The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

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The non-commissioned officers belonging to 'Oe
Hussars who have been transferred to the Cape
Mks have received an order to ou
embark at Derpitoed*llth4
the 12th inst.,' on board the Trafalgar, for theVAp4l4--:'
Good Hope. The non-commissioned officers selected aft
attached to the 12th depot at Chatham.
Yesterday the Commissioners from Chelsea 13:ospitaii 1--
who have been engaged at Chatham in medically inspect-
ing those sick and wounded troops who were considered
unfit for further service, concluded their inspection of
upwards of 200 men, the whole of whom were ordered
to receive their discharge. The Commissioners were Dr.
D. Maclachlan, Deputy-Inspector-General of Hosloitals,
and Mr. A. Moorhead, secretary of Chelsea Ho4pital,
assisted by Dr. J. R. Taylor, C.B.
The officers belonging to the Chatham division, of
Royal Marines gave a soiree last evening in their me as-
veal, which was elegantly fitted up for the occasion.
The invit4t,conr, which were very numerous, included the
principal officers of the navy, the Provisional Battalion,
and the Royal and East India Company's Engineers,
and the heads of the public departments.
The paddlewheel steamsloop Salamander, 6, Comman-
der G. T. Mecham, sailed from Plymouth on Thursday
for
The screw steamship Cornwallis, 60, was commissioned
in Devonport on Wednesday by Captain Powell.
The troopship Belleisle, 6, is ordered to be brought
forward at Devonport for commission.
It having been arranged that the dockyard and marine
departments of Woolwich should undergo the Admiralty
I annual inspection yesterday, Sir C. Wood, First Lord of
the !Admiralty, accompanied by Rear-Admiral Peter
Richards, Captain Sir B. Walker, K.C.8., Surveyor of
the Navy, and Colonel Green, Superintendent of the
Civil Engineer Department, arrived at the dockyard at
12 o'clock, and were'received in their official capacity by
Commodore J. Shepherd, superintendent of the yard ;
Mr. M'Donald, matter attendant ; Mr. Vintner, store-
keeper; Mr. A therton, superintending engineer; and Mr.
Rice and Mr. Large, master and assistant shipwrights
of the yard. A detachment of the Royal Marine Light
Infantry, stationed for the duties of the dockyard, under
the coninilnd of Captain T. Page Casey, R. 3,1., turned
out and presented farms lon their Lordships' arrival.
They proceeded to a careful inspection of the factory
departments, through the building slips and basins, and
owx the docks ; examined the internal arrangements
Tapidiy,progreSaing4the new s#,smen's hog the Cry-
ledonia ; and ettisequentlylinlipectid 'ilieietilaihing 'de-
partments and passed through the steam saw mills,Whi6
are receiving new boilers ; and having examined the im-
proVed method recently introduced for the more speedy
payment of the labourers, their lordships were conducted
by Mr. Edwin Bernays, clerk of the works, to the site
in preparation for erecting the new church in the dock-
yard. They thence repaired to the Royal Marine Bar-
racks, where they were received by Major-General Sir
W. F. Williams, Commandant of the Garrison ; Col. J.
T. Brown, Commandant of the Royal Marines ; Col. J.
Hawkins, Lient.-Col.Nolloth, Lieut.-Col. Fleming,Lient.
Col. Walsh, and the several officers of the division. Im-
mediately on their alighting the band of the corps struck
up the national anthem, the troops presenter: aims, and
then formed into a brigade of columns in line and quar-
ter dietance, mustering upwards of 1,700 men. The
ranks were then opened, when their lordships com-
menced the inspection of the lines, examining the indivi-
dual bearing and accoutrements of the men, and inspect-
ing their kit. They then proceeded to the ship-gem drill
battery, under the superintendence of Capt. M'Carthy
where a series of interesting manoeuvres with 32-poander
and heavy pivot-guns were ordered. Their lordships
then proceeded to the inspection of the barrack appoint-
ments, books, and official departments, and returned,;as
they arrived, in two private carriages to London.

The ordnance steamer Balaklava, W. Pellet, master.,
has arrived at Woolwich, laden with Russian shot, corn.
mis,ariat stores, bags of shot and shell, machinery, tar-
paulins, &c., landed at Plymouth from the transpor is
Gopdola and Triumph.
Official information has been received at Woolwic h to
the effect that the duties of the transport departmont
are to be referred back to the charge of Mr. Grant, COOL.
troller of the Victualling Department, as that establish-
ment originally stood prior to the war.
The following appointments were made yesterday at
the Admiralty :
Mate—A. M. Norman, to the Trident.
Clerk—W. H. Whichelo, to the Pembroke ; D. M ar-
tin, to the Cornwallis.
Assistant-Clerk—Robt. W. Parish, to the Mseander.
Assistant-Paymaster —C. W. M'Dermott, to tae
Meander.

TEE CATASTROPHE ON BOARD THE R 0 YAL
WEST INDIA 111-AILsSTEAMER PARANA.

SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY NI GMT.
The inquiry into the circumstances attending t his de-
plorable accident, which resulted in the almost i nstan-
taneous death of four unfortunate men employed in the
stokehole and serious injury to several others, spas re-
sumed to-day before Mr. Edward Colwell, corone r for
the borough of Southampton, and the jury assembled on
the 27th ult.

Captain Robertson, R.N., Surveyor-General of the
Marine Department of the Board of Trade, again at-
tended to watch the case on behalf of the Government.

