DESTRUCTION OF THE GOLIATH TRAININGSHIP.

Evening Star, Issue 4063, 4 March 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

DESTRUCTION OF THE GOLIATH TRAININGSHIP.

This old wooden frigate, used for a train-ing-shipf or lads intended to serye ; in, the : . Navy, Was destroyed by fire on DjeoefidW ' 22. Four hundred and eighty of these' weird on board at the time. The * Times * ., “Theship’screw, officers, men, and boys were at duty at a quarter to'six in the .morning, ■ scrubbing the decks. The under deohs were lighted by swing petroleum lamps 1 —the petroleum, as is usual with wOTt house stores,, being supplied 'by ' com tract. At a quarter or ten minutes 'to eight o’clock, just ns daylight was breaks ing. on the paain deck of the old. of-war alLtheport holes being opened to dry * ■ the wetted decks, a boy named LobeT Whs in the act of carrying one of the lightedrlaaaps. "1 for the purpose of extinguishing. iV when ; the metafpart of it burnt his.hand a«d !he J dropped it. The. whole place was instantly m a blue,-for the burning fluid at once apt are to the pitched joints.betweenthe boardv • xng, for pitch was plentifully used in theioM 'j ships, and at once she-wap in flreman’a- •; phrase ‘ well alight.’ The .fire bell rang. 5 and so strong was the power of ducS orerthe minds, of the boys that they aUtpMl ’ their places at the pumps, every officer at his place. A very short time almwedthat / the attempts to save, the vessel were ntetew 1 for the hosp, by. the rapidity wth-which th» flames licked theship,had been .destroyed ;, in fact, .the ventilation nf tWaKm to this rapidity of destruction. Captain Bpuchier gave orders then; to -the boys who ship’s boats wereaUnost useless,forthe lowetthe water, fortunately there was • hum moored clpseto the ship, aud the little fellows, most of them being between Seven and ten years °f age, aided by the assistant schoolmaster, Mr Tye, and other, .officers, got into this. twenty boys who first gotinfo the barge, Jnghtened by the fiames and choked by the dense smoke, -wanted to puah off; but one of ther number, a little fellow named Billy Bolton, manfullyheld thebaige to its place, he exercising his authority -afca W inate nntil a}l whocameon that Sxde .of 'i the ship had got oyer the side and then a push was made for land. The barm grounded pn the mud, *nd it was no* m*p! " ticable to push her oqt again against the running tide. At this time CaptJn WalteM. from the Arethusa and the ChiKterTwiS . Q*jceu street Refuge boys, came up ' with three boats. Mr HaU, the chief > Officer of the Goliath,,had been with Capfoin Boucmer, in directing means for saving the boys, while Mr JFenn, the head schoolmaster. MrGunton, and Mr Norris the instructors in by endeavoring to get the boate down. There were: women on board—Mrs BoiioWr, W two daughters, and two -female servants, flames ;u a few minutes had mounted to the upper deck, anp Mr Fenn reached a Mm ‘ water, fche jumped, antk’was saved. The . cook and housemaid also jumped,into, the water and were picked up. The W v daughters came down ropes, one hand-over, the boat-load was taken on shore. While Mr Fenn was- helping the women .to escape from death by drowning or bonr- ! mg, ones came from Mr HdLwho whs chnging with Mr Wheeler to a boat which naa beenstruck and was stove-in. Thebdat was drifting out, and when attention' could ’ i be paid to this stove-in boat, Mr Hall was rescued, but M*. ; Wheeler , had disappeared, _ The last to leave the Ship was Captam Bouchier. He iad otdered the last batch of boys to go, when they callfed > out to hun to go first, The galleyof Captain Walters, of the Arethusa was near, and they heard Captain Boudrierrepiy, ‘That’s 1 f 6 u a «. at my boyß> ’ *«■ whenho agam told them to go, onelittleworkhouse boy clasped him round the neck, weemmdv wying, ‘You’ll be burnt, captam pushed* the? boys off and followed himself, all being picked up Captain Wab iSS S A^ U f y ’ M tteyfwere about to pull off ior the shore, Captain Bonduer spied a boy clinging-to the ‘fender ’sof the ship, and he called to the crew to save the boy. FTot a moment was to beloat, for the masts were well, alight, thc foreyard was ready to. foU, where boat s crew was, and there' was the mort imnnn ent danger of the Captain Walters gave the word of Command and the boats crew stmck out for'the dangerous spot under the bow bf th* yessti where the ‘fonder’ is placed, and the poor boy was saved from what a moment or Wo after must have been certain dcath fo afl ih ge boat, for the flames were. «d dose to the boat s crew that the flannel pn the captain’s and the whiskOts oh anothers face Was burnt; but they rescurod the boy and pushed off just as the fore moormgs broke, and the ship.elewed wittk her’ head down the river, presenting the other side to the wind,: and a very heavy wind was blowmg, and thus the flames .were turned to that part of the ship which was less touched before. Mr Fenn had been in another boat pickmg np the boys, and the boat he was in getting over full, he plunged info the water and swam to one Of Captain Walter’s boats! to asswt m rMcuing<otherß. Itwfo thenfoond that poor Whecler, the teacher, eeeingfMr Hall trying to. dear a boat in wliioh^VNe two boys, jumped into the boatout of .the windowv The boat, as stated, waa efove in and drifted out, Mr HaU holdihg up the boys, -but Mr Wheeler not being used to'the water, was, it is feared, not able fo bold Out.' ■ ~r • : . ,• 'jt ■ ,