The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-12 00:00:00

TATTERSALLS'-SATURDAY.

There was very little betting. Any odds over 6to 4
would have been taken about Promised Land for the St.
Leger, and Summerside was backed for some money at 6
to 1, sto 1 being the highest offer at the close. Neither
Trumpeter nor Marionette were mentioned. 20 to

1 was taken about Gamester, and 22 to 1 about
Gladiolus, whilst 25 to 1 might have been had with-
out difficulty about either Napoleon or Comforter.
For the Great Yorkshire Handicap, 9 to 1 was the highest
offer on the field, Paul being, perhaps, the best favourite.

CLOSING PRICES.
ST. LEGER.
100 to 60 on Promised Land (taken)
sto 1 agst Summerside (taken and offered) ,
20 to 1 agst Gamester (taken)
22 to 1 agst Gladiolus (taken)
25 to 1 agst Napoleon (offered)
25 to 1 agst Comforter (offered)
GREAT YORKSHIRE sTAREs.
9to 1 agst Paul (take 10 to 1)
9to 1 agst Coroner (take 10 to 1)
10 to 1 agst Nucleus (taken)
10 to 1 agst Julia (taken)
10 to 1 agst Mutineer (offered)
100 to 8 agst The Squire (taken)
100 to 8 agst Xing-at-Arms (taken)
109. to 7 agst Newstead (taken)
100 to 0 agst Defender (taken)
100 to 6 agst Mazzini (taken)
20 to 1 agst Gracchus

DERBY.
1000 to 15 agst Rising Sun (taken)
1000 to 15 agst Stolzenfels (taken)

THE EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE

GREAT EASTERN.

(From the Morning Post.)
The whole night was passed by the directors and
the newspaper correspondents in the investigation
of the explosion and its results. The Chairman,
Mr. Campbell, called in the aid of Mr. J. E.
M'Connell, the engineer, and prepared a report for
the " gentlemen of the press," which he could
hardly expect would be adopted. Ignoring
the fact that three men were dead, and several
lying in a very precarious state, a report was
presented for publication in the newspapers
which admitted barely anything but a simple acci-
dent, and the serious scalding of a few stokers.
The indignant and unanimous refusal of the special
correspondents to receive and adopt this as their
report, I am happy to say produced better counsels,
another statement, slightly altered, together with
a medical report, were handed to us just as we left
the vessel at Weymouth. I publish them, with
other matter, at the foot of my letter.
A ship that could bear an explosion which every
disinterested engineer on board declared to be the
severest that had ever happened to any steamvessel
that was ever launched, and yet could steam on with
undiminished speed for 12 or 15 hours, from Hast-
ings to Portland, without any signs of distress in
her machinery, and with sea-tight sides as perfect as
when they were launched from Millwall, required
no injudicious support that could be given by the
press at the sacrifice of truth, in the face of a pending
examination, which would be sure to expose the
fraud. Mr. Campbell and those who acted with him
must have had a very poor opinion of the discern-
ment and honesty of the " fourth estfte," and it is
to be hoped that the lesson he received will neither
be lost upon him nor the company and its officials.
On our arrival at Portland, about ten a.m., on
Saturday, we had to encounter the most melancholy
part of our journey. The old town of Weymouth
was prepared to receive us with all honour, and
many messengers of good-will came off in excur-
sion boats to give us a cordial greeting. Their
cheers were given, and not returned ; their bands
played inspiriting tunes, and we made no sign, un-
til at last the intelligence oozed out that some great
calamity had occurred on board. From this moment
a dead silence prevailed ; and no prying questions
were even asked of the passengers as they were
taken on shore in the expectant pleasure-boats.
As the ship was not a legal sailing vessel, deli-
vered by the contractor to the company and cap-
tain, until her arrival at Portland, the loss will fall
upon Mr. Scott Russell.

(From the Daily News.)
A foolish passenger had raised a cry of " the
boats," and assisted by some of the sailors, was
madly attempting to let them down. In one
moment all would have been lost, for the rush to the
boats would have been universal, and hundreds
would have been drowned, whilst the noble ship
would have been left to certain destruction. But
the voice of the captain was heard like a trumpet,
calling out " Alen to your duty, officers to your posts,
give me a rope, and let six men follow me." The
effect of this short address was electric. In an
instant he had slid down the rope into the saloon,
followed by his brave boatswain Hawkins, and six
volunteers were not long wanted for the forlorn
Edith,panels,say ayt
uttdiNivenhsei
npr lhearnbedititdadnoat
gps
hr msl
It
own
nsa
s littletaidi
e,
hope. One after another he dashed open the
strange
rt o
reward of his gallantry, that his own child should
be thus the one to be so providentially saved.
Mr. Atkinson, the pilot, a little unpretending man,
stood at his post on the bridge, and, undismayed
by the loud explosion, the descending fragments,
the suffocating chasm, or the yawning gulf
immediately beneath him, and in the firm
conviction that all the boilers would go in suc-
cession, continued to direct the movements of
the ship as calmly us if he were only turning her
into a harbour. Some frightened fool shouted,
" Atkinson, come down and save yourself!'
but the gallant veteran replied with grave noncha-
lance,e
oL
the ship, and I'll stick to her." The officer,
Sewell, who held the wheel under Mr. Atkinson's Mr.
di-
rections, was equally self-possessed. I saw his tall
figure through the smoke working and turning the
wheel with the regularity of clockwork. Of course
her speed had been slackened, and all strain had been
taken off the paddle engines, but the screw worked
wonders, and its
engineer, including Mr. Blake,
who had been deputed by Messrs. Bolton and Watt
to superintend the tria • l trip, declared that with it
alone lie was prepared to carry the ship in eight
or ten days to America. You will think I
exaggerate, when I say that the first glance re-
minded me most forcibly of the ruins of Covent-
garden theatre a few hours after the great fire.
Mr. Russell states positively, and I am bound to
give him the benefit of his statements, that this
arrangement was forced upon him by Mr. Brunel ;
that he protested against it, and that it was only
in obedience to the stringent conditions of his con-
tract that he adopted it. This account we.s also
confirmed to me by several disinterested witnesses.
Every great operation had in fact been proyFided for,
and it was the neglect of only one little " tap," no
bigger than a coat button, that so nearly sent the
on
Great Eastern to the bottom.

