THE steam-ship, Austria, of 2,500 tons, one of the Hamburg line of screw steam-packets, running between that place and New York, sailed from Southampton on the 4th Sept.

last for New York. Her passengers numbered 425, and her officers and crew 103, making a total of 528 souls. She was built at Glasgow, was 347 feet long, was almost wholly constructed of iron, her machinery was on one of the latest and most improved plans, she was provided with four Francis's metallic life-boats, and with everything that could contribute to the comfort of those on board. She was also divided into ten water-tight compartments, so that the provision for the safety of her passengers and crew would appear to have been above that of the average of passenger ships. Yet all these qualities and advantages sufficed not to prevent one of the most frightful catastrophes that has ever been recorded. The following account of the circumstances of the voyage and loss of the ill-fated ship was written by Mr. C. BEEWE, the only British subject who was saved:— " I took passage at Southampton, on the 4th Sept., in the steam-ship Austria, Capt. HEYDTMANN, which left Hamburgh on the 2nd. We sailed at five P.M., the evening being a little misty. We, in consequence, anchored between the Isle of Wight and the main land. Sailed again at four o'clock on the following morning.

" From the time the ship was laid on her course we experienced strong westerly winds.

On the 12th the weather was more favourable, and on the 13th a speed of eleven knots had been attained, and all were in high hopes of reaching New York by the 18th. At a little after two o'clock P.M., I was on the quarter-deck. I saw a dense volume of smoke burst from the after entrance of the steerage. Some women ran aft, exclaiming, ' The ship is on fire! what will become of us?' The ship was instantly put at half speed, at which she continued until the magazine exploded, by which I infer the engineers were instantly suffocated. I only walked from where I was on the quarter-deck to the waist of the ship, when I saw the flames breaking through the lights amidships. As the ship was head to the wind, the fire travelled with fearful rapidity.

" I then went to the man at the wheel, and told him to put the vessel with her side to the wind. He hesitated—probably did not understand me, as he was a native of Hamburg. I then got a German gentleman to speak to him. At this time I saw some persons letting down the boat on the port side of the quarter-deck. What became of the boat I don't know, but think she was crushed under the screw. I then went to let a boat over from the starboard side of the quarter-deck, but the moment we laid our hands on the ropes, there were so many people who crowded into it that we could not lift it off the blocks. We therefore left it for a few minutes until the people got out, when we returned and launched it over the side of the ship, when, the people all rushing into it again, it descended with great violence into the water, and was instantly swamped, all the people being washed out excepting three, who held on to the sides. We then let down a rope and pulled up one person, who proved to be the steward. Another, in the act of being hauled up, was strangled by the rope.

" The fire now came on too fiercely to attempt to get up any more from the swamped boat. All the first-cabin passengers were on the poop, with the exception of a few gentlemen, who must have been smothered in the smoking-room. Many of the second-cabin passengers were also on the poop, but a number of them got shut into their cabin by the fire. Some of them were pulled up through the ventilator, but the greater number could not be extricated. The last woman who was drawn up, said, there were six already suffocated. We now perceived that the ship had got her head to the wind again, so that the flames came over the quarter-deck.

" In consequence of the crowd I could not get to the wheel-house to ascertain the reason, but I was informed that the helmsman had deserted his post, and that the vessel, being left to herself, headed to the wind of her own accord. At this time the scene on the quarter-deck was indescribable and truly heartrending. Passengers were rushing frantically to and fro; husbands seeking their wives, wives in search of their husbands, relatives looking after relatives, mothers lamenting the loss of their children, some wholly paralyzed by fear, others madly crying to be saved, but a few perfectly calm and collected. The flames pressed so closely upon them that many jumped into the sea ; relatives, clasped in each other's arms, leaped over and met a watery grave.

Two girls, supposed to be sisters, jumped over and sank kissing each other. A missionary and his wife leaped into the sea together, and the stewardess and assistant steward, arm in arm, followed. One Hungarian gentleman, with seven fine children, four of them girls, made his wife jump in, then blessed his six eldest children, made them jump in one after the other, and followed them with an infant in his own arms.

