crew of the boat, thinking that she would go to pieces and drown them all, sprang into the schooner, but were soon washed off. Two of those (Edward Robson and James Grant) were drowned; the other two, having their life-belts on, swam ashore. The life-boat, in her crippled state, with six men yet in her, fortunately drove into the harbour, where she was picked up by the "William Wake," another life-boat, and towed to North Shields, where her crew, with the exception of those who had jumped aboard the schooner, were landed in safety. Upon getting the apparatus to the Low Lights the Preventive men were unable to get any steamboat master who would run the risk of going out into the sea with his vessel, and all further efforts to rescue the people on board the stranded ships were frustrated. About twenty-five minutes to eleven the schooner seemed to slide off the ledge of rocks where she was stranded, and immediately turned over. The cries of her doomed crew were heard for a few moments, and then they and their vessel disappeared from sight. More than once a horrible crash was heard from the steam-ship, and it was thought that she was breaking up; but it was not until an hour after midnight that the "Stanley" parted amidships, breaking into two separate pieces. The prow and fore part of the vessel was afterwards turned round by the force of the sea, while the stern part lay in its fixed position. It is supposed that some of the persons on board went down into the foaming billows at the time when the ship was thus rent in twain. Those who survived were in the fore part of the ship, where they remained till five or six o'clock in the morning, when the rocket apparatus from Cullercoats was used to cast lines from the shore; and by these means nine passengers and about twenty sailors were rescued. Twentyone passengers, half of them being women, and five of the seamen, with the stewardess, were lost from the " Stanley;" six men were drowned in the "Friendship;" and two of the Tynemouth lifeboat men. The "Stanley was a fine ship of 552 tons burden, built at Hartlepool about six years ago. She was commanded by Captain Howling, and had thirty passengers on board, with forty head of cattle, when she left London for Aberdeen on the 23rd. The rocks under the battery at Tynemouth, a few hundred yards. from the wreck, were strewn with dead bullocks, casks, bales, and other miscellaneous articles washed out of the broken vessel.

A coroner's inquest was held at the Town Hall, North Shields, upon the bodies of those who had been drowned and identified, belonging to the "Stanley" and the "Friendship."

James Gilbert, of Tynemouth, who acted as coxswain of the "Constance" life-boat on the night of the 24th, said,-" We proceeded with the life-boat towards the 'Stanley.' We got close under the bow of the 'Stanley' when a sea came and broke all the oars, except two on each side. The boat next caught the fore rigging of the Friendship,' and part of her side was driven in. I stuck to the boat, and four of the crew got on board the

Friendship.' We were not lashed to the life-boat. The 'Friendship' was on the rocks, and she fell over with her mast to the south. We had an opportunity of speaking to the crew of the Friendship.' They made no answer to us. They seemed to be paralyzed. We were able to get safe ashore in our boat, and if the rest of the crew had remained in the boat they might have been saved. The boat was nearly perpendicular in the water. Three of the men were thrown into the rigging. The fourth jumped on board, and he was saved. It is not the practice to be lashed into the life-boats. I was once eleven hours in the lifeboat, when we saved several crews. I was not lashed in. No man would like to be tied in. Every man had his cork jacket." John Main, chief mate of the "Stanley," said,-"We sailed from Aberdeen on Wednesday the 23rd. I was acquainted with the channel of the Tyne from the entrance upwards. When we got off this coast the captain determined to bring the Stanley' into the Tyne. The captain asked me if I thought it would be practicable to go in. The tide was then about an hour from low water. I saw it advertised in the papers that there was as much as from seventeen to eighteen feet on the bar at low water. The water shallows up towards the lighthouse. I don't know to what extent, but the ship would have been safe. I think she would have got as far as the lighthouse without taking the ground. Above that she would have grounded; but she would have been in safety opposite the lighthouses. He decided to come in, and I said I would do my endeavours to bring her in. Neither lights were lighted at the time. I said I thought there was plenty of water, or something to that effect. I felt confident from my previous knowledge that I could bring her safely up the channel. There are no guides; but I knew we ought to steer W. half N. The captain and I were both on the bridge. I told the captain how to steer, and the captain gave the orders. We took W. half N., and were guided by the surf on each side. A heavy sea struck the vessel on the starboard quarter, and she ran against her starboard helm. By that means she was driven to the north. The sea drove her where she was. She is only twenty or thirty yards out of the channel now. Before the sea struck her she was in her right channel. The regulations as to the lights is, to put them out at quarter ebb, and re-light them at quarter flood. I went on the supposition that at any time there was water enough to come over the bar. Our ship drew thirteen feet of water. There was one seaman and the second mate at the wheel when the sea struck her. We have never more than two men at the wheel when taking the bar. After we struck she was kept going at full steam to try to get her off. She went ahead a little, and then stuck fast. We then sang out for assistance. I did not give orders to get out the waist boat. The crew did it themselves.. I superintended it, and kept part of the ladies from getting in. When the boat was ready, four ladies, three seamen, and one fireman got into the boat.

