The Express.
London, England, 1852-09-24 00:00:00

lIELINCIIOLY ACCIDENT AT SHA.

The Pert al Spain Gazette rays : " The steamer
Victoria proceeded on Wednesday last (June 14) on het-cus-
tomary daily trip to and from San Fernando, and arrived
off that town, at her usual hour, without anything occur-
ring indicative of the calamity which was so speedily to
follow ; and having discharged her passengers, and taken
in those who proposed proceeding by her to Porti of Spain,
again got under weigh (at 3 p.m.), and had reached about
halfway between Point-a-Pierre and the Lodge
Estate, when (at half-past three) a noise as of an
explosion was heard by those on board, and great quanti-
ties of steam rushed up from below through the hatchway.
The crew and fore-deck passengers, many of them severely
scalded by the steam which had forced its way upon deck,
made far the after pall of tho vessel, where the boat' of the
' steamer were hanging by the davits, and in so doing had to
' cross through the escaping steam, and suffered yet more
severely. The after or cabin passengers had in the mean-
time rushed to the stern of the Teasel, and fortunately
escaped the action of the steam. A scene of indescribable
°anilines then ensued—es-cry one rushing to the boats,
and insisting on their being lowered. It was, indeed, de-
sirablo thee one at least of the boats should be lowered, to
I be sent to the assistance of four persons who had jumped
overboard and were then strigglin,; with the waves ;
but this was not in the contemplation of those who
were clamouring for their being lowered, they only
sought to escape in them from the further danger
which they still apprehended they were exposed ta. At
last, after almost a quarter of an hour had been lost in
pacifying fears that had no longer any solid foundation, all
further danger having ceased with the escape of the steam
and water from the boiler, a boat was lowered and sent
after the poor people, who had been in the meantime strug-
gling to keep themselves afloat ; two of the four were
taken into them and saved—a third was seen to go down
before the boat could reach him—the fourth had already
sunk, and was no more visible. The boat returned with
the two men thus saved, one of whom, however, was found
to have been a severe sufferer from the scalding steam.
" In the meantime the steamer had been brought to an
'anchor, and the vapour from below had sufficiently die-
ed to allow the melancholy sight of the two stokers
lire ce
lying dead, and, although Africans, their corpses presented
t o appedran, from the scalding off of the epidermis, of
two white men, the hair and features only denoting tho
negro. Two boys (black) who had been down in the bold
at the time also presented a lamentable spectacle, their skin
havingStyeeled off wherever tbo flesh was exposed ; bat they
were yet alive.
The accident °courted in sight of San Fernando, and
assistance was promptly sent oil from that town ; but the
first boat that neared the steamer was from the Felice,
lying off Point-a-Pierre. Some of the passengers returned
by this end other boats to San Fernando, where tbo
wounded were also sent, and a drogher ran alongside and
took off such passengers as were still desirous of proceed-
ing to port of Spain, where they arrived at a.m. on
Thursday morning, bringing the first intelligence of this
mournful catastrophe.
"The deaths and casualties, as far as is yet known, aro
as follows:—Two men drowned. Two stokers killed on
the spot. Two boys, who have died in San Fernando
hospital. Cyrus (steward), since dead. Two women aro
' very dangerously scalded, not expected to recover; two or
three others arc seriously injured.
" An inquest is being held by the harbour-master, who,
having siewed the dead bodies of two of the sufferers
brought to town on Thursday, has proceeded with L. W.
Samuel. Esq., superintendent of public works, and Messrs.
Fleming and W. Clapperton, engineers, to visit the steamer
where the now lies at author, close to the spot where tho
accident took place, and on their return to port of Spain,
the public will be in full possession, we presume, of the
' cause of this lamentable accident. In the meantime, wo
may state that the boiler was one of peculiar construction,
there being certain dues running longitudinally through
the boiler, so that the tiro is, in a great measure, in the
' centre of the boiler, instead of being below ; and it is said
that it was in the ieterier of one of these flues, that the
boiler gave away, and the steam escaping first into the
[flue, and from thence into the hold of the steamer itself,
dealt drath and destruction around.

' "ThevariouTdisappointmentsthathaveoccurredsincethe
first introduction of the Victoria te•our waters have created
a strong feeling against Yankee steamers; and the general
wish seems to be that London or Ulugow should now be
looked to as the best port from which • suitable vessel to
replaoc the Victoria can be obtained."

UNITEALTIIINENS or TIIE WESTERN TROPICS.--•
The whole of the West Indies, Central America, and the
Spanish Main, appear to be unusually unhealthy. A large
number of officers and men belonging to the West India
packets are invalided, and come home by the homeward
boom, ships. Several came home by the Parana. There
is scarcely a white man on board the Treat and Great Wes-
tern, nearly ell on hoard of them are coloured. The Wight
which his affected the potato crops and the vine, appears
to have made equal havoc in Central America. The cochi-
neal and indigo crops have failed. The cochineal brought
by the Parana is a large quantity, but it is understood that
there will be very little more to arrive is this cowitry.