not appear that either Mr. Salmond or the master had
attended on deck from ten o'clock in the first watch
until the accident occurred, it would infer much
inattention and extreme neglect of duty on their parts; and
when soundings were first struck, had the helm been
put to port, this ill-fated ship might have escaped the
danger. It is much to be lamented that not an officer
has been saved who can give any satisfactory information
upon these points. It is also to be deeply deplored
that a young officer, Mr. Richards, master's assistant,
should have been the only executive in command of the
boats; as, from the circumstance of their leaving the
scene of the wreck before daylight, the landing-place
discovered on Point Danger by those who reached the
shore on rafts would have shown itself, and the hapless
individuals who were clinging to pieces of wreck and
spars might have been picked off, and carried to the
shore by the boats, and thus many more lives would
have been saved. Also, when the schooner visited the
wreck, had the cutters examined the coast in the locality,
it is probable they might have found a few others. I
can only attribute this fatal error to want of judgment,
and to the excited state of the people in the boats under
such appalling circumstances."

The extent of the calamity may be seen by a comparison
of the number of persons known to have been on
board, with the number saved. The troops on board
were drafts for the various regiments now in service on
the frontier, under the charge of Major Seaton of the
74th regiment. They are thus told off:—

"2nd (Queen's) Foot—Ensign Boyland and 51
privates. 6th regiment—Ensign Mitford and 61 privates.
12th Lancers—Cornets Bond and Rolt and 6 privates.
12th regiment—Lieutenant S. Fairclough and 71
privates. 43rd Light Infantry—Lieutenant Girardot and
41 privates. 45th, attached to 12th Foot—4 privates.
60th Rifles, 2nd Battalion—41 privates, attached to
91st regiment. 73rd regiment—Lieutenants Robinson
and Boot, and Ensign Lucas and 71 privates. 74th
regiment—Major Seaton and Ensign Russell, and 66
privates. 91st Foot—Captain Wright and 61 privates.
Staff—2 surgeons and 1 assistant-surgeon. Total—12
officers, 472 rank and file, 2 surgeons, 1 assistant-
surgeon."

There were also the following women and children;
the rest of those who left England having been put on
shore at Simon's Bay. Women—Mrs. Darkins, Mrs.
Nesbitt, Mrs. Mullins, Mrs Montgomery, Mrs. Gwichar,
Mrs. Spruce, Mrs. Hudson. Children, 13. The names
of the ship's officers and crew are not given in detail.
Of the troops on board, and their women and children,
the following were saved in the boats: Officer, 1,
Mr. Bowen, staff-surgeon; soldiers, 62; marines, 3;
women and children, all on board, as above named.
The following got on shore by swimming, or on portions
of the wreck. Officers, 4: Captain Wright, 91st regiment;
Lieutenant Girardot, 43rd regiment; Ensign
Lucas, 73rd regiment; Cornet Bond, 12th Lancers.
Soldiers, 46. Of the ship's officers and crew, the
following escaped in the boats. Officers, 4: Dr. Culhane,
assistant-surgeon; Mr. Richards, master's-assistant; Mr.
Renwick, first class assistant-engineer; Mr. Hire, clerk.
Seamen and stokers, 22. Boys, 3. The following got
to shore by swimming, or on portions of the wreck.
Officers, 2: Mr. Barber, assistant-engineer; Mr. Archibald,
gunner. Seamen, 16. These numbers make a
total of 183. But the official reports of the latest date
correct the total, without giving details, by stating, as
we have said at the outset, that more than 438 out of
630 were lost; leaving the number of those saved at 192.
Thus, it would appear, eleven more have been saved
than are accounted for in the details.

