Kanawha Valley star. [volume] (Charleston, Va. [W. Va.]) 1856-1861, 1859-10-03
Explosion on board the Great Eastern.

ler we learn that the Great Eastern has
met with sad explosion. which willnotl
only cost her owners some 90. 90 OF 30
600 dollars. but delay the sailing Of the
ship some four FIVE weeks.
The cause Of the explosion is thus e1 !
planned in the Portland correspondence Of
The London Times. Sept. hi
I. In order fully 10 understand, as far
as it is yet Known, the cause of the acci-
dent. il viii be necessary to say a few
words, on the peculiar construction of
the two forward tunnels fir the paddle
boilers, In the FIRST plans for the vessel
il was determined, in order 10 economic
the heat given off by the tunnels, and to
keep the saloonss through which they
passed cool, 70 ft them all with Wbat is
termed 9 "feed.pipe casing.' rising from
the boilers to about eight feet above the
upper deck. This feed-pipe casing is
simply asdouble or outer funnel for the
length wa have stated. the inner one, as
usual. carrying off the smoke and flame,
and the space between it and the outer
casing being filled with water. The wa
ter is pumped in at the top Of the casing
while cold, and gradually passing down
into the space round the furnAees, be-
comes greatly heated, when it is dis
charged into the boilers by means Of Al
ordinary stop cock. Aplan by which 50
much GOODNESS is supposed 70 be gained
kin the berths and saloons, and so much
elsaved blythe ample supply Of hot wa
ter to the boilers, promises such obvious
advantages that fer the last Ten years at
tempts Of every Kind have been made to
carry out the principle successfully on
board most of the sea-goSng steamers. =
In no instance has the plan ever yet sue
ceeded, In butstoo many. eases the fun
nels have done what the funnel Of the
Great Eastern did on such q colossal
scale last Friday evening.
When such an accident has not occur
red. the pressure of the column Of water
upon thetbase Of the funnel near the fur
naces has been so great as to causeEt them,
when strained in bad weather Nh worn BY
long use. to leak into the fires and extin-
gnish them more or less rapidly. Any
one at least conyersant with boiler me-
chapism will see tho, at a glance, that the
safety of 1.-THE whole affair depends upon
the stop-cock which lets OFF tie water ih-
10 the boilers being watched with unre.
hitting vigilance. The. neglect of this
for half an hour would allow steam 70 gen.
crate in the casing, which would then, in
plain terms become a gigantic boiler,
without valve ortany means of letting
loft its steam, save By blowing up This
was the apparatus which, as / have ex-
planned, in order 10 economic heat aud
cool the saloons it was proposed toE intro,
dude on board the Great Eastern id three
] tunnels to the screw engine. and; the two
forward tunnels forthe paddles, Messrs,
Bolton and Wstttwere intrusted with the
construction Of the screw engines and
boilers, and they, At once firmly refused
to have any such casing round their fun
nels, or attached I'd their, engines In AIRY
way whatever. / Am not aware pfs the
| precise reason on which they grounded
their refusal, though doubtless they rest.
led mainly on the obvious fact, that tile
Iphn had been tried over and over again
and always failed, with more or less 81
| Inconvenience or disaster. TheF plan,
however, was adopted for the two paddle
| tunnels, though at about that time the
|, Collins line of steame rs, which had tried
1.-THE plan for nearly three wears, discarded
lit as often dangerous and always worth.
Hess. The castings Of the two forward
funnels iof the Great Eastern held each
about seven or eight tons OF water. and
the forward one, lat least, lis now evil
dent, might have exploded at any mo.
rnent during the voyage, when the grand
saloon was filed with the visitors on
board to listen to the admirable music Of
the ships band" Fiji 4 | !,
l3l#., THE ExPLosIoN. E l&3i5
II The explosion is thus described by the
same correspondent; n. .EHzsfff
:" The visitors whower passengers on
board numbered about 100, and, as may
readily be believed, including among
them some Of the most distinguished
navigators, engineers and ,scientifeEmen
| In Europe. ALL. as zusuai, were assem-
bled at. dinner at about 81 O'Clock on
| Friday, when before the desert came on,
! two gentlemen left the Chairman's table
Ito lock at the coast near Hastings. Mr..
Campbell, the Marquis Of Stafford. Earl
az Mount Charles, Lord Alfred Paget,