SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 92, 23 March 1907, Page 8

SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

BURNING OF THE CUPPER SHIP KENT.

Brig Cambria Bears Up m the Nick of Time.

555 Saved— 96 Lost.

Then, rose from sea to sky the wild [ farewell ; i Then shrieked the timid and( s£ood still the brave, Then some leaped overboard with dreadful yell, As eager to anticipate their grave. —Byron. The Kent, East Indiaman, Captain Henry Cobb, a fine new ship, of 1350 tons, left the Downs on her voyage to Bengal and China, on February. 19, 1525, having on boacd 651 persons, consisting of 344 soldiers of the 31st Regiment of Foot, with 20 officers; 43 women, and 66 children, private passengers to the number of ■20, and a crew all told of 148 men. The vessel bore down the Channel with a fine breeze from the northeast, and, losing sight of the English coast on the evening of., the 23rd, entered on the surging Atlantic. On 4 the 28th, when m latitude 47.30 north, and' longtitude 10' west,) she was beset by a heavy gale, which continued increasing, and . compelled her on March 1 to lie-to' under a triple-reefed maintopsail only. Being partly laden with SHOT AND SHELL, the ship rolled heavily, dashing about the contents of the cabins, . to the no small alarm and inconvenience of the passengers. ' . Shortly^ before eight bells, at midday one of the mates went below with a lantern, and m, the endeavor to secure a spirit cask, which had got adrift, stove the cask, and set the spirits on fire.' m an instant the whole of that part of the after-hold was- m flames, -and though every exertion was . made, hoth hy soldiers and sailors, to subdue the fire by pumping, by pouring m water, and by the application of wet sails, it spread rapidly. and soon volumes of smoke were seen issuing from all the four hatchways at once*. , Seeinp- the imminence of the peril, Captain Oobb ordered the lower decks to "be scuttled i the combings of the hatchways to be cut, and the lower ports to be opened. So expedrtiously were these orders obeyed, that some of the sick soldiers lying, below, one woman, and 'several children, were drowned by the inriishing flood, before they had -time to escape -to -the upper decfc^&nd some others at the' same crisistf^exe suffocated by the smoke. The < vast body of water thus introduced .into the hold checked the fury of the flames ; but the ship became nearly water-logged before the ports could be again closed. A wretched and heartrending scene ensued. From six to seven hundred human beings crowded the upper deck, and nearly the whole were m a state of indescribable CONFUSION AND TERROR. Some who had been suffering from seasickness had staggered from their berths v nearly naked; some, panicstriakgn -and^reduced to ■_ a condition of stupid inseiisibiliiv. Vacantly around them ; and others, frantic and despairing, shrieked aloud for aid,, while a number 'of the older soldiers and sailors seated themselves 1 doggedly over the magazine, with the expressed wish for a speedy termination of their sufferings. Meanwhile the heavy seas beat furiously against the ship, and m one of the heavy lurches which she made, the binnacle was wrenched from its fastenings, and the whole apparatus of the compass dashed to pieces v on the deck— an accident of most ominous import to some of those who witnessed it. At this moment the fourth mate, Thompson, sent a man to the fore-top to look out fora passing sail. As all eyes were watching him with unspeakable ■anxiety, the sailor waved his hat and sang out :"A sail on -the* lee bow." This cry lightened every heart, and was . responded to by three cheers from the deck. ' , The minute guns of the Kent were fired, and her flags of distress were hoisted. The. half-burning, half-water logged vessel staggered, towards the stranger brig under a small press of canvas. A quarter of an hour of breathless suspense" intervened. The brig seemed at first to pay no heed to the loud-mouthed proclamations of the guns, and the signals fluttered m vain. But at last' the British ensign showed out on the brig, now crowding on all sail, and bearing down upon the doomed Kent. It turned out to be the Cambria,. Captain Cook, bound to Vera Cruz, and having on board some 30 Cornish miners. Her captain and c/ew had NOT HEARD THE GUNS, nor observed the signals ; it was the ascending smoke that had riveted their attention and brought their help. The officers consulted together as the brig approached, determining upon a policy of firmness to secure order-— a. ; policy.. which" may a>t.;.first seem "'cruel, but which is always the wisest and most merciful. Some, of the soldiers and sailors had manifested impatience, and there was reason to fear that without precaution there would be a pressure of an unruly mob upon the boats. A few armed military m&n were accordingly , stationed by the davits, with orders to cut down any man who presumed to enter the boats before the women and children. . ■ In the presence of a strong, determined will, the weak themselves become strong. The officers, by the mere announcement of a .Tenerous and decided line of action, won over the soldiers and sailors to their side. There Was no necessity to use the drawn swords. The first boat was for the ladies, the soldiers' wives, and the youngsters. Wrapping thc-mselves as warmIt- us they could m their hurried preparations, they advanced m slow order from the cabins. Colonri Fearon, commanding officer of the -troops, and Major MacGregor, of the 31st, saw. to the arrangements. Not a word was spoken, and even the children, awed by the silence that could be felt, shed no tears. The excepi tions to this mute despair were one ior two ladies who at the last moment wished to be left behind with

