The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-09
BURNING OF THE BIENVILLE
FULL PARTICULARS OF THE LOSS
OF THE STEAMER.
Arrival OF the Survivors In Baltimore
Incidents OF tho Fire-EscaPe Of the
Passengers and Crew-AD Ocean Foy-
age In Boats-The Lost and Saved

of the crew of the steamship BIenVIlle, Gaptsl
Maury, from New York for Aspinwall, whle
was burned at sea on the 18th of August. Tt
arrival of survivors In Baltimore are: Fhirt,
five by the schooner MCGEE and six by th
steamer Adelalde-total, forty-one. Hayln
lost all they had, and being In an entirely de!
titute condition, the good people of Nassa
supplied their Immediate and pressing wait
in the way Of clothing, &c. In Norfolk, Va
those who came by that way received simila
kindly attention, and the good offices OF III
Baltimoreaus were not wanting to rellev
the distressed also.
THE LOST N THE SAVED
The total number of persons saved from tn
BieHville is eighty-dve. Number known to b.
drowned, nine; number missing from boa
No. 5, probably drowned, ten; number no
heard from, twenty-three; total, one hundred
and twenty-seven. BY the steamer Moro Gas
tie, which arrived 10 New York from Havana
Captain Aaury and torty-one of the survivors
of the Blenville We're brought back Bafely.
is thirty-eight, including those at New York
| and Baltimore; the total number OF officers
and men of the BlenVille at both ports Is forty
| seven.
TAKING TO q BoATS
The passengers and crew of the steamer
| took refuge In six shlp-boats, but few OF them
| being amply provisloned. The sufferlngs Of
| all were very severe, and q number were
| driven to insanity. The first boat contained
Captain Maury and some of the officers of the
| ship, but 1t was the last to leave the burning
| steamer. From the second boat, landing Gear
| the cove, Eleuthera, nine persons were lost 10
| the surf-one man, three women and five
children. Or these persons the only names
known are those Of Mrs. Joseph Banner,
a German lady from New York, and her
three children, the oldest fourteen years
of age. The swampiug of the boat, 1t 10 said,
was caused by an E~ngllshwoman. from New
Orleans, who, from excitement, stood up as
they approached the breakers, causing the
boat to capEize. She was drowned. Mr.
Joseph Banner and one boy twelve years old
were saved, but the father became insane
upon reaching the land. In the third boat,
one OF the passengers, ChrlslQph Qrtega, O
cabin passenger, had on his person thirteen
hundred dollars In gold, which he saved,
that this boat wss leaking, a lady passenger.
Miss Christie Keys, of Newfoundland, took off
Der upper clothing with which to cault; the
boat. They were rescued by a sloop, and
taken safely to Nassau. The suferings of the
passengers In the fourth boat are reported as
very severe. On Sunday, the fourth day utter
the disaster, they subslsted on raw bacon and
The milk Of %cocoanuts gathered from an island,
and, when leaving that haven, q German
woman from Brooklyn. who was Insane, was.
from necessity, left on the island, she refusing
to 20 with them. The fifth boat swamped be-
fore leaving tue steamer, her complement
being twenty-slx persons, ten OF whom are
missing. The sixth boat has not been heard
from. but 1t Is hoped BY the survivors that It
has been Rieksssass aR Sy cope 8pagSaEaJR 3Saaa1
dian, of the 2lst OF August, gives the follow
Ing Incidents:
LOOKING o LAND.
After abandoning the ship, the captain
gave sailing directions 10 all the boats, order
Ing them TO follow him as closely as possible
WatlIDg's Island being the nearest land
some seventy miles Oft was hoped at first
that 1t might be reached; but the wind blow
Ing strongly from the southeast and o heavy
SEES running, 1t was found impossible in these
small boats 10 keep sny course but that before
the wind and sea, and they were only kept
from sWamplng by constant watching and ball
log. A small piece of canvass was made fast
to an oar of the captains boat, which did good
service as q sail. The Sun bearing down with
lntenseness, caused great thirst. During the
early part of the first day they encountered q
squaIa OF wind aud rain, which seemed
GO T6tlpo IL CatllO USpbS L4He 90 WY
were much tatlgued by rowing and balllng,
as well as from their exposed and cranped
condition.
RECEPTION ON ELEUTHERA ISLAND.
On Friday last, at 10 A. NJ, after travelling
about one hundred and fifty miles, land was
discovered ahead, which proved to be Eleu.
tbera, and at 8 80 P. n. q landing was effected
two and a half miles above James's Bolnt. AS
soon as the boat was hauled up on the beach
they were met by Boston Johnson, one OF the
who. with Others, had discovered the
boat In the distance, but could hardly imagine
the cause of 80 thy a craft, with such Q multi
tude of souls, coming or flying, as 1t were,
from the broad open ocean. All hands re-
from the Inhabitants of the settlement
the most generous hospitality, water, fruit,
&c. being brought to them, and as soon as
strength would permit, they were escorted to
he village, where everything the people pos
,essed was placed at their disposal. Men, wo-
men and children We'd with one another 10
acts of kindness and IN mlnlsterlng 10 tnelr
Captain Maury, with six Others, lett
Nassau at once, and arrived here on Satur-
morning, but the remainder OF the party
rested in the settlement that night, and took
passage in the sloop Shannon; VIM. Hanna,
master, on Saturday morning, and came In at
eight o'clock the same evening, when every
was shown them by B. T. Saunders,
Esq, United States vice-consul.
Statement OF the CommRnder.
Captain Maury makes the following report
to the agent OF the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company: I have 10 report the total loss by
fire Of the steamer BIenVille, under my COM
mand. chartered from the Livingstone d Fox
New Orleans llne,) on the morning of August
18th, at seq, in latitude rs IL north, longitude
IA Is west, by account. At 3.45 a. NJ, Au-
gust 18th, the officer of the watch called me,
and reported that the ship was on ire Ia the
fore hold. 7 gave the order to call the nen 10
the tire-quarters quietly, and to have the
m started and steam tn: ned on the fire
exlilguishers leading to the tore hold and
forward freight room, at the same time keep
ing the ship of before the wind, and hauling
lib up and stopping the engine. Captain Mau.
nv SAVE that he had the hose laid down to the
fore hatch, and endeavored to get below with
the hose, but so great a volume Of smoke
out that 1t was necessary 10 close
the hatch Immediately. Then he had the
matches baltened over with wet awning, and
started the hose at the ventilator, but the
steam pumps were quickly disabled and the
water cut of. Meanwhile the fire %e1tinguish-
era and buckets we're used to keep the fire
nnder. and the boats were made ready and
manned. The two large lite-b0ats were pro-
visIoned and Watered, and o full supply of
lif..preservers were served out TO all tie pas
At $50 A. M. Captain Manry thought
tha IRE was 30 far smothered he would be en-
abIed to run Tor Watliug's Island about sixty
Ave miles distant. Captain Maury soon discov-
cred hal The fire was working lis way through
both sides of the ship, abreast of The boiler,
and that it would be necessary to abandon the