ings of stair rods by piercing or drilling, and bending longitudinal side-frame plates of the engine. Patenting out and picking up submarine telegraph cables.

strips or bands of rolled or drawn sheet metal, or flat or other shaped wire. Patent completed.

303. I. CLEMENTS. "A new or improved method of manufacturing curtain rings." Dated Feb. 2, 1859. This consists in manufacturing curtain rings by first cutting rings from sheet metal, and afterwards shaping the rings by suitable dies. Patent completed. 304. J. HIRST, jun., and J. HOLLINGWORTH. "Improvements in the construction of power looms." Dated Feb. 2, 1859.

This relates, 1, when a series of lifting shuttle boxes is used to operating them by a series of cams or tappets capable of being slid so as to bring the particular cam or tappet into position to operate upon the connecting means to the boxes in order to asure the box required being brought into a line with the race or lay, arad at the same time operating supporting catches to such boxes to release them to the extent desired to enable the particular catches |

645. C. H. Hurst. 653. W. Clark. 657. W. Robertson and J. G. Orchar.

706. W. C. Cambridge. 709. W. Hudson and C. Catlow.

721. W. A. Gilbee. 754. H. Rigby. 780. W. Mossman. 800. A. V. Newton. 818. W. E. Newton. 830. A. Paget. 935. J. Luis. 993. J. Wotton. 1060. J. Holroyd. 1410. F. Puls. 1420. F. A. T. de Beau

1497. R. Smith. 1521. R. Hornsby, jun. 1561. L. L. Tower. 1598. J. H. and T. Nalder.

THE

MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1859.

THE GREAT EASTERN.

MONDAY, Sept. 12, 1859.

In the late passage of the Great Eastern from
the Thames to Portland, with the terrible epi-
sode of a deadly explosion, there is much that
seems to require our attention. The remarks
which we transmitted from the ship for publi-
cation in our last number will have acquainted
our readers with the prosperity and promise of
the journey from Deptford to the Nore. Our
present observations will therefore be directed
to what happened during the completion of the
passage from that point. And in carrying out
our design we shall not enter upon any detailed
narrative of that eventful trip. The rapid run
to the Downs against a driving wind-the
steady progress down the Channel through a
gale which no other vessel faced-the joy and
confidence with which all on board beheld the
mastery man's genius had at last gained over
wave and storm-then, the sudden explosion,
the crashing down of the funnel, the rushing of
the steam, the bursting up of the saloon, the
alarm of fire, the activity of the officers, the
steadiness of the passengers, the rescue of the
scalded firemen, the devotion of the surgeons,
the gradual return of confidence, the continu-
ance of the voyage, the deaths of the sufferers,
the arrival at Portland, the greetings from all
around the ship, the silence of all within her
all these things have been faithfully and ably
told by the special correspondents of the daily
press, and need no repetition here. But con-
nected with these occurrences there were others
which fall within our professional sphere, and
which, if they are not dealt with efficiently here,
will probably not be dealt with efficiently at all.
To these, then, let us turn.

"Great Eastern Steamship, "Portland Harbour, 10th Sep., 1859. "Yesterday, at six p.m., an accident occurred on board the Great Eastern. The feed-water casing of the foremost chimney collapsed, owing to some neglect. Several stokers are seriously scalded; three machinery are uninjured except main cabin fittings No passengers injured. The ship and which are damaged. The working of the engines con tinued, and the ship proceeded uninterruptedly on her voyage to Portland.

since dead.

for letting off any steam that might be gene-issued before the company left the ship in
rated in it; on the contrary, it was furnished Portland harbour on Saturday last. It runs :-
with such a valve, or rather with a tap, and
this valve or tap opened into a small stand-pipe
which was led up by the side of the main blow-
off steam pipe of the boiler. Why the pipe
alone was not sufficient, and why it had a tap
fitted to it we cannot divine. But such a tap
was fitted, and unhappily, on the occasion in
question, it was either closed or left closed-by
whom, or by whose dire neglect, the inquest
upon the dead alone can be expected to reveal
and, consequently, when the engineer ceased
and found no escape. Hence the accident which
to feed from the chamber, steam was generated
all men must deplore!