WESTMIN ST ER CLOCK.—We are requJested to
state, for public information, that the first stroke on the
great bell, and not the quarter chimes, indicate's the hour
by Greenwich mean time. The chimes at the &rat, secmd,
and third quarters begin to strike at those times res pectively.
Persons hearing the clock at long distances must remember
that the sound takes 41 seconds to travel a mile,

111 E NAVY.

The Admiralty having obtained possession of the
ground required for the enlargement of the Royal
Victoria Victualling and Dockyard at Deptford, the
works for the extension will commence forthwith,
its present space being found totally insufficient.
The Channel fleet was off Plymouth on Saturday
afternoon. At half-past 3 o'clock they were under
steam only 31 miles south of the Mewstone coming
from the eastward, and led by the Royal Albert ;
they then edged in towards the Breakwater, under
jibs and spankers only ; wind N. by W. The ships
afterwards payed off towards the south, and at 5
o'clock were four or five miles east of the Eddy-
stone, under steam only, apparently going down
Channel. The fleet consisted of the flagship,
the Royal Albert, 121, Rear-Admiral Sir C. Fre-
mantle; the Algiers, 91, Capt. G. W. D. O'Calla-
ghan ; the James Watt, 91, Capt. E. Codd ; Cessar,
90, Capt. T. H. Mason; Hero, 91, Capt. G. H. Sey-
mour; Mersey, 40, Capt. H. Caldwell, C. 8.; Nile,
90, Capt. A. P. E. Wilmot, C. 8.; Aboukir, 90, Capt.
C. F. Schomberg ; Agamemnon, 90, Capt. T. Hope;
Topaze, 51, Capt. Hon. W. S. Spenser ; Emerald,
51, Capt. A. Cumming ; Flying Fish, 6, Commander
C. W. Hope ; and Melpomene, 50, Capt. C. J. F.

Swart.
Rear-Admiral Sir W. B. Walker, Surveyor of the
Navy, Col. Greene, and Mr. C. Richard, controller
of victualling and transport services, arrived by
train at Moorhead's Royal Hotel, Devonport, on
Friday evening. Admiral Walker on Saturday
morning commenced his annual duties in the Dock-
yard, preparatory to the arrival of the Lords of the
Admiralty. Mr. Richards proceeded to the Royal
William Victualling-yard, Stonehouse.
The Commissioners of National Defence—viz.,
Major-Gen. Sir H. Jones, Royal Engineers; Major-
Gen. Cameron ; Col. Lefroy, Royal Artillery ; Capt.
C. Key, Royal navy; Mr. J. Ferguson, civil engi-
neer; Mr. F. Abbot; and Major Jervis, Royal En-
gineers, the secretary to the commissioners, arrived
at Bate's Hotel, Plymouth, on Saturday morning.
In the forenoon, accompanied by Col. Pester, Royal
Artillery, and Col. Wright, Royal Engineers, the
commissioners proceeded in coaches into Cornwall
to inspect the progress of the fortifications at Tre-
gantle.
The paddlewheel steam tender Vivid, 2, H. W.
Allen master, from Portsmouth, arrived in Ply-
mouth Sound on Friday evening, and went up to
Hamoaze on Saturday morning.
The screw steam vessel Pioneer, Commander
Reilly, having been repaired at Keyham-yard, Ply-
mouth, is appointed to be =docked to-day (Mon-
day).
The screw steam corvette Scylla, 21, Captain R.
Lambert, at Plymouth, embarked 30 marines from
Stonehouse, and some lads from the guardship Im-
pregnable in Hamoaze on Saturday, preparatory to
sailing for the Pacific.

THE ARMY.

ponderous an appearance, are now hidden under a
light and neat-looking casing, similar to the paddle-
wheel boxes of a small lake steamboat.
A 20-horse power steam boiler of the upright
construction, with horizontal water tubes, made by
Mr. Stewart, of Blackwall Iron Works, has been
recently erected in the royal carriage department of
Woolwich Arsenal, by the inventor and patentee,
Mr. R. Armstrong, civil engineer, of North Wool-
wich, which is remarkable for its portability and
economy. Although standing within an area of only
five feet square, it is now doing the work of another
boiler of the ordinary multi-tubular construction
occupying six times that space (viz., 25 ft. by 6 ft.)
and with less fuel by one-third. It is no small ad-
vantage that this new boiler is entirely independent
of any connection with brick flues or any large
chimney, as required by other boilers, being, in fact,
totally without brickwork. It has merely a small
iron funnel of 10 or 12 feet high, by which the
smoke is passed throfigh the roof of the building.
The Essex Rifles Militia, which will assemble for
three weeks' duty on the 21st inst., are to be quar-
tered in the camp at Colchester.
The head-quarters of the Royal Wiltshire Militia
and 400 rank and file, under the command of Col.
Lord Methuen, have arrived at Dover from Alder-
shot, a detachment of 200 having proceeded to
Woolwich for garrison duty. The men, whose period
of service expires early in the ensuing year, have
signified their desire to volunteer for a further
period of five years.

WAR IN CHINA.