The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-26 00:00:00

CA LAM ITOUS STEAM-BOILER
EXPLOSION ON THE CLYDE.

FURTHER PARTICULARS FROM THE " GLASGOW COURIER."
We believe it has not been ascertained that any other
individuals than the eighteen referred to in our last, have
lost their lives on this melancholy occasion. The body
of Thomas M`Queen, one of the painters, who was mar-
ried a few months ago, and was engaged in Glasgow only
on Monday last, was found at low-water about one
o'clock on Tuesday morning, and also the body of Da-
niel Sinclair, the fireman ; the latter being found within
the wreck. One of the bodies not identified turns out
to be that of a coal-trimmer, who had volunteered his
services on Monday to perform the duty in the place of
the regular trimmer, who is unwell. Another was
found to be that of a pastry-baker named William Laurie,
belonging to Paisley, who was on his way to visit the
Precursor in the Garde* in which he anticipated
being employed. This individual was so frightfully
mangled that his body was collected in portions, and
it was only by his clothes, and by his name
being on the paper in the watch •in his posses-
sion, that his friends could identify him. The body
of Peter M•Lintock has not yet been found. The James
Johnstone, from Greenock, was a young boy from Tor-
bert (Lochlomond), who had been on a visit to his
brother at Greenock, and who intended to take a sail to
see the Precursor. Jacob Laird, having no friends in
this neighbourhood, was on Tuesday decently interred
in the churchyard of How. Ono of the persons killed,
supposed to be the engineer, was actually that individual,
William Bannatyne, who, it seems, was on deck at the
time of the explosion. Eight of the bodies were brought
from Helensburgh, on Tuesday night, by the British
Queen ; that of Boyle was left at Greenock, those of Mr.
Hedderwick and Caddenhead, one of his workmen, were
left at Govan, and the others brought up to the Broomie-
law, where an immense crowd had assembled to wait the
arrival of the steamer.
Opinions are various as to the cause of the accident.
The construction of the Telegraph was quite a novelty,
even in the Clyde, the cradle of steam navigation. She
was of a light yacht-like build, one hundred and twenty
feet in length, by fourteen feet of beam ; was considered
of thirty-two tons, and used a locomotive engine. In
the centre of the vessel there was a high elevation, on
which was placed the wheel, and station of the steers-
man, enabling him from his position to keep a good
look-out ; and the helm was moved by a chain running
along the surface of the bulwarks on each side of the
stern. Below this elevetion, in the stern of the vessel,
the cabin was situated, and the steerage was similarly
placed forward. She was propelled by a locomotive or
high pressure engine, which was calculated at a moderate
pressure, to work to About 50-horse-power. The boiler
being one of the tubular construction, it was necessary
to feed it with fresh water to prevent corrosion ; and
being unable to fill fresh water by the pumps further
down the river than Dumbarton, it was necessary to have
tanks to contain a supply sufficient to carry her to Gore-
loch, when the tanks were again filled. The pressure on
the boiler was regulated by a patent indicator on the
valve, which pressure was increased or diminished by the
turning of a screw. It was remarked by some persons
on the quay at Helensburgh, that while stopping there
the steam was not let off to the usual extent, but no
danger was apprehended. The vessel being loosed from
her moorings was backing out from the quay, only one
or two back strokes having been given, and the rope
still in hands of the person on shore, when the explosion
took place, the engineer being at the time engaged at the
valve. The real causes which gave rise to this deplora-
ble catastrophe, may, perhaps, never be known, in so far
as the captain and engineer, who would be aware of the
condition of the vessel at the time, are amongst the
dead. It is said on the one hand that the valves
had become deranged or overloaded, and led to
the accident. On the other it is presumed that the
engineer (who was obliged to use fresh water,) had al-
lowed the boiler to get too low, and the plates had in conse-
quence, become heated, perhaps to a red heat. As the ac-
cident occurred while the Telegraph was backing out from
the quay, it is presumed that he may have put on the
feed pump while she was in this position, and from the
cold water coming into contact with the heated plates,
and instantaneously generating a gas possessing all the
strength of gunpowder, the explosion had occurred. On
Tuesday, at low water, the boiler, &c., was sufficiently
exposed to enable it to be examined to see in what state
it was. By direction of the authorities certain profes-
sional men are to report to the sheriff on the subject.
The engineer, Mr. Rowland, who made the engine, caused
an examination to be made, and he stated the fol-
lowing to be the result of the investigation :
" The occident has evidently been occasioned by the
want of a due quantity of water in the boiler, as
the plates in the crown (or cover) of the fire box
have been red hot. On examination, we find the plates
riven completely across; and the heat has been so great,
that though the fire box (or furnace) is only about three
feet three inches wide, the plates are stretched, or ex-
panded, So as to measure four feet; and there are also on
the plates several large blisters, which could only be the
result of intensity of heat. The violence of the explosion
has been so great as to tear one of the corners of the fire
box a considerable way down the plates at that corner,
being five-eighths of an inch thick. The same rent goes
through a solid bar of iron three inches by two. So far
as can be seen, none of the tubes are injured. The fire
box was made of the best Lowinoor iron plate, of the fol-
lowing thickness:—Tube plate five-eighths of an inch;
back, half an inch; crown 7-16ths. Tube and back
plates welded."
The accident has been by far the most direful of the
kind which has ever occurred on the de, where hun-
dreds of persons daily navigate its waters by this means,
and thousands in summer ; and its occurrence is likely
to throw a damp on locomotive engines, as applied to
steam-vessels, which will not soon be got over. The
Telegraph was- built by Messrs. Iledderwick and Ran-
kine—the former of whom has perished with her ; and
the engine was constructed by Joha M. Rowan and Co.,
Atlas_ Works, Glasgow. The last accident of a similar
kind was that which occurred to the Earl Grey steamer,
the boiler of which exploded while she lay at Greenock
quay, on her way from Dunoon to Glasgow, on the af-
ternoon of Fridry the 24th of July, 1835. This occur-
rence was of a much less disastrous kind than that which
took place on Monday last, for then only six persons were
killed, and fifteen severely injured.
In closing the melancholy affair, we think it a very
fitting opportunity to impress on the magistrates, the
river trustees, and the Government itself the necessity
of an official inspector being appointed, whose duty
shall be somewhat analogous to that of the inspector of
railroads—who will have power to examine the engines,
boiler, and machinery of steam-vessels, at all times, and
also to examine the engineer and his hands as to their
fitness for their duties.
(FROM THE " GREENOCK OBSERVER.")
The passengers from Glasgow and Greenock had just
been landed, and one of the hands was engaged in push-
ing off the bow of the boat, when a hissing noise was
observed, and in a second a report was heard, as if of a
discharge of artillery, and in the air was seen man,
woman, and child, painter's pots, large shivers
of wood, and the funnel, and engine, and boiler
of the unfortunate vessel. The engine and boiler
forced up by the deck, and was thrown about
eighty yards from the vessel. Two men in a foul--
oared gig, were lying at the qua' waiting for the
owner to come on board, and the engine and boiler came
right over their heads, and fell into the water a few feet
from them. As soon as the smoke caused by the explo-
sion subsided the unfortunate sufferers were in all quar-
ters seen in the sea—some seated on pieces of the wreck
—females clinging to splinters of floating timbers, and
one or two were found lying on the quay. Two were
blown a hundred yards from the vessel, and ono poor
fellow had a narrow escape. He had been blown high
into the air and dashed down into the sea, head foremost.
The water at the time being only three feet deep he
managed to raise one of his hands and waved it, and one
of the bystanders instantly plunged into the sea, and
rescued the sufferer, who was stunned, but not hurt. If
he had not been instantly rescued he would have added
one more to the catalogue of the dead. An liish pedlar
with his pack was precipitated through an opening in
the vessel, and there he stuck, clinging to his Trick, until
he was relieved. Boats were out, picking up the dead
and the dying, and in a few minutes 13 dead bodies lay
stretched in the rooms of the inn, and about a dozen se-
verely wounded individuals.

