'The disastrous wreck of the "Royal Charter" is one of those calamities that come upon us now and then, at intervals, to remind us of the insignificance of man and his grandest works, when opposed to the mighty forces of Nature. There has seldom happened such an amount of destruction in one single storm of short duration as was effected amongst the shipping upon the coasts of this island on Tuesday night; but the list of mortality in that terrible conflict with the elements is swollen to a lamentable extent by the four hundred and sixty souls who perished at that one fell swoop. This wreck is another illustration of the well-marked fact that all the perils of long voyages across the broad ocean are little in comparison with those that beset the mariner in leaving or approaching these shores. The "Royal Charter" was a noble specimen of the clippers employed in our great Australian trade, and had made several prosperous voyages, of which the last, if it had ended happily, would have been the most remarkable for rapidity. Iron built, supplied with all the improvements of modern shipbuilding, aided with the auxiliary power of steam, and manned with a sufficient crew, well officered and commanded, it would have seemed almost out of the range of probability that such a ship should have been drifted upon a lee shore in a familiar locality by a gradually increasing storm, and there shattered to fragments, and engulfed, with well nigh all her human freight, within a few hours' sail of her own port. In reading the account of this wreck we cannot escape the conviction that the possession of auxiliary steam power, which should have been her safety, was really the cause of the "Royal Charter's" loss. This vessel was of nearly 3,000 tons burden. The engines by which her screw propeller was worked were only of 300' [only of 200] 'horse power. Such a power was enough for working a vessel over the tropical calms, or aiding her progress now and then in light winds, but it was a treacherous reliance in such a position as she was allowed to get into on Tuesday evening. It was useless for contending against the furious pressure of the hurricane that was surely driving her upon the jagged rocks of Dulas Bay, whilst the structure of the ship was greatly weakened by the dead weight of the engines and the open spaces necessary to contain them.