The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE AT SEA
A VESSEL RUN DOWN.

- -
IThe steamer Minerva left Liverpool on Tuesday after-
noon, and had proceeded on her voyage to Belfast to
about midway between the Calf of Man and the South
Rock Lighthouse, when a vessel was observed right under
her bows, and so close that to escape collision seemed im-
possible. The hour was about ten o'clock, the weather
had been very hazy, and the ill-fated vessel had, it is
stated, shown no light till the steamer's bowsprit was
almost over her bulwarks. Then a lantern was raised up
from her deck ; but, previous to that, the helm of the
Minerva was put hard-a-port, the engines were reversed,
and every effort made to avoid the collision, but without
avail. They came in contact, and in the space of a second
the ill-fated vessel and her crew were engulphed. No
trace of either could be seen, notwithstanding the most
diligent search. The chances that one out of all on board
escaped to tell the tale are slight indeed. The name of
the vessel is unknown. Captain Lyall, of the Minerva,
in his statement, said : All I could observe was that she
had two masts, and that no light was shown until imme-
diately before the accident took place. As soon as the
light was observed the helm was put hard-a-port, and the
engines stopped and backed, but not with the desired
effect. One of our boats was, as soon as practicable,
lowered, and every effort made, but no vestiges were to
be found. The Minerva has not sustained the slightest
damage. Arrived in Belfast at 450 a.m., on Wednesday.
At the Belfast police-court, next morning, Capt. Duncan
said : Your worship, I was on my passage from Liverpool
to this port, last night, on board the steamer Minerva,
and when about fifteen miles northward of the Isle of
Man, the steamer came into collision with a schooner.
A few minutes before the collision, I was standing at the
forward part of the steamer, and saw a vessel coming
from the northward. We were then nearing the South
Light. Shortly afterwards the collision took place, and
no effort was made by those in charge of the steamer to
save those in the schooner. The Minerva was in charge
of the mate at the time ; and I called, before the collision,
to two of the hands standing on the bridge, " For God's
sake shift your helm," but no change was made in the
steamer's course. I just then heard a voice from the
schooner cry out, " Oh ! this is murder," and she then
went down. (Sensation.)—Mr. Verner : Where was the
captain of the Minerva at this period ?—Capt. Duncan :
The captain was below, and the steamer was in charge of
the mate. I could not say whether the mate was on deck
at the time of the disaster or not; but I saw the captain
on deck afterwards. There were no exertions made at
the time of the occurrence to save the people in the
schooner. The steamer was going at the rate of about
twelve knots an hour ; she, at any rate, ran at about that
rate from the time she left Liverpool until she arrived
at the scene of the disaster.--Mr. Verner: Could the
schooner have been seen at a distance from the steamer ?
Captain Duncan : She could have been seen visible at a
distance of two miles. It was about a quarter to eleven
o'clock when the collision took place. The Minerva had
lights up, but the schooner was so close when I observed
her, that I could not see whether she had any lights up
or not. I may now state it as my opinion to your wor-
ship, that, had those on board the steamer been doing
their duty, the disaster would not have taken place.
(Sensation). There was a man at the helm at the time,
but it was not shifted when I gave the alarm. The
Minerva was obliged to stop after the collision, and a
boat was lowered from the steamer after the collision,
merely to see if she was injured. The schooner and all
on board of her had disappeared some time before this.
(Sensation). A few minutes after the collision, I saw
two men swimming near one of the paddles of the steamer,
but they were not saved. I myself belong to Belfast,
and am of the seafaring profession.—Mr. Verner : About
what size was the schooner ?—Captain Duncan : About
140 tons burthen, your worship.—Mr. Verner : Did you
see any name on her, or do you know to whom she be-
longed ?—Captain Duncan : I have no idea of either.—
Mr. Verner : For the present, Captain Duncan, your
statement will suffice. Were there any persons near you
at the time of the disaster ?—Captain Duncan : There
was another man, a passenger, who, I know, belongs to
Belfast.—Mr. Verner : Then, Captain Duncan, we shall
proceed to investigate the entire transaction in this court,
to-morrow, at one oclock, when we shall receive this and
any further statement you may have to make ; and we
shall also be prepared to take up the evidence of such
other persons who were on board the steamer at the time
as may be able to throw light on the transaction.
The inquiry into the circumstances was resumed at
Belfast on Thursday, and the result was that the captain
was required to give bail to appear when called, himself in
£lOO, and two sureties in £5O each ; the mate to give bail,
himself in £5O, and two sureties in £25 each ; and the
two lookout men, themselves in £2O each, and two sure-
ties in £lO each.

STUMP ORATORY OF THE POPE'S BRI-
GADE IN LIVERPOOL.

