TELEGRAMS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3173, 14 April 1871, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

Lyttelton, 13th— -1.40 p.m., Lord Ashley, from Wellington. An Invercargill paper says: — Along the beach towards the New Biver Heads are scattered portions of a teak-built, iron-fastened vessel, of perhaps 400 to 500 tons burthen. They show marks of firo, and apparently have not been exposed more than a few months to the action of the sea. The breaking away of the torpedoes (says the Melbourne "Telegraph") which the Signal and Torpedo Corps had laid down in the Bay, is attributed by the authorities to an accident arising, it is believed, in consequence of some Btearaer fouling the mooring chains. As they were calculated to withstand a strain of some tons, no ordinary casualty could have removed them. It is intended to institute an inquiry, with the object of clearing up this point. An interesting ceremony took place recently at the Government offices. It was tbe presentation by his Excellency the Governor, in presence of the Executive Council, of two of the bronze medals of the Royal Humane Society to two boyß— Alexander M'Lellaud, of the Eeformatory ship Deborah, and Alexander Downie of the Reformatory ship Sir Harry Smith for gallant conduct in saving lives in the bay M'Lelland, on the 6th February, 1870, while on board the Deborah, saw a boy named Joseph Richards accidentally fall into the sea from the gangway platform. Without the least hesitation he plunged inio tfio Run. nnd saved Eicbarde's life. Downie, on the 9th April last, caw a comrade named John 11'Leod, who could not swim, fall overboard. Downie, though small, was full of pluck, and jumped overboard with such promptitude and skill that he rescued the other from a watery grave. —Melbourne " ArgUß," March 27. A singular discovery wa3 made on board the schooner Thomas and Joseph just as she was about leaving Yarmouth Harbor the other day. It waa found that one of the crew was a young "Russian female in man's clotheß, and from subsequent inquiries it turned out she had shipped as cabin-boy at Wilburg some months back, whilst the vessel was at that port taking in a cargo of deals. She had performed her duties satisfactorily during the voyrge, and had escaped detection till the other day, when her sex was discovered and ehe was put on shore. It appears that the captain had induced her to leave with him in his vessel, and that it was only when ho wanted to get rid of her that the deception ■was discovered. Tbe matter was disposed of by the master giving the girl £3. It was Bomewhat singular that an hour or two after the vessel left the harbor, and while proceeding north, she missed stays and got upon Caistor Beach, where she still remains. — English paper. From the London " Mail" of January 17, we take the following : — lC A severe gale from the south-west, accompanied by heavy showers of rain and hail, blew over the metropolis on Sunday uight ; January 15. Considerable damage was done on the Thames. Several Bailing and coal-ladon barges were sunk ; three •went down above London bridge One which ■waa moored opposite St. Thomas's Hospital had two men on board when she sank. Numerous shipping disasters have already been re ported. The barque Eleutheria, which was dismasted by collision with the brig George Andrichard off the Eddyatone on Sunday, drove off Yealm Point (Stoke Head) during the furious south to south-west galo at two o'clook yesterday morning, and five of the crew were drowned. The carpenter, whose legs vi ere broken by the masts falling, nnd four others of the crew were drowned. The pilot Glinn and the remainder of the crew, 12 in number, saved themselves. The barque is a total wreck. — A melancholy case of wreck and drowning occurred yesterday morning off Deal, by which eight boatmen lost their lives almost within earshot of their homes. Shortly after six o'clock, in the midst of a heavy galo from S.S.W., and in a driving rain, a ' flure' •was observed on the Goodwin Sands, which intimated that ft •vessel was in distress, and immediate preparations were made for launching two luggers to the crow's assistance. The former went on their voyage in safety, but, most unfortunately, the latter failed to clear the ' haul-off-rope' in getting off and drifted to leeward, the force of the gale nnd strong flood tide driving her violently against the pier. Ropos were at once thrown from the pier, but the boat sank before any help could reach them. Most of the poor fellows clung to tho spars and saih, and floated away with the tide. The screams of the men as they were one by one swallowed up by the waves, were moat heartrending. Notwithstanding the terrific sea a boat was launched from tho Caslle Inn, Sandown, and succeeded in rescuing throe of the crew. — An Italian three-masted schooner, the Unico.jjCaptain Augolo Dodero, coul-laden, from Newcastle to Genoa, struck upon Filey Brigg, having dragged from tho anchors in Filoy Bay, where she waß riding yesterday. Out of a crew of 13 only one man is saved alive. Three dead bodies fearfully bruiaed, one being the body of tho mate, have been found upon the rocks. The rest are misoing. The vessel has gone to piecos." The following is a description of a fogsignal invented by Mr Daboll, an American : — "The fog-horn is essentially of tho same construction as the reed-pipe of an organ, but with all its parts maguified to coloesal

dimensions. The reed, instead of being a thin "leaf of brass, is a thick plate of hard steel, 5 in. long, 2 in. wide, and i in. thick at the root, tapering down to £ in. at the loose end. The tube is of brass, 8 ft. or 10 ft. long, gradually expanding in diameter, till it finishes in a bell mouth 2 ft. across. The pipe is placed vertically, its upper part projecting through the roof ot the building, and being bent into an elbow, bo as to make the bell part horizontal, delivers its sound straight out to sea. The compressed air for sounding the horn is supplied from a reservior, into which it is forced by pumps worked with mechanical power. In the exparirnental apparatus a hot-air engine, of American contrivance, is used for the purpose $ but a small steam-engine would probably be amove simple and trustworthy machine. A duplicate engine is required in case of any part getting out of order. The pressure of air required to sound the pipe itself; in an organ it amounts only to an ounce or two on every square inch ; for a fog-horn it is from five to ten pounds, and the quantity of air repuired at this pressure is very large, but the volume of sound is immense."—" Cornhill Magazine."