NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 535, 6 March 1876, Page 3

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

COLLISION AND LOSS OF TWENTYTWO LIVES. (Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.) Livbepool, January 31. Another great maritime disaster has occurred" in St George's Channel, involving a loss of "no fewer than 22 liv es. The steamer Dante, owned by Messrs Glover Brothers, of London, sailed from Liverpool on a voyage to Bombay on Wednesday last, with a crew of 28 hands, all told, and two other persons, who were either passengers or the doctor and purser. She was under the command of Captain Buchanan, and her Liverpool agents were Messrs Stoddart Brothers, of Water street. About midnight she had paßsed the Smalls, and was between that point and the Tuskar Light. The watches were being changed when the red light of an approaching vessel was seeu to starboard. The night was dark and clomdy, and there was a strong breeze from the south-west, with a good sea on. The helm of the steamer was ported, but in a short time she was run into by a vessel, which proved to be the Norwegian barque Gronsvair, bound for Liverpool. The Dante was struck amidships on the port side, and such was the force of the shock that she sank seven minutes afterwards. The chief officer and three men clambered on to the bows of the barque, and the others were either carried down with the steamer or were eft struggling in the water. The second engineer was picked up four hours afterwards floating on a spar. The captain, chief engineer, and a fireman were discovered clinging to a lifeboat of the Dante after eight hours' immersion. All these men were taken on board the barque, which put out boats to search for survivors, and brought to Liverpool, where they arrived this morning. The Gronsvair was but slightly injured, having her cutwater and bows partially stove in. Some of the survivors were taken to the Sailor's Home here, where their wants were attended to. The Dante was a vessel

of 1743 tons and 1000 horse power, and was built in 1874 by Messrs J. Softley and Co. As above stated she was owned in London by Messrs Glover Brothers, she was valued at £35,000, and the value of her cargo was between £BO,OOO and £IOO,OOO. FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT. (Pall Mall Gazette, Jan. 7.) A serious and fatal accident occurred on the Qreat Eastern Railway on the Ist inst, between Mutford and Somerleyton, to the 9.10 a.m train from Lowestoft. The Oulton Marshes, near Somerleyton, have for many weeks been submerged 2ft and 3ft several miles along each side of the line, and the line is undergoing repairs. At the spot where the accident took place a number of men were at work. They saw the train approaching, but had only "stood clear" when the two engines attached to the 1 rain left the metals. The foremost engine plunged to the south side of the line, knocking two of the men into the water, and falling on the top of them and killing them, and the second engine went over into the water on the north side of the line. William Brazier, the fireman on the second engine, was injured so severely that he died two hours afterwards. The brake van and a composite carriage, which came next to the engines, did not go completely over, but the next carriage, in which were fifty third-class passengers, turned over on its side, and the passengers were saturated with water. The screams of the women and children were (the report says) terrific, but several of the men climbed to the uppermost side, smashed the glass, opened the doors, and brought out their less strong-minded neighbours. Two or three of the passengers sustained severe lacerations, but their injuries are not serious. At the inquest on the bodies of the three men who were killed, Captain Tyler, who happened to be at Norwich when the news of the accident arrived, and went to the spot immediately, gave evidence and stated the result of his investigation. He said he had come to the conclusion that the accident was caused by running two tank engines over a road which was weakened by its being in course of renewal, and which in its condition at the time was not capable of supporting the weight which it had to sustain. The jury, having deliberated an hour and a half, returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased men met with their deaths through an accident upon the Great Eastern Railway. They added that they were unanimously of opinion that the accident occurred in consequence of the permanent way having been relaid, and not being sufficiently secure for trains to pass over it at the regulation speed of twenty-five miles "per hour; that that speed was too high, and that, taking into consideration (the condition of the line, it should not have exceeded seven miles per hour, and that danger signals should have been sent out to warn coming trains. They blamed the railway authorities for allowing two tank engines to run at such a speed over an unfinished line, and expressed the opinion that there was great want of proper supervision. They thanked Captain Tyler for his valuable assistance. COLLIERY EXPLOSION, (Home News.) On January sth another terrible colliery accident occurred at Talke, North Staffordshire. The scene of the disaster is a little removed from the old spot, the pits belonging to the representatives of the late John Wedgwood, called the Gammage Pits, lying in the valley nearer Red street and Chesterton. One hundred and one men are employed at the colliery, which is quite a new one, coal having been found about twelve months ago § At the time of the accident the five men killed were working in the fiery 7ft seam, and the remainder in the Bft. Suddenly an explosion occurred, which completely destroyed the 7ft seam and killed five of the sixteen men at work there. Those working in the Bft seam were all got out safe. One horse was killed. The cage hanging at the mouth of the pit was blown over the the head stocks and dashed to pieces, as were also the plates covering the pit mouth. Eighty-six men had been at work during the day, but they were divided into turns. The bottom of the shaft was smashed in, and a breach made right to the furnace. An exploring party of fourteen descended and soon recovered the dead bodies of the five men. They described the destruction of property as fearful. The cause of the is supposed to be a shot fired against the instructions of the fireman. The system of supplying the men with Davy lamps was strictly carried out at the pits, and shots were not allowed to be fired only under instructions from the fireman, if at all. Hundreds crowded on the pit's banks as soon as the terrible news had spread, BURNING OF THE WARSPITE. The London correspondent of the Argus Ba y ß : —We are doing our best to set the Thames on fire. The most startling incident of the present month has been the destruction of another training ship on the river. The Warspite was an old man-of-war, in possession of the Marine Society, and fitted out by them for the training of our lads as sailors. There were some 170 boys, all in bed, on Sunday night, when about one o'clock smoke was perceived by those on watch to be coming from the cockpit. It quickly filled the lower deck, and it soon became apparent that the ship was on fire. The boys quickly rallied to the call of discipline, but all efforts to extinguish the flames were unavailing. The Warspite was lying off Charlton pier, near Woolwich, and only some sixty yards from the shore. All manner of help was quickly at hand, and all on board were rescued without injury, but the flames burnt all night through. The masts fell, and nothing remained at last but a smoking hull. I This catastrophe, following within a fortnight of the burning of the Goliath, if an accident is most remarkable, but the suspicion of incendiarism is strong, and a reward has been offered to bring out the fact. It is said that two lads were seen coming up from the cockpit just before the smoke appeared, but the evidence is confused, the chief officer of the ship alleging that the hole through which they are said to have come was not large enough for them to have put their heads through, and suggesting that the story was invented through timidity. An inquest into the circumstances attending the loss of life in connection with the Goliath has been held. The bodies of four lads have been recovered, but the master has not yet been found. The evidence makes it clear that the fire originated in the lamproom, as at first reported, by the upsetting of a petroleum lamp. The Ml ant conduct of the boys and of. all on board has been

