A frightful accident, which seems to have -cost about 120
!lives, occurred on the Clyde on Tuesday, when a vessel -christened Daphne,' built by Messrs. Alexander Stephen and Sons, Linthonse, Glasgow, for the Glasgow and Londonderry -Steam Packet Company, was so launched that, instead of float- ing on the water, she heeled over at once and went to the bottom. The cause of the accident is not yet understood. It -is only certain that the anchor on the port side was dragged much farther than the anchor on the starboard side, the one -being moved sixty yards and the other not more than six or seven. It was conjectured, therefore, that the chains on the two sides had not moved evenly, and that the starboard side had been checked while the port side was unchecked. Another theory is that the vessel was top-heavy, but as yet the cause of -the catastrophe is quite uncertain. A few of the crowd of -workmen on board were picked up by the boats or swam to shore, but 120 are known to be missing, and the hold and -companion-ladder of the ' Daphne ' were found crowded with -corpses. The building and launching of vessels on the Clyde lave usually been so wholly free from accident, that the calamity has caused almost as much wonder as grief and consternation.
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