of bricks, charred wood, and smouldering cotton, the
mere wreck of an establishment which had been amongst
the wonders of the age for the collection of mechanism,
and the results of ingenuity and skill brought together
within its walls.

Mr. Cumming, a respectable surgeon at Matlock, and
his son, a boy of 10 or 12 years old, have been Drowned
in the Derwent, while rowing in a pleasure boat on
the river. The recent rains had swollen the stream,
and the rowers seem to have approached too near to
the weir near Masson Mill; the force of the current
carried the boat over the fall, but Mr. Cumming and
his son appeared to be uninjured by the descent, and
the boat grounded at its foot. The unfortunate parent
made the most desperate efforts to save his child, and
repeatedly regained his feet after being drawn down by
the current, but the power of the stream proved too
great for long resistance, and the father and son were
washed away to the depths below before the eyes of the
anxious spectators. Mr. Cumming has left a wife and
seven children.

The new West India Steamship Amazon was Destroyed
by Fire, on Sunday Morning the 4th inst., with a
dreadful sacrifice of human life. She sailed on her first
voyage from Southampton on Friday the 2nd. At a
quarter before one on Sunday morning, when the ship
was about 110 miles W.S.W. of Scilly, a fire broke out
suddenly, forward on the starboard side, between the
steam chest and the under part of the galley, and
shortly after the flames rushed up the gangway which
is in front of the foremost funnel. The alarm bell was
rung, and Captain Symons rushed on deck in his shirt
and trousers. Wet swabs and other loose things were
placed on the gratings of the spar-deck hatch, and a
hose was brought to play on the main deck, but quickly
abandoned in consequence of the excessive heat. The
deck pump was also kept at work until the men were
forced to retire. The wind was blowing half a gale
from south-west, and the vessel was going 8½ knots,
which was her average rate from the time of departure.
Capt. Symons ordered some hay, between the engine-
room crank gratings, to be thrown overboard; two
trusses were hove over the ship's side, but the fire soon
igniting the main body, the hencoops on each side, and
the paddle-boxes, the men were obliged to abandon the
deck, and those who could leave were all finally driven
from the ship. Many were burnt in their berths, others
suffocated, and a great number were drowned in the
lowering of the boats.

The following narrative has been given by Mr.
Vincent, midshipman of the Amazon:—"About
20 minutes to 1 o'clock on Sunday morning, fire was
observed bursting through the hatchway-foreside
of the fore-funnel. Every possible exertion was made
to put out the fire, but all was ineffectual. The mail-
boat was lowered, with twenty or twenty-five persons
in it; but was immediately swamped, and went astern,
the people clinging to one another. They were
all lost. The pinnace was next lowered but she
hung by the fore tackle; and being swamped the
people ware all washed out of her. In lowering the
second cutter, the sea raised her and unhooked the fore-
tackle, so that she fell down perpendicularly; and all
but two of the persons in her were washed out. Captain
Symon was all this time using his utmost exertions to
save his passengers and crew. Sixteen men, including
two passengers, succeeded in lowering the life-boat;
and about the same time I, (Mr. Vincent,) with two
men, the steward and a passenger, got into and lowered
the dingy. In about half an hour the life-boat took the
dingy's people into her, and bore down for the ship with
the dingy in tow; but the sea increasing, and being
nearly swamped, they were obliged to cast the dingy off
and bring the boat-head to sea. The masts went—first
the foremast, and then the mizenmast. About this
time a bark passed astern of the life-boat: we hailed her
with our united twenty-one voices, and thought she
answered us; but she wore and stood under the stern of
the burning vessel, and immediately hauled her wind
and stood away again. The gig, with five hands, was at
this time some little way from us; but the sea was
running so high we could render her no assistance, and
shortly afterwards lost sight of her. About 4 a.m.
(Sunday) it was raining heavily, and the wind shifted
to the northward; sea confused, but decreasing; put
the boat before the sea. At 5 o'clock the ship's
magazine exploded, and about half an hour afterwards
the funnels went over the sides, and she sunk. At noon
we were picked up by the Marsden, of London, Captain
Evans; by whom we were treated in the kindest
manner possible." The conduct of Mr. Vincent, a very
young man, has been highly praised. Mr. Neilson of
Liverpool, one of the passengers saved in the life-boat,
says in a narrative published in the newspapers: "I
cannot close my narrative of this event without adverting
in the strongest terms of praise and admiration to the
conduct of young Vincent. Throughout the whole of
the dreadful scenes through which we passed, he never
showed the slightest symptom of fear or hesitation, or
uttered a single murmur or complaint. His whole care
seemed for the men, of whom he took the command with
the calmness of an old officer, and having on him, as
one of the officers of the watch when he escaped, the full
complement of clothes, he gave his pea-jacket to one of
the men who had only a shirt on, a flannel shirt to
another, and his handkerchief to a third. I have been
in scenes which have tried the nerves of hardened men,
but never in any more calculated to try them than
those through which this young officer passed unruffled.
I must speak also in the highest terms of the steadiness,
firmness, and unwearied exertions of our boat's crew,
who, notwithstanding the heavy sea and the crowded
state of the boat, with 21 in her, were most eager
to brave every danger for the chance of offering
still further aid to their drowning comrades, while
the possibility of a chance still remained."

The number of the ship's officers was ten, that of her
engineers six, and that of her seamen ninety-six; the
passengers were forty-nine. Of these, it was at first
supposed that only the twenty-one persons who escaped
with Mr. Vincent in the life-boat were saved; but a
Dutch vessel afterwards landed at Brest six passengers
and nineteen of the crew, whom she had picked up at
sea; and another boat, with four passengers and nineteen
of the crew, was picked up in the Bay of Biscay by a
Dutch vessel and landed at Plymouth. The following
are some of the details which have been given of this
deplorable event. The boats of the Amazon were fitted
with iron cranes or crutches on which their keels rested;
these fittings obstructed their clearance from the ship,
and but for this fatal arrangement the serious loss of life
would have been lessened. Captain Symonds ordered
that no one should get into the boats. This order was
obeyed until the people saw the flames overpowering the
ship. He was last seen with the man at the wheel,
ordering the helm to be put up, so as to keep the ship
before the wind. His last words were, "It is all over
with her." The officer of the watch, Mr. Treweeke
(second officer), was walking the bridge when the
accident was discovered. Mr. Henry Roberts, chief officer,
in his shirt only, was actively assisting the captain; he
was last seen going through the companion down to the
main deck, and is supposed to have perished there.
Mr. Lewis (third officer), Mr. Goodridge (fourth officer),
and the two midshipmen, some of whose berths
were forward on the port side of the main deck, were
probably suffocated, as were also the chief engineer, Mr.
George Angus, and Mr. Allen, the superintending
engineer, on behalf of the constructor of the engines,
as they were seen in the engine-room ten minutes before
the fire broke out, going forward, there being no
possibility of their return through the flames. The second
engineer, Mr. William Angus, was on the spar deck,
between the funnel and the crank gratings, pulling oars,
and throwing them out of the way of the fire on the
deck, near the boats. The two best boats were stowed
on the top of the sponsons, where the flames prevented
approach. After the Amazon was put about, she went
at the rate of twelve or thirteen knots, dead before the
wind. One boat on the starboard-side, the second
cutter, was full of people, when the wash of the sea
unhooked the foremost tackle; she held on by the
stern-tackle, and her stern falling into the sea, all
except two were drowned, in consequence of the ship's
speed. The pinnace was observed on the port-side,