I gave orders for lowering the boat. The davit broke right in two, close up to the neck. I cannot account for it. I sang out to cut the rope at the other end, but we could not get a knife, and the end of the boat was immersed before it parted. Three sailors got on board by means of ropes held out to them. The four ladies and the fireman, Gordon, were drowned. The captain then gave orders to get the other boat out. To the best of my belief the men had lost control. Another sea came and washed away the remainder of the boats. We then waited until assistance came from the shore. The nearest life-boat to

us was about twenty or thirty yards outside. At a later part of the evening the ship parted in two. Before she parted some passengers and the engineer, who were on the bridge, were washed overboard. There were none at the stern when she parted. Before that I advised the ladies to come off the bridge, but they would not let go the railing. I was on the crane. The rocket apparatus was brought to us before the vessel parted. When we got a communication with the shore, the second mate and I took charge of it. We fastened it to the bulk-heads. That was about the level of the topgallant forecastle. I did not hear the captain make any remark that that was not the proper place for it. I believe he did make that remark, but I did not hear it. I thought the rocket had been fired from the cliff; and it would have been very difficult to get the women to the mast-head. That was the reason why I did not fix the rope higher in the ship. A seaman was the first and the second mate was the second to go ashore. They got ashore safely. The next was a woman, accompanied by a seaman. They were unable to get across, and in drawing them back they fell out of the cradle. A fireman went next, but the cradle got foul of the water, and he was obliged to leave the cradle and return. No further attempts were made that night. The hauling-line fouled. Before the steamer parted the hawser broke. Nothing was done after that till the morning, when the rocket was used, and we were all taken off. On the second occasion we fastened the rope to the mast-head. We saw them on the rocks then. It was a lower elevation. It was lower down to the ship, at any rate, than when it was fired before. I cannot say if we might have kept the ship out at sea with safety."

Two or three witnesses swore that the Coastguardsmen behaved most heroically; but that the lines could not be brought after eight o'clock at night on account of the sea.

The jury, after a careful summing up by the Coroner, returned the following verdict :-"We are all agreed that the loss of the 'Friendship' was purely accidental; also the 'Stanley,' but we attach blame to the mate and master for taking the bar too soon before the lights were lit; and as to the harbour lights, we would recommend that they shall be kept in continually without alteration in the light so long as there is seventeen feet of water upon the

bar, and that when there is not seventeen feet there must be an alteration."

The same storm which caused the loss of the "Stanley" and the "Friendship" was fatal to another vessel, the screw-steamer "Dalhousie," trading between Dundee and Newcastle, which came to destruction at the mouth of the Tay, on the 24th, under circumstances similar to those which occasioned the wreck of the "Stanley." By this sad event thirty-four lives were lost, about twenty of whom were passengers. There were other losses also by wreck

in the same storm, but none so considerable as those above mentioned.

DECEMBER.

