Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-14 00:00:00

STEAM-SHIP DISASTERS.

The appal'i-g loss of lice on the Central America, has to
parallel in the annals of American steare-;hio n ,v'gation.
The nearest approach is the dieaster which betel the steam-
ship Arctic, on the 27th of September, 1854, by which
something like three hundred and fifty lives r, ere lost.
The steamship San Francisco, belonging to the Pacific
Steam-ship Company, which fcundered in the .Al.l:l,,tie ou
the 25th of December, 1853, was lost und,r ciicurnstancrs
similar in many respects to tha dis•Ater which has just
occurred ; but the number of lives sacrificed was in ~ch less
—n ,t varying far from two hundred, including 150 U.iit.ed
S:ates t-oops.
Taki g a retrosneet, with a view to recount the various
cltastrop;fts which have b.fall n ocean steam-ships owned
in or trading with the United States, we find that the fol.
lowirg hive Ikea entirely lost :
Name. Fate. Valua'ion.
Presi tent-- --- —Never heard 0f...........d015. 550 00.1
Co!umbia.
C ty of G1a5g0w...... Never heard of
Humboldt. hands saved....
City of Philadelphia—All hands mad . 300.0 -0
Franklin .............All hands saved
San Francisco.. A few saved..
Arctic
PACifk. .............Never heard 0f.... ......... 680,)•0
Tempest........ • .... N ever heard 0f.............. 300.000
Central Aerica .. A few . . . *l4O,OOJ

42,250,000
* Exclusive of about 1,600,000 dole. in specie.

If the cargoes were included, these figures would be
more thin doubled, The President was 'lost in the year
1811 ; no one knows how or where. The Cohunhia, in
nau heel phrase, "broke her back " on the rocks on the
on the American shore of the Atlantic, The Ci'y of
Philadelphia went t) pieces on the rocks ncar Cape
Race. The City of Glasgow sail,-d from Liverpool March
let, 1854, and was not afterwards heard of. The Great
Britain came near being included in the list, having
lain ashore for some months at Dand,um Bay, coast of
Iceland, but is now engaged as a transport for India. The
Franklin and Humboldt went ashore and broke in piec3s—
the former on Long Islane, and the latter near Halifax.
The Arctic and Pacific were lost as already recorded. The
iron steamer Tempest, measuring 1500 tons, sailed from
New York Feb. 12, 1857, with a crew of from 35 to 40
men, and was never heard from. On the Pac lie, several
fine starners have beer los', g.nerally of a smaller class.
The Independence, for instance, was toolly lost, with
120 lives; and the Tennesee, St. I ouis, ant Yankee
Blade, Winfield Scott, and others, become to'al wrecks.
English st,am,rs, in waters con igious to the United
States,!have fared little better. Withia a short time we
have to record the loss of the fine iron steam-ship Canadian,
on the St. Lawrence; also the steam-ship Clyde, and several
steamers in the Wst India Islands.
A calculation as to the number of lives lost i❑ these
steamers make a total of about 1700. This loss being
irre,rarable, no c msolatioe can he derived from the fact
th. t a large proporiion cf it might have been prevented
by a division of these ships into compatments by water-
t;ght bulk-heads; but there is opportunity to make the
adop ion of such a means of safety compulsory upon the
owners of all sea-going steamers, and thereby doing much
to prevent the recurrence of catastrophes such as we too
often have occasion to deplore.—New York Journal of
Commerce.

Zzcia.ivaly f u CLOTIIINU 130 YS 1T3132 Six to Twenty Tears
LEWIS & COMPANY, Ranelagh-street.