And first, let us state that the cause of the explosion which occurred has not been correctly described, we believe, by the correspondents of the daily press. It is quite true, as has been said, that the vessel which burst was formed by the uptake or funnel on the inside and by a casing on the outside; and also that while the primary object in forming this chamber was to prevent the heating of the saloons, a further advantage was gained by feeding the boiler from the water which the chamber contained. This water, being supplied to the chamber cold, and drawn off when heated by the waste gases passing up the uptake, first had the effect of keeping the water-casing cool, and afterwards (when heated) was readily converted into steam in the boiler. So far the newspaper accounts are correct. But when they proceed to tell us that "the safety of the whole affair depends upon "the stop-cock which lets off the water into "the boilers being watched with unremitting "vigilance," and that "the neglect of this for "half-an-hour would allow steam to generate "in the casing, which would then, in plain แ terms, become a gigantic boiler, without a "ralee or any means of letting off its steam "save by blowing up"-when, we say, they tell us this, and add that it was the neglect of turning the aforesaid stop-cock that occasioned the accident, they fall into error. The fact is, the "gigantic boiler" was not without a valve

The Times, Monday, Sept. 12, 1859.

"J. SCOTT RUSSELL, "J. E. M'CONNELL, "R. P. BRETON, BRERETON,

11

"F. P. SMITH,

"W. SMITH,

"W. WOLLASTON BLAKE."

The rate at which she

About a

And before proceeding further, let us do an act of simple justice to Mr. Scott Russell, by It is incumbent upon us to record the history preventing a misapprehension which may easily of this very ridiculous production-ridiculous arise. It is thought by some that the responsi- because while it pretends to be a professional with that gentleman, as the builder of the pad-whom are either real or pretended engineers, it bility of the arrangement above described rests document, and bears the names of men all of dle-wheel engines; the more so because a simi- does not state a single fact that was not known lar arrangement was excluded from the boilers to every soul on board the ship long before it apused for the screw-engines of Messrs. Boulton peared. The manner of its concoction will be and Watt. But this opinion is utterly false. gathered from the following statement :-Up to We have proof as positive as can be desired to the time of the explosion, the success of the effect that for the arrangement in ques- the Great Eastern was felt by all on board tion Mr. Russell is not in the remotest to be fully assured. degree responsible. It was adopted by the travelled, with engines at half-speed only-Company on the recommendation of their own engineer, and was carried out by the Company-the ease and readiness with which she her perfect steadiness in heavily-rolling seas in entire independence of Mr. Russell as the answered her helm-the absence of all vibrabuilder of the paddle-engines. We are the tion in her splendid saloons-all these things, those engines themselves-by far the largest in in all her mechanical features the vessel was a more anxious to enforce these facts, because and some others, had made it plain that existence, and for which Mr. Russell is solely complete triumph. When the explosion came, responsible--are unquestionably one of the a brief, but strong revulsion of feeling ensued. most magnificent and successful features of this In accounting for this let us state our own permagnificent and successful ship. On the whole sonal experiences in the matter. journey from Deptford to Portland, the astonish- dozen passengers, including Mr. James Nasing ease, the constant uniformity, in a word, the myth, the celebrated engineer, Mr. M'Connell, absolute perfection with which those huge the locomotive engineer, Lord Alfred Paget, machines worked, excited the unceasing admi- three or four literary gentlemen, and ourselves ration of some of the foremost engineers in the were right forward in the bow, sitting in the whole world, several of whom were on board. shelter of the topside; and having decided When this is understood, and when it is further that the ship was mechanically a success, were stood the tremendous shock of that great ex- Lord Paget was uttering the last word of a remembered that the noble hull, which with- about to discuss her commercial prospects. plosion absolutely unharmed, was also the work sentence when a loud report, and a fearful throb would be to detract from the credit of such suc- turned all our eyes aft. They were so turned of the same man, all will feel how unfair it through the ship beneath us, in an instant cesses by any error on the point in question. only to behold the foremost funnel fly upward, followed by a cloud of steam driving the wreck of the grand saloon before it. Our first impression was that the boiler itself had burst, but something in the sound of the report made us think that the bottom of the ship had successfully resisted the shock. Of this we could able time had elapsed. Being situated before not, of course, assure ourselves until considerthe scene of the explosion, with a high wind driving aft, there was nothing to prevent our rushing at once to the spot. This we accordingly did, in sufficient time to hear the first cries of agony, and of fire also, from below. Steps were at once taken to rescue the firemen from the stokehole; but ere more than two or (in a condition which we need not describe three of the unfortunate men were brought up sive activity at the ship's side. This arose here) our attention was called off by an excesmaking to lower a boat-whether to save a from an attempt which some of the riggers were frightened nobleman, as some say, or to rescu? a man who had leaped overboard, as others say, we cannot positively state. But we at once saw that the paddle-wheels were still going, and that the boat was being lowered immediately in front of them. One word whispered in the car of Captain Harrison sufficed to have this monstrous folly checked, and the boat restored

