THREE AMERICAN STEAMERS DESTROYED BY FIRE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2590, 16 February 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

THREE AMERICAN STEAMERS DESTROYED BY FIRE.

« The steamer John H. Hanna was destoryed by fire on Christmas eve on the Mississipi, at Plaquemine, Louisina, The accounts of the disaster are full of horrible details. The steamer was near Plaquemine, one hundred miles above New Orleans when the fire was discovered. It was about midnight, and most of the passengers were asleep. The fire was discovered by a negro boatman, who gave the alarm. The steamer was laden with cotton, which was in a very dry condition, and the flames spread with fearful rapidity. They sprang from bale to bale like flashes of lighting, and shot up through the cabin and over the sidesenveloping the entire boat. The alarm had been sounded at the first sight of the fire, the whistle being blown and the bells rung, but within three minutes from its discovery the vessel was one sheet of flame from stem to stern.

The scene that ensued was terrible in i the extreme. Men yelled and ran about the deck like maniacs ; others, screaming at the top of their voices, threw themselves in the river. The chief clerk, Mr. Powell, went to every door, and made certain that the passengers and hands were awake, and urged them to hurry to the front of the boat before they were cut off. They did so, but were thrown into confusion by the darkness of the night, the blinding smoke, and their own fright. The smoke was so thick and suffocationg from the high piles of burning cotton that a number of persons, in trying to force their way to the bow, were overcome by it, and fell suffocated on the deck, where they probably died before the flames reached them or the boat sank. In the meantime the crew were fighting the flames as best they could, but without success. The steam pumps were worked, but had little effect on the fire. The flames soon reached the engine-room, bursting the steam pipes and releasing great volumes of steam that severely scalded several of the men who were driven from the room. The engineer and his assistants clung to the sides of the boat. The pilot had headed the steamer for shore as soon as the alarm sounded. As she had a full head of steam on at the time she was into the bauk in two or three minutes. Then the pilot jumped out over the bale 3 of cotton, and, springing into the river, swam ashore. The captain, crew, and passengers had fought their way to the front of the boat getting scorched faces and bruised limbs. The majority of them sprang from the boat when she was about ten yards from the shore, and the moment she touched the rest leaped into the mud or water. The steamer rested for a moment aground and then swung around, drifting down stream and burning until she finally sank. Although the crew had escaped from the burning boat they were not all saved. Both the cap tain and Bob Smith, the famous pilot of another burned steamer, met their death after getting ashore. They sprang into the mud on the bauk, and becoming fast were slowly roasted to death by the intense heat from the burning boat. They buried their faces and hands into the soft mud to protect themselves, and appealed to the people on shore to come to their assistance. This, however, was impossible. The captain was finally protected from the fire by means of a box, and was drageed ashore with ropes. It was too late, however, he had suffered too serious injuries, and although lie received medical care at once, he died bofore he reached Plaquemine. Bob Smith had figured in several steamboat accidents and to his courage in sticking to his post on his own burning steamer to the last moment was due the saving of many lives on that vessel. After the chief clerk had aroused every person on the vessel he returned to the bow, but his escape there was cutoff. Asa last resort he sprang into the water, and although he could not swim, managed in some way to get on to a floating bale of cotton, but two deck hands jumped on to the bale also, and turned it over. Powell fell into the water and was drowned. His body was found in the river twenty miles below Plaquemine. John Crofton, the carpenter, was in the upper portion of the boat struggling to get near thebow. The flames were twisting and sweeping all about him and soon enveloped him. He fell and was burned to death before the eyes of the people, who were not able to render him any help. Others met with their death while forcing their way to the bow of the boat, being overcome by the smoke or were burned to death while fast in the mud, or drowned. The boat was about fifteen yards from the shore when the intense heat compelled almost all the crew to spring from her. Some reached the shore and tried to climb the steep, muddy and slippery levee, but were caught by the flames before they could do so. Others clung to bales of cotton in the river, but in many instances the bales floated against the burning vessel, and the occupants were either roasted to death or compelled to let go, or drop into the water, and drown. It is believed that the fire was due to a careless smoker, who threw a cigarette among the cotton. The steamer was valued at 18,000 dollars, and the cargo at 12,000 dollars. Both are a total loss. Another steamer, named the Lief Eriekson, was burned on Tuesday near the Seattle, Washington territory. Six persons peris aed in the Are. The Mis sissippi river steamboat Kate Adams, carrying 200 passengers and 1,200 bales of cotton, was burnt near Memphis— whither she was bound—on Monday morning. The fire broke out among some cotton bales near the bow, and the wind soon swept it aft. The officers behaved admirably, running the staamboat ashore in the course of a few minutes, and then launching the boats to land the passengers. Many of those on deck in a panic jnmped overboard. Twenty-four lives are known to have been lost, and several passengers are missing, and it is thought that about forty persons in all have perished. Another telegram says the loss is thought to be greater than was at first supposed.