New-York tribune., 1880-06-29
CAPTAIN SMITHS STORY.

THE COMMANDER OF THE aEAwANHAKA STEERS THE
BURNING sTEAMER AsnORE-now lie KEPT THE
FtAMRs PROM THE sTERN WHERE THE PAssEN-
GERS wRRg-rHE POST OF DUTY NOT DESERTED
THE CAPTAINS INJURIES.
reporter of THE TRIBUNE found Captain Charles
p Smith OF the Seawanhaka, at the hospital on Ran
dalPs Island about 10 O'clock last night. Only
small portion of his face was visible, his hands. his
neck and one side of his head being thicky covered
with bandages. His injuries were not fatal. the at
tendnnt at the hospital said though they were seri
ous. Tho captain was evidently much exhausted,
and he spoke with considerable effort. At the re-
auest of the reporter he told his story but as briefly
as possible.
I'VE left Peck slip" he said, about 4;15 p. M,
our usual time of starting being o'clock We
stopped at the foot of Thirty.third-st.. where we
took on a few more passengers. We left there,
think at about half-past 4. We had on board proba
bly, between 200 and 800 passengers. The boat
can carry good Inany more than this. but on Mon
day our load is nsnnlly light Among the passen-
gers were 8. L. M Barlow, and son-in.law OF
Charles A. Dana. Mr. Dana was not on board,
think though he very often goes to his
home at Glen Cove in this way. Mr..
Dana is a part owner Of the steamer. About ten
or fifteen minutes after we left Thrty-thrd-st
heard q dull explosion. was in the pilot house at
the time, and was steering. had one stephen Yer
non. assetant, at the helm The regular pilot wss
not on board The line has been running an extra
steamer for some time and he had charge OF this.
have been taking bis place, as was thoroughly ac-
Quainted with our course.
"At the time Of the explosion we were Just enter
ing Little He'll Gate. In moment the iames burst
forth like n fash. and the whole midshp vas on
fire saw that we would never be able to put the
fire out, so determined to run her ashore On our
right was a marsh, called the snnken Meadow, and
| headed her for this. dld not steer
her directly for the swamp, as tho fames
would then have enYelOped the stern OF
the steamer in q minute, and all the passengers
there would have been burned to death but
guided her sideways so that she could burn anna;
ships. She ran aground in less than five minutes,
think. She ran on the shOals fully forty teet her
wheels being lifted far out OF the water stayed
Mt the helm until she ran ashore, and saw that
could do nothing more. ,.,
frightful rapidlty, and several times | thought
would have TO leave the wheel, or burn to death be-
fore we reached Shore When left the helm ran
through the flames and jumped overheard into the
water. Tue water was only two or three feet deep
where / struck. and crawled and padded ashoIe
very easily, notwithstanding my injuries. svas
brought over to Randalrs Island In abont half an
hour in one of the guard-bOats by Charles Huten
who is connected with the Penitentiary on Waro
'aVsi '%iat do you think was the cause of the oxUlO
slonp -. -, ,.,-,. .,,oa. a..
there was no escape of steam after the accident.
The boilers have been examined this year and they
were prOnouiNed in excellent condition. There
was an explosion OF some kind, and the only ex-
planntion eau think Of Is that there must have
been some eOmbustible matter In the COAL"
"How5 many lives do you think we're lost' Gap
tainf
"I don't know, but there must have been good
many was 80 occupied with steering, however,
that saw very little of what the passengers did
The attendant here insisted that the Captain
should stop talking.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STEAMER.
The seawanhaka was a long. narrow steamer. Of