Omaha daily bee., 1889-06-12
SEVEN DAYS in A BURNING SHIP.
A Captains Sails $500 Miles With
- ,,sys7 His1GargO on Fire. ,i,r eG

y t''Fs3 MS cargo OH tlre. 'lsh '.tt
The American tomorrow will pub
lish a letter from Captain Thomas Rob-
ertson of the steamer Hawkhurst to
Messrs. Gustavus & Co., of this city,
which gives the story Of one Of the most
remarkable exhibitions OF pluck,
bravery and fine seamanship on record
says Baltimore dispatch to. the New
York Sun. The feat of sailing seven
days, distance of $500 miles, on Il
burning vessel, and declining. to stop at
points where facilities for putting out
the fire without endangering the cargo
and ship, was regarded by the emperor
OF Brazil as so noteworthy an achieve
ment as to warrant his comforting upon
the master medal of the first class.
The Hawkhurst is a British steamer,
and belongs to the packet line running
between Antwerp, London and Brazil.
Captain Robertson at one time was
master of the bark Amorquill OF Nicar-
augua and the steamer Elstow of Lon
don. In his letter Captain Robertson
says: a.as .ts
1.-THE Hawkhurst sailed from London
on March IS, bound for Rio Janeiro,
with general cargo. On March % we
were in latitude IL Q north, longitude
27 Q west, 500 miles south of the island
of St. Vincent, when, at a. n., dense
flames of smoke were observed coming
out of the ventilators in No. hold. We
at once blocked the ventilators, made
holes in the decks, pouring steam in
from the main boilers, and water, too.
The fire seemed to have a great hold on
the cargo in the lower hold, and it
could not be put out. During the next
four days the decks were red-hot.
may mention that there was a between
deck of iron above the fire, and above
this iron deck was stored 700 barrels OF
oil, tow, tallow, and other inllammable
materials.
II thought at the beginning Of this
accident that would put back TO st.
Vincent, but on further consideration
did not reckon it prudent, as the. wind
was strong ahead. Besides, if / had
gone back there were no appliances for
putting out fires on the island.
therefore steamed on to Rio,
passing Pernambuco, where they
would not have entertained burning
ship coming in the harbor. My only
resource had / gone to ST. Vincent,
Pernambuco, or Bahia would have been
to fill the hold with water, and to do
this 1 would have to ground the ship,
which might have caused a total loss.
Three DAYS after the fire commenced
the starboard bunkers caught fire.
This arose from the great heat oil the
decks and hull of the ship. We put
them out IN twenty-four hours. The
following day our port bunkers took fire
but we could not eXtinguish them, and
they burned for seven days. On our
arriving lat Rio the ;->shorities sent us
their fire brigade free of charge. This
brigade is as good as any in the world.
After two days work they subdued the
fire Tho distance we sailed while on
fire was 1900 miles, and it took seven
days to make the distance"
In recognition of the good seaman
ship and bravery of Captain Robertson
the emperor OF Brazil, Dom Pedro H.,
wrote the captain personal letter, and
gave him medal OF the first class,
which was presented to the captain by
Terrerria Wanna, home munster OF the
empire.