Nor let us be content with doing justice to one individual. Let us do it also to the Company's engineer, by saying that nothing within of the late accident upon him. The arrangeour present knowledge places the responsibility ment of water-casing described may be, and we be observed, the thing itself was not in this believe is, a bad and dangerous one; but, let it instance the cause of the disaster. It was either the unwise adoption or the bad management of a mere detail the valve or tap-that caused the explosion, and no evidence has yet been produced to show who was guilty of that unwise adoption or that bad management. This board the ship after the accident, but without we laboriously endeavoured to ascertain on avail. Clearly, however, the Company's engineer At the same time, as other dangers attend the may be entirely free from blame in the matter. altogether done away with in the Great Eastern use of the feed-water casing, we hope it will be

for the future.

And now, before we turn from this subject of the explosion, let us advert to certain circumstances which followed that event, and which reflect great discredit upon some few of the passengers who are pleased to call themselves engineers. Some of the morning papers have printed the following document, which was

to its place. The removal of the hysterical wife of a director, who was rushing wildly in the thick of the turmoil screaming for her son, with the restoration of both son and husband to her, and other circumstances of the kind, varied the business of the moment, but need no record here. A considerable time-nearly a quarter of an hour-elapsed before either the Captain, Mr. Russell, the Chairman of the Company, or any other official person of note on board, became positively assured that there was nothing to apprehend from fire. There was no panic, or anything of the kind, so far as we observed-no considerable fear, even; but that further danger was supposed to exist for the time we have named is, we believe, quite true. Moreover, until it became known that there were no less than three medical men on board many thought it the duty of those in charge to take the ship into the nearest port; but after this was known, we heard nothing more upon the subject-except from the gentlemen of the press, who naturally enough would have been glad of an early opportunity of making the occurrence known to their respective journals.

Now, from what we have said, as well as from what the newspaper correspondents have said before us, it will be seen that a disastrous "blow-up" occurred. Evidences of the force by which that blow-up was effected were to be seen as soon as the excitement had subsided; first, in the utterly crushed-up condition of the up-take or lower piece of funnel within the casing, and, secondly, in the fact that this mass of metal, weighing a ton or two, had been blown bodily up from below. Equally strong evidences were to be seen in the lower parts of the ship. That the delight which pervaded the minds of all on board up to the moment of the explosion was now succeeded by a general gloom will be readily believed; and it will also be readily understood that none felt really more depressed than the Directors of the Company, to whom the commercial success of the vessel was of the greatest moment; but, like men of business, they-and especially Mr. Campbell, the Chairman-at once set about considering how the best of a bad thing was to be made. The persons with respect to whom they of course became deeply solicitous were the "gentlemen of the press "-chiefly those of the daily press. We had representatives of the Times and half-a-dozen other daily papers on board, and as the despatch of telegrams announcing the accident to the world, and also of papers describing it to the world, rested with these gentlemen, very much depended upon the impressions produced upon their minds. In order to modify those impressions in so far, at least, as an accurate statement of the facts of the case in a scientific manner could modify them-the Chairman and his colleagues determined upon appealing to a scientific man to make such a statement. Accordingly Mr. M'Connell, the locomotive engineer, was requested to prepare himself for the purpose. This he did, and at 11 o'clock on Friday night-five hours after the accident the representatives of the press were assembled in the Chairman's cabin to receive his state

