The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-02-04

to God that she had. Those on board
her included Mr.. Romaine, the first Off
Ger; Frank Ne llifont, A. B.; Boscobie,
A. 3. Greeks; Tom Dugrig, London.
derry. qUartermaster Turvey, A. B., OF
London; Wood, ordinary seaman. max
ing his first voyage, Hancock, A. b., Lang
don, A. B., and Nicholas, A. A. A few
OF the passengers whose names our INFORM
ants could not remember were Mr.. Harvey
and his sister Alexander Whitehead and
his wife, and one child ii days old; Mr..
Marsh and his wife. Mrs. Fitzgerald's
CHILD WAS ONLY BORN TWO HOURS BEFORE
THE FIRE BROKE OUT.
Mr.. Mar, of Jersey, was on board the
missing boat, a man with one arm MIR.
and Mrs. Carey fshe was the woman who
jumped overheard she belonged 10 Cork;
Roburt Byron Scotchman; M'Bride,
Butt, Reeves, Scottie, M'Neil. They did
not quite remember the names OF those IN
their own boat. Most of them were
strangers. Bentley, who fell overheard
while steering the boat, was a great help
to us. His little boy, over ten years OF
age, was also on board. The passengers
had behaved well during the progress OF
the fire. "They helped us fearful, but,
added Lewis, who always interpesed a
brief. but always useful remark. II do NOT
believe there was one on the forecastle
when left. The boat that we missed
was
FULL OF WOMEN AND GIRLS"
-Cotter said no would have liked to have
got life-buoy when he saw the boats
were all going; but on looking round and
seeing men il the boat, and hearing the
mate give orders they were not to lower
without his permission, he got in. There
were many left on board while the fire
was burning.
al believe" continued Mr.. Macdonald,
"there were good many below who could
not get up for the smoke. The chief stew
ard had been i'll all the passage and was
very sick. When they raised him up out
of his berth he says: oh says he, Il
might as well go down and die there as
here and he went down 10 his berth again
and died comfortably. His Eame was Tom
Wakefield. Had | much hope when
started? | had no hope at all until the
people died and the boat got lighter. l
knew very well we were so near the water.
While we had Bentley We took our turns al
steering and at bailing the boat out; but
latterly we had to do it by ourselves and
/ the black man. We took watch each
Cotter, Lewis and Hamilton. The pas
sengers behaved themselves very well.
| They did not make much complaint; Du'
the men that got out OF their nlnds were
troublesome" Sleeps were short and nj
| full. and he believed that many died from
| insomnia. A
There can be no doubt that the wonder
full energy and self-reliance of Lewis
! whose courage had never given way, car
ried him through every thing. Those thai
appeared to be the strongest men were the
| first, as a rule, to give way under tneil
sufferings. Mr.. Macdonald and Lewis
were both temperate men. In the opinion
of the former, if they had had tobacco on
board they would all have died from con
tinual use of that narcotic. 1t was ex
pected that
FRENCH SOLDIER
| on board the boat would outlast the others
because he kept his flesh so well; but h'
died rather early. They always saw Wher
the next one was going to drop OF. Wher
| they escaped from the wreck Lewis hat
| Oh only his shirt and trousers; Cotter wa
similarly equipped; Macdonald had
shirt, waistcoat and trousers, having glyer
his hat to another person. Some had go
nothing on but their coat and shirt. They
were most kindly treated by captain
Jahnke, of the British Scepter. Macdon
aid. who is a Freemason, was received witt
brotherly cordially by the members o
that body in st. Helena. Clothes wer'
supplied them; but they are even now bu
very scantily furnished, and stand in nee(
of assistance.
Now that by the receipt of the narrative
of the three survivors the whole story 0
the loss of the Cospatrick, so far as il vii
ever probably be known, has come to hand
| il is possible to form some idea of
HOW THE FIRE ORIGINATED,
and to explain why it ragged so fiercely a
! to prevent the lowe ing of all the boats, o
the provisioning of such as were satel,
| launched in the mad turmoil that prevailed
Before the statement of Macdonald bat
come TO hand it was supposed by those &C
quainted with the rough and undisci
plined people sometimes TO be foun'
among emigrants, that after the hight
had been ordered out, man or men, in al
attempt to get at the cargo, had carelessl
set fire to the ship. But this suspicion
probably unfounded. There can be n
reasonable doubt that the fire broke out i
the boatswan's locker. This is not, a
landsmen might suppose, mere cupboar
for storing odds and ends, but what, CON
paratively speaking, and remembering tn
extremely limited accommodation on boar
ship, NAV be called large room under
meath the forecastle, where oils, paint
varnish, pitch, tar, turpentine, rope;
spare sails, and. in fact, all those thing
which are specially in charge of the boal
swain, were stored. Most of these art
Giles, it need hardly be said, are of highl
inliammable nature, and they are stored |
this place because in sailing ship it is tn
safest on board. Should fire break ou
il must necessarily be confined so long a
the vessel is kept before the wind to tn
| immediate locality where it originates
Just above the forecastle was force-pum
and permanently fixed fire-engine, $
that every facility existed for immediatel
overcoming any fire which might brea
out. All these preparations were rendere
futile by the vessel going about, and tn
very precautions for safety proved
THE MEANS OF SPEEDY DESTRUCTION
when once there was head instt ad of
following wind. The fire was first see
bursting up the fore-hatch, and those VIII
are acquainted with the fittings of EN-
grant ships will easily understand ho'
this occurred. In this class of vessels tn
whole of the between-decks, originally
clear space, is fitted at the commencement
of each voyage, as seamen say, with $50
: wood" or pine partitions, The fore pa
! is allotted to the single men, and consist
of about one-third of the vessel, surrount
) ed at the sides with sleeping berths, an
!, having down the middle long tables
pines. In the center of the vessel are SCI
: arate berths, closed with curtain, for Il
married men with families, while aft a
the berths of the single women, arrange
round a large compartment in the san
way as those of the single men forwar
Every berth throughout the ship was Il
ted by the New Zealand Government wit
} beddings of shavings- The boatswain
locker in the forepart of the vessel WI
only separated from the sleeping place
, the single men by an iron grating, tn
being used for the purposes of yentilatio
instead of an iron partition. A fire amor
the highly inflammable articles it contai
ed, not discovered until it had spread b
yond the grating and had reached Il
equally inflammable pine partitions al
bedding of shavings in the single men
!; compartment, must have been at any tim
even with highly disciplined crew az
the passengers quite unde' control, diff
. cult matter 10 subdue. But when this ii