The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-07-26
THE LATE FIRE AT SEA.
Another Account Of the BurniDg OF
the ship william EeIsOn--Heart-
reading ParticuI arS.

lFrom the Newfoundland Day Book, July
Our readers have to thank Robert Al.
exsnder, Esq, Of the firm Of Messrs. j. &
W. Stewart, for enabling US this morning
to place before them the following correct
account of q most terrible catastrophe oc-
curing at ses on Sunday last. The par
ticulAIs, which we get directly from Capt
Hart, and from his log book, are these
The bark Meteor, Captain Hart, belong.
ing 70 Messrs. J. & w. Stewart, from
Aquadills, P. r bound 70 Queenstown, ar
rived off this port yesterday afternoon, to
| land thirty psssengers-twenty.op one males
sndnine femsles-picked up by him on
Wednesday last, June %, in latitude Al
degrees So Minutes, longitude 81 degrees
4S minutes. The logbOok states that about
o'clock on the morning of Wednesday
last the weather being moderate, the wstch
on board the Meteor heard shrieks, and
shortly after 8 number of people (male and
femsle) were discovered floating about on
pieces Of wreck. Captain Hart at once got
bis boats out, and from that time up to
noon of the same day they were busily en-
gagged in searching for the unfortunate
people. The wreck was scattered over
miles of water, and each piecs had to be
searched. AS we have stated, thirty per-
sons were rescued, while good many dead
bodies we're found. The saved passengers
gave Captain Hart the following details of
the disaster:
The lost vessel was the American ship
William Nelson, from Antwerp, bound TO
New York with passengers. She had be.
tween four and five hundred emigrsnts on
board. On Sunday last the captain of the
aaFa aah f1trn
ing the ship, and the mate and some of the
crew set about the work. A pot of pitch
was taken into the lower hold, below the
passenger deck, and red hot irons were
thrown into it. The pitch, of course ignit-
ed and boiled over, setting the ship on fire
to such an extent that it was found impos-
sIble to extinguish the flames. They spread
rapidly and before long the vessel WAS q
macs Of fire, burned to the waters edge and
sank, carrying down with her over four
hundred people. The rescued passengers
described the scenes during the fire as
truly heart rending. Mothers threw their |
babes into the water and fell back them
selves into the flames. whole families died |
together in excruciating torments. Broth
ers and sisters, parents and children, ran |
frantically about for help they we're not to
find. The saved passengers also say that |
when the captain found he could not save
the ship, he got his boats out, and with his
officers, the crew and the cabin passengers,
left the remaining uLfortunAtes to their |
fate. A number Of very young children |
we're placed In the "chsnnels," of the ship, |
as being furthest fromtae fire, but they had |
not been long there when the fsmes bust
through the sides of the vessel upon them,
and in an instant they were consumed. OF |
such horrible scenes is the account made
up.
Captain Hart states that one woman was
picked up by his second mate on piece of
spar, apparently dying. She had been, as
had the rest, three days and three nights
floating about on the water without food.
Having rescued all that could be found,
and another ship being five or six miles OF.
searching for the wrecked peo-
pie, and besides having as many on board
as he could feed, Captain Hart determined
to bear up for st. Johns, being then tzT9e
hundred and twenty miles soutn' NJ
Z hin ka II Sc E~-~L-Li IL
saved some of the poor creatures,
The rescued male passengers are recover
ing fast from their fearful sufferings, but all |
the females are more or less burnt about |
the hands. arms and legs. A large num- |
Der of Yeung children were burnt.