BURNING OF A SHIP, AND FEARFUL SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW.

West Coast Times, Issue 629, 30 September 1867, Page 2

BURNING OF A SHIP, AND FEARFUL SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW.

The barque Meteor, of Saarland, was destroyed by fire when on: her,voJPge from New York to London with a cargo'pf petroleum oil. Mr John George Lambton, eon'of one of

the owners of the vessel, who was on board the Meteor at the time, gives tho following details of the fearful catastrophe, and the sufferings of the crew : — On tho 12th June the Meteor left New York with 2007 casks of petroleum oil stowed away in the hold, and on the morning of tho 14th June, when she was about 300 miles from New York, the captain, ■who was looking over the ship's side, found something strike him on his back with great force, instantly followed by a loud noise. For an instant he thought that some of the crew had shot him ; but, turning round, he saw the whole of the deck blown away, immense volumes of flames shooting into the air, and the topgallant sail on fire. Between him and the fore part of the vessel the deck was blown to atoms, the boats reduced to matchwood, while beneath his feet was exposed the whole of the hold, one mass of fire, raging like a volcano. Mr Lambton had just gone into the cabin, and had turned round to speak to a German sailor, when, without a moment's warning, they -were both surrounded by masses of beams and planks of the deck which had fallen in oa them. Mr Lambton says he did not hear the explosion, though a vessel twenty miles off distinctly heard it. After the deck fell in an awful roar passed along the ship, as though a long burst of thunder, and all was terror and confusion. The cabin was blown to pieces, and the occupants could see no way out. Both Mr Lambton and the Germans were jammed in amongst the fallen timbers, unable to extricate themselves. A few moments had barely passed when they felt the cabin floor giving way ; volumes of flame burst from the forecabin and the sides, and beneath was a seething mass of fire. Mr Lambton caught hold of one of the deck beams; his feet were fastened amongst the timbers, and he was unable to draw himself up ; his clothes were blown into shreds; his shirt nearly all torn off; while the flames which came rushing up from below were burning his hands and arms. By a violent effort, he succeeded in releasing his leg from the grasp of the timbers, leaving a portion of his boot behind, and ho was able to draw himself up on to the covering boards, ■where the master stood. Here ho saw nothing but a wreck. Tho cries for help from the young man in tho cabin next attracted them, and they succeeded in dragging him up to where they stood, but found that both his legs had been broken by the falling timbers, -while he had been fearfully burned. Another of the seamen was on the forecastle stah"3 at the time of the explosion ; he was shockingly burned, l>ut he managed to reach the fore part of the vessel where the other seamen stood, the flames literally roating them alive. The threo men "who were below were never seen, and some of the crew were at each end of the ship separated by a volcano of fire; not a single boat or spar was left in which there "was any prospect of saving themselves, not a sail was in sight, and nothing but death appeared before them. Tke captain hailed the men forward to stand by until the masts fell overboard, and within five minutes of the explosion, the rigging being all burned away, the three masls fell over the side of tho vessel. The mate ran along the ship's rail, from the fore part of tho vessel to the stern ; he was fearfully burned, and seeing a piece of wood, ho called on Mr Lambton to follow his example, and jumped overboard, but this Mr Lambton declined, and the mate was carried away. A German passenger also threw himself into the sea, unable to bear the intense heat of the flames ; ho drifted astern, and was apparently carried away, but half an hour afterwards was discovered, still alive, clinging to the main sheets. As soon as the masts went overboard, the crew followed, and held on the mizen chains until these became so unbearably hot that they had to drop off.' They were unable to leave the side of the ship, the mainmast being fast by a stay to the vessel. While clinging to it, the volumes of flames were occasionally blown over the side of the ship, enveloping the survivors. The captain at last contrived to cut the stay, and the mast fell into the water. All the crew but one man got on the spars. The sufferers lay on the masts alongside of the vessel. They were obliged to lay themselves along the masts, and allow the water to come up to their necks, keeping then 1 hands under water, so intense was the heat, to prevent them from being burned. They had "not been long in this position until the stern was blown out in three pieces, and they felt the masts drifting forward. The German passenger with his broken legs was lashed on to the spar unable to help himself. Mr Lambton, who was next to him, held up his head as much as possible, but the salt water washed over him, entered his mouth, and he swallowed such large quantities that ho died after he had been in that position about two hours, and his body was allowed to float away. Next to Mr Lambton on tho other side, was the cook, who was burned from the waist to the crown of head hoad ; his eyes were burnt out, and the burned skin camo peeling off his hands and arms, and with his nails attached hung in shreds from the ends of his fingers. Death soon put an end Io his sufferings. The boy who was at tho wheel was also attached to the mast ; he had a broken leg. The seaman who was sleeping in the longboat at the time of the explosion was blown away, but where he alighted he could not tell. On the foremast was the seaman who was coming up the companion when tho explosion took place ; ho was one mass of burns from the knees to the neck. He drank the salt water to ease his pains, in spite of the warnings of his companions, but it only increased them ; his screams and moans were heart-rending. At last he became delirious, slipped off the mast and went down, but coming up again, ho placed his arm round the mast to sustain him ; his strength, however, failed, ho sank again, and was seen no more. Another seaman got on to tho mizenma3t which by somo means got loose and floated away, those remaining behind never expecting to see him again , but he wa3 fortunately picked up. About half-pasfc one the survivors made out an approaching sail, which turned out afterwards to be the ship Lucien Paul, of iDantzic, Scheel, captain, which left New York with petroleum in the same tido as the Meteor, and which had heard the sound of the explosion twenty mile 3 off. Altogether six were saved. The cook died from his injuries on the 17th ; and the lad Bryant, when landed at Falmouth on Monday night week, where the Lucien Paul called for orders, had a compound fracture of the left leg, with about one inch and a half of bone protruding, which has been removed. The floating oil covered the sea for miles with fire and presented a graud but terrible sight.