Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-01-28

ers most of ALL though they have less in it than
the insurance Offices and the sailors lis clear from the
description given by the builder that he esteemed the
San Francisco strong enough and just clear from the
result of the first trial trip srpe that she unequal
to her work have already shown that the steamer
destroyed by gale of wind and rising that
not OF sufficient force to wreck the multitude of sailing
vessels of every class who shared the storm and conquer
ed It. 1t of deep interest all to investigate the
cause or causes Of the wreck If the tempest alone was
inadequate, has been proven to my mind for the
meay oliows as sequence to the discovery. We are
told that the San Francisco was experiment If this
be true, there is fearful responsibility somewhere which
should be fastened the proper parties the bargain
for the transportation of the troops and sufficiently
counts for the failure of the ship trial Now, if the
ship IN fact possessed the ordinary form and strength but
was actually laden two or feet beyond her load ne
as we are also told this alone quite enough for
her broachng to- as the broachng the occasion Of
all the subsequent disasters The displacement of these
two last feet was nearly equal her tonnage and this
additional immersion of itself destroyed her steering pow
er before gale Of wind This broaching to was the i'm
mediate of the breaking of the pston-rod So that
all the damage be referred the overlooking of the
ship for 1t impaired her buoyancy, reduced her speed
gave the rudder twice the duty perform and changed
the entire alignment of the hull the last of which would
later break down the best marine engine in the
world. But the ship strong enough to bear the
heavy burden put upon her well into her. and her
strength above the main deck be absolutely no.
thing She had guards, the most dangerous fixture to
steamer that be applied but the topsides and
tmbers not strong enough to secure them or the
smoke stacks either Even the deck through, anu
the deck saloons which should have been there
these relied upon habations for the people on
this long and dangerous voyage only quick work"
After careful survey of all the facts which have yet
been reported to it is fair to infer that if she had
broken down within the first two days the accident would
have happened at any time thereafter the passage when
o heavy gale came
steamship competent to do the extraordinary service
assigned to the San Francisco should be built from the
bottom up to the spardeck patsrays with the fdei
ascribed by the builder of the San Francisco
the lower body and if she is carry wheels the guards
support them should be part of the general frame
method well known to master builders but alas laid aside
to procure faster though weaker ship. The decks
should be solid the sides and made part Of the sp
instead of the aimsy platform adopted No saloons
for habitations should be suffered cucumber and
load and up the deck for the purposes of thrift and
above ALL the "long stroke" and monsrous wheel must
be laid aside No steamship with either, when put
raordnary work. is safe from the dangers of the sea-
be relied upon and overcome extraordinary
cases of emergency P
WAsHISGToN, JANUARY I6, 1854