ment.

Now, Mr. M'Connell's duty in the matter should have been plain enough to him. It was, undoubtedly, to have stated as accurately as he could the nature of the apparatus which had produced the mischief, and to have shown, as nearly as he was able, the cause of its failure. He might then with truth have said that the apparatus which had burst formed no integral or necessary part of the ship-that there was but one other of a like nature on board, and

this could readily be removed-that the bottom | Eastern, or lessens the success which her
of the ship had sustained the shock without builder has achieved. What her full speed will
the least injury, thereby showing wonderful prove to be cannot be foretold; her trial trip to
strength-that notwithstanding the alarm of Cherbourg will have that to decide. That trip
the evening, the ship had been in no sort of will also have to determine by what expendi-
danger from fire-that the mischief was really ture of fuel-and generally with what degree of
circumscribed within very narrow limits and economy-her full speed is to be attained. But
that altogether, although the disaster was to be when it is remembered that on her way round
deeply regretted on account of the sufferings to Portland the paddles where at no time per-
and deaths occasioned by it, the inference to be mitted to make more than 8 revolutions per
drawn from a survey of the vessel was, that minute or her screw more than 30, and that she
the hull of the Great Eastern had borne un- nevertheless attained a speed of more than 12
harmed an explosion which would in all pro- knots against a strong head wind, we have good
bability have sent any other ship to the bottom. grounds for expecting great things of her when
All this might have been said, and the only she shall be allowed to do her best. It should
effect produced would have been that of helping be remembered that those extravagant expec-
the gentlemen present to publish a dispassionate tations-of 22 and even 24 knots per hour-
account of what had transpired. There would which we so often hear of on all sides in con-
have been nothing in it to offend either their nection with this subject, have never proceeded
pride or their good sense.
from persons authorised to speak upon the sub-
Mr. Scott Russell modestly names 15
knots has a fair speed for her; and when her
power is compared with that of other vessels
there is really no reason for calling this too low
an estimate. But it is already pretty certain
that she will considerably exceed it; let us
hope she may. But what she is able to do in
respect of speed must of course depend, to a
great extent, upon the capabilities of her screw
engines, and we are sorry to say we feel rather
doubtful as to them. They are unfortunately
horizontal engines, and very similar to those
fitted by Boulton and Watt in screw ships of
war. For such ships it is, of course, absolutely
necessary to keep the engines low, and there is
good reason therefore for adapting horizontal
engines to them. But there was no kind of ne-
cessity for fitting such engines in the Great
Eastern. We should have very much preferred
to see her furnished with engines of the form
now largely in use on the Clyde, the plan of
which may be said to be a modification of Mr.
Nasmyth's hammer engine. In the arrange-
ment to which we refer the cylinder is placed
above the screw shaft, and from the piston rod
a long connecting rod extends down to the
shaft. A light hollow frame carries the cylin-
der, and a cross-head on the piston forms a
guide, sliding up and down between the oppo-
site sides of the frame. The hollow frame it-
self forms the condenser. Engines of this con-
struction work with great smoothness and
sweetness-more than can ever be hoped for
from the screw engines of the Great Eastern-
and such engines might have been adapted to
her with the utmost convenience. It must also
be admitted that the present engines manifested
much uneasiness on the trip to Portland-an
uneasiness which we sincerely hope may not re-
appear on the next trial.

