Daily gazette and comet. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-186?, 1860-02-10
Explosion Of. Sandman War Steamer
nt Malaga.
More han 1000 reysoas h;tea and Wounded

Correspondence Of the Charleston q. o. News1
MALAGA. December ga dread
ful catastrophe has occurred here.
! suppose shall never again wit
ness such a sight | was on the
way TO my hotel ut . o'clock, and
while stopping q moment to OBJ
serve the numerous steamers IN
port, defamation, surprising that
| of either thunder or cannon, star
tied me. and cloud Of smnke. arose
from Among the steamers riding at
anchor, awaiting the embarkation
of the third corps d'armee. AS
soon rs the smoke had dispersed,
raging fire was seen streaming
from the deck of the magnificent
steamer Geneva, belonging to Vic
tor Emanuel, and chartered to the
Spanish Government for the war.
The cir was filed with shouts and
cries of those on board.
The steamer had just arrived and
had not entirely moored, her an
chpr only being ont. IN the space
Of minute hundreds of rowboats
were alongside to receive the pas
scugers and take in those who had
jumped overboark. Shortly they
arrived on shore. but many awful
" iniured-so seriously that few
days after they died in the hospital
Some landed without shirts. Others
without pants, having been obliged
60 tear them off on account Ct the
iiio; many of the poor creatures
had mo- hair left on their heads. In
the space of five OF ten minutes not
a single person remained on board
the burning vessel, and an order
was given to- the thousands Of spec
tators present, as well as to the in
habitsnts OF the adjacent houses, TO
escape, for there was imminent
danger.
The dctonation was caused by
the explosion of the grenadoes
placed in the stern where there
were yet remaining many more,
and aft of them were hundreds. of
loadcd-bombs aud over twelve tons
of gunpowder. Two Spanish steam
crs were ordered to attach lines and
tow her ont of If possible, or at least
free her from amongst the others,
over thirty in number, besides many
more sailing vessels. After much
trouble the two steamers ComncuC.
cd towing her. but could only get
her out to the distance of about 80
yards, or the length Of the main an.
cbors chain. During all the time
dreadful explosions of other grena
does were taking place The two
steamers that were propelling found
all their efforts useless to drag the
anchor, and were obliged to aban.
don her in the very middle Of the
harhor.
The fire was raging intensely and
fast making its way aft 10 the
bombs and twelve tons of gunpow-
der. After some loss of time Span.
ish man-oi-war was placed q short
distance from the wreck and com
mcnccd n heavy discharge Of can
non ball 10 sink her, but nearly an
hour passed before the steamer APP
pcarcd to feel in the least any Of.
feet, and AZ the danger was iucreas-
ing from minute to minute four can
mons were posted on one end of the
Mole, aud another mah-ofwar as
sisted, when, finally, the wreck set
tied down. The mainmast had nj.
ready been consumed, so that the
fire had but short distance to
reach the after magazine.
In half an hour more the great
danger had nearly passed, for amid
the tremendous explosions Of grena-
does that had not ceased from the
commencement, another sound was
heard that occasioned by the strug-
gle between the two clemcuts; but
the fire was soon after subducd, and
the waters covered the decks. All
was over, she had gone down, show
ing only the end of her bowsplit
and foremost. Besides much ma
tcrial of war, there were 200 mules
belonging to the government. There
is complete loss of every thing,
not even any of the baggage was
saved. Searches have been made
with diving machine, and not a
vestige nf anything was found.