" I about this time was standing outside the bulwarks holding on by the davits, leaning out to avoid the flames, which were leaping towards me. I saw a swamped boat under me, spinning by a rope still attached to the ship. As the oars were tied in her, I thought that if I could get to her I would be enabled to save myself and others. I let myself down by a rope, passing over a man who was clinging to it, but who refused to come with me. I took out a penknife to cut the tackle; the large blade broke, and I then severed it with the small blade. The ship passed ahead. As the screw approached, I found the boat drawn towards it. I tried to keep the boat off, but the screw caught and capsized her over me. I dived away from the ship and came to the surface near a boat which was keel upwards; I got on her, and by pressing on one side, with the assistance of a wave, she righted, but was still swamped. The oars had been knocked out by the screw; the only thing I could find in her to paddle with was some laths nailed together as a sheathing for the sides.

" When I looked around, the ship was a quarter of a mile away from me. I could see the ladies and gentlemen jumping off the poop into the water in twos and threes, some of the ladies in flames. Several hesitated to leap from the burning ship until the last moment, as the height was 22 feet, and were only at length compelled to throw themselves off to avoid a more painful death. In half an hour not a soul was to be seen on the poop. I pulled after the ship, and picked up a German who was swimming strongly; I got him beside me on the boat, and we paddled after the ship with the laths. I now saw a vessel under sail approaching, she reached the steamer about five p.m., we continued pulling towards them, and about half-past seven, after being five hours in the water, got within hail of the sailing vessel, which put off a boat and took us on board. She proved to be the French barque Maurice, Captain ERNEST RENAUD, of Nantes, bound from Newfoundland for the Isle of Bourbon, with fish. She had up to that time rescued 40 passengers of the burning steamer, chiefly taken off the bowsprit, though a few were picked up floating around. At about eight o'clock one of the metallic boats came up, with about 23 persons, including the first and third officers ; afterwards three or four men were picked up, floating on a piece of the broken boat. The second officer was taken up, having been swimming with nothing to float him for six hours. The second and third officers were severely burnt; one male passenger was burnt frightfully, and some other male passengers slightly. There were but six women saved, three of whom were burnt, one in a shocking manner.

" Captain RENAUD acted with the utmost kindness. He gave clothes as far as he could furnish them to the suffering passengers, and acted as nurse, doctor, and surgeon to the burnt people, dressing the wounds of the females with a delicacy and tenderness that evinced a benevolent and amiable disposition.

" I did not see an officer of the ship during the fire, and am certain there was not one of them or the crew on the poop, except a man at the wheel for a short time. I understood when the captain heard of the fire he rushed on deck without a cap, and when he saw the flames exclaimed 'We are all lost!' He tried to get out a boat, which, when let down, was swamped, and he, whether accidentally or not I do not know, fell into the sea and was soon left far behind. The fourth officer was in this boat. He cut her loose from the davits; she was carried under the screw and smashed, and several in her drowned; three or four men escaped on a fragment and were picked up by the Maurice, as before stated. About the same time one metallic life-boat was let down from the port bow and swamped, but got clear away with about 33 persons in her, including the first and third officers and several women.

The men in this boat capsized her two or three times in trying to clear her of water.

10 persons were then drowned, including some women. They afterwards baled her out with life-preservers cut in two, and pulled to the Maurice, having picked up 2 or 3 passengers before reaching the barque.

Altogether there were 67 souls taken into the Maurice during the night.

" The fire is known to have arisen from very culpable negligence of some of the crew.

The captain and surgeon considered it expedient to fumigate the steerage with burning tar. The operation was to be performed by the boatswain, under the superintendence of the fourth officer. The boatswain heated the end of a chain to dip in tar to produce smoke. The end became too hot to hold, and he let it drop upon the deck, to which it set fire. The tar upset and immediately all about was in flames. A feeble attempt was made to extinguish it, but without effect.

There was nothing at hand to meet such an emergency.

" The rescued passengers saved nothing but the clothes on their backs, and even the greater part of these were torn off and otherwise lost."