Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1825-04-21
From the Liverpool Courier, Mareh Is.
THE KENT EAST INDIAMAN.

lexandria, Egypt, has passed up to the
Quarantine ground, having on board
IA soldiers saved from the wreck Of
the above unfortunate vessel. Having
on Monday had an opportunity Of con-
versing with some of the poor fellows
who were SO providentially snatched
from the very jaws of death, we have
collected from them several interesting
particulars of the melancholy catastro-
phe of which they were the spectators
and the only survivors.
1t appears, that the men left on the
wreck never, for a moment, imagined
that they should be abandoned by their
comrades to perish either by fire or wa
ter. The flames broke out, they state,
about seven O'Clock in the evening, at
or near The main-mast, and instantly
ran, with great rapidity, from stem to
stern, scorching and burning dreadfully
many persons who could not escape
from the fury Of the destructive ele-
ment. The fire still continuing to in
crease, about nine o'clock the flames
caught the rigging. At this awful
crisis, as near as the poor fellows could
guess, the Cambria appeared to be get
ting under way. All the officers and
men had got on board the brig, except
two serjeants, two corporals, about ff-
ty privates, and seven helpless children,
all Of whom were abandoned to their
fate. The Cambria, they state, was
not at this time, more than a quarter
or half a mile from the Kent. AS soon
as they perceived her making sail, they
instinctively raised shont of despair,
calling upon their more fortunate COM
rades not to abandon them to that
death which, to all human appearances
was inevitable, if they were left on the
burning wreck The soldiers are quite
confident, that their cries for help,
which derived strength from despair,
must have been heard on board the
Cambria. No notice, however, was
taken Of them, and the vessel soon dis
appeared from their sight. The sem
sations of the multitude, at this awful
iuncture, ma, be more easily imagined
than described. The whole range of
the Kent was rapidly enveloping in
flames, with the exception of a part
of the quarter deck, which was the last
to fall prey 10 the furious clement
The unfortunate wretches were sue
cessively driven from place to place
on the decks by the too rapid progress
of the flames.
Many affecting incidents occurred,
during the dreadful interval between
the departure Of the Cambria, and the
time when the survivors were compel
ed by the ravages Of the flames to cor
NIT themselves, as the only remaining
chance of escape, to the fragments OF
floating wreck. Two brothers, named
Burton, privates in the 3lst. regiment;
despairing Of all hope Of escape from
the fiery element,' Additionally en-
braced each other, and joining hands,
precipitated themselves into the sea.
They both persisted. A father, whose
wife and one child had got on board the
Cambria, was left with a second child
on the wreck. When the progress of
the fire had rendered longer stay on
board the Kent impossible, he threw
himself and his helpless offspring into
the sea, in the hope Of being able to
swim with it to some Of the floating
wreck. Unfortunately, the poor fellow
could not keep his hold Of his child,
and it sunk from his paternal grasp to
rise no more. This man is one of the
fourteen saved by the Caroline. Ano-
Their father had lashed his child to his
back, and committed himself to the
ocean with similar object. The child
persisted, from the severity Of the wea-
Their, and the effects of the sea; and the
father was reluctantly compelled to
suffer its lifeless body to sink. Poor
fellow! he soon afterwards shared the
fate Of his child. Many who escaped
the fury of one element, in despair pre-
cipitated themselves into the other and
persisted.
The survivors, whose numbers had
by this time been greatly diminished,
had got on different parts of the wreck,
in the hope Of thereby prolonging (for
they had abandoned all hope Of escape)
a miserable existence. Between | l and
IL o'clock, the main and mizen masts
fell overheard. The mizen mastfoat-
ed away; whilst the main mast, all the
rigging not having been entirely con-
sumed, was fortunately prevented by
rope or ropes, from Immediately leav-
ing the hull, and it remained rolling a.
bout under or near the stern. When
the mizen mast fell overheard, there
were about sixteen unhappy men on
the spanker boom, which giving way
at the same time, the whole of them
were precipitated into the sea. Of
these, only one succeeded in reaching
the wreck of the main mast. Several,
however, from other parts Of the ves-
sci reached and chung to it. At this
dreadful crisis, the Kent was one mass