The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-31 00:00:00

ILOSS OF THE STEAM 'R MINERVA IN
THE CHANNEL.

-
We regret to announce the loss of the fine steamer
Minerva, trading between Liverpool and Cork, on Tues-
day night, off the Skerries. From all the particulars we
can gather, it appears that the Minerva, Capt. Rochfort, a
started yesterday afternoon, at 1.30 for Cork, and at
quarter past six o'clock, when off the Skerries, the wind
was blowing a smart breeze, and thick weather was
coming on. The captain then observed that the steamer
was a little too near the Skerries Buoy, and altered her
course, and in less than ten minutes afterwards she
struck bow on the Victoria Rock, near the Skerries,
and went over on her side. She shortly afterwards re-
covered, but the water began to run into her hold, ex-
tinguishing the fires, and she began to fill rapidly.
The boats were immediately lowered, and the captain
and cabin passengers got into one, which immediately
put 'off, and was seen no more. She carried blue
lights, but the remaining boats bad only the bin-
nacle lamp in one of them. When they left the
ship she was still afloat, and could be seen by them,
until three of the boats were taken up by the screw-
steamer Mail, Captain Cooper, which happened to pass
at the time ; and the attention of the captain, who was
on the look-out, being attracted by the shouts in one of
the boats, reversed his engines, and took in all he could
find on board. The boats were separated in the dark-
ness, notwithstanding that Captain Cooper remained in
the vicinity for two hours. One of the last four boats,
as well as that in which the captain was, could not be
discovered, but hopes are entertained that both boats
may safely reach the Welsh coast. She had upwards of
100 persons, between passengers and crew, when she
sailed, of which about 70 were saved. It is thought that
the number of passengers in the captain's boat, many of
whom were ladies, would be from 25 to 30. She was
much crowded, as was also the other missing boat. The
Minerva had a most valuable cargo, and many of the
passengers have suffered heavy loss, none of either them
or the crew, with one exception, saved anything besides
what was about their persons at the time of the accident.

