Omaha daily bee., 1883-01-18
TIE THREE BELLIES
Gallant Behavior of the Late
Capt. Creighton.
an Old Tale Of Nautical Brave.
ry Rehesrsed by an
Eye Witness.

potroi' Free Press.
Early last month Capt. Ro5t.
Creighton died and was buried at Ant
warp with imposing ceremonies, he
having been for a long time marine
superintendent of the Red Star line
Of steamships plying between New
York, Philadelphia and Antwerp.
For pail. bearers he had the quarter.
masters Of the steamships Belgenland
and S~wi;zIand, and his cOfin was
draped with Belgian, British and
American flags. Brief notices Of his
death, coupled with allusions to bis
heroism In standing by the United
States steamship San Francisco when
he had command of the British sailing
ship Three Bells, when both were In q
terrible storm, and of his rescuing up
ward of 600 souls, most OF them
United States soldiers, have been
quite thoroughly circulated of late
! through the United States.
While these reports have undoubt-
eddy revived memories of the heroic
deed among the older people, the de.
tails of the event are almost wholly
IL not entirely unknown to the young
or members of the community. There.
fore q detailed narrative of the af-
fair from an eye witness, particularly
in view of the fact that that witness
is now and has long been a resident
of Detroit, will prove interesting.
His name is Amos Burgess, and he
lives at 329a Macomb street. He ia
a colored man about 30 years of sge,
and is respected by all who know him.
He Is comfortably provided with this
worlds goods, and as he expressed it
when called upon by q reporter of the
Free Press, he Is "a man without ed
uoation, who has won sufficient to
give my children a good education. l
have a son who is a graduate Of the
Michigan university, and is now prac
Using his profession at st. Louis, Mo "
When informed as to tho object of
the reporters visit, the old man who
Is somewhat shattered and disigured,
as the result Of q steamboat boiler
explosion several years since-said
YES, sir; l WAS aboard the San Fran
cisco when the Three Bells stood by
aud saved US, but I'm sfeard l canno
tell you of it in good enough shapr
to have it go into a newspaper"
The visitor assured Mr.. Burgea
that the story from his lips would b
intensely interesting In view Of Capt
: Crighton', recent death, and the oil
man t%hereupon related the tale sub
stantially as follows:
cit WAS CHRISTMAS TIME,
twenty.e eight or twenty-nine years ago
that the steamship San Francisco
Capt. Watkins commanding, saile'
from New York with twenty-five days
fuel aboard, bound for San Franoiso
by way of Cape Horn. We intends
+ make our first landing at Rio Jsnsir
We had about $50 passengers over al
about 500 being United States so
dies. l was chief cook IN the boat
On the third day out, when off Cap
\ Hatteras, q gale struck us, and 1t wa
q tearer. We lost both masts, GU
\ pipes went by the board, eight Of on
small boats were washed overheard, 9
, were all of u upper works. Our er
gines broke down, and lying In tn
trough Of the sea we threw every
thing, except men, overheard to ligh'
n: or up and prevent swamping. l te.
oa you, air, it was
TERRIBLE STORM.
90 Our decks were cleared of everything
.. and one huge sea swept 100 person
-. overheard at one clip. We were a
the pumps, working for life, l ha
. charge of sll the oolored men on tn
n boat, forty in number, and was give,
n the forward pumps to work. TIL
~ pumps were the ld-fashioned brake
and l worked my mon In gangs G
ton .just az tight as they could lick,
and dealing out thimbles full of liquo
to the men at the end of each turn a
. the brakes. Capt. Watkins ha
saved six barrels Of whisky out of on
stock, and placed a guard over II
while all the rest had been throw
overheard. On the next day we wer
hailed by the little topsail schoone
Napoleon, bound for Halifax, an
asked If we were going to desert ou
y ship. She couldn't help US In tn
81 storm, and as we afterwards Learned
she reported our situation upon al
: irving at Halifax. Two days later tn
u brig Maria, Of Liverpool, spoke I
!. and went on, unable to render az
service. The next day the bark Kell
loaded with cotton from New Orleal
= to Boston, hailed US, and as the 81
had gone down somewhat, got o,
\ her small boats and took all the lac
:: passengers we had aboard. But Il
8 a nsorm again increasing, she had
80 toks care of herself before she cou
IN take off any more passengers. Mea
ia while We were hanging ON desperatel
Just ready to drop with despair, b
never getting there. l can't tell 20
= sir, anything about how it was a.
nobody can. You've got to
through 1t yourself before you can u
~ derstand.
ANOTHER sAIL,
: "We lay all night after the kelby Ii
us, firing guns and sending up rookie
ices and with the break of day we saw
~ ship bearing down upon US. Y
thought 1t a British frigste; she look
IN so nice and trim and cleGn.like, a
abe was handled 30 well. When wi
in hailing distance she told us she v
the Britlah clipper ship The TIL
Belle, and asked if we we're going
~ abandon u ship, We replied-a
e, l remember the signals well-N
A cannot hold out much longer. H.
, lost 1870 already Then came Ca,
CriChton's answer: BE If good Oh,
n and keep a bright light aloft. III
Al, by you till the sea runs down. AT