, 1881-09-23
Terrible Fire at Sea.

The ship Olympus, Capt. Edwards,
jbound from San Francisco to Seabeck.
Washington Territory with partial,
1cargo of hay, oakum and oil, on the:
5mOrning of the 18th of Sept, when in!
| Lat. AZ deg. 10 w. Long. $50 deg. % w.
4eleven days out tooa fire and was burned;
Ito the waters edge. despite the efforts of.
5officers and crew to extingHish the fire,
sAli on hoari,nrmbering twenty-siX souls.
5passcngers and crew, took to the boats and:
:were picked up the same day by the War;
Hawk, Capt. Kinds, and brought to Portl
sDiscovery. The following is an account!
Iof the accident rs given by Guy C.i
sPhinney, Of CaribOo, British Columbia.
awho was passenger OH board theili-fitcd,
vessel.
About half past six o'clock on the
morning of the 14ih inst. was standings
4 Fis'ETT ri'Ss-rsas -sea.ah= talking TO the 2nd,
Smate, Mr.. Barnard, when | heard cry;
ss:as thought from some one overheard:
Immediately the End mate gave the ortlers
a''let Some one go forward and see what:
sis the natter" A sailor ran to the forel
zhatch and sang out, The ships OH fire. =
Soon the terrible cry of ''fire! fire!'' rang.
Through the ship, the Capt. appeared al
) jmost Immediately on deck and gave the
d5orders to close the fore hatch to get buckets,
sready. and the pump TO work, meaning
Sa small one used to wash down the decks
J;-said orlers were promptly obeyed. AZ
sportiOn of the aft hatch was then takens
sotf and water pumped and thrown in. l.
saw the fire running over the hay and:
ioakum like brush heap and III less time.
ithan 1t takes to write this, from the timeS
Z saw the fire in the hold, it was comings
s,out OF the hatch ten feet high. The Capt !
ithen ordered the hatch close which with
Tdificnlty was performed by the 1st and!
,i2nd mates whose hair of every brows
1were scorchetl in doing it, The fire SOON
3came through the matches, main and aft. !
1when the Capt. gave orders to clear away;
Tithe boats into which all OH board EMBARK
Eed taking their most valuable effects. Its
title prepared indeed to make VOYAGE of
flour hundred miles, especially asswe had
Son board the Capt's. wife, daughter ands
sli;tle boy, and another lady, Mrs. Lewis. I
J Fortunately however, we sighted the Shin
5War Hawk, Capt. Kinds. which we Sigh
anallcd and which bore down upon Hs ands
stook us on board, few hours after web
Sleft the Olympus. The Capt. was thes
dlast to leave the deck and appeared cools
,siiand collected throughout-too much praiseEF
scannot be given to Capt. Edwards for thes
scool and seaman-like manner in ybic,,s
5his orders were given thereby saving tbes
Sliie and great portion of the property off
gall on board. a short time. perhans aoe
shonr after leaving the ship, the main-E
smast went over tile side, then the mizzens !
1and lastly the foremost and ere nights
There was lett naught but the black andt
',charred hulk of what WIS one of the f,nests
3Ships on the Pacific Coast. | remembered
5with shudder that awful terrible cry of
fire. that chiils the very hearts blood off
Sthe bravest seaman, that noble ship wrap-s
5ped In flames, the despairing cry and tlea
sdowncast looks of those friends, whoseE
BLINDNESS to me shall never forget, and !
55trust that it may never be my lot to lookE
gagain upon such another scene. A wo,4ls
GOT thanks to Capt. and Mrs. Kinds of Ethel
IWar Hawk, who did all they could tol
smake us comfortable during the remaind-l
Ger OF the voyage. We landed at Port Dis
5eovery on Sunday the 18th inst.
4 GUY. G.. PHINNEY. (