kington & Co., agents ; part original cargo from Wellington, and 74 bags flour, Miles, Kington & Co. In the Mary Louisa, F. N. Campbell & Co., agents; 400 bushels oats, 200, do.-wheat, Willock; 400 bushels wheat E. J. JomSs. In the Matilda Hays, Cookson, Bowler <_ Co., agents ; 10 and a half tons flour, 156 bushels bran, 252 bushels oats, 140 bushels sharps, Cookson, Bowler & Co.

The Lord Ashley paid this port her first visit on Wednesday last, on ber way to Otago, in her first provincial round. She is, like the Lord Worsley, a nice looking vessel on the water, and that she bag anted-is proved by the fact that her trip from Sydney to Nelson was performed in the remarkably short time of five days. The ' Nelson Examiner' publishes a most complimentary letter from the passenger* who camo down in her from Sydney, a fact which speaks highly for her other qualities. The clipper brigantine Marchioness, go well known as the carrier of to Wellington, came into our port on Thursday ,„ght. Captain Hammond lias kindly handed us a file of the « Argus,' but the dates are not later than those received by the Wonga Wonga. o^Tl' e £* rt r .T" i* t0 °leair Uom for this port on the •22nd ult. She may theiefore be looked for daily. ioP c.? ttTp arrived ia Sydney from this port on the 18th ultimo.

Our correspondent's letter from Wellington by tho Marchionoss, for which we have not room to day, informs us among other things that at the sale of the Oliver Lung on (ueKday last, tho hull waa wold for -*'6<)o to Mussr*. Wm. Howler, Son, and Co., who nlxo purchased the anchor and chum for Thu wwuiuiug spara, *tow, A-q., fetched good prices.

BURNING OF THE SHIP EASTERN CITY, Miraculous Escapr op 226 Persons.

On Saturday evening last, tho transport-ship Morchantmnn, Captain G. F. Brown, of and from London to Calcutta, with troops, put into Table Bay, for the purpose of landing tho ofllcers,.crow, and passengers of the illfuted Black Ball Australian clipper-ship Eastern City, which vessel cuught lire,-and was totally destroyed between the 23rd and 'SOlh August, in tho South Atlantic Ocean, Int. 31 S., long. 32 W. Tito incidents connected with tho loss of the Eastern City, and the providential deliverance of tho officers, crew, aud passengers, form n narrative of tho most thrilling intorcst. She was a.very flue vessel, of 1368 tons, and is said to bo cho property or a Glasgow firm. On tho 10th July she left Liverpool for Melbourne, having on board 180 passengers, 47 men officers and crew, and 1 GOO tons goncra) cargo. On tho 28rd August it was discovered that fire had broken out in the hold under tho forccnstlo. Every effort was made to extinguish it; • but as those efforts wore futile, «ud it became apparent the fire was extending, tho usual preparations for provisioning aud launching tho boats wore made. Had the unfortunate passengers and crow been obliged to trust themselves to the boats in the high sea which prevailed, there is little doubt that theirs would have been a most terrinlo fate. But while, the prospects of tho distressed men and women were most gloomy, and indeed, when they had almost despaired of safety, they wore cheered by tho sight of a friendly soil, and tho means of assistance. Fortunately, tho transport-ship 'Merchantman"witnessed the signals of distress hoisted by the burning vessel, and bore down towards them to render assistance. Tho whole of the crew and passengers of the Eastern City were rescued, with the exception of one man--a steerage passenger—who it is believed was suffocated in his berth. About five hours after ull had left the ship, the flames burst out from her sides, tho masts went overboard, and she-was a total wreck! Captain Brown, of the Merchantman, determined upon landing the crew and passengers here, and wo are glad to chronicle ho did so without any detriment to his owu vessel. The manner in which the passengers of the Eastern City speak of the kind treatment they received from nil persons on board the Merchantman, is the best testimony of the humane and gallant conduct of those British sailors and soldiers. All speak in high terms of the conduct of Captain Johnstone of the Eastern City. The vessel, cargo, and property belonging to : the passengers cannot have been worth less than j£'9o,ooo to _?100,000 , but vessel and cargo are supposed to have been insured.— Cape Argus, Sept. 14.

The Caroline Elizabeth arrived at Melbourne on the 19th nit., having on board the passengers of the above 'ill-fated vessel.

From a vivid narrative of this awful casualty, written by one of the passengers, Mr. J. Fowler, we take the following extract:— .

The women and children, about sixty in number, were removed to the poop, where the captain had placed numbers of old sails, carpets, d-c, and did everything he could to lnakethem as comfortable as possible under such terrible circumstances.

All that long and dreadful bight both passengers and crew continued to work without intermission, pouring tons of water down the hatches and forepart of thevessel, holes were also cut in the deck, and engine-pumps and buckets went to work pouring down water into the hold—the cap • tain cheering us all the while, and never leaving the deck even for a moment. I could not but admire his calm courage, surrounded as he was oa "the poop by so many weeping women and children, whom he never ceased to comfort by the assurance that they would soon be, all safe in the boats.

The majority of the passengers were for a long time ignorant of tho full extent of their real danger; but the more intelligent of ns knew that we were more than 600 miles from the nearest land, that our boats could not carry more than half of us, and that tho sea was so high that no boat could be launched in safety, or if got clear of the vessel, could long live, deeply laden as- it must necessarily be; our-only chance was of being picked up by some vessel —but we were now far out of the route of all vessels, and we felt that our destruction was simply a question of hours. Still we worked without flinching; but toward morning'it became evident that ere long our efforts would bein vain, for, from the smoke now finding its wayiuto the first and second cabins, it became apparent that the fire was working its way aft among the cargo in the after hold. The doors, windows, &c.,of the second cabin were caulked up, and the seams of the bulkhead and doors of some of the state-rooms in the first cabin pasted over with newspapers.

The morning of the 24 th broke upon us, fortunately, bright and beautiful; but still the sea ran high, still wo scudded before the wind, and still we worked haTd, with the energy of despair—for now all feltrthat there was but little hope for us. About noon the foreyard came down by the run, but, fortunately, without injuring any one. Many of the passengers and crew were now falling out from the engine and pumps, completely knocked np with heat, smoke, and incessant work.

During our short spells of breathing time, how eagerly we scanned the ocean! Several times I caught myself looking and fancying that I saw a sail; but it was only the sun lighting up the white crest of a wave. There was cvi dently no hope for us, and many of ns became quite resigned to our terrible fate.

About noon, the smoke and heat had become so great, that we were driven from the top-gallant forecastle, on which we had continued to pour water, and indeed • wer3 unable to remain forward of the foremast; the decks also became very hot, and we expected every moment to see the flames burst through the bows: wo were also in some dread of the foremast giving way, which would have precipitated ourfate, as in its fall it must have torn up part of the deck, through which the flames would then have burst upon us. The captain, purser, and myself, pitched over'bottles containing papers, detailing our position and gloomy prospects; and I having been wounded in tho thighs by a fall during the night, and feeling the little chanceT would have in a scramble for the boats, had bid good by to friends and to all the world.

The captain, chief officer, purser, doctor, Mr. Warner the other chief cabin passenger, and myself, went into the saloon at 2 p.m. to eat something, for wo were all becoming faint. We were eating what we believed to be our last meal, but we were all calm and even cheerful,—Captain Johnstone asking to be excused for the manner in which he was breaking op the preservedsalmon, which, with a, few biscuits, were to form our dinner, and I for appearing at dinner iv such a guise, being literally covered hands and face with tar.

At about 2.30 p.m., and when about to say good-by in case of not meeting again before the final catastrophe, we were startled with the cry of "a Bail."' I do not: know how we all tumbled on deck, but we were there in an instant. How I looked to windward, and how faint and ill I felt when I at first failed to perceive anything but the ocean, and a few black clouds just at the edge of the horrison ; how we all at last saw the sail jußt like a distant gull—! she was coming down upon ns, close by tho edge of the sun's rays on the sea ; how we all cheered and wept, and prayed and laughed, and clasped each other's hands, and cheered again; how great rough fellows hugged each other, and wept like children ; how men who had probably never praytd before, muttered sincere .thanksgivings, and how those who had preserved the greatest , indifference when death seemed no near, were now completely overcome, I cannot describe. I shook hands with at least one hundred —many of them rough, illiterate men, but who had worked with » high courage in the hour of danger, and who wore now as sincere in their feelings of thankfulness as tho best of us. In leas than half an hour from tho time we first aiphtod her, the vessel, which proved to be the Merchantman, of and from London, with troops for Calcutta pussed close under our stern. How we cheered her and' she returned our cheer us only British soldiers aud sailors can cheer!

Ovr captain hailed through his trumpet, « Wo are on fire, will you utand by m?~to which Captain Brown roturned a heavy»Aye, aye; and Bund my hoiitu to assist you "