The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-31 00:00:00

ACCIDENT TO TWO STE:UV! VESSELS.-LOSS OF LIFE.

On Friday last an inquisition was taken before Mr. Pow-
nall, one of the bailiffs and coroner for the borough, on view of
the body of James Bourne, a boy of fifteen years of age, who
met with his death by two steam vessels unfortunately coming
in contact.—lt appears that on Wednesday night, about ten
o'clock, the Queen of the Isle, steamer, outward bound for the
Isle of Mau, came in contact with the Irishman, steamer, in-
ward bound from Drogheda. The accident took place about
two miles from the Rock-perch- Lighthouse. Both vessels had
lights up at the time, and the people on board of both state,
that they took the usual precautions to prevent them from com-
ing in contact. The precautions failed, however. A dreadful
concussion ensued. The Queen of the Isle struck the Irishman
just before the paiidle-box, carried away the houses on the deck,
the paddle-beam, and engine, and caused much damage on
board the vessel. The cook-house, which is immediately be-
fore the paddle-box was smashed to pieces, and the cook, James
Bourne, killed on the spot, and the leg and the thigh of a pas-
senger were broken. Ihe Irishman, though seriously damaged
in her upper works, did not make any water. The Queen of
the Isle took her in tow and brought her into port in safety.
Captain Heaney, of the Irishman, and several of the crew
were examined touching the deceased's death, and the cause
which unfortunately produced it. They were also cross-ex-
amined on the part of Captain Quayle, of the Queen of the Isle,
for the purpose of eliciting that the fatal accident had not been
caused by. any culpable neglect on his part. Whilst the wit-
nesses maintained, that every thing had been done to keep the
Irishman clear of the Queen of the Isle, they seemed to think
that the same exertion had not been made to keep the Queen
of the Isle clear of the Irishman. Captain Heaney said that,
having starboarded his helm, and finding that his vessel did
not get much out of the way of the one of which he had seen the
light, he ordered it to be put hard a-starboard, and immediately
stopped his engines.
Witnesses were then examined on behalf of Captain Quayle.
Their evidence went to show; that, as soon as the light of the
Irishman had been seen, the usual precautions were taken to
keep the two vessels clear of each other, the engines having
been stopped, and the helm put hard a-starboard, in which
state it was when the Queen of the Isle struck the Irishman.
The witnesses seemed to think, that if the Irishman had held
on her course as when they first saw her, she would have passed
a quarter of a mile on the larboard how of the Queen of the
Isle. Six minutes night have elapsed from' the time the light
was descried until the two vessels struck. When first seen, the
Irishman was, according to the steersman of the Queen of the
Isle, about a point on the latter's larboard cat-head. As she
neared Captain'Quayle ordered him to port his helm a little;
and two or three minutes must have elapsed from the time he
ported the'heln and the strikinc, of the steamers. The engi-
neer deposed, that, seeing the Irishman alter her course, and
apprehending danger, he went below, and immediately after-
wards received orders to stop the engine, which he had effected
about a minute and a half before the vessels struck. He•was
then ordered to reverse the Queen of the Isle, but the vessel
• would not reverse in consequence of his having stopped her so
instantaneously. He was sure the paddle-wheels were not go-
ing when the vessels struck. Mr. M`Bride, the Master of the
Clarence Dock, bore evidence to the sobriety of Captain
Quayle on leaving the dock and to his skill as a commander.
The jury retired, and, after consulting about ten minutes, re-
turned a verdict of Accidental Death, and laying a deodand of
PlO ou the Queen of the Isle.

We feel an extraordinary degree of pleasure in giving in•
sertion to tie following document, signed by the principal
passengers on board, when the accident occurred :—"llfalia's
Tale, at Sea, March 26, 1835. We, the undersigned, who were
cabin passengers on board the Queen of the Isle, do certify,
that the accident which happened between the Queen of the
Isle and the sie•imer Irishman, near the Rock Light, at the
entrance of the river Mersey, on the evening of the 25th
instant, did not occur in consequence of any neglect or mis-
management of Captain Quayle, of the Queen of the Isle, but
was occasioned by the steamer Irishman altering tier course,
and running across the bows of the Queen of the Isle, when
there was neither room nor time for the Queen of the Isle to
clear the Irishman.—Peter Tessier, master mariner, London;
B. R. Jones, Castletown : James Lewin ; H. N. Carrington ;
M. H. Quay-le; William Brown, Troon; John Moore ;G. 11.
Edwards, (I here affix my name as my opinion only;) Richard
Hammond; John Bees; George Mann; Arthur Johnston;
Edward Gelling; and R. Gelling."—From the Motta's Harald
of Friday.
.•

THE POPE'S VISIT TO IRELAND.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sia,-4laving seen the truth of a paragraph with which I
some time since furnished you, respecting the pope's visit to
Ireland, questioned in a Dublin newspaper, the Evening Post, I
think, and in another paper, the Freeman's Journal, flatly denied,
1 beg distinctly to state to you that the onus of the untruth does
not rest on me; and I again repeat that I, no matter how, got a
peep at a letter from " James Tuatii,” addressed to a friend of
his in Liverpool, and extracted from it, word for word, the pa-
ragraph as published by you.
Had the letter been a sufficient timein my possession I should
have copied the whole of it, but this not being the case I extract-
ed only that part which I conceived to be the most important.
But, now that the Dublin papers have had the effrontery to con-
tradict the truth of my communication, 1 beg leave to furnish
you with the substance of what Mr. M'Hale also wrote to his
"friend," which was to the effect—that the said visit was
earnestly solicited by a leading member of the late administra-
tion, and that, although a change had taken place in his majes-
ty's councils, vet his holiness did not see that that circumstance
should cause him to depart front his first resolution, which was,
to accept the invitation.
At the same time, Dr. WHale ventured his own modest
opinion on the matter. Ile nearly, so far as my recollection
serves me, expressed himself in words as follows :
" I feel convinced that ere his holiness sets foot on our shores
the good cause will be triumphant, that the protestant usurpers
(usuapatts was his word) will be replaced by men who know
the true interests of the country, and amongst whom must be
the ever-glorious O'Connell."
Let Mr. M'Hale deny this if he can. He may jesuitically
say it is untrue, hut can he say he did not write a letter such as "I
have stated he did? If untrue, pray who is the author of the
untruth? Why, the doctor himself!-1 am, sir, one who,
though not of your politics vet
A CONS.FANT politics,
OF YOUR PAPER.

THE LAW op LIBEL.-10 our assize reports the reader will
discover another specimen of the liberality of the radical school.
Mr. Edmund Grundy—the disciple of Cobbett and friend of the
people—availing himself of the cruel power at present conceded
against the press by the libel law, having been assailed in a
squib, which was perfectly innocuous and fair.as an electioneer-
ing weapon, has commenced his action a:.:ainst—nut the author,
though he was generally known—but thv unfortunate printer, a
min (we presume) in humble life and small means, whose only
offence was that he printed and published the offensive docu-
ment. Fortunately, however, the merits of the case were ad-
judicated by twelve men who knew the value of an unshackled
press, and it is very probable that instead of gaining, Mr.
Grundy may be "out of pocke " by his motion. We hope that.
the lesson may not be thrown away.—Manchester uniele.