The Portland daily press., 1871-02-14

EARLY in the month of January another OF
those fightful disasters which blacken the
pages of the history of steam navigation on
the Atlantic, came near being added to Inc
list OF cases in which the President, facinc
and the City of Boston form so conspicuous
part, and was prevented by the timely ac'ion
of the captain getting his vessel before INC
wind and returning to port, thus saving the
horrible spectacle of vessel drillinS ABOUT
,,,o q tuoe cbaruel house with three hundred
blo,ted nutrd corpses upon her deck. On
,be 10Th ult., steamer England cleared from
Queenstown for New York, with about 200
steerage and cabin passengers and general car
go,among which was large quantity of bleach
ing powders. Soon after leaving port heavy
wind began blowing, which increased to ter
rible gale, driving the passengers below and
Keeping them there several days. The ship
took some water which got into her hold, and
the firemen, engineers and all working below
were driven on deck by offensive fumes which
| pervaded that part of the vessel and rapidly
| increased in density. A change of WIND drove
| the fumes back tc where the men were WORK
ing when with a rush, all hands made Dfeah
| for the deck; and if those who hrst galhei IL
| looked paid and exhausted, those VINO were
| less fortunate ard did not, owing to the croWd,
oet nm until some seconds later, looked CHASTITY
| indeed. as they clambered out and fell sense
| less to the deck, their eyes almost prOtruding
| from their sockets their mouths wide open
and death imprinted upon every lineament oil
their countenances. The news soon spread
among the passengers, who by this time began
| to smell the fumes in the main saloon and the
| staterOOms, and in less time than it takes tC
| write
CONFUSION WORSE COMPOUNDED
| rei2ned supreme. "To the deckw ITO the
| deckP' was now the cry, and men. women and
forward part of the spar deck many of them
almost paralyzed with fear (which seemed to at
feet them worse if anything than the sutfocatins
| fumes which came rushing up the hatchwayS
the captain, with commendable GOODNESS went
among the terror stricken passengers and did
everything in his power to quiet them, and wa
very soon re, rarded; for the wind now being
head on, blew the fumes aft, so that those wht
were near the bow did not suffer to any glea
extent, and their fears were prOpOrtiOnatel,
dispelled and they gave over their moanip,
and wailipg Now all hands were set to worf
to remove, If possible, the cause of all thi
great a'alm. The matches were opened, wheI
upon making thorough eXaminatiOn-whcl
was, however, attended with no little danger
as the fumes rushed out Ito such an exten
that it was only with the utmost difficulty the
men could work at all-it was found that thu
barrels of bleaching powder had shifted abou
and, owing to the violent motion of the ship
had broken open, and the powder becoming
mixed with the water which was constantl
being shipped, although in small quantities
caused the sitting and deadly fumes Th
matches were taken off and an attempt wa
made to srappe the barrels out land destro
them, but it was soon found impossible fo
men 10 stand over the matches long enough t
even get hold OF barrel. Meantime the fire
had gone out, and all attempts to restore ther
were in vain. Finally the captain put his YES
sci before the wind and returned to Queens
town, where passengers and crew were safel
landed.