The Republican journal., 1877-01-25
The Unlucky Harvey Mills.


Iiohi iHt NEW pfk iltIiiu tit' ii'i'.l
On the night of Thursday, December
y. a fire broke out on board the ship
Harvey Mills, OF Ihonlaston, Me, lying III
Beaufort River, below Port Royal, and Ia
dened with a full cargo Of cotton Tor lay
erpoOl. The United States vessels OF Waf
in the vicinity, as soon as the alarm was
given, sent strong detatchmcntS OF meu
with fire apparatus, on board the ship,
Other vessels sent aid. and every effort
was made to quench the flames which rose
from the matches, but in vain The fire
continued several days, and it was not un-
til the vessel was lowed to Port Roy al and
flied with water that the fire was entirely
extinguished. Two lives were lost and
several met were injured. The Coroners
jury returned II verdict of accidental
death-a verdict which did not satisfy the
sailors who survived, and who tell the fol
lowing strange story
The Harvey Mills is new lull rugged
ship. owned i'll Thomaston, Me. Her cap
tain is named Mills, and he is a part own
Ell She carries a crew OF eighteen to
twenty men, inCludinp her officers. The
Harvey Mills took on her cargo al Port
Royal and dropped down the harbor pre-
paratory to her VOYAGE to Liverpool. The
crew, engaged at New \ ost came down,
and the first night they passed ON board
the ship seemed To impress them untayor
ably. This feeling grew upon them until
they pronounced the ship "unlnrky.' A
few DAYS before the time appointed Tor
The commencement OF the voyage the crew
determined thatthey would not sail iii her
Going ait they so informed the captain,
tai nif tiy-
Piled by putting them AL in irons.
on Thursday night smoke was discover
ed curling up from the after hold, and the
most terrible cry OH ship-hoard Fire -
was passed along the deck OF course
there was nothing at hand to put out the
fire. and everything was 1t Il st@ndstill
until Il large number Of men from the
United States naval fleet arrived on board,
under command of Lieutenant Rockwell
They brought with them tire eXtn@u!sh-
erS and the pumps were manned Water
was poured into the ship, but the fire con
| tinued TO make hea,!Way. and the volumes
Of smoke rolled up denser and denSer
| from the hold The crew. Sail0r-lillc. now
| turned to with 4 Will aud helped undo the
| mischief they had created All during the
night the fire continued to burn the cot
ton had been we'll fred and it WAS found
| impossible to put it out Steam tugs from
| Port Royal came down and helped TO flood
| TIE vessel with water, ana y ,4ttv 81 citi-
ION yolifntaers from port Envol oIsu. a.
neare1 nnon fine scene and offered thrir
| services
me tnl]ovin. d,y i, u.,s th1noI,f tr,9t
tha nnIv nh,nra ia tgoa tha ,neenl p...- I,
| waioI, ,nrhor and nrorrp,l ma to. thr Port
| po>,aI Inrl,e 'rhprn tL. ,at.n} cnlld hn
scnttIad and .nul, and altrrv,,rA raised
| Iris cnuld NOT he safety dana n thn.4,.
| chor.on Ono ol- tho l,nafsw,:,,e III III,
shin (she had twol ordered two nlen ;u.o
the CHAIN locker 10 he ready 10 STOW tha
anchor chains when ,1e anchor ,yas rails.
ed The chain locker u ! small nlace far
varl below the lower, decd, ana 3,.s
reached on thn Harvey \l;Ii. 1h,.nfloL ,
wooden ehulr The lnvrr hoiI ii tine
vessel was filled with c.,rbnnir 9citI r9q
| and thf bootzvaiu 1nu4t h3te had some
su7pirion of the dancer ~ he did not AZ
was his usual cualom accompany fine mon
| into the locEcr The nninion 0t The s9ii.
orc and Of one If tha Cnrnnc,'3 iurv vbn
had been q sailor. n; aftrrvard cxpreesed
was that thp men had been ,lrlihrrata,v
ordered 70 their death AT any rate the
men ordered hy the officer th4t dared not
accompany them went mo The ebutc ana
were hronpnt ont dead
Immediatelv anon he2r,Dg that some
men were in danger, NOT already dead
3, rueh WA made forward 3Id every effort
/ put forth TO ave the two unfortunate sail
ors. The two hoetewaina volunteered 10
90 down The one VINO ma ordered the
mon there vpnt down aa far a. hntwpan
decks and wac driven back. almost over
come. The other hoatsvtin then went
| down ond with tho assistance al. -s,-a,.,l M