The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-30 00:00:00

THE NEW STEAMER ERIN GO BRAGII

This is is a new iron steamer, the property of the City of
Dublin Company, and is intended to ply on the Shannon.
She is a splendid vessel, and is upwards of 300 tons measure-
ment. She started from this town yesterday week, at half-
past five, a.m., and, though little favoured by the wind,
made a pleasant and rapid run to Cape Clear in 38 hours.
On the morning of Saturday, about two o'clock, the wind
increased to a gale, and finally, towards six o'clock, to a hur-
ricane. The vessel behaved admirably ; and at the height of
the first gale, (between five in the morning and eleven,) such
was the dreadful cross sea, and the fury of the wind, that
her bull and engines were put to a most severe test. She
contrived to make considerable way at every slight subside-
'llea of the waves, and though she drifted to leeward very
considerably, she eventually, as it turned out, made a good
offing. Her buoyancy, when assailed by the terrific waves
tin t threatened to swamp her, was very great ; and she
slipped comparatively few seas. A wooden vessel under sail
alone, could not, if so taken on a lee shore, have escaped de-

struction.
As it was, about six o'clock, one wave that broke over her
•
weather bow as she lay to, carried away one of her fore-gang-
ways, (forming a part of the bulwarks,) together withastauncheon ; filled her main deck, and did some damage to
her head rails, &c. In putting a preventer sheet on the fore-
stay-sail, about this time, the mate was struck by the sheet
block on his right arm above the wrist, and with such force
that both bones were broken. He was, of course, disabled
for the voyage, and was taken as much care of in the cabin
as circumstances would allow. Two others of the crew, who
were violently thrown from one side of the deck to the other,
were so much hurt as to be unfit for duty, and a fourth be-
came ill—so that those hands who were sailors were much
reduced, and a heavy duty, at the wheel, &c., devolved upon
the few that remained. Soon after eight o'clock, the two
men at the helm thought they saw breakers over low rocks
on the lee, and gave the alarm. It was scarcely possible, as
the vessel's head had long been to the westward, that what
they saw were some of the Blaskett rocks ; but the an-
nouncement naturally produced alarm, and those who heard
it expected, for a time, inevitable and speedy destruction,
beyond the reach of human aid. It turned out, however,
that they were mistaken. The broken tops of the long ocean
waves on the lee, succeeded occasionally by lower and black
wavers that rolled away without breaking, led to the appre-
hension, if not the assurance, for some time, that they were
right ; but it was soon found that they were in error, and
confidence was again restored, though the ship was still in
actual danger from the hurricane, independently of the rocks.
Towards eleven o'clock the wind moderated a little, but as
it still blew dreadfully, and the sea was most trying, she con-
tinued to push on to the westward.
On Tuesday morning she came safe up the Shannon, and
arrived at Limerick about half-past seven. The Quay was
crowded with people to welcome the arrival of the vessel,
and she was throughout the day visited by many hundreds,
if not thousands, of spectators, both of high and humble de-
gree, who expressed much admiration of her build, engines,
and spacious and elegant accommodations. She appears to be
a little weather-beaten, but her hull is uninjured, and a few
days will suffice to repair the trifling damage she has sus-
tained in.her upper wood-work. The Erin Go Bragh, in
fine, is a credit to the company to which she belongs, and
will give an additional attraction to the Shannon as well as
prove a furtherance to its commerce.