The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-21 00:00:00

HOW TO PREVENT VESSELS BEING

BURNED AT SEA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The late fearful catastrophe of the loss of the
Amaz)n by fire may prove of some future benefit to
society, and be the means of saving many lives and much
property hereafter,
if not too speedily forgotten by the
public.
I beg to throw out, for the consideration of ship-
owners, the following hints of a means by which I believe
such melancholy events would become impossible:—
I propose that along the side of every beam in the
vesselishould be run a leaden pipe, of about one inch and
a-half bore; that these pipes should have a slit in the
lower part, about the one-eighth of an inch wide, and
that each pipe should be in ;connexion with an iron
tube, about 3 inches in the bore, which should
run from stem to stern, on each side of the
vessel. These iron tubes, or feeders, should
be supplied with water from two forcing pumps, one at
the bow, the other at the stern. In the event of fire,
the forcing pumps would throw a continuous volanaZi of
water from every bentn in the ship-ispon the deck. below,
with great force, nearly in the manner that we see water,
by its own weight, thrown from the tail of a water-cart
on the roads. I feel sure that in five minutes every part
of every deck would be inundated, and that no fire could
possibly get ahead while a powerful rushing stream of
water was thrown upon it from each beam over its
locality. The beam pipes should be fitted with stop•
cocks, to shut off the stream from those parts of the ship
where the fire was known not to be. If the ship were
head to wind, the bow-pump could always be used, and
if before the wind, that at the stern; so that in no
case would these pumps become unavaible, as they might
be if placed amidships. The expense of these fittings
would be very trifling.

In addition to this suggestion, I beg to add, that not
only should every vessel have a man stationed to look
out a-head for dangers, but that day and night there
should be a fire-watch; that is, a man parading the decks
whose first business should be to watch for symptoms
of that dreadful enemy, fire; and that man should be
provided with a gong, to be struck instantly on his even
suspecting fire, and on no other occasion whatever, so
that every soul, on hearing the fatal summons, would
know whet was the matter, and the confusion occasioned
by cries of inquiry and alarm, at least, would be spared.
But the fire-pumps should be often tried, and kept in
perfect order; as, I may add, should the boatitns,caenaCishteors
(water-tight) of
which should have a breaker, or small cask of water,
tlashedhatthien pi
people
01,0 and,pf e
biscuits.eeuanpdine thein Thent sheeamt
its a
wouldfew be impossible
should perish from
g
hunger and thirst. The boats should not;be hampered,
as were those of the ill-fated Amazon; but free to hoist
out instantly—the oars lashed in them. The beam-pipes
in the magazine would flood all the powder in three
minutes, and do away with the danger of an explosion.
W hen this plan is adopted people may go to sea with-
out fear of destruction by the raging element ; and ves-
sels may be insured from fire at a small expense.
Your obedient servant.
R. J. MORRISON, R.N.

LORD PALMERSTON.-THE NEW
LIBERAL MINISTRY.
__

Our readers will remember the extraordinary para-
graph which we copied, three weeks ago, from the
Breslau Gazette, under the head of " Vienna, Decem-
ber the 23d," containing an announcement of Lord
Palmerston's dismissal from the Whig Ministry, by
Lord John Russell, twenty-four hours before the
slightest suspicion of such a circumstance was enter-
tained in London. As the Viennese intelligence re-
specting the Cabinet proceedings in Dewing-street,
proved so singularly correct then, there is no reason
why it should not be equally accurate now. We there-
fore invite the special attention of our readers to the
correspondence in the Times of yesterday, dated " Vi-
enna, Jan. 14," in which, after describing a heavy fall
which !had taken lace in the Austrian funds, and
assigning causes for the unusual depression, the writer
makes use of these remarkable words:—" I may
add, that another reason for the depression of the
money market is ho very prevalent idea that Lord Pal-
merston will ere long again be a member of the Ca-
binet." We have characterised these as remarkable
words; and so they undoubtedly are, inasmuch as they
show that in Vienna, where, from the close intimacy
which now exists between the Austrian and English
Courts, Downing-street secrets seem batter known than
in London, the belief prevails, that Lord Palmerston is
on the eve of returning to office. The Stock Exchange
speculators of Vienna believe this, and, like a nameless
class of persons, who also believe, they tremble. Of
course the prevailing impression in Vienna. that " Lord
Palmerston will, ere long, again be a member of. the
Cabinet," implies the dissolution of the present Admintihse-
tration," and the Noble Lord's return to power as .
Prime Minister of a new Liberal Government. —.Horning
Advartiser.

-------
MELANCHOLY DISASTER AT SEA. •
The Gibraltar Chronicle of the 12th inst. contains the
following account of a melancholy disaster at sea:—
" Two sailors (John Dillon and William Smith), be.
barque Sapph
ergo of guano, bound
o, Captain M`Donald,
longing to the British
of and trona Sunderland, with a c
to Alexandria, arrived hero on Friday evening last, and
gave the following account:—
" "Ile loss of the above vessel took place in ahe y
squall, west of Cape St. Vincent, on the 20th ult. Savb;
captain
the, his wife,
had scarcely capsized when sho went down.
Four of
the crow took to the jolly boat; the
the mate, and cabin-boy to another; bat
and two others went down with the vessel. Tcarpenter
men made for the land, losing sight altetherheof
other boat. They travelled night and
day over moun-
tains and through valleys without food, and two of them
being unable to proceed wore left in the fields in a dying
state by Dillon and Smith, who arrived, as above stated,
in a most deplorable condition, after wandering full 20
days in a country to them unknown, and without shelter
of any kind during the whole time.'
"To this moment no further articulars have been
received; but it is to be hoped that the two men left
behind will have been humanely treated if discovered,
and that good tidings will reach the garrison relative to
1 the safety of those who were in the other boat."