BURNING OF A SHIP AND FEARFUL SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1569, 16 November 1867, Page 3

BURNING OF A SHIP AND FEARFUL SUFFERINGS OF THE CREW.

A telegraphic announcement has appeared of the destruction of the barque Meteor, bf Sunderland, by fire, when on her voyage from New York to London, with a cargo of petroleum oil. Mr John G-eorge Lambton, son of one of the owners of the vessel, who was on board the Meteor at the time, gives the following details of the fearful catastrophe and the sufferings of the crew : —On the 12th of June "the Meteor left New York, with 2007 casks of petroleum oil stowed away in the hold, and on the morning of the J 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 I with great force, instantly followed by i a loud noise. For an instant he supposed that some of the crew had shot him ; but, turning round, he saw the whole of the deck blowk away, immense volumes of flame shooting into the air, and the topgallant sail on fire. Between him and the forepart 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, racing 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 surrouuded by masses of beams and planks of the deck which had fallen in on them. Blr 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 along 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 German were jammed in amongst the fallen timber, unable to extricate themselves. A few moments had barely passed when they felt the cabin floor giving way, volumes of flames bursts from the fore cabin 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

timber, and lie 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 portior of his boot behind, and he was able to draw himself up on to the covering boards, where the master stood. Here he saw nothing but a wreck. The cries for help from the young man in the 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 burnt. Another of the seamen was on the forecastle stairs at the time of the explosion. He was shockingly burned, but he managed to reach the fore part of the vessel, where the other seamen stood, the flames literally roasting them alive. The three 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. The 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 masts fell over the side of the vessel. The mate ran along the ship's rail from the fore part of the vessel to the stern. He was fearfully burned, and seeing a piece of wood he 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 ; he drifted astern, and was apparently carried away, but half an hour afterwards was discovered still alive, clinging to the main sheet. As soon as the masts went overboard the crew followed, and held on to 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 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 their 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 mast drifting forward. The German passenger with his broken legs was l lashed on the spars 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 he died after he had been in that position about two hours, and his body was allowed to float away. Next to Mr Lambton on the other side was the cook, who was burned from the waist to the crown of his head ; his eyes were burnt out, and the burnt skin came 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 to his sufferings. The boy who was at the wheel was also attached to the mast; he had a broken leg ; the seaman who was sleeping on 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 the explosion took place ; he was one mass -of burns from the knees to the neck. He drank salt water to ease his pains, in spite of the warnings of his companions, but it only increased them ; his screams and moans were heartrending. At last he became delirious, slipped off the mast and went down, but coming up again, he placed his arms round the mast to sustain him ; his strength, however, failed, he sank

again, and was seen no more. Another seaman got on to the mizenmast, which by some means got loose and floated away, those remaining behind never expecting to see him again, but he was fortunately picked up. About half-past one the survivors made out an approaching sail, which turned out afterwards to be the ship Lucien Paul, of Dantzic, Scheel, captain, which left New York with petroleum in the same tide as the Meteor, and which had heard the sound of the explosion twenty miles 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 grand but terrible sight.