The vessel was designed by Mr. E. J. Reed, C.B., Chief Constructor of the Navy. Her burden is 1322 tons. Her principal dimensions are-length between perpendiculars, 220 feet 0 inch; length of keel for tonnage, 194 feet; breadth extreme, 36 feet; depth in hold, 19 feet 7 inches. 15. SHOCK OF AN EARTHQUAKE.-An earthquake shock was severely felt at Accrington, in Lancashire, about four or five minutes past six, Greenwich time. Accounts varied as to the direction taken by the earthquake wave, some describing it as from the north-east, and going south-west, and others the reverse. A low murmuring noise was heard, and this was followed by a shaking of the windows and the upper portion of the houses. Indeed, the general impression produced on people's minds was that the house of their neighbour was falling in. Large numbers of persons ran out of their houses into the street, and as nothing could be discovered, a report spread that the gas-works had blown up, and people rushed to the spot. At the railway station the shock was severely felt. The pointsman, who occupied a stone building, raised a considerable height, and adjoining some arches, ran out much frightened. The oscillation of the building was very perceptible. The station manager, who was writing at the time, was violently shaken, and thought a collision had occurred. At Blackburn the shock was felt in Church-street, in Victoriastreet, Richmond-terrace, and many other places. Great alarm was created, in some instances the inmates leaving their houses. Mr. Ainsworth, head-master of the Grammar School, stated that the vibration was so strong as to cause the doors of the wardrobe to oscillate violently. Mr. Moulden, draper, of Church-street, heard the unusual noise, and thought the beams supporting the upper stories were giving way. At the Reform Club the vibration was felt distinctly in every room. The shock was general throughout the town, and was accompanied by a subdued rumbling sound. At Middleton the motion lasted about fifteen seconds. The dwelling-houses in the higher parts of the town were very much shaken. The shock was accompanied with a low rumbling sound. Several persons stated that they were very nearly thrown from their feet by the shock; and a general rattle among the crockery in the cupboards was remarked. At Rawtenstall the shock was severe. The mills had just stopped, and the workpeople were about to leave. People ran out of the houses in all directions. Bells were rung, and door-knockers and pots and windows shaken. On the railway line between Rochdale and Shawforth some railway waggons were noticed suddenly to run against each other. Walls were seen to oscillate, and hundreds of people ran startled into the streets. At the Rochdale railway station the signalman and two or three porters were startled by the upheaving of the ground. The shock was distinctly felt at Dudmanstone, near Huddersfield. Mrs. Haigh, the wife of Mr. W. R. Haigh, of the firm of Messrs. A. and S. Henry and Co., about six o'clock p.m., along with two other ladies, felt the house vibrating in such a manner as to create alarm. The windows rattled, and the chinaware in the room shook, and the door of a wardrobe flew violently open. Some thirty-three years ago a shock of earthquake was felt in South Lancashire, but was only slight compared with the present earthquake. 19. MURPHY RIOT AT NORTH SHIELDS.-This evening the Odd Fellows' Hall, where Murphy, the "No Popery" lecturer, was addressing a large audience, was attacked by 400 armed Irishmen, who fired some shots into the room, and then smashed all the windows with stones. The police fortunately got the front door leading to the hall closed before the Irish could effect an entrance, and Murphy's audience were enabled to escape by a back way. The military had been called out, and remained picketed in the town-hall, and seventy-four of the First Northumberland Artillery Volunteers were sworn in as special constables. When the riot commenced Murphy was lecturing to men exclusively, and it was known to the authorities that the Irish had concerted a plot to attack the hall. The main body of them came from Jarrow, Walker, and Willington-quay, and there was no doubt the whole of them were armed with formidable bludgeons. They came into the street three deep, and in military order, and were directed by a couple of leaders in their attack upon the hall. The leaders first fired a couple of shots from revolvers through the windows of the hall, and then there was a general attack made on it with stones. The few policemen who were guarding the main entrance got the front door closed, and thus prevented the Irish from getting into the hall, else there is no doubt there would have been serious bloodshed. As the back entrance was open, when the stones came flying into the hall thick and fast, the body of