But Mr. M'Connell-with whom, for someject.
mysterious reason, Mr. F. P. Smith got asso-
ciated in the business-acted quite otherwise.
It will scarcely be believed, but it is neverthe-
less true, that, in his first words, he said he
"desired to disabuse the minds of the gentle-
"men present of the belief that an explosion
"had taken place." "There has been," said he,
no explosion, but only a collapse of a water
"vessel." When it is remembered that cor-
respondents of the press almost invariably con-
sider themselves thoroughly independent,
honourable, and excessively clever fellows, the
effect of Mr. M'Connell's announcement may be
imagined. It was, of course, met not only with
stout resistance, but with derision; and was
followed by an hour of most unprofitable talk,
ending with the promise of a report signed by
Mr. M'Connell and Mr. F. P. Smith in the
morning. On our part we opposed this pro-
ceeding, urging the production of a report for
which Mr. M'Connell, or some other engineer
alone, should be responsible, or else of a report
from a committee formed of several of the
scientific men on board. It should be remem-
bered that we had Mr. Nasmyth, Mr. Appold,
and other eminent men on board the ship; and
there can be no doubt that had the object of the
proceeding been fairly and justly carried out,
we should have had a truly scientific report
framed before we left the ship. As it was, a
draft of a statement even more absurd than that
afterwards produced was brought forward, but
was withdrawn on the opposition of a literary
gentleman, who pronounced one of its clauses "a
lie," and most of the others unfair. Finally, the
precious document printed above was produced,
and signed by some who would sign anything to
get their names in print-men who will have a
finger even in a dirt pie-and also by Mr.
Blake and Mr. Russell, whose names were after-
wards put to it, probably to save trouble, and
because the paper meant nothing. We state
all these facts only for the sake of denouncing
them; we state them only that we may follow
them by saying that, from first to last, Mr.
M'Connell and his officious colleagues on this
occasion, did nothing but degrade science and
put really scientific men to the blush. The
whole of their proceedings, from the moment
when reference was first made to them until we
left the ship, were in the highest degree dis-
creditable to them as professional or scientific

Several of those writers for the daily press who have most admired the steadiness of the ship on her last week's voyage, seem to imagine that when, by the breaking of the steering lines, command of her was temporarily lost off Beachy Head, she rolled and pitched very heavily. This was not so. A real and manifest motion was undoubtedly imparted to her when she fell off from the wind, but it was so slight that it would scarcely have been noticed at all in any other vessel. For our part we are quite convinced, from the experience of last week, that the Great Eastern, if properly handled, will disappoint no one in the matter of steadiness in a seaway. Our meals were taken throughout the journey down Channel without our being once reminded, by any movement of the service, that we were on board a Having disposed of these scientific (!) pro- ship at all,—and yet we were really in the ceedings, let us now remind our readers that midst of high winds and turbulent seas. We the disaster of Friday evening last in no way must add to all this the perfect ease and readidetracts from the intrinsic merits of the Greatness with which this huge monster steers, in

men.

We should say this had we been entirely unsupported in our opinions; but we say it all the more readily because the really scientific men who were on board are looking to us for a firm protest on the subject.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14.

order to fully appreciate her qualities as a sea- | paper"-the Morning Star, which has reported
going vessel.
upon the various features of this case with sin-
gular moderation and fairness-we find that
although the fact is suppressed in the Times)
Mr Russell did object to the evidence given on
Monday, or rather to the endeavours which the
Company appear to be making to colour the
facts of the case, and said "he was decidedly at
"issue with the Company upon some points re-
"lative to the inquiry."

