The Massachusetts Spy

FROM VALPARAISO.

Painful Intelligence. By the ship Carolina-Ann, Capt. Coffin, from Valparaiso, the editors of the New-York Gazette have received letters from officers on board the Franklin 74, confirming the report and detailing the particulars of the loss of a boat's company belonging to that ship. The following is an extract from one of our letters.

"On Tuesday, the 19th inst. (March) a most melancholy and deplorable event occurred in this Bay. On the morning of that day, a party consisting of seven officers, viz. Lieut. James N. Perry; Dr. Cornelius C. Du Puy, Midshipmen Robert Marshall, John Creamer, Edward Preble, Robert B. Coffin and Reuben L. Pinkham, and three seamen, named John Smith, Melacton C. Read, and W. M'Daniels, all belonging to the Franklin, left the ship, in one of her boats, with the design of visiting Quintara, a small town 16 miles north of this place, formerly the residence of Lord Cochrane. On nearing the shore, they unexpectedly found a high surf rolling in, and attempting to pass through it, in order to gain the usual landing place, the boat was overwhelmed by a tremendous surge, which capsized her and threw the whole party into the sea. Midshipmen Pinkham, and the lad M'Daniels were the only persons who escaped to relate the dreadful tidings! Messrs. Marshall and Creamer. although excellent swimmers. disappeared very soon, and it is supposed were carried down by one of the seamen who was unable to swim, as he was seen holding Marshall by the coat. "Dr. Du Puy and Mr. Preble, neither of whom could swim, were supported and repeatedly placed on the bottom of the boat, through the cool and intrepid exertions of Lt. Perry and Midshipmen Pinkham; but they were as often overwhelmed and dashed asunder. When every effort had been baffled, and the two former had disappeared, Lt. Perry and young Coffin were seen buffeting the waves, and cheerfully encouraging each other in their endeavours to reach the shore. Another and another surge engulfed them, and their fate was irrevocably sealed! It is believed that Perry, being an excellent swimmer, might have gained the shore; but his strength was completely exhausted in nobly exerting himself to save his unfortunate companions. "On this painful occasion. I feel unequal to the task of delineating the characters or touching upon the individual worth of the deceased. The tear which still glistens in the eye of every one on board, from the Commodore to the youngest lad in the ship, and the sympathetic sorrow depicted in the countenances even of strangers on shore, declare in mute eloquence that we have suffered a heavy and irreparable loss. The U. S. frigate Constellation, Capt. Ridgely, had just arrived from Conception, and would sail for the U. States in a few weeks. The Franklin 74, Com. Stewart, was still lying there. and would not probably sail till after the departure of the Constellation."