The report which reached us a short time since respecting the foundering of a ship from California, and the arrival of a portion of her crew at the island of Kandava, has, we are sorry to say, been authenticated by the arrival yesterday of the Rotumah from the Fijis, the survivors being passengers by her.

The particulars of this dreadful calamity have been supplied by Mr T. Yates, the second officer, and will no doubt, be read with considerable interest. The sufferings of those who have been saved are fearful to contemplate, the most extraordinary circumstance being that any were spared to tell the dreadful tale.

The All Serene was a ship of 1000 tons, commanded by Captain Meyers, owned by Mr J. Malcolm, of this city, and sailed from Vancouver's Island, with a cargo of lumber for this port: Kandava, latitude 19� S., longitude 178�, March 22, 1864. The ship All Serene, on her passage from Vancouver's island, encountered very heavy gales of wind all the way. The captain often spoke of getting into a hurricane, but took little precaution or care to prevent it, for our ship was far from sea worthy. Besides having too little ballast, she had the largest deck cargo ever shipped to the colonies. Her deck cargo was from seven to eight feet above the deck. She also carried royal yards aloft and topgallant royal studdingsail booms, although we only had them set twice, for the least puff of wind would lay her on her beam ends. Still we proceeded on very favourably until the 21st of February, in latitude 24 � S., and longitude 176 �. The morning commenced with very slight rain ; about 9 a.m. it commenced to rain heavily, and between 11 and 12 It began to blow, but we were under very snug sail, having only the close-reefed fore and main topsails and foresail on her. One great neglect: I took notice that the clews of the main topsail were lashed to the mainyard; at 1 p.m. the captain called all hands aft to give them, as I thought, a glass of grog, but I was mistaken, for when they all got aft, he says, ' Now then, my lads, I expect we are going to get into one of those roundy-come roundies (what he meant I am unable to say) - so I want the royal and top-gallant yards and mast on deck as quick as possible; and never did I see sailors exert themselves so well or so much as on that occasion.

The captain, who ought to have been on deck all the time, was in his cabin. By this time the ship was heeling over to leeward tremendously, sometimes dipping her fore and main yards half Into the water, and the sea pouring in torrents down her lazaretto hatch, and the cabin very nearly full of water; then, and not till then, did the captain come on deck; he had to come out through the skylight, because the water was coming in so fast through the cabin doors. When he came on deck and saw the state of the ship, he ordered the carpenter to bring the axes aft, to cut away the mizen mast, but it was a long time before he would go.

I went, in the cook's galley to get his axe but could not find it, so had to go aft again. It was about ten minutes before any axes could be found, and then three came aft. One of the sailors took one and the captain took another, and the carpenter had the third, of which he made no use. The captain gave one dig at the mizen must, and then stopped and looked on. The only use that was made of the axes was the one the sailor had ; he fastened himself with a rope from the mast, and went down to leeward, and cut four shrouds of the rigging, when in the act of being relieved by one of the sailors, she gave three heavy plunges to leeward, and the third plunge she went over, never to rise but as a total wreck When she turned over most of the passengers and crew managed to crawl over in the fore, main, and mizen chains ; only the mate and captain's wife and two children were carried away with the floating wreck. I think the mate got jammed with some of the large logs, for the last time he was seen he was black in the face. The captain's two children were never seen ; they must have got drowned in the cabin, but his wife was soon floating away to leeward. Oh, what a dreadful, sight. to see thirty-seven poor fellows clinging to the chains, the sea washing over them at an awful rate !

There were six men washed away from alongside of me ; three managed to get back, and the other poor follows got drowned. The ship lay for about ten to fifteen minutes with the water three or four feet from the weather rigging, until all the deck cargo, houses, five in number, masts, yards, and topgallant forecastle, bowsprit and everything were washed away when she began to show signs of righting ; then we all scrambled in again on deck, to look our terrible fate in the face ; everything gone, provisions, water, compass, and, in fact, nothing left, leaving us entirely at the mercy of the angry elements. When we all got in on deck we found 31 of us remaining, some of us to meet a more horrible fate than those who had gone to their last resting place. By this time the hurricane was abated, although the sea was making a continual breach, so we got ourselves lashed to the weather rail, there to pass a night of horrors seldom ever passed before. On the 22nd and 23rd we could not do anything on account of the heavy sea washing over us. We caught two sharks, which wore devoured in a very short time, for we were all very hungry and thirsty. On the 24th the sea was a little smoother, so we got some of the water tanks on deck, thinking they might contain fresh water. We then began to hoist the first cask on deck, which looked sound enough, but when we got it on deck it turned out to be salt. We then hoisted up five or six more, but they were all the same. Our only hope then lay in the two tanks we had down in the fore peak, one of thorn we could see plainly was full of salt water, for the lid was knocked off, but the other one has the lid on ; all our falling spirits were raised at the sight, for we all expected to have a good drink, for we felt certain from the appearance that this one must contain fresh. We commenced to hoist it on deck ; in about fifteen minutes we had it landed; I then cut a hole in the tank, for the lead was underneath. After cutting the hole, I dipped the cook's ]addle in, thinking to have a good drink - a taste was sufficient, for, like the rest, it was salt. We then turned our thoughts on building a boat or raft, or in fact anything to tulle us away from tile vessel, but I could not got the captain or carpenter to second me. The captain said lie would not have any more of the deck broken up, and the carpenter remarked it made him sick to hear me talk. They had a few planks placed from the stump of the mainmast to the weather rail, and a few pieces of canvas, on which they lay, appealing quite comfortable, and troubling themselves very little about one thing or the other. I spoke to some of the passengers and crew; they agreed to second me in any attempt I made to save our lives. Next day I went again to the carpenter, for I would not let him rest. I asked him if he would not like to save his life; he answered most certainly he would, if he could see any possibility of doing so.

I said I thought we could build some sort of vessel; if you will only superintend the building of it I will see that it is done, if you will only stick to me. What came over him I do not know, but he gave his consent, so we all went to the captain, and he told us we might take as much lumber from the after part of the ship as we required. The vessel was breaking up fast. She began to break all over, and the cargo was fast floating out of her. About twenty feet of her bows parted right off on both sides, so I thought if we did net make one last effort for our lives we should all be lost. So we commenced, and by dark we had the sides and ends in her. Just as we pushed off from the side the foremast fell. We left the ship on the 2nd of March with a strong gale from the S.E., and a heavy sea running, with three bags of flour, no water or compass or anything to direct our course, all the drink we had was some flour mixed with salt water. Our vessel was leaking very fast ; all hands that could get anything to bail with turned to, and bailed as fast as possible, for on that depended our lives. We kept her before the wind-in fact. she would not go any other way. It is impossible for me to say how great our sufferings have been - one, two, three dying a-day; everyone that died used to lose their senses three or four days before they died, and drank large quantities of salt water during that time.

The captain died on the same day we sighted land, and two of the passengers; we caught two sharks on our passage, and any one who had looked on and seen us devour them and drink their blood would have truly said that we were savages. On the 17th we landed on one of the Fiji islands, thirty-one of us alive when we left the wreck, but now only nineteen left. We landed about 7 p.m., in a condition pitiable to behold, almost clothesless and sores (many of us) from head to foot, caused by the salt water and sun. We struck on a coral reef about one mile outside, and had to make the best of our way to land, the water being about two feet high and coral to walk on. From this our feet suffered very considerably. When we reached land we found the township was one mile off, so seven or eight of the strongest went up, not knowing if they might fall Into the hands of the savages or not ; but the Almighty, who had up to this time watched over us, still continued to do so, and sent down the natives in a body who assisted and showed us the way to their town, were we received every kindness that lay in their power. Mr Nettleton visited us next day as soon as he heard of our arrival, and never shall we forget the extreme kindness shown to us by him. I believe if there is a Christian in the world he is one. He has attended to our every want, and made us as comfortable as lay in his power. We were brought up from the leeward side up to his township on Monday, at which place we are still, so that we call be under his superintendence. Mrs Nettleton is also very kind to us, for which we can only offer them our best thanks. On Monday another poor fellow died, from exposure and inflammation of the lungs, leaving eighteen survivors." Sydney Morning Herald," June 3, 1864. The Wellington Independent ; July, 2, 1864.

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