THE PASSENGER SHIP "FIERY STAR" AND THE TRANSPORT "SARAH SANDS."—A CONTRAST.

Colonist, Volume VIII, Issue 802, 4 July 1865, Page 2

THE PASSENGER SHIP "FIERY STAR" AND THE TRANSPORT "SARAH SANDS."—A CONTRAST.

The melancholy loss of the Captain and seventy-seven others of the crew and passengers of the unfortunate ship Fiery Star seems to have produced nothing in the shape of criticism among the New Zealand journals. The first feeling on the occurrence of a great calamity such as the burning of a passenger ship, causing a great loss of life, is one of deep commiseration and sorrow. The mind dwells on the time of agonising suspense which the sufferers must have undergone,— their taking to the four frail boats, —the parting company of these as night fell, and hid their hapless freights from each other's gaze, and morning broke to find each invisible to^ the other on a wide waste of sea, —the hopes deferred and ultimately blasted as the tempest rose on the poor exposed and helpless creatures ; and at last (as the only conjecture in this saddest of stories) their being whelmed in the deep, and while fearing death by fire to shortly perish by water, all these feelings and many more of the agony of castaways crowd the mind as one reads the painful tale. When a vessel

" Sails awaj, and ne'er is seen or heard of more," or is but heard of as the City of Bunedin was by the relics which told of her doom in a wild storm; these, or such as these, are the only feelings with which we can regard a catastrophe like the loss of a ship at sea without a soul escaping to tell it. The sad fact only is all we know in such a case; the attendant circumstances are hidden, and there is therefore no room for reasoning as to whether the right means were employed, or if there were at all any available means by which the fatal end could have been averted.

It is different in such a case as that of the

burning of the Fiery Star. All the proceedings on board that fated ship, from the time the fire was discovered on 19th April until the salvation of the remnant of. the crew, twenty days afterwards, by the ship Dauntless, are known. The Auckland journals, from the fact of the saved crew being some time in Auckland, were best able to obtain the fullest possible information, —that minute detail which makes up evidence, and from which a good lest on might have been read by way of warning. To us colonists, to and from whose shores hundreds of vessels laden with passengers arrive and depart on a long voyage the question is one of special interest, and a dispassionate enquiry into the circumstances of such a melancholy event as the loss of the Fiery Star should be fraught with much that may be serviceable. We have looked in vain for comment of this kind, and though it is now somewhat late after the occurrence, yet, we shall, as the subject is one which will long maintain a sad interest, pen a few observations concerning it

Of the brave endurance of the seventeen men left behind in the ship when the boats departed; of their labors for the bare life; their fighting with the fire to the last, and their preparations as they saw it surely gaining on them, for such poor means of escape as the construction of a raft, nothing need here be said. Their efforts were providentially rewarded, after twenty days' toil, by the appearance of the Dauntless. The somewhat sudden departure of the captain and Beventy-seven others of the crew and passengers is a step the wisdom of which in the circumstances is open to more than question. One inevitable conclusion naturally is, that if with seventeen hands the fire was kept at bay for a period of twenty days, the probability is that had those who went away .remained, in that time the fire might have been subdued altogether; or at least its progress better checked while at the same time the boats might still have been retained as a last resource when all other chance was gone, and all possible efforts to extinguish the fire had been employed in vain. We know now that had this been done, had all remained on board and worked together, the probability is that very few i lives would have been lost. j

