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Otago Daily Times, Issue 180, 25 June 1862, Page 4

Collision in the Sea op Marmora. —In a letter received at Malta from Constantinople, dated the Hist nit, the following particulars are given of a frightful disaster tliat has befalW the Russian steamer Colchidc in the Sea of Marmora :—On the nitwit of the 20th, at about half-past eleven o'clock, while in the •vicinity of the Island of Marmora., the English screw steamer Laconia, Captain Hanira, coming from Liverpool, and lastly from Syra, came into collision with the Russian steamer Colchide, Captain Ivauhofr; which had left Co istantinople the previous evening for Salonica. The shock was so. violent that the Colchide wont down four or five minutes afterwards. The Laconia would certainly have shared the same fate, having received serious I'.nnvige-—1? fret of \\<— bows on the port side, cm v ievul with the v.ut.i, having been stove in—had it nut lieen for the presence of mind of Captain Haram, who immediately ordered his crew to cut away the debris of the sinking steamer and look to the pumps ; and tor the cirenmstance of the Laconia having an inner lining, so that the water did hot reach the hold. The Laconia was thus enabled, steaming at a slow rate, to reach St. Stefano, where she. was taken in tow by a small steamer. About 80 of the passengers and crew of the unfortunate- Colchide saved themselves by clambering on board the Laconia, but 53 others —namely, the mate, 21 of the crew, a servant woman, and SO passengers —perished. Captain Harain lowered his boats in the hope of saving more lives, but without success, as not a vestige of the vessel could be found. The Colchide was built in France, at the cost of 945.000f, and had on board a valuable cargo, besides 200,000 piastres in specie.— Globe. . The clipper ship Glenclune, 471 tons, Captain Jas. Turnbull, arrived here yesterday. She left Adelaide on the 17th May, with part of a cargo of wheat and general merchandise. Had light breezes and fine weather up to the 20th May, when a cyclone set in from north r east to north-west and south-west. The weather continued squally with strong westerly gales nnd heavy sea, for several days, the glass falling ; and on Thursday last it only registered 28.68, when strong gales, squalls, and rain were experienced. Sighted the Three Kings and. passed the North Cape on the 30th, with an easterly current of 3 to 5 knots per hour; at noon on Saturday tho Great Barrier bore E. by i &., the Poor Knights bearing N.E., and anchored off the North Head at eleven o'clock the same night. On Sunday attempted to beat up, but had to come to an anchor inside the North Head owing to the contrary wind and tide. Understanding that the same anxiety was felt in Auckland regarding the overdue "English ships, Captain Turnbull desired us to slate that after the 28th Dec, 1801, westerly gales set in in the British Channel, and his opinion is that any vessel leaving iifter that date was liable to make a long passage. The'Glenclunc left at Margate the Chrysolite pud others of the fastest China clippers that had tried the channel a fortnight previous to her departure from London, and they had been forced to put back. The Glenclune worked down during a cessation of the pale.' She got a start of twelve hours, and then beat till she caught the north-east trade's in latitute 23 deg. N., in 31 days,r from which point she had an ordinary passage of 61 days to Kangaroo Island. Crossed the Equator on the fortieth day after leaving in 28 deg. 30min. W. The easting was run down in 42 deg. S. The voyage to Adelaide waa made in 92 days. The Travancore, that sailed from Adelaide on the Ist January, and took her final departure from Portland roads on the 2oth January, had not arrived when the Glenclune left. The Cherokee, medium clipper, sailed on the 13th January, took 40 days to the N.E. trades : and the Telegraph, small clipper, took~so~days to the same.- Capfc Turnbull, we understand, is an old ■ trader to this port, having visited Auckland two or three times in the Simla, as well as in the Dolphin, and Elora. . The passage of the Glenclune is unparalleled. Her date of departure, from Adelaide is the 17th, making the run from port to port- in 14 days. We may add that this

fine clipper ship was built on the cast coast of Scotland, and that a smarter or better found clipper never entered these waters. To the nautical eye she-is a perfect model, and should be inspected by all interested in ship-building. By the Adelaide files to hand by the Gloiiclnne, we find that: she left London on the 13th January, taking her departure from Margate on the 18th, thus making her voyage from England to Adelaide (including the detention at that port while discharging and loading), and thence to Auckland in 139 days.: We are sorry to say that one of her crew had a fit of apoplexy last night, and that another man has been injured by a fail. It should be added that the chief oificer,. Mr. Baldwin, was in this country many years since, with Captain Nagle, when the Great Barrier Island was bought. Before that he had visited Coroinandel harbour and the Bay of. Islands, and expressed great .pleasure at the improved state of the country.