The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-04-16


opening. All sorts cf fearful cries salu-
ted my ears, which fairly make me shud-
der when [ think of them The screams
of the terrified women rushing past en-
deshabille, the cries of the children, the
heavy imprecations and shouts of the
men, Joined with the cracking of the
flames, the noise of the engine, and the
roar of wind and altogether
combined a scene of confusion that |
never had expected to be witness OF in
this world Looking round, [ perceived
that the after part of the cabin was filed
with smoke, and noticed now and again
quick, angry forks of fame shooting
through it.
Having noted these matters in few
moments time, [ returned to my state
room and picked up two cork fe-perser-
vers, with which [ started for the for
ward deck. The flames made such ex
traordinary headway that it did not seem
to me five minutes time before the whole
/ hurricane-deck was on fire. The lower
decks were, as yet untouched.
TRYING MOMENTS.
As soon as could recover my momen-
tary confusion, | looked around for Miss
Sprague, but could not find her, after the
| iJOSU ullllScIll SCdlCl tcDc Wc1t W Dcu
early. and [ think that she was burned to
death, as | think that very probably right
under her state-room, or in the vicinity
of it, the fire originated. She was
very fine, promising young lady, about 1 9
or 20 years of age.
Upon reaching the forward deck, and
noticing the condition of things. [ went
down to the love deck to see what
/ l Il, -
tion Here found portion Of the crew
making great noise, shouting to one am
other, and trying to get horse over
suppose, they intended to make an effort
for the shore. Finding that | could not
live here on account Of the smoke, [ as
cended again to the upper deck and help
ed the second mate, Leander Packard,
tear away as much as we could of it in
/ order to stop the progress of the flames
| toward the bow When | commenced to
| help the second mate in this work | took
off my overcoat to give me greater facili-
| ty of movement. After we had as much
tearing away as we found practicable, /
/ put on my overcoat again, and then it
was / found the great benefit of it in the
way of protection against the cold, raw
l.. n
near me, noticing that had two life per
| servers, asked me for one, which gave
him. At this time ii; was quite broad
daylight, and | should judge between 6
aud seven O'Clock There was a very
heavy sea, and it seemed to be increasing
in volume. [ stood among the crowd
! that was iluddlcd together near the for
ward part of the bow, and it was while
| how, +bot I y,Ctioal Harf NJnr
ris, without hat, ,and in his shrt-sleeres
talking with some of the men. He ap-
peared to be quite calm and formed a re-
n,arkable contrast III appearance to the
iris ,itcc"d and panic stricken meu gath
cred about him.
| made my way through the crowd as
far to the forward part Of the bow a
possible, knowing that that would be the
point which the fire would reach last.
Many had jumped, before this time,
into the water, where, from its extreme
chilliness, death must soon have termin-
ated their sufferings.
| was now on the deck, forward of the
pilot house, on the starboard side, and
from the direction In which the wind blew
was entirely sheltered from the flames.
The mate and | tore away the steps lead
ing to the pilot house, as we did all things
of combustible nature that was manage
able. and which stood between us and the
fire.
On this part of the deck were several
ladies and children, whose wailing cries
were very plteous to hear.
THE BOAT is HEADED TO THE SHORE
As soon as the cry of fire was raised, and
it was found to be making such rapid
headway, there was a simultaneous cry
from many !: Head the boat for the
shore head the boat for the shore -
In carrying out this order, the helmsman
either through the excitement of the oc-
casion or because after the machinery of
the wheel had already received irrepara
bic damage from the fire, put the rudder
hard aport, and left it In that way. This
kept the vessel turning around but she
had hardly made-more than cue circIiit
before the engines stopped work, and by
this time the hurricane and upper decks
had completely burned off.
ONLY Ten LEFT.
At this time. that is about one-half
hour after L had left my state-roofn, there
were not more than ten men emaining
on the wreck.
By this time had worked my way to
to the most forward part of the vessel,
and seated myself on the forward post
While sitting here, | pulled the halyards
from the flag staff and doubled them
twice, intending to run the quadruped
cord through the staple OF the post, and
lower myself down when | thought the
time had arrived for doing SO.
The men below me, who were holding
on to the sides of the bow, were dropping
off one after another; being overcome by
either the heat or cold
The last act of the second mate was to
take down the flag staff and jump over
board with it. The water was so cold
that he could have lived but a very few
. minutes.
A TERRIBLE SCENE.
During all this time there We're dead bod
. les floating around the vessel, and live
persons desperately chnging to oars and
pieces of the wreck. Generally when a
man was about to jump overheard he
t would shout aloud, and on rising TO the
! surface of the water after his plunge ne
would sink to rise no more.
: At this time we were about eight miles
from land The wind was blowing from
5 the east, and we hoated slowly toward the
shore. Shortly after the mate jumped
overheard my seat on the forward post
) became, from the approach of the flames
/ altogether too hot. | therefore, with AID
ofthe halyards, lowered myselfto the pro-
d jecting rim Of one Of the vessels timbers
: with my feet, occupying the Identical
position that many poor wretches had
| just before me and from which despair
' ing of succor, they had dropped hope
lessly into the lake.
As near as l can judge, about three
[ quarters of an hour after had reached
: the forward deck, was surprised, or
] loolsan oround =, Gpl hut op, otho,