8. OPENING OF THE SUSPENSION-BRIDGE AT CLIFTON.-The Suspension-bridge over the river Avon at Clifton was formally opened. It was a great day for Bristol and Clifton, as well as for the neighbouring parts of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, now furnished with a convenient passage from one shore to the other of the river by which they are divided. The history of this project is somewhat remarkable. In the year 1753, Alderman Vick, of Bristol, bequeathed to the Society of Merchant Venturers the sum of 10007., directing that such sum should be placed out at interest until it should accumulate and increase to 10,000l., when it was to be applied to the building of a stone bridge across the Avon from Clifton-down, in the county of Gloucester, to Leighdown, in the county of Somerset. This was the origin of the gigantic scheme that has only just now been carried into execution, after a lapse of 111 years. It was at once perceived to be impossible to build a stone bridge across so vast a chasm. For nearly eighty years, the 10007. left by Mr. Vick was allowed to accumulate; and in the year 1830, when the railway system was beginning to make itself felt, the citizens of Bristol began to think of the old legacy, and the possibility of applying it to the purpose for which it was left. At that time the money had increased to 80007., and it was resolved to use the amount as the nucleus of whatever sum might be required to construct the bridge. An Act of Parliament was obtained, and plans were advertised for. Telford, the builder of the Menai-bridge, and the late Mr. Brunel, competed for the honour of giving a design for a suspension-bridge. Mr. Brunel's design was preferred. His estimate was 57,0007.; but when 45,000l. had been spent, only the towers had been built, and the work came to a stop. His design was for a chain bridge of a single span of 700 feet, two chains passing over two towers, and being anchored

deep in the limestone rocks behind them. In 1843 all the money was gone, and the scheme was in abeyance for want of funds, and, though many propositions were made to the trustees under the old Act of Parliament, the bridge would very likely have been incomplete to this day, had not the removal of Hungerford-bridge become necessary. Mr. Brunel, as it happened, had been the engineer of Hungerford-bridge; and when its chains had to be pulled down, to give place to the bridge of the Charingcross Railway, it occurred to Mr. Hawkshaw to have them applied to the completion of one of the greatest of all Mr. Brunel's bridge designs. For such a purpose the money was soon forthcoming. A new company, under a new Act, and presided over by Captain Huish, was started, with a capital of 35,000. The chains of Hungerford-bridge were purchased for 50007.; the stone towers, .built by Mr. Brunel for the old company, for 20007. Two years ago the work of slinging these chains began, and the bridge is now finished. A few words of description will suffice. The bridge is supported by three chains on each side. These chains, or rather jointed iron bars, are built together, by joining sideways a series of flat iron bars, or parts of links-ten and eleven bars, an odd and even number, alternately composing one link; each bar of each link being 24ft. long by 7in. broad, and lin. thick. The shore ends of the chains are secured by taking down the links no less than 75ft. deep into the heart of the limestone rocks, and then building them in with solid masonry. The towers over which these chains pass, are built after the massive and ponderous style of Egyptian architecture. There are arched towers 48ft. wide by 30ft. thick and 80ft. high. On the Bristol side they only go down some 10ft. or 12ft. to meet the rock, but on the opposite shore, the shelving conformation of the strata requires a pile of masonry 100ft. high, to meet the roadway above it. The bridge, which hangs from the chains over these towers, is made by tierods, 2in. in diameter and 8ft. apart-eighty-one in number on each side of the structure. Each pair of tie-rods have suspended to them the cross girders which carry the floor of the roadway. These girders are 18in. deep and 33ft. long, and, like all the rest of the work, are of wrought iron. The carriage-way is 20ft. wide, and the footways 5ft. wide each. A division 3ft. high is formed, between the roadway and the footways, by two long wrought-iron girders, 3ft. deep by 8in. wide, which, like two backbones, stiffen the bridge from end to end, and check the vibration caused by storms of wind. The curve, or rise in the bridge, is only 2ft. at the centre. The saddles or rollers which let the chains move over the towers meet the contraction and expansion caused by changes of heat and cold in the atmosphere. The total span of the bridge is 702ft. 3in., and its height above the water is 260ft. Taking length and height together, it is the most remarkable suspensionbridge in the world.

The ceremony of opening the new bridge was attended with