New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-01
and sometimes painless, and that not many at tnis

and sometimes painless, and that not many at this
time were below. u s. 81
Was such catastrophe inevitable Almost IN
eytable it certainly was if vessel of burning 'a'
was stilJ upon the deck, and water was thrown
upon it. 1t was the fortune of the writer once 70
hear on shipboard many hundred miles from land
and out of much-frequented track OF SHIPS 'ne
appalling cry Of Fire! vessel OF burning tar
had been upset, and the liquid fire was dying IN
every direction upon streams Of water dashed uPo"
il BY the half.frnntic sailors. But the quickness'
the presence Of mind. the energy and the knowledge
of the captain and bis first officer were equal |"
the emergency Of that terrible moment. The COM
mand was given. and instantly obeyed, to stop the
water; the next moment every bed and blanket
and bed-quilt and pea,jacket vas thrown up rom
the forecastle, and in FIVE minutes the fire, which
in five minutes more would have wrapped the snip
in flames, was e1tinguished Undoubtedly the nle
on board the Austra might have been as easily
conquered if doing the wrong thing had been soon
enough stopped. and the right thing done. But 10
these were requisite, first knowledge, second
presence Of mind, and, third, the power to use
them. Unfortunately the men in places OF trust
on board the ocean steamers are not always, per-
haps not generally, the old-fashioned "salts" VINO
sailed the old.fashioned ships, who knew their
business and never lost their balance; and even IT
the man who was sent down between.decks OF the
Austria with a bucket Of tar and bot iron was
one of these, no knowledge and no presence OF
mind could avail him anything, surrounded, ss he
probably was, with steerage passengers, who in
their ignorance and alright did precisely the wrong
thing and did it with oil their might because they
were sure it was the right thing to do. 1t was not
time to convince men that there are cases where
water will not quench fire. Under such crcum-
stances it was as wise to send q man to such
place on such an errand, as it would be to send q
messenger to q pOwder.magazine for cask OF
powder with burning and sparkling brand for
light. 1t is hardly possible to conceive that such
an act was ordered, or even permitted except
through ignorance of the risk that was run, and Of
the almost certain consequences that would follow
an accident so likely to happen as the upsetting of
bucket or the dropping Of hot iron.
What lesson are We to learn, then from this
appalling calamity 1t is lesson to which We
have heen hidden before which has cost the
world already thousands Of precious lives; which
counts more victims-victims among the wise
the good the beautiful and the young-than
many battle.felds; lesson which comes now
in . new and more terrible shape, and which
it will be well to put in practice be-
fore new sufferers are demanded. 1t ia simply
this We want in the marine passenger-trade, and
especially in the ocean steamers, first of oil, what
we 30 seldom get, sailors: and next We want that
the interior Of the ship should be made 6re-prOOf
There will be some safety in crossing the Atlantic
when the ships cannot be burned up, and when the
captains of steamers are men who know their
trade-who know that their business is with the
ship and the crew, who know how to do it, and do
it. There are a few such masters Of steamships
now, and to such accidents never happen. Their
ships are ships not hotels and are sailed accord
ingly. The gentlemanly man who is so pleasant in
the cabin or at the head of the dinner table however
pleasant he may be in sunny day, or going into
port after the pilot is on board is not the man for
those terrible emergencies, when the lives of hun
dreds of human creatures sr, hanging upon the
will, the energy and the knowledge of single
man. 1t is even late to learn the Lesson now, but
it better be learned ere worse befall US.