The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-09-29

knr ~
life, prayed to God to take them and reieasa 20
them from their pain. Twelve men in ali
were taken up with all possible gentiarass
and removed to the sick bay, and, in addition
Mr. Briscoe, promising young engineer and
| fayorite pupil of Mr.. Brunefs, was scalded in
| the hands. M
| 1t will hardly be believed, but IT /. nexer.he-
less true that whilst all these terrible scenes
were being enacted in the middle Of the shin
/ the other portions We're comparatively nna;aas'
turbed A man who stood at the bow suhse-
| quently declared that for long time ha Ena,.,
nothing OF what was going on, but that, on
| hearing the report of the explosion he merely
| thought that some passing ship had been nav.
| ing a compliment. We were not vet ont ~
our troubles. An immense ship was seen hoat
/ ingdown upon ms, and there was imminent dan.
ger Of her striking us in the Quarter We
hailed and shouted, bat it was no use The
captain evidently had more III iosity than dis
| cretion, and still bore down as If To has !,
nearer view OF the wonderful ship. The helm
| port in order to turn her towards the shore
and get her out of the way, but at this critical
| juncture the tiiler ropes broke, and i'm a mo-
ment she was swaytng up ard down, and roll
| ing in appal entity the most dangerous manner
| The waves, hitherto so subservipnt. no-v made
| a mere plaything of her and we tRoncbt tha1
in few minutes she would certainly have
been on shore. But Captain Harrison had not
| forgotten this contingency. Chains were soon
! in readiness, this second danger was over and
| the ship was again proceeding steadily ON her
| voyage.
Already, gangs of men were busv claaripc
| away the wreck, and / took the opportnnitv
ofdescending to the scene of des truction. when
/ was perfectly thunderstruck at the a1nount
OF mischief that had been done, and wondered
how any structure made by human hands
c9uld have withstood the explosion which had
| taken place. You will think ! exasEerste
| when say that the first glance reminded me
most forclbiy OF The ruins of Covent Garden
Theatre a few hours after the great fire. For
| before me mighty girder, to which frag-
ments OF iron and wood, mixed up with the
| remains OF arabesque doors and gilded pam
els, We're hanging. exactly resembling the pro-
sceniirn, ana immediately below me was the
| pit. filled with ruin of every kind, and e:.ch
| object bearing mute testimony to the force TO
| which they had suecnmbed.
| A hugh girder, the counterpart of that to
| which have before alluded, had been torn in
| the centre as If 1t We're so much paper and
| lay twisted up in perfect ribbons across the
! floor. The vast funnel had in it's upward
| flight torn through every rsthing-fireplaces
decks, eirders, and bulkheads. The grand sa-
| loon had become a complete wreck, its flooring
| having been torn up its staircase carried
| away, its costly mirrows shivered TO atoms
and its gay decorations hanging on broken
| girders, or lying mixed up with the smoking
| fragments of the engine-room. 1 looked up
| to what had once been my state.room and
| found that the whole fabric had been torn or
/ smashed up, to what is known as the great
/ longitudinal section, the strength of which
| no doubt, by successfully resisting the lateral
| force of the explosion, was the reason WHY
| the sides of the ship had not been blown out.
The ship must have been a marvel of strength
| to have escaped total destruction:
| The cause of all this mischief ,was simple
| enough, and can be made lntelligibe by a very
few words of explanation. From the plan of
| her construction requiring that the cabins
| should run along the whole length of the deck,
| il became necessary that her numerous fun
-nels should run up through their centres As
| this would greatly raise the surrounding tenn
hp
! are called ''water jackets was adopted the
| latter consisting of an outer tubing round the
| base and up portion of the sides of the fun
| mel, the in terstce forming an annular boiler
| quite as large as any of the regular boilers of
| the ship. This was to be kept instantly filled
with water. and was to serve the double and
| apparently contradictory purpose of cooling
| rooms and generating steam the latter to be
| carried off by pipes and a ''tap'' being proyi-
| ded which was TO actaS The safety valve of the
| jacket.
| 1t is to be observed of this contriyance that
| it had long before been condemned as unsafe
! even the Americans, who are not over cautious
| having abandoned it, and substituted air
| Jackets to keep the saloons cool. Mr. Russell
| states positively, and l am bound to give him
| the benefi of his statements that this arrange
ment was forced upon him by Mr.. Brunei
| that he protest. ted against il, and that it was
only in obedience to the stringent conditions OF
| his contract that he adopted it, This account
| was also confirmed to me by several disiuter-
i
| ond question. The safety valve of this steam
generator was tap which was to be turned
| by hand, and the opinion of every one who
| looked at the broken funnel was, that it had
never been turned since it was first placed in
| its present position.
| 1t seem that-in this case, at all events-the
! turn had been neglected, and that in conse-
| quence the water within had rapidly become
steam, and, finding no vent had burst upwards
| in the terrible explosion which sent a long
funnel, weighing eight tons, some fifty feet in
to the air.
Another statement was, that the person
whose duty it was to keep this sacket'' flied
bad forgotten it until it was almost empty,
| and then in his fright suddenly filling the red
hot iron vessel with cold water, caused it to
burst and fly in pieces. 1t has been a case OF
individual neglect somewhere; but as no doubt
there viii be a legal in stigaton, l shall not
here go any deeper into the matter. There was
quite a congress of scientific men on board,
and their unanimous opinion was that this ar
| rangement should not have been adopted at all,
but that, having been adopted, all care should
have been taken to provide for the most con-
| slant and careful surveillance.
FATAL Locomotive EXPIosIoN-TIrs rse Men