their hus-hands. They were told that a moment's faltering might cost the sacrifice of many lives ; without another murmur they then took their seats m the boat. In perfect order she was lowered, though twice it was feared she had swamped. Captain Cobb's nerve and experience had provided against one danger he stationed a man ; ' ARMED- WITH AN AXE to sever the lashings at the slightest sign of a hitch. For a moment it was doubtful whether the boat could be cleared from the 'entanglement of the tackle at the bow, but a high wave lifting her assisted ;n the operation, and she" started on the risky trip to the Cambria. The Camibria lay-to at some distance to be clear of possible explosions, and to be out of range of the shotted guns, which were sure to go off when the flames reached them. The sea ran so high that when the two vessels happened to be m the troughs, the hull of the Kent was coricealed from the viewtjpf the Cambria. And this was the' rough, water over which the cutter/; Jjad to bear the human cargo. Her |i£havior was watched with tearful earnestness from the Kent's quarter-deck. Now she would appear riding on the summit of the billows, light and free, as a stormy petrel m sportive flight ; now she would disappear entirely into the deep valleys of the sea. Some of the men oh board the Kent, whose wives and children were afloat, lived a life of anxiety during the 20 minutes occupied by the boat m traversing the distance. It was a trying passage for several, women and, ■children, who were stowed undqf the seats, as they were half drowned by the spray, but at length they reached the brig m safety. As it was impossible for the boats from the Cambria to come alongside the Kent, the remaining women and children had to be tied together, and lowered by ropes from the stern. But from the heaving of the ship, and the fitful motion of the boat beneath,- many of them were unavoidably plunged repeatedly "beneath the water. None of the women were lost by this process, but many children were drowned before reaching the boats. Seeing this, some of the soldiers, hoping to save their children, leaped with them into the sea, and perished m the attempt to swim .to. the boats. ■ ' " ■\ , OTHER PATHETIC INCIDENTS •' were witnessed. • One person, having to choose between his wife and his, children, saved the former, the four children being left to perish. One man, a soldier, with neither wife nor 'child of his own, had three children lashed -to him, and plunging into the sea struck out for the tooat ; he was unable to reach it, and was drawn back to the ship, when two of the children, were found » to be dead. .'-..'. As the day drew to a close, and the fire was extending. Captain Cojbu and Colonel Fearon grew more and more anxious to get their men away from the burning 1 wreck. To accelerate the transport, a rope was suspended from the head pf,. the spanker boom, and ,the men were directed to slide from it into the boats. Numbers followed this advice, but they had to swing a long time m the air, and were often plunged into the sea before they gained the boat —and, some, indeed, losing their hold of the rope, sank to rise no more. I Many, m preference to sliding down the rope, chose tp leap from the \ stern windows, and trust to swimming, or to the assistance of rafts of hencoops, which had been lowered to form a kind of communication with 1 the boats. It was not- until evening that the officers of the 31st began to leave the Kent, with boats.. Throughout -i the day they had set their several parties of soldiers, m the example of discipline and coolness, one and all of them emulating the conduct of^ their colonel, and passengers, also/] several of whom were cadets of the East India Company, followed their example, and shared with them m toil as well as peril. As an instance of the right feeling of the soldiers at this melancholy, time, it is recorded that towards the close of the day, when the ' Working groups on the poop were exhausted with fatigue and suffering from thirst, some of the men found A BOX OF ORANGES, and refused to touch them', though fasting since the morning; until their officers could share them. However, there were individuals aj board- the Kent, who were wanting equally m discipline and manliness at this fearful crisis. The author of this narrative states that soon after sunset he descended to' the cuddy to look for a blanket to shield him from the cold. There, amidst articles of furniture shattered into a thousand pieces, the geese and poultry were cackling, and a solitary pig which had wandered from its sty had made his bed on the brussels carpet— and among the broken furniture and intruding animals were a few miserable human beings "either stretched m irrecoverable intoxication on the floor, or prowling about like beasts of prey m search of plunder." 'Twas the last carousal of the inveterate beerchewers who, doubtless, met their watery grave as happy as booze could make them. The danger and, consequently, the alarm, increased as the night drew on, and the inevitable moment approached when the fire must reach the magazine. Before darkness set m, most of the sailors had left the ship, and now the soldiers, m order that they might be distinguished m the gloom, bound pieces of white linen about their heads ere committing themselves to the water. Between 0 and- 10 o'clock the Kerft I had* settled so low m the water that it was evident she could not float for many hours longer, and it seemed ! doubtful whether she would not sink before the fire reached the magazine. Such of the soldiers as remained on ' board noy/ hesitated m the darkness to commit themselves to the rope I