We wish to touch as gently as possible on the proceedings of the Captain of the Fiery Star. He had the care of many passengers, and no doubt his first thought was that he was bound to provide for their safety, and perhaps the aspect of the fire when, on the evening of the second day after its discovery, it " burst through the port bow, and through the water ways on deck," had mado him hopeless of subduing it. It appears the captain lost hear", became "discouraged" as the survivors report, and at six o'clock on the evening of the second day made preparations for leaving the ship; and completed them by taking all the four boats, putting passengers and crew in them, as many as they could contain, while seventeen of the crew were left to their fate, a fate which, as it has proved was far better than that of those who left the ship. It may appear harsh, arguing from subsequent facts, to impute blame to the captain, who, perhaps, could not foresee what the seventeen could accomplish; but it does seem as if .there was an excess of haste in leaving the ship, and that there was not sufficient endeavor to fight with the enemy, and dispute its progress inch by inch, before giving, up hope. As a case nearly parallel, but where a greater number of lives were at stake, and greater danger existed, because of the presence of stores of powder in the ship, we may shortly narrate the particulars connected with the burning of the Sarah Sands, an iron steamer of 2000 tons on her passage from England to India, in 1857, with part of the 54th regiment on board, numbering 400, besides the ship's crew. The splendid discipline maintained during the trying ordeal was the theme of general admiration, and the successful issue of the persevering endeavoi*s produced a thrill of thankfulness throughout England when the news was Tmown. The cargo in the hold was discovered to be on fire on 11th November, and the captain of the ship, Captain Castle, with the officer in command of the troops, Colonel •Moffatt, concerted measures for saving the vessel. Government stores were taken out of the hos, and thrown overboard, bale by bale, the ship was brought before the wind, and hose was run out and torrents of water poured into the hold. The smoke, however, continued so to increase that it was found the men could no longer work below, and the colonel ordered his men to throw overboard'all the ammunition in the starboard magazine. This was done; but the port magazine was so surrounded with heat and smoke that he chose to call for volunteers in preference to ordering men to risk their lives in such a service. The call was promptly answered, and a body of men at once came forward, and in spite of the fervent heat and. the almost suffocating smoke, cleared the magazine of all powder, except one or two barrels. So overpowering was the smoke that several of the men fell on coming up, and were hauled up insensible. At length the fire burst through the decks, and its power was increased by a heavy gale that was blovviug at the time. The captain then resolved to lower the boats, and provide for the safety of as many as he could. The boats were launched in safety, and the troops were mustered on deck, calm and obedient to command, and in as good order as if on parade, as we remember was stated in the account of-the newspapers of the day. The greater number of the troops were safely embarked in the boats, and a few women and children were placed in the life-boat. The boats were ordered to remain within reach of the ship until further orders, and the sailors began constructing rafts. While this was being done the fire had progressed with terrible force. The saloon and all the cabins were one mass of flame, and at nine in the evening the fire burst through the upper deck, and seized the mizen rigging. At the same time the barrel, or two of powder left in the port magazine exploded and blew out the port quarter of the ship. One hope was still left. The iron bulkhead, dividing the fore from the after part of the ship, continued to resist the flames, and the captain, who stuck to his ship, employed his ■men in dashing water against the bulkhead to keep it cool. Soldiers and sailors rushed up the rigging with wet blankets, and at last succeeded in extinguishing the fire there, and au amount of steadfast and determined

bravery was exhibited, which met with its well-merited reward. After long hours of this struggle for life, the captain had the great delight of seeing the fire decrease about two o'clock in the morning, and by daylight it was extinguished. But the Bhip was then,as was described, a" hollow burned shell," into which the sea poured incessantly as the gale still continued. Pumping and baling were immediately resorted to; hawsers were passed round and under the ship's stern to prevent it from falling out, and the great leak on the port quarter was partially stopped by spare sails and blankets. While the gale continued the water tanks in the hold, which had got loose, were knocked about from side to side, and threatened still more to damage the ship. At two o'clock in the afternoon, about twenty-two hours after they had left the ship, those in the boats were recalled, and all were safely taken on board. Not a life was lost; for although the gig had been swamped, every man in it was saved. For two days and a long night did the sailors and soldiers work the pumps, and at last Captain Castle succeeded in getting the ship into something like manageable condition, when he steered for Mauritius, which he reached in eight days, and made the salvation of the Sarah Sands one of the marvels of the wonderful adventures which tell of escaped dangers at sea. The iron bulkhead m the Sarah Sands was of course a ground work of safety, which the Fiery Star did not possess ; but that would have been of no avail had not the admirable discipline, the cool and courageous daring of the men, under the guidance of their officers, produced a determination to fight against the flames to the last.

We cannot help making comparisons between the two accidents. It is known what the handful of men left in the Fiery Star accomplished under the control of the mate and the engineer; and how long they battled with and kept at bay the fire which ultimately consumed the vessel. They gained time, and at length met with a welcome ship. Looking at the lives which have been lost, we cannot but regret that this course was not longer and more hopefully persevered in before the Fiery Star was abandoned by her Captain.