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

THE GREAT . E A STERN.

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION ON BOARD.
(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
PORTLAND, SEPT. 11.
Before this reaches your readers most of them
will have heard, by rumour or otherwise, of the
shocking accident which occurred on board this
vessel while off Hastings on Friday evening. The
most exaggerated and often contradictory accounts
both as to the cause and extent of the calamity are
already in circulation, the killed and wounded vary-
ing in the reports from 4to 40. What the actual
loss of life will prove ultimately to be it is at pre-
sent impossible to say ; four of the poor firemen and
stokers have already perished, and three or four
remain in such a state as leaves but little hope of
their lives being saved. The explosion which has
now cast so sad a gloom over the trip round to
Portland took place in the forward funnel, which
passes through the grand saloon and lower deck
cabins to the boilers. It was probably one of the
most terrific which a vessel has ever survived, and
which none in the world could have withstood save
a structure of such marvellous strength and solidity
as the Great Eastern. The strongest line-of-battle
ship would have had her sides blown out by it, and
must have gone down like a stone. The Great
Eastern not only resisted it, but, in spite of the
dreadful nature of the catastrophe, it made so little
difference to the movements of the vessel that her
engines were never once stopped, and, save for half
an hour, her course was never altered from its ori-
ginal destination to this harbour. In order fully to
understand as far as it is yet known the cause of the
accident, it will be necessary to say a few words on
the peculiar construction of the two forward funnels
for the paddle boilers. In the first plans for the
vessel it was determined, in order to economise the
heat given off by the funnels, and to keep the
saloons through which they passed cool, to fit them
all with what is termed " a feed-pipe casing," rising
from the boilers to about eight feet above the
under deck. This feed-pipe casing is simply a
double or outer funnel for the length we have
stated, the inner one, as usual, carrying off the
smoke and flame, and the space between it and the
outer casing being filled with water. The water is
pumped in at the top of the casing while cold, and
gradually passing down int) the space round the
furnaces, becomes greatly heated, when it is dis-
charged into the boilers by means of an ordinary
stop-cock. A plan by which so much coolness is
supposed to be gained in the berths and saloons,
and so much fuel saved by the ample supply of hot
Water to the boilers, promises such obvious advan-
tages that for the last 10 years attempts of every
kind have been made to carry out the principle suc-
cessfully on board most of the seagoing steamers. In
no one instance has the plan even yet succeeded.
In but too many cases the funnels have done what
the funnel of the Great Eastern did on such a colossal
scale last Friday evening. When such an accident
has not occurred the pressure of the column of water
upon the base of the funnel near the furnaces has
been so great as to cause them, when strained in bad
weather or worn by long use, to leak into the fires
and extinguish them more or less rapidly. Any one
the least conversant with boiler mechanism will see,
too, at a glance, that the safety of the whole affair
depends upon the stop-cock which lets off the water
into the boilers being watched with unremitting
vigilance. The neglect of this for half an hour would
allow steam to generate in the casing, which would
then, in plain terms, become a gigantic boiler, with-
out a valve or any means of letting off its steam,
save by blowing up. 'this was the apparatus which,
as I have explained, in order to economise heat and
cool the saloons, it was proposed to introduce on
board the Great Eastern in the three funnels to the
screw engine, and the two forward funnels for the
paddles. Messrs. Bolton and Watt were intrusted
witlthe construction of the screw engines and
boilers, and they at once firmly refused to have any
such casing round their funnels, or attached to their
engines in any way whatever. lam not aware of
the precise reason on which they grounded their re-
fusal, though doubtless they rested mainly on the
obvious fact, that the plan had been tried over and
over again and always failed, with more or less of
inconvenience or disaster. The plan, however, was
adopted for the two paddle funnels, though at about
that time the Collins line of steamers, which bad
tried the plan for nearly three years, discarded it as
often dangerous, and always worthless. Who is re-
sponsible for its being fixed to the paddle funnels, or
for the manifest defects which, after the explosion,
it is stated were found to exist in the stop-cock for
letting the water into the boilers, is not now known.
A strict inquiry will doubtless be instituted by the
Board of Trade, and pending that examination it
would be both unwise and unjust to express any
opinion on facts, which at the best, are at present
but imperfectly known. All that has yet been as-
certained is that there has been neglect somewhere,
and that the stop-cock for letting the water off into
the boilers was either incapable of performing its
duty properly, or was not attended to at all. The
casings of the two forward funnels of the Great
Eastern held each about seven or eight tons of
water, and the forward one, at least, it is now, evi-
dent, might have exploded at any moment during
the voyage, and when the grand saloon was filled
with the visitors on board to listen to the admi-
rable music of the ship's band. The splendid per-
formanees of the ship during the cruise down
channel on Friday, her unrivalled power, speed, and
steadiness, can be referred to hereafter. It is best
to relate at once the unhappy accident, which it is
much to be feared may, though most unnecessarily,
make the public timid about the success of the
noblest ship which the world has seen. The visitors
who were passengers on board numbered about
100, and, as may readily be believed, included
among them some of the most distinguished navi-
gators, engineers, and scientific men in Europe All,
as usual, were assembled at dinner at about half-
past 5 o'clock on Friday, when before the dessert
came on two gentlemen left the chairman's table to
look at the coast near Hastings. Mr. Campbell, the
Marquis of Stafford, Earl Mountcharies, Lord A.
Paget, and a few others followed, without waiting
for dessert. The departure of these gentlemen from
the saloon, as it happened, broke up the dinner
party, and instead of retiring to the grand saloon,
as usual, nearly all the visitors came on deck, and
went right forward in the bows. About 30 re-
mained at table—a few were on the bridge with
Mr. Campbell, and thus, by a most merciful inter-
position, it happened, for the first time during the
voyage, that there was no one sitting in the grand
saloon, and no one on the little raised deck round
the foremost funnel. One or two gentlemen were
congratulating Mr. Campbell on the almost mar-
vellous success of the ship, when in the space
of a second there was a terrific explosion. The for-
ward part of the deck appeared to spring like a
mine, blowing the funnel into the air. There was a
confused heavy roar, amid which came the awful
crash of timber and iron mingled together with
frightful uproar, and then all was hidden in a rush
of steam. Blinded and almost stunned by the over-
whelming concussion, those on the bridge stood
motionless in the white vapour till they were re-
minden of the necessity of seeking shelter by the
shower of wreck—glass, gilt work, saloon orna-
ments, and pieces of wood, which began to fall like
rain in all directions. The prolonged clatter of
these as they fell preventel anv one aft the bridge
from moving, and though all knew that a fearful
accident had occurred, none were aware of its ex-
tent or what was likely next to happen. After a