A LAMENTABLE case of wreck, attended with great loss of life, and one highly dis- creditable to our country, we regret to say, occurred at the Hook Point, Waterford, early in the present year. We would gladly be spared the pain of recording the facts, but our duty as Journalists admits of no compromise. Where the lives of human beings are concerned, the truth must be told at all hazards. Of the circumstances of the case there can be no question, as they were fully brought out in evidence in open Court before the Waterford Harbour Com- missioners, as reported in the " Waterford Mail" from the 10th to the 31st January, from whence the following account is abridged.

On Tuesday the 6th January, 1852, the American ship Columbus, of 1,200 tons burthen, M'Cerren, master, from New Or- leans to Liverpool, laden with cotton and maize, a crew of 30 persons and 3 lady passengers, struck on the rocks under the Hook Point, on the east side of the entrance of Waterford Harbour, and became a total wreck, with a loss of 13 lives. From the statement of the captain, it appears that, owing to a succession of southerly gales and thick weather, he had had no observations for some days. On the 6th Jan., while running as he thought for the Tuskar light- house, at the entrance of the Irish Sea, at 5 P.M. he saw the Hook lighthouse, near Waterford (30 miles to the westward), and from being unable to see the land on which it stands, he took it for the Tuskar. It was blowing a strong breeze from the S.W., and the ship steering east. At half-past 5, on the light being lighted, he found that it was not the red revolving light of the Tuskar, but the fixed bright light of the Hook.

Immediately, on finding he was embayed, hauled his wind to the S.E., but could not weather the Saltees light-ship, which lies 10 m. E.S.E. of the Hook. He then wore ship, and stood to the westward, with difficulty weathered the Hook Point, passing it within a-quarter of a mile, stood across the harbour, and soon saw the red light at the end of Dunmore pier, which lies on the west side of Waterford Bay, just within the entrance, and which is the regular pilot station.

Although a bright moonlight night, and the ship firing rockets repeatedly, and al- though within a musket-shot of the pier- head, no pilot came off, and the captain was compelled to stand out. He tried to tack, but the ship, missing stays, was obliged to wear, and in endeavouring to weather the Hook, the vessel struck heavily on the rocks, close under the light, at about 9 P.M. The anchors were immediately let go, to keep her head to sea; she soon drove higher up the bay, but kept head to wind. A boat was despatched to try and carry a line on shore, but was upset, and one man drowned.

In trying to lower the life-boat she was dashed to pieces against the ship; the masts were then cut away. An attempt was made to send a line to the shore, distant only 50 yards, by means of a kite made out of one of the lady passengers' silk aprons, but it did not succeed. The ship held together until nearly 6 o'clock in the morning, when she swung broadside on to the waves. Her situation now became truly awful, and, of course, was but of short duration; every sea lifted the ship bodily against the rocks by which she was sur- rounded, and in a short time she was broken into fragments. The ladies were secured to pieces of the wreck, but they never reached the shore; some of the crew saved them- selves by clinging to the bales of cotton which floated out as the ship broke up, and in this manner drove on shore; but 13 out of the 33, including passengers, were drowned.

The conduct of the Coast-guard on this occasion, as usual, was highly praiseworthy.

Shortly after the ship struck, Mr. HORWOOD, R.N., of the Fethard Station, with the men under his orders, and Dr. HAMILTON, R.N., of H.M. Cutter Sparrow, who happened to be there on a visit, were on the spot, and actively engaged in rescuing the sufferers.

Others, too, •were not less active. Mr SKEEN, and Mr. CARROLL, keeper of the Hook light, and his assistants, and a Coast- guard-man, named ROGAN, were particularly remarked. They, with the bystanders, at great personal risk of being carried away by the retreating waves, or crushed by the falling timbers, eagerly pressed forward to snatch the struggling men from the sea: the wife, too, of the light-keeper contributed everything that active benevolence could suggest to mitigate the sufferings of the rescued. Great credit, too, is due to the Rev. PETER DUNN, of Templeton, for his exertions in preventing plunder from the wreck, and in restoring lost property; nor must we omit the highly-creditable act of honesty shown by JAMES BBEEN, of Harry- lock, a poor boy, who picked up, unperceived, a small bag of American gold, which he returned to the captain in the presence of his pastor, Mr. DUNN.

Thus perished the fine ship Columbus, valued, with her cargo, at 50,000?.; and, still more sad, 13 of her passengers and crew—in a friendly harbour, and within 50 yards of the shore, whence there was no means of affording any aid that could be of service.

