460 EXPLOSION OF THE ^TNA. 
We yesterday viewed, in company with the Coroner, the 
dead and the dying — and such a heart-rending spectacle we 
never before witnessed. The scalds of the dead were deep, 
and notwithstanding their clothes, they extended over the 
whole body. But the survivors presented pictures of unut- 
terable suffering. If prepared for the great event, how well 
might they have envied those whom death had relieved from 
bodily anguish ! 
The name of the man killed on board the ^tna, and whose 
dress is described above, was Mordecai C. Peters, of Phila- 
delphia. 
The following letter, giving an account of the explosion of 
the ^tna, was written by an eye-witness of the dreadful scene, 
a passenger, to his friends in Philadelphia : — 
New-York, May 16. 
It is with pain I inform j^ou of an awful occurrence that 
took place at 7 o'clock last evening on board the steam-boat 
^tna, Captain Thomas Robinson, when about seven miles 
from, and in sight of this city, her boilers bursting with a 
noise like thunder, and throwing the pieces upon the quarter 
deck, where I had the minute before been standing. I had 
walked to the bows when the explosion took place; and 
thanks be to the Almighty that I am one of the few that esca- 
ped unhurt. O! the awfulness of the scene! My situation 
I can scarcely describe. It pleased the Almighty to give me 
a command of myself at this horrid moment, when every one 
on board thought it his last, and some in despair jumped over- 
board and were drowned. A man standing by me was jump- 
ing, when I told him he had better remain quiet, and if the 
boat should be buTned up, we could throw off the cover for 
the cables (a large round box at the bows) that we stood by, 
and might save ourselves in this way. He stopped, and a 
man crying in the water, we threw him a rope and drew him 
upon deck. He was one of the firemen who had been blown 
overboard. This served to compose him a little, or he would 
have jumped over the side of the boat. The smoke disap- 
pearing, the horrors of the sight increased, when we beheld 
the bodies of those who had been struck by pieces of the 
boiler, weltering in their blood on the deck. I now attempt- 
ed to make my way aft, and succeeded, after getting through 
the smoke and broken parts of the wreck, in assisting Captain 
Robinson and others to clear the companion-way, to get mto 
the ladies' cabin. The Captain went down and handed up 
