The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-07-14
and we were finally forced to 20 over
board. I found a rope, one end of which

and we were 1nally IOrceu w. ~ ofei
I found q rope, one end of which
I threw overheard, and climbing down
allowed myselfto be lowed in the water:
This was some time before the vessel
was grounded. I saw Mr.. Dubois, OF
Sea CliF, holding on one of the braces.
Near him was Mr.. Post, of Great Neck.
The boat burned like finder. The flames
completely divided the boat in two
I think there must have been
four OF five hundred on board, and it
seems to me that / saw two or three
hundred in the water altogether. Some
had ljfe-preservers and some had not.
The crew and Captain Smith behaved
nobly. A deckland called Dennis and
a colored man named Nathan, and MI.
Field and Superintendent Kirk were es-
p~ecially cool. The Granite State. 8
Hartford steamboat, lowered around
u.s." .
Charles Abeel, one of the lremen of
the boat. was found on the pier at the
foot of Peck slip, from which the Sea-
wanhaka started at 4:l5 o'clock in the
afternoon. He said: "We made our
landing at the foot of Thirty-third
street at 4:3O o'clock, and it was about
fifteen minutes later when we eacne
Little He'll Gate. 1 was sitting in the
wing or port gangway after having
started the bilge pump, when I heard o
noise, and on looking around saw flames
coming out of the ire-room. l got up
and tried to make my way into the IRE
room, but the flames were too much foI
me-. We were Just off Randall's Island,
and running forward I shouted to the
captain, who was at the wheel, to head
her tor the shore, but he shouted back
that he could not. l then ran into the
cabins forward and urged the steward
and passengers to save themselves.
They did not suspect the vessel was
on fire then, as no smoke =
flame was blown in that direc-
ton. At that time the wood
work of the vessel about her center was
burning like finder, and the flames
were spreading toward both ends OF the
boat. There were probably about three
hundred persons on board. Men were
jumping from the hurricane deck into
the water, and a large number of fright
ened children and women were huddled
near the Stern of the boat. l climbed
over the rail near the bow, and several
men almost jumped upon me before |
took to the water to save myself. l
found a life-preserver floating near me,
and was going to put it on when a man
clutched is, and l, knowing l could
swim and thinking he could not, let
him have it and swan for Wards
Island. which I reached, and then
helped man a boat and assisted In pick
ing up the passengers in the water.
The Seawanhaka was finally beached,
but soon burnt to the waters
edge. Captain Charles P. Smith
was at the wheel, and stuck to
his post to the last. His face and
body were badly burned. Small boats
came to the rescue from every direction.
The steamboats, Granite State, bound
for Hartford. the Osseo, the Minnehan-
mock and the Sylvan Glen had boats
manned and sent to our assistance.
Many of the children on board had their
clothing catch fire, and some Of them
were severely burned. A lamp which
l carried in my hand into the tank-room,
which is back of the fre-room, and sep
arated by a hoard partition, l brought
back into the fire-room and put it down.
I am sure the fire could not have origi.
mated from the lamp. as the oil would
not explode o burn without a wick:
Engineer Weeks put on a full head
of steam, I am told, in response
to q signal from the captain, and then
climbed up among the machinery and
was seen standing on the upper deck
trying to raise the valve so that the
steam could escape and an explosion be
averted. W. never carried over thirty.
four pounds of steam. Engineer Weeks
son was q fireman on the boat, and at
the time the fire started was watching
the steam and water indicators. The
only member rs of the crew l understand
are missing is Josiah Hasbrouck. the
cook, and his grandson, Charles Has
brouck, who was employed on the boat.
We had a crew of about four deck
HANDS, one deck-boy, an engineer, two
fremen, the captain, a clerk, a wheels
man, a superintendent, porter, a stewart
and the cook. The crew did their duty
and few of them lost their presence of
mind. You can imagine how cool they
were when the clerk, who was collect
ing fares, as soon as he realized the boat
was on fire, returned to his office and
secured all the money he had LETT there:
Among our passengers were Richard
O'Gorman and one or two OF the liar
pers-I mean the publishers. The
vessel burned like finder after once
the flames started. Some Of the sights
were pitiful. Morris, Jul porter, saw a
child lying on its back and was going to
lump overheard to save it, when q fran
tic woman clutched his arm, and saying:
"You are q strong man and l a woman
without any friends on board. For Gods
sake help me-" He left the child to it's
fate believe, and saved the woman. The
only one of the Seawanhaka's boats got
out was one which had a canvas fast
ened over it. After the canvas was got
off, the body of a chilli about two years
old was found lying in some water in
the bottom of the boat. Nobody
seemed to know how it got there. After
l got on Randall's Island / was al
most exhausted, but the doctors soon
revived me by pouring some liquor
down my throat A lady was climb
ing down a ladder leading from
the promenade deck to the main deck,
but as the ladder is a pretty hard thing
for a man to get down on at any time,
she fell into the gangway amid the
flames. Myself and about half G dozen
others rescued her, and I burnt my
hand. / saw q butcher who belongs
either at Great Neck or Sands Point
lump overheard with an asparagus box.
The last I saw of him he was going
under the wheel. Several others who
went over forward also went under the
paddle-wheels."
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