Year: 1859

Deen drowned, whilst the noble ship would have


peen left to certain destruction


but the voice of the captain was heard like a


trumpet, calling out, HMen to your duty; officers


70 your posts; give me rope, and let six fol


low me. The effect of this short address cleo


trio. In instant he had slid down the rome into
| the saloon, followed by his brave boatswain Haw-


klns, and SIX volunteers were not long wanted for
| the torlorn hope. One after another he dashed
open the gilded panels, but the splendid apart
| mentS had, strange to say, ONLY two inhabitants


his own little daughter Edith and her NET doc. If
| was the reward of his gallan:ry that his own child
should be thus the to be so providentiav saved
Du. even then he did not for moment lose his self
| command. Snatching up the child and with one
| glance seeing she was unharmed, he exclaimed
! "Pass her along to the deck; there are more rooms
! to be searched" In this way did he move about
rapidly, but cooy, and did not again return to the
deck until he had satisfied himself that not a sinole
woman was in the burning, steaming, suflocatng
! chamber. To return to the deck and resume the
command was with the captain the work of mo-
ment, but that moment had been sufficient to test the
mettla and selfpossession of two men who were as
brave and reliable as himself


After detailing other circumstances of which we
have already been advised by telegraph, and the
melancholy loss of life which attended the disaster
the writer continues:


1t will hardly be believed, but it is nevertheless
true, that whilst all these terrible scenes were be-
ing enacted in the middle of the ship, the other
portions were comparatively undisturbed. A man
-''NN' fn1t
for a long time he knew nothing of what was ooinr
on, but that on hearing the report of the explosion
he merely thought that some passing ship had been
paying us compliment. We were not yet out of
our troubles An immense ship was seen bearinu
down upon us, and there was imminent danger Of
| her striking us in the quarter. We hailed and
shouted, but it was use. The captain evidently
had more curiosity than discretion and still bore
down, as if to have nearer view of the wonderful
ship. The helm of the Great Eastern had to be put
hard port in order to turn her towards the shore
and get her out of the way but at this critical iunc
ture the tiller ropes broke, and in moment she
was swaying up and down, and rolling in apparent
ly the most dangerous manner. The waves hith-
ertO so subservient now made a mere plaything of
her, and we thought that in few minutes she
would certainly have been on shore. But CAPTAIN
Harrison had not forgotten this contingency.
Chains were soon in readiness this second danger
was over, and the ship was again proceeding stead
lily on her voyage.


Already, gangs of men were busy clearing awav
the wreck, and | took the opportunity of descend
ing to the scene of destruction, when was perfect
ly thunderstruck at the amount of mischief that
had been done, and wondered how any structure
made by human hands could have withstood the
explosion which had taken place You will think
.exaggerate when say that the first glance remind
ed me most forcibly of the ruins of CovenU Garden
Theatre a few hours after the great fire. For be.
fore me mighty girder, to which fragments of
iron and wood, mixed up with the remains of ara
besque doors and gilded panels, were hanging, ex-
actly resembling the proscenium, and Immediately
below the pit. filled with ruin of every kind
and each object bearing mute testimony to the
force TO which they had succumbed.


A huge girder, the counterpart of that to which
have before alluded, had been torn in the centre
as if it were so much paper, and lay twisted up in
perfect ribbons across the floor The vast funnel
had in its upward flight torn through everything
freplaces decks girders and bulkheads The grand
saloon had become Il complete wreck its flooring
having been torn up, its staircase carried away its
costly mirrors shivered to atoms, and its gay deco
rations hanging on broken girdeTs, or living mixed
up with the smoking fragments of the engine room.
looked up to what had once been my state-room,
and found that the whole fabric had been torn or
smashed up, to what is known the great Ongi-
tudina section the strength of which, no doubt, by
successfully resisting the lateral force of the explo
sion, the reason why the sides of the ship had
not been blown out. The ship must have been
marvel OF strength to have escaped total destruction


The cause Of all this mischief was simple enough
and can be made ineligible by very few words of
explanation. From the plan of her construction,
requiring that the cabins should run along the
whole length OF the deck, it became necessary that
her numerous tunnels should run up through their
centres. As this would greatly raise the surround
ing temperature the plan OF encasng them with
what are called ''water jackets" was adopted, the
latter consisting OF an outer tubing round the base
and up portion of the sides of the funnel, the in
terstice forming annular boiler quite as large
any Of the regular boilers Of the ship This to
be kept constantly filled with water, and to
serve the double and apparently contradictory pur-
pose of cooling rooms and generating steam, the
latter to be carried of by pipes, and "tap'' being
provided which was to act as the ,safety-vave Of
the jacket.


