The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-02-08
AN APPALLING SITUATION.
5UFFERINGs OF THE PEOPLE on
BOARD A BURNING VESSEL.
Suicides From Despair-Passing
Horrible Night on Hot Iron
DeCk-The Rescue,

Deck-The Rescue.
Fifteen of the crew of the San Angus
tin, the Spanish steamship which was
burned in the Bay of Biscay, and two
passengers, the last rescued from the YES
sci, were landed at Dover, England, from
the steamer Grantully. They gave many
distressing details of the sutferings OF
those on board. The following particu-
lars are taken from the statement of Mr..
Armstrong. the chief engineer. After
describing the outbreak of the fire and
the fruitless efforts to subdue it, Mr..
Armstrong says:
about 5 p. NJ. we signaled brig,
which came close up to us. There was
high sea at the time, and our captain,
Mr.. Juan, summoned us on to the bridge
and held consultation. He then ordered
the engines to be stopped, and three
boats to be lowered and towed. We had
eighty-fve souls on board, including two
passengers. Some of the crew then got
into the boats. One of the boats in charge
of the third officer, was damaged, being
towed, and after being away an hour and
a half returned to the ship, being unable
to make the brig owing to the heavy sea.
The men were completely exhausted in
getting them on board again One poor
fellow was crushed between the ship and
the side He lived till P. NJ. the
next day in great agony. We saw no
more of the other two boats. We had
three boats remaining, one of which was
destroyed by the fire. At II o'clock
the same night we sighted two steamers.
The captain then ordered the other two
boats to be lowered and all the married
men to get into them. The chief officer,
who was in charge, took lamp, and we
could see the boats until close up to one
of the steamers. On Monday morning,
while Captain Juan was going from aft
to the bridge the mainmast fell, crushing
him between the davits and the mast, and
cutting his right foot off little above
the ankle
"The second officer was following the
captain, and, seeing the accident which
had befallep him, returned to the cabin
and shot himself through the head with
revolver We passed buckets of water
along, and by this means managed to
reach the captain, and carried him into
the smoke room, where his wounds were
dressed by the doctors assistant. About
the same time -four seamen were tryingto
pass from aft to forward, when they fell
into the hold and were terribly burned.
Their cries were heartrending. In the
terror which this produced one fireman
stabbed himself through the breast with
q dagger, and two other men threw them
selves overheard At daybreak next
morning the steamer Governor, came in
sight and bore down on us. Two boats
were sent, but kept too far off to be of
al -f..1
swimmer, managed to reach one of the
boats, but another poor fellow was lost
in the attempt About 2 p. NJ. another
steamer hove in sight and sent boat,
which came much closer, and by throwing
us lifeline at last succeeded in saving
five or six of the crew.
Captain Juan swung himself overheard
with life buoy and tried to swim to the
boat Finding the life buoy and jacket
he had on too much for him, he threw
them off and struck out But the heavy sea
and the weakness he was suffering from
from loss of blood proved too much for
him, and, after about fifteen minutes
hard struggling, the poor fellow threw
up his arms and sank. One of the pas
sengers, Mr.. Rodriguez, about the same
time, with six of the crew, jumped over
board with life buoys, but they were all
lost. Mr.. Gogena our third officer, then
jumped overheard, and, in vain at
tempt to reach the boat, sank. Tie boats
then left us and did not return The
steamship Governor steamed away about
5P. NJ, the other remaining until nearly
daybreak, when she went away.
We passed a horrible night on the hot
iron deck, our boots being nearly burnt
off our feet and some of us nearly blind
with the heat. We also suffered greatly
from want of food and water There
were now seventeen of us remaining, in
Guiding Mr.. Vines Ga passenge) and my
self. We now began to give up all hopes
of rescue. Our vessel was a complete
wreck. The foremost and tunnels had
fallen and the deck had fallen in. About
nine next morning we sighted another
steamer, which proved to be the Grant
ully, bound for West Hartlepool. The
chief officer (NIr. Boyle came off to us
in the lifeboat, at great risk to himself
and crew, the weather at the time being
very rough, with high sea. After five
hours exertiGn on their part they got us
safely on board. Owing to an arrange
ment between myself and Mr.. Vines
we being the only two who spoke Eng
lish l was the first to leave the ship,
Mr.. Vines staying till last. We were all
nearly totally blind and greatly exhausted
and scorched We cannot express the
gratitude we owe to Captain Stott and
his crew, who gave us clothing and
treated us with every kindness.