The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-06-25 00:00:00

COLLISION AT SEA.

The West India and Pacific Company's Royal
Mail steamship Haytien, which arrived in the Mersey
on Friday in last week, from Galveston, New
Orleans, and other parts, brought sixteen of the crew
of the Nova Scotian barque Flora P. Stafford, which
had been abandoned in a sinking state after collision
with the Haytien.
Besides the serious damage to the vessel, the
disaster resulted in the death of Captain Miller, of
the Haytien, under melancholy circumstances. The
collision occurred at about 11 p.m. on the 30th of May.
The barque, which was of 1,120 tons register,
was voyaging from Bordeaux to Hampton Roads,
with ra cargo of iron ore. The force of the collision
was very great, the Haytien being struck by
the bow of the other vessel on the port side,
and a breach several feet in diameter being
made. The damage for the most part was above the
water line or the result would have been much more
serious. There was much excitement on board both
vessels, and the captain of the Haytien was affected so
much that he died within an hour after the disaster.
The Nova Scotian vessel began to sink, and the chief
officer, who now had charge of the Haytien, notwith-
standing the serious injury to his own vessel, stayed
by her all right. Ultimately the Flora P. Stafford
had to be abandoned. The Haytien had to put into
Fayal for temporary repairs. It was stated that a
carriage could have been drawn through the fracture
in her side.

Captain Miller was for many years a commander
in the West India and Pacific Steamship Company's
service.

The crew of the Flora. P. Stafford say the stem of
their vessel was knocked completely out of her by the
collision, and a portion of it remained sticking in the
steamer's side. Captain Miller was buried at sea.

THE AMERICAN WHEAT CROP.—The Standard's
Correspondent at New York telegraphs:— The
agents of M'Cormick have gathered reports from
all grain-growing districts. The result promises
an increase of about an eighth in spring wheat
and a decline in winter wheat to the extent of
from 30 to 40 per cent.—The New York Correspon-
dent of the Daily News telegraphs that according to
the estimate of the most competent judges in the
country the falling off in the winter wheat crop will
be 20 per cent. Speculators, however, place it at 33
1-3 per cent. With regard to the spring wheat the
estimate is that it will be about the same NI last year,

;# tio.d7t=q*a

AN ASHANTEE PRESENT FOR TEE
QUEEN.

-
On Monday the Liverpool managers of the British
and African Company received from Madeira a tele-
gram announcing the arrival of their steamer Volta.
Captain Barrow, of Sir Samuel Rowe's Staff, is on
board, and has with him the Ashantee gold axe,
which is to be presented to the Queen. It was CafitMn
Barrow who, with a force of British troops, marched
into the interior to escort the Ashantee Ambassadors
to the river Prah for the purpose of having an inter-
view with the Governor concerning the threatened
hostilities. The Volta may be expected in the
Mersey on Sunday next. After the conclusion of the
last Ashantee war, a memento of the occurrence was
brought to this country for presentation to her
Majesty in the shape of King Koffes umbrella,
which was of great proportions and of gaudy material.

A BURIED EXPLOSIVE AT GLASGOW.
At Kelvinside, near Glasgow, a tin vessel, capped
and filled with about a pound of guncotton, has been
found in a croquet green. The gardener at the place
struck it with a scythe, and then threw it out, and a
plumber, after examining it, handed it to the police.
The spot where the infernal machine was found
is within a few yards of the house of Sheriff Lees, and
if it had exploded, the mansion must have suffered
severely. The canister in which the gun-cotton was
placed is in shape much like a miner's safety lamp.
The conical top is of wood, and a capped copper
tube extends into the interior, another projecting into
the ground, so that the pressure of a hoot or the stroke
of a croquet mallet would have been sufficient to
ignite the explosive inside.