hanging from the boom ; and Captain Cobb, who had determined, if possible, to be the last man on board, being unable either by threats or persuasion to induce them to proceed, was compelled, with the remaining officers of the 31st regiment, to provide for his own safety. It was not until the guns were heard exploding m the. hold, and after every .argument had been tried m vain, to rouse the poor fellows, who seemed struck DUMB AND POWERLESS with dismay, to make an effort for their own preservation, that the captain let himself down into the boat, having seen the officers of the 31st, who had stood by him to the last, accomplished the descent. In doing this Captain Fearon had a hairs-breadth escape from death, .being several times dashed by the waves against the side of the ship, once drawn under it, and only dragged into the boat at last 'by the hair, dreadfully bruised and nearly senseless. Not long afterwards the flames burst forth from the stern windows and all further escape by boats was cut off. Sams twenty of the soldiers yet remained m the chains or rigging, too panic-stricken to do aught for their own safety— while some few wretched individuals were below, m the senseless oblivion of drunkenness. The deck of the Cambria, while all this was going on, presented a scene which , can only be left to imagination. The iviolence of the gale rendered the safe passage of each successive boat terribly dubious, and even when the. brig was reached, the attempt to get aboard often failed, and many were lost— either by being crushed between -the boat and the ship, or by missing their footing m their eagerness to mount the ships' side. But for the Cornish miners, who took their stations m the chains, and dexterously seizing the exhausted people as. the billows hove the boat upwards, swung them on board' by sheer strength of muscle, hundreds must have perished. Soon after' the arrival o£ the last boat, the flames which had spread along the upper deck and poop of the Kent, ascended with rapidity, the masts and rig'jnne forming one general conflagration. The flags of distress hoisted m the morning were .seen for a considerable time waving amid the flames, until the masts, to the top of which they were suspended, fell over the ship's side. At last the fire having reached the magazine, the long-threatened explosion took place, and the BLAZING FRAGMENTS of the once magnificent Kent were blown high into the air, leaving, m the darkness that succeeded, the scenes of that disastrous day floating; before the mind like some feverdream. . . The Cambria, which had been/ mafcing all the sail she could, was at this time three miles distant from the Kent, and her crew and passengers were minis-tering: as best they could to the wants of those they had rescued.*. The final safety of *the whole was still a fearful problem, and might well ' suggest the gravest doubts. The Cambria, a small brig of 200 tons; had over 600 persons on board. She was provisioned only for 40, and was several hundreds of miles from the nearest accessible port. Her deck, her small cabins, her hold ,were ( crammed with human beings, and , her bulwarks on one side had been carried away by the same gale. .^Happily., -the wind was fair for the English coast : and crowding as much sail as he could Captain Cook pressed his vessel onward, and sighting land on the afternoon of the Thursday following,, March 3, dropped anchor m Falmouth Harbor about half an hour after midnight. Just In time. At least, it is said ;fchat the Cambria had not been above "an hour m Falmiouth Harbor when the wind, which had all along been blowing from the soujbh-west, chopped round m the opposite quarter, and continued uninterruptedly for several days afterwards to blow strongly from the northeast."- Had the wind so changed but a few hours the brig would have been blown out to sea ; famine and pestilenco would have raged among , the rescued multitude, and ha.ye completed' the destruction which the FORCE OF FLObD AND FIRE 'had not sufficed to accomplish. At Falmouth the wihole of the shipwrecked people met with the warmest sympathy and hospitality, and after holding a special thanksgiving church 1 service on the ensuing Sundsty, separated for their homes; It is stated that the greater part of the unfortunate men left m the burning Kent when the boats could no longer approach her, were also rescued on the same night. When the masts fell overboard they ' clung to the floating wreck for some hours, without the slightest hope of escape. The explosion of the vessel, however, at 1 o'clock, was seen on board the Caroline^ a trader on its passage from. Egypt to Liverpool. Captain Bibby, the master, at once bore up for the spot, and picked up 14, 0f the men, three others having died of exhaustion "before his arrival. The Government and the East India Company rewarded the captain and crew of the Cambria, and the officers of the 31st were officially thanked fori their exertions. • . \. •.'.. . The numbers lost by the destruction of the Kent were 55 soldiers, 1 seaman, 5 marine boys, 15 women, and 20 children— in all 96, out of a total of 651. To conclude with 'an anecdote. When the fire was first discovered, and the peril was understood, Major McGregor wrote a memorandum on a scrap of paper with a 1 pencil, which he addressed TO HIS FATHER, and enclosed it m a corked bottle. It stated that the Kent was on fire and that the writer and his two sisters were resigned to their inevitable fate. Nineteen months' afterwards the bottle was picked up by a bather on the shores of Barbadoes, having survived, the explosion and the buffet ings of the ocean for that length of time.