Tlie passengers who were going up the Gareloch with
the steamer It ere unusually great on the occasion, as the
fineness of the day had allured a number from Greenock,
and a number of workmen from Glasgow being on board,
on the way to finish the new steamer Precursor, at pre-
sent lying at Gareloch. The quay was considerably
crowded, and, all things considered, it is a miracle that
so many escaped. As it is, a number of the bystanders
received considerable injuries, being knocked down by
the splinters from the wreck, or by the concussion con-
sequent on the explosion. The engine was just a rail-
way locomotive one, and, of ceurse, on thu high-pres-
sure principle. On the passage down, we have heard,
and that; too, from a passenger acquainted with steam-
engines,
that the boiler was red-hot, and was almost
entirely neglected.

The Propcgateur de r Aube announces the invention
of a new steam-engine by Messrs. Stinzel and Mirlua, of Gray,
in Haute Saone. "It is not," says this Journal, " upon
the high or low pressure, but on a rotatory principle. It will
require a comraratively very narrow space, leaves no chance of
loss of steam by dilutation, and is so •s.mple that even the most
unskilful person may manage it. Its cost will be little if any
thing more than half that of the present engines. Hitherto,
the force of steam engines has not been carried beyond 500
horse-Lower, but tbis new machine may be brought up to 1,000
horse-power. This statement, so important in the science of
mechanics, is attested by a report from the authorities of Gray.'
A Police Court is to be erected at Hammersmith,
the jurisdiction of which is to include the parishes of Fulham,
Brompton, Chelsea, and Chiswick ; the business of the Court,
however, is to be transacted at Kensington until the new
cffiee is built. The Wandsworth police Court will hereafter
include the parishes of Wandsworth, Putney, Battersea, Toot-
ing, Merton, Wimbledon, Barnes, Clapham, and the hamlet
of Noel anipton.
A carpenter of Elampes, named Mainville, was, a ,
few days since, tried at the Court of Assizes for the Seine-et-
Oise, for beating and otherwise ill-treating his own father.
Whist the counsel for the accused was addressing the jury
the whole court was affected at seeing the unhappy father
throw .himself, bathed in tears, on his knees, and in the most
earnest manner beg mercy for his son. The latter appeared
the only person unmoved by this act. The court condemned
him to five years' hard labour at the hulks.

In consequence of the immense weight of specie re-
ceived by the collectnrs of the Bank of France in their daily
rounds, with the bills of exchange, which pass through that
establishment for presentation, it has long been found necessary
to have depots, at which the collectors leave the excess of
weight, which is afterwards conveyed to the Bank. At one
of these depots, the octroi of Beicy, two days ago, when the
deposits were ce44 fpr, I)4g of LOW. was missing. A dili-
gent inquiry having been instituted, the theft was traced to a
young employe of the octroi, who has been taken into custody
sq. the offence.

The number of vessels which passed through the
Sound in 1841 was 14,754, being 908 less than in 184 Q. Cif
the number 3764 were 4914,