Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-11 00:00:00

r WRECK OF A BIUTESII
WAR STEAMER.
LOSS OF FORTY LIVES.

Mr. Samuel Dunbar, a passenger from on the
steamship Karnak, arrived at New York, has given the'
details of a terrible shipwreck off the coast
of Jamaica. It
appears that the intelligence of the disaster had not been.
made public before the closing of the mails for New York.,
but that the news arrived from a non on the.south of tfiie
island a short time before the sailing of the Karnak, anal
Mr. Dunbar accidentally came into possession of the main
facts, and what we stte rests solely upon( his, authority.
The British war steamer Jasseur, which \ras lying at
Jamaica, on the Ist inst. received orders to set out imme-
diately on a cruising voyage, and directly sailed from that
port. On the night of the 4th March she strnck on a
hidden rock, to the northward of Jamaica. The pumps
were iinrnediatelv matured, and kept working: till daylight,
when it was discovered that the water- was rapidly
gaining,. and that it would be. impossible to keep her
up but a short time.
The captain ordered a raft to he constructed and to this
raft were attached the t boats belonging to,the vessel,
and the•men, sixty in number, all went aboard, with such
scanty provisions as they were able to secure frtralie sink-
ing wreck.
A heavy gale set in soon after the men took. to the
raft, and they- had not been out above two hours when
ten men were swept overboard and drowned. All of Orts to
rescue them were hopeless; the • men had all thel:courd do
to prevent be'ing washed away after them.
The captain, seeing it was useless to cling longer to the
raft, took 19 men with him in the smaller boat, and the
mate the remaing 29. into the larger one. It was considered
useless toAattempt. to keep together, and the captain- said
they would each make the best of their way to land, without
reference to each other. In a short time the brAts•were
separated by the wine, and the larger boat, ecxeltining
thi;•ty men, has not been. beard of since, and it is believed
to have been lost, with all on board:
The little provisions the men on.the small boat haNtakeri
with them were soon consumed, and the wretched party
was subjected to the double sufferiii,gs of cold and f4mine.
At last, when all were completely exhausted and perishing,
the boat was driven to a port on the southern coast of
Cuba, and the entire party survived.

- The government immediately sent out .two vessels for
cruise in search of the missing boat; but their search.jl
Droved fruitless.-2Finv York Eveniilg Post, March 26t1ie

WRECK OF THE SPANISH BRIG SAMMAMEa•
The barque William A. Banks, Captain Bartlett., wlieit
had arrived: at New York from Cienfuegos, picked up,ou
the 20th March a boat containing the captain, T. Fernena, •
the mates, and nine of the crew of the Spanish brig Sam-
mames, which had been abandoned on the 19th, she b cm,*
in a sinking condition from stress of weather. She- was
bound to Cork from Cardenas. The captain, mates, and
two of the men were subsequently put on board the Spanish
barque Providencia, bound to Barcelona, and the rest of the
men were taken on to New York.

FRIGHTFUL COLLIERY
ACCIDENT.

