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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



331 



and fittings, skylights and coinpauions, to be equal and similar to those ves- 

 sels. 



Glazins of the best character (with best hull's eye scuttles). 



The whole of the wood and iron work to have three good coats of paint. 



This vessel is to be fitted with a pair of eiigiues of l(i-horse power, each 

 similar in principle to those on board the Ant and I$ee, wiih a much im- 

 proved and very powerful boiler, A good cabin stove in the after cabin. 



And to be equipped with anchor, ropes, and everything for her station. 

 A small winch at the head for her anchor, and all necessary tiltings com- 

 plete to go upon her station for work, and to include an extra donkey- 

 pump, steam pressure gauge, vacuum gauge, and a Sailer's balance on one 

 safety-valve ; the other safety-valve lo have a weight in the usual way, 

 and all necessary fire irons and spanners. 



Speed to be equal to the fastest of the above bridge boats; consumption 

 of fuel not to exceed 4J lb. of good Welsh coals per indicator horse-power 

 of (06,(100) per hour. 



Time of completion — All, May 1846. 



I, William Joyce, do hereby undertake to make, construct, finish, and 

 supply you with the whole of the before-mentioned works, viz,, tlie iron 

 steamer complete, with her engines, boiler, and fittings, in all respects 

 ready to go to work upon her station, of the very best quality, best of 

 materials and workmanship, and without any extra charge whatever 

 beyond the sum now agreed upon, viz,. Two thousand five hundred and 

 fifty pounds sterling." 



[The periods at which the money was to be paid having been specified, 

 the agreement concludes as follows] : — 



" In consideration of receiving the above order upon the terms specified, 

 I also agree to put the engines and boiler which I have already been paid 

 for into the new steamboat building by Messrs. Ditciibiirn and Co., called 

 the Cricket, and to complete the same engine and boiler in every respect 

 lit for work upon her station (with the exception of half the cost of a don- 

 key pump, pressure gauge, and Salter's balance, which has been settled at 

 £12), before the expiration of the present month. 



Signed by both of us upon the 11th ) O, H. Smith, 



day of February, 1840. ) W. Joyce. 



Witness lo the above signature, Bn. Nash." 



The agreement, it will be observed, stipulates for one boiler only, but 

 Mr. Joyce afterwards undertook to put in two smaller boilers instead of it, 

 ns he considered they would be safer, Mr, Smith, when examined before 

 the coroner, said he had every reason to believe that Mr. Joyce had ad- 

 hered strictly to the terms of the contract, and that the boat and the 

 engines were constructed according to the specification. It appears, how- 

 ever, from the terras of the agreement, that nothing was specified as to the 

 form or strength of the boilers, which were left entirely to Mr. Joyce, under 

 the stipulation that the engines were to be of 16-horse power each, "with 

 n much-improved and very powerful boiler," and to work with a given 

 quanlily of fuel. Whether Mr. Joyce took any and what precautions to 

 test the strength of the boilers before he put them into the boats, has not 

 at the time we are writing been given in evidence ; but the lever-valves 

 were weighied to rise at a pressure of 40 1b, to the square inch, and 

 the spriugvalves were screwed down to 45 lb. During the whole exami- 

 nations not one witness has spoken to having seen the steam blowing otf 

 at the spring-valves. 



The circumstances that have been elicited during the investigation tend 

 strongly to throw the blame of the accident on the gross mismanagement of 

 those who had the charge of the boat. More careless and reckless conduct 

 was scarcely ever disclosed, and the surprise is, not that the boiler burst 

 on the 27th of August Inst, but that it did not burst at any time during the 

 last six months. Clark, the engine driver, who was appointed to the 

 Cricket at Easter last, appears almost from the first to have pursued the 

 plan of tying down the lever safety-valves when the boat was in motion, 

 and the fact seems to h^ve been so notorious that many persons avoided 

 going on the boat, and a " blow. up" was spoken of as an occurrence lo be 

 daily expected. Notwithstanding the notoriety of the fact among the 

 persons connected with the Cricket boats, that Clark was in the habit of 

 tying down the valves, the managing proprietor seems to have been so 

 blindeil by the plausibility of that man's statements, and by confidence in 

 his veracity, that he dismissed Edwards, the stoker, who had complained 

 lo the captain of the danger of the practice, without any inquiry. There 

 is indeed an attempt to deny, on the part of some of Clark's friends, that 

 the valves were tied down ; but the evidence of the fact is too strong to be 

 doubted. Among otners who deposed lo having seen the levers tied down, 

 was iMr. Meachem, the foreman of Mr. Joyce, who was driving the engine 

 one day in the absence of Clark, and when he found the levers lied he 

 instantly cut the strings, remarking at the time that he knew what the 

 boilers would bear better than Clark. The boat seems lo have been fre- 

 quently eniriisled lo the care of persons quite incompetent to the diilits of 

 naoaging the engine, and among others lu whom the charge was coiumit- 



led was a man who six months before had been the porter at a seed ware- 

 house. 



