The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-06-23 00:00:00

WITH THE EVOLUTIONARY BQUADRON.

ACCIDENT TO H.M.S. LEANDER.

BANTRY BAY, Friday.
A somewhat serious accident happened last night
to karr Majesty's double screw steel second-class steam
cruiser Leander, which had only 24 hours earlier
joined the Squadron now lying here. As usual, the
cruisers and corvettes went outside at sunset or a little

before for evolutionary practice. The weather was,
however, thick and dirty, and they Alwrtly
re-entering the anchorage by the western channel,
which is the narrower of the two. The Mercury was
leading ; after her came the Mariner, and then the
Leander, column line, ahead. At about a quarter to
ten the Mercury and Mariner took up their billets,
and as they swung across the channel the Leander,
in order to avoid them and to reach her berth, which
lay beyond, passed to the northward. llnfortunately
in doing alpe apprixichedi the Hornet Hock, which
lies at the extremity of a shoal that mem out fro'', the
, main land, opposite Corrigaganruive Pier. The men
in the chains never called less than seven and
a hall falholllll 4 water; yet suddenly. at 100110014 M
ti 10, the
.Leander struck, grazing nearly the whole of
her port side, and starting a number of her plates.
She at MICIV began to take in water rapidly, and at
first it seemed as if the puinps would barely be
sufficient to keep it in check. This morning, how.
ever, all danger had disappeared, and the ship, with
considerable list to Imrt, lice at her anchorage ahead
of the Iron Ihike. At the time of the accident, five
"fling,. were on the. bridge, *WI the vessel WM 'Mg
slowly ; halt the night wild so mmally and boisterous
that the e‘enition af any enammit rm. in a narrow and
strange channel was particularly difficult. Another
accident lie.,, alm "...cuffed. Ti.., forpotio boat. No. 21
carried away three of the four I/Wes ef her xeretra.
Curiomily enough. the Heel* had 4411, screw fi ir all the
b,nres ...rye one, which i,, therdata. madeea until the new
screw which has been telegraphed for shall arrive.
It is incorrect that the boom which defends the

entr.tnee to the anchorage his been jntnin:d
or launch, hut it is
Ntid that (.%tptnitt Figher, of the ::.I".'L
decimal a tnethial I.y means "1 which torpor!. boato
IA ill be able to jump it rattily, and the attentin is cur•
tail!l 1.-, 14 made

We are still awaiting the arm al at the gun boat..
Last night the Itritomart steamed in froni Bantry,
hut her pn.....nce will not ...pedite the carrying out of
the experimenta, which are looked forward to with
great interest. The Flea just now is much men! choppy
than is usual in this sheltered haven, and every few
minutes a white squall fr.aua the westward sweeps down
the rhannel, hiding the ship. and churning up the
waters in. angry Of course, the shilw are
secure, hut should the weather grow any
dirtier, the boom is very likely to suffer, and
if Any portion of it gass adrift the loss in spars
and gear will be very considerable. After the unfor-
Innate eccurreno. of last night, it is doubtful whether
the cruisers will proceed to 1.1.41 again until the wind
drops and the sky grows clear. AM for the torpedo
boats. they Arc for do. tine. W.W.11 Lll4ll awu loss. tine
at deli., which was sinsalted up earlier in the week
in a ...Aisles, with a sister sessel, hae aloud four feet
of lief bows literally erompled up as if it were as, much
brown taper, and but for her wxtertizht compartment
the Isat would hasp sunk. What is wanted is a
larger awl stronger torpedo vessel, not quite so sub-
stantial, perhaps, as the Polyphemus, but still strung
Is. able to knock ahout with a fleet without
1111 l tg continual risk of being staved in. It is
actually diunjerowa for any the boats to come along-
side in a heavy sea. Their sides are an. thin that they
would collat.. upon the slightest pretext, and much
surprise is em....sed that more accidents have not
happened to these frail craft.

CHASSID BY A TRAIN OF FIRE.
An engine di iver of an A merican railway, in minting
some adventures of his life, gave an account of the
crollijagrAtioli of an oil train which occurred several
years ago 1i the Buffalo. Corry. and Erie Railroad.
The train WAS II mixed train, that ix, composed of
both freight and la...ewer trains, such as are run
on roads where the raiisenger traffic is light. There
were two passengpr CAVA at the rear of the train, and
next to : Pule were six cars containing 50,000
.:Z7 !'!!
gallons of petroreum. Wflei t t!tt. timumit of a long
descending grade, one of the oil cars took tirm and the
engineer signalled for the 'wakes, the train hands
pulled the coupling pin, and the pasaenger cars were
left behind; although the coupling mn an front of the
oil care lb Ad milled out, they neglected to set the
brakes, and the bunting tars followed the locomotive,
gaining in velocity until isseape seemed impossible.
At the distance of twelve miles front where the chase
began, a branch road joined the main line. The
only chance was to signal for the switch which would
deflect the train into this branch road. whose grade
wax an ascending one. There were no trains due to
requin. a man at that switch, hut AS the
men OA the locomotive blew the sigital, fortunately
A man reachcl the switch in time, awl the
hunting train had sufficient momentum to f..110w
the liscomotive over a mile on the ascending grade.
Segierering.