The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-10-10

Loss Of the stea mshsp Csnnaught.
in another column will be found the details
of the burning Of the steamship Connaught, one
Of the last constructed and finest vessels of the
Galway line. From the statement Of her cap
tain IT appears that on the evening of Satur
day, the 9th inst, when about one hundred aud
fifty miles east of Boston. she spraug aleak In
the engine room Notwithstanding the exer-
tiops made to keep 1t below the fires, it began
towards morning to gain rapidly, and finally
extinguished them. About half. past nine A. NJ.
on Sunday smoke was discovered issuing from
the aft smoke hole, and the flames and water
jointly made such head that the passengers were
driven on deck. 1t soon became evident that
there were no hopes of saving the vessel, and
preparations were accordingly made to aban-
don her. Fortunately, the steamer was album
dainty provided with boats, and although the
first launched was stove by the heavy sea which
was running at the time, the remaining six were
got of with the whole Of the passengers and
crew, 59l in number. brig, the Minnie
Schiller, which had observed the steamers Gig
nails of distress, bore down to them about noon,
and by half.p nine in the evening all the pas
seDgers were safely placed on board of her.
No opinion has as yet been offered as to the
origin of the leak. Captain Leach is unable to
explain how il occurred the vessel being new
one, built Of iron and divided into water-tght
compartments. Her workmanship was of the
best and most substantial description, and she
was Justly regarded as one of the finest vessels
adoat.
The discovery Of fire so soon after the leak
was detected, and the rapid progress which the
flames made after the alarm was given, supply
to our mind clear explanation of the whole
accident. There can be no doubt that this no
BILE vessel owes her destruction to the same
cause by which so many English steamers,
amongst others the Royal William have been
lost, namely, spontaneous combustion. The
soft English coal which Is commonly used on
board these steamers frequently ignites from
the heat evolved in the decomposition Of the
sulphuret of iron which 1t contains Even at
Goals in which decomposition has been has
tened by the heaps being saturated with
rain are frequently to be seen in combustion
from this cause. If, as there is reason to believe
from the statement of the captain, the fire had
been emoulderipg In the coal hunks for some
time, the expansion of the vessels plates by the
heat unquestionably occssioned the leak. We
do not see how in any other way such an acct
dent in q new and substantially built iron yes
eel could have occurred.
As there is no calamity without some COM
pensating benefit, there are two valuable lessons
which the loss Of this noble steamer will i'm.
prees upon shipowners. The first is the culpa
bility of their sending their vessels to sea with
out sufficient number Of boats to provide for
the safety Of the passengers and crew in the
event OF shipwreck. In the present case, owing
to the humane and liberal precautions of the
Galway company, nearly six hundred beings
were preserved from the certain death to
which they would have been exposed had
they been on board some of our
American vessels under the same circum-
stances. Our laws should be so framed
as to leave no alternative on this point to ship
owners. No passenger, or, indeed, any other
kind Of vessel, should be allowed to leave our
ports without passing an inspection which
would satisfy the authorities that she was pro-
vided with the number Of boats requisite to
accommodate the full number Of those on
board.
In the next place, il is to be hoped that the
loss of this fine vessel will have the effect Of
impressing upon steamship companies the dan
gers resulting from the use of bituminous coal.
As general rule, no coal in which pyrites
abound in considerable quantity should be
employed at sea. There may be disadvan.
tage, both in point Of economy and speed, in
using other fuel, but humanity dictates that
these considerations should exercise no weight
where the safety Of human life is concerned