A TowN wore:tour A NAME —Your correspondent of
last week, "A Taxpayer of Forty Years' Standing," lives
in the most populous borough in England, containing the
longest, the broadest, and what might be made the hend-
somest street in England, running in a straight line
completely through the borough. But the borough, though
containing half a million of people, has no name of its
awn as the other metropolitan boroughs have. Though it
contains the richest port in the world it has no corporation
of its own and the great street, like the borough, has no
name, being in ore pace called " Whitnhepel High-
street," in another "Mrle•end-road," and the borough
distinguished by the patchwork appellation of the " Tower
Hamlet'." If this borough were incorporated, and a acme
given to it, property would rise in value, and the state of
things mentioned by your correspondent would seeedily be
changed. The corporation should cene'st of a mayor,
recorder, aldermen, and portmen. I might mention, inci-
dentally that seven of the largest, if not the handsomest,
churches in London are within these liberties—vise
Hackney, West Hackney, South Hackney, Shoreitch,
lometionse, Spit dfi Ids, awl one which has five towers.—
Correspondent of the Builder.
PARIS Com:deem—The movement of affairs con-
ri to be satisfactory in most branches of industry, but
trade is a good deal hampered by the scarcity of ready
money. Manufacturers who have delivered goods at three
mouths' creeit fled that they can scarcely get a cash pay-
ment on account, and ere forced to trice bills, which it is
very difficult to get discounted. Those who are the
most hostile to the Bourse and speculation, are now
obliged to admit that the tightness which so much checks
the development of business is due in great measure to the
depreciation cf the rente and railway shares. There aro
few tradesmen who ere not holders of rente or shares,
which they bought at high prices, and could not realise
without great Ices. A rise would free a great deal of
tied-up capital and would necessarily react favourably
upon trade. At the begining of September, when the
Bourse was better, the good eff cts upon trade were
very perceptible. The facilities of communication offered
by the railways enabled the provincial tradesmen to keep
their stocks lew, and renew them frequently. They
thus economised their capital and were enabled to invest
in the rente and in rai'ways, reckonieg that they could
convert their securities into cash whenever they pleased
But the fa'l at th; Bourse has oripeled their resources,
and mmy of ,11 in, rather than realise a loss, prefer to
res'rict their business and wait for bile becoming due.
OPENING OP A DAY DOCK IN WE MAURITIUS The
13th of July was signer Eel in the Mauritius by the op n
ing of a vast dry dock, and all the Elite of the inhabitants
assembled to witness the entrance therein of the Northern
Light, a vet-sel of some 1,600 tons burden, The weather
was favourable, and by two o'cleck the seats reserved for
•he ladies at the beck of the basin were all filled, and the
large vessel moved majestically to the place destined for
her, the sailors aioging their usual song as they warped her
in. The door of the basin was then shut, and the pump
set to work; all this occupied about an hour. The ladies
were then conducted to a splendid collation prepared
under the vast open building with its domed iron roof.
Covets were laid for 200 pe'sons, and after iced ckampegee
and other wines had freely circulated, Mr. P.
rose arid proposed "The Health of his Excellency Sir
James Macauley Higginion ;" Sir Jetnes, in reply, obser-
ved that they had that day bad an opportunity of witnessing
a most interesting ceremony unprecedented in the annals
of the Mauritius,—the opening
of its first dry deck. It
*as an epoch in the progress of the capacity of the port
for the building and rcp.ir:rg of ships, and offered increa-
sed facilities to commerce which the future historian of
the colony would mot fail to prominently record. The
undertaking (as observed by Mr. Wiehe) was one rot
only of colonial but of national irnpertance, end reflected
great credit on all concerned in it, whether it were the
enterprise that projected, the energy and perseeeraece that
conducted it to a successful issue, or the skill and science
of the engineer under whoie direction this work had been
so satisfactorily executed. The health of Major-general
Hey, the patron of the dock, and those of Lady Macauley
Higginson, and the ladies, were afterwards drunk in bum-
pers of claret, and the ladies then retired from the dais.
The dock was planned by Mr. T. Hounslow, end the
design carried out by Messrs. Fry end Blondeau. The
dimensions of this, the first graving dock cons'rusted in
the Mauritius, are as fcllows—vie., Lergth of keel, 250
feet ; entrance, 48 feet ; width Inside, 68 feet. The basin
way be lengthened to 300 feet, and larger if found desirable;
but in the latter case the Government would have to make
a concessieu of lend. The same week was signalized by
the laying of the foundation stone of a new Protestant
Church at Pamplemouse.

At LF.WIS & CO H PANT'S, Eanclagh-street.
BOYS are CLOTHED from the Agee of Six to Twenty Yea'