1 TWENTY FIVE LIVES LOST.
The painful and melancholy duty devolves on us again to
record another of those frightful and heart-rending colliery
accidents, which have been, of late years, of frog:lent occur-
rence in the mining districts of South Wales, particularly
in Glamorganshirc. The scene of the present catastrophe,
1 which has resulted in the death by drowning of no less than
twenty-five men and boys and several valuable horses;. was
the Main Colliery, situated near Bryncoch, a short diance
from Duffrrn-house, and about two miles from the town of
death. The colliery is the property of Messrs. Fox,, Red-
wood, and Co., under whose auspices it was re-opened
about two years and a-half ago, and has since them-been
carried on by them with much vigour, and, until this unto-
ward inundation, with every promise of ultimate sureese..
The accident took place on Wednesday last. In the
morning, the men and boys, to the number of eigilir des-
cended the pit as usual with that buoyancy of SPirifie
peculiar to the Welsh colliers, little dreaming of the
proximity of that destructive element which wa5...5.,, soon
to engulf them. Having descended, the colliers repaired
to their various. occupations, some to their headings,
some to the waggons, while others took their tarns as
explorers of drifts. The object of the explorers .of drifts
was to obtain an additional pit as an upcast shath This,
. we understand, was done at the suggestion of the-Govern-
ment Inspector, who objected to the men haring only
one way of ingress and egress to the colliery,. as they
were exposed to the smoke and heat passim through the
winding shaft. Things went on smoothly until abo4 eleven
o'clock. At this time there was what is called:two turns
of borers, three men in each turn. While the borers were
engaged in driving in a southerly direction they unfortu-
nately struck into the workings of an old colliery; "
called the
Fire Engine Pit. Although the proximity. of these old
workings was welt known, still there was riot the. slightest
apprehension felt of any danger arising from Ahem, as they
had been, it was supposed, thoroughly drained: previous to
the re•opening of the main colliery. Indeed; so confident
were the men; we are told, that they freqqantly ridiculed
the idea of the old workings being a source of danger to them,
after the precautions which had been taken while they were
being drained at the time already referred to. The old work-
ings, however, proved treacherous. In the heading worked
by n•
Thomas Barker and Philip Thomas, the side bare hole came
in contact with them, and the water begamt.t flow apace.
The men lost no. time in attempting to plug, the hole, but.
their efforts soon. proved fruitless. Tilt; • wirer gained on
them with a rapidity that completely hurled,them back by
volume and pressure. Seeing tha &Luger that now'
threatened. them, the alarm was given;. aryl there was 3...
general rush, to the mouth of the shaft, the only way of
escape:. The-usual danger signals having been exchanged ;
with those at the mouth of the pit, the ergine was brought: •
into requisition., and not a momeatdost lai bringing up the -
men. Espeditions as they were, however, the flow of waters
was too impetous for them, for in,aivery short time it was_
found that there was a perfect torrent pouring into t 1,4
workir.o-s, and rapidly extending -itself even to the mouth,
of the working
Knowing that thr,:- water was thus rapidly-
overwhelming everything at :Eve only place of escape, the
anxiety of those above maybe hotter:imagined than described.
Tram after tram was sent down with tile ,greatest possible
speed,. and in a short time fifty-five men and boys and two
horses- were rescued. The number left in the pit. is suepoesd-
to- he about twenty-five, all of. whom, it is feared, havemust_e
perished; As soon as the utr,vs of the disaster extended the
friends and relatives of flit etelliers repaired to the spc-t._
scenethat ensued was most ,aeartrending. Parents, bro hers,
sisters, and friends assexabled in groups, nung.l4. their
lamentations, and rent the- air with their cries. In the
midst of all this evas.vthing was done that art and
practical experience • Gadd suggest by Mr. Grahatn,
the. superintendent of the cuftirg, and these under
him, to drain ths• water. As soon as it was found.
.that ao more men could be saved, two powerful engines
were set to pump 4-Iride the trams were converted into water-
tubs. These were sent up and down by the tugines with-
marvellous speed,, and brought nip as many as 432 gallons
per minute. Considering that the cutting is, ninety-five
fathoms in depth, this was deemed very gcc.,d work. In.
addition.to thls.another powerful engine was.aet in motion,,
which pumped: out 900 gallons per minute. Byirnecaersesatrtle,
working it wits found that in twelve hours. the water was,
lessened about- five feet. On Thursday, how 2at_er, we
find that the quantity underwent but little .aninution. As a
proof of the rapid manner in which the pi4was overflowed we
may mention that, in two hours after the. discovery of the
faeceeti dent,. il y trboeu
rwoa
,teelr flooded i t
had the
reacheds h a f t
str:.fe telate. height
Some
oo
ff
the 6 -
men and boys had a very narrow eseninc
reachedhillf tbhye clinging
u time, iae , ins horse'stin t i t4iii",.., -1, --.llln One boy sayed
One horse, having:.
fl.onet_
et
same, and, by clinging
the tubs reached the bottom. Another phedorsial didd h.
life. A man, named vile to
about to sink flout
of the shad, Another three boys while they his tail, the lad save
.his
fbiam Taylor, succeeded in saving
Were plunging about ;11. the bottom
man . was clutched while he was
the foreman, s.eer. exhaustion. Fo ?r Dorman,
in fell
~. who was in the pit Ivhen the water broke
" victim, while labdablY endeavowino,.. to warn and: others. He had, it appears, ample time to escape, but,
in his anxiety to save his men, he himself found a watery
grave. He was a most valuable senant, and his loss is
mull felt. He has left behind him a wife and seven chil-
dren. The Government Inspector of Collieries arrived at
the pit on Friday morning, and made a minute inspection.
We understand that he fully approved the temporary exile`
clients resorted to to drain of the water. Until this
done, nothing more can be effected towards extricatingthe
bodies that are now submerged in the pit.
to the particular spot where the borers N"
ti.ez se d as far as
were. informed that every precautiosn
wassoo as the water in
human foresight could suggest..
addprofotlllinadt
elnn,4reefedr,enwee.e
no doubt, will take
us for us
causedtha
.t onll•
pumped
LoTlintt'i 1 a sthen,car °II nginvecset:pu'elte. :end',
the accident has, as might
_.
sensation, 11 thereb • and has shed
will ni)Otsoon.edis--
mina'
has evoked a feelingeoif deep sympathy for those
pelled.—Carabriati,
al) ogolro gloom families
overt the h()
whole Have