Captain Mangles, chairman of the Royal Mail St earn-
packet CJuipany ; Captain Vincent, the superintend ent ;
Mr. Miller, chief engineer; Captain Bevis, commanding
the Parana, and other officials were present.
William Smale was the first witness called. He said he
was a fireman on board the Parana, and was in the stoke-
hole at the time of the explosion of tie starboard forward
boiler. The fires had been drawn from the other three
boilers, and were very low under this one, which was
being fired with cinders drawn from the other fires by a
stoker named Feltham. At the moment of the accident
witness was engaged preparing to take off the mudlole
door from the port forward boiler, in consequence of a
leakage that had been discovered. The explosion at first
sounded like a light clap of thunder, and then a louder
crushing noise followed. Witness was not injured by the
accident. As soon as witness heard the first sound of
something wrong he ran into the after stokehole, a. dia.
Lance of about 12 yards. The steam overtook him, but .
did not scald him. The fires of all the boilers had been
kept up pretty smartly during the afternoon. Witness
could form no opinion as to the cause of the accident.
'The Coroner asked if the stoker, Feltham, was able to
be examined.
Capt. Vincent said he was not. They had sent for him,
bit he was unable to get his clothes on yet.
Another stoker, named Paddington, in whose deposi-
tion there was no important fact, having been examined,
Mr. Edward Tate, second engineer of the Parana, was
recalled and examined by Captain Robertson—l was in
the engine-room about two minutes before the explosion
occurred. I left for the purpose of giving one of the
engineers some instructions as to what he had to do to
one of the cranks. I had been left in charge by the
first engineer. About four minutes before 'I left the.
engine. room I shut down the stop valve of the port
after boiler. I did so because the water and steam in
that boiler had been blown off. Previously to that the
steam could have passed from the starboard forward
boiler into the port after boiler. My only reason for
shutting the valve of the port after boiler four minutes
before the accident was that that boiler was the last
blown off, and that it was not ready to have the commu-
nication valve shut previously. There was no special in-
structions to keep strong fires up during the afternoon.
The Foreman—Do you think the boiler exploded at a
pressure of 121 b.?
Witness—l should scarcely think it did. I should have
thought it quite safe at 171 b. pressure.
The Foreman—Do you think it exploded at 211 b.?,
Witness—No, I should think it would be safe at from
201 b. to 251 b. I believe it would stand that pressure.
Mr. G. Mills was next called. He said—l am superin-
tendent engineer of the Royal West India Mail Steam-
packet Company. I am well acquainted with the boilers
oo able
t o form o f them,
an
of the Parana, and previously to the 26th ult. I consi-
dered them to be in a good and safe state. I have since
made I
e a pnearvsno n
been
examination
ofproinmionwhaicslitol tbhee-
ucluse of the occurrence. I believe the accident arose,
in the first instance, from the bre • aking away of the
stays inside the boiler. These stays sixteen • were zs
number, and being all broken the steam must have
been thrown entirely upon the shell. I cannot account-.
for the breaking of the stays. The ordinary pressure
which the Parana's boilers would have to bear at sea
would be about 141 b. The safety-valve would be self-
acting at 161 b., and I should have
considered the boilers
safe with a loressure of from 201 b to 301 b.
Captain Robinsou. evidence
—_Having heard all the
taken before the account
coroner, can you in any way
for the accident ?
Mr. Mills—As the accident has occurred, I think the
oauses assigned by Mr. Summers may perhaps account
for it. Had it not occurred, I could not have believed,.
it possible.
After the examination of several ether witnesses,
The jury retired to consider their verdict, and, after,
being closeted for a long period, the foreman announced
the following as the unanimous finding of himself and
brother jurors
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" Tlfat in the opinion of thisry the deceased. juper-
sons, Daniel Knowlton, Alfred Rogers, John Pothecary,
and James Hobbs, came to their deaths by scalding,
consequent upon the accidental bursting of the star-
board . forward boiler of the Royal West India Mail
steamer Parana during the trial of an experiment as to
the superfluous heat in the up-takdetof that b ; and,
although the jury are not prepared
ofo atpfroycensure et,
any parties under the safety-valve
having been open one eighth of au inch, and being, as
as the evidence shows, free to open at 1616. pressure to
the square inch, as also that the steam gauge so shortly
previously to the explosion had indicated apressure
of
only 121 b., yet they caun et su rees their PPconviction
that by a greet amount of caution the accident was of a
preventible charac.er, and therefore they consider it is to
be regretted that it was not by some unusual foresight
avoided. The jury desire to add that, in their opinion,
the evidence clearly proves that a single safety-valve
applied to one boiler is not sufficient protection to life
and property (even though such boiler may or may not
be in connection with other boilers) when the engine is
not consuming. the steam ; and that it is a grave ques-
tion with the jury whether or not safety-valves are at
present constructed on sound and effective principles,
which question induces the jury to doubt whether the
valve of this particular
.boiler was ' hung up' as sug-
gested by some of the witnesses, the jury rather believ-
ing that it was inauffieient in dimensions and defective
in principle. Lastly, the jury desire to express their
conviction of great couridenc,, in the directors and
officers of the Royal WOI India Mail Steampacket
Company, and of their general arrangements for securing
perfection of machinery and guarding against accident,
by having all the details of their boilers and engines
in excellent order before going to sea, as torify
proved in the course of the present inquiry.

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P 11. P E R
Naval and Military Intelligence

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