TERRIBLE DISASTER AT SAN FRANCISCO—GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 572, 25 January 1851, Page 3

TERRIBLE DISASTER AT SAN FRANCISCO—GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.

Steamer “Sagamore” blown up. I [From the Alia California, November I.J I I On Tuesday afternoon, at. a moment when ■ : otir citizens were rejoicing in a general jubi- i jlee, the festivities were marred by the an- i Inouncement of a disaster, the most destructive ito life which has ever befallen our city. At [five o’clock, just as the steamer Sagamore [was casting off from Central Wharf, with a 'large number of passengers, bound for Stockton, her boiler burst with a terrible explosion. [Masses of timber and human bodies were [Scattered in every direction. Many bodies [Were blown into the water, from which they [were recovered by the numerous boats which [thronged about the scene of the disaster. The , boat was a complete wreck, and from among the fragments were taken the dead and the dying, mutilated in a manner shocking to i behold. | The cause of this sad affair is perhaps unknown, The Sagamore's boiler was nearly pew, and was pronounced by the Boiler Inspector to be the best in the port. It may [have been caused by a lack of water, and we pre informed by one of the passengers on her past trip down from Stockton, that her pumps were very much out of order. One of the [passengers on board at the time of the exploi® lon , informs us that steam had not been down off for half an hour previous to the acent. Whatever the cause may be, a rigid [investigation is necessary, in order to prevent, P I^ ss ’h!e, similar accidents in future. I aptain Cole, the master of the boat, was I own a distance of fifty feet into the water.

He is considerably injured, though his wounds are not of such a nature as to preclude a speedy recovery.

lhe wreck has been towed to the beach beyond Bush-street, where she now remains. A large crowd was gathered in the vicinity all day yesterday. The number of persons on board at the time of the accident, cannot he accurately ascertained, as ihe passenger list has not been been fount!. We have heard it variously estimated at from seventy-five to a hundred. Many bodies were so much mutilated that it was found impossible to identify them. Limbs ami fragments were gathered up in baskets, a shocking sight. Twenty persons were killed, and sixteen more or less injured some of whom are not expected to survive, but it is impossible to ascertain at present the full extent of this appalling calamity.