On Fire at Sea.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 268, 9 November 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

On Fire at Sea.

Seven Women Roasted Alive.

An Heroic Stewardess,

(FROM OOR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, September 20. The cheapest route from London to Edinburgh is by aoa from Hermitage Wharf to Leith oi"Granton. Tbe eteamers are boats of aboub 1,200 tons, very similar to those employed in the Australian coasting trade, and a return pasßage coats 26s only, whereas third-class rail comes to £3 2s Bd. Naturally, during the tourisb season of August and September, these vessels are crammod, and a thrill of horror ran through the community when on Monday morning ib transpired one of them had been ablaze off Clacton, and that a number of woman passengers had been roasted alive. The vessel in question, the lona, left Leith on Saturday evening, all going well till 24 hours later, as she approached the mouth of tho Thames. It was then the darkest parb of bho nighb, and bhe Captain's feelings when flames were all of a sudden observed -hooting from the midsb of bhe forecabin passengers' quarters, may be imagined. The alarm given, a scene of panic, much aggravated by the smoke and heat, supervenod. The men trapped in a large cabin adjoining the conflagration broke open another door and escaped. The women, unfortunately, were penned in a cabin which had but one available exit, and the passage thab formed part of ib was one of the first things to catch fire. Those who bad the presence of mind to rush across promptly in their nightgowns were singed but saved. The remainder, caught like rats in a trap, eeem to have been slowly roasted alive. It must in charity be supposed everything was done that could be done, yeb, with the exception of a single woman _ (the stewardess), the accounts show a striking absence of heroism. The cr6w pumped on the burning cabin, but when at length the fire yielded to their efforts a few incinerated remains indicated the .seven victims had died hours before.

The heroic stewardess aforementioned, Miss Ledenham, waa one of the first to escape from the burning cabin. No sooner had she reached the deck than tho recollection qf the trapped women, and especially of a libtle child confided to her care, rushed into her mind, and with a cry ' It's too horrible, I must do something,' ahe turned again in.o the burning fiery furnace. That sbo reached the cabin and the child we know, as her body was found on the,, floor with hor charge in her arms.