The gun-boat, recently launched by Mr. Pitcher of
Northfleet, will draw six feet six inches water, with guns,
powder, shot, shells, and all stores complete. She is to be
armed with two guns of 95 cwt. each, capable of throwing
solid shot of eight inches diameter. These guns and shot
are as large as those carried by the Arrow and the other
despatch gun-boats recently built, which draw between 11
and 12 feet water. We still require in the Baltic, as every
child in the empire:by this time knows, boats carrying guns
of a large calibre capable of throwing heavy shot and shells
the greatest possible distance, and drawing at the same
time the least possible quantity of water that they may be
enabled to take up the most advantageous position. This
was insisted on months ago in our journal and in other
Journals, and at the end of August, nearly seven months
after all hope of peace was at an end, more than seven
months after preparations had been begun to send a fleet
to the Baltic, the first gun-boat likely to be efficient for
the purposes required is launched. She is built, too, be it
remembered, in a merchant's yard. Surely it is not too
mush to expect, with our immensely well-provided and
well-paid dockyards, with our vast staff of foremen, assis-
tants, master shipwrights, surveyors, Lords of the Admi-
ralty, &c., &c., and all the appliances of the merchants'
yards at their command, that something more should be
done than prepare one efficient gun-boat in seven months.
Something more has in fact been done. Six despatch
gun-boats have been built, and some of them are almost
ready, but they are not efficient, by reason of their drawing
between 11 and 12 feet water. We supposed that Sir
Baldwin Walker, the Surveyor of the Navy, the respon-
sible person for every ship built for her Majesty, was a
practical man; but it is impossible to read the description
of his six despatch gunboats, drawing each from 11 to
twelve feet water, " elegant specimens of dashing cruisers,"
with the " fine lines of the wholesome sea-going yacht"—
long, low, and sweeping"—" masts tall and well-propor-
tioned and raking"—" rig that of a three-mast schooner,"
" giving a saucy character to the handsome craft"—" the
cavalry of the fleet ;" and it is impossible to look at one
of them without being convinced that the despatch gun-
boats are a terrible mistake. Are they built to run away ?
Why, there is no enemy to run from. Boats to carry de-
spatches are'already abundant, and it is not necessary to
arm them with guns each weighing 95 cwt. Gun-boats
to move very quickly are not wanted—moving batteries
are required ; and the combination in the despatch boats
of a heavy armament with velocity, a battery with a yacht,
a coal-barge with a Gravesend passenger boat, is the
greatest, and at present—when the power, property, and
reputation of the nation are staked on a great contest
which they are to be instruments for carrying on—the
most afflicting incongruity that ever even our Admiralty
perpetrated. If Sir Baldwin Walker, settling his son in
life, instead of directing his choice of a wife on some dis-
creet maiden, with every probability of her blooming into
a sturdy matron, should ally him with some flaring demi-
rep—and we can find no better symbol of this Admiralty
blunder—he would not commit a more incongruous and
reprehensible blunder than now to build gun-boats like
despatch yachts, and arm them with great guns. The na-
tion needs batteries, and he gives it show boats.
For the moving screw batteries that might breach Se-
bastopol or Cronstadt, we have stated that their top sides
should be protected against the enemy's shot, and that they
should show nothing whatever above the neck but an en
sign staff to display the untarnished flag of Britain. The
despatch gun-boats, with their tall masts rigged like
schooners, with yards and sails, will be excell frit target.
for the enemy easily to hit. Their decks will be encum
bered by ropes, the action of the artillerymen and the bat
tery will be impeded, and the men will be exposed to great
danger from the tumbling down of the spars, yards, and
rigging, when exposed to an enemy's fire. From the same
cause the guns may be disabled. Thus the whole plan of
building gunboats for the Baltic to move quick and look
smart like yachts, carrying masts and sails, is a great error,
not to say an absurdity. It sets at defiance all practical
wisdom and all common sense.
A kind of partizan and puffing feeling has been suffered
to creep into the question, and some persons have been
diligent only in comparing the gun-boatsbuilt by the Ad-
miralty with some built by Messrs. Scott, Russell and Co.
for the Russian Government, which has turned the atten-
from what gun-boats ought to be to what Mr. Scott Rus-
sell has built. A kind of rivalry between his plan and
other plans has been got up under which the merits of the
question have been buried. An estimable weekly contem-
porary, ten days ago said there was a misunderstanding of
the gun boat question, and he referred the misunderstand.
ing generally to the fact that the Government had built
their boats of wood, and Messrs. Russell and Co. had
built theirs to the line of flotation of iron. Other things
being equal, the different weight of the material of which
the bottom of the boat is built could not make a difference
of between six and seven feet in the draught. A few
inches, we believe, is more likely to be the amount of the
difference. In fact, the boat built by Mr. Pitcher, which
we presume is built of wood, as he is not a builder of iron
vessels, draws only 6 feet 6 inches. The employment of dif-
ferent materials forms no part of the great question. Vessels
of wood, of equal capacity by modern modes of lading, can
be built almost as light as iron vessels. The form not the ma-
terial determines the daught of water. Mr. Pitcher's gunboat
is to be lugger-rigged. She is not to be a mere battery
moved by a screw. Being lugger-rigged, we may be sure,
without having walked under her while she was on the
stocks, that, to enable her to stand up under her canvas
when afloat, she has something of the form of a sailing ship.
She, too, has something of the yacht about her—a combi-
nation of a barge and a pleasure boat. It seems to be ini-
r possible to get the notion out of the heads of the ship-
builders that vessels used exclusively as gun batteries and
to be moved by steam should have the form of sailing
ships. Mr. Scott Russell's boats are built for velocity as
well as force. They, we believe, too, are rigged. Neither
form, therefore, is proper for steam-moved gun-batteries ;
and the public mind has been puzzled as if there were no
other choice than between Mr. Scott Russell and Sir
Bald win Walker.
Mr. Pitcher's boat is said to have a flat floor. The Dutch
vesself now, and most English vessels now, and most Eng-
lish vessels formerly, had flat floors. The sharp deep run
now given is exclusively to secure speed. Our gunboats
are not wanted to run away. They should be built, there-
fore, as flat, or of a form as much approximating to flat-
ness, as is consistent with their being able to pass over the
ocean in safety with their armament. No form of vessel
sent to sea is easier than is a round flat and shallow Dutch
(logger. She never, even with a heavy cargo, strains a rope '
yarn. It is not requisite, therefore, to enable screw gun
batteries to traverse the ocean in safety, loaded with their
armament, that they should in their form approximate in
any degree to clippers. Not approximating to clippers,
they may be constructed of any length, breadth, and
height the builder pleases, or the purposes for which they
they are intended may require. With duo attention to
these circumstances, it is probable that gunboats carrying
the same armament as the Pelter might be constructed to
draw not more than three or four feet water, and carry
their armament in perfect safety across the North Sea.
The builders of sailing ships, bred up in the fixed idea of
a ship impelled by the resistance to wind, cannot con-
ceive apparently the most appropriate form for a vessel
impelled by paddle-wheels or screws, and they persist in
giving to every steamer the inherited form of the sailing
ship. Till they conquer this prejudice the most suitable
gunboats will not be built. The Pelter may be better
than the Arrow, but she is far removed from the perfection
which art could now give to a heavy floating battery
perfectly under command by a powerful screw. We can-
not exonerate the admiralty from great negligence or great
indifference in this matter. Had we an effective, zealous
administration, the immense resources of this country,
public and private, would by this time have placed one
hundred efficient gunboats in the Baltic, and have battered
St. Petersburg about the ears of the Czar. We are no
lovers of the horrid thing, War, and therefore we protest
against our rulers playing at it as if it were an amusing
game.

