The Fire on Board the Piako.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3114, 10 February 1879, Page 3

The Fire on Board the Piako.

Eeferring to the steps taken by the captain and crew of the Piako to save the immigrants, when fire broke out on board, the Lyttelton Times says :—

" The man who arranged all this must have been of a magnificent stamp. No description, and no panegyric can give half the idea of his bravery, coolness, readiness of resource, and power of command that is conveyed by the simple narrative of his achievement. Each of the operations required organisation of the most prompt and complete character. There mast have been responsible men in command set over gangs of men at many stations ; order evidently reigned supreme throughout the ship, though every one of the three hundred knew that the hold was on fire from the fore to the after hatches. We read of the officers at their posts ; we know that the men must have been energetic and fearless, and .no one requires to be told what English sailors can do with these qualities; and we can appreciate the fact that in all the crowd of passengers none were found to rush into the boats pell-mell. When the time came for taking the passengers off to the other vessel, the fact that the transhipment was done in two hours is not astonishing, for it fits into the noble story. And when after this the captain determined to take his burning ship into port, neither his tenacity nor the courageous determination of his crew to stand by him move our wonder, because the display, fine as it is, is nothing to what these men have just gone through. This grand story of the sea is happily of a kind not rare in the maritime annals of Great Britain, but such stories will never fail to move men to appreciate the dignity of human nature, and admire the qualities of the British seaman. It is pleasant to realise that, while the weather favored him, a strange ship coming fortunately near him, his own stout heart never failing him, and his brave officers, crew and passengers secondiug h.im, Captain Boyd had one other recource dnrir command, without which the rest would have been employed with less complete success. The Piako was evidently well prepared for emergencies of fire. The emigrants once safe, no pains appear to have been spared for their comfort and health. Placed on an island, they were supplied with bedding and clothes at the expence of the owners of the Piako ; they were placed on an island, where comfortably housed, strict supervision—sanitary and otherwise, we presume—was exercised over them."