Another great steamer has gone down. The 'La Plata,' 969
tons, left Gravesend on the 26th ult., with 300 miles of telegraph cable on board, intended to renew part of the cable from Lisbon to Brazil. On the 29th she encountered in the Bay of Biscay a tre- mendous gale, which in a few hours raised the water till it broke into her in some way yet unexplained, put out the fires, and swamped the ship, which parted asunder with a noise "like a thou- sand cannon," and sank, with the captain and sixty men and pas- sengers still on board. Three boats had been launched, but only one got away, with twelve hands on board, no food except a Dutch cheese, and no drink except a bottle of gin. The boat, however, picked up three men still alive, and after twenty-three hours - passed on that terrible sea, in a torture of thirst which made seve- ral of them delirious, the fifteen were rescued by the ' Gareloch,' an emigrant vessel, from which they were transferred to the Antenor,' of the Ocean Steamship Company, which brought them home. The captain, telegraph officers, and men all seem to have behaved splendidly.