We 'will venture to make another remark as to the shot
and shell practice of the Arrow on Wednesday. Only one
of the six shot or shell fired went in the direction it was
expected to go, and was seen to fall into the sea. The
length of range, 5,000 yards, was amply proved. One
great object therefore is gained. The mechanical and
chemical skill of the nation, which the Admiralty was
bound to call into action, has secured for us the means of
sending shot and shells such a distance as to enable us to
daitroy the enemy's forte, while his shot will not reach
our gun boats. But there seems a difficulty in directing
these shot. They are oval, and if made equally oval, so
many influential and incalculable circumstances may come
to bear on each shot in its flight as to prevent any reliance
on its direction. This circumstance may be remedied, we
believe, by giving a certain small bias to the oval shot.
it must not be equally oval. A small and certain bias, the
effects of which could be calculated, might enable the,
artillerymen to send these shot with as much accuracy as
a round shot. At any rate, the long raawtntigeterhiebleiree
itongifisiroen attained
gentlemen conversantustyewt theibthnili lstuocanhegre shwmaotbtters must now attain
ttlhi ee Admiraltydirecting must
—Daily News.

MONUMENT TO DR. JENNER.—His Royal Highness
Prince Albert has given a donation of 251. towards the
subscription list for the purpose of erecting a colossal
bronze statue, to be placed in a public situation in the
metropolis, to commemorate the valuable labours and
discovery of the above celebrated physician for the pre-
vention of the spread of that destructive disease—sznall
pox. The model of the statue has been designed by
\V. Calder Marshall, R.A.
FIRE AT ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXFORD.—On Tues-
day night, soon afterlo o'clock, flames were seen issuing
from the servants' room window attached to the one
pair of stairs room of No. 5 staircase, in the first quad-
rangle, which are now in the occupation of the Hon.
Charles Wrottesley. The pannelling,between the ser-
vants' room and Mr. Wrottesley's sitting-room, as
as the wainscoting next the staircase and the window -
frame, was considerably burnt. Had it not fortunately
have
been soon discovered the whole staircase would
been in flames—the servants' room, which was empty,
completely
with the exception of the front wall, being
Ple well
surrounded with woodwork. The fire originated
candle being left burning in a cupboard, which ignited
the wainscoting, comfrom a

