BURNING OF THE J.T. BERRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1689, 21 January 1888, Page 3

BURNING OF THE J.T. BERRY.

Stdkit, Jan. 18.

' ( The survivors of the ship J. T. Berry, burnt at sea, were seven days in an open boat before being picked up, and had no coats or hoots, though they had plenty of eatables. Great care had to be exercised in regard to water, of which only a small quantity was available, and each man was put on an allowance of/six spoonsfull per day. The whol of them suffered greatly from heat. When the boats left the vessel the captain ordered the second boat to make for Australia. The petroleum in the hold of the ship blazed up, blowing hp the decks, and so rapid was the spread offire that there was only twenty minutes in which to get the boats' away ; from. the doomed vessel, and consequently nothing was saved from her.

Jan. 19.

The survivors of the American ship I. T. Berry ttriyed here to-day. Thej complain bitterly of the illtreatment received by the crew of the illfated vasset at the hands of the captain and chief officer. They assert that the men now missing were cruelly abandoned to their fate. It appears that before the fire occurred a member of the crew had been f engaged below ; painting tanks, wliich necessitated his using a light, and there may possibly be some connection between this circumstance and the origin of the fire. When the fire was first discovered, and before it had assumed large dimensions, the starboard boat was hurriedly launched. Thesurriyors entered it and cut the painter, leaving the port boat for the remainder of the crew. The explosion which tore up the decks had not then occurred, but the fire had enveloped the port boat and rendered it useless. Moreover it was not possible at any time after the outbreak of the fire to have launched it, owing to the intense heat, so that it is believed that the other unfortunates never left the ship but perished with her. The fact that the captain and first mate were in the same boat is already unfavorably commented on.