the audience escaped by the back way, and the front door withstood the attack the Irish were making upon it, until the police came up in a strong body and beat away the assailants. They did not trouble themselves to take any prisoners into custody, but belaboured the rioters right and left with sticks and staves, who very soon made a retreat; but they did not get away until a considerable number of their heads were broken, and wounded Irishmen kept dropping into the surgeons' shops in the neighbourhood in the night to have their heads dressed. None of the audience in the hall were hurt by the large stones which were hurled in among them, and Murphy and his followers, expecting that the Irish would force an entrance into the hall and make a charge upon them, retreated to the platform, and broke up the chairs, with the fragments of which they armed themselves for defence. - - TERRIFIC GALE.-The most violent gale, and the most de structive in its effects, that had been experienced in the Channel Islands for many years, passed over Jersey on this and the following day. The gale began in the morning, the wind being from the west-south-west, and continued to increase during the day, accompanied with heavy showers of rain. The gusts of wind, which were most vehement, reached their greatest height during the early hours of the 20th, when a perfect hurricane prevailed. Daylight brought to view evidence of the intensity of the gale in the vast destruction that had been accomplished in a few hours. Large trees were torn up by the roots, and others split into fragments; gates were blown down; tiles, slates, and chimneypots strewed the streets in every direction; garden-walls were blown to the ground, and numerous roofs were partly carried off. In St. Lawrence's parish a large vinery recently erected by Mr. Gibbs at a cost of 2007. was totally destroyed. The ends of a pavillion at Grève-de-Lecq were blown in, and the roofs of the barracks at that place damaged. In all the parishes destruction to a greater or less extent was effected. The most serious was a fatal accident at St. Brelade's, where Mr. John Cappelain, landlord of the British Hotel, lost his life. The deceased was sitting eating his supper in the kitchen of his house, at ten o'clock at night, when the chimney-stack, blown down by the gale, fell through the roof, smashed the flooring of the room above, and fell upon the deceased, killing him on the spot. Half an hour elapsed before the deceased could be got out from among the rubbish, when he was found with his chin resting on the edge of the table and a large beam lying on the back of his neck. A vessel, supposed to be French, was seen to go down near La Rocque; and a French chasse-marée was driven by the gale into Gorey harbour without any one on board of her, the crew, it was supposed, having been washed overboard. The gale was severely felt on the French coast also. Near to Granville a large portion of the telegraph line was blown down, so that the telegraphic communication with the island was interrupted. The gale considerably abated by the evening of the 20th. Fearful destruction of life and property was also caused on the Cornish coast. The brig The brig "Ann Jones," of Plymouth, Symonds, master, ran ashore two miles west of Boscastle, and five minutes afterwards went to pieces. The captain and three of the crew managed to clamber up the cliff and were saved, but the mate and two ordinary seamen were drowned. A schooner became a total wreck about a mile from this scene. The schooner "Sylph," of St. Ives, Williams, master, from Neath, was seen to go down off St. Agnes. The coastguard were in attendance and fired four rockets, but failed to get a line on the wreck, and the crew, five in number, perished. The brig "T. C.," Popham, master, from Waterford, with oats, for Southampton, went ashore under the cliffs at Portreath about eight o'clock on Saturday night, and the entire crew were drowned. The vessel was seen from Portreath about five p.m., some miles to the east of the place, with bare poles and a flag of distress flying. She was signalled to come in, but either she could not, or else the captain hoped to get round the land; from the nature of the place where she went ashore it was impossible to render assistance. The brig "Lizzie," of Newport, Griffiths, master, with a valuable cargo of timber, and fifty-seven bales of indigo, went ashore on St. Ives bar about midnight on the 20th; one man was washed overboard and drowned, but the remainder of the crew, seven in number, were gallantly rescued by the Hayle lifeboat. On the same morning the "Francis Pool," from Runcorn, Morris, master, went ashore near the same place, and all on board perished. A small schooner drifted on Lelant beach, and her crew were saved by the St. Ives lifeboat. The brig "Bristol" went ashore at the back of Pentire Point, Padstow, and the captain, mate, and a seaman were drowned; the vessel soon went to pieces. The hull of a ship, apparently about 600 tons, was seen on the following afternoon about half a mile inside Gull Rock; and a quantity of wreck was washed ashore in Trevose-bay. The Padstow coastguard saw a vessel founder about seven miles from land. Numerous vessels arrived in the Cornish ports more or less damaged. 20. THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT-RACE.-This, the twentysixth rowing-match on the Thames between the two University crews of Oxford and Cambridge, resulted once more in the victory of the Oxford boat-for the ninth time in so many successive years. The following is a list of the gentlemen who rowed, with their weights, Mr. Still having been substituted, at four days' notice, for Mr. Mellor, who was prevented by illness from rowing in the Cambridge boat: The toss for choice of sides was won by the Oxford boat, which therefore took the Middlesex side of the river. A few minutes before four o'clock both the crews embarked at Putney; the Oxford boat having been kept in the boathouse of the London Rowing Club, and the Cambridge boat in that of the Leander Club. The tide was a neap tide, and three quarters up; the towing-path on the Surrey side was crowded with people; thirteen large steam-boats and eight steam-tugs, with several private yachts, and hundreds of row-boats and wherries, lay close to the Aqueduct; among these were the steamer "Lotus," the umpire's boat, with the son of the Viceroy of Egypt on board her; the steamer " London Pride," engaged by the London Rowing Club, on board of which was Prince Arthur; and Mr. Blyth's private screw-steamer "Ariel," from which Mr. Morrison had "coached" the Cambridge crew during their practice at Putney. The starting-boats were moored a short distance above the Aqueduct, opposite the fourth house in Putney-terrace, about seventy yards below the steam-boat pier. It wanted two minutes to four o'clock when Mr. Edward Searle, the starter, gave the word, and the boats were off. The Cambridge boat got the lead slightly before the first bridge on the towing-path was reached. Off the Duke's Head Inn the Oxford crew had drawn up alongside their opponents and slightly headed them, but the Cambridge boat sheered out just before reaching Simmons's yard. From the first the race was neck and neck, and at the Bishop's Creek the Cambridge crew were again in front. In the stretch past the Willows, between the Creek and Craven Cottage, the Oxford crew, who were rowing very powerfully and well together, again showed ahead, the Cambridge men at this period rowing rather short and not very steadily, and their coxswain taking them wide. But the Oxford boat hugging the shore rather closely at the Point, out of the strength of the tide, the Cambridge crew for a while held their own. It was now the turn of Oxford to draw away, and at the wharf above Craven Cottage they had increased their advantage to half a length. The Cambridge crew then apparently gathered themselves together; in the long shoot across the water, and off Rosebank, situate slightly below the Crab Tree, they were rowing unusually well, and for a short time reduced the lead obtained by their opponents. The steering of the Oxford coxswain was here rather irregular; but, despite this, the Oxford crew seemed to have the better pace, for at Messrs. Cowan's Soapworks they led by three quarters of a length. After passing the wharf somewhat too closely, the heads of both boats were pointed outwards, slightly across the set of the tide, for the centre arch of Hammersmith Bridge, between which points the Cambridge men came up hand over hand with their opponents-not so much owing to an increase in the speed of the former as to a failing in the pace of the latter. So rapidly, indeed, did the Cambridge crew overhaul the Oxford boat, that by the time they shot the Suspension Bridge they had once more obtained the lead, and actually headed Oxford through the bridge by a quarter of a length, amid the cheering of spectators who swarmed about the bridge. The scene was most exciting. After passing the bridge the Cambridge coxswain apparently endeavoured to edge his opponent outwards, and so far succeeded that the latter applied his rudder and fetched his boat's head over towards Chiswick Mall, whereupon the Cambridge steersman altered his course, and made in for the bend opposite the Doves, materially profiting by the manœuvre. Notwithstanding the fact that Cambridge still held the lead past the Doves and round the bend of the river on the tow-path side, it became evident that the pace was telling upon more than one of their number; and the Oxford crew, despite the ground lost by their coxswain, slowly but surely gained upon their adversaries, drawing |