The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1868-04-17


of the Sea Bird consisted OF all sorts:
There we're many boxes and bales, several
bags of wool, etc. got up early this
Thursday morning--about 5 o clock.
had been np about an hour and hall, / sho d
think, when saw smoke arising on the
main deck. 10 the port quarter, and Just
below the ladies' cabin. The smoke l mad
hardly noticed when | saw a. blaze spring
up. The Gre seemed to have been kindied
right on the deck. There was . lot OF tubs
and some straw lying near, and the fire got
smong them right away. i At once cried
out Fire! Firs!'' Several OF the crew
who we're up came hurrying to where the
FIRE was, the bell was rung, and the passen-
gers who were not up before came tumbllng
out from their berths and state rooms. In
stantly there was great confusion, and with
this the fre increased SO rapidly as made
me convinced that it must have been burn
ing long time before l discovered It. The
fire was long way aft OF the engine and
boiler, in the port quarter. The flames
sprung up, and spread almost instantly
into the ladies' cabin overhead, through:
out the freight on the main deck 1t did
not seem to take FIVE minutes before the
after part of the boat was oil on hrc: The
fire spread SO rapidly into the ladies' cabin
that do not think all the women had time
to leave. | heard some one sly that some
of the ladies and children were burned. We
all rushed for the forward part of the boat.
Back of the engine the boat was all in
flames. Some of the crew tried to get at
the small boats, which were aft lwent
with them, but we did not get any further
than the smoke stack 1t was no use try
ing the whole after part of the boat was
burning up, aud the boats themselves were
on fire. l was perfectly cool all the time:
| knew the boat was going up,' and
somehow or other y felt that was all
righl. So | waited about ten minutes, |
think, before l, with the assistance of Eve
or six others, showed the gang plank over
boz rd. During this time the flames were
making great headway, and in FIVE or six
minutes after the FIRE iwas first seen by me
the engines stopped working. All the pas
sengers had crowded into the bow, and
some of them, the vsmen and children, es-
pecially, were crying and wringing their
hands aud moaning in way pitiful to hear.
Six or seven of us showed the gang plank
overheard, just forward of the paddle
boxes. | waited until the gang-plahk had
foated past, and then | jumped. | was
the first man overheard. Iswam to the
gang plank, and ten or fifteen others follow.
ed me. So many of US on the plank caused
it to sink, and We all had hard work to
keep it and ourselves up. l got along
pretty well, until three or four, seeing that
L was holding my own, got around by me
and took hold Of me. | shook them all of,
except colored boy, thu cook helper.
He put both arms about my neck, and |
could not shake him off. then helped
him to get on the plank. and one man, who
was aboat twenty five years old, and wore
a moustache and whlskers, got me by the
wrist and drew me on the plank. Johnnie
o Brien [ helped on the plank two or
three times. He was washed off almost as
fast as | could get him on. We all strug-
gled very hard. but there wasn't q man
said a word. | got hold of one of the
gang plank ropes, and stuck to it until |
was picked off, | could see about me men
having hold Of boxes, chairs, tenders, and
two men L saw cllnging to bag OF wool.
We feated past the bag, and one of the
men said to me-he wasn't more than ten
feet away-"Yeu're going pretty fast "
There was q very heavy sea, and after We
had been in the water fifteen or twenty
minutes, a swell lifted the plank and cap
sized it. All who had hold of it, except
me, were washed away, and | did not see
any of them any more. l was chilled
through. The water was almost at freezing
point. was just able to climb on the
gang plank after the rest bad gone, and |
knew that if staid in the water could
n live long. So stood up on the gang
plank, all alone by myseH, | had no thought
OF death the same confidence had felt in
being saved, from the first, still clung to
me. looked about me, and, though the
sea was rolling heavily, | could see the
lakes surface dotted here and there with
pieces of the wreck, to many OF which men
were clinging. About half mile away
saw one of the boat tenders, and a woman
was clinging to it. As was watching her,
l saw her disappear under swell. | saw
the fender afterwards, but she was gone.
The boat drifted to the leeward, in shore,
much faster than l on the gang plank.
About twenty minutes after had left her,
| saw the crowd of passengers all gathered
on the hurricane deck Many OF the men
we're stripped to their shirts. Nearly all of
them had life presevers or were Iashed to
tables, planks, boxes, and doors This
was about the last saw Of the boat !
N-iN NV hCal auy oCICdtuiuS VI CIlCS TIC
sea made noise that drowned all that.
The last noticed particularly about the
wreck she was burned almost to the waters
edge, and the walking beam was just falling
in. ] was { led through, and felt myself
freezing. | uid not dare let go of the
ropes, tor if | did l should be washed
away. So 1 changed hands, although my
fingers were soon frozen stiff. About 9
o clock | saw schooner bearing south,
about two miles away, ard under full sail
! know they saw me from on board, and
know they must have seen the burning
wreck but they did not bear down on me,
and kept right on. 1t was freezing just
like winter, and l could not have i.eld on
much longer, when, about 10 clock, saw
. schooner, which had been four or FIVE
miles to windward, tack about and bear
down on me. This proved to be the Cor
nelia. She passed me FIRST, and went down
to the wreck, to the leeward She sent out
her small boat, and took off Chamberlain
iror' the forward netting, and then came
back tor me. About III o'clock they took
me oh. | was pretty near frozen. wen:
INTO The cabin where l took of my clothes
nd dried them. We arrived in Chicago
ah hon