Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1848-08-31
Burning Of Ship Cassnnder.

and has furnished TO the Baltimore Sun the
following particulars:
The ship " Cassander," Henry Wmsow
master, sailed from Providence Oh the 18Th of
November, 1917, on whaling cruise. Moth
ing occurred worthy Of remark until the Isl of
May, lS4S, between 4 and 4. NJ: il blow
ing moderate gale of wind liom northwest At
the time, the cry OF ''fire" was heard. An
hands were instantly on deck, and it was soon
discovered the fire was in the lower hold. ap-
parently near the iorcmast, where four barrels
Of tar had been slowed; it was also discovered
that two OF the crew, negroes from the coast
OF Africa, had jumped overheard | hove a
ropes end TO ono of them, but he refused to
take 1t, and sunk out of sight. Orders were
instantly given, and every eXertion made to
eXtlngulsh the fire and save the ship, but the
fire being IN the lower hold, and the smoke 50
dense and the flames SO rapid that no one could
enter the tween decks, our efforts proved una
vailing.
Attempts were then made to procure bread
and water, but the smoke in the stcerage was
so dense as topreyent us-,his led us to believe
the ship had been fred aft as well as forward.
Three boats were lowered, with the cusloma-
ry boat kegs of water, small quantity of
bread, some raw meat, taken from the harness
cask, my nautical Instruments and few ar,i-
cles of clothing.
AS every cAcrton had been made TO arrcs,
the progress OF the fire, without avail, it was
thought most prudent 10 leave the ship to her
fate and make the best Of our way to land.
Shortly after leaving the ship the second
mates boat picked up one of the Africans who
had jumped overheard when the alarm of fire
was given. lie afterwards confessed that his
companion had fired the ship, aud then pIung-
ing knife IN his side Jumped overheard, and
that he was his accompllco Ho gave as their
reason for acting as they did. their fears that
they would be sold as slaves at the first port
we entered hope it is not necessary for me
10 say their fears were without the shadow Of
foundation.
Being now daylight, it was found that the
ships company except the African were in the
three boats, in all % souls. We found our
supplies to be two boat-kcgs and one tea ket-
tie, in all about ten gallons of water, about ff-
teen pounds of bread and some raw meat Ac-
cording to the previous days reckoning We
were IN lat. 81 deg. 80 min. South, long Is
West-i00 miles from the nearest land
Nothing OF Importance occurred until the
morning of the 5th, Qat 80, lon NJ when a.
bout 10 a. NJ, we discovered a san all hands
took to the oars, and after pulling aud making
signals OF distress for five hours e., came up
with her, and found her to be a o.. ,.au,sh brig.
100 days from Barcelona, bound to Moutey-
deo. lie made every effort To get away from
us the mate boat came up with her first
the captain would not let nm come alongside
but gave him rope and towcd him some dis
tancc astcrn. | then came alongside, and
through an Interpreter asked permission for me
and my crew to come on board he refused
most positively. then begged him to take US
to Monieyideo or ST CatharInc's or one or iwoI
days sail toward land. lie refused
| asked HIM to let us come on board ior one
night then, that we might get some sleep aud
rest to enable Us to bear the fatigue aud hard
ships consequent on renewal Of our voyage
This also he refused. He gave US some bread.
wine and water, and then passed a pencil and
piece of paper down to me 70 write the name
ofmy ship, that ho might report me. re.
fused to write 1t unless permitted TO come on
board, and against his express wishes. Jump
ing in the main chains | went ON board He
asked me if he could do anything more for mo
| told him nothing but take us on board. Tn
of course he refused and | lett him. Thank
God such instances of mans !uhunauiiY to
man" arc rare, very rare among the seailring
men, and Capt. Domiuick Of the brig Alcr-
cdtl' will have the satisfaction of knowing he
stands - alone in his glory"
We again made sail and proceeded, wi,hou,
accident, until the night of the 9th, when il /
commenced blowing very heavy with squalls
hove the boats to until daylIght, by masking I
line fist to lhc oars and paying them out ahead.
AT 1 p. m, my boat was swamred, aud we
were left to the mercy o. the sea. We sup
ported ourselves by the capslzod boat until the
Il. 4. 1
all, eight in number, were saved. By this ac-
cdent | lost my nautical instruments and all
my water The Two remaining boats now
contained % persons, and their gunwalcs were
not more than SIX or eight inches out Of water.
In the morning the wind moderated, and the
sea was beaten down hy heavy shower Of
rain. From this time we had fine weather
and proceeded toward the land, where we ar
rived at p. IN, 10Th of May, on the beach
near Conventas, IN the province of st. Catha-
rlpe's Brazil, nearly exhausted, having no wa
ter and very little food left.
The mates boat was capsized in the surf
on landing, and Barney Reed, boat stcercr,
was drowned, he being 50 weak as to be una
BILE to eXtrcatc himself from the surf. Near
where we landed we discovered house, at
which we were furnished with water and pro-
visions.
Two days after, left for ST. Cathariue :. 20
give notice to and ask assistance from the nj
ted States consul there. Shortly after | left, /
the negro either deserted or was stolen; most
probably he met with the fate his fears of
which were the cause of 50 much suffering.
| arrived at St. Catharinc's on the 10Th
the consul procured a vessel, with which |
went back and met the crew AT place called
" Laguna," torty-fye miles from where land
ed, and sixty from st. Calhannes. shall
never be able to thank sufficiently the Amcri- .
cans ir ST. Cathariue's, particularly Captains
]. X. Malcolm, l.. = Cathcarl, E y. JcAtr-
son, f.. y. Moshcr and Mr.. Wm. lIammcl. for
their kindness and the assistance they afforded
me, both in St. CatharInc' ;. and 10 enable me
10 get down to Rio, | am also under great ob-
legations TO Mcssrs. Maxwell, Wright d Co..
OF Rio, and Capt. John i. Jackson, of the
barque w. II. ID. G. Wright, for the services
they rendered aud the attention thay paid me.
P ). In Rio was told by Lieut.. Com
manding Til,on, of the L. >. brig Perry, that
the Alcrcldita had arrived at Montc,idco, aud
that Capt. DominIck reported having fallen in
with us he said he offered to take US on board /
and carry 10 with him 10 Montcvidco but that