This painful case suggests some very serious considerations:—As to the position of the ship ; as to the want of distinctive character in the lighthouses; as to the conduct of the Dunmore pilots ; and, lastly, which is our special concern, as to the want of rockets, or a mortar, at the Hook Point, to effect communication with a stranded vessel.

| It is not our province to sit in judgment on the master of the ship, nor any other per- son connected with this sad loss, nor is it our wish or intention so to do; but it is our bounden duty, with all the facts of the case before us, to point out the errors committed, so as to prevent, if possible, a recurrence of a similar disaster; and, 1st, we must re- mark on the rashness of running a ship on her course, after a casual glimpse of a light- house, without having ascertained what that lighthouse was. Owing to southerly winds and thick weather on the passage across the Atlantic, no trustworthy observations of the sun or stars had been obtained for some—it is said for eleven—days. In rather hazy weather, and three-quarters of an hour after sunset, in the depth of winter, the first sight of land after quitting New Orleans is ob- tained ; and all that is seen is a lighthouse, but not the cliff, 50 feet high, on which it stands. Although it was certain that not many minutes would elapse before the light would be lighted, which would at once show its distinctive character (the Hook being a fixed bright light, the Tuskar a revolving red light), the Columbus could not be detained this short time to make sure of her position, but dashed along on an east course, with a strong fair wind, and all sail set, to- wards inevitable destruction. Suddenly, the Saltee Islands and floating-light are seen on the starboard, or weather bow ; the ship was hauled to the southward as soon as sail could be shortened, and it could be done with safety to the spars, but not in time to weather the floating-light, and therefore the ship wore, and stood to the westward, to- wards Waterford Harbour, only weathering the Hook by a-quarter of a mile.

2. As to the want of distinctive character in the lighthouses.—The fact that two light- houses were mistaken for each other by day is important. One would hardly have sup- posed that these lighthouses, one placed on a projecting headland, 50 feet high, the other, on a rock only 20 feet high, and ap- parently rising directly from the water, could be mistaken; but here we have the fact stated by the master, and confirmed by the mate of the ship. The lighthouses stand within 30 miles of each other, and are both of a light colour. It is evident, then, that this is not a safe state of things; an error of 30 miles is nothing for a ship to be out of her reckoning in crossing the Atlantic, espe- cially as it is nearly all difference of longi- tude ; the lighthouses, therefore, should be given some distinctive character, whether by painting one of them in alternate bands of black and white, horizontally or vertically, or by some other method. The necessity of doing so was long since pointed out to the Ballast Board of Dublin, under whose charge the Irish lights are placed, and a trial was made on the Maidens, off Lough Lame; why could it not be done to the Tuskar also? 3. As to the conduct of the Dunmore pilots.—It appears in evidence that the Columbus, after passing the Hook light, stood across the harbour to Dunmore pier head, firing rockets for a pilot every fiv minutes. She stood so close to the pier about 8 o'clock, that the people on the jett} were distinctly visible by the light of a ful moon. Dunmore is the regular pilot station and the two pilot-vessels were in the har- bour, yet neither went off to the ship ; anc the captain, after waiting some time, seeing no prospect of a pilot, and being ignorant o the harbour, wore ship to stand out of the bay, but could not weather the Hook Point, and went ashore. As an excuse for nol going off, it was stated that the pilot-vessels were inefficient, and the weather so bad that they dared not go off. All the pilots' asser- tions as to the dreadful state of the weather are disposed of by the simple fact, that the Columbus stood across the bay with double- reefed fore and mizen topsail, and only a single reef in her main-topsail; that when she found herself close in off the pier-head, she threw all aback, to turn on her heel, and that she stood out of the bay under her courses and topsails. Now, to call such weather a gale of wind is downright non- sense ; any sailor-boy knows that a ship cannot carry a single-reefed main-topsail in anything more than a fresh or strong breeze.

After great loss of time in getting an extra anchor up, one of the pilot-boats did go out a short distance, but it was too late. It appears, then, that the pilot-boats are ineffi- cient and ill-found. That instead of one of them being under way at the entrance of the harbour (the proper place for all pilot- boats), they were both lying in Dunmore; that even there a bad look-out was kept, and when the ship was seen, no prompt measures were taken to put a pilot on board—and the ship was lost. It was, further, stated in evidence, that the Dunmore pilots are so ill-paid that it could not be expected that good sailors and skilful men would accept the situation.

Lastly, as to the want of a rocket or mortar, or any means for effecting communication with a stranded vessel.—This is our more immediate province, and it is not easy to say why this station was so entirely unprovided. Wrecks at this point are, we be- lieve, of very rare occurrence, and no demand for a mortar has ever been made that we are aware of. The late sad accident is a warning that the station should not be left un- provided, and we may hope the Coast-guard will be enabled to furnish the requisite apparatus here as they have at other places on this coast; if not, we trust the Shipwreck Institution will do so. It might be placed at the lighthouse, or at the Coast-guard station at Harrylock or Fethard, only five miles distant, whence there could be no great difficulty in transporting rockets to the Hook Point; at all events, every means should be adopted to prevent a loss of 13 lives within 50 yards of the shore.