In the evidence given at the inquest on
Monday last, as reported in the morning
papers, the accuracy of our former remarks (writ-
ten on Monday) is fully established. It appears
that the tap and stand-pipe were really fitted
as we said, and the difficulty we had in account-
ing for the existence of a tap in such a pipe is
removed by the statement that it was put there If we may be allowed to offer a suggestion to
to enable the engineers to test the funnel-casing the Company we would advise them-and es-
by hydraulic pressure. It is therefore pretty pecially their young and inexperienced solicitor,
evident that the cause of the accident will ulti- Mr. Leverson (or Levy-son, as we think the cor-
mately be traced to some individual or indivi-rect name is)-not to run to excesses through
duals. We account for the mistake made by an undue anxiety to protect the Company at
the newspaper writers in their accounts of the the expense of the illustrious builder of the
accident by assuming that they mistook the ship, or of any one else. It is perfectly evident
top of the length of casing which was blown from the Morning Star's report of this day that
upon the deck for the top. This is certainly the coroner is already alive to their danger in
what some persons did-a Metropolitan Mem- this respect, and has offered a gentle warning,
ber of Parliament, for instance, who was on which we hope the solicitor will avail himself
board, and who displayed great skill and inge-of-witness the following conversation :-
nuity in discussing with us the cause of the
accident; and this, probably, is what the
gentlemen in question did also.

39

It would also appear from the evidence given by one of the witnesses on Monday last that Mr. Scott Russell had charge of the boilers at the time of the accident. If he had, it cannot be supposed that an engineer taking temporarily the general control of a ship's boilers is to be held responsible for the condition of a tap which was boxed up or cased in many days before, and which, as a matter of course, should have been open, and afforded no sort of indication that it was not so. But we believe it to be altogether a mistake to suppose that Mr. Russell had anything whatever to do with the charge of the boilers on the trip. What he took upon himself-in our own hearing, in the first instance, as it happens-was the duty of communicating between the pilot or captain and the engine-rooms, in order that no bungling or risk might happen in consequence of imperfect or contradictory instructions reaching the engineers in charge of the paddle-wheel engine and the screw engine respectively. For this purpose he took his station upon the paddle-bridge, and stuck to it-incessantly from London to the Nore, and all but as incessantly from the Nore to the Downs, all the while the ship was under weigh. How it is possible for any one to suppose that a gentleman stationed there, and having charge of the telegraphs to both enginerooms, can have been at the same time responsible for the details of the various boilers also, passes our understanding. We believe the witnesses must have been altogether mistaken on this head, and look anxiously for further intelligence on the subject.

A Juryman: Mr. Scott Russell I suppose is aware that the imputation is that the man who lengthened the stand-pipe screwed in the tap of the water-casing, and so left it.

Mr. S. Russell: Yes; but think it will be shown
in evidence that previous to the sailing of the vessel,
that cock was found open. I shall be happy to
attend to any intimation from the jury as to the pro-
duction of any other witnesses.

In reply to another question from a juryman,
ing engineer, would be in readiness to give evidence
Mr. Russell said that Mr. Dixon, the superintend-

on Saturday.

The Coroner: Have you many witnesses to call,
Mr. Leverson?

Mr. Leverson: As the case at present stands, it
appears clear that, unless Mr. Scott Russell puts a
different construction upon the facts to that which
we have put upon them, none of the company's
servants are at all to blame for this unfortunate
catastrophe. At present I shall not feel it necessary
upon the part of the company to call any witnesses
whatever.

The Coroner: On the part of the court I can inform you that the first witness I shall think it necessary to call is Mr M'Lennan.

Mr. Leverson explained that he was quite ready to produce any witnesses whom the coroner and jury thought ought to be examined. All that he meant to say was, that he did not intend to volunteer any evidence. He had endeavoured, and should endea Tour, to show that the company were in no way responsible for this deplorable accident.

