The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-16 00:00:00

sePnes

on last, I said I thought of going to
and perhaps to Chicago. I intended to have
but meeting Captain Titus, a few daT
since, needed but little persuasion to wait for the Erie,
for we v.-ero,u:d friends. Some of my acquaintances were
nd we proposed to make it. partly a pleasure ex-
al-:d to take along a band of music. Monday
le day for starting. But the weather had beer
•,1.; the night, and in the morning the blue.
,)ea waves were dashing against the pier, as wt.-
- seen them in a gale..
-1 at the usual tine, and found her well
and aa-iori, the rest about one
for the West, why

taken an:

gum,

car.:ion.

came. t

scpv,Llly
have
I v

h and

fir on

1 deck

tt-!=ir

to r

aged h arranging

getting impatient to 11t, on then.
voyar, and workmen on I.rd, the poJr painters,
tll3 wishing-
nmed to tlic lake in al.

their v+,yagt.: as c():nfortabie

the Cllnton put out, notwit'ustanding th,
our passengers '..er<r! anxiou; to follow

gale,
The (

rtnqus wero

wt'r t

ul6)rtanate cans,

) a;

k:ing ace

clamorous to strait

Wei c.'
iding to the wishes of his passengers, knowim
fretas 110 red danger from the gale, which alsi
seemed t:, lull, and not liking to be beaten by the Clio
ton, the last bell was rung, the last farewell—to how
many last !—the lines cast uti, and the gallant Erie,
for the last time, rounded the light-house. This
Was
about half-past live on Monday afternoon. The Clinton
was just seen in the distance.
The waves were running high. bat the boat pitched
easily, and the whole company was in high spirits, and
those who e7:pre.ssed any fears were laughed at for their
timidity. We sat down to tea, and selected our berths,
expecting a pleasant morrow.
At alemt eight o'clock I was sitting in the saloon.
when, all at once, we heard a slight explosion, a hissint.
sound, and cry of fire. So many accidents have occurred.
and I had so schooled myself to the thought of such an
accident, that I was comparatively cool and self possessed.
spruag to the door, followed by Palmeri,•e, and we
tvere met by a mass of scorching. flame. I rushed forward.
Ife 1;;liowed, but no more. Or the dozen or fifteen in tin,
saloon at the moment, not another survive;. In a SCCOII6
all that pert oz the boat nearest to where the flame.
burst on% the boiler deck, was in flames, and they mils(
have perished in the saloon, from which there was no

tlic~

escape.
Oe going forward, I saw in a moment the whole terra,
of the scene. The flames burst out in immense masse:
and were drivea back by the wind, enveloping in one
minute the whole body of the ship. Titus sprung to the
wheel, and headed her to the shore, and the wind not
drove the dames into every part of her, and she roller'
over the seas a mass of fire—for she had been lately
painted, and her pannel-work varnished, so that she
caught as if dipped in spirits of turpentine.
Then the air was filled with shrieks of agony and de-
spair. The boldest turned pale at that awful moment. I
shad never forget the wail of terror that went up from
the poor German emigrants, who were huddled together
On the forward deck. Wives clung to their husbands,
Inothee,; feantiely pressed their babes to their bosoms,
lovers clang madly to each other. One venerable old man,
his grey hairs streaming in the wind, stood on the bows,
and stretciril]a out his bony hands, prayed to God in the
Jahguage of his fatherland.
d:ut if the steno forward was terrible, that aft was ap-
paliv..g. for there the flames were raging in the greatest
fur.-. ;owe madly rushed into the tire. Others, with a
yell, mach!ened with the names, which were all around
them. spritny; head-long into the waves. The officers of
the boat eed. crew were genet ally cool, and sprung to
lower the boats., but these were every one succeesively
ewamped by those who threw themselves into them, re-
igardieee of everything but their own safety.
tried to eat, coDy—l kept near the captain, who
smiled to take courage from despair, and whose bearing
was above all praise. The boat was wearing towards
the shore, but the maddened flames now enveloped the
wheel house, and in a moment the machinery stopped.
The last hope had left us—and a wilder shriek rose ur
in the air ; at this moment the second engineer, the
one at the on duty, who had stood by his machicer)
as long ae it would work, was seen climbing up,
black mass, with the flames curling all around him
t In either side he could nut go, for it was 110 W one mass
of fire. He sprung upward, came to the top, one mo.
anent fit madly around him, and then fell into the flames,
There was no more remaining on board, for the boat
110 W breached round upon the swelling waves a mass oe
tire. I seeted upon a settee near me, and gave one spring
jest tie the names were bursting through the deck where
I stood—one moment more, and I should have been in
the flames. One moment, and I found myself tossed on
a wave, grasping my frail supple; with desperate energy.
At one eeement I sate nothing but the yawning deep,
and the blacteening sky—at the next the flaming mass
:was before me, as the waves pitched me up, and around
were my fellow.pas„,,ttr,;ers straggling with the waves,
some supported by notho.7 but their strong arms—every
moment teeming weaker, chile the wild, agonisini,
riekg those who were evei7 moment taking their
vio
last look at the upper world ; and th,sse who were n
still
cKnaing t.) the bulwarks, but every ino:neht dropping
with] every pitch of the vessel, made such a 5
.4;11e,
nightly haunts my dreams, and can never be obliterated
while memory remains.
I had been in the water but a short time, though each
nenttent seemed an age, when I heard the voice of Capt.
Tina's., who, the last to leave the vessel, was now in the
water, ca..llog, oat with a firm voice, " Courage—hold on
—help is cs ming !" Oh, words of hopeollow it cheered
us in thot hour of gloom. A moment after I saw the
lights of a steam-boat, and, in a short time, the hull of
the Clinton, which, upon seeing the fire, had hastened
to our assistimee. Her boats were ready lowered, and, 1
guided by the light of the vessel and the prayers for
help, twenty-seven of us were saved from a watery
grave. Some were terribly burned, and seine in the last
stage of exhaustion, but all thankful for their pre-
servation.
Of the German emigrants, I do not know that one was
saved. Parents and children seem to have found one
common grave, and lay at the bottom of the lake, all
locked together. There was but one female of the whole
number saved, and among the passengers were some of
superior elegance and rare beauty. Oh ! never on earth
may I witness such a scene of horror. It seems like a
frightful dream, only too real. That pale old man haunts
me. The agony of some of those beautiful girls will be
impressed upon my mind for ever, and I would that I
could forget the horrible sight of that poor fellow catch-
ing in the air for some escape from the flames which were
raging ell round him. It was terrible 1 dreadful ! hor-
rible I can find no language which will pourtray my