Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-09-17 00:00:00

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THE SHIP HARKAWAY.,

The following is the eaptairis report of the loss
of the ship :

Southampton, September 14, 1857.
It is with regret I have to inform you of the total loss
of the Harkaway by fire, at sea, eptember 7th, during a
gale of wind ; and it was with the greatest difficulty the
lives of all on board were saved, owing to the sea running
so high. Much praise is due to Mr. Miller Fled a seaman
of the name of Lamb, of the British barque Sarah Dorothy,
of Newcastle, for the noble manner in which they risked
their lives to save two seamen and myself, after the fore
part of the ship was enveloped in flames, and the turpen-
tine exploding every minute, being at the same time
ourselves nearly suffocated with smoke, till their timely
assistance arrived. Scarcely had I got my foot on the
deck of the barque beta.° the turpentine exploded, and
blew the entire upper portion of the ship to
pieces, setting in flames the remainder. which con-
tinned to burn as long as we could see her.
The loss of the Harkaway I ascribe to spontaneous com-
bustion, the first symptom we discovered of fire on board,
was on the morning of Friday the 4th September, and on
the evening of the same day, at half-past nin p
alarmed by a rather smart explosion as if in the bottom
of the vessel owing to its low rumbling sound, and
immediately afterwards a dense volume of thick black
smoke, and a s rong smell as if rosin or pitch pine-wood
was on fire, I immediately closed the of er-hatch, (it being
the only one not battens l down, as it was easils opened
and shut), and covered it over with a wet sail. I concluded
to wait for a time to see if it would abate, but finding it
did not, and fearing another explosion which might blow-
up the ship altogether, I immediately got out the
boats and put the passengers in them, men, women,
and children, with a hand in each boat to take
ea e of them, and veered themastern of the ship
until daylight, when, finding the smoke abating, and
wishing to save the ship and cargo if possible, I
hoisted in our boats, crowded on all sail, the wind being
fair, and kept the ship her coarse ; at the same time had
the decks completely covered with water, and the hitches
with wet sails, which were constantly kept wet ; but ever
after the explosion there was a ways a strong smell in
every part of the ship as if pitch pine wood was burning
some where. On the evening of Sunday, the 6th, it
commenced blowing a strong breeze, accompanied with
rain and squalls at intervals, and kept increasing to a
heavy gale. Ship being under close reef, before morning,
6 a m , had to hand the fore topsails and foresail and
heave her to under close-reefed main topsail. 8 a.m.,
blowing very string, ship labouring ra her heavily; smoke
commenced issuing from every aperture that was the least
open all over the snip, the forward part of the ship getting
very hot, and outside, abreast of the foremast, well down
towards the water's edge Fearing she would blow up if
the fire once broke out, and consulting with my officers
what was best to be done to save the ship, concluded to
cut away the fore and main-meet, and let the water
accumulate in the hob;, to prevent the ship from
blowing up, there being already five feet six inches in
her, and she making about eigateen inches very twelve
hours, the masts being cut away without injuring, the
hull, set the foot of the spanker, made a hawser
fast to the mainmast, got it clear of the ship, and she rode
to it head to wind, the same almost as if anchored ; this
being all we could do for her safety and ours, except
keeping our decks wet, we awaited in silence and dread,
for there seemed little chance of savtng either lives or
ship. It still continuing to blow a hard gale, and a sea
running that no boat could live long in, made all prepara-
tion for leavirg, in getting the boats ready with a little
provision and water in each, but we hal net long to wait,
for her decks burst open on the starboard side forward,
and the flames burst out, immediately a I,rg3 place opened
in her side, and the whole forward part was soon in flumes.
Commenced getting the boats out, and while so doing
observed a vessel and r close reef bearing down upon us,
which proved to be the barque Sarah Dorothy, and after
much difficulty got all hands on board While the last
boat was going, a large quantity of the spirits of turpentine
caught fire and exploded, nearly suffocating myself and
two hands , the beats that were coming forts became
alarmed, and fearing she would blow-up, I could not
induce them to come and rescue us, but the chief mate
of the barque nobly came and saved use and I was only
sorry I had no means of recompensing him, but I hope
he w:11 not go unrewarded. We saved very little of
our effects.