1t is to be observed of this contrivance that it
had long before been condemned as unsafe-even
| the Americans, who not overcautiOus, having
abandoned it, and substituted air-jackets to keep
the saloons cool. Mr.. Russell states, positively,
and am bound to give him the benefit of his state
mcnts, that this arrangement forced upon him
by Mr.. Brunel that be protested against it, and
that it was only in obedience to the stringent con
dltiOns of his contract that he adopted it, This ac
count was also confirmed to me by several disinter
ested witnesses. But we come to the second
question. The safety valve Of this steam generator
was tap which was to be turned by the hand, and
the opinion of every one who looked at the broken
funnel was, that it had never been turned since it
was first placed in its present position.


1t seems that-in this case, at all events--the
turning had heen neglected, and that in consequence
the water within had rapidly become steam, and,
finding no vent, had burst upwards in the terrible
explosion which sent long funnel, weighing eight
tons, some fifty feet into the air.


Another statement was that the person whose
duty it to keep this ''jacket' filled had forgot
ten it until it was almost empty, and then in his
fright suddenly filling the red-hot iron vessel with
cold water caused it to burst and fly in pieces. 1t
has been a case of individual neglect somewherc
but doubt there will be legal investigation.
shall not here go any deeper into the matter
Ihere was quite congress of sci ntific
poard, and their unanimous opinion that this
arrangement should not have been adopted at all;
but that, having been adopted, all care should have
been taken to provide for the most constant and
careful surveillance.


THE LATEST.


by Telegraph from London To Southampton Sept. 15l


MARsEILLES, September lI.-Advices from Con
stantinope are to the 7h June. The Sultan near
ly lost his life on Saturday. An Iouian command
ing an English steamtug drove his vessel twice
against his Imperial caiqUe, and the Sultan sa-
we'd with great difficulty. The Governor of Gambia
has sent in his resignation The smuggling
of arms continues there and seizure of
bomb vessel, charged with powder, has been
made. Political agitation in Serva was in
creasing. The National Assembly has been
voked


There is also a rumor in Paris of tendcncr- to
agreement between England and France, OIL me
subject of European Congress for the settlement
Of Italy.


LONDON NINE HOUR MOVEMENT.


About l5,OOO men were estimated to have gone in
to work at the various establishments Of the master
builders on the terms of the declaration, and some
500 more in shops where it has been made what is
called ''shop rule"


FRoM BUENos AYREs.-Advices from Buenos
Ayres to the 18th ut., bring intelligence of the
abrupt termination of the peace negotiations be
tween Buenos Ayres and the Argentine Confedera-
ion. The uenos Ayres Times of the 18th says:


The peace conference at the hosptable table of
Mr.. lancey received an unwoned check last night,
plates, bottles, &C., supplying the place pleasant
words among his guests, and Mr. Nancey having
nau MS SpectacleS DfOKen In the Tray, IL IS probable
he will now see clearer into the nature of South
American diplomacy.


Meantime the peace negotiations have come to a
more speedy termination than anticipated the
preminaries on each side being rejected the in
tervention of Mr.. Yanccy falls to the ground. The
Confederate government required an immediate
suspension of hostilities, the governmental Bueuos
Ayres the retirement of General UrQuiza from pub
lie life the former obviously inadmissible by
ITSELF and the latter could hardly be expected dun
ing the present peculiar organization of the Pro
Vincial governments. Thus this has all ended in
talk, as many expected it would from the first and
the arbitrament of war is to decide the question.


RAILROAD ACCIDENT.-On last Saturday afternoon
a serious accident occurred on the Cleveland &
Pittsburg Railroad. The train from Pittsburr
was thrown off the track by some stones which had
been washed upon it, and the engine baggage car
express car, and one passenger car were thrown
from the track and demolished.


After the accident the engineer was nowhere to
be found. His hat and watch were picked up near
the wreck of the engine but singular as it may ap-
pear, the man, though searched for in every CON
ceiyable place, could not be found. Some of the
passengers went back a considerable distance and
looked in thicket, and the wreck was thoroughly
searched in vain. The fireman insists that the
engineer, upon seeing the obstruction iumped
from the engine, but the general impression is
that he stuck to his post and was buried in the
immense sand bank into which the locomotive was
driven.


The baggage master and another person were
somewhat cut and bruised, but not seriously.


AN AMERICAN RIVAL To THE GREAT EAsTrRY-
Saunders Necs Letter. of Dublin, says that the ship
nearest in size to the Great Eastern arrived in Eng
NNp g.rt,a,