LOSS OF THE ASIA.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 174, 20 February 1868, Page 3

LOSS OF THE ASIA.

The " Valparaiso and West Coast Mail" gives the following account of the loss of the American ship Asia, the sufferings of the crew and their rescue by the British ship Professor Airy :

" We regret to have to relate a circuinstauee that, if not immediately disproved and denied, evinces barbarity of the blackest kind on the part of a shipmaster lately arrived at this port towards a shipwrecked crew, cast away on that dreariest and most inhospitable of all solitudes —Cape Horn. In our ' Maritime Notes ' we have related the arrival of the Maria Miles, Captain Brandt, and the statement he made concerning the lost ship together with the arrival of the wrecked crew a day or two after in the Epsilon, and their rebutting evidence. Since then we have been favored with the following report by the captain and part owner of the wrecked vessel: —The American ship Asia, 1015 tons, William Wilcox and others, of New Bedford, Connecticut, owners, sailed from Newcastle, England, with a cargo of 1340 tons of steam coal for San Francisco, and went ashore about midnight on the 21st August, on Barnevelt Island, to the eastward of Cape Horn, during a heavy snow-storm and gale from the S.W. The ship at the time of the accident was under close-reefed topsails reefed foresail, and foretopmast staysail. When she struck, the surf was running so high that it was found impossible to lower the boats, and a spar was run from the bow on to the rocks, by means of which the crew were enabled to reach the shore, the ship sinking in eight fathoms within ten minutes after the captain (who was the last on board) left. The only food they could get ashore was a small quantity of biscuit and a few tins of preserved meats, not amounting to half a biscuit a day during the time they were on the island. They numbered nineteen, all told, and, as may be imagined, suffered indescribably from cold, hunger, and exposure in that bleak latitude. They did not even have sufficient canvas to rig a shelter for all, and so they had to stand outside, Avatch and watch, being fifteen days without fire, only possessing as fuel a few pieces of the wreck. On August 30fch, the captain says : ' Saw a barque bound west. Made fires and set signals; she saw us and came within three miles of land, then squared her yards and went off on her course. The wind was N.N.8., with fine weather. She was a long, low barque, painted black ; we know she saw us by her steering.' How different is the next statement! ' September 21.- —The British ship Professor Airy, Captain Groves, came in sight and took us on board, which operation was effected within an hour, though that officer, with a degree of humanity that highly became him, expressed his readiness to wait a week, if need be to remove us.' At that time they were reduced to the last extremity of wretchedness, and fatal consequences must have ensued but for this timely succour. The captain and crew of the lost vessel express themselves in as warm terms of the humanity and kindness they experienced on board of the Professor Airy and the Epsilon, as they indignantly denounce the barbarity of the Ducth barque. Comment is useless ; if the captain of the Maria Miles does not clear himself from the reflection cast upon hiß character, we must assume his silence to be an admission of his guilt, in which case we declare him utterly unworthy of the position he holds and of the counternance of all honorable men, and the name of Brandt deserves to become a synonym for barbarity as that of Groves for J humanity and benevolence."

A Gambling Anecdote.—The abolition of Erascati's (of which Baltzac in his " Peau de Chagrin," gives a most wonderful account) put a partial end to the gambling fever which was so terrible in Paris at the beginning of. the present century. From "Anecdotes of Gaming," we extract the following':—" Upon one occasion I absolutely grew giddy from anxiety, while watching the countenance of an officer of the Garde Royale who stood opposite to me, and waiting the turn of a card, which was to decide whether he should at once return a beggar to his home, or his certain fate be deferred till a few hours, or a few nights, later. It appeared to be his last stake. The perspiration was falling from his brow, not in drops, but in a stream. He won : and a friend who accompanied him dragged him out of the room. Some nights afterwards I saw this same person again. He was losing considerably, yet he endured his losses with apparent calmness. Ouce, when a large stake was swept from him, he just muttered between his teeth, whilst his lips were were curled with a bitter smile, Vest Men; tres bien. After this he silently watched the game through five or six deals, but did not play. I concluded he had lost all. Suddenly and fiercely he turned to the dealer, and, in a tone of voice almost amounting to a scream he exclaimed, Vest mon sang que vous voulez — le voila. He, at tlae same time, drew from his pocket two notes of five hundred francs each, and, dashing them down on the table, he rushed into a corner of the room, hid his face, covered his ears with his his hands, as if dreading to hear the announcement of the result of his speculation, and literally yelled aloud ! After a few seconds he returned to his place. His last stake was lost! He twice drew his handkerchief across his forehead, but he uttered not a word. Presently he asked for a glas of eausucre, and, having swallowed it, he slowly walked away. T'le next morning his servant found him sitting in an arm-chair, with his sword thrust to the very hilt, sticking in his throat!"