The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
THE PEOPLE'S JOURNAL.
by John Saunders.
As this publication has appeared periodically,. we
have frequently taken occasion to comment upon its
numerous excellencies and advantages. We can now
do little better than recapitulate our commendations.
It would be unjust to mention the People's Journal
without observing that it is essentially entitled to that
dignified appellation. It is essentially the school-
master of the people; it lives for the instruction and
the moral improvement of the masses. On its com-
mencement we feared that the object was too magni-
ficent to be realised with any degree of efficiency
by so small a publication. Our fears have
been altogether dissipated. The editor has as-
sembled around him such a group of eminent
fellow-labourers, that failure was impossible. Miss
Martineau, with her sound and genial com-
positions; William How't-, and Mary Howitt (we
cannot designate them more formally), with
their picturesque and generous-hearted essays;
Ebenezer Elliot, with his earnest pcetry ; Charles
Mackay, with his unaffected writing, ; and a number
of other equally distinguished persons, have assisted
the work by their contributions. A variety of neat,
and occasionally superior, eng-avings, are scattered
through the pages, and the entire volume is most
agreeable and singularly miscellaneous.

Vol. I.

Edited

ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP THE

LADY FEVERSHAAL

NORTH SHIELDS, MONDAY.—An unsuccessful attempt
was made to. day to blow up the wreck of the Lady
Feversham, which has lain upwards of twelve months in
the main channel of the river Tyne, at this place, doing
serious injury to the harbour, and, by obstructing the
navigation, causing great damage to shipping, especially
during the prevalence of stormy weather. This vessel,
it may be remembered, was proceeding to sea, in the
month of November, last, year, coal laden, when she
grounded on a shoal forward, and heeled over as the tide
receded ; and, on the reflowing of the tide, she filled
with water ; since which all attempts to raise her have
been futile. The Universal Salvage Company (an off-
spring of the speculative mania of last autumn) first under-
took the task, by means of large bags, to be attached in a col-
lapsed state to chains passing round and underneath the
vessel, and then inflated by means of an air-pump worked
by a powerful engine. The buoyancy of the air-bags, it
was supposed, would raise the vessel, but after repeated
experiments, extending over several months, the project
was abandoned as hopeless. The wreck was then sold
as it lay, to a party here, for 2501., and further attempts
were made under his direction, to raise it by means of
lighters, but this plan also proved a failure. In the
meantime complaints were made to the corporation of
Newcastle, who are Conservators of the Tyne, by the
owners and masters of vessels frequenting the harbour,
of inconvenience and damage aelsing from the wreck
obstructing the navigation of the river, and by pilots
and others, of a diminution of water in the bar from
silting up, attributed to the same cause, there being,
as is alleged, nearly two feet less depth of water on
the bar now .than there was twelve months ago.
Under these circumstances the corporation, having af-
forded every facility to the parties in their various un-
successful attempts to raise the vessel, determined
to take the matter into their own hands, -and blow the
wreck up by means of gunpowder. This operation was
intrusted to Mr. Brooks, the resident engineer of the
eorporation, and two parties accustomed to the diving-
boll were engaged and brought down from London to
perform the sub-marine works. The plan adopted was,
to drive four piles, two on each side of, and about ten
yards from, the vessel, and by means of these, a raft,
consisting of four logs of fir, 80 feet in length, was
moored directly over the vessel, extending from stem to
' stern. On this raft were placed the main wires, which
were carried along seven other piles, to a galvanic bat-
tery in a craft moored about 80 fathoms from the
wreck. Ten tin cylinders, containing each from 1001 b.
to 1601 b. of gunpowder, were sent under the bilge
of the vessel fore and aft, five on ihe larboard and
five on the starboard side, and wires penetrating these
cylinders extended and were attached to the main wires
on the raft. The main wires, which were above the sur-
face of the water, were covered with cotton and India-
rubber varnish ; and those connecting them with the
magazines in the water had an additional coat of tar,
with an outer covering of list. The magazines would be
sunk to a depth of about 23 feet ; and they were affixed
to the vessel by means of single-sheaved blocks, having
rattling-lines rove through them, which had been pre-
viously bolted to the vessel by the use of the diving ap-
paratus. This was the work of Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday in last week. For the simultaneous explo-
sion of the magazines there were three of Smee's
batteries, each having ten cells, with double plates of
zinc and platina, 6i inches by 5 inches ; and a fourth
battery of iron and zinc plates equal to 20 cells of
the ziec and platina ; and they were charged with sul-
phuric acid diluted in the proportion of six parts to one.
The whole of the galvanic apparatus was manufactured
expressly for the occasion by Mr. H. Watson, of New-
castle-upon-Tyne. The interest excited by these opera-
tions was general and intense. Upwards of 50,000
people were congregated on the high ground overlooking
the river on both sides ; a considerable proportion of
whom had come fro:n Newcastle, Sunderland, and vari

ous ot%er places in the neighbourhood, the iatentiou of
the corporation to blow the vessel up having been an-
nounced by advertisement in the public prints. The
Mayor and the members of the Town- Council had a
steamer engaged for their accommodation ; and sew re]
other steamers were well frieghted, but they were not
allowed w approach within a considerable distance of
the wreck, so that those that occupied the river banks
had decideXy the best view. By ten o'clock, the w::LT
having then nearly ebbed, the fixing of the wires was
commenced, and occupied upwards of an hour, Seven
of the canisters were run down to their berths, and se-
cured there in less than half an hour. Owing to the
accidental fouling of the other ropes, a little delay oc-
curred in placing the remainder, the divers having to be
put.in requisition. By one o'clock the whole was com-
pleted, and then the batteries were charged, a black flag
having been hoisted at the mainmast of the Lady Faver-
sham, to indicate that all was in readiness to effect her
destruction. The firing of a gun was the pre-arranged
signal for the explosion ; and that having been given.
the operator completed the galvanic circle, and a large
body of water rose at each end of the wreck to the
height of about tea feet. This effect being much less
than was anticipated, an examination was made, when
it was found that only two of the canisters had ex•
ploded, and that a third one had been torn away, the
others remaining precisely as they had been placed. The
cause of the failure is attributed to the coldness of the
day, and the inferior quality of the gunpowder, which
is supposed to have been also too damp, arising from the
canisters having been filled on board a hopper barge,
moored near the wreck, during a thick miazling rain,
which prevailed at intervals during the morning. Some
fragments of the wreck were found floating on the sur
face of the river after the explosion ; but if all had gone
off as was expected, the destruction of the vessel would
probably have been completed.' The experiment will no
doubt be repeated in the course of a few days, when
probably a largtr quantity of gunpowder will be used
than was on this occasion, owing to the, state of alarm
into which many of the inhabitants of North and South
Shields were thrown by apprehensions of danger. All
the windows facing the water were thrown open at the
time of the explosion ; and many persons, it is said,
actually removed their furniture some days previously.
The river police, under the direction of Mr. Stephens,
were exceedingly active in keeping the way clear ; and
it is satisfactory to state that all passed off without an
accident to any one.