Mr. Lewis did not think this was legal.
Mr. Henry—It has been so decided a great many
times. If you can show me any cases to the contrary,
I will refer to them.
Cross-examination continued—l know Mr. Oswald,
but have never authorised him to act as my secretary,
He wanted me to sing after the Saturday, but I declined.
I said that my health would not permit me to continue
praerctrnueitr, torona
directress, in the management of Drury-lane, nor ever
thesi singing, ng,
Continent. but did I notne
never
esrayco n sewnatsedgotoingbetao
authorised Mr. Oswald to pledge me in any way in that
he bills ought to announce a new management, but that
capacity, or to give aDy orders. I may have said that
twas said merely in conversation with Mr. Jarratt,
Oswald, and others.
Mr. Henry—lt is a common practice with performers
to express a wish respecting the mode of printing the
bills in which they are announced. Is it admitted that
Mine. Caradori was apprehended and lodged in the
sponging-house, without previous notice being given to
her of the defendant's claim ?
Defendant's attorney—Yes ; but that is a very com-
mon occurrence, and necessarily so.
Mr. Henry—I am very sorry to hear it.
Mr. Lewis—There are occasions—and this is one o
them—when a combination of circumstances
render that course of proceeding inevitable. would
I h
to do with foreigners in my practice than any attorneyve more
a
in London, and in this case were to
occur again to-
morrow I should advise the adoption of the same course.
I shall call witnesses to show that the theatre was regu-
larlythemero.mnpaennyrywarsepeenaregdedthbayt tnheeimth, taken by Madame Caradori and Signor Pav si andcoowefuhi
ttvehpener
aiennvyi
suddenposru practice, ctnt
oi
apprehension
pteci
p,
rrenecohourfemna circumstances
theaoa
nnemel
aoeaitsgmtiash;tpra
at: magistrate
sewedlonhuhi in
edd
ch hmoi
foras
al
dkde eve experiencenbeetors uthw cehioat
nrk
ad:
course justifiable. However, it was obvious that the
witnesses could not be all examined that day, and the
case must therefore stand over to another day. In the
meantime he strongly advised the defendant to endea-
vour to effect a settlement.
The inquiry was accordingly adjourned.

EXPLOSION OF CAS AND Firi; Is THE C ITY..---
Shortly before twelveT o'clock
yesterday morning an
explosion of gas, which created great alarm in the City,
occurred on the premises of Mr. Armadio, an optician,
in an extensive way of business, at 7, Throgmorton-street.
Several persons were passing at the time the accic:ent
occurred, and one or two sustained some injuries. A
gentleman named Hamilton was blown with violence
I against the wall on the opposite side of the way, his
hands being torn ; while another gentleman who was
struck down by the shock was, curiously enough, taken
into the Dartford Gunpowder-offices opposite for safety.
Mr. Amadio's shop front was blown out, and his 'valu-
able stock in trade was scattered in all directions. It is
feared that his loss will be severe. Immediately after
the explosion the back of the ITiLohuievseernpteoowookl fire, but the
enginernen, who were quickly on the spot, spseteedamtly.
the Liverpool
her departure on her
SacnrdewPhiladel-
' subdued it.
DcloaNwodEn: SI
fpiD)oahArnilyt.
h7this afternoon, with a full
first
hirlsiiLpta:vs‘b:EtyucaaiairgintoeoaLtt
G llPacketPhiladelphia
complement of passengers; and a l
She was commanded by Capt. arge cargo on freight.
city of Manchester. The ship C Robert Leitch, late of the
Constance, Captain Chris-
tian, belonging to Messrs. Jan ce,
Ball line of Australian l"
Baines, and Co's Black
time for Melbourne, with packets, took her departure same
cargo of valuable merchandise passengers, and a full
ise on board.