New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-08-12
OFFICIAL JOURNAL
THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST y, 1856:
IN IMPORTANT STEAMBO.ATt
QUESTION. y.

4 QUESTION. NJ.
The recent burning, and the great loss of hui
man live attendant thereupon,Nof the steamer
Henry Clay, upon the Hudson river, has, as
usual, given rise to numerous and contradictory
comments. These in the large number. of cases,
have originated with those, who, living at a
great distance and relying solely upon tele-
graphic rumors, could not possibly be in any
way positive concerning the facts of the catas-
trophe. We have, notwithstanding, seen the
most positive expressions of opinion, favorable
and unfayorable, in regard to the conduct of
the officers of the Inflated steamer
On both sides, we consider them i'll Judged
! and ill-timed. The officers of the Henry Clay
| (as the telegraph has informed us). have been
| arrested, and must answer fully to the laws.
In the mean time, and more specially from re-
mote quarters, they are neither entitled to ex-
culpation nor justly open to censure. Public
opinion should not be made up for or against
them. A jury of their oountrymen will do them
full justice-nothing more and nothing less;
and having full confidence in the correctness,
probity and equity of the jury system, we quiz
city await the result.
We believe that there are few persons of our
years, in the Southwest, more intimately and
extensively acquainted with steamboat-men
and, we must say, in justice to them, that we
never heard any other set of men talk more
fairly, sensibly and pointedly of the burning,
sinking or explosion of steamboats,. We have
yet to meet with the first one of them who did
| not say carelessness, recklessness or ignorance
| upon the part of any steamboat officer, when
clearly proven, ought to be severely punished,
for many reasons.
Let us Illustrate by what they have told
us: the careless, or reckless, or ignorant
officer endangers commercial property and
human life, checks shipments and the travel of
passengers by the casualties and fatalities he
causes, comes into unfair competition with care
full and experienced men, and discredits an &C.
cupation upon which such depend for live
lihood
But how is it to be shown that any officer was
guilty Of carelessness, .recklessness, or igno-
rance' How is the odium of the vague but GER
tain rumors following steamboat casualty, to
be lifted, as cloud is lifted, from his name !:
How is the careful, prudent, intelligent steam
boat officer to be protected from the unfair COM
petition of the careless, reckless, and ignorant ?
Plainly, only by q judicial trial; there is no
other way under heaven.
We know that in case of every steamboat
casualty, there are loud, and in numerous cases,
senseless, outcries; but how are we decide when
they are just or unjust. Who is to establish a
case before the public, which will vindicate the
steamboat officer, restore public confidence in
his management of boat, and enable him to
secure profitable or even paying business
Who or what is to give anew, driving back GER
tain, if unjust, suspicion, and stamping with
Reproduction vague but certain rumors, that
position which will secure him employment or
business patronage? The intelligent steamboat
man has repeatedly answered, &c our protection
and vindication must be found in fair and lust
laws
We know, too, that, with every quality of
carefulness, experience and intellgencein steam
boat officers, the most disastrous accidents may
happen. Protection in such cases is to be found
in the fact that the proof of carelessness, reck-
lessness or ignorance must be clear and positive
not presumptive or circumstantial Their own
lives are as much as Gf not moro fully than) at
stake as Cor than) those of others; and this
fact should, prima facie, give presumption in
their favor We have twice been on boats with
two of the most faithful, intelligent and expe-
rienced engineers, on the South west waters,
when we were within a hairs breadth of explo-
sion. In both cases, the spongy, cork like wood
which abounds upon the Mississippi, had been
sc sucked in and the supply of water to the
boilers stopped in such q way as to puzzle the
most experienced engineer, and mislead him
to believe that his boilers were regularly filling
up. In another case, we were standing by an
No. lpilot-eyery thing was almost as clear
rs day before us-when, quick as thought, a
fog came down; and, in the darkness of the
night, and upon one of the highest floods of the
land not to be reached except
through dense forests, we foated helplessy. |
Suppose, we, descending, and knowing not one
point OF the compass, had struck an ascending
boat-could the officers of our boat have been to |
blame? Could any blame have morally attached |
to the officers in any of the cases we have men
toned? Certainly not: there is reason in all !
things.
But when boats come to racing one against
another, there is very little reason in the pre-
misses Wehave, time and again, been on boat
when racing with another. What have we
SEEM Why, everything and everybody excite
ment on board-the captain, the pilot, the engi-
necrs, the crew, all excitement; the steam his
sing fercely, the fires cracking and blazing
angrily. (undcr the irritation of rosin and pine.
knots,) and the machinery grooming heavily,
like giant in torment-and above all this, some
two hundred to three hundred souls in danger
of immediate destruction. Steam enginery is
dangerous power 1t holds a fearful and mys-
FERROUS giant confined and when the strength
Of that giant has been worked off, and only the
terrible gas Of the steam boiler is left, there is
no prison under heaven which it will not rend
asunder, destroying everything, animate or in
animate, in its path Should men controlling
such agents become excited? or should they not
ever be watchful and PRUDENT In race, We
have seen the very solder melted from safety
valve, and old boilers exposed to the most mer-
CHESS heat-boilers already nearly burnt out
We have known boats, VIGOROUSLY slower than
others with whom they have sought competition,
urging every power, straining all their ma
chinery, and risking hundreds Of lives, for the
yain-glory of trying to enter port within an
hour or two of more prudent competitor and
we must confess, too often passengers urged the
officers to the imprudent effort.
1t is idle to talk about speed and about