The Bee-Hive : — 1869-08-21 (London, England)

THE FATAL STEAM-TUG EXPLOSIOS, The bad boilers have another year of it te themselves. How many lives, we wonder) would it take to get rid of them all, by 015 process of natural death as to the inanimate iron, but of cruel maiming and slaughter te sensitive human beings? Poor TOE WILLIOO, was the second person killed by the bursting the steam-tug boiler at BREWER'S quay last weer He was a likely youth of seventeen, the wall! stay, perhaps, of a widowed mother; but ths; does not appear. His life, at any rate, was 4/' value to himself, and ought to have been re; spected. For our part, we strongly sue that there is no greater rubbish afloat thanlhose, dirty, lumbering, cranky little steam-tugs. us trace, as well as we can, the history of till', murder-trap. It was made at Glasgow,---bw when? Half a century ago? The boat used to be called the Thistle; which reminds us that thl Latin motto to that scotch emblem runs, " one hurts me with impunity." Will the Thistle or rather, the owners of the Thistle (which mai now be called the Trash), be dealt with on that principle? But the engine-driver stands bet wee,ll, them and such consequences. "TOWERS," say) the Deputy-coroner, in rather _ OGBERRY style' "you stand here in the nature of a man under all imputation of neglect." According to the ell: dence, on Tuesday week, TOWERS was orderea to get into the boiler and screw up the bolts; If we may credit the representation of one Of the owners, the old boiler was replaced hi a new one about two years and a hf4it ago. But, though comparatively new, was I ever tested? Mark the reply. "We had 11 means," said EDWARD JEREMIAH OLYETT, gi testing it." All he did was to order " a new, boiler of the best workmanship and materials•lt Well, what more could a man do? AY, b„1.1 the sentence is not finished: he added, " price :" that is to say,he wanted a cheap ar"tieel e thinking more of his own pocket than of men's lives. But we will not be too hasty. In builder of the exploded boiler engaged- by letter, that it would be proof against a pressure ol 120Ibs to the square inch. At what pressuret then, had it been worked? According to the owner, mind, not any of the men, it had bee° worked at from 501bs to 701bs. in proportion t° the work to be done. This, then:being all that est' be learned about the boiler, what about til; engine-driver? Had he been sufficiently tested' No; he was under trial at the time, not haying, been more than six weeks in charge. The Coroa% wanted to know, whether Towzas, who seetna',, be quite a youth, had undergone an examinatioPt and received a certifica4e of competency; 13! these are ceremonies deemed quite superfition' we see, on board tugs. "There are a grt many of the class," says Mr. OLYETT, I engines on the river." This is pleasant inte gence for those who run from pier to pier board the river-boats. It is hardly possible cross the river, or pass from London-bridge 'of St. Paul's Pier without coming, across leiley these ugly-looking things, which, witcrld and do explode, scatter their fragments of 100 iron n piety yards around. Well, we have got the length of an teste boiler, the best " at the price," and an unteste., uedii ogee engine-driver who had only just b to try hi' prentice-hand. What cif the whole condition of the boat? " 0h,,, say, -gr. OLYEIT, rathQl "she was not in regular working tria,l;og We had not decided on what 'WO were goin do with her." What, then, was she knovira t, be so riaketty as to be on the point of being lon damned and broken ,c up, or sobt " at a price any body that might have been foolish 013 reckless enough to buy lier:? There is a deliciof simplicity about this tug-owner. The eoronero jury want to know how he came to have a b 0,6 which was ready at any moment to go off kill those on board her; and listen to his anssve.'o "We have another little steamboat, for whic.o we have a regular man to drive the engi °ll,D That may be so; but it is no eonsolationthte friends of the °nth who perished it plosion of the vessel that was not dr/cell, regular man." A certain old b°: "happy is the man who condernneth not t, self in that thing which he allovf" This re-"• a happiness which we cannot promise to TA:IIi:A TEREMIAIt