CHAPTER XIV.

STEAMBOAT EXPLOSIONS-OCEAN MAIL-STEAMERS-WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER.

Since steam navigation began many a noble steamboat has been wrecked, and many thousands of human lives have been lost. River and ocean steamers alike have been destroyed, by tempest, by accident, by fire, and by the explosion of boilers. Volumes might be filled with the sad details of such melancholy events, but we cannot do more-than select one or two, at random, as illustrations of the calamities of this kind which are permitted to fall upon man.

About thirty years ago, there occurred on one of the American rivers the following

STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION.

The details of this dreadful event are thus narrated by an eye-witness :

"On the morning of the 24th February 1830, the Helen M'Gregor steamboat stopped at Memphis, on the Mississippi river, to deliver freight and land a number of passengers, who resided in that section of Tennessee. The time occupied in so doing could not have exceeded three quarters of an hour. When the boat landed, I went ashore to see a gentleIman with whom I had some business. I found him on the beach, and after a short conversation I returned to the boat I recollect looking at my watch as I passed the gangway; it was half-past eight o'clock. A great number of persons

were standing on what is called the boiler deck, being that part of the upper deck situated immediately over the boilers. It was crowded to excess, and presented one dense mass of human bodies. In a few minutes we sat down to breakfast in the cabin. The table, although extending the whole length of the cabin, was completely filled, there being upwards of sixty cabin passengers, among whom were several ladies and children.

"The number of passengers on board, deck and cabin included, was between four and five hundred. I had almost finished my breakfast, when the pilot rung his bell for the engineer to put the machinery in motion. The boat having just shoved off, I was in the act of raising my cup to my lips, the tingling of the pilot bell yet on my ear, when I heard an explosion resembling the discharge of a small piece of artillery. The report was perhaps louder than usual in such cases, for an exclamation was half uttered by me that the gun was well loaded, when the rushing sound of steam and the rattling of glass in some of the cabin windows, checked my speech and told me too well what had occurred.

"I almost involuntarily bent my head and body down to the floor. A vague idea seemed to shoot across my mind that more than one boiler might burst, and that, by assuming this posture, the destroying matter would pass over without touching me.

"The general cry of, 'A boiler has burst!' resounded from one end of the table to the other; and, as if by a simultaneous movement, all started on their feet. Then commenced a general race to the ladies' cabin, which lay more towards the stern of the boat. All regard to order or deference to the sex seemed to be lost in the struggle for which should be first and furthest removed from the dreaded boilers. The

danger had already passed away. I remained standing by the chair on which I had been previously sitting. Only one or two persons stayed in the cabin with me. As yet, no more than half a minute had elapsed since the explosion; but in that brief space how had the scene changed!

"In that 'drop of time' what confusion, distress, and dismay! An instant before, and all were in the quiet repose of security-another, and they were overwhelmed with alarm or consternation. It is but justice to say, that in this scene of terror the ladies exhibited a degree of firmness worthy of all praise. No screaming, no fainting: their fears, when uttered, were not for themselves, but for their husbands and children.

"I advanced from my position to one of the cabin doors, for the purpose of inquiring who were injured, when, just as I reached it, a man entered by the opposite one, both his hands covering his face, and exclaiming, 'O God! O God! I am ruined!' He immediately began to tear off his clothes. When stripped, he presented a most shocking spectacle. His face was entirely black; his body without a particle of skin. He had been flayed alive. He gave me his name and place of abode, then sank in a state of exhaustion and agony on the floor.

He

"I assisted in placing him on a mattress taken from one of the berths, and covered him with blankets. He complained of heat and cold as at once oppressing him. bore his torments with manly fortitude, yet a convulsive shriek would occasionally burst from him. His wife, his children were his constant theme ;—it was hard to die without seeing them—'it was hard to go without bidding them one farewell.' Oil and cotton were applied to his wounds, but he soon became insensible to earthly misery.

"Before I had done attending to him, the whole floor

of the cabin was covered with unfortunate sufferers.

Some

bore up under the horrors of their situation with a degree of resolution amounting to heroism. Others were wholly

overcome by the sense of pain, the suddenness of the disaster, and the near approach of death. Some implored us, as an act of humanity, to complete the work of destruction and free them from present suffering.

"To add to the confusion, persons were every moment running about to learn the fate of their friends and relatives-fathers, sons, brothers; for in this scene of unmixed calamity it was impossible to say who were saved, or who had perished. The countenances of many were so disfigured as to be past recognition.

"My attention after some time was particularly drawn towards a poor fellow, who lay unnoticed on the floor, without uttering a single word of complaint. He was at a little distance removed from the rest. He was not much scalded; but one of his thighs was broken, and a principal artery had been severed, from which the blood was gushing rapidly. He betrayed no displeasure at the apparent neglect with which he was treated. He was perfectly calm. I spoke to him. He said he was very weak, but felt himself going-it would soon be over. A gentleman ran for one of the physicians. He came, and declared that if expedition were used he might be preserved by amputating the limb; but that to effect this it would be necessary to remove him from the boat. Unfortunately the boat was not sufficiently near to run a plank ashore. We were obliged to wait until it could be close hauled. I stood by him calling for help. We placed him on a mattress and bore him to the guards. There we were detained some

time, from the cause we have mentioned. Never did any

thing appear to me so slow as the movements of those engaged in hauling the boat.

"I knew, and he knew, that delay was death-that life was fast ebbing. I could not take my gaze from his face; there all was coolness and resignation. No word or gesture indicative of impatience escaped him. He perceived, by my loud and perhaps angry tone of voice, how much I was excited by what I thought the barbarous slowness of those around. He begged me not to take so much trouble they were doing their best.' At length we got him on shore. It was too late-he was too much exhausted, and died immediately after the amputation.

"As soon as I was relieved from attending on those in the cabin, I went to examine that part of the boat where the boiler had burst. It was a complete wreck- a picture of destruction. It bore ample testimony to the tremendous force of that power which the ingenuity of man had brought to his aid. The steam had given everything a whitish hue; the boilers were displaced; the deck had fallen down; the machinery was broken and disordered. Bricks, dirt, and rubbish, were scattered about. Close by the bowsprit was a large rent, through which, I was told, the boiler, after exploding, had passed out, carrying one or two men in its mouth,

"Several dead bodies were lying around. Their fate had been an enviable one compared with that of others; they could scarcely have been conscious of a pang ere they ceased to be. On the starboard wheel house lay a human body, in which life was not yet extinct, though apparently there was no sensibility remaining. The body must have been thrown from the boiler-deck, a distance of thirty feet. The whole of the forehead had been blown away. The brains were still beating.