Burning of an Atlantic Liner

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 90, 23 January 1890, Page 3

Burning of an Atlantic Liner

The American "jailing ship A. J. Fuller arrived at New York on November 25 with 59 rescued persons, being the entire crew and the passen gars of the Santiago, which was burnt at sea ou November 19. Captain Colcord, of the A. J. Fuller, says : - "We sailed from Liverpool for New York on October 26, and ou November 20 I came up with a large steamship in a. mass of flames from j stem to stern. We saw several distress signals and flash lights from small boats, and soon ran up to the first lifeboat. I hove-to and took the crew on board. The boat was in charge of the captain of the steamship, and from him we learned that the burning boat was the Santiago, Captain Potter," from New York, No. vember 17, for Hull, with cattle and other cargo and other passengers. "At nine o'clock I had all the officers ana passengers and crew— a total of 59 souls— on board of my ship in safety. There were several invalid passengers, and a child 14 months old among them. There was a heavy sea runnitte at the time, which made the transfer extremely difficult, but all were received without serious injury, I found most of them greatly exhausted by the fight with the fire and exposure to the elements during a long night in open boats. Several officers and men were partly blind, and third mate totally so. The Chief officer of the Santiago S ay ß :—♦' The fire started at about half psst four in the afternoon among the cotton bales in the after-hold. TJpou our opening the hatches, the flames darted through the decks, and the engines were stopped, and all the steam in the boilers set to work driving the pumps. The fire, however, gained rapid headway, and spread throughout the ship quietly, and it seemed impossible to stop it.^ln less time than it takes to tell it the entire ship was in flames, and the officers abandoned all hope of saving her. The officers and crew fought the fire until eight in the evening, and then the boats were lowered, and all hands put aboard. The fire roared like a hurricane, and .twisted the iron and steel so that •the entire vessel was warped. Black smoke, so thick as to be almost im penetrahle, enshrouded the ship from stem to stern. The huge masses of smoke were so opaque that one could not see one's haud. It was with difficulty that we could hear each shout, through The stifling blackness and frightful noise. Txi see was next to impossible, and the men had to feel their way to the davits to lower the boats. AH of us were blinded, and the third officer was for several days afterwards totally unable to see. Mrs Knight, our only female passenger, was also partially blinded. "It was the most terrible experience I ever had, and it is a woudei that some of .us were not burned oj drowned, as we had to feel our way whenever we took a step. The greas^ and bacon on botird made such a hot fire that even before we abandoned the ship the beams were warped auu «v hot that they would burn ou» hands. Through the smoke now ami then there would gleam great sheets of flame, like a flash of power or burniug pulverised reshi. It was a splendid though an awful sight. "We drifted about, watching th«spectacle with faciuated eyes, thankful for safety, but saddened at.tbiloss of of our magnificent ship. We did not save our effects, and had nc. ti me to think about them, and, if w© had, the smoke was so dense and stifling that we would have been smothered had we remained below any time. The captain and crew of the A. J Fuller, have been very kind, and w> have had to suffer no privations since we were taken on board. The Santi ago's cargo consisted of 2288 bales of cotton, 16,291 bags of corn, 2168 casks of bacon, 700 barels of provis ions, 745 barrels of syrup, 137 bar rels of oysters, a quantity of wheat, besides a large amount of grease, canned goods, and apples, valued in all at 475,000 dols. The value of the steamer is placed at 300,000d015, so that, with, the loss of the effects of the passengers and crew, the^ total loss must be close on a million dollars." •The Santiago had many cattle on board, and while some were roasted alive a large number escaped into the sea, and, while the flames were roaring and crackling, swam among the small boats, lowing piteously, until one by one they sank beneath the waves. The captain has no theory to account for the fire. He oDly knows that it broke out in the cotton, All possible precautions had been observed. .