A MAIL STEAMER ON FIRE.

Colonist, Volume XVII, Issue 1897, 6 April 1875, Page 3

A MAIL STEAMER ON FIRE.

TWO HUNDBED LIVES ENDANGEBED. A BRAVE STRUGGLE FOB LIFE. HEROISM OF BRITISH SAILOBS I A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. (Condentedfrom The Times of January 29.) The Koyal Mail Steam Packet Company's steamship the Nile, Captain Eevett, left Southampton on the afternoon of the 17th of December, having on board 88 passengers and a crew of 119 hands all told. Among the passengers were Captain Wells, Commander Fane, and Staff-Commander Watts, of her Majesty's' ship j the Bellerophon, with three junior officers and four seamen belonging to the same vessel. The Nile on the evening of the 23rd December was some 360 miles to the south-westward of the Azores, in about 33 N. and longitude 30 W. She passed by the islands on the afternoon of the 22nd. About a quarter to 8 o'clock,; while the majority of the passengers were, tit ■" tea in the saloon, the alarm was given that the ship was on lire. It was found that th^e cargo stowed in the after ; hold iirimwirttTj

abaft the engine-room had become ignited, <i and that the, fire had spread aft for some 1 distance. The fire was probably caused by 1 the spontaneous combustion of a quantity of 1 cotton waste which had been stowed there, i Captain Revett at once ordered a hose to i be passed down. When the gratings were I raised to examine the hold smoke began to 1 pour out in large quantities. It; was i impossible to ascertain how far the fire had i extended, owing to the denseness of the smoke, the volume of which increased with extraordinary rapidity. All hands were at once turned up, and without the least confusion or panic, every man took his post. So thorough was the discipline and so quietly were the arrangements carried out that the fire bad been burning and the pumps playing on it for some time before a large section of the passengers were aware that anything was wrong. By half-past 8 o'clock the fire had made such way that orders were given to clear away the boats and get everything ready for lowering them. This work was carried out by a gang of men under the third officer, assisted by the seamen of the Bellerophon. A supply of water and provisions were placed in each boat, and a large number of cork swimming jackets distributed through them. The fire Still continuing to make way the magazine was opened, and all the powder in it removed under the superintendence of Commander Pane, and sent forward, where it was placed under the charge of Mr Thomas Beynolds, a boatswain in the Koyal Navy, who was one of the passengers by the Nile. As the fire was now in dangerous proximity to the spirit room, a gang of volunteers was organized under the directions of Captain Wells, and the ten hogsheads of rum it contained were hoisted on deck ready to be thrown overboard. This was a feat of some difficulty, as, the main hatch not being free, tjhe casks had to be passed ud through the ower deck and thence through the saloon. The fire still held its own, aud at half-past 9 o'clock, although an enormous quantity of water had been pumped into tha hold and the carpenter reported 6ft of water there, a great quantity of the most suffocating smoke continued to surge up. Great anxiety was now felt as to the result, especially by those -who knew that stored immediately next the burning waste were a large number of casks of machine oil and a quantity of coal in tarred bags. If the oil took fire the bursting flames would at once have driven back those who were below battling with the fire. Eedoubled exertions were now made. Volunteers for the pumps were called for from among the passengers to relieve the crew, and three gangs were organised who set to work with a will at the after Dowuton pump, Midshipman Lionel Welle, of the Bellerophon, a naval officer who has not yet reached the age ot sixteen years, constituted himself, with universal assent, the director of operations there, and those who saw the youngter's coolness and courage were impressed with the thought that young Wells had in him the stuff of which good sailors are made. It is difficult to overpraise the coolness, courage, and discipline of the officers and crew ot the Nile, From the beginning of the fire Captain Eevett and his chief officer, Mr Hatnshire, were working below in the very thickest of the smoke. On the orlop deck the atmosphere waa so dense with smoke and so offensive that it was hardly possible to breathe there. Twice was Captain Revett brought on deck almost unconscious. As soon as fresh air and cold I water had restored him, he insisted on again j descending to the post of danger. Below, Mr Hamshire, Orr, the mate of the hold, and Dybbel, an able seaman, with ropes tied round them, crept on all fours along the top of the cargo, underneath the orlop deck, to direct the hoses well on the seat of the fire. Had the oil burst, into flame they would have been far beyond all human help, and they knew well the risk they ran. More than once were Orr and Dybbel hauled back by the ropes attached to them, scarcely alive from the quantity of smoke they had swallowed.

Mr Wilkinson, the chief steward, inspected the provisioning of the boats with as much precision as if he had been superintending the laying of the saloon tables. During the fire the ladies and children among the passengers were mustered in the saloon ready to be placed in the boats, and the purser, Mr Oilman, stood ready with the list of passengers and crew prepared to' detail off each person to his appointed boat. The ladies behaved with the greatest courage, and there was an entire absence of panic and •scarcely a wet eye to be seen among them. They bore up wonderfully during all the weary hours of the fire. Captain. Keyett \ and his officers were admirably supported in their struggle with the fire by Captain Wells and the other officers of the Bellerophon, who placed their services at Captain Bevett's disposal. When Captain Kevett was carried gasping on deck, far down below in the thick of the smoke the cheery voice of Captain Wells might be heard urging on the work. Staff-Commander Watts stood by Captain Kevett in the hold from the very, beginning of the fire, and did,not leave the; hold until it was beaten. This is the Bame officer who, ten years ago almost to a day, when master of her Majesty's ship Bombay, j the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief on the; South-East Coast of America, greatly distinguished himself when that ship was destroyed by fire and 93 officers and men perished. Commander Fane, after clearing the magazine, went into the thick of the work below, where good service was likewise done By the' Hon. Hugh Tyrwhitt and Mr