Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-04-13
Appalling Calamity af Sea- Burning
OF the General LYON.
z published a few days ago q tel.

vs. puohsned lew days ago 3 tele-f
gram containing brief account of one
'fthe nostapaHing caIanities bgrfire at
sea, that has OScnrr ed for many years,
involving the loss Of life of some Eve
hundred AUTHORIZATIONS OILS, Hucludihg il
men, women and children, nearly four:
ffths offs whom we're burned to death.
We give the following additional parsica.
lars from the New York Tribune AZ the
Sd instant:
On Wednesday last the United States
steam TRANSPORT General Lyon, sailed Il
from Wilmington for Fortress Monroe.
having on board 204 Of the 56th Illinois
regiment, Third Division, second Brig
ade, Fifteenth Army Corps, who had
served out their time, about 200 paroled
and escaped prisoners, and consider.
able number Of refugees, making q total,
including the crew, OF about 500 per-
sons The Lyon proceeded as far as the /
bar, where she remained over night, and 1
about s o'clock on Thursday morning |
resumed her course Nothing Of inter- |
est occurred until about 10 O'Clock on
Friday morning, when, in shOal water l
off Cape Hatteras, the thrilling cry Of |
fire was raised, and at once the scene
was heart rending. Women ran scream
ing on the decks searching for Their
children or friends, while men were
quite as appaisd and frantic, and In the
! language of one of the. survivors, it
seemed as If every one had suddenly
become bereft Of their senses, and the
/ place was a very pandemonium. Sol
diers who had been with Gen. Sherman
through all his hard fought battles, and
had never been known to falter in the
thickest Of the battle, became as help.
| less as little children. ,'
The FIRE was caused by the bursting
of barrel of coal oil in the porter's
room, directly over the boiler, and in
less than Eve minutes the flames we're
beiehing out on deck, and, with the as
sistance of strong gale, spread very
rapidly. The mate of che ship at once
went to work to get out the hose, but the
alarm and excitement we're so great
that but little progress could be made
towards extinguishing the fire, In the
meantime, the captain Of the ship came
up, and in the most frantic manner ex.
claimed, She's gonel she's gonel-
there's no use trying to save heri" A
rush was then made for the life boats,
: Of which there were bat three on board,
!. and they were Soon launched. Two of
the boats were on the bow of the vessel,
and as soon as one was launched, the
captain sprang into it, and pushed of,
intent on saving his own life, Captain
James Weber, Of Company K, 56th Iii,
nois regiment, succeeded in getting into
: the same boat, which, in moment
after, was struck by the, wheel. and the
captain Of the ship was instantly killed,
Captain Weber. being nninjsred, chung
, to the swamp boat, but subsequently, as
I he was being hauled on board the Gen.
Sedgwick, about.a quarter of mile die
!. tant, lost his hold Of the rope aud was
drowned, Our informant, Joseph Fitz
b gerald, got into the other boat launched
from the bow, together with twelve
others, and, while endeayoring to get
: on board the Sedgwick, all bnt FIVE were
q drowned, in consequence Of the rough
sea. A number of persons got into the
third launch and were saved, while
others tossed overheard doors and
'tpianks, and were afterwards picked up
At the time the FIRE broke out nearly
a four hundred soldiers were below, as ,bpi
b. few were allowed on deck at the time;
J and as soon as the alarm was given the
a ladders were pulled up from the hatch
=, es, thus precluding the, possibility q
Y escape, and there can be no doubt thai
they we're burned to death. Those re.
2 naming on deck jumped overheard, anC
were drowned. The whole number
!, known to have been saved was twenty
I nine, of whom twenty were soldiers, snt
g nine of the crew of the ship. OF the
l. two hundred and four of the 56th Illinois
I regiment, all but four persisted, includ
IS ing all of the officers. George Williams
h Of company +, 18th Illinois, conveyed 1
: woman on plank to the Sedgwick, but
I upon arriving there she was dead; b,
saved Major James Files, who wa
e in COMMAND of the 56th Illinois, rafuset
IF to leave the ship, saying he would slicA
y by her as long as there was piece lef
as large as his two hands
In three hours from the time, the, fir
70 broke out the ship was entirely, destroy
5. ed. The General Sedgwick lay by unit
q toward night, and then left, the officer
= and crew having done everything il
o their power toward rescuing the unfor
p tunate beings of the Lyon, but were I'm
a able to do more than, they did, in conse
Il gnence of the rough sea and the clos
proximity to the breakers, sl w .
L i ~.