The columns of a contemporary of Friday are flooded
with the eloquence of the Liverpool Romanists, elicited, in
the first place, at the annual dinner of the falsely-called
" Irish Catholic Club," yesterday week; secondly, at
the laying of the foundation stone of a Romanist Institute.
James Levingstone, Esq., who was the chairman at the
Popish banquet, in proposing the first toast, the health
of Pius IX., commenced with a very capital joke. " Ca-
tholics, and Catholic countries," he said, " particularly
that sunny country over which our beloved spiritual head
reigns as a temporal prince, have been maligned, tra-
duced, and grossly misrepresented. They have been
falsely charged as enemies to progress, suppressors of
learning, and opposed to the spread of science, the fine
arts, and literature. We, as Catholics, know how foul
and false such charges are !" With increasing temerity
Mr. Levingston proceeded to say :—" In literature, who
have been ever foremost ? The popes, the cardinals,
and the sanctified bishops of the propaganda." The final
burst of the chairman being, "On the throne of our
hearts, as the supreme head of our holy faith, he shall
always sit enthroned there until our pulse shall cease to
throb in the glorious religion in which we were born, in
which we were educated, and in which we shall breathe
our last sigh, with a sure hope of the promise made by
our Divine Master to Peter, and his worthy successor
Pius the Ninth. Gentlemen, I give you The health of
our Holy and Spiritual Father, Pius the Ninth.' "—(Drunk
with loud cheers.) Then followed the health of the Popish
bishop in Liverpool, whose reply to the compliment was
remarkable only as a somewhat leaden attempt to be witty.
" Your chairman," said the Brummagem bishop, " has
been far too complimentary, and, with your permission, I
will bring against him a heavy charge for a high crime
and misdemeanour. (Laughter.) What I mean by this
is, that he has put me in the stocks ; and I ask you whe-
ther that is not a crime which should be visited with con-
dign punishment. (Laughter.) However, as I have had
little experience in criminal matters—(remember, here is
a Romish priest disowning " experience in criminal
matters ")-1 beg leave to hand the case over to my
friend Mr. Aspinall—(renewed laughter and cheers)—and
feel sure that he, by his legal skill and eloquence, will make
far the best of the cause." In proposing " The Illustrious
Hierarchy of Ireland," Mr. J. B. Aspinall drew a fancy
picture of Romanist unity. Forgetting the cry of the
Yankee Archbishop Hughes, who said, ' For God's sake
keep the Irish at home, or they will all become Protestants,"
and oblivious of a sham Irish bishop in Wicklow, who has
recently advocated the necessity of emigration as the only
means of keeping Protestantism from becoming universal
in that unhappy country, Mr. Aspinall exclaimed, in the
excitement of his after-dinner enthusiasm :—" From the
highest to the lowest of the Irish hierarchy the flocks
were found following them with the same love and affec-
tion, and treating them with the same respect ; and even
when the Irish people left their own country, and were
separated by distance and time, they became, if anything,
more united in love and respect for their clergy than when
living at home."—The Rev. Mr. Hickey acknowledged
the toast, and expressed a hope that they would all endea-
vour to preserve in its purity that faith given first to St.
Peter, and subsequently propounded by St. Patrick. If
Ireland was not what one of the greatest of men had said,
"First flower of the earth,
First gem of the sea,"
in a political sense, at least her bishops had done all in
their power to make her the first flower in the garden of
God's Church—the brightest gem in the crown of Catho-
licity. (Applause.)—The Rev. Mr. Brown congratulated
the Club on its success. " Great good had already been
accomplished in a religious point of view, and as regarded
their political influence, he need not remind them of the
last great struggle in this town. (Hear, hear.) He hoped
that on the next occasion which occurred they would be
found at their posts, and make their power felt more than
ever it had been before. No one could doubt the truth of
what had been frequently stated, that they would be res-
pected and cared about in this country only so much as
they were feared. (Applause.) That was, after all, the
great secret of O'Connell's power, and would be found to
be the great secret of their own."—Mr. Doran said, as the
Club had acknowledged the principle of encouraging edu-
cation, it might be well to state that there were in Liver-
pool about 60,000 little children without the means of
education. A vast proportion of these belonged to the
Catholic part of the community."—Mr. Aspinall, once
more upon his legs, asserted that " in a political point of
view, the Club had conferred upon them a benefit of
which they availed themselves at the last ele.cticn. It had
shown those with whom they generally acted that, as sure
as they are alive, if they thought they could bring for-
ward any one with a chance of carrying him without the
consent of the Catholics, they would find out their mis-
take." (Applause.)—The Chairman coincided with the
modest declaration. " They had now acquired a position
in this town, politically speaking ; and he believed if Sir
Thomas Birch were to come down to-morrow, and appear
before the electors, unless be expressed his sorrow for the
vote he gave on the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, he would br
rejected." (Cheers.)—Towards the close of the night,
Mr. John Yates, jun., proposed the toast of " Civil and
religious liberty," which was received with loud applause.
"Notwithstanding all that had been said, the principle of
civil and religious liberty was near and dear to the Catholic
heart, and he should be ashamed if he thought there was
anything in their creed to prevent him entertaining such
an opinion."—The band in attendance having played "The
last rose of summer," Mr. William M'Courtaen said
" they were sometimes designated as sectarian bigots, and
it was said they would not allow persons who differed
from them in religion to attend their late soiree • but they
were well aware that such was nct the case. 'He spoke
the feelings of his own mind, and said the happiest hours
of his life were spent amongst those who differed from him
in creed and country ; and it was a pity there was not a
more general assimilation of all sects, thereby to frustrate
wthieshhtoo kod.evrepinkerineegdbsigiontriygnoofrjaoluicre oner
eeanchsooutlh-esr.
av,els,(4lo.
plause.)

has
a ;
NEW CLYDE SHIP FOR THE LIVERPOOL AND CON.
STANTINOPLE TRADE.—We learn from the Glasgow
the building yard of Mr. Alex. Denny, at Dumbarton,
yesterday week. She was named the Melita, and is in-
Citizen of Saturday, that a fine vessel was launched from
tended, we believe, for the Liverpool and Constantinople
trade, on which she is expected to enter in about three
weeks. Her dimensions are :—Length between perpen-
depth
full p o oop
and forecastle, the former being 90 feet in length, which
gives very extensive saloon accommodation. She is to be
fitted with a pair of oscillating engines (geared) of 180
horse-power, by leisr3 !iamb and Clark 0 f Greenock