NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

A LARGE ship named the Rebecca has been Wrecked on
the West Coast of Van Diemen's Land, on her passage
from London to Sydney with a cargo of wines, beer, and
other articles. She sailed from Gravesend on the 2nd
of last December, in charge of Mr. Sheppard, the master,
the number of her hands consisting of about thirty—
Mrs. Sheppard accompanying her husband. On the
29th of April the ship reached the coast of Van Diemen's
Land, and in the night she struck violently on a reef,
and was thrown on her broadside, the sea washing
completely over her. The masts were immediately cut
away, in the hope that it would bring her upright, but
that failing, a boat was lowered, and the second-mate
and Mrs. Sheppard, with a lad and seven seamen, having
got into it, pushed off, but almost immediately after
capsized, and, with the exception of three seamen, all
perished alongside the wreck. The seamen swam to
the shore. About this time a tremendous sea struck the
vessel and swept off the longboat. The master and the
remainder of the crew remained on the wreck till 4
o'clock the next morning, when, finding that the ship
was fast breaking up, they resolved to make an attempt
to reach the shore, only about a quarter of a mile distant.
In the attempt Captain Sheppard and several others
were drowned, the remainder reaching the beach in a
very exhausted state, through a very heavy surf which
was running all the time; and out of thirty men only
eleven were saved. The following day the bodies which
were washed ashore were duly interred. Search was
then made along the beach for food, the crew expecting
to find most of the ship's stores, but all that they could
discover was a small portion of bread and seven small
tins of herrings. The crew then formed an encampment;
and, having in the course of their travels about
the beach, noticed on the sands the footmarks of men
and animals proceeding in a southerly direction, it was
resolved to send a party in search of a habitation in that
course, but, after two days' absence, they returned
without being able to trace a single living creature.
During this time the allowance served out was only one
herring per day and a cupful of biscuit; but subsequently
quantities of bottled ale and porter were washed up
from the wreck, which proved most acceptable. They
had no means of making a fire. It was then determined
that two parties should start—one to the south, and the
other to the north—both of which accordingly set out;
but these likewise proved fruitless. After enduring
great privations and suffering for nearly a fortnight,
they were surprised at the appearance of a dog, which
was hailed as the harbinger of their deliverance.
Fearing he might run away, they wrote an account of
their situation and tied it round his neck. The dog, it
appeared, belonged to a gentleman named Burgess, who,
with a party, was exploring the country to the southward.
The moment they heard of the wreck, which
was by the return of the dog, they set out, and came up
with the survivors of the Rebecca on the 23rd day after
the ship's loss. The poor fellows were fast sinking when
the exploring party came up, and through their attention
and kindness their lives were preserved. On their
recovery, they set out for Hobart Town, which they
eventually reached in safety.

A melancholy case of Hydrophobia has occurred in
Ireland. Christopher Commons, a farmer, (65 years of
age) living near Ardbracken, Navan, was bitten by his
own terrier dog about the 12th of July last. The dog
was found to have gone mad immediately after.
Commons remained rather heedless about the small
wound inflicted on his face and arm; but after a week
he applied to a quack in the county of Cavan for his
ordinary cure. Trusting in this nostrum, he went to
the salt water for some weeks, and remained pretty
confident that he was in no danger until a few days ago,
when he became very nervous, and found an abhorrence
of water when offered him to drink. Sensible of his
danger, but still hoping for a cure by a quack, he
applied to one, who, on seeing him, pronounced him
beyond cure; and although he administered some of his
specific, Commons died in his house in five hours after
in spasmodic fits.

A fatal Collision on the North Western Railway
occurred on the 30th ult., at the Euston Square terminus.
Several workmen were engaged on different portions of
the rails close to the station, and just as the half-past six
down-train was on the point of starting seven or eight
men were in the act of carrying across the line close to
the terminus a long portion of an iron rail, at the very
moment that the engine which accompanied the train
emerged from the engine-shed. The men imagined that
they could effect their transit before the engine arrived
where they were engaged; but, before they could clear
the rails, the engine came up, striking the iron rail that
they were carrying. Four of the men succeeded in
getting out of the way of the engine, but two others,
Woodland and Robertson, were not so fortunate, the
engine and tender having passed over them. They were
instantly picked up, bleeding and insensible, and
conveyed to the University College Hospital, without hope
of recovery.

A child has died from Foul Air in a Railway Carriage.
An inquest was held on the 31st ult., touching the death
of an infant of ten mouths old, named Carr, who died
in a carriage on the London and North Western Railway.
Mary Green, a nurse, stated that the child's
parents resided at Edinburgh, from whence she arrived
at the King's-cross terminus of the Great Northern
Railway on the previous Sunday morning, having charge
of deceased, whom she carried the whole journey on her
lap with its face uncovered. During the journey the
infant was slightly indisposed, but upon arriving at the
terminus witness was horrified at finding it dead. The
third-class carriage in which she travelled was not
overcrowded, yet, through the windows having been kept
shut during the whole 400 miles' journey, it was rather
close. Mr. Superintendent Williams said that although
the windows might have been kept closed, yet the
ventilation over the window admitted air sufficient for
the comfort and health of the passengers. Mr. G. F.
Jones, surgeon, found that death resulted from suffocation
produced by inhaling foul air in the carriage. The
ventilation spoken of would not neutralise the effects
of the poisonous gas, because the latter, being heavier
than atmospheric air, would sink, and having no escape
at the bottom of the carriage, would act fatally on an
infant of deceased's tender age. The coroner suggested
to Mr. Williams the propriety of directing the attention
of the directors to the necessity of having at the bottom
of the carriage a proper ventilation. The jury returned
a verdict that the deceased was accidentally suffocated
by impure air in a railway carriage.

Mr. John Hales, the constructor of railways, well
known as contractor for the line extending from
Coalville to Burton-upon-Trent, has been Killed by falling
from a scaffold erected against his house, called Felcotes-
hall, near Tunbridge Wells. He had recently purchased
the estate upon which the mansion stands, and was
superintending the outside repairs when this melancholy
accident took place.

Mr. George Frank Stanley Smythe, a gentleman of
twenty-nine, has committed Suicide in the Cathedral
Hotel, St. Paul's Churchyard, by swallowing essence of
bitter almonds, which he had obtained of a chemist on
pretence that it was wanted to flavour custard. It
appears that the mind of the deceased had been affected
a few months back, but it was supposed that he had
recovered latterly. He was to have been married, but
he had a morbid feeling that he was not worthy of the
lady. In his pocket-book some lines were found, written
in pencil, bewailing his want of merit.

Peter Adams, an apprentice at Addle Hill, and Joseph
Cortes, barman at a public-house in the same street,
have been Drowned near Westminster Bridge. Cortes
and another man, Cupton, were swimming for a wager;
Adams would leave the boat and join them; presently
he called out for help. Cortes swam to him; the youth
clutched him round the neck, and both perished. Cupton
stated at the inquest, that he called to the people at an
adjacent pier, but they would not render any assistance;
they did not send for the drags, and would not aid
Cupton in searching for the bodies.

A calamitous Accident happened in the Strand on the