Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-13

of the vessel was blown to pieces and the rest
 is mass inextricably entangled. The naval court martial now sitting at Davenport, Eng
 land, is befogged. Among the hypothetical causes of the disaster are the explosion of the
 boiler or of foul gases in the unventilated coal bunkers or of the magazine itself There
 is no doubt that the boiler and the magazine
 exploded, but it remains to be discovered, if
 possible, which one burst first and blew up
 the other. Surviving officers who were hurled
 or jumped into the water testify to two dis
 tinct explosions, succeeding each other with
 an interval of some seconds. The drift of
 the investigation shows that the court in-
 clines to the theory of deficient ventilation in
 the powder magazine. It is fact that the
 magazine was badly ventilated. Attention
 had been called to it by one or more petty
 officers of the vessel, but nothing had been
 done to remedy it. Stress is laid on the fact
 that the bottom of the magazine was made
 of wood instead of steel, which composed it's sides. The wooden bottom would be liable to be blown in by the force of an explosion
 occurring outside the magazine itself, as for instance in the coal bunkers. The investiga- tion is chiefly interesting as showing that the Fenian dynamite theory, if it was ever seri- ously entertained, has been abandoned A
 An inventor comes forward with a plan for turtle backed'' or ''dome covered" steamer. He asserts that the upper decks of ocean steamers should have an arched cover ing and claims important advantages for this plan. Some of these advantages are as fol lows:
 l. The spanning of the upper deck by this 1 arched covering will tie the vessels sides to- gether and evidently add immensely to her strength.
 ?. The space under the arched covering will be so much space added to the vessels | capacity, and consequently great gain in a | money point Of view. In passenger steamers of the new type this space can be proftably | utilized in giving to passengers while on the ! ocean such large airy deck sleeping rooms l and lofty saloon accommodations as are found l 1n American river and lake steamers, but | which are still but sparingly introduced into | British built vessels.
 3. In the steamers of this new type that may be reserved entirely for the conveyance of cattle, this arched iron or steel covering 2 | will supersede the temporary wooden erec- tions under which it has been the practice to l house cattle carried on the upper deck, and | which, along with the animals they were meant to shelter, have, in numberless cases, been swept overheard in heavy weather.
 4. It is claimed that vessels built after | this design can be driven at any rate of speed ! that machinery can develop, with safety and l comfort to all on board of them.
 In the report of Mir. Bliven, of Brooklyn, | r., the marine architect who has officially | examined into this invention, is the follow ng: 'Steam vessels constructed upon these principles, either of wood, iron or steel, can oe built and equipped at saving of twenty o twenty five per cent. from the cost of con 'tructing the present type of ocean steam ,rs." The White Star steamers are already
 turtle -backed"for a certain portion of their ength, and, through being so protected, are lriven with safety and comfort to all on board trough head seas at high rates of speed,
 hedding the water harmlessly over this
 rched covering, and thus both protecting
 nd utilizing the space which is ben cath it.