ENGINEER' RUSH DOWN REDHOT LADDER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 187, 2 May 1908, Page 9

ENGINEER' RUSH DOWN REDHOT LADDER.

I3URMM/ SHIP SAVED TROM ' destruction: , -."•Tlin-braverv ot on.enjrincer, Tsrho descended . • half-fainting: inio red-hot', engine-room'. - to; c , stop Jiis'sblpV saved the* steamer Sandal: from' ; destruction on. March 19. 1 'W. . ' 'I'hq Sandal v was -carrying esparto -grass'. froiii' Almoria. to 'Aberdeen. She was steam-. - ing up ■ the Channel, "thirty - miles \vest 'of 'Portland Kill, when fire btoke' "out, in' the .■; caruii.,• The flames spread,-and before long' tho ' :ron-built ship was; lilte..a ; furnace. ' Then . •began a. race! for. shgrei".-', Bunkers:' cauglit iirc; : the' deckhouse was burned down; still the' ship steamed' on/until Portland Koada wore readied, and the. pilot stepped aboard.'. "We have'got in just in time," the captain said. .-A,-glance showed" what havoc tho . dames:'liad- caused.... Even the signal flags ; -wore--cinders, and the wheel was' hot. ; " •j- As tlielcaplain and pilot stood together-for. v - a .inoment-there was---a rush from tho engineroom,, and; the ship's engineer scrambled;on : : 'deck... . v . : --'- •"I have been driven out of tho engine- , room," ho gasped, " and I can't go back." ■ Ho fell fainting at thecaptainVsidc., It was a''moment' of-extreme peril for. the ship, for- the"'engines were still, running. " If,; :-*• she, continued oh her course she-would be dashed-to pieces on the shore; if holm were turned to sea again captain and. crew would havo to face onco more tho spreading -.' M'iie engineer solved'the problem. ■ When' he recovered consciousness ho volunteered >' at once to try to reach tho engine-room again and stop the-ship. • .*' •- Tho ladderwas nearly red-hot, and the vessel was closo in shore. Ho dashed down, despito tho heat, and stopped her just in time,-in twenty-four :feet of -water. . The Jocks were almost too hot to touch—in some ilaces' oven she. stopped. Five tugs and two GoVornraent' vessels vorked all day pumping water on the burn- ' " ng ship, but the cargo; could not be saved' lor the nra'subdued. Tho ship wa's grounded lowever,' and it was> loft:. to tho next hi"lv ' iido to coyer her ami put out the fire" ; °