7.--By Royal Proclamation this day was observed as one of humiliation and
prayer. At Norwich all the principal shops were closed, and services
were held morning and evening at the parish churches. Collections were
made on behalf of the sufferers by the Indian Mutiny.
22.--Mr. W. H. Russell, LL.D., the special correspondent of "The Times"
during the Crimean War, delivered, at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, a
lecture on the principal events of the campaign. He gave a second
lecture on the 23rd.
--A terrible storm raged on the Norfolk coast. The brig Ontario, of
South Shield's, from Newcastle to Suez with coals (Capt., Balfour),
foundered on the Barber Sand off Yarmouth, and drifting to the Cockle
Gatway, was lost. The captain, his wife and son, and the crew of 24
hands perished. The chief mate, William Coates Robinson, alone escaped.
The Zillah, of Whitby, from Hartlepool to London, commanded by Capt.
Watson, was lost off Winterton, and five men, including the master, were
drowned, out of the crew of eight hands. Upon the Norfolk coast between
forty and fifty lives were lost. It was asserted that many lives would
have been saved had the lifeboats and apparatus been in an ordinarily
effective condition. The strictures made upon the life-saving service
led to negotiations for the amalgamation with the National Society of the
Norfolk Association for Saving the Lives of Shipwrecked Mariners.