The Coroner: And I presume that Mr. Scott Russell
will endeavour to show that the responsibility does
not rest upon him.

elicit the whole facts of the case.
Mr. Newman: Mr. Scott Russell will endeavour to

Mr. Russell: All that we wish to know is, who was
the man who shut the cock which caused the explo-
sion?*

In point of fact we think it time the "Comhad given up their personal interference pany' in the ship-time that the captain took charge THURSDAY, Sept. 15. of her, and held himself and his officers responWe have already guarded our readers against sible for all that transpires in her. No confiaccepting the statements made by the witnesses dence will be felt by the public at large until at the inquest on Monday (supposing them to this is done. Meanwhile we may look to the be correctly reported in the Times) as altogether resumption of the inquest for interesting inforfair and true. As matters advance, the neces-mation. What we suspect will be found out is, sity for caution in this respect appears to increase; and we begin further to fear that we must look to other newspapers rather than to the Times for full, and even for fair, reports of what transpires at Weymouth. In confirmation of this we would remind our readers that, in the absence of Mr. Scott Russell on Monday, the witnesses spoke and the Times reporter reported in such a manner as to indirectly but seriously implicate that gentleman. In the Times report of to-day not a word appears to counteract the impression thus produced; nor is Mr. Russell, although present yesterday, represented as expressing any dissatisfaction with Monday's proceedings. But when we turn to a "penny | Chronicle and other papers.

that Mr. Russell, as we before said, took charge
of the engines, and of them alone; but now that
life has been lost and expense incurred by an
explosion in the boiler department, an attempt
is being made to show that he took charge of
that department also. But we have already
stated why we believe this was not the case, and
we have no doubt that the attempt is based
upon either a sad mistake or a gross subter-
fuge time will show which.

But whoever had general charge of the
boilers, it is pretty evident that not he, but
"the man who shut the cock which caused the
The same report appears, we find, in the Morning

The inquest was commenced on Monday morning on the bodies of five men, all of whom lost their lives by the late explosion. It was held at the Town-hall, at Weymouth, before Mr. Henry Lock, the Coroner for Dorset.

the bodies,
The jury having been sworn, and having viewed

the junior engineer of the paddle-engine depart-
ment, who said that it was his duty to attend to
paddle-engines on duty, and to render assistance
the direction of the engineer in charge of the

The first witness examined was James Briscoe,

under their direction. He was told not to meddle

with or make himself responsible for any of the cocks or valves. The duty assigned to him on the morning of the explosion was to attend the boilers and keep a proper supply of water in them. He had charge of the donkey-engine which pumped into the boiler; it was out of order, and did not perform its duty satisfactorily. He stood by one of the donkey-engines in No. 1 stokehole all day to keep it doing its work. That was on the starboard side of the ship. The donkey-engine on the port side of the ship in the forward stokehole had broken down. One minute before the explosion Mr. M'Lennan, the chief engineer of the ship,

Mr.

came down to witness, and looked to the saturation of the water in the boilers, and said, on leaving, that everything seemed right, and again cautioned witness not to meddle with any of the cocks or valves unless told by the engineer in charge of the paddle-engine department. M'Lennan left the place, and witness resumed his place by the donkey-engine. Shortly after the explosion took place, filling the stokehole with hot air and steam, witness came up the fore stokehole ladder. Noticed, while on the lower deck, that the inner and outer casings of the funnels were burst asunder, and that the whole of the cabins were destroyed on the lower saloon. Knew that the bursting of the water-heater round the forward funnel caused the explosion.

Mr. M'Lennan calling the engineers and stokers Examined by Mr. Leverson.-He remembered together on Tuesday last. Mr. M'Lennan told witness not to meddle with the engines or boiler, but to obey the orders of the engineer in charge of the paddle-department; that the engines were in Mr. Scott Russell's hands, and that he had supplied the engineers to attend them himself. Mr. Dickson, Mr. Russell's foreman, assumed control in the paddle-department; the explosion was confined to the funnel casing, which was for heating the water before going into the boilers, and also for keeping the saloon cool. The boiler would under ordinary circumstances be fed with water from the water-casing. At the time of the explosion, the boilers were not being fed from the casing, which was evident from the low temperaceased to feed the boilers from the water-casing, ture of the water going into the boiler. They had he believed, to get a greater amount of water into the boiler. If the water-casing had been regularly kept supplied with water, and a continual