Morning journal and courier., 1883-01-11

alarm of their awakening no end of dreadful l contingencies were to be anticipated. Cap tain Ringk thought of them early and took precautions to preserve order and insure temporary safety. But first the fire had to be ferreted out and it's extent ascertained. 1 This was not easy. The funnel of the ven tilating shaft, which indicated that it was on the steerage deck, revealed no more. It was only after tumbling about through heaps of merchandise below, and in stifing atmos- 1 phere, that it was found to be in the heart of 1 the cargo itself that the fire was raging and that it was burning most fercely at 8 point am1dships. Several attempts were made to reach it, but they were soon shown to be inn practicable and it became evident that the upper decks must be torn away.
 IMMIGRANTS IN DANGER.
 The smoke was now rolling in upon the startled immigrants and measures to control them were put in operation. They were quietly aroused and conducted in squads to the deck. At first they had no intimation of the real nature of their danger. Unac- quainted with the sea and it's perils, they at- tributed the smoke and the hubbub to some of the ordinary incidents of the passage. But gradually the importance of what was going on forced itself upon them. The smoke became thicker below. The orders of officers and the scurrying of the crew were easily interpreted. Then the frightened people crowded together like sheep and
 
 the clamor. Whether it was that fear para lyzed them or the doubt of what was going on prevented their being fairly aware of the danger the officers do not know, but they agree that the whole throng behaved better than could be expected under the circum- stances and made no such demonstration as was to be feared. There was little uproar among them. The women even refrained from crying.
 Indeed said the first officer, speaking of 1t yesterday, 'I only noticed one person making any hubbub at all, and that was 8 little fellow of about fourteen"
 Care was taken to hurry these immigrants above at once. Their berths were on the same deck as the fire and it had to be fought In that quarter while an attempt would be made to reach it from overhead. The men went to work to smash in the confning tim bers. The crew were recruited by the more available of the passengers. But it was slow work. The iron sheathing of the decks, or dinarily precaution for safety was now an obstacle to it. It turned the blows of axes. Saws were useless on it. The pumps were rigged and ready, but the water was spilled at random. In this dilemma a heavy assault was ordered on the unyielding metal by uten sils rarely called into use on shipboard. Big mallets were hauled out bars of iron were procured, and with might and main all hands pounded at the decks till they yielded in places and then sank in and opened way to the burning cargo. The berths in the immi- grants compartment had, meantime been demolished and way broken into the place where the merchandise was stored. Then, while the pumps flooded it from above, the men tumbled bales and boxes out into the vacant place and struggled bravely to reach the flames. The immigrants here rendered good service, working we'll and obeying or ders, which were more or less unintelligible to them.