New-York tribune., 1880-06-14
SAVED ~ A RAFT.
A DETECTIVES ACCOUNT or T"r D's',Trn ANo oil

A DETECTIVES ACCOUNT oF Tl1E plsA,TrR AND oI
TIE mrsCrE OF rA>SENGrR,.
j. NJ Fuller one Of the managers Of Full"rs De-
tectve Agency, Of No. Si1 Broadway. was a plsscn-
ger on the Narragansctt In reply 10 mqurrs by q
ImBrNE reporter he gave the following account
OF hs experiences:
Il was awakened by n violent shock, and looking
ont of the window. saw a vessel close 10 US w.
III a forward s'atcro III. dressed myself hurgi"dy
but completely and went INTO the upper capin Ii,
lights had all been put ont by thc shorh
and the cabin vas flied with men. women
and children, Shouting, screaming ana cry.nr
while the place WAS ~ black A. pitch. The only
thousht vas to Genre liic-prc,crycrs. aud TIN
every one sccincd to br 7uccc--lul III dong | 4aw
smoke comIag up from the cng'nc-ro,m, and hur
RED t. the outer d"cE. toward tie bow. Already
the middle Of the steamer was m n blaze, and tic
water wa, hldrk with heads. just as WAS ahDut
to Jump of Il hitc gIrl came up aud SAID on, save
iur. am al alone" helped her with a lfc pro
sewer and then into the water from which she wa,
soon picked up by boat.
a large patent tubular float had been thrown
overheard. and / swan to it. here were tlIrty-fyc
persons on It then, but they had only one our aud
wcro surely drifting toward the burn
Ing steamer. Seeing an oar in tho water,
swan TO it and took it on board and with the aid
Of this we managed 10 grt away. ~ we moved past
persons IN tn" water they would catch hold Of our
oars and be brought a0nrsIdo of the oai. Soon in
this way we had the float FULL and men and women
six deep clngiug to the iopc- at IT. sides When we
were rescued there were fully srventy-lyc persons
on the float clnging to It. With the exception of
one man. whose body SAW floating By us. all who
had jumped into the wafer - far rs conld see,
were picked up. Three deaths occurred after We
were taken out of The water know Of no other
deaths
"lhcrc wrrr inst about 800 passengers on board !
S!.ould SAY, aud about 30 lo.t / should think These
chiefly tno>c in ia" sicrr,r at The lower rear
portion Of the steamer. II was here that the boat
was struck and the blow. besides making grcal
hole III the s'rauc;', side, tore away the stairway
aud 80 piryratrd all ESCAPE to those below. In tNo
minutes all those ~ the NirCrdgr must have, brcii
drowned. Ten MINUTES from The tI.nr of tine col
lison the water had reached the upper deck. The
last 70 leave the burning steamer wrro four men
and three women, all Of whom were standing in
water knrr-dccp. lhcy were rescued by one of tho
boais. From our boat the burnng steamer pre-
scntrd a great wide stream OF ilamr shu1iiug far up
toward the sky. At ilr came time lightning was
OF rain fell. If tho storm had not
passed by ~ It did. should NOT have SEN
land again.. All ahou rs III the water parsons were
clnrlug to barrels chairs and other things. aud
one IHdu WIS supported by the door uf IcIrlgrI.-
tor. The ere" OF the Sl0uuRton seemed t. be- very
slow ~ coming to our lrscu", but SUPPOSE It Was
because they dId not know whether tiIclr own boat
was going to keep on the water or not
Captain Young and Mate Fields worked ike
heroes. and dd not leave the steamer ill the very
Iast. The trouble was tnat both boats were gong
too fast in the fog. They Were TOO anxious TO make
fast time. Having established reputation Tor
making fast tImc the line took chances that other
lines would not IN order not to be behind time.
They were blowing fog horns but did not slackrn
speed"