A letter from Lieutenant Girardot, of the 43rd Light
Infantry, one of those who escaped from the wreck,
to his father in England, has the following remarkable
passage:—

"I remained on the wreck until she went down: the
suction took me down some way, and a man got hold of
my leg; but I managed to kick him off and come up, and
struck off for some pieces of wood that were on the
water, and started for land, which was about two miles
off. I was in the water about five hours; as the shore
was so rocky, and the surf ran so high, a great many
were lost trying to land. Nearly all those that took to
the water without their clothes on were taken by sharks;
hundreds of them were all round us, and I saw men
taken by them quite close to me; but as I was dressed
(having on a flannel shirt and trousers) they preferred
the others. I was not in the least hurt, and am happy
to say kept my head clear. Most of the officers lost
their lives by losing their presence of mind, and trying
to take money with them, and from not throwing off
their coats."

A terrible Shipwreck has taken place off the coast of
Portugal. The Porto steamer sailed from Oporto for
Lisbon on the 28th of March, with thirty-nine passengers
and a crew of twenty-two men. Off Cape Mondego
a furious gale came on to blow from the east, and the
ship was put about, to run for Oporto or Vigo. Early
in the morning of the 29th, she arrived off the entrance
of the Douro; and in attempting to cross the bar, she
struck upon the Toiro rock, only twenty fathoms distant
from the shore; while the sea was rising rapidly, and
the beach was already crowded with the families and
friends of those on board. A pilot-boat was at once
launched, and got near enough to receive a rope thrown
from on board, one end of which it was intended to
convey on shore, in a direction clear of the sunken rocks
which lay between the boat and the ship. If this could
have been done, no doubt many, if not all, would have
been enabled to escape by means of it; but, unfortunately,
the people in the vessel lost all presence of mind,
and, persisting in their attempts to haul the boat alongside,
the pilot was obliged to let go the rope; and though
he made every endeavour to get near enough to have it
thrown to him again, he never succeeded in doing so,
and at last had to give it up altogether. An eye-witness
thus describes the catastrophe:—"Meanwhile, the sea
had got up, and was rolling in tremendous waves, which
at last lifted the fated vessel and carried her towards the
Forçado rock, some thirty yards further off, upon which
she struck violently, and the water rushing in,
extinguished the fires. The agonising shrieks of those on
board now became incessant, for every hope had seemed
to vanish. Many were on their knees praying aloud for
mercy, while others ran wildly about, in a state of frenzy.
The French consul at Oporto, M. Destrees, was seen
standing upon the paddle-box, stripped to his shirt and
drawers, and calling out to Manoel Francisco, the pilot,
to come to his succour. Mr. Joseph Allen, another
passenger, stood on the quarter-deck, with his two
young daughters clinging to him. The spectators of
this fearful vision, for such it almost seemed to be, did
all they could to urge the pilots to venture out again.
Baron Massarellos, on behalf of the wife, now the widow
of Mr. Allen, offered a reward of 12,000 milreis (£2600).
Many other people offered large sums. Several young
men, amongst them an Englishman of the name of
Brown, and two or three English sailors, volunteered to
row, if some pilot would undertake to steer. But all in
vain. The only answer to all entreaties was, that the
attempt would only bring destruction upon those who
ventured upon it. Some common sky-rockets were
brought down from Oporto, and by means of these
repeated attempts were made to throw a line on board
the vessel, but, being of too little weight and projectile
force, they were all swept away by the wind, which was
blowing tremendously. At about half-past seven o'clock
p. m., the vessel parted right amidships; and the
passengers, the whole of whom were clustered in the after
part, fell into the sea. The effect produced by the sudden
ceasing of the loud yell they raised was most horrifying.
Of the crew, who were forward, all but three now tried
to swim on shore, but only eight of them succeeded in
the attempt. In the course of another half-hour no
portion of the wreck was visible, and all was silence.
About two o'clock in the morning, however, one of the
three men who had clung to a portion of the bows—the
only part of the vessel which, though unseen from the
shore, had remained above water—swam to the land.
The other two had perished. Among the passengers
who perished, besides Mr. Allen, were two Englishmen
—a Mr. James Anderson, and his nephew, Mr. Elmsley."

A poor orange-woman was Killed by accident at
Somers'-town on Sunday morning, the 11th. A recent
regulation of the authorities of that district prohibits