The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-01 00:00:00

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,sEWS PAPER

• 11'
.1.1, 1 1. •
4„:44
hay two guns loaded and pointed of .
,*
starn out if required. They wante
shift three times a-day and they wont •
they turned the hands t;p to gICI on deck Althea
had had their ?lour to dinner,so they went on deok
not shifted. Thz.n theY passed the word that every -
one should be shifted in a quarter of an hour.
Well, they went down below on the middle and
lower decks, arid smashed liaisons, plates, bread-
barge., monkeys, kids, vinegar beaker, and threw
the spoons . and looking-glasses down the stoke!:
hole, and they threw the shot and shell down the • -
orlop deck, and the marines .threw‘their 'muskets
down the funnel casing,.and the blue jackets threw
their muskets down from overhead, cut all theport
tackles falls, the breeching, the side tackel falls,
and run two guns aft in the gun-room, and broke
d saucers, plates, and they
the gun-room cups an
drawed their cutlasses and tried to stab the cap-
tain, but the sword went through his coats tails, and
he was just about fritened, and they tried to et.
one of the lieutenants and a midshipman for to kill
them, and now they says that if any man is floged
they will cut him adrift from off the graiten just
as they are going to flog him, and that they will
break out again. There was no one hurt. At
dark they all went on the quarter-deck and had a
talking with the captain. G.

THE A CCIDENT ON BOARD THE
PIONEER.

PLYMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.
The answer at the Royal Naval Hospital this
morning in reference to the sufferers by the steam
accident on board the Pioneer yesterday is that all
the seven are in a very low state, especially Dunn,
the stoker.

The machinery of this vessel occupies nearly two-
thirds of her length, as it extends from abaft the
foremast to the capstan, which is near the mizen.
The Pioneer is bark-rigged ; she is sometimes termed
a two-topsail three-masted schooner. Her engines,
by Miller, Ravenhill, and Co., are of 350-horse
power, and is fitted with four fighting boilers and
two despatch boilers. The two despatch boilers
were alight at the time. From them a 9-inch steam
pipe, opening into a 12-inch pipe, leads off for
about 50 feet to the cylinders. In the engine-room
this pipe has a very sharp bend round the back
corner of the boilers, close to which is the valve
connecting the supplies of steam from the fighting
boilers and the despatch boilers to the main steam
pipe. The steam had been admitted from the boilers
to the main pipe, and Dunn, the stoker, was about
to turn on the supply of steam to the engines when
the bend burst.

A doorway leads from abaft the engine-room to
the steerage, and to this nearly all rushed, and ob-
tained access to the wardroom, and escaped through
that room by the stairs of the captain's cabin, which
lead to the deck. Owing to the density of the
steam, Mr. Piller, third-class assistant-engineer,
lost his way for some time, and thereby suffered
most severely. Poor Dunn was the last out ; ho
crawled to the engine-room ladder, and was lifted
on deck. In the confusion James Kennison, second-
class boy, attendant in the wardroom, instead of
escaping aft, ran against the steam to the steerage
ladder. The hood of the gangway was unfortu-
nately turned the wrong way, and he was, so to
say, parboiled.
Mr. Leicester, the second engineer, had just
visited the fore stokehole, and was at the time
staneing on the after boilers. He was, consequently,
nearest the hatchway, and was thus enabled to get
easily to the fore stockhole and shut off the steam
entirely from the boilers.

