Daily national Democrat., 1859-04-06
The Explosion of Yesterday--TwO More
Persons Dead--Further Particulars,

given III our extra Dulletln OF yesterday, q
transcript of which will be found on the out
side of to-day's paper, we are enabled to pre-
sent number of additional particulars of in
terest. The account of yesterday was, in the
main, correct; but as it had necessarily to be
made up in hurry, many matters of i'm
portance, which will throw light upon the
sad catastrophe, were omitted
The Contra Costa was built at Steamboat
Point, in this city in November, 1857. She
was of about 220 tons burden, and had low
pressure engines Her boilers were built by
D. Cunningham, of New York, and sent to
this city six or seven years ago; but not being
required for use, were allowed to lie exposed
to the weather until they were put in the
boat. They are said to have been excellent
and the general opinion among persons con-
versant with the subject is that the explo
sion was occasioned not from any defect in
| the boilers, but the fault of those in charge of
them.
A fault however of the boilers was that
they had no water connection, and had to be
fed by separate pumps. This accounts for
the fact that only one of the boilers exploded,
and that the other remains in its place in the
boat, almost without having been moved
! Had there been water conn ection, one
would have fed water to the other and there
| would DOT have been so much liability to
neglect of one or the other. Had the pump
of one become choked as may have been the
case here, the other would have supplied
both boilers 1t was evident that the imme-
diate cause of the difficulty was a failure of
water, and the consequent red-heating of the
iron, whereby it was weakened and burst.
Under such circumstances, the very best of
iron would doubtless have given way.
At the time of the explosion, which was
about ten o'clock, A. NJ, the Contra Costa
was crossing what is known as the Oakland
Bar, on her trip over from this city. She
was in the channel. preceding the opposition
boat Oakland, which was following up,
crowded with passengers. We are not able
to say that the Oakland was racing, because
it seems to be admitted that she could dis
tance the other if so disposed, but here she
was running behind. That the Contra Costa
was crowding steam, however there can be
no doubt We hear of several persons who
had been in the engine room directly before
the accident, and had gone aft fearful that
something of the kind would take place
1t was fortunate circumstance that the
Oakland was gaining on the Contra Costa at
this time, for the greater portion of the pas
sengers crowded to the afterpart of the boat
to look at her, and were thus providentially
out of the way of the boiler and wreck which
its passage occasioned. 1t was thus mere
circumstance, perhaps, that saved to us the
lives of many of our citizens and rendered
the calamity almost as light as possible.
1t is said by the engineer that the fault
was that of one of the fremen, who did not
attend to his duties He sent for him, but,
before his arrival at his post, it was too late.
The pressure of steam was yesterday stated
to have been 40 pounds, but it appears that
afterwards it ran up with great rapidity.
Just previous to the accident, the blower.
which had been tanning the flames, was shut
off, and one of the firemen-George Mellow
ell-seems to have been standing by it, for
his body was afterwards found in the after
part of the hold, near the ruins of the
blower.
The boiler which exploded was the star
board one. 1t was large, heavy iron cylin
der about fifteen feet long and four or five in
diameter, with chimney of about eight feet
long and four feet through at one end, the
whole shaped like an L. The whole weighed
several tons, and was thrown entirely out of
the boat, at an angle of about 45 deg. proba
bly,. 1t was not seen to go by any person,
being enveloped by steam but it is known to
have fallen in the bay in advance of the YES
sci; for on the next trip of the Oakland, it
was seen lying in the channel but short dis
tance from where the vessel had been. 1t is
said that the crown, or portion of the boiler
near the mouth was the only part injured.
1t is evident also from the appearance of the
wreck that the explosion occurred in this
place, because the boiler was lifted out of its
position in such a manner as could only have
been occasioned by a burst there.
We made a visit to the wreck of the Con
ira Costa yesterday afternoon. 1t presented
some most astonishing circumstances In the
first place, it could costly be seen thatthe en-.
tire main decl, had been lifted up and badly
wrenched The braces under the guards
were nearly all broken and hanging loose
The portion ofthe main deck directly over
the boiler was torn up with clean edges, Just
enough to admit the passage of the boiler.
which had gone so high as to miss the rail
and davits. No portion of the hurricane
deck was raised, except that part near the
pilot-house which was raised and fell down
nearly in its former position. The pilot
house was raised in the air and fell in the
hole made by the boiler in the main deck
Captain Lewis and Nicholas Knewlton were
in at the time, and both were squeezed in the
ruins, but neither seriously injured.
A singular circumstance was the fact that
almost the whole of the ceiling of the hold
of the boat was ripped up The bulkhead
separating the fire room from the after-hold
was blown into splinters. A looking glass,
which had been in the bar-room was blown
on the hurricane deck. The force of the
steam pressing into the bar-room was so VIC
lent that it tore down the partitions and
hurled the barkeeper. Mr.. Smith, overheard
After the explosion, the excitement on
board was intense. number of persons
jumped overheard, who were picked up by
the Oakland, which approached Immediately
and ran out her rlanks. AS the Oakland
came alongside, the passengers rushed from
the wreck into it, and the wounded were
also carried on board and conveyed to Oak
land. They were supplied with water by
the Oakland, and every assistance possible
rendered Mr. Cady was picked up from the
water and taken to Oakland, where he died
The steamer Goliah, which towed the
wreck to this city, started out as soon as the
fact of the explosion was known She carried
out number of persons, among whom were
Dr. Porter and DR.. Sawyer. She was not
able to reach the wreck on account of the
bar but waited until it was towed to her by
the Oakland on her return trip. The body
of Dowell was brought to this city in the
wreck; but was subsequently carried back to
Oakland for examination by the acting Cor
oner of Alameda county, within the juris-
diction of which the explosion took place.
Bulletin, Monday.
DARING ATTEMPT AT RoBBERY.-A German
named Land, coal passer on board the U.