The evidence of the stoker who succeeded Edwards made the case still 

 stronger against Clark than his predecessor. He said that he had regu- 

 larly tied the valves down by the order of Clark when the boat got under- 

 way ; that the pressure indicated by the gauge was sometimes 80, and that 

 the boiler and condenser often became so hot that the steam would not 

 condense, and the engine-room became filled with steam. All parts of the 

 boat became hot in consequence, and it was no uncommon thing at such 

 times for the people on deck to call out, " All hot, all hot I" He further 

 stated, in confirmation of the preceding evidence of Clark's recklessness, 

 that he would sometimes start the boat before the water in the boiler was 

 up to the bottom cock, and that on Sundays, when the boat was most 

 crowded, he would have friends drinking with him in the engine-room, and 

 " practising driving engines." As an instance of the strains the boiler sus- 

 tained by the extreme pressure caused by tying down the valves, this wit- 

 ness said that, — 



'• On one morning, about three weeks after he had been on the boat, on 

 proceeding to light his fires, he found the water all gone out of the boiler 

 below the first row of tubes ; in fact, below the lower cock. The water 

 escaped through a tube which was split the previous day by a pressure of 

 steam. On observing the want of water he began pumping, and pumped 

 an hour and a half, when he found the water continued lo run out as fast 

 as he pumped it in. He did not noiice anything particular the previous 

 day. The valves were lied that day under the general orders. That was 

 one Sunday morning. Clark had not arrived at the time he found the de- 

 fect in the tube, having gone down to Greenwich the previous evening. 

 Witness went on board ihe Bee, and told Mr. Buttriss of the split in the 

 tube, and while Mr. Buttriss was looking at it Mr. Clark arrived, who 

 proposed to caulk the tube, but Mr. Buttriss said that as the pressute 

 would be the same as on the boiler, it would not answer the purpose, and 

 proposed that it should be repaired by an iron bolt and w ashers. That plan 

 was adopted. A round iron bar as thick as bis finger, was placed through 

 the lobe— a washer placed on each end, and ajoinlmade between the 

 washer and the boiler. Witness pumped the engines to fill the boiler after 

 that, when it leaked a little at first, but when they were running and the 

 water got hot, it did not leak at all. Four days or a week after that occa- 

 sion, be found the water leaked trom a joint of another tube, where it was 

 made fast to the boiler. There was no split in the lube. After pumping 

 an hour, Mr. Buttriss came on board, and wiih the assistance of Mr, Ball, 

 the mate, the danger was repaired, so that they could run. He believed 

 it was hammered round." 



In addition to the wanton sporting with human life on the part of the 

 engine-driver, which the evidence discloses, there appears also to have been 

 culpable misconduct by the persons employed to manage the atTairs of the 

 company. The engineers and stokers are represented to have been kepi at 

 work from five in the morning till twelve at night, being exposed during a 

 portion of the lime to a temperature of 100°. The incessant working of the 

 three boats belonging to the company caused also greater difficulty with 

 the boilers, lh'.^re not being time to blow out the water and examine the 

 boilers, as in other steam vessels; and the dismissal of Edwards, without 

 inquiry, for complaining of the conduct of Clark, seemed efiTectually lo pre- 

 vent other complaints from being made. 



It will be observed from the summary of the evidence we have given re- 

 lating lo the cause of the accident, that the question of the comparative 

 safety of high-pressure and low-pressure engines is in reality scarcely in- 

 volved by the explosion of the boiler of the Cricket. By lying down the 

 safety-valves any boiler might be burst, and a low-pressure boiler would 

 have the less chance of escape under such Irealment, We have as yet no 

 muiute description of the construction of the Cricket's boilers, as Mr, 

 Lloyd, the engineer appointed by the Board of Trade to investigate the 

 matter, has not at the lime we write made his report; but from the account 

 given by Mr, Galloway and others, there appears to have been a want of 

 proper stays in the steam chest and boiler casing. The safety of tubular 

 boilers arises trom the comparative weakness of the tube fastenings, by 

 which when the pressure becomes dangerous the sleam escapes through 

 some small rent, and Ibe pressure is relieved by the escape of steam. This 

 principle might be still further applied, so as lo render an explosion, in 

 the ordinary meaning of the word, next to impossible. 



There is one point that especially deserves notice with respect to high- 

 pressure steam, which renders it in some respects a much safer force than 

 steam of low pressure. High-pressure ateain dues not saild. Among the 

 deaths and serious injuries inflicted by the explosion of the Cricket'* 

 boiler, we do not find that any one has been seriously scalded. One person 

 who was blown from the deck, says, that he felt himself struck on the 

 head by the steam, but he experienced do sensation of heat. We are ae- 



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