The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1856-04-05
The steamship Pacific.
INC Stedm3AtP
From wilmer & Smiths Times, March l..


A good deal of needless alarm has besD'
caused by d statement which comes from
Glasgow, to the effect that the Edinburgh
steamer, which plies between New York and
the Clyde, saw, on the 9TH of February, a.
good deal of broken ice, and quantity of
cabin furniture, such as might be supposed
to belong to first class steamer like the Pa
cific. The people on board the Edinburgh
have taken abundance of time before they
gave this statement to the world. The yes
sci reached Glasgow on the 14fh, and near
" fortnight after they publish piece of
news which at any time would have been re-
markable, but it is more remarkable after
the Arabia had arrived with the intelligence
that when she left Halifax, the Pacific had
not reached New York. No doubt the anXi-
ETY. about the Pacific is extreme; but under
the circumstances, we attach little import
ance to this statement Of the "Glasgow bod
ies."
1t appears that the statement respecting
the fragments of the steamer supposed to be
lost rests exclusively on the testimony
of one of the passengers by the Edinburgh,
uncorroborated by any other evidence. The
Edinburgh has since returned to New York,
and the Captain when in Scotland, made no
official report of the circumstance. The Liv-
erpool consignees, in communication with
which we have been favored, say:
"FR1DAY, Feb. %, 1856.
GENTLEMEN All we know of the report
about the Pacific amounts to this: That the
Edinburgh reports having seen in The icej
longitude 45 deg. so tnin, latitude As deg:
SO min, on Feb 7, some furniture belonging
to the cabin of ship.
"The handles of the doors of the Pacific
are similar to those described; but so we be-
live are they in almost every large vessel sail
ing out of New York. We do not attach
much Importance to the report, as we think
there would have been much larger quanti-
ty of wreck about had it been the Pacific
Still, we are not in position to deny that it
may have belonged to her.
Brown, SHIpLEY & Co."
Messrs. Wilmer and Smith.
This explanation is gratifying, as far as it
goes, for it shows that the handles of tho
doors referred to are not peculiar to the Pa
cific, but belong to all the large vessels sail
ing out of New York; and secondly, that
the eminent firm from which this note ema-
mates attach little Importance to the rumOr.
The next arrival will be looked to with more
than ordinary interest for the clearing up of
this point, for which we will have to wait
until Sunday, or it may be Monday morning.
Yesterday the rate of insurance on the Pa
citic had risen to 40 per cent.
In addition to the above, we find the fol-
lowing in a New York paper:
The anxiety for the safety of the lost YES
sci, is growing more intense every day, and
various are the conjectures, reasonable or I'M
reasonable, that are ventured by the press
regarding her fate. 1t is now fifty-fve days
since she left Liverpool. Some of the En-.
glish papers, still entertain hopes, but many
of them despair Of her safety. 1t is the gen
eral and most rational conjecture, that she
| has got into the vast fields of ice which the
Persia and Arago encountered, and was
either crushed to pieces, or is hemmed up
by them.
The following, from the Jersey City Tele-
grayh of the IL tn ult., throws some further
light on the subject, and is of tendency to
increase the fears Ct the public as to the
steamers fate:
ave have conversed with gentleman of
this State, practsed engineer and an accom-
plished mechanic, who went on board the
Pacific two or three days before she left Liv-
erpool, with the intention of taking passage
in her. lie went into the engine-room where
the engineers were packing the cylinders and
overhaulinS the machanery. He waited I'M
til they had finished and the engine was tried
and he said that the few revolutions Of tho
engines satisfied him that something was
wrong, and that it appeared as if full head
of steam would have torn the vessel to pieces
in the dock. He was so dissatisfied with tie
working of the engine, that he determined
not to risk his life on board the Ship and
came home in the next Cunarder"
The late letter of Capt. Nye contains some
references to the engineers department,
which would give an idea that all was not
right there. We are inclined to believe that
such was the fact, notwithstanding the COM
munication of the chief engineer of the COM
pany, published in some of the city papers
yesterday.