The Pioneer's surgeon had dressed all the wounds
and applied oil to the scalds long before the arrival
of medical aid from the other ships in the Sound.
A gentleman possessing considerable knowledge
of steam machinery, in describing the accident, says :
" The steam from the despatch boilers and from
the fighting boilers is brought together at the back
corner of the despatch boilers with the main steam-
pipe for supply of engines through a large cast-
iron valve-box, in the bottom of which is the valve
shutting off the steam from the fighting boilers.
The steam from the despatch boilers entering the
valve-box by a very short cast-iron bend pipe, 12
inches diameter, the metal 1-inch thick, a few se-
conds after the steam was turned into the main
steam pipe from the boilers a piece about 9 inches
diameter was blown out of the outside of the bend.
The metal around the edges was cracked in several
places to the depth of two or three inches, and the
cover of the valve-box was cracked throughout
from side to side, the crack, of course, being carried
through the narrow internal flange to which the
cover of the valve-box was fastened. Mr. Leicester
was in the engine-room at the time, but was for-
tunately able to get up to the deck, and thence
down to the stokehole, when he immediately shut
off the main steam valve of the despatch boilers,
and so prevented further injury. The steam was
under 201 b. The pipe around the fracture did not
show any defect in the casting. The accident pos-
sibly arose from the sudden impulse of the steam on
an accumulation of condensed water in the steam
pipes."
The Pioneer does not appear to be at all adapted
for service on the African station. Her machinery
occupies so much space that there is not sufficient
left for the officers and crew, and their accommoda-
tion is rendered very inconvenient by the contiguity
of the fires and steam, the heat from which must be
yet more oppressive near the Coast. She has a
capacity of 870 tons and carries 100 men ; the
80 on the lower deck have only 70 berths,
and ten Kroomen will be added at Sierra
Leone. The condenser for distilling fresh water,
of which she can only stow a short supply, is
close to the lower deck, and the cook's galley is
in the centre of the berths. On Tuesday, when
the thermometer averaged 59, it was 72 on the
lower deck of the Pioneer, Notwithstanding this,
she has on board 10 supernumeraries for the squa-
dron. .

CONSERVATIVE TACTICS NEXT
SESSION.

The two Conservative members for the Southern
Division of Devon attended a large gathering of
their party held recently at Ashburton. Mr. L.
Palk, M.P.. thus alluded to the course likely to be
adopted by the Conservatives early in the next
session :—" I am told that the Ministry of the pre-
sent day, far from having a majority in the House
of Commons, is a Ministry on sufferance, and is sup.
ported only by a minority of the people. How long
do you think that this wretched Government is
going to stand ? Do you think that they are the
men to bring in a Reform Bill that would be satis-
factory to you and to the people of this country ?
Do you think that the man who sacrificed your in-
terests and your honour at the behests of France is
the man to maintain Sour interests and your hon-
our ? Well, then, what is the duty of the great Con-
servative party ? It is—and let there be no mistake
about it—as soon as Parliament meets, to bring this
question to an issue, and by a vote of want of confi-
denc?, which I hope and trust I shall see moved, to
drive from power that Government which for years
and years have maintained themselves in office by
the greatest bribery and corruption' wh.ch has only
just been found out, but to which the country is
becoming alive. For wherever a fresh election takes
place, although the Conservative candidate may not
in every place be successful, you will find that the
Conservative candidate has had the greatest num-
bur of hands held up in his favour; and, therefore,
if the Conservative cause rested on universal suf-
frage the Conservative and not the Whig would
have been elected." Air. S. T. Kekewich, M.P.,
said,—" It appears to me that we ought to view the
present Government with very great suspicion •
and the reason I view them with suspicion is, be-
cause they consist of gentlemen holding so many
opinions that I think it is impossible for them to
agree without some compromise of principle, and
nothing is worse in the rulers of this country than
any compromise of political principle. I regard
the Government just as we see beautiful figures
through a kaleidoscope. They are made of shreds
and patches, but when viewed altogether theypre.
sent to the eye a very pleasing and imposing effect.
What is this Ministry composed of ? Ido not wish
to do them any wrong. I know the difficulties
which public men have often to labour under ; that
sometimes there must be a little compromise of
principle, but not too great a compromise. My hon.
friend has told us that we should go to the House
of
confidence
inand propose a want of
Government.sn Let us, if we have
o neatth e io
a majority, have a fair stand-up fight ; let us fight
with confidence and courage, and try which is the
strongest man. But do not resort to factious votes
in trying to turn out the present Administration.
If we determine to turn them out let us do it in an
honest and straightforward way."