much eulogised. The Dean of Westminster made them the subject of a discourse to children in Westminster Abbey on Innocents' Day, pointing the moral of their example; and Mr Tenniel, in Punch, has taken the same theme to show what society may make by means of training ships out of the refuse of its streets. The investigation into the wreck of the Deutschland has happily removed the reproach which hung over the Harwich boatmen. It is clearly shown that there was no invasion of the doomed ship by wreckers, no plunder or mutilation of bodies, and that all was done to help which could be reasonably attempted. AUSTRALIAN MAIL SERVICES. (Daily News, Jan. 7.) " Round the world in seventy days." This was the burden of the speeches delivered yesterday afternoon on board the steamship Australia, a spick and span new vessel, recently added to the Australian and New Zealand fleet of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which, in co-operation with English and Scotch capital, "works" the American overland mail route to Australia, New Zealand, Honolulu, and Fiji—of course via San Francisco. New routes to the colonies have been rather plentiful of late, but the tug of competition, if competition there be, will inevitably ba felt between the East Australian route through the Suez Canal and the American overland route. Praotically, however, there is no rivalry. The East Australian line, running in conjunction with the Peninsular and Oriental and other great companies, takes in Malta, the Suez Canal, Aden, Singapore, Batavia, and Hong Kong, en route to the ports of the thriving young colony of Queensland. The western route comprises a run across the United States, from Atlantic to Pacific by rail, and steam service from San Francisco to the Sandwich Islands ; thence to Fiji. Here is raised the cry of " Passengers for New Zealand change here;" while the other "colonials" proceed straight to Sydney. The Australia, which now lies in the South West India Docks, ready to sail on the 16th instant, is a sister ship to five other vessels engaged in the American overland route, and like them, ehe is a model of what an ocean-going steamer bound for warm latitudes should be, with a long, yachtike run, and superb accommodation above and between decks. On the Atlantic twentyeight different lines of steamers afford a choice of as many weekly departures from Great Britain and the continent of Europe to the Dnited States and Canada, and in America there are daily express trains on various lines converging on Omaha, in connection with the famous Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways to San Francisco. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company, whose newest ship is the Australia, has entered into governmental contracts for the mails between that port and the colonies of New South Wales and New Zealand for a period of eight years. The introduction of the Australia was as is now customary on such occasions, celebrated yesterday by a luncheon, after which a few toasts complimentary to the countries and companies concerned in the undertaking were cordially honored. Sir D. Cooper, "an old Australian," was in the chair, and Mr E. Wilson, of the Melbourne Argus, and other well-known colonists, with several American gentlemen, were present to wish " God speed" to the enterprise. The San Francisco route, however, was not exclusively advocated, the general opinion being that any project which would shorten the time distance between our dependencies was to be welcomed, not so much as a benefit to this or that country, as to the world at large. Mr Wilson, enlarging on this idea, said that to our shame we had not hitherto done justice to our opportunities of prompt, rapid, and regular communication between Great Britain and her colonies. He, as well as other speakers, described in glowing terms the delightful possibilities of voyaging to the east via the Suez Canal, and returning via San Francisco (or vice versa) within seventy days, and one gentleman went so far as to insist that no English member of Parliament should be elected who had not, by one of the routes now established, " put a girdle round the globe," and so made himself acquainted with the colonial dependencies of the empire. Sir D. Cooper gave an instance of the rapidity of modern travelling. The French steamer at Point de Galle was five days late, and he, contriving thereby to catch her, was able to enter his London residence forty-two days after leaving Melbourne. The most confident anticipations were pronounced in favour of a 70 as against a 90 dayß' passage round the globe, and the general impression left upon the minds of the guests entertained in the beautiful saloon of the Australia was that in these days a voyage to the Antipodes is not only a trifle not to be considered, but performed west and by east, or east and by west, a duty which no man pretending to knowledge of the world dares neglect; also, that this pleasant educational process could not be better experienced than in some such luxurious boat as the Australia.