.—On the after- noon of the 6th December, information was received here that a large vessel was in a very perilous position in the bay, and the life-boat Richard Lewis, at Penzance, was at once got in readiness, in case her services should be required. Shortly afterwards a large barque was seen through the mist to drive ashore between St. Michael's Mount and the Long Bock. In five minutes the life- boat was on her way to the spot, which was reached in about ten minutes after the vessel struck. Unfortunately, they were too late to prevent 11 of the crew from leaving the vessel in the long boat, which upset when about half-way to the shore, and 7 of them were drowned, the remaining 4 being rescued with the greatest possible difficulty, and in a very exhausted state. The life-boat was promptly launched to windward of the stranded ship through a tremendous ground-sea. After a pull of more than an hour s"he reached the vessel, but as she was pulling under the stem, a great sea struck the boat, capsizing her and throwing all on board into the sea. The brave coxswain, THOMAS CAEBIS, was jammed under the boat by some wreck, and very nearly lost his life, having to dive three or four times before he could extricate himself. When dragged on board he was apparently dead, and in this state was brought on shore. Another man, who had pulled the stroke oar, was carried away from the boat, and the crew were all so exhausted that they could not pull up to his rescue. Supported, however, by his cork life-belt, he floated to the shore, when a brave man, named DESREAUX, swam his horse out through the surf and saved the poor fellow. Capt. CAY, R.N., who ex- pressed an earnest wish to go off on this occasion, was also on board, and, with the others, suffered severely. It is due to him to say that his coolness and judgment, as well as his exertions, greatly conduced to the bringing of the boat, with her exhausted crew, safely to shore. The second cox- swain (HIGGINS) also behaved like a hero, and, though scarce able to stand, managed the boat, when CAEBIS was disabled, with consummate skill. When the life-boat reached the shore, volunteers were at once asked for, and HIGGINS, the second cox- swain, was one of the first to tender his services again. It was, however, thought advisable to secure a fresh crew, and in a short time this was effected, Mr. BLACK- MORE, the Chief Officer of the Coastguard, acting as the coxswain, and Mr. S. HlGGS, jun., the French Vice-Consul, also volunteer- ing as one of the crew. The struggle which now followed, can. hardly be described ia anything like adequate terms. The boat had to be pulled to windward in the teeth of a tremendous wind and sea. Sometimes she would rise almost perpendicularly to the waves, and those on shore looked on with bated breath, fearing she must go over, and then, again she would gain a yard or two.

The way was disputed inch by inch, and at last the victory was won, and the remaining 8 men on the wreck were rescued by the life-boat; but no one who beheld the struggle will ever forget the manner in which the boat was managed. One of the brave life-boat men, while aiding, unfortu- nately had three of his ribs broken. In ten minutes after the rescue was accom- plished the masts went, and in half an hour the vessel was broken to fragments, which were strewn along the shore. She was the barque North Britain, of South- ampton, bound from Quebec with a cargo of timber. The rocket apparatus was quickly on the spot, and was most efficiently worked; and although the ship was too far off for it to render any help in this manner, it helped materially to save the 4 men upset in the boat. A line was fired over them, which enabled those on the beach to form a line, and then do that which without it they could not have dared to attempt. The value of the self-righting property in the life-boats of the Institution was strikingly illustrated in this case. In its absence some at least of the crew of the Penzance life- boat would undoubtedly have perished, but owing fortunately to this important provi- sion, and to the life-belts which the men wore, not a man of the boat's crew was lost..