MISCELLANEOUS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3432, 16 July 1868, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A barque, supposed to be the Constance from London, was signalled yesterday, but had not made the harbour up to the hour of going to press. A* we have before stated, it is not improbable that tht English telegrams via Suez -will be brought by the barque Novelty, which was to leave Sydney on the 11th in at. The brig Alarm, Captain Lane, is expected here shortly from Melbourne, via Newoastle, with coal. The departure of the steamer Star of the South is u navoidably delayed owing to absence of coal in rt. We have frequently referred to the great Pomand for this commodity, aud we are in a measure derprised that more vessels have not been laid for sue Bay of Islands. Freight is high, and there can th no doubt that speculation on this head would be bemunerative. The facilities for loading at the Bay rere, however.at present very inadequate ; and it has anot unfrequently been the case that; vessels have been compelled to wait for days to get a chance to load, and iu some instances the chance has been so remote that captains have left the place and sought other freight. The schooner Success leaves for the Bay of Islands to-morrow in charge of Captain Campbell. The cutter Rose arrived from Craig's mill, Wangapoua, yesterday, expressly to bring np a man named Waller who had sustained a serious injury at the mill. The Wild Duck, Aspasia, and Elizabeth and Mary were loading for the Thames.and the Hero for Auckland, when she left. The ketch Eagle sailed for the Thames yesterday, with the balance of her oargo of oranges. The Rose and Waterlily sailed for Craig's mill yesterday, to load with timber for Auokland. The schooner Tauranga sailed for the Bay of Islands yesterday, with a general aargo and 27 pas■engers. The schooner Neva takes her departure for Tahiti on Saturday next. The schooner Fortune arrived from Opotiki yesterday, with 22 pigs, &c. Sad Stobies relative to the Wreck of the General Grant. — The Wellington Independent says : — "A gentleman who was on board the Southland during its trip in search of the General Grant, concludes an excellent description of the vojage in the following terms :—* But I propose to write yet a few lines about the month we spent waiting on that fickle personage, the clerk of the weather. We kept shifting our little vessel from Sarah's Bosom to Carnley Harbour whenever we got a slant of wind. When it was impossible to get ashore, we would gather round the fire in the cabin, and do a turn of yarn-spinning. Some of Mr. Teer's stories about the passengers of the General Grant were very heartrending. One was so horrible, and so apparently impossible, that I hesitate to record it. It is said that one of the survivors of the wreck had his wife and children on board, and that he left them on the poop crying to him for God's sake to save them, in order to secure safety for himself. More horrible to relate still, he is said to have plucked from his wife's breast a gold brooch she wore just before he threw her from his knee3, to which she had been clinging for succour in the hour of direst need. Strong in contrast with this was the noble conduct of Mrs. Oat, who, with her children, got a seat in the boat which was capsized. When Bhe was last seen she was struggling with the waves, with a child under each arm. The mate's wife was on board the ship, and he had arranged to return with the lifeboat, in which he wa3 making a trip to the long boat, in order to bring her and the captain off. They were pulling closn into the wreck on their return, when the ship was seen settling down fast, and the men refused point-blank to proceed further. The mate had thus to stand idly by and see the wife he had only just married fade from his sight for ever, while he was powerless to help her. He seemed never to rally from the shock. '" A steerage passenger by the Lady Bowen (s.), from Sydney, jumped overboard betweeu 4 and 5 o'clock on Friday morning last, and was drowned. He was seen deliberately to step on to the anchor on the port bow and leap into the water, by a fellow-passenger, and one of the sailors saw him struggling in the water forward of the paddle box. On the cry of " a man overboard" the engines was at once stopped and a boat lowered. Search was made for him for half-an-hour, but unsuccessfully, and the steamer again got underway. Unfortunately, the name of the man is unknown. He is described as being 5 feet 10 inches high, with light hair and sandy beard, and about 26 years old. He stated to a fellow- passenger that he had been working as a plasterer at the Townhall, Brisbane, some eighteen months ago. He had a wife and one child, who were at home with his mother-in-law, with whom the deceased did not appear to be on very good terms. So far as was known there was no cause for the rash act, and he did not appear to have been suffering from the effects of drink. -Brisbane Courier, June 29. Captain Emile Bemer, of the barque Perseverance, reports that, on leaving Tamatave, he learned that the English barque Cerica, from Liverpool to Aden, with coals, experienced the severe hurricane of the 11th and 12bh March, in the Bouth of Mauritius. The vessel making much water, the captain determined to abandon her ; the crew embarked on a raft and in the long-boat, and the captain, his wife and two children, the chief mate, and three apprentices in a small boat. They steered towards Bourbon, but at fifty miles from that island, the wind veering eastward, they were obliged to steer to wards Madagascar, and were thrown on the reefs during the night near Mahela. There, one apprentice (Thomas Hall) and the two children of the captain were drowned. The sons of Mr. Ligler, of Mahela, rescued the captain, his wife, the chief mate, and the two apprentices. The crew also reached Madagascar near Mahela, but it was not yet known whether any of them had perished.— Port Louis Commercial Gazette, April 21.