The Rifle Brigade had arrived from England, and fresh drafts for the different regiments were reported to have reached the Cape in the "Birkenhead," including sixty-six rank and file for us, with our new Lieut.-Col. Seton, and Ensign Russell. Only two days after hearing of the safe arrival of our draft and other reinforcements in the "Birkenhead," we were startled by the sad and astounding intelligence of her total wreck off Simon's Bay, and the loss of nearly all on board in a calm sea, and within sight of the shore. From the moment she struck on a hidden rock till she broke up and sank, barely twenty minutes elapsed; during which, however, by the noble and generous exertions of the troops, the whole of the women and children were got off, when she parted and went down, all the brave fellows steadily performing their duty to the last. According to the report of Captain Wright, 91st Regiment, one of the few survivors--"there is no doubt most of the men in the lower troop deck were drowned in their hammocks. The rest appeared on deck, when Lieut.-Col. Seton called the officers about him and impressed upon them the necessity of preserving order and silence among the men. Every one did as he was directed, and there was not a murmur or a cry amongst them until the vessel made her final plunge. All received their orders and had them carried out as if the men were embarking instead of going to the bottom. There was only this difference, that never was an embarkation conducted with so little noise or confusion." Out of 14 officers and 458 men on board, no less than 9 officers and 349 men were lost, besides the crew; 5 officers and 109 men alone escaped to shore by swimming, or clinging to the drift-wood. Not a single woman or child was lost, all being carefully shipped into the cutter-boat and safely landed. Of the 74th Highlanders, Colonel Seton, Ensign A. C. Russell, and 48 men, nearly the whole draft, unhappily perished,--18 only escaping to shore. Colonel Seton had only heard at the Madeiras of the death of his gallant senior, Colonel Fordyce, and his own appointment to the command of the regiment. He was a man of great and varied attainments, being especially distinguished as a linguist and mathematician. Russell, though he had joined the depôt at Kinsale after the regiment had left for the Cape, was well known to us by report for his gentlemanly, amiable, bearing, and high principle. His untimely end was keenly felt by those of his brother officers who had personally known him, and lamented by all. In those last awful moments he was noticed carrying out the commands of his Colonel with noble courage and undisturbed composure. Our letters from home, doubly welcome in our mountain solitude, kept us up till a late hour. The _Illustrated News_ and _Punch_ never before seen in those regions, were wisely economised for another day, as we could not afford to exhaust a month's amusement at one sitting.