The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-06-22
SICKENIEG SIGHTS.
A Series of Accidents on a New
French Cruiser.
MANY MEN FATALLY sUALDED.

The Vessel Was Making a Trial of
Her Machinery when a Terrible
Explosion Occurred, Leaving tho
Engineers and Stokers writhing
in Agony.
BREsT, June ga terrible accident
occurred on board the new French
cruiser Dupuy de Lomo, $500 tons Or
ders hads been given for the vessel to
make trial of her machinery, and while
this trial was in progress the end of one
of the boilers was blown out.
The fire room. immediately became
filled with scalding steam and a sulphur
GUS smoke, caused by;the water reaching
and extinguishing the fire under the
boiler. To make the situation worse
the electric lights went out and the fire
room was left in darkness, all the fur
mace doors being closed.
The engineers who were in the fire
room at the time, and the stokers were
unable to escape until the chief en-
glneer and an outsider rushed down the
hre room ladder and broke open the
door OF the compartment.
A Sickening Sight.
Then a most horrible and sickcning
sight presented itself. Men were lying
on the deck delirious from the agony
caused by the terrible injuries they had
sustained. Some were writhing in con-
vulsions. their biaclxened and distorted
faces and fearfully blistered bodies,
arms and legs presenting sight at once
sjckening and heartrending. Several of
tho men in their torture had bitten
themselves on their arms and hands and
companions and bitten them. In some
cases men Were heaped together in
struggling, writhing masses, and it re-
quired considerable effort to separate
them.
The deck of the fire room was covered
with scalding water from the exploded
boiler to the depth of two or three
inches and in this the injured men lay,
every second adding to the terrible
scalding they had received.
Efforts were at once made to get the
men out of the fire room, but this task
was rendered difficult through the fact
that they We're absolutely crazy with
pain and attacked their would be res
In some cases inflicting quite severe in
Jufles. The hot water also added to the
difficulty of removing the men and
finally it was found necessary to grasp
them in any way and drag them out.
Many Dying.
Fifteen of them were dying when they
were taken to the ships hospital, and q
number OF others viii undoubtedly die
in a very short time. 1t is believed that
besides their external injuries nearly all
of them inhaled steam, and this alone
would be sufficient to cause death.
AT the very time the end of the boiler
blew out an explosion occurred in tho
coal bunkers and set the cruiser on fire.
The crew werc at once summoned to
fire quarters and hose were laid to the
bunkers. The donkey engines were
started, and soon the fire was got under
control.
The two accidents caused some breach
in the usual man-of-war discipline, and
some of the officers appeared to havo
lost their heads.
While nearly everybody on board tho
cruiser was attempting to rescue the in
5urod in the fire room or fighting the
fire in the bunllers the quartermasters
reported that they could not handle the
ship.
An investigation was made, when it
was found that the steering apparatus
had been broken down. The cruiser was
perfectly helpless and signals were
hoisted asking for assistance. She was
finally brought back to her moorings.
The